Busy Weekend

I'm thinking of changing up the structure of the site a little bit. I want to try and review a new game each week but in addition to that I think that smaller posts about a variety of the week's current hot topics will probably serve the blog better and provide my viewers with more variety in my posts. With that said, let's begin...

Sarah Palin's E-mail Hacked

There is a heck of a lot that one can say on this topic it's almost hard to begin. My overall impression on the matter is that Palin was doing something she shouldn't and she got caught. Now it doesn't really matter if any of the emails show some actual proof that something shady is/was going on, she crossed the line using a public email for more than personal stuff and should've known better. As soon as she accepted the Vice Presidential ticket, she should have cleaned out skeletons in her closet because being quickly thrust into the political lime-light brings a fuck-ton of scrutiny on everything you have previously done and every step you take up until the election.

Now I'm not defending the hackers for what they did, although it seems it wasn't too complicated in the first place. I'm sure since the FBI and Secret Service are investigating them, they probably have a limited amount of time left before they aren't so "anonymous" anymore. This is more question about having the brains to cover your own ass if you are going to play in a grey area of legality. The moral of the story? People who do stupid things get caught, eventually. Some are quicker than others such as this case, and some take several years of bad investments as seen by a few of the great American corporations who have officially wrecked the stock market for the last 2 weeks.

Spore DRM (Redux)

The whole Spore DRM thing started to piss me off a little yesterday after thinking some more about it. Originally I didn't care one way or another too much, it was just another retarded move by EA which was to be expected. I guess what I think is so stupid is the amount of idiocy on both sides of the equation. EA was the first to show how much they have been whacked with the dumb-stick by including SecuRom in the first place in the game. It absolutely has done nothing but screw over the individuals who purchased their game. People who will pirate their game will do so no matter what anti-piracy measures are in place. A fact they just need to live with instead of trying to alienate their player base.

Players who are vocal about the inclusion of SecuRom have chosen poor ways of voicing their opinions. While creating creatures hinting on DRM and doing the Amazon poor rating scheme garner some attention to the issue (which there was already plenty to begin with before the product's release), ultimately people are still buying the game and EA still wins. In order to truly make a statement, boycotting the game is the strongest method in which to tell EA you are pissed off and don't want to give them any money. While the whining has gotten EA to say they will allow more installs of the game, it has put them in a power position by being able to please the petulent screaming children, and taking away their lollipops at the same time.

For a different take on Spore, check out Zero Punctuation's review.

The Force Unleashed

I was thinking of picking up a copy this weekend but I'm going to wait until all the hype dies down and I can just grab a cheapo copy of the game in late Oct or Nov to see how it plays. Hopefully I will forget the below average reviews and come in with an open mind. I have a feeling I'm going to enjoy it anyways, even with some of the game play pitfalls. The story is supposed to be very good, and the graphics for the environments are top notch. I'm just afraid that if the game ends up being "throw the controller at the wall, while screaming obsenities" annoying, then I don't want to have paid $60 for the pleasure.

Weekend Plans

Well the weekend is finally here, but instead of just watching football and swilling beer for it's entirity, I will have to actually do some work around the house starting with re-painting the dining room. I hate to paint, or rather, I hate doing the prep-work to paint. It seems to take forever to get all the tape up the way you need it in order to make clean paint lines and not color everything incorrectly, but I guess that's life. Once you get started with the actual painting, it's not that bad. Hopefully the Hucking Fuskies can figure out what they need to do to get a win this season and be prepared for Stanford in a week. The Seahawks aren't doing much better starting the season 0-2, but are favored by 9 points this weekend over the Rams. This being Holmgren's last season as head coach, they need to step it up a notch despite the injuries plauging our reciever core.

I will soon be broke

Looking at all of the great games still due out this year, I can hear my wallet making small whimpering sounds. There is so much to buy and it all looks great, I'm sure I'm not the only gamer considering working two jobs to be able to afford it all. Here's the quick run down on what I'm looking forward to over the next few months.

Release Date : 8/19/2008 (out now)
Price: $59.99
Platform: Xbox 360
Publisher: Microsoft (Silicon Knights)
Comments: I just got my copy and have played through 30% of the game, it's really fantastic so far and definitely fun for the loot whore in all of us.











