Pagoda of Gaming

On the previously mentioned Blog updates, it turns out that they would charge me, ‘they’ being my servive provider, if I were to get them to even update the blogs version of wordpress. Sooo, I think I’ll hang off a while before I give it a go myself. As I said in my initial email to them, chances of me fucking it up = extremely high. It was really just for a couple of things: Change the banner, Add a Twitter feed to the sidebar. Embedd my gamercard… somewhere. But for now, if you wish to see my gamercard, check out the Contact page. And I’ve made an additional page as a temporary place to put the Twitter feed, so I don’t have to embed it every time I make a post. I’ll also update the Pile of Shame sometime this week too.

Yesterday’s Aberdull excursion was certainly an experience. I forgot, once again, what wonders the city offers the general nerd. As opposed to other…. local places. After an early-ish bus ride, regretfully filled with smelly pentioners, I went straight to KFC for Brunch. Then Hellboy 2, then shopping and Hair taming, then Batman, then Mcdonalds, then Bus. Simple, yet hella fun.

I picked up a Dualshock 3. I thought, considering the games that are on their way for PS3, that I’d better get the new controller. 35 is a bit much for a controller (they don’t even throw in a charging cable). Regardless, I tried it out a bit this morning with Burnout Paradise, and it feels SOOO much better with the rumble. It’s also got that “new controller feel” - All the buttons are tighter and snappier and the analogue sticks have a better spring to them. Yet to try out any Sixaxis activities with it yet, I’ll keep you posted on that. All in all, the rumble does make a major improvement on a pretty lame controller.

Which brings me to my next item, I also picked up a set of THESE. They’re called “Real Triggers” for the PS3. Basically, they snap onto the back of the L2 and R2 triggers, and make them feel more trigger-like. So no more fingers slipping off the back of your controller, and it makes the controller, in general, feel a bit bigger. Which isn’t a bad thing if you’re used to the 360’s pad. I give them the official MissingNin stamp of approval. And now that I think about it, I think I saw some similar item somewhere that gives you better pads for the analogue sticks…. I’ll take a look later, and keep you posted.

As mentioned on my Twitter Feed (yeah, I am overpimping that), I did also pick up an awesome 3 bargain copy of Hackers on DVD. Includes Angelina Jolie naked breast! And I picked up the new Naruto DVD box, Part 1 of season 4. Which includes the awesome Itachi origin stories. I’ll slowly be watching them throughout the week.

I didn’t want to buy much more than that, even though I did take a good look in all the usual shops. I remembered all the stuff that I ordered over the net that shoud be coming over the next fortnight. Namely Spore, Tongan Ninja DVD, Warhammer Online Collectors Edition and the second MC Frontalot CD. Not to mention the impending WAR subscription. Tally that all up and it’s quite a sum.

Hellboy 2 was…. I dunno. Part of me didn’t like it, and part of me kinda did. There was just soooo much Cheese mixed in with what I think was supposed to be serious plot. Infact, I got the same feeling from it that I got from the first Hellboy film. The Dark Knight, however, does not spoil with subsequent viewings.

And while I was there doing that, people were wrapping up PAX. There wasn’t much new news, with exception of what I’m going to talk about next. But from all the related podasts I’ve been listening too, it seemed like a really fun time. Maybe in some distant future, I’ll get to go. A Nerd can hope.

So the first info on the elusive XBLA Magic The Gathering title surfaced. Namely THESE screenshots and THIS forum thread And THIS shakey cam footage compiles all of the known data. I must say, I’m mildly impressed. Though evil visions of MTGO and Battlegrounds surface every time Magic and Videogame are uttered in the same sentence. I’m also worried that they’re going to considerably dumb the game down from it’s cardboard counterpart. Chances of Phage + Endless Whispers = pretty slim.

