Rock Band Party time!!!!

We had a few friends come over this weekend and we ended up playing Beatles Rock Band! I cannot tell you the extreme amount of joy and pleasure I had when they said LETS PLAY.  You know that noise pigs make…I did it.

I’ve been wanting to do 4 player Beatles Rock band for a very long time, obviously, and it was everything I had hoped for. We had 2 guitars, one bass and one regular, drums and vocals. Everyone split duties though I am the only one who didn’t sing.  We eventually made the move to Rock Band 2 but encountered some “sync” issues. If anyone has a TV that has a 120 refresh rate be prepared for some fucking lame issues.I’m not saying we knew what the issue was at first but after much fumbling we did manage to figure out that was the issue. If richie were there I’m sure he would know how to do that.  Something came to me as we were playing how did we look as if we were the TV. I mean..we were all rocking around and moving but I have to wonder if we didn’t look like this while playing it – which is to say “Totally Moronic”

So, what about you? Do you think everyone looks silly while playing Rock Band, or do you get Ace Frehly’d Up and kick some major ass.

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When will the Next Gen Console Arrive?

Kotaku beat me to the punch on this piece about when the next gen console will arrive. Not that I’m ever trying to be someone who “breaks” news no no no, that’s for far worse writers than myself. Why wouldnt I turn down the chance to list numerous stats that can go either way depending on how you look at it with various quotes from people who have a higher station in life than myself.  BUT! I wont. That’s not me. And that’s not you. Not do you really give a shit when you read a quote from CFO-BBO-MMO-BO Jeff Zeyzywiski on his new game “death from trees 3 – the next evolution of disaster and destruction”.

That ranted…let me start  with the History of Release for the Consoles. Ha Ha. I’m kidding. I swear this wont be long – but there is a point to it. The XBOX came out in November 2005. (rich was there) The Ps3 came out in Novemeber 2006 (rich was there) as well as the Wii (rich was there because he has a mother fucking time MACHINE). It’s now mid 2010 – shouldn’t we be hearing news of the next gen console? See how fast that was? The point if you can’t tell was me saying that Rich is everywhere. At. All. Fucking. Times.

Next point is the increase in resolutions. The game systems were made with great graphics cards but Resolution has increased even from last year to this year yet we’re almost 5 years beyond the xbox release! Despite that I’ll put it out here right now: No news on a new system for 2 years. There’s a few reasons.

Never-mind I think we’re still looking at 3 with an outside chance of 4 until a new one is even released it’s mostly because I just cant believe that they’ll let 10 years go by. 10 years is a LONG time. I get 10 because Sony has said 10 years is how long they envision the ps3 lasting. I mean really, can you imagine using a video card from 2000 today? Case in point. DIABLO 2 and it’s AMAZING 640×480 RESOLUTION with possibly up to an astounding 800×600 resolution. Seriously? I also cant imagine the meetings of the past few years at the Executives at the Ps3 and xbox division report – we’ve lost 200 million or whatever massive number it is that they did lose. Now that they’re pulling in profits they’re going to want to recoup that and then some with year on year increases. It’s the corporate world they always want +3% increases. It’s fucking weird and unrealistic. Anyways…my rant is over.

What’s the real problem? It’s quite simply the insane success of the Wii comapred against the heavy losses handed to  Sony and Msoft in the beginning years of their systems. The Move and Kinect as everyone who even plays video games on a regluar basis knows is our favorite companies attempting to grab the success of Nintendo. It also gives them this position where they are advancing systems without being an advancement, and keeps them from looking outdated. But we all know that will not happen in this Generation. The reason? The brand awareness (more so) and how hard Nintendo has sold themselves  (less so) as not being the “hardcore” gamer to the average person is a mountain to overcome.  They quite simply wont.  Which brings me to my last point.

Nintendo will be the next one to release a console.  Despite how little the price has dropped Nintendo’s most glaring flaw is their lack of  resolution.  Here’s my insaneo whacked out theory – they’ll release a Wii .5 with the ability to play all the old wii games but you get the resolution. yeah. FUCKING INSANE RIGHT. Hell, with even the most out of date individuals now grabbing HD tv’s, the nintendo looks like utter shit on a HD tv of any size. Anyone can see this.  It’s almost an insult how jagged and awful it is on my 47 inch tv.  Granted I know everyone doesnt have a 47 inch, on a 32 it looks.  There’s not that many who dont have a HD TV of sorts. This almost proves my point of why you shouldn’t wait 10 years to update a console as we all know the Wii is really just the Gamecube.

