Nerd's Natterings

Wow4Cure

2010-08-06T11:49:00.000-04:00

Hello and Welcome!

I know it has been a while, but I wanted to let you guys know about a charity event starting today to raise money for kids with cancer. WoW4Cure is a gaming marathon in which the Noobs4Hope will be playing World of Warcraft non-stop until they reach level 40.

The Charity they are promoting is CURE. Check their website for more information on CURE (it is also on the www.wow4cure.com/.

If you want to donate money for this worthy cause hit their ChipIn (Money goes directly to CURE's account).

If you want to watch the action, here is the Ustream:

Free TV : Ustream

Free TV : Ustream

Hit the images below to link to their respective sites:

Please support this worthy cause!

Free Month of Gamefly.

2010-05-25T11:43:00.000-04:00

Hi Guys,

Long time no write.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that Gamefly is giving a way a free month of its service.

Just click my refferal link below to redeem it.

Free Month of Gamefly!

Mario Marathon 2 charity event.

2009-07-12T09:22:00.000-04:00

Hello and welcome!

I just wanted to let you guys know about a charity event that the guys over at Mariomarathon.com are putting on. They are playing through all of the Mario games and based on the amount of money they recieve for the charity , http://www.childsplaycharity.com/ , They will continue playing based on the amount of money they accrue. So far they have been playing for 48 hours, and have raised $12,000 + so far.

You can catch the live web-stream of the guys playing below, or on their website: http://www.mariomarathon.com/

They have a paypal link on the site that you can use to donate.

For more about childs play, check Child's Play Charity.

Check it out and donate!

~K

Review: Too Human.

2009-07-09T16:55:00.000-04:00

Hello and Welcome!

I know, amazing isn't it? another blog post!

I got Too Human when it was on sale a while back, with the hopes that I could play with Nate and his brother. And that is where the drama begins...

Ah yes, the Drama. You see, I thought that Too Human was a multi-player game. You know, multiple players. As in, More than 2. Yeah, that was not the case (though the initial information about the game said it would be 4 players) , leaving me to play it on my own, while the two brothers played together.

The game itself (maybe not this iteration, but the title in general) has been in development for 10 years or so, with the last 3 years being the title we have today. Part of this delay was reported by Silicon Knights (the Developer) as difficulties with the Unreal 3 Engine. Opting to use their own engine (and sparking a lawsuit, and counter lawsuit From Epic Games) Silicon Knights finally released the game in late 2008, as the first part of a Trilogy, maybe...

This game wants very badly to be a great game. Unfortunately there are many technical difficulties and annoyances which prevent that greatness from shining through. It also seems to lack the polish that one might expect from a Microsoft Game Studios title. Anyway, I am going to break it down for you in the style of old reviews:

GAMEPLAY

The concept behind Too Human's game play was interesting in theory. Rather than mash the a,b,x,y buttons to pull of attacks you use the Analog sticks. It sounds awesome, I know. Unfortunately it was not implemented very well and you, more often than not, are just holding the stick in the direction of the enemy. Not very exciting.

However, it may have been more interesting if you attacks did damage more than 25 % of the time... Easily 3 out of 4 times, my attacks do NO damage, as if I am not even hitting the enemies. Which leads to me dying, a lot.

Ah yes, dying. You know something is wrong with your game balance, when you have to put an achievement for DYING 100 TIMES. Seriously, WTF were they thinking. The fact that I had barely scratched the surface of the 4th and last area, and already acquired this 'achievement' is a clear sign that the balance of this game was broken.

Other than that, the skill upgrade system is laughable, and barely worth mention.

The Enemy variety is anything but. The only Variety enemies have are their polarity (Ice, Poison, Fire, etc). But aside from bosses I would not put the number of different enemy models at more than 10.

Really for me the only redeeming factor was the loot drop aspect of the game. Being the loot whore that I am, I enjoy getting a new weapon, or a new peice of armor. Unfortunately, again, they did not balance that part, so my only good point is barely good. Getting a new piece of armor every 5 seconds and only 2 percent of that actually being good just isnt fun.

STORY

Man, I think there could have been a really good story here, but it is told through disjointed cutscenes and difficult to hear environmental dialog so it ends up janky and hard to follow.

SOUND

THE SOUND IN THIS GAME IS CRAP. Ok, that is not fair. The sound effects and Music in this game are quite good. The mixing how ever is atrocious. My tone-deaf Luddite of a sister could mix better than that. Why is it bad you ask?