There was also alot of WAR info, along the lines of what every beta player wanted to hear. Basically they’re wrapping up major features for the next pre-open-beta patch. Stuff like Auction houses, Full Art world map, and that all the content is ready to roll. Check out the interview HERE. I seriously can’t fucking wait for WAR, Game boner is officially stoked.

Half PAX, Half Dr Horrible for today’s video. Found it on Felicia Day’s Blog. I lol’d HARD.

I’ve got pretty much a week to get through some more stuff in my pile of shame before Spore and WAR arrives and takes over the next 2 months. I’m hoping to get through The Shivering Isles this week, and sporadically try to get through CoD4’s Epilogue on Veteran. It feels like a good time to be a gamer. Now, I’m off to play some Nerdcore on Rock Band. Later.

I?ll break it some more

Comic books, and I’m specifically not talking about Manga here, I’ve never really gotten into. My only real exposure to the medium came in the form of sonic the comic when I was about Eight. So the other day, I thought to myself “I’m losing some serious Nerd-Points here, I should fix this”. Then I forgot about it. Then about a week later, I get an email through my inbox with a link to THIS.

That was a Que for you to go and check out the link, even if you already have, DO IT ANYWAY. Hell I’ve done it like five times already.

So yeah, some fucking amazing shit there. Then I saw the latest episode of the Game Overthinker. And he cites the Watchmen and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns as two of the most influencial graphic novels ever. And though his opinions are often radically apocalyptic, (Watch Episode 11, and maybe you’ll see what I mean), I was swayed enough to buy both novels. I’ll get to reading them during my lunch breaks, since I’m quickly running out of podcasts these days.

Speaking of, GFW’s main rule for Comic Buying is to never buy anything that hasn’t been recommended to you from a friend. So if anyone out there has some decent recommendations or anything that I should read because it’s like the fucking Godfather of the Comic world, drop me an email. If you’re not retarded you’ll figure my email adress out.

It’s been over a week now since I saw batman, and alot of it is still fresh in my mind, and if that isn’t a glowing praise for the film I don’t know what is. My mind being my mind after all. Let’s not over-analyze it, It’s worth the price of admission and the time it takes to watch. So why the hell should’nt you go see it? I have no reason to give you. Heath Ledger’s Final and Greatest performance ever, Best Batman film ever, Best use of 12A certificate (use it to freak out your kids!) there’s your boxquotes.

Though I do have something to say, just a little nit-pick. You would think that Bruce could afford himself a voice changer, so he didn’t have to make that laughable smoker’s-voice every time he donned the lycra. There…. And that he looks like he’s wearing lip-stick somtimes. But apart from that, 5-star performance, quite possible TheMissingNin’s Film of the Year.

The State of X-Box Live Arcade has been fucking awesome these past weeks, shame I haven’t had the time to indulge so much. I got Braid and Geometry Wars, but I haven’t sunk into them an awful lot. I think that’s a goal for the weekend, to finish Braid atleast, I hear that something happens at the end. That’s all I know, people have been very respective of spoilers for the game, I think that’s a good sign. On the other hand, In Geo-Wars, Wax off is the bane of my existance.

You would think I would have time to finish them, but most of my gaming time has been taken up by the one and only Viva Pinata. FINALLY I have finished the fucking thing. After about 15 Pinata Genocide’s on my part, I netted all the achievements, which is something I’ve been after doing for a long while. The new game is out in a couple of weeks, Trouble In Paradise, but I think I might hold off for a while on buying it. Last week was enough Chewnicorn for a long long time. A major tip for any Gardener: Don’t get attached to your Pinatas. Be ready to envoke genocidal rage against your garden’s inhabitants, like a nazi to a jew, whenever they become obsolete.

A break for a moment before I go on to talk about some future games. If you enjoy this, go watch some Pure Pwnage.

So it’s nice to hear that Remedy are still making Alan Wake…. Which is pretty much all they said. I’m really jonesing for the game now, It’s THE game I’m really waiting for. Sure there are other games, that I’m about to mention, but Alan Wake is going to be, and apologies for my bad referencing, the new Bioshock. I don’t want to hear about the game, I don’t need a demo, I don’t need a billion trailers. I need a release date. Or if failing that, a finished copy of the game in my hands RIGHT FUCKING NOW. -_-….