So when can we look for Nintendo’s Wii 2?  2013.

Leave your shit-talk in the comments. I’m insane – I know.

Lego Harry Potter: The best game I’ve played all summer (6 days)

I’m going to fanboi big time right now. I love the lego video games.  Yes, even Lego Batman with it’s massive flaws and stupidly dumb and hard puzzles. Here’s an example of my love. I loved it like I enjoy punching babies.

I’m kidding. I don’t punch babies……I KICK THEM IN THE FACE. BOOYA.

Lego moving to Harry Potter as it’s Series was something that it should have explored before Batman whose flaw was  really that there was no story everyone was uniquely familiar with. With Harry Potter you have to lived in a basement with a psychopathic killer who didn’t allow you any light,  no access to the Internet, and certanly not Tim Horton’s Coffee – YOURE DRINKING FOLGERS CHOICE BITCH – to not know the story lines. We’re not even out of the First Movies and we’re finding outselves going oo and “awe” so much that we’ve run through 3 barf bags with a 4th on Standby. The biggest difference I’d have to sayis really utilizing your wands to a great effect. While this may be a pain in the arse at times, sometimes you just want to roll through everything, it makes you WANT to see what things you discover. In a video game, that kind of depth and especially the enjoyment of that depth is just not there. You really feel like you’re a little wizard and that is exactly what will make fans go Lady GaGa over this game. Nevermind the top notch graphics that remind me of…gasp…GEARS OF WAR WTF!?…running around Hogwarts (SO AMAZING SQUEEE), or the quality puzzles and, the childlike fun of the cut-scenes along with game play this game has everything I wanted it to have and more.

I will add a caveat, we’re about 4 hours into the game so there are chances it could go all SuperMario Brothers (see: SUCKS) again, but I’m hoping not. Even still, if it does I still had a great first four hours that I’ve not had since Halo ODST. Go out and buy this game immediately my fellow wizards.

Lego Harry Potter is Released June 29th available on All platforms (including the wii)

Alan Wake – First impressions.

I popped in the new game Alan Wake a few nights ago and haven’t picked it up since. To be honest – I’m a tad bit afraid of this game. Mostly because I play in the dark and have a ghost inhabiting my house (his name is Nestor) but also because I’m a total pussball.  You can make fun of me, it’s fine. Look at this photo and tell me you either don’t Laugh or get weird-ed out.

I’ll go back and give it a shot after the 10 other games i’ve got lined up, Ratchet and Clank and Bioshock 2 to name a FEW, but I’ll be sure to keep it to day time play.ha ha. I will say this, the hokey story line taken straight out of a Steven King fanboi site has me laughing. It’s a lighthouse – but I dont know what it means – need to find cover. fast. It’s like  how I feel with the tv show V…they’re purposly guiding you on how you should feel. And …after lost i like the guessing game.

I dunno. You tell me. Is Alan Wake too scarey?

GBU Game Review for Mass Effect 2 (Xbox360)

Right off the bat, I didn’t play the first game. So I can’t really compare, just mention differences I’ve heard. And two, this is one of my favorite games of the year so far. How much so? 10/10

The Good – From what I’ve read/heard/etc., everything that was wrong with the first game, is fixed here. Very simply, I found this game to be a ton of fun. So much that after I exhausted the 360 version, I started on the PC version, and I’m enjoying it all over again. Ok ok, enough with the gushing. It’s a sci-fi action rpg.

In classic Bioware form, you create a character, choose a class, then fall into a story backed by a deep story, dialog system, and in this game, real time action that I’ve compared to a lite version of Gears of War. Third person shooter action with a cover system, plus powers that are cool, numerous, and of course upgradeable. There’s an insane amount of missions, most of which are fun, and with the dialog system, determines if you’re a nice guy or a hard ass. You usually roll around with a squad of 2 other characters, who also are bad ass gun wielders with awesome powers. This combo makes for some deep action, yet it’s simple to get into.

