Pagoda of Gaming

Operation: Fundee-Face in Effect

January 30th, 2009 by TheMissingNin

Just a quick post to say that I’m officially in Fundee for the weekend. I don’t want to post too much, I’ll mostly be twittering as I go. For now, I’m going to watch some Burn Notice and catch some Z’s. Enjoy the following trailer. It’s Batman, that’s all you need to know.

Batman: Arkham Asylum 'Joker's Trap' trailer

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The Matrix Meets Alterna-Future

January 29th, 2009 by TheMissingNin

I wasn’t surprised by Operation Anchorage, rather, my feelings were reinforced - Bethesda continue to do a fucking great job and it felt every bit like the rest of fallout 3. The basic premise is this: You receive a distress signal from a band of Brotherhood Outcasts looking for tech in the middle of the city. You go help them out and they broker a deal with you to help them unlock a door to a wonderous treasure trove with your pip-boy (hence why you are the only one you can do it). The catch is that the door can only be unlocked by a person who completes the “Training Exercise” - a virtual reinactment of the battle of alaska, a key history point in the fallout universe, and that’s where the meat of the expansion is.

But it doesn’t feel half-assed. Everything in it feels just like the rest of the game - Awesome. They tie it in nicely too, as in, there’s a proper reason for that bunker being there, and who was operating it. And there are some nice gaming in-jokes there too, like the simulation health dispensers stiking a designed resemblance to those of TF2

The Gameplay within the simulation is very interesting, designed to make it more of a “Game” than non-simulation parts of Fallout 3 are, for example: Bodies fizzle away when they die and the aforementioned health dispensers. There are some nice showpeices aswel, like soldiers posing the picture that will be made into the Anchorage Memorial you see in downtown Fallout D.C., or an army of brand new power armor troops suiting up. As far as rewards go, there’s the 4 achievements you get along the way and at the end the Treasure Trove opens up and you get some of the items you see within the simulation - including a pre-apocalypse suit of Power Armor.

I think all in all, it lasted about 2-3 hours. Which isn’t that long really, but you’d pay as much for a movie ticket, so it’s not an issue for me. And honestly, I’m glad to be given something “Portal Lengthed” that I can play through quickly in my short-short nights. I gladly await the next mini-expansion, which if I remember right, it is set in an non-bombed part of the U.S.

I’m all ready for my trip tomorrow, just got to pack up the Nintop and whatnot. I’ll be twittering along the way, and hopefully I’ll get a couple of photos in. I’m really looking forward to this - to get back to civilization. To eat some food that wasn’t made by either my mother or bought from tesco. To play some fucking awesome Magic. And that’s but a few reasons. I’ll be like I just came out of the Vault.

Not that Failserboring would have a Vault of course, because I’m sure, you’d neither want to save these people from nuklear holocaust or use them as human test-subjects.

I’ll leave you with one of Vaul’s newer Dawn of War 2 commentaries. Eldar VS Tyranids.

…Infact, if someone could blow this place off the face of the earth MEGATON STYLE while I’m not here, that would be great thaaaannnnnnks. I’m sure the world could easily get by without fish or truck-trailers.

EDIT: Got a better video for you. Best prank ever and everyone in this video is a giant douche.

your lazy eye stares into space

Posted in Dundee, Video Gaming, X-Box 360 | 1 Comment »

Operation: Anchorage

January 27th, 2009 by TheMissingNin

I just spent the past couple of hours playing it and…
AWESOMECLAP

That is all… For now.

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Site Improvements and Dawn of War 2 Beta Ramblings

January 26th, 2009 by TheMissingNin

So, the majorist upgrade, you won’t see any of. I installed Wordpress 2.7, which adds all round improvements to the writing and general Blog management stuff. Also the addition of Widgets, which gives me greater control over the sidebar. For you, the reader, there’s some stuff that I’ve been after for a while. The twitter module at the top of the sidebar, I will use to show you the up to the minute kind of stuff. Though not too detailed. Like “I’m playing Dawn of War 2 tonight, challenges welcome!” and not like “I just took a steamy shite”. I’ll also add to it quick links to stuff, if it’s not significant to add to a proper post. I also added alot of links to the Blogroll - links to general stuff I look at every day.

