Halo 3 Beta – @#$% – An informal Review

So the time has come for me to tell you all about the Halo 3 beta. Before I do, lemme give a little background (check here for more posts about games):

Halo came out originally for the Xbox. In short it quickly became one of the most popular games of all time. It revolutionized first person shooting genre on consoles, it had a epic storyline, fantastic graphics, addicting gameplay. A perfect storm of a killer-app (a software so great it proves the value of the underlying technology, in this case the original Xbox).

Halo 2 came out something like 3-4 years ago, again on the original Xbox. It was a fantastic game in it’s own right. It brought Xbox Live into the Halo equation as well as the fantastic concept of dual wielding guns (FPS games are all about innovation nowadays). It was a great game but not much more (in my opinion at least). The story was a bit more boring than halo 1, the multiplayer was not as unanimously loved by everyone but overall it was still the same fantastic game as number 1. Don’t get me wrong, it IS a fantastic game.

Now, Microsoft is bringing us Halo 3 4 months early (September release for the final game at the moment) in the form of a public beta. You can get in buy buying Crackdown (another good game) and downloading it through the main menu in Crackdown. It’s available for about a month between middle of May to middle of June. Thousands are playing already and about a week ago I bought Crackdown to get in on the action and report back here! So without further ado, here is my thoughts:

Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta

Introduction

I love this game already. I’ve played only for about 3-4 hours or so but minus the first 2-3 minutes of initial awkwardness from my longtime vacation from Halo in general, I quickly got my bearings back. This game is the same thing we’ve loved for years but shinier and BETTER. Everything I’ve loved about both of the last 2 games are present…. except now in beautiful Xbox 360 renderings. The movement is smooth, the graphics are vivid and detailed, the controls are natural, and overall it just feels really polished. To think that this is not the final version is just even more titillating (whatever that means!). I think this game is an instant classic before it’s even released. Great job Microsoft. Now, onto the specifics…

Look and fee

The Graphics are nothing short of next generation. I think they aren’t as shiny/grainy as Gears of War and thus there are a few complaints about that but I think the look and feel is perfectly appropriate considering how many people would bitch and moan if they changed the style of the graphics. After all, its not always about the graphical prowess and more and more lately, its all about the style. Case in point in Grand Theft Auto vs Saint’s Row. Still, the graphics are GREAT! A huge step up from Halo 2 ( I even did PIP on my TV and did a side by side comparison). I think a good way to put it is that, Halo 2 had such a good sense of graphical style that you don’t really notice the graphics aren’t the best in the world. Instead you just fill in the blanks with your head. Halo 3 fills in those blanks; so right off the bat you see this game you’re like “Oh, this is Halo 3? It looks kinda like Halo 2!” Until you see Halo 2 again, then you’re like “WOW, thats a LOT better!”.

Sounds

Not too much to say about this, music and sound effects have always been perfectly good in the Halo series, and nothing in this beta suggests otherwise. I noticed some more new “Death Groans” – which are the sounds you make when you get killed in different ways. Some are pretty funny. Sweet new iteration of the halo ambiance music too, can’t wait to hear the whole theme on like electric guitar or something!!!!#@!#

Vehicles

The mongoose is the new vehicle that I’ve seen in the game. It is like a small warthog. Faster, more maneuverable and as far as I can tell, only fits 1 person. Great for running flags I imagine, but not too useful for the smaller maps available in the beta. Everything else seems about the same. The Ghost looks cooler than before, but maybe a little weaker?

Maps

We get to play 3 maps in the beta. They are all pretty cool. My favorite is the snow one and my least favorite is the huge Valhalla though I’d admit I haven’t played that one as much. They are all very pretty, detailed, simple (and yet complex enough as well) enough to memorize and have fun playing after just a few games. I’m sure all the improvements with Xbox Live since the last system will make any big map mistakes bungie makes a non issue with Halo 3.

Weapons

The weapons are not really the focal point of the game. I mean obviously you shoot and kill everyone with weapons and whatnot, but this game feels more like they fine tuned all the weapons rather than created any drastic new ones. For instance, the Covenant/alien side was missing a decently powered, dual wield-able gun (the human SMG) and now they have it with the Spiker (2 of which is an excellent combo) Most of the other weapons are more or less the same, the assault rifle from Halo 1 is back and much more solid of a weapon too. I’ve got absolutely no gripes with Halo 3’s weapons. Spartan Laser? Yes it is as cool as it sounds.