The guys you recruit are all interesting, have their own good story, and all bring something different to the table. The graphics are damn nice, they keep a smooth framerate almost all the time with some gorgeous detail too. Sound design and music are also up there. Good surround sound and mostly good voice acting. All that with the tight gameplay makes for an awesome, highly recommended package.

The Bad – One of the optional things you can do in the game, mining, can be a slow, boring, grinding process. More so on the 360, you scan a planet while moving a cursor(probe) across the surface trying to get minerals so you can upgrade ship parts, weapons, etc. It’s incredibly slow and boring, but you don’t have to do it. It’s just that the ship upgrades can significantly alter the outcome of the game. The scanning is alot better on the pc version, you don’t have to move a slow cursor with a stick, you spin the planet with your mouse the way you’d spin a globe, it’s much faster.

Towards the end of the game, where things get really hectic, the 360’s framerate stutters quite a bit.

The Ugly – How unexpectedly cracked out I got with this game….there were times where 2, 3, even 4 hrs. of time would pass by while playing.

GBU Game Review for Brutal Legend (XBOX 360)

I found out about this game based purely on hype. Sure we’ve spoken about this on the podcast but alas my memory is not like the old days. I’m glad the hype machine worked on this one. Now  I cant recant to you the process why this game was developed in the manner it was or what game was the most influential one before that one but…I can tell you I had a lot of fun playing this. Not only just with gameplay but also laughing which very very very rarely happens while playing a video game. So..enough…with the REVIEW ALREADY.
Good: Jokesin,Jokesin, Jokesin’.  The Metal Jokes abound in this game.  There’s a mention of a Headbangers that still has me laughing when I think about it. Dont worry, it’s no spoiler.  The Map is huge and the gameplay is similar in it’s ease to Fable but, ok, i’ll be a jerk this gameplay is what star wars force unleashed wished it could be. The moves are not hard to get down and they actually DO something. Hold B and you create a fire explosion! Sweeeeeet.  There’s a special’s menu, bound to the shoulder button, where you play riff’s, think Wind Waker here, that summons various things or special abilities. Kind of like World of Warcraft 51 point talents. You can summon an animal aid, or your car or my personal favorite Melt Faces where you melt the faces of the enemies nearby. Yeah. Awesome right?   These effects come into play during the battle matches you have both in game and with another person.  In essense you are given the command of an army and attempt to manage it’s resources duking it out with another player by sending your army to take control of their towers. If you think it sounds like an RTS but in first/third person, you’re totally correct. And if you say that’s the 4th type of game I’ve mentioned you’re very smart. This game takes a lot of what works and puts it into a game, and well.  So this multiplayer is a nice additive and completely unexpected. But there’s more that I’ll get to in a bit.  You are also given this weird way of upgrading your character by finding relic’s and doing missions. You earn these fire of the god points that you can use to spend on upgrades in a garage run by Ozzy Osborne of all chracters. Given how completely easy it was to understand ozzy, I think the whole drunk ozzy thing as a reality is bogus. Dude knows his product and sells it. and we eat it up.

Bad: The Multiplayer match appears out of nowhere after a short “how to” session. The multiplayer while fun is not really perfected and a little overdone. I did not expect it to be the last 3 stages of the game. Which it very nearly was. If you want to complete a lot of the side missions (and you will) you’ll have to treck all OVER the map. It’s fun but it gets a tad overwhelming due to the map size. I’m talking the hunting mission. UGH. That was an achievement I worked TOWARDS. 

Ugly: The game tends to get a tad long in the tooth near the end. While almost not wanting the game to finish the Devloper got a few things really right and then OVERDID it. I guess it’s the metal thing where it’s just done to death. I guess in the sense it’s not ugly.

GBU Game Review for Halo 3 ODST (Xbox360)

Coming 2yrs after the release of Halo 3 is this tight little expansion, Halo 3 ODST. If you’re a Halo fan, you know what to do, if not, this game won’t change your mind…..8/10.