The in game dialog cannot be heard over any noise other than the music. Even when you adjust the levels.
Everytime you get a rare item an musical audio sample plays to let you know. THIS SAMPLE PLAYS AT 11. It is so deafeningly loud compared to the rest of the audio, you have to turn the sound down to compensate (which further compounds the first problem)
It is clear they tried to create dynamic dialog from your co-horts and peons in the game, but by the time you clear a world you have heard the same corny drivel 20 times each.

GRAPHICS

The graphics in this game are actually ok, aside from the awkward cutscenes. The armors you get are distinct and you can tell the difference easily between the styles and the colors.
The environments are pretty repetitive, but don't look too bad. It is mostly just bad level design.

I kept trying to convince myself that I was having fun just collecting Items in this game. But I think I only convinced myself enough to finish the game.

Do I recommend buying this Game? Even at $10 it is hard to recommend. Do I recommend playing it? Again, very hard to recommend unless you just REALLY like getting loot, and maybe are a masochist.

This game is supposed to be part of a trilogy. I really hope that they DO make an second and third game. Hopefully they will take the story and fix all the gameplay elements to make a good game.

~K

FreePlay: Phyta

2009-05-19T12:03:00.004-04:00

Hello and Welcome.

Today I wanted to talk about a beautiful non-game called Phyta.

Phyta is the latest creation from Cambrian Games. On the most superficial level it is a 'game' where you control a small sun which coaxes a black vine to grow. Using this vine you attempt to capture golden 'angels'. Once captured, the angels empower your sun. This allows for your fine to grow faster, and more tendrils. After 5 or so captured angels, you progress to the next 'level' which has a different type of angel. Check out the video below to see how the game plays.

The ascetic of this game is so simple, yet so beautiful. That combined with the beautiful (and repeating) guitar/violin track have had me playing this game for hours.

On a higher level, I think this game is really about desire. The vine desires the sun, and to capture the beautiful angels. I also can't help but feel that you, as the vine, are not necessarily the good entitiy in this presentation. It actually cursorily reminds me of Shadow of the Collosus.

Anyway, I highly recommend you check the game out. It is available to download for Windows and Linux.

And since there is no Readme or instructions with the game, I will give you a little hint: The Vine follows your sun which is moved by moving the mouse pointer. However, if you hold the left mouse button, the vine will grow faster, but thinner. This is good for catching up to some of the later Angels. Also, holding the right mouse button will cause your vine to sprout leaves. These are good for capturing some of the later angels that can pass through thin vines.

Enjoy!

8-bit Fatalities.

2009-05-18T12:01:00.000-04:00

Hello and Welcome.

I just wanted to share with you an intersting art project I came accross:

This is a collection of paintings by flickr user TastyPaints.com. It is a more graphic look at all those 8-bit murders you commited as a kid. Now, feel some remorse you evil, evil person! Oh, and while you are wallowing in your own murderous misery, check out the full gallery.

P.S. My personal Favorite is the Final Fantasy Black mage.

Deal of the Day: Blue Dragon.

2009-05-13T14:29:00.001-04:00

Hello and Welcome.

Just wanted to post a quick note about a deal that I saw today.

You can get Blue Dragon for 10.99 from NewEgg. With free Shipping.

Seems like a pretty good deal, even if the game didn't get that great of a response. I already picked up my copy. :)

Free Dawn of War 2 Soundtrack!

2009-05-01T11:26:00.000-04:00

Hello and Welcome,

Just wanted to post a quick note, that Relic is giving away the Dawn of War 2 Soundtrack free.

I Downloaded it and checked it out. It sounds pretty epic.

You can get it on Steam or from here.

Grab it while it is free. Heck, grab the game while you are at it, it is pretty awesome.

~K

Battlefield Heroes, and Contest.

2009-04-29T09:15:00.001-04:00

Hello and Welcome.

Ok, We are going to have our First ever contest! Details later in the post. But first, let's talk about Battlefield:Heroes, Shall we?

Currently BF:Heroes is still in closed Beta, but if you are lucky, you can sign up and they will send you a Beta Key, eventually.

The premise behind BF:Heroes is similar to Team Fortress 2, Cartoon shooter with different classes. Pretty basic, and really fun.