The Wrath of the Litch King Cinematic hut the web, all the way from leipzig. You’ll see it embedded below. I think it’s pretty Meh, there’s nothing there that makes me excited for it, though that’s down to bad trailer-izing. For good Cinematic - see Burning Crusade.

I’m at the point that I really have to dredge some care from giveafuck bay when it comes to WoW. The less-hardcore denziens of Failserboring, who buy their PC’s from fucking Tesco, are really gay for it, and I’m getting a bit sick of their banter. I had WoW for over two years, and Loved nearly every minute of it. But all I see from this new expansion is more of the same. More abilities, more levels, more zones, more dungeons, it’s a formula that’s not appealing to me right now, especially when we’re seeing alot of innovation in the MMO space. I’m not even sure Blizzard will ever have to change the formula, since they’ve got enough Wowfags to fuel their coffers for years to come, in that case, I’ll be done with Warcraft for a very long time. I’m more interested in other MMO’s.

Star Trek Online is one of those other MMO’s. I watched the trailer over and over, and all I see is a game brimming with potential. I want to command a spaceship, I want to explore the cosmos, I want to exploit transporters. I also want to see a continuation of the Star Trek universe. I am a fan of the Trek, but it doesn’t come up much these days, so I rarely get the chance to say so. Since the shows somewhat just demise the only think people are talking about is the new movie, and that’s really just because it’s being done by the lost guys, or that Simon Pegg’s in it, or that Zachary Quinto’s in it. You get the idea. But back in the day, Deep Space 9 was THE SHIT. And I guess I miss it.

As a seperate point, there are few Sci-Fi shows that actually embrace Humanity acceptablly surviving, and thriving as a race, until the 23rd century or whatever it is. Think about it. Maybe that’s what makes Star Trek unique……. Next paragraph.

I played the Star Wars: Force Unleased demo, about 30 minutes ago, and I’ve come away with a single point - That a good Star Wars game has yet to exist. I don’t really need to analyze this game, other than to say that the only game that game close to acceptable was KOTOR, and that was the only game to not be made by Lucasarts. Really - check out THIS list, ALL BAD.

I was going to talk about another fucking awesome MMO that’s not WoW, specifically, Warhammer Online. The NDA has lifted now so I can talk about specific things. But I think I’ll save that for another post, that might be written this weekend. There will be blood and Warcraft hating all over the place and the world can only be better for it. Yes, this game is Thoroughly stoking my Game-Boner.

Looking at the release calendar, we’ve got a busy month ahead. Spore and the new Viva Pinata will be hitting in a mere 2 weeks, I think I’ll care more for Spore at that time, and then a week and a bit after that, I’ll be in the WAR early start preorder bonus thingy. So to fill in the time, I’m going to focus on getting more of my 360 games finished. Currently, I’ve been thinking of finishing the Oblivion expansion. I also picked up Burnout Paradise on the weekend I went to see batman. I wanted to check out the new (free and huge) expansions that are being released for it, specifically the bikes and planes and new real estate that’s coming in the next updates. £15 for a game I traded in for £25 back in February, not a bad deal at all.

I have nothing to say on Magic this week. Which is odd. I think I’m just starting to loathe my opponents, since I’ve only got like 8 of them. And half of them aren’t worth it. ZING!

Nin Out! Enjoy some fucking awesome music!

This is actually available in Rock Band now, Fucking Awesome Bass Track.

I just want something

It’s true you know. Last time it happened, we all lost. Suddenly, out of the blue came the announcement that there’s going to be a Standard Format Tournament tomorrow night. I immediately replied to everyone who received the first message with a second, displaying that image you see above. I think I’ll play Merfolk. They’re solid and quick.