What’s New? Items, Stats, Ranking, MORE!

This is where Halo 3 really ups the stakes…

Items are what the mysterious X button now activates. So far there is the portable jumper, the bubble shield, and the energy dampener. They all do exactly what it sounds like they do (a portable “push upper”, a shield that blocks all fire but allows people to pass through, a field that kills all shields). I kinda think that these are things that are gonnna be a real treat for the advanced players when they start to really get used to having them around. When you suck, it’s not super easy to find great uses for these items right off the get go but after a while you definitely start to get a feel for how powerful these assets can be to your CTF team for instance or other gameplay modes.

Another really cool feature is the stats - in short you can go to bungie.com and see your ranking much like in some CS servers out there. You can see the games you’ve played, your score for those games, what weapons you used, games played, times played…etc. From your rankings you can also explore the rankings of other players which is really cool because it gives the game a much more involving feeling. It creates meaning to how well you do and allows you to see your improvement in numbers. Very cool. If they can really master this area, this type of feature could really revolutionize online gaming for consoles by stealing even more of the players’ mind share even when they aren’t on their console.

Ranking is similar from Halo2 but the user experience seems to be much improved. You are matched up much faster, the menus and pop-ups are all lightening fast, and the ranking system is very simple and clear. I didn’t actually do too much halo 2 on live but this is definitely nice.

Bottom Line

This game is awesome. It’s ready to be released as it is and including the few bugs and annoying factors it is probably already one of the best games on 360. To think the final game is going to look and feel even better (provided MS actually makes use of whatever data they are gathering from this beta) is very exciting to me. I play this almost everyday for at least like 15 minutes and honestly, its great fun! If any of you are on Halo 3 beta, FIND ME my gamertag is “AoKUSA Vash“.

Have fun all and enjoy the screens below!

Also a song with Halo in the title: OH YEAH!!
Halo by James D. Stark

8 Games that will turn the wheels of history!!

2007 is slated to finish very strong in video game releases. Several high profile games that have been shown off for the last 2 years the major conventions (like E3) are finally coming to release and will truly demonstrate the much touted power of the next generation consoles. For this reason I do not include any Wii games in this list as fun as they are (don’t hate me). The following games are games that will move the industry forward in some way or another. They aren’t “just another shooter” or cookie cutter RPGs. These are games will make HISTORY! Without further ado!!!:

#7 Blue Dragon

At first Glance Blue Dragon is nothing more than an extra shiny cartoon RPG. Take a look at who is behind this wonderful looking game you you’ll double take:

Hironobu Sakaguchi – Writer for the first 5 Final Fantasy games.

Akira Toriyama – Character designer of Dragonball cartoon and manga as well as Dragon Quest video games.

Nobuo Uematsu – God knows how many beautiful scores and soundtracks Nobuo has cranked out for the Final Fantasy series in his lifetime.

Still, the game is already released in Japan and has recieved tremendous positive feedback and can possibly be considered the sole reason for the 360’s decent performance n Japan. The WORLD CHANGING part however, is that this game will be the first good JRPG (japanese RPG) to be released on any Microsoft console and its success could begin the deterioration of Square Enix’s love affair with Sony and Nintendo/exclusion of Microsoft. Lack of lengthy RPGs has long been a major lacking in the Xbox department and Blue Dragon is here to change that.

Those of you with an Xbox 360 – Plug that baby into the internet and download the trailer for this game. It’s almost like 3 minutes long or something but it really shows off the artistic style of the game, the emotional voice acting, and all-star music. Check it out! In case you can’t here is one from YouTube!

#6 Half-Life 2: Orange Box

So this game already comes as a GREAT steal if it’s priced similarly to the other next gen games ($60) because its really like 5 excellent games in 1.

Half-Life 2 – Very commonly known as the best sci-fi shooter of all time, HL2 is making its way into both Ps3 and 360 consoles after living on PC (and original Xbox) for almost 2 years! This game is an instant classic as it incorporates an amazing physics engine with unprecedented graphics for it’s time.

Episode 1 – Don’t know too much about this game other than that it is the continuation of HL2. It incorporates a few new features (minor) and maintains the quality of the main series.