It differes a bit from TF2 in that you can customize your character with different cloths, Emotes, and Widgets (bonus XP, healing items, etc). Similiarly, you can gain additional weapons with which to lay down the hurt. You also gain levels and new skills as you progress through matches and can do missions, which net you points to buy things in the BF:H store.

Unfortunately, (but intelligently by Dice/EA) all of the interesting clothing etc has to be purchased with BF points. These points equate to actual dollars in the game. Even worse, very few things are permanant, rather they all have a 7-30 day timer on them. So even if you buy that awesome Ninja/Pirate costume, you are going to have to fork over the money again in a month.

Aside from the BF point items the other items also have a timer. The smart play on Dice/EA's part, is that the more you play, the more points you earn, thus keeping your items etc.

Once this game goes live, it will be free to play, so look for it then.

Okay, now for the contest! We are going to give away a free BF:Heroes Beta Key to one lucky person! (hopefully the key works. :P)

To enter, leave a comment with your idea for the craziest, funniest, or coolest BF:H costume. There are already some great costume choices, so whatever you guys come up with will have to be good!

I will select the winner after one week (Wednesday, May 6th). Good Luck!

~K

Wow, I suck.

2009-04-28T09:09:00.000-04:00

Ok, I Know.

I suck, I haven't posted in about 2 months. Right after I redesigned the site.

I promise to work harder and post more for you! Infact, you will get something today. So stay tuned!

~K

I missed you too.

2009-02-23T16:31:00.001-05:00

Hello and Welcome.

Well you know I have been working on the site, yeah but what ELSE have I been doing?

I played a few games, and my thoughts on those:

Dead Space:
Really loved this game. Great setting. It really kept the mood throughout the game.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed:
I actually liked the Force Unleashed. I hear some people saying they had a lot of trouble with the Star Destroyer pull, but I finished it in about 5 minutes, AND I didn't fight any of the Tie Fighters.

Prince Of Persia:
Basically a glorified cutscene. I got through most of the game just by tapping the A button. I did like the narrative, and how they told the story (through little conversations between the Prince and Elika). But it was basically like watching a movie. And I had to stop playing it because I got to a game breaking bug that would not let me proceed.

Mirror's Edge:
Oh god, I still don't know how I feel about this one. The Mirror opposite of Prince of Persia (Get it, mirror, ha ha). This game kicked my butt. When I was moving, and jumping and climbing, it was one of the best experiences In games I have had in a long time. When I stopped, well, lets just say all the happy feelings stopped too.

Chrono Trigger:
One of my Favorite RPGS EVER. I will write more about this later.

Phantasy Star Universe:
The Spiritual followup to Phantasy Star Online. There are a lot of things I like about this game over PSO. But there seem to be a lot more things that are frustrating about it. I think most of that comes from the Single player mode. More on this later.

Phantasy Star Portable Demo:
This demo gets a special mention, because I spent a large number of hours playing it. Same premise as PSU (Same engine as well) but on the PSP. Its actually a sequel to PSU, but you get to make your own character. You play through the very first part of the single player story, and can play "Multiplayer" (by yourself, like I did.) up to level 20. The nice thing about this demo: any progress you make transfers into the retail product when it is released next month. More demo's should do this.

Gears of War 2:
As of yet I have only played the multiplayer options, but I am really liking it so far.

Call of Duty World at War:
Meh, I prefer COD4
Rockband 2:
More of the same, but that isn't a bad thing.

Monster Hunter Portable 2:
At first I didn't really like this game, but I am really getting into it now that I am making my own armor and weapons.

Burnout Revenge:
A Bit of Classic style burnout as well.

Civilization Revolutions:
A WAY dumbed down version of CIV, but still really fun.

Read Some Books:
Making Sense of Japanese:
This is a must read for anyone studying Japanese grammar. This book is brilliant, and funny.

Fables:
Still Enjoying this series. I now know who the Adversary is!

Watchmen:
Love it.

Watching some shows:
Dr. Who:
This show is AWESOME. I highly recommend it, if you have netflix, the first 3 seasons are on instant watch.

Lost:
Still haven't watched any of the current season, but I am caught up till there.

BattleStar Galactica:
Again, not the current season (4.5). I still love this show.

And one sad thing: I lost my DS. :(

So, let me apologize, I know that wasn't the most intriguing thing to read. Word Vomit rarely is. I just needed to get it off my chest, OK? Now I can actually write about some good stuff!