The Good – More Halo, that’s really good to me, which means top notch console first person shooter action. The storyline is a fresh take on the usual formula, you get to see different takes from different character perspectives. It all takes place during Halo 2, basically experiencing a portion of what went down in New Mombasa. Tight, intense gunfights that keep you on your toes, are quite exhilarating. There’s a very cool semi-open world aspect that lets you approach enemies from different angles on some levels. Enemy AI is as smart as ever in a Halo game, no two battles are quite the same, even approaching a gunfight multiple times yields different, if even slight, experiences. Nighttime scenes have an air of creepiness. The graphics engine still looks good two years later. Audio is as good as it gets on the 360, high quality effects, well designed surround direction, and some pretty incredible music all add to another awesome Halo experience. The new Firefight mode is supposed to be pretty fun, along the lines of Gears of War 2’s horde mode, haven’t had the chance to try it myself, but I trust it’s a blast with friends. The multiplayer portion comes on it’s own disc with all the previous Halo 3 DLC maps with 3 new maps as well.

The Bad – The campaign is kinda short, it should’ve lasted at least another hour and a half since the main game is maybe 6-7hrs. While I’m happy to shell out for a new Halo game, there’s a reason why it’s called “Halo 3 ODST”, it’s just an expansion of Halo 3….not a new Halo game, probably should have been 40$ instead of 60$. Sure you got some expanded multiplayer, but it’s still Halo 3’s multiplayer, and I’m not an online multiplayer anymore, so that 2nd disc is gonna go to waste for me. You’re not Master Chief, and the characters you do play as are nowhere near as cool as he is, they’re pretty bland actually. While the overall graphics engine still looks great, you would think they’d update the face tech, the characters without their masks look pretty bad. I can be wrong, but I always remembered Halo autosaving, you have to “Save And Quit” to do this here, so if you turn off the box in mid game, you’re screwed.

The Ugly – When you go into the map/objectives screen, the game doesn’t pause, which means if you’re looking at the map, reading objectives or what have you, you can still get hit by enemies…..umm, hello? Pause?!?

GBU Game Review for Batman:Arkham Asylum (Xbox360)

Could it be? A super hero based title that hangs with the triple-A big boys? Since I feel this game is a 9/10, I’d say so. I played this joint on the xbox360, it’s also out for PS3 and PC.

The Good – Awesome 3rd person adventure that juggles many gaming styles. Obviously you play as Batman, who captures the Joker, while transporting him to Arkham Asylum, Joker gets loose and has sinister plans in place, taking over the asylum and trying to put Batman through a night of hell. It’s got a great story and awesome voice acting, written by the guy who used to write the animated series, and voiced by the same actors as well. The fighting system is simple to control but deep in it’s execution, stealth is there but never overbearing. So if you don’t like stealth(I do though), you’ll be fine since these portions aren’t long and nowhere near as deep and challenging as a Metal Gear Solid or Splinter Cell. There’s a detective mode to get your sleuth on, the view changes to where you can see enemies behind walls(x-ray style), hidden pathways, and important objectives. All of Batman’s signature gadgets are here, from the batarang, to the grappling hook, to a very cool hacking device, all gets unlocked along the way. There’s a great upgrade system that lets you update your fight skills, gadget abilities and so on. Fighting and finding the Riddler’s hidden stuff helps to build this up, achievement junkies will feel right at home. The graphics are superb, I was always impressed and couldn’t wait to see next portion of the island or the next signature villain. All in all, a tight package with great gameplay, a lengthy campaign, well done pacing, and lots of cool extras and challenges worth unlocking.

The Bad – Some of the boss battles, there’s a pattern with the first one you get down, which is cool….but then the next battle, it’s like the same thing but against 2 bosses at once(which is cool too), then the next battle, same thing but with regular enemies in addition to the two, and so son…it’s a little repetitive and less imaginative that what the rest of this great game offers, at least they’re not ridiculously difficult. Some of the level design choices are little too ‘gamey’, alot of gargoyles to swing from in the weirdest places for example. You may be inclined to leave detective mode on for too much of the time(which you don’t have to), this makes you miss alot of the awesome art direction in the graphics.

The Ugly – Some of the character design choices, they’re way too diesel, IE, roided up beyond Vince McMahon proportions….I mean, Batman’s biceps are as big as his head, whoa jeebus!

Wii Price Drop?