Episode 2 – Been waiting for this for ages as some of the movies show some new AMAZING uses of physics such as Farmhouses EXPLODING and whatnot. Looks cool! More episodic content through Xbox Live? Probably. Sweet.

Team Fortress 2 – Probably the longest delayed game in the whole world. Team Fortress was originally a fan favorite in terms of military squad/role based shooters. TF 2 surprised the world with it’s cartoony look and action packed game play. Get ready, this ones gonna be major.

Portal – Probably worth the whole $60 by itself, Portal must have been made by some of the world’s smartest people. I can’t quite describe the concept. Actually yes I can, but I cannot do it justice. Just watch this video. Portals GALORE! This part is probably what makes the Orange box on this list – Pushing existing game types to the next level, thereby reinventing an entire genre and bringing a completely unprecedented level of game play to customers. Thats huge!

#5 BioShock

Much more than your average shooter. From what I’ve seen BioShock combines an amazing first person shooter concept with a historical yet futuristic yet fantasy-esque scenery with the same demented horror an imagery as the Resident Evil series. I’ll try to paint a picture, with words….Mad Scientists escape to underwater refuge, create a utopia base on DNA alteration and scietific progress of the most horrific type. Society collapses, freakish mutants run wild in the underwater world. Enter you. Who knows who you are but you’re there for a reason. You fight anything from little girls, to massive monsters, to demonish mutants. Can’t kill a certain dude? Alter your DNA and shit, maybe make a living beehive out of your hand and use that to your advantage. Or any number of other awesome alterations. Or use your cleverness t reprogram security systems to help you or pit several enemies against each other while you watch an then finish off the survivor. It is an incredibly ambitious game and upon first hearing the level of ambition in this game I was incredibly skeptical but after seeing some of the game play footage, I am totally sold.

Disgusting…

#4 Lair

This game looks amazing. It is a ps3 exclusive. The premise you ask? Dragons. Killing people, killing other dragons, killing huge monsters, attacking castles. I simply cannot comprehend how the AMBITIOUSNESS of this game is even this generation. After watching some of the videos and seeing what the ps3 is truly capable of, I am truly convinced that Lair is going to truly next generation. The graphics are beautiful, the game play looks dazzling, involving, complex but not overly so, strategic, and vast. I mean I could just keep listing adjectives, or I could show you a video of this monster of a game in action. I can’t wait to play this on my friend’s ps3 and if the system ever gets enough of these types of games for me to actually shell out the dough to buy one, I’ll definitely pick this one up.

#3 Halo 3

What do I even need to say about this game? This is going to be the biggest drop of the entire year no matter what happens. Actually, between this and the next game on the list, they’ll probably make more money than the rest of these combined….Actually I have no data to back that up but I feel like that’s probably true? Lets take a quick look at what’s new with Halo 3 and what it brings to the “court”

New weapons: Between the spartan laser, the halo 1 battle rifle, spiker, improved needler? There should be a lot new stuff about this game that will make it even more fun than before. There’s a few weapons that are so big in fact that the camera shifts out of 1st person view and into 3rd person!!!

Graphics: From what i hear, they are simply beautiful.

New vehicles: Updated vehicles and one new mongoose! Its looks like the warthog but smaller and faster? I saw this video too of the car driving over this spot of light that makes it jump over this building!! Amazing. They can pretty much throw shit at the game and the players will love it.

Items: I’m not sure about the details but the commercials show Master Chief throwing down a gernade that immediately expands into a huge shield. It looks pretty. There was this huge mystery over what the X button would do but apparently it has something to do with all the new weapons they are putting in the game, which i know nothing about.

First Halo game on the Next Generation system!! – This is MAJOR!! First halo game on a console that is actually already good without halo! Microsoft is definitely on the right track

#2 Grand Theft Auto 4

There is very little information out on this game right now but given RockStar’s amazing track record at delivering games that take the system and the genres to the next level, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if this game turns out to be one of the best of all time. Best for me? I can still play on my 360 because for the first time Xbox is recieving GTA at the same time as a Sony product. This is big news. You can be sure to bet that RockStar will be edgy but lets hope that they don’t get carried away like with San Andreas, hot coffee anyone? I read a quote somewhere by someone on the GTA4 team saying that comparing GTA4 to GTA3 will be like comparing GTA3 to GTA2. That is quite a statement. Lets hope they weren’t participating in the Sony Attitude of “overpromising”. Nevertheless, Grand Theft Auto 4 will be one of the best games ever made. I’ll bet on that!

