Category: News

Hey all. Been a while since I really blogged here. I’ve discovered Twitter and Facebook, so you can check my profiles there if you want to keep up with what I’m up to (links are in this very sentence!).

As for what I’m up to, I’m anxiously, anxiously awaiting my copy of Too Human. I requested a review copy from Microsoft over a week ago, but it looks like my GameFly copy is going to beat the review copy to my house. I know Too Human reviews are kind of all over the place, but there is only one thing I really need to know: it’s a dungeon crawler. Based on the demo, it’s a pretty decent one. As long as each new piece of equipment comes with a significant stat boost and a visual reward (I hate games where you can’t see the items you’ve equipped), I’ll be a happy camper. The possibility of 4-player co-op in the sequel is nice too. Of course, if Diablo III lands before that, I might forget about the Too Human series altogether.

Another game on its way to my house is Tomb Raider Anniversary. I decided to rent it because Ludwig made it pretty clear to me during E3 that I wasn’t a good person unless I had played it. I like being a good person, so I figured it was worth a shot.

And, oh my lord, Castle Crashers. The wait for that game has been absolutely crushing. Alexander and I will be playing it the morning it comes out. We’ll be recording the shenanigans for XBLA in Brief. I predict it will be one hell of a good time. So good, in fact, it could very likely interfere with my work in much the same way that Bionic Commando Rearmed has (damn you, Super Hard difficulty!).

The best (or worst) thing is that from here on out there are good games dropping like flies all over the place. Silent Hill: Homecoming is scheduled to come out next frakking month. Duke Nukem 3D too. Insane. Oh, and I’m going to Santa Fe for my anniversary at the end of September. I can’t possibly deserve any of this.

Okay, this is a proud day for me. I just completed the last of the challenge rooms in Bionic Commando Rearmed. Only 103 people have finished room 56. I rank 51 among them. Booyah. Oh, I did look at a video (the one above) to figure out one of the very last parts, but I think it still counts.

Oh, and for what it’s worth, I did a few things a little differently. Some I think were faster than this video, others slower.

So, the Tom Waits concert was incredible. It was worth the very very high price of the two tickets. It’s hard to say if there was a particular highlight or not. I do know that I can’t get the song “Lucinda” out of my head now. It’s not even one of my favorites. I also liked “Invitation to the Blues,” which I wasn’t familiar with before the concert. Good stuff.

E3 is starting next week. This will be my second year attending. Strangely enough, this will be my first “real” E3. You may recall that last year’s E3 in Santa Monica was kind of an experiment. This year it’s moving back to the Los Angeles Convention Center, so it should be much less hectic and hopefully a little more fun. I’m really excited.

Finally, once E3 is over, Annie is flying in to meet me in LA. We’ll be staying there for another week and a half. I can’t wait.

I wrapped up Silent Hill Origins a few days ago (thanks to my brother graciously letting me borrow his PSP). I should mention that I’m a huge fan of Silent Hill. I should think that’s quite obvious. I am also a big fan of survival horror. I don’t know why, but some part of me just loves the macabre, the psychologically disturbing. It’s weird, because it honestly gives me nightmares, yet I persist. It doesn’t hurt that survival horror games tend to have some of the most interesting stories in video games.

Anywho, Origins. I’m going to say that the Zero Punctuation review of Origins was more or less right on the money. It’s not bad, but it’s not exactly Silent Hill. As a quick setup, the game starts as Travis Grady, a trucker, decides to take a shortcut by Silent Hill. He encounters a burning house and saves the girl inside. Before long he’s in Silent Hill on something of a wild goose chase looking for the girl.

That’s basically the problem. Travis has no reason to stay in Silent Hill. He’s not taking his daughter there on vacation. He didn’t receive a letter from his dead wife. He stays for no particular reason at all, for a girl he doesn’t know. Oh sure, you find out that Travis’ past is tied to Silent Hill, but it’s completely disconnected with his reason for being there.

Another issue is that the transitions between the normal, creepy Silent Hill to the nightmarish, even more creepy Silent Hill, are performed by the player. Anytime you find a mirror, it can be used to transition between the two different versions of Silent Hill. It’s kind of a neat idea at first, but eventually it essentially diminishes how scary the “Other World” is. It’s still creepy, that’s for sure, but it loses something.