Looks like it peeps. The blogs like Kotaku are getting the same kinds of rumors and circular scans they got right before the recent PS3 and 360 price drops. It seems like it’s gonna be happening by the end of September, the same setup(Nintendo Wii with Wii Sports) will be dropping 50 bux, which puts it at a cool $199.99. Exciting? Well, keeping my douchebag quotient to a minimum, I CAN get an xbox360 arcade for the same price….just sayin…

Modern Warfare 2-themed Xbox360

I just read on joystiq, another 360 bundle is coming our way. Themed after the latest Call of Duty that’s coming soon, Modern Warfare 2, also shipping with a 250GB hard drive(!), 2 wireless controllers, and of course a copy of Modern Warfare 2, for $399. Maybe this is where that 250GB 360 rumor came from that we reported on many podcast moons ago. But it looks like Microsoft won’t be making that huge hard drive available separately anytime soon, they probably wanna gauge the demand, but since they’re screwing us on the 120gig’s price, I’d think it’s kinda hard to do that. Anyways, this awesome sounding limited edition package drops when the game does, 11/10/09, available for pre-order now.

Xbox 360 Holiday 2009 Release

We spoke a little about this on the 26th podcast and I wanted to post some of the notes we had from the podcast. Not too much to add really other than we’re excited but here are the details of the Xbox only releases for the Holiday season as of today. Here goes nothing….

Halo 3 Odst

Release Date September 22nd

On 9/22 Halo 3: ODST will be released it is a new, stand-alone expansion to the Halo saga that lets players experience the events leading up to the epic story told in Halo 3 through the eyes of an entirely new character the ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper), as they search for clues leading to the whereabouts of their scattered squad and the motivations behind the Covenant’s invasion of New Mombasa. The game adds a new dimension to an all-encompassing universe that gamers around the world have known and loved since the release of the first Halo game in late 2001.

New Campaign, New Hero, New Tactics
Halo 3: ODST allows players to explore dangerous new ground, search the dark, abandoned streets of New Mombasa for clues, and fight back against the Covenant invasion from multiple perspectives. Dropping in as “the rookie,” a new member of an elite squad of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (ODST) sent into New Mombasa on a classified recon mission, you’ll be armed with specialized weaponry and upgraded technology, including silenced weapons and a VISR enhanced vision mode. Separated from your squad, you’ll have to scour the city for clues in order to learn what happened to Buck, Dare, Dutch, Mickey, and Romeo. As you collect new clues, you’ll experience the story from their perspectives, fighting through the occupied city hours earlier.

• Halo 3: ODST contains 1,750 new Xbox LIVE achievement points, as well as new weapons, technology and an invite to join the Halo: Reach beta in 2010.
• Stand-alone expansion to Halo 3 that doesn’t require ownership of the previous game to play.
• New campaign, hero and tactics from the Halo universe as players take on the role of a rookie in the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers sent into New Mombasa.
• 4-player co-op “Firefight” mode offers a whole new way to play Halo with friends both via system link and over Xbox LIVE.
• Along with all the existing Halo 3 maps, ODST contains three new multiplayer Halo 3 maps: Heretic, Longshore, and Citadel.

Forza MotorSport 3

Release Date  October 27th, 10/27

Whether it’s an exotic sports car like the new Audi R8 V10, a classic American muscle car like the Ford GT or a hot Asian import like the Nissan 370Z, everyone has a dream car. Live the most realistic racing experience ever as you take the wheel of more than 400 of the most-beloved cars on over 100 renowned real-world tracks and exotic road courses from around the globe. With breathtaking high-definition graphics and the most advanced vehicle performance modeling in a video game, “Forza Motorsport 3” includes a host of driving assists and adjustable skill levels to make the game a gripping pick-up-and-play experience for audiences of all ages and skill levels. Your escape into the world of car culture in “Forza Motorsport 3” doesn’t stop at the track. “Forza Motorsport 3” further fuels the imaginations of its already thriving community of painters, tuners and photographers with improved customization tools and brand-new ways to share creations with the world via Xbox LIVE.* Xbox LIVE makes your journey into the “Forza Motorsport” community and the world of user-generated content easy and fun. A love of cars lives in all of us. “Forza Motorsport 3” is the automotive playground we’ve all been waiting for.