#1 LittleBig Planet

This is a strange one to make the list but is perhaps one of the most impressive games I have EVER seen. In case you are not keen on the video game market (as I try to be = P) , there has been a recent trend in focusing less on the technological prowess demonstrated with the game and more on the fun, simplicity, and originality that made us all fall in love video games in the first place all those years ago. The perfect example of this is the Xbox Live Arcade. Here is a library of over 100 original or remade games that all scream “I’m simple and fun, I don’t require 20+ hours to beat/enjoy, I’m inexpensive!” instead of “I am the newest thing that technology has to offer, I was made using a multimillion dollar budget, my FPS is slow even for a next gen system, I’m gonna charge 10 dollars more!!” Xbox Live Arcade is massively successful and has often been known for allowing the serious gamer’s kids, girlfriend or wife to play some low involvement games and thus get some good involvement in the gaming as well! I think its a fantastic trend.

ANYWAYS… LittleBig Planet takes the simple game, but also puts a present day spin on it. Keeping the extremely simple game, LBP incorporates social networking, the power of the internet, user-generated content, blahdy blahdy blah, and is a modern game with a simple concept with enough bells and whistles to keep players entertained for literally FOREVER. The same way YouTube revolutionized online video, LBP will revolutionize these mini games. It is only available for the ps3 through the marketplace… DOH!

So what the hell is this master concept I keep talking about? You and up to 3 friends play through a 2.5D world/level full of interactable objects and events. Your cute little characters have almost limitless possibilities in customization and the levels are completely user generated which means a double limitless game! OMFG. Like before, I won’t feebly try to describe the concept any further when I can show you right below!!!! This game is going to rule, and I may have to get a ps3 some day to join in the fun.

#0 Mass Effect

All the build up and now we are finally here…Unfortunately, I’m going to build up a little more. I’ve played a shit ton of games in my life but without a doubt my favorite of all time is definitely Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic. This game is amazing in its own right in almost every way. The length is very appropriate, the story is epic, non linear, and original with MANY twists and turns to boot. You can choose to be good or evil which will completely change the way the game turns out at EVERY point in the game! BioWare is the company that created this game… They’ve been missing in action since KOTOR came out a few years ago and I think this is what they were working on.

Mass Effect.

“The game takes place in the year 2183, with the player assuming the role of an elite human soldier named Commander Shepard. The story revolves around an ancient alien prophecy stating that, every fifty thousand years, an alien race comes to the galaxy to harvest all organic life, and the time of their return is approaching. As the first human Spectre – sworn defenders of galactic peace – Shepard’s mission is to halt the advancing armies of a legendary agent gone rogue. Shepard will lead an elite team across hostile alien worlds and discover that the true threat is far greater than anyone imagined. “

This game looks and feels a little like Knight of the Old Republic when you first see the videos, but there is a difference. This game is TRULY next generation. Instead of conversing and choosing speech by reading text, you look at the face of your dialogue partner and read his emotions right off his rendered face. The dialogue is so fluid in fact I can hardly beleive that the whole game can be like this! The fighting system looks so unbelievably cool, and original. It seems to combine recent evolutions in squad based combat, turn based combat (?), and first person shooter elements all into one monstrously cool LOOKING game. I hope this area doesnt fall through as it is incredibly important. The graphics are truly incredible and are definitely the most beautiful I’ve seen on the web anywhere, for any game for any system! The world is enormous too as you can travel from solar system to solar system within your galaxy and from planet to planet in each solar system! I mean to tell you the truth the whole game is so damn AMBITIOUS that I’m a little afraid that EVEN BioWare won’t be able to pull it off though. However, I am an optimist so I’m sure it’ll happen.

Please take a look at some of these amazing videos and tell me what you think!

Well that concludes it everyone! These are the 8 most important games of the year according to yours truly. Please let me know what you thought of this article! I spent a ton of time on it but it came easily because its my passion . Enjoy and happy playing!

BTW Enjoy this magical music!
You And I Both by Jason Mraz

Funny Video Tuesday!

Here’s some of the funnier videos I’ve come across in the the last couple days…

This is a spoof on the Behind the Music series on Vh1 about Luigi, the neglected brother. Pretty clever!