There’s also the Eventide Prerelease this weekend, which I’m somewhat looking forward too. Though I am worried that this is going to be a janky set in the Lorwyn block, and from what I’ve seen of the set so far, there seems to be very little meat, and just alot of one-off hybrid cards that work well in already established archtypes. Like this Beauty:

I think I’m going to need 8 copies of that one, 4 for Merfolk and another 4 for Mermaider. Oh that’s right, I never announced my new deck, the super secret one. Well, It’s Mermaider. It all spawned from the Dethklok song, the perfect marriage of Equipment like Loxodon Warhammer and Merfolk like Rootwater Theif. It’s also a perfect oppertunity to shout out “Check!” everytime I throw down a permanent, and “YOUR LIFE WAS ENDED BY MERMAIDS!” whenever I swing for the win. If there’s any shoutouts for it, I’ll post the list, It still needs a little work, and I’ve yet to test out the new addition of Notorious Throng.

I finally got round to finishing Metal Gear, which made me extremely happy, with the awesome that happened at the end and that I wasn’t interrupted in the middle of finishing it. Details and ‘review’ I suppose next post, I assure you… almost.

I’ve noticed more potential Rock Band 2 leaks, the latest is a track list that’s just begging not to be noobshit. Panic At The Disco’s Nine in the Afternoon, System of A Down’s Chop Suey, AFI’s Girls Not Grey, and LINKIN PARK’S ONE STEP CLOSER!!! I’m fucking sold, epically. Full list, and other info, HERE. There’s also a little rumor in there saying that the entire Rock Band 1 library will be available for download for FREE, eliminating the need for you to switch disks if you want to play some Ballroom Blitz. Yep, looks like Rock Band’s back on my radar. I’m expecting a little show of the title at E3. 25% chance that it will involve Peter Moore.

That’s another thing, E3’s just a week away. And as usual, I’ll be watching the Press Conferences by any means necesary. It’s getting the rest of the info that might be the problem, since I’m avert to Gamespot these days. They used to do such good live interviews and such, I’m hoping that 1up can deliver.

I went to see the One Man Star Wars show on sunday night, and in addition to how awesome it was, it reminded me of how much I love the Old Star Wars films compared to the newer ones. I think I may have to dig out the DVD’s sometime and give them a watch. I sorta boycotted all six films when new-#3 failed to deliver. In celebration of lost love, I give you some awesome funny video.

I bought Theme Hospital the other day, for the PS3/P. It’s been a great play during my lunch-time breaks, that and a whole bunch of Pure Pwnage. And it looks like I’ve got some nice Hi-Def Anime to watch tonight, ala, Tekkonkinkreet. My PC still isn’t back, maybe this friday. With all the PP I’ve been watching, I’m starting to miss it alot. If not I’ll maybe pick up Battlefield Bad Company to celebrate my first paycheck. I hear it’s Pretty Good.

bullet through a flock of doves

Hehe… ‘Sactually’. So yeah, looks like the internet’s exploding a little. Well, I can certainly imagine that it is, I’m still avoiding most forums due to Metal Gear Spoilerz. The point is, Sony’s slowly getting it’s act together, and they’ve finally got something to give us, like an over-hyping parent, receving the retarded picture of a “house” from their child. Except the child is like 18 in this case, and they’ve finally learned how to write out the alphabet.

Let’s start with the in-game XMB. It sorta has moar than the 360’s dashboard. Messaging? Check. Settings? Check. Music? Check. MERMAIDER MERMAIDER MERMAIDER MERMAIDER. Mermaid Murder. Well the only thing extra really is the jumping from game-to-game feature. I got excited there for a while when he did the whole web-browsing thing, I thought he was doing that in-game, but it’s just a stupid “would you like to search google?” shortcut, and he wasn’t ingame. You’ll understand my dissapointment by watching the following video.