Finally, the monsters leave something to be desired too. For the most part they just seem generic (except for one monster that I can only describe as the “intercourse monster”).

Still, the overall story isn’t bad, and it’s nice to put some backstory on the original Silent Hill (Origins is a prequel). The ending in particular makes the game worth it. I’m also amazed that the PSP’s tiny screen can still convey the sense of fear that Silent Hill brings to the table. With a pair of headphones on, the atmosphere is surprisingly good. It’s worth playing through, though I think I’d avoid paying full price.

All of serves as a precursor to my plan to play through Silent Hill 2 again while my wife’s cousins are in town. Now that is the scariest game I’ve ever played.

Just testing to see how easy it is to blog from my phone. It’s not. Like, seriously.

Hey all,

I’m on Facebook now. Can’t remember if I mentioned that before. Anywho, just upgraded WordPress and installed an app that should notify my friends of new posts here on 8bN. This is just a test to see if it works.

So, there are two things that beg to be discussed this week, Iron Man and camping. First things first, Iron Man. Iron Man is an excellent movie. I loved it. It’s worth noting that I am a big Iron Man fan. He is probably my second favorite superhero next to Spider-Man. I like Iron Man because under the suit he is still human. Spider-Man has super powers, but they aren’t over the top like, say, Superman. In fact, in the comics anyway, he actually had to invent web shooters, making his trademark ability something that’s actually man made.

Iron Man, on the other hand, is all man made. I like my superheros vulnerable, what can I say? Anyway, the Iron Man movie is great. Robert Downey Jr. does a very good job in my opinion, though honestly I didn’t read a lot of the comics, so I’m not the best judge if you really, really love Iron Man. I’m not positive if Iron Man is really the best comic book movie yet made (an opinion held by my friend Thomas). I’m still waiting for something to top the train scene in Spider-Man 2. Regardless, Iron Man is great and deserves to be seen by many, many people. I liked it so much that I’ve decided to rent the game and give it a go. It got me all excited to play as Iron Man, so I’m going for it, damn it.

And now, camping. My wife and I went camping this weekend. Now, when I tell people that, I imagine they have a different idea of what actually happens. When I think of the sheer amount of stuff that was crammed in our car for two days of sleeping outside, I kind of shudder. Without listing it all, we had a tent, air mattress, cooler, blankets, toiletries, tons of food, tons of liquor, and more that I’m sure I’ve forgotten. In fact, we didn’t have enough blankets the first night, and were lucky enough to be able to borrow some sleeping bags for the second night. There were also (very clean) bathrooms with running water and showers about 100 yards from our campsite. The point is, it’s hard for me to think of a trip with so many amenities as “camping.” Still, I didn’t have my precious laptop and cell phones didn’t work, so that’s got to count for something.

Oh, and it was fun. That’s important too. I twisted my ankle really bad though. I heard it crunch and everything. Oh, it hurt like hell. I wince every time I think of it.

Final note, I’m on FaceBook now. Look me up if you’re so inclined (and not a dick). Also, my T-Mobile contract expires this month. I want me one of these … now.

[Holy crap. I was in the middle of writing up this entry when I saw the many, many comments that have been left in my absence. Thanks, everyone! I’ll try to keep it more regular for you :)]

Yeah yeah, it’s been a while. I know. Things have been super busy at X3F. Of course, you’d know that if you read it. Chances are, if you’re reading this, then you do read X3F. Anywho, we had over 3,300,000 page views in April. That’s a new record for us, and it makes for the second record-breaking month in a row. Very nice. If only that conferred a pay bonus, I’d really be happy.

I picked up GTAIV on Monday night. I’m really liking it so far. That may seem like a stupid statement, but I’ve never really gotten into a GTA game before. That’s not to say that I wouldn’t have, but I never had the desire to pick one up before. So far, the game is great. Multiplayer is surprisingly fun, although I’ve yet to get into an actual game. I keep starting up a party (the lobby where you can just run around the world doing whatever with your buddies) but whenever I try to take us into a proper game of Team Deathmatch, I get disconnected. It’s annoying and I don’t know what’s wrong. My NAT type is open and everything. Still, the single player is excellent, and Niko is a wonderful character. Well, he isn’t wonderful himself, but he’s well-written. I’ll put it that way. Also, Vlad’s a prick.