• New game modes such as single-player season mode which puts you through a completely personalized racing calendar includes 200+ different events, including Circuit, Oval, Drag, Drift and Timed Events.
• Something to match every car lover’s dream including more than 400 fully customizable and tunable cars from over 50 of the world¿s leading manufacturers and 100+ international tracks.
• Look and feel of a modern racing game built from the ground up using with the most advanced physics models, artificial intelligence and damage calculations.
• Gameplay assists including auto-braking, gameplay rewind and auto-tuning that cater to how each individual drives and evolves with you over time as your skills increase.
• In-game elements such as Livery Editor, Auction House and Deep Tuning Garage that along with content via Xbox LIVE, allow players to express their car passion through user-generated content.

Left 4 Dead 2

Release Date November 17th

Like Left 4 Dead, the sequel will involve the aftermath of an apocalyptic pandemic that created a number of zombie-like human mutants, forcing the few survivors to fight their way through the hordes to extraction points, using safehouses along the way to rest and recover. Left 4 Dead 2 will be set in the Southern United States, starting in Savannah, Georgia and ending up in New Orleans, Louisiana.^[2][3] Four new survivors will be introduced, with their backstory provided in a similar way to the original through dialogue in the game. The survivors include Coach, a high-school football coach; Rochelle, a news reporter for a local television station; Ellis, a mechanic; and Nick, a gambler and conman.[2]

GTAIV Ballad Of Gay Tony

Release Date October 29th

Grand Theft Auto IV’s second downloadable episode, The Ballad of Gay Tony injects Liberty City with an overdose of guns, glitz, and grime. As Luis Lopez, part-time hoodlum and full-time assistant to legendary nightclub impresario Tony Prince (aka “Gay Tony”), players will struggle with the competing loyalties of family and friends, and with the uncertainty about who is real and who is fake in a world in which everyone has a price.
Grand Theft Auto IV‘s The Ballad of Gay Tony will sashay into stores on October 29th as part of the Episodes from Liberty City retail disc. While hog ridin’ formed the draw of GTA IV‘s most recent DLC episode, The Lost and Damned, it appears that the sparkly nightlife and parachuting out of helicopters is what you’ll find described with enthusiasm on the back of the box.

New Mechwarrior Game

IGN posted an article on a new Mechwarrior game. From the Article,
“this new MechWarrior is set on the planet Deshler in the year 3015, and places players in the role of Adrian Khol, a wayward nobleman who prefers partying and shirking responsibility over his training and studies. However, when House Kurita launches a massive invasion to conquer Deshler, resulting in the death of his entire family, Khol discovers a purpose to fight for. ”

It goes on to state that there are a few classes revealed for the game being developed for the xbox 360 and the pc. Most notably, “Jenner (light class), both the Warhammer and the Rifleman(heavy class), and an Atlas Prime”

GBU game review for Star Wars Force Unleashed

Words cannot convey the disappointment I had while playing this game. If you played the demo, forget that you did. It’s nothing like the regular game. While playing it, it felt like some kind of prototype for the next game announcement. “See what we did, and NOW DA DA DUH DA! We’ve made it better.” If you do any amount of research you’ll see virtually every review saying the same thing but we’re not ones to take serious writers reviews too serious. So here’s my serious review. That you too cannot take seriously. Bewm.

Good: The story. I think I’d be equally as happy just watching the cutscene’s than actually playing the game. Ouch. Man. I felt that burn and I’m writing this. The ability to put you in a jedi’s shoes are there so at times you’ll really enjoy blasting people with force powers. It’s there not for all the levels but there are moments. And those moments are wonderful. You’ve got a force push that is pretty killer and force throw. You’ll most likely use these all the time. The game is deceptive in that it drops you in as vadar, and you totally destroy wookies. You can level up in game and further boost your powers as well. So in a sense it’s rpg.

Bad: That was probably the hardest good I’ve ever had to write. Because of so many “buts” that I can put in. The leveling up is cool but you max out everything just through the process of leveling up. So why level up at all? The mobs leveling up too? Yeah. They do but not like obvilion, they’re just always equally as powerful as a jedi. The boss fights are easily the worst elements of game-play. You are force to do button sequences, and if you play like i do, in a cave, in the dark, drunk and one eyed open you’ll find it hard to execute these. If you do happen to execute a few in a row, then you’ll find another set of button mashing sequences. So, if you miss these the process starts over completely and frustration enters the room.