So Trophies, formerly, lamely, known as ‘Accomplishments’ (Thank fuck they changed that one). It’s an interesting system, one that should rival the 360’s system, for lack of some minor features that I’ll get to later. So each player has an overall level that gains “experience” (though it’s shown as a percentage) , that is gained from getting Trophies in games, and is gained alot if a player unlocks all achievements TROPHIES in a game’s list. Each Trophy has a difficulty level, a related image, a date/time on when it was unlocked and a description on how to unlock it. And you can compare Trophy collections with your friends via the friends list. No problem there, same as the 360, with exception of the ‘Level’, which I think is a pretty good idea, a little different than an overhanging huge fucking number. Though there really should be some stuff for “dinging” a level. Special access to a special room in Playstation HOME maybe, Avatar parts, Exclusive downloads? It’s all possible, and the extra rewards would be extra-gratifying.

Now the bad, there seems to be no change to the Avatar system, which is a giant gripe for me, especially when the 360 let’s me take freakin’ photo’s and turn them into Avatars intantly. This could do with a change TBH. Secondly, there doesn’t seem to be that many games supporting the system on launch, we’ve only been guaranteed Super Stardust. And there is no word on third party updates. Dear Sony, to fix this, make it so that from now on, every game published HAS to have Trophies, that’s how the 360’s system has worked, and it’s done a fine job. Lastly, I understand the reasoning behind the update not scanning and unlocking appropriately, according to a player’s library of game saves. That would be a bitch to implement, and you don’t want everyone to start at something like level 3, just because they have bought a bunch of different games. Though there are going to be some people out there who will be pissed, and honestly, they deserve it. They shouldn’t be buying PS3 games anyway, BECAUSE IT HAS NO GAMES!!!

I just had to post that. Srsly tho, when it comes to exclusive titles, it’s just Metal Gear (and there’s no Trophy confirmation for it yet). Anyway, Here’s the Trophies Video, enjoy.

The other big news is that Rock Band 2 has been confirmed to ship worldwide within the same month of it’s release
Rock Band 2, it will feature cross game DLC (meaning all the songs you’ve already bought for Rock Band will work for Rock Band 2), Newer, quieter instruments (good for me, since I was about to consider buying some of the current stuff) and will be out in september. There’s an INTERESTING INTERVIEW over at IGN, and there should be more info, and probably a live performance or two when E3 rolls around in a couple of weeks.

Eventide previews have started over on the Official MTG site, which means that you can click THIS LINK and see almost half of the cards in the set before Wizards gets round to showing them. Should be an interesting set, I already have a FAVOURITE.

Well that’s it for me, I’m off to enjoy the 2-3 fucking hours that I’ll actually get to myself today. Should get the PC back tomorrow, epic win if that prediction comes true. Next post, later on in the week I guess, since I could be indulging in metal gear instead of writing this shite. I’m STILL at the “snow level”!!!

Mmmm… Taste’s Like Victory… And Water

But is it victory? I say… Yes!

INSPIRING GUITAR SOLO

I’ll admit it, as soon as the press blitz began, I was rather afraid, but I suppose I can think somewhat rationally now. I’m talking ofcourse about our favourite plastic space taker-uppers Guitar Hero, Rock Band and the newly announced Rock Revolution from Konami. Yes, the post you’ve all been waiting for, it’s time to pick a side, and I’m pissed.

So let’s get the obvious loser out of the way. Rock Revolution, from initial impressions, as 1up Yours put it, Konami’s late to the party that they started. Huge fucking 7/8 pad drum kit, no vocals, songs all cover-versions. GTFO. To be honest, for me it’s the culmination of current Japanese design. Fuck innovation, let’s just ramp up the difficulty level. I’m sorry, but it’s a something I realised lately, that personally, I’ve been avoiding typically ‘japanese’ games, because I’m simply bored with the same old shit over and over. And don’t get angry fanboys, I’m sure some of you are about to cite Okami, and I’ll agree with you there. And I’m sure some of you are going to bring the Wii to the table. Let’s not go too far, I’m sure you all know how I feel about that gamecube with a SIXAXIS.