~K

Upcoming Rock Band DLC

2009-02-20T10:38:00.002-05:00

Up on the Rock Band forums, Harmonix has announced the DLC for next week and I must say that I couldn't be happier.

Tracks-

Drive By Truckers: 3 Dimes Down
Lucinda Williams: Can't Let Go
Neko Case: People Got a Lot of Nerve
Old 97s: Time Bomb (LIVE)
Steve Earle: Satellite Radio

Jimmy Eat World: Futures
Jimmy Eat World: Lucky Denver Mint
Jimmy Eat World: Sweetness

All tracks are masters.

Price
$1.99 (160 Microsoft Points) per track
$8.49 (680 Microsoft Points) for Alt Country Pack
$5.49 (440 Microsoft Points) for Jimmy Eat World Pack

While, I personally couldn't care about the Alt Country Pack, more Jimmy Eat World is always a good thing, and those three songs are some of what I've been dreaming of playing on Rock Band ever since I picked up a plastic guitar.

- Nate

The New Look

2009-02-20T10:09:00.000-05:00

Hello and welcome.

Finally some real content on this blog. I am sure that you have been wondering what we have been up to for the last 2 months! (Admit it, you were curious.)

Well, as you can see, I have been working diligently on making the ascetic of this blog a little more pleasing.

Walk with me, I will give you the tour.

New logo:

Thought I would make an actual logo for the site. Stylisticly it may not be the most original thing, but it definitely fits with our crude awesomeness. Can you figure out what all the letters are from? (Don't post it in the comments, I might have a contest! With a prize!)

New Categories:

As you can see, we now have more links to our different article types. The original five are still around: DLC, New Release, Unplugged, Retro, and Freeplay. And we have added a few more: Japan (For japan only, or related info), News (for uh.. News?), and WTF (for anything crazy or random we decide to share!) Plus, check out those slick Icons I 'made'. Can you figure them all out?

Polls:

Useless information gathering! New one each week. Don't let the simple nature of these polls decieve you. There is a darker underlying purpose behind them.

GamerCards:

Our 360 gamer card info. If you want to add us, just make sure you say it was from NerdNats!

Goozex:

The (referral) link to my Goozex profile. (More on that later!) Join up through my link please!

And Twitters from each of us:

Well, that is it for now. Next post will be about what I have been Playing/Reading these past few months.

~K

I'm a blog, I'm a Blog, Oh the Blog is back!

2009-02-19T11:03:00.002-05:00

Hello and Welcome!
Hopefully you all got my awesome Reference from that title.
I know, I know. It's been too long. Busy month(s) and all.
Rest assured, We are back and with a vengeance! I have a slew of things I want to write about, plus we are changing the format.
No more "DLC Mondays" "New Release Tuesdays" etc. We will still write about those things, but we are not going to restrict ourselves to certain days and amounts. If I want to write 6 stories in a day, well I will, and if I don't for a week, well I won't.
Also, I have been working on a redesign to the look of the site. We have a new logo, and links to different topic types. Plus we have added twitter feeds and other little touches.
I will make it live this evening, so have a look!

~K

Time for a Break.

2008-12-04T10:33:00.002-05:00

Hello and Welcome.

I just wanted to let you guys know, that we are going to take a break for a while. There are lots of reasons, Work, Health, The Holidays, (too many effing games to play.) But don't worry, We will be back soon. This is actually kind of hard for me to do even temporarily, but I think it will be for the better.

I am working on a plan for reimagining this blog. The format we have now is a bit too constrictive to me. I have found that I wanted to write about a number of different things, but since they didn't fit the mold, I postponed or never wrote on them. Plus only once a day sometimes wasnt enough (or it was too much.).

I also will be working on a much nice Ascetic (and maybe new name!) Don't worry though, the address will the same.

Anyway, my new years resolution is to make this place fun again (for me and you). Thanks for everyone that has read this blog in the past few months, I have definitely been suprised at the number and randomness of people who have visited! Thanks!

See ya in a few!
~K

[UPDATE] In the meantime, head over to Nate's Blog. He posts on some of the same things we post here, but it is a slightly wider perspective than (mostly) video Games.

Unplugged Wednesday - Walking Dead

2008-11-26T19:50:00.002-05:00

Hello and Welcome.

Well, I originally wanted to write about World War Z or the Zombie Survival Guide (both by Max Brooks), but I haven't read enough yet to give a good opinion on it (only to say that I love it, and it is a thinly veiled political commentary). Instead, we are going to post a peice that Nate wrote on Walking Dead a while back. Enjoy!