Then there’s the general appearance upgrades. Underneath the Blogroll there’s my XBL Gamercard - so I can show you the size of my E-Peen at any given time. Right at the bottom of the sidebar I put in the dynamic picture thing of my Xbox Live Avatar. I also removed the Twitter Feed page and actually added something to the About page - though not to make it “functional”. Finally, a new banner, starring my Tauren Druid Hatake - Not as sexy as Rin, I know, but it’ll do for a while. If you can figure out where it was taken, you get a cookie.

That’s all, but it’s pretty much all I wanted out of an upgrade. The only thing I really want changed now is a general upgrade to the theme, but I think I’ll need a professional to take care of that, and professionals need monies. The actual experience of the upgrade was really nerveracking, I didn’t know exactly what I was doing - and at one point I pretty much deleted the blog. After that I sent a speedy mail to the support ninjas, but miraculously fixed it afterwards, with an “I cant fuck this up worse” attitude.

That took up most of the weekend, but consider it Achievement Unlocked. I didn’t get in as much game time as I thought I would, but that time was filled with some nice gems.

I stumbled upon a nice NeoGAF thread the other day which lead me HERE. It’s a Youtube channel for a dude named Vaul, who posts some nice commentarys on RTS games, in particular, the Dawn of War 2 beta. I watched every video he posted in the matter, and as such, I jumped right into the beta myself following a quick and painless Steam Pre-Purchase.

I’ve never been good at RTS - Like fighting games. They present a certain mentality that they will give you a hard time if you missed out on their forefather’s Birth. Namely Starcraft and Street Fighter 2. Now, I’m not that Young, but I certainly missed the boat. Vaul complains in some of his videos that the game has beenh “Dumbed Down”, and he says such in a negative tone. I love the “Dumbing Down”. I can actually feel myself getting better as I play through matches. Better yet, I’m still enjoying the game when I’m losing.

That’s not to say that Vaul isn’t allowed his opinion - he very much is, he deserves it. RTS and Fighting Games alike are at a point that very few gaming genres are - that the hardcore actually drive the sales and support for the game. It’s a double-edged Chainsword, to make a RTS game that’s catered for Hardcore and the uninitiated. I guess we’ll see where

The game still has some problems though, and I’ll talk about those when I get deeper into it. The matchmaking is a bit of a pain, and deserves some shedded light now. A rank 1 player, that I currently am, should only be allowed to play rank 1 players, and Rank 9 to Rank 9. So why the fuck is it that I’m getting reamed up the ass by people 5-9 ranks ahead of me? Lots of games have this problem, but in hardcore genres, it’s always frustrating for noobs like me.
vaul

In addition to the RTSing, I stocked up on MS Points for the upcoming torrent of content (see fallout 3 and GTA4 DLC). I picked up The Maw too, it’s an indie title that won some awards at PAX or something. THIS Giantbomb video sold me on it. Played some Penny Arcade Episode 2, but I’m far enough in to write about it.

Operation Fundee-Face is now 90% complete, all I have to do is pack my bag. I’ll be staying at the City Central Travelodge, though they really sould call it the “Dundee Realtime Worlds Ajacent Travelodge”. Plus it’s right round the corner from tasty Corfu. Two nights break and some awesome food will be a welcome experience.

I’ll leave you safe in the knowledge that my Street Fighter 4 problem is no longer a problem. Game Preordered and Wepon Chosen.

Inheriting troubles

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Apocalypse Averted… For Now

January 24th, 2009 by TheMissingNin

*Phew*

I did actually need to contact my web support guys, but I fixed it eventually. My greatest fear was that I deleted the past 2 years worth of content.

The old theme has been turned off for the time being, until I figure out what I want - Either a new theme, or trying to modify the old one, if the old one can be modifyed at all. I’ll be getting a new picture of some sort for the title bar, so that might warrant a trip to Azeroth to kit out Rin with a location and some skimpy clothes.

Comments have been turned back on for the time being, possibly permenantly.

The worst of it is over. See you soon for a proper post.

‘Nin Out!

EDIT: Site Update at about 70% completion. Got the sidebar stuff working. Added some much needed links to the Blogroll. Think I’ll keep the old theme, but I’ve got a new head graphic in the works for it.

EDIT 2: Upgrades 100% complete for the time being - I’ll do a post tomorrow night outlining the new features. Now, It’s time to go play some fucking games.

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Whoa! Even This Blog Sounds Better When It’s Autotuned! Shawty!

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