Getting back on topic, next to the block is Guitar Hero 4, which seems to be doing it right. In other words, they’re copying Rock Band, but shoving a music creation thingy in with the package and adding cymbals to the drum kit. Sure whatever, apparantly, it might be more expensive than Rock Band. This immediatly brings to my mind the question: “Why did Harmonix Sell Guitar Hero?” They actually made a competitor for themselves with their old established name. That’s a Question that a simple google search can’t answer.

Then there’s Rock Band. I’m sure that this whole conundrum has already been answered for most Americans - Aslong as Harmonix can supply a steady stream of songs, who cares about an Activision knock off? But here, where Rock Band was released under a week ago, and isn’t exactly flying off the shelves? It sure as fuck matters, especially when news reached us that a shinier, well established version of Rock Band would be hitting shelves at christmas time, I’m sure gamer’s Europe-wide paused and pondered.

Me, I’m still backing Rock Band. I’m hoping and praying for a Price drop, atleast mid-summer. And I see the current Library of DLC very alluring, considering it’s chance to double in size before the release of Guitar Hero 4. But there certainly is a problem when Harmonix’s target European audiance, namely students both pre and post tutelage, can’t even afford a bunch of chinese plastic instruments. There’s only one entity at fault for all this, and that’s Harmonix. They set the price, they sold the franchise, they created the Activision beast. They forced us to split our wallet between Heroes and Bands, and what can they do to make up for it? Simply, a price drop, one that may never come.

Why is game itself £50? Considering you need Peripheral support in something Harmonix already sold you, shouldn’t it be something like £30? Regardless, I’m searching for a solution to the Rock Band Problem, I could pick up the Game by itself and play with my old 360 Xplorer, that’s £50. Add another £20 for a USB microphone, that’s £70. Add another £70 for Drums, bringing it to a total of £140, which equals the current online price for the complete Rock Band Package. So really, the choice is, buy seperately or buy it all and get a shiny new guitar.

Maybe I’m just being bitter because I’m poor. Maybe as soon as my first summer-harbour-job paycheck arrives, I’ll feel less annoyed and more incentivised. Only time will tell.

As a final thought on the matter, my heart goes out to the PS3 crowd, who don’t actually get to make this choice. Remember why they call it the Playstation 3 kids? BECAUSE IT HAS NO GAMES.

Now onto my other obsession of late, the National Qualifier. I dissapointingly landed 16th out of 22 players. And I could make excuses, valid ones, but I’m sure you’d scoff at me. It was certainly a learning experience. Next time, atleast two month’s preparation will be required, and I must learn not to try and recycle old decks to save money. Therefore I’m making it my duty to officially return to the Magic The Gathering scene, to pween some much needed asses.

These happenings spurred me on to watch the tail end of Pro-Tour Hollywood, which I conveniently caught as soon as I got back to Fundee. It was a rather interesting tournament, surprisingly only a single Faerie deck got into the top 8, and didn’t win! I say this happily after a sunday torrent of bitterblossoms aimed directly at my head. Check out the full tourney details HERE. It also spurred me onto buy some cards for use over the summer months and beyond. £30 netted me a complete Merfolk Deck, modeled on PT-Hollywood’s 2nd top deck, and a bunch of cards to fix up the Mono Black Control deck I played in the Qualifier and make a start on my upcoming Mono Black Multiplayer deck. And I got it all from mtgmintcard.com /productplacement

Well that’s that. The cards should arrive by the weekend so I’ll maybe do a MTG centric post this weekend, mostly on deckbuilding shite. I’m off to the super-final screening of Doomsday in Fundee, and to dread over whatever shite I’ve got/going to get myself into over the next couple of days. Seem’s like my hayfever’s back too, I guess that means it’s finally summer. shit.

Here’s some YTMND LOLZ for you, catch you later.

And if I had the choice