=================================================================

Quick, name two things that are awesome. Zombies you say? I think I heard comics from somewhere in the back. Zombies and comics actually make the perfect match. First up, because I have to make a throwaway mention to the fantastic cover art, the Marvel Zombies comics are decent. The plot is funny and the art is really good, but there is really no substance beyond that. The zombie comic I'm here to talk about is one that I've been behind for about 2 or 3 years now: The Walking Dead.

All of the best zombie stories aren't just about zombies. The zombies are just a backdrop for the artist to build a canvas to tell the story of humans and the way they respond to fear or catastrophe, and The Walking Dead is extremely good at this. Yeah, there are some really great scenes of zombies getting their heads chopped off and people getting all eaten up, but the true strength of the series is the characters.

The story revolves around Rick, who was a police officer in a small Georgia town (yay) when he was shot and fell into a coma. When Rick wakes up, the dead have risen and his hospital and town have been overrun by zombies. Rick then leaves to head to Atlanta to (hopefully) find his wife and son. What follows is a fantastically well written survival story, not just of Rick, but of the people he encounters. They are constantly facing trouble within the pages, but this rarely comes from the zombies (at least later on). The survivors are forced to learn how to create their own society in a post-apocalyptic world, and the author (Robert Kirkman) does a great job in pulling all the difficulties together. Also, seeing as this is a comic, I cannot neglect the wonderful art style. The entire series is done in beautiful black and white that perfectly matches the mood of the writing.

Since I don't have a comic shop around here, I've been getting the series as it comes out in collected trade form and I'm up through Volume 8, so that's what I'm currently talking about. The series does a great job of changing everything each few issues (I don't want to spoil everything, since I think it would be a good idea for everyone who likes zombies to go ahead and pick this up). Pretty much all I'm trying to say here is that if you like zombies, this is some of the best stuff out there (outside of the two Max Brooks books - which will be discussed at some point soon, I should think), and you should be reading it.

New Release Tuesday: Left 4 Dead

2008-11-25T11:42:00.002-05:00

Ever since I heard of its existence, I have been waiting to play Left 4 Dead. When the demo finally came out a few weeks back, I logged in and played the 30 minute piece nearly 20 times all the way through on all of the difficulty levels. Needless to say, when my copy arrived last week, I peed myself.

It must be said starting out that this game is not meant to be played single player. Although the AI characters do a great job of making smart decisions and healing you (and each other) when necessary, it is nowhere near as fun to play with the computer as it is to play with friends. Friends make mistakes (sometimes on purpose), and friends know how to communicate best with you.

Outside of the horde of regular zombies that you must fight your way past as you move to the rescue station or safe house, the game introduces 5 super zombies to make your journey that much more difficult. Smokers and Hunters are similar, in that they will lurk in the dark and try to either pounce on you (Hunters) or grab you with their tongue (Smokers) at that exact moment that you weren't paying attention and deal out some damage before your buddies can rescue you. Boomers will wait just around a corner just for the chance to either vomit on you, or be close enough that when you kill them, they explode on you. Outside of this being pretty disgusting, it also draws the horde directly to you and you have to fight them off while being temporarily blinded by the green gunk all over the screen.

The final two super zombies are complete bullet sinks and require a bit of work to get past. The Tank is exactly what he sound like - huge and nigh-unstoppable. He requires that everyone in the group focus on him until he drops, because if he gets close to anyone, there is little chance that they can get away without being injured in some capacity or another. Finally, the Witch is best left undisturbed. As soon as you start to hear crying, cut your lights off and keep your eyes open. If the Witch gets disturbed by you shooting next to her or your lights flashing on her, whoever did it, is incapacitated in one hit, and if everyone isn't fast enough to take her down after that, that person is dead.

Now, all of these super zombies (except the Witch) are controllable in the Versus mode, but since I haven't had enough time to sink into that mode, I can't comment much on it yet (I've been spending my time trying to survive the story modes).

Speaking of story, although it isn't necessary at all since all you do is try to survive from point A to point B and call in the rescue, Valve has done an awesome job with telling the story just through the environment. Any time I get to a safe house, I have to hang around for a good 5 minutes to read everything that is written on the walls. Sometimes it provides some hints for gameplay (like avoiding the witches), but largely it just gives the entire world some depth, as you read about people who couldn't wait any longer for a loved one or people who have left their theories on the time it takes to turn into a zombie.