Ugly: For all the talk of a destructible world, it’s just not there. You see clearly the pieces you can pick up. Sure boxes and stormtrooper picking up is cool, and throwing them in the same manner (and not killing them to boot) for the 200th time gets boring VERY FAST. Fighting a rancor, 10 times, not fun. 5 times? ok. Putting out content for the WII, and not for the ps3 and xbox 360 THEN selling it. Not cool.

GBU review for Condemned 2

Ok so Condemned 2 comes along and I LOVED the first one so much I ran out and got this one as soon as stores opened. I have to say I was annoyed with this game more than anything and it killed me to see such a great story crippled by game play. So without further ado…… Condemned 2 Bloodshot GOOD BAD and UGLY

GOOD: the strong story from the first Condemned fizzles a bit in this second installment. It’s a year later and a dejected, homeless and broken Ethan Thomas is called back to duty to help investigate a distressed call from his old mentor. The storyline itself isn’t too bad and actually kept me entertained. Also this new game allows for the one thing the last game didn’t. MULTIPLAYER! who doesn’t love multiplayer, zombies LOVE multiplayer so I LOVE MULTIPLAYER! Did I say it enough, I think so. Multiplayer was the greatest thing that could have been added to this game. This brought the game a whole new level of awesome, an awesome which allowed me to bludgeon my friends with bats and boards. Oh and as a side note the graphics are pretty dang good too. I didn’t want to forget the graphics since the first one was kind of like playing a movie.

BAD: Playing this game and the first one you learn things about Ethan Thomas. Players learn that Ethan is something of an Adept, at first minimal instinctual skills and a few spidey senses. The second installment would have you believe that suddenly Ethan can deal massive amounts of violence to his foes using his voice. I’m sorry but Muad’Dib Ethan is not. I just think that that’s as far fetched as it can get. Along the same lines the weapons in this game are far more fragile than the last. Hardly a fight goes by that your weapon don’t break and force you to melee fight with four or five bad guys. More on melee later, right now I would like to talk about alcohol. That’s right alcohol, Apparently Ethan is an alcoholic and needs enough booze to fuel a three day kegger to aim straight. If your not constantly getting alcohol you might as well drop the gun and resort to good old hand to hand.

UGLY: The fighting on this game was atrocious. If it wasn’t for the absolute mindless fury I was dealing with at the time I would have ditched this game. The controls for punching are a lot like fight night 2 and include a few surprises. The combos are far from simple and don’t start of very basic. It took me two controllers three nights and an entire bottle of jack daniels (for me not Ethan) to get past the first level. Although that being said once you get the hang of everything, things start to go smoother. Another thing to bother me about this game was the violence. The second installment of condemned lost a bit of its fear and suspense and develed a bit too deeply into a manhunt type bloodbath. Instead of traveling through extremely dark abandoned department stores and wondering when the bovine manure was going to strike the proverbial oscillating device, you’re now just charging through waves and waves of bloodthirsty drug zombies. Now charging through endless waves of zombies with nothing but a machete and a flashlight is indeed my own little version of heaven, but nevertheless the game suffers. The ending of the game allows for a third installment and good lord I hope it’s a good one.

Iron Maiden New Rock Band DLC

Rock Band’s new release really drops some heavy stuff on it’s users with the mega release of Iron Maiden Pack. Run to the hills is available currently as a Cover, so the fans who squee over Original versions will be mucho pleased. Here’s the full list of downloadable content for the June 9th Release.

“Aces High” (Live)
“2 Minutes to Midnight”
“The Trooper” Iron Maiden
“Wasted Years” Iron Maiden
“The Number of the Beast” (Original Version)
“Run to the Hills” (Original Version)
“Can I Play with Madness”
“The Clairvoyant”
“Powerslave”
“Fear of the Dark” (Live)
“Hallowed Be Thy Name” (Live)
“Iron Maiden” (Live)

Halo Reach

So, more halo news. I’m sure our wonderkid is jumping up and down as he’s reading this information. No word on what exactly this is but hey. More Halo isen’t really a bad thing? Unless this is going the way of the Star Wars Franchise? Here’s the trailer for Halo Reach from the E3 Convention.