This is the funniest commercial I’ve seen in a while! Spider-Man working his way into our everyday lives. Excellent.

Lol…
Super Mario Bros. by Andrew Chae

Spider-Man 3 – The Review of the Century!

Hi! So today I’m going to talk a bit about my feelings on Spider-Man 3. Almost all of Phi Delta Theta fraternity went to the IMAX with me on midnight opening night and it was a fantastic time. We all got pretty good seats and the theater was totally packed with Spidey Fans. All in all it was a pretty awesome night but thats not what I’m here to talk about. I’m here to review Spider-Man 3 the movie.

Before I get started, lemme give a little background information. I HATE it when people give really critical and negative reviews not because I don’t like to hear it but rather because it seems so pointless to give out a blanket statement that the masses are supposed to read and take into account when deciding to see a movie. Movies are kind of like music in some respects, how the heck are you supposed to review something when everyone on earth is going to have a completely different feeling and background going in? I guess it’s tough but a necessary thing.

Anyhow, I believe MY opinion in particular matters when it comes to a Spider-Man review because I have loved Spider-Man ever since I was a tiny kid. When it comes to comic movies a lot of non-readers look to me for my interest level in order to determine how excited they themselves should be. In other words, comic fans are thought/opinion leaders when it comes to comic related movies. With that being said, this is my OPINION on the movie.

Spider-Man, unlike X-Men maintained a fantastic director throughout the trilogy and has long been praised as the best comic book movie series in the history of comic movies. I tend to agree with this as Spider-Man focuses on the individual man’s struggles in the everyday world (paying taxes, girlfriend issues, school etc) so more people can relate to it. So without further Adieu (or however u spell that) I give you my review of Spider-Man 3 (SPOILER ALERT)…

Mario in a whole new light…

Another great video found on youtube. I cracked up when I saw this….

This is quite possibly one of the cleverest videos I’ve seen on the web and definitely full of minijokes, which is niiiice…

Enjoy

This song reminds be about drugs….
Where Is My Mind? by Pixies

Boom Boom Rocket

Wow! Today I actually purchased another game on Xbox Live Arcade! It’s entitled “Boom Boom Rocket.”

Basically this game is like a DDR game played with both thumbs on both the buttons as well as the d-pad. It doesn’t actually sound that fantastic, I know, but bear with me there’s more. What actually sets this game apart from Dance Dance Revolution is the visuals and the music.

I have NEVER really gotten into DDR for some reason, whether it be the strange visuals (IMO) and the bad music (IMO) . I loved the concept of playing a rhythmic game in addition to music that is enjoyable (see mass success known as Guitar Hero). However, BOOM BOOM Rocket! has awesome graphics that is totally simple but very mesmerizing. Basically the arrows fly up into a 3d cityscape while you push the buttons. It’s really simple and it never really changes other than the vantage point as you whiz around the skyline of a nighttime city setting off your arrow shaped fireworks and lighting up the screen magnificently.

What really made me write a post about this game though is the music!!! The music in this game immediately sparked my interest because not only does it have the heavy techno beat rhythms of DDR and other music games, but every song is instantly accessible to every player because all the music is originally remixed classical music by famous composers like Beethoven and Mozart. Among the all star cast is Moonlight Sonata, Flight of the Valkyries, Brave New World, William Tell Overture.

awesome!!

I’m not really good right off the bat with this game because I’m terrible at rhythm games in general but I suspect the music can win me over.

Also, another AWESOME feature is that if you have music loaded onto your Xbox 360 or have some connect between your media center PC with your 360, you can listen to your own music that has the cityscape/fireworks game play. Good stuff check it out! Also, check out one of the awesome songs on the soundtrack!

Moonlight Sonata by Francis Trevor

Most Excellent Videos of the Week

Everyone loves funny videos and I have a knack for finding the good ones so here are a couple!

Haloid

If you a gamer you must watch this. One of the best fan made videos I’ve ever seen in my whole life. I won’t ruin anything but you should definitely watch until the end.

George Washington

Washing-ton Washing-ton, Six foot Eight wieghs a fucking TON.

Dear Sister

Hilarious, spoof of the O.C. season finale of second season where Marissa shoots Ryan’s brother. Hilarious even if you haven’t seen it.

And a last one thats not a video … trust me. its good.

http://jibberjabba.ytmnd.com/

That’s all for this week, god damn i’m good.