Anyway, what else? I got my E3 invite a while ago. Things are looking pretty good as far as me attending. It’s not set in stone, but chances are good. At least I know that they won’t turn me away if I do go. I’ve got an invitation.

I’ve returned my copy of COD4, and now I’m waiting for Condemned 2. I’m hopeful that it will scratch that survival horror itch. Condemned was actually one of the games I reviewed on here before I got my gig at X3F. Read the review if you’re so inclined. Or I could just save you the trouble and say that the first Condemned was excellent (despite a so-so ending). I know Alone in the Dark is coming out soon, but I’m just not sure if it will actually be good. The tech that’s there is certainly intriguing, but so far they’ve made a lot more fuss about the technology than the actual story. I’m wary of Silent Hill: Homecoming too. The recent round of screenshots didn’t really impress me. Maybe it looks better in motion…

Finally, I saw someone asking about whether or not I like Smash Bros. I definitely do. Melee got more time than any other game on my Gamecube. I played it for years. Seriously, I don’t know any game that has had more longevity. We’ll see if Brawl can keep up. If anyone is interested in exchanging friend codes, be my guest. If anyone does, I’ll go dig mine up. Though honestly, the set up is so stupid, I doubt I’ll ever organize a match. It’s just so much easier to use Xbox Live that I have trouble even caring about Brawl’s online play. It doesn’t hurt that every game I’ve played has been laggy as hell either.

Oh, one last thing. I’m thinking of picking up a new digital camera and a portable HDD sometime soon (gotta take advantage of Time Machine now that I finally upgraded to Leopard). If you know a decent or cheap item you could suggest, let me know.

It was a Nintendo heavy week for me. Between Zelda: Twilight Princess (GC version), Smash Bros. Brawl, and Lolo on Virtual Console. If you have a Wii (or an NES), you really should try Lolo. It’s one of the better console logic puzzle games out there. If you like to over-think things (and I do), you can even see shades of Lolo in Portal. Yes, I was completely serious about that statement.

My niece convinced me to get back into Zelda: Twilight Princess, and I’m glad she did. After only an hour or so of playing it, I’m already engaged in the story again. It’s good stuff, and much more mature than I was expecting.

Finally, I’m looking to actually get back into some semi-regular multiplayer gaming again. Not sure if this is going to be at the same time every week or what, but I’m trying to squeeze at least an hour and a half or so at least one night a week. The X3F crew has been toying with the idea of grabbing community members to try out Community Content before we write it up. Just imagine, you could be featured in one of our videos! Isn’t that exciting? No? Oh, well, we might do it anyway.

I’m actually really proud of the videos we’ve been doing lately, both for XBLA in Brief and Community Content. I embedded one of our Community Content videos in this post, just to show it off. Feels pretty cool to be making our own videos now. And I probably can’t say too much, but we have some cool news regarding X3F videos that should be coming pretty soon. Stay tuned.

Greetings loyal subject(s). So, a few things to discuss. Number one, Smash Bros. Brawl is still awesome, though it is nigh unplayable online. It is made better when played with friends and simultaneously voice chatting via Xbox Live (or your VOIP app of choice). I unlocked Sonic and he’s pretty good, so I’m happy. On a much more manly video game front, Call of Duty 4 is awesome. Tycho from Penny Arcade once described the ending of Prince of Persia as “masterful,” an assessment I wasn’t sure I agreed with. Call of Duty 4, on the other hand, most certainly ends masterfully. It’s just about perfect. Yeah, it’s super short, but it is oh so very sweet.

I’ve yet to delve into the multiplayer portion, but I was part of the beta a few months back, so I know how addictive it is.

I’ll probably wait for a bit before I get into multiplayer, as I still have to wrap up Lost Odyssey. I say “wrap up” but what I mean is “put in another 30 hours or so.”

In other news, my niece is in town, and we’ll likely be playing through the adventure mode in Smash Bros. Brawl. That makes me immensely happy.