Mass Effect 2 Gameplay

More News from the Mass Effect 2 camp. There is a video of game play out on the innerweb’s. One thing that stands out is the, literal standing and fireing that is still present in the game. We don’t know what “mode” it’s on, this is probably easy to be honest. And that is present in most shooter games on the Easy mode. The part where the player shoots off the Mech’s leg and it keeps coming for Shepard is AWESOME. It appears the menu’s are the same so we can probably expect more of the same but a polished style and gameplay for Mass Effect 2 ala Halo 2. Enough of the chit-chat. Here’s the video of the Mass effect 2 gameplay!

Project Natal Picture

Everyone knows about the announcement at E3 was Project Natal, that spread almost faster than the Keyboard Cat MeME. There is finally a picture up of that.
And it looks like Hal from Space Odyssey but with 3 eyes. Hello Dave.

15th Podcast!

We talk about all things E3, New Mario Bro’s, Mario Galaxy 2, God of War 3, Project Natal, The ask a rich section comes back, New Releases, Spore, and much more, join us for the 15th Podcast!

GBU for Damnation ( PC, 360)

Greetings! This is my first posting to MCC and I wanted to stick to the new tradition here and introduce a little about myself. My name is Mark aka Scotrun or Ziggie to my friends. I have been a gamer since I can remember and have loved them since my dad brought home a Commodore 64 from work one night. I play a lot of PC games but do enjoy the console life as well. I truly love the MMORPG genre and have played many including World of Warcraft, which I have been clean from for quite awhile now. Thank You : o) I enjoy all kinds of games from Shooters to RPGs and hope to share my perspective and love of games.  So here is my first review, enjoy.

This is the latest game release from Codemaster, makers of popular racing games such as Grid and Dirt. If you were fortunate to pre-order this game via Steam you also received another Codemaster’s classic called Second Sight, a very fun but slightly aged graphic engine type of 3^rd person perspective game combing a shooter with using Psychic abilities. Although irrelevant to this game Codemaster puts a unique twist once again on a classic 3^rd person view shooter by combing it with elements similar to those in the Prince of Persia series truly living up to its reputation as being billed “A shooter gone vertical”.

Good: Being a fan of tabletop RPGs I have enjoyed my fair share of genres including steampunk, a genre that this game allows for fans to play and in my opinion thoroughly enjoy. Graphically this game runs very smooth with great textures when run on high settings across the board. The levels are amazingly large with tall structures of factories one would commonly find in an industrial environment. Because of these large and high standing buildings the game truly shines in that you must climb, leap and maneuver your way among them while at most times fighting off a considerable amount of bad guys. The combat system works similar to those who are familiar with Grand Theft Auto versions for the PC, where right clicking draws your gun and left clicking allows you to fire. This style of aiming system allows you fire and kill enemies quickly while jumping from buildings or even doing it right after jumping through a glass window for a coolness factor. After 13 hours of game play later this game was definitely a fun catch. For fans of Prince of Persia style game play and puzzles along with steam driven weaponry it will surely hold your interest. Co-op players of the crowd there is a co-op mode but I have been unable to try it out as of late.

Bad: The unfortunate problem with these types of games is that jumping puzzles get repetitive and along with it comes boredom of figuring out the same puzzle, which this game unfortunately falls victim too. These sequences get split up with the addition to the shooter aspect of the game but this also becomes repetitive as well for you find yourself fighting more and more of the same quality AI. Another problem that is annoying is that you can only hold three weapons on you at a time. New weapons are available from the fallen bad guys as you move on your way; however, I found myself keeping to the weapons that were given to me at the beginning of the game because of the lack of ammo for the newer weapons. It was easier to keep my weapons then pick up the so-called upgrades.

Ugly: The only real thing I truly did hate about this game was the enemies always getting shotguns. I can’t even count how many time I jumped thru a window or jumped from a building only to get one shotted in the face by a surprise enemy.  They were everywhere! Behind corners, behind windows, even on the tops of ladder to shoot you square in the face. Beware of the shotgun barrel stare is all I got to say.