Sound familiar?
Gimme Some More by Busta Rhymes

My Original Xbox (named Exxie) – What do I do with you?

Hello again everyone! It is a beautiful day today in Seattle and I am excited to go home from work! As many of you know, I’ve recently bought myself a sweet new TV. It’s a bit silly to say but the exact thing that inspired me to drop a ton of cash on my 37in LCD HDTV is actually a very minute detail of one particular game. Dead Rising, as I’ve blogged about before, is an AWESOME game. However, it has one terrible flaw. The text in this game is terribly hard to read on older, non HD television sets and though the story and such are not exactly the highlight of this game as much as the gameplay and concept are, I really wanted to experience this game, and all future Xbox 360 games I bought to the absolute fullest… I mean, I might as well right? There’s nothing better I should be saving up for at this age right? Like real estate, investments, ROTH IRAS, car, savings………

Anywhoo, now that I have this amazing system (360) and this amazing tv and amazing sound system, and amazing buddies and girlfriend to enjoy it all with me i’m left with a terrible dilemma. Yes, thats right, my xbox. It’s just taking up space now right? I have a system that outfoxes it in every way shape and form AND all that right? WRONG! Exxie, you’re future is still bright! Here are my plans for you!

1. Delete everything off of your hard drive (backup games, pictures, music, whatever… you do have a 120 gig hard drive afterall! Much better than 360’s weak 20 gig)
2. Throw away all the games that aren’t *the best freaking games that ever came out for original xbox* – because who the hell needs a bunch of crappy 2nd tier xbox games when you have 3 next gen systems on the horizon?
3. Install the latest Xbox Media Center as the dashboard – Best dashboard alternative in my opinion
4. Rip all the best games onto the hard drive – only like 4-5 games worth. Only the best.
5. Put on all the essential emulator softwares (SNES, Genesis, N64, Mame) and roms (legal backups of course)
6. Make sure all the above combined takes up no more than 60 gigs leaving a full 100 for media center capabilities.
7. Backup ALL my photo’s and music onto the hard drive.
8. backup all my Tv shows onto the hard drive
9. Skin the entire interface with MC360. It is a xbox 360 lookalike skin for those who are a fan of the 360 UI.
10. Maybe: Get a wireless controller!

Finally , my original xbox will get a complete refreshing and will seem like a commpletely new piece of hardware in my room while doubling as the perfect accompaniment to make up for the xbox 360’s terrible support for media of divx or xvid types.

Until next time!

Austin

Dead Rising, 99 Nights, Enchanted Arms, Saint’s Row

Ahh, August, the month of my birthday. It seems Microsoft themselves and some of their developer friends will actually be granting me a bit of a birthday present of my own. 4 Fantastic looking games releasing this month, in addition to hopefully 4 Xbox live Arcade game too! But I’m gonna focus on the games and why I’m excited for them as well as what they mean to the video gaming industry… blah blah:

Dead Rising:

I’m excited for this game for a number of reasons… Most of them have to do with how cool the trailers for how fun this game looks with literally hundreds of zombies on the screen at once. I am not particularly a guy with a ton of guy to play games (as much as I would like that) so this game would be perfect for me to just pick up and play for a couple minutes and not having to worry about stuff like missing the flow of the story line, missing important parts, forgetting story lines… The videos look cool too as well as you can apparently use literally hundreds of objects as weapons, anything you can find in a mall. OH I’m sorry: I forgot to introduce the setting of the game. Your a photographer in a mall that’s infest with zombies. Take pics and escape to tell the outside world. There you go.

Nothing really significant about this game other than that its supposedly only like 2 hours long and you can actually beat it in 2 hours. There is supposedly a ton of different ways to beat it and the challenge is to prioritize what you want to do with the 2 hours you have, for instance saving people, taking pics for points I’m guessing, or solving the mystery of zombies in a mall.Very Unique.
Ninety Nine Nights:

This game looks amazing. Have you ever played any of the what 6 or 7 dynasty warriors and been slicing up Chinese people mercilessly when you said this to yourself “This game is great! But I really wish it was better! and not so repetitive! With better graphics! I wish the developers had more vision and goals for this game instead of making one every six months!” Well 99 Nights looks like the solution. You slice up what seems like hundreds of baddies on the screen at once and all the while it looks BEAUTIFUL, fluid, dramatic, and FUN~!. I know the hack and slash style of Dynasty Warriors is loved by a lot of people but their approach is just so dry and old. I’m glad 99 nights is coming out.