Release Date : 8/31/2008
Price: $59.99
Platform: Multi
Publisher: EA (Pandemic Studios)
Comments: This one looks to be a lot of fun, they took a good solid game concept and really enhanced it for the next gen consoles. Can't wait to drop a nuke down in this one.











Release Date : 9/7/2008
Price: $49.99
Platform: PC
Publisher: EA (Maxis)
Comments: The next games from the genius of Sims creator Will Wright, one of the most ambitious games of the year. I have been playing with the creature creator and can't wait for the rest of the game.















Release Date : 9/17/2008
Price: $59.99
Platform: Multi
Publisher: LucasArts
Comments: The force is strong with this one, check out what I thought of the demo.











Release Date : 10/21/2008
Price: $59.99
Platform: Xbox 360
Publisher: Microsoft (Lionhead Studios)
Comments: The much anticipated sequel to one of the best original xbox games Fable, Fable 2 promises richly detailed environments, an epic story, and some very interesting multi-player options that will invite players into worlds that are different than the one they create for themselves.












Release Date : 10/28/2008
Price: Varies by platform and edition ($49.99 - $79.99)
Platform: Multi
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Comments: Another fantastic RPG released in Oct, if you haven't been a part of the Fallout series, I recommend you check it out.

------

Whew! That is some list and there are some big players I haven't even mentioned yet. This just gets us to Oct and there is still Nov/Dec yet to deliver some big titles for the holiday. I think I hear my wallet screaming...

The Force Unleashed Demo

In the wee hours of the morning of August 21st, Star Wars fans everywhere finally got the chance to download the demo for The Force Unleashed and finally get their own taste of the upcoming game from LucasArts.


Taking place during the time period between Episodes III and IV, The Force Unleashed gives players the opportunity to play as a very powerful sith who is Darth Vader's secret apprentice. The basic plot of the game has you doing Lord Vader's dirty work, and obviously will there are hints of a showdown with Darth Vader himself as the culmination of the story.

While other games in the past such as Dark Forces: Jedi Knight, have given players the opportunity to feel all powerful while wield light or dark force powers, TFU is the first game to really explore the limits on what you can do with those force powers. The game engine sports being able to pick storm troopers and other enemies up like rag dolls, toss them, impale them, use lightning on them, throw them into any other object you see. It's really quite entertaining and actually makes you feel like a god amongst men. This past Wednesday Penny Arcade comic is hardly an exagerration of your powers.

The level in the demo, a TIE fighter facility, takes place early in the game and your amount of power as a player is simply astonishing. One poor storm trooper had the misfortune of getting zapped by lightning, lifted into the air at my whim, impaled with my lightsaber, then blasted over the edge of a platform as my lightsaber returned to my side. I thought it a little extreme, but hell, it sure was fun!

The controls are a little difficult to master at first, there are simply so many objects that you can interact with, you sometimes grab the wrong thing. The good thing about that is, whether or not you wanted to pick up a box or the storm trooper behind the box, either item is just as useful in your hands. The game promises to increase your powers as you play by using different types of combination of force powers. At first in the demo you cannot charge your force push power, but after a little bit of play, you then unlock the ability. There are also different combination attacks you can do with your lightsaber, the demo shows 3, but I stumbled upon at least 2 more while just messing around with different ways of slaughtering enemies.

In 3rd person games, the camera system always seems to be a bit of a hinderance. Each game has their own subtle ways the camera either works with you or fights every move you make. Thankfully in TFU the camera isn't broken by any means, you have the ability to lock on to targets which keeps the camera behind you as you manuver. While very helpful, most of the time it seems you will only use this when fighting a larger mini-boss or boss in a stage.


The graphics are very well done, Star Wars fans will notice a lot of attention to detail. While using the force there are effects popping all around the screen and even with a large battle going on, TIE fighters flying around, explosions and blasters going off all around you, the game performs very well on the Xbox 360 platform. I'm glad that LucasArts takes the time to do a very good job on all their games. They are in the position that they could just make a crappy game set in the Star Wars universe and millions of rabid fans would purchase it willingly, but instead they have a commitment to making great games and really step it up to make great games.

Now we just have to wait until the release date, to get our hands on the full game. I'm sure after playing through the demo thousands of fans are already frothing at the mouth, and they have execellent reason to do so.