Significance. I think this game will really show the world what kind of stuff the xbox 360 is capable of. Also, it is Japanese in the making so hopefully it will help out 360 sales in the eastern world.
Enchanted Arms:

Japanese RPG featuring a grand scope, magical powers, huge monsters, and 360 power and graphics. What more could we ask for? I only watched the trailer from e3 and read a few short quips but I’m interested enough to write about it.

Significance: Its the first Japanese Rpg to be released in the US for any xbox system. This is HUGE considering a TON of people have the complaint that the xbox lacks good rpgs, particularly the sqaresoft/enix style ones. If this game is as good as it looks like it will be. That will be a huge win for Microsoft to have it in their collection.

Saint’s Row:

What is the game that many people have bought a ps2 for the sole reason of playing? What is a game so popular it has caused international controversy. What is a game whose developers are so bold they inserted a strait up sex scene (hot coffee)? Of course i am talking about Grand theft Auto. PS2 won it big when they got GTA to be exclusively created for ps2 for so long. They lost the next gen battle when MS weaseled rock star into creating for both 360 and ps3 but Sneaky Microsoft! They wanna pull another fast one! Saint’s Row is in the truest sense of the word, next generation Grand theft Auto. It looks just like it but better. And from the videos, it is better. Of course only time and release and public reaction will only tell if it truly is anything to care about but from the videos Ive seen so far. I’m not only impressed. I’m excited!

The physics engine looks great. The customization for characters and cars is smooth and amazing. The cast of voice actors is just rediculous (in a good way) This game has all the makings of a great game.

Thats all for today FRIENDS!

Now Listening to Faster Pusscat Kill by Paul Oakenfold

What’s been goin on lately

Hey there. I havent posted for a few weeks now! Well here I am!!!

30 mile bike ride – I went on a 30 mile bike ride with the lovely Vy Duong yesterday. It was pretty damn tiring. We left at about 10 am from her house and rode up and behind her house to the 520 freeway which we followed alongside to Marymoor park. From Marymoor we rode along the Sammamish river trail alll the way past woodinville. We stopped somewhere around there to grab a bite to eat from Qdoba, which is suprisingly good! On the way back we rode up these steep hills. I nearly died…. Vy was just fine. that SMILER!!!!!

It’s actually really cool. We kind of unofficially started having sundays be exercise days but instead of just running at the IMA or something we usually do something cool like hiking different mountains or go bike riding. I’m starting to really see how out of shape i’ve been for the last couple years as I get out of breath so easy! Luckily I’m doing this lol. We’re not sure yet what we’re going to do for the next couple weeks yet and I would kind of like to keep it that way to prevent it from being too planned out, like the rest of my current lifestyle seems. But I am hoping that we eventually get to do some rock climbing and maybe some cayaking or canoeing. I am extremely excited because Vy always gets even more excited than me!

Vy and I went to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse together for the first time the other day (the one in Bellevue Square) We ordered the porterhouse steak for 2. Now, I’m not some sort of food critic or expert on steaks or anything but I gotta say… “Ruth’s Chris makes one helluva steak”. It was so good that the second day I ate the leftovers, which had been sitting, unrefridgerated, in my car, which had been sitting in the sun, with my BARE HANDS!!! So in case by some random fluke of reality anyone is reading this is one some sort of cosmic limbo in deciding whether or not they should ever try Ruth’s Chris, you should go. Its good. =)

I read that Microsoft will be releasing one new Live Arcade game on the 360 every week from this wedsday with street fighter until the end of the year. Good work MS. You make me glad I bought a 360. Speaking of games, August will be an amazing month in terms of video games for the 360. Dead Rising, 99 Nights, Saints Row, Enchanted Arms! If i had the cash I would by all of these. We’ll see i guess!!!! I’ll do a later post on some of these games I’m excited for and some basic info about them. Until then, know that those are the good ones. Anyone who wants to go next gen in gaming should get a 360. Each news release I hear about the other next genners makes me happier and happier that I went with the 360.

Interesting Tidbit. Recent studies conducted on the internal Microsoft network reveals that 80% of all searches run by Microsoft employees are through google. Maybe try winning over your own employees first Bill! Also, vista is gonna be awesome.