Valve is all about making quality games, and Left 4 Dead is no exception. It is the best zombie game I've ever played.

Zombie Week.

2008-11-24T18:53:00.000-05:00

Hello and welcome.

Well, We don't really have a good update for today. As Zombies!!! isn't out yet, nor is there any DLC for Left 4 Dead, and the GTA IV Zombies thing isn't official yet.

So, Just letting you know that it is zombie week here. Hope you are looking forward to it!

Make sure you get a lot to eat this week, cause you are gonna need it to fight the invasion!

Unplugged Wednesday - Holiday Gift Guide.

2008-11-19T08:54:00.001-05:00

Hello and Welcome.

In light of all the holiday gift guides other websites are putting together, we totally think we can do better.

So here is our list of the 10 essential gifts for your nerd (or yourself for that matter). Click the Pictures of the names to see the websites.

Tender Rondo

Tender Rondo is a game from the Merchants of Cool. Features from the game are:

-- Action-RPG based on an anime that's already popular in Japan and is set to debut on the Cartoon Network in 2009.

-- Highly sensitive, highly reluctant teen hero: Rondo's sensitive emotions create special powers, which come in handy when the evil Joy Kill Korporation sends shock troops into his village. Rondo's kidnapped neighbors and relatives are drained of their emotions, which power a doomsday machine set to destroy the planet. Not if Rondo can help it.

-- Rondo's attacks are based on human emotions: Fear attacks are the yellow button (Y), rage attacks are the red button (B), sadness attacks are the blue button (X), and envy attacks, which strip the enemy of loot and weapons, are the green button (A).

-- The music is by legendary composer Hiroaki Kokotake-san, who promised in his contract to create "music of devastating beauty and tremendous power."

Covenant Energy Sword.

Do you have an angry 13 year old Halo 3 Nerd(or are you one)? Why not take out your aggression on your parents with this life size replica of the Covenant Energy Sword? Make sure your reticule turns red before you attack!

Electronic Drum Kit...Shirt

Have you ever felt that all that gorillia chest beating you do could be used to better use? Well know it can, with your very own Drum Kit...Shirt. Who needs Rockband when you can do this on the go?

Dismember Me Zombie

Are you feeling that Left 4 Dead isn't honing your skills well enough? Are you looking for a practical approach to the methods in the Zombie Survival Guide? Then check out this anatomically correct zombie doll.

Natural Harvest Cook Book.

Wow, just wow. I am so appalled by this, I can't even be funny. Check out the link... if you are brave...

The Manga Bible

For the uninitiated, Manga is the Japanese word for comics. This is the best way to trick young readers (or any Otaku) into reading the bible. No... Really... Its just a comic book... Look, there are plagues, wars, and look this dude rises from the dead. CLEARLY zombie.

Also, if the old testament isn't your style, try the Manga Messiah

Manga Guide to Databases

The Bible not your thing? Tired of your computer Science Database class? Does Database theory got you down? Well no more with the Manga Guide to Databases. Great gift for that extreme Nerd in your family. (*ahem*).

World Of Warcraft Night Elf Ears

Have you always wanted to be a night elf, blood elf, Orc, or Tauren? Then you should totally check out these prosthetic elf ears. All joking aside, on the right person, these look awesome (with the full costume of course. ;) ).

Tattoo Sleeves

Want to be cool and have tattoo sleeves, without all the bleeding and pain? Tattoo sleeves are the answer. Let me tell you, these work, I use them every time I go to a biker bar, just to toughen myself up a bit.

Well, that is it (sorry, only 9 items, not 10). For fun, imagine wearing all the apparel while reading the books, playing the game, and dismembering the zombie with the sword!

Good luck!

~k

New Release Tuesday - 360 NXE

2008-11-18T22:24:00.000-05:00

Hello and Welcome!

Today we are going to talk about the New Xbox Experience. Ok, Ok, I know it isn't a game, but it will change how you interact with you 360 significantly.

My Avatar

Nate's Avatar

The NXE is set to drop tomorrow (Nov. 19) and will completely replace the 'Blades' that you currently see.

So, What do you get with the NXE? To me it is a combination of the Mii's from Wii, and Playstaion 3's (as of yet unreleased) Home.

The main features are:

Avatars - Mii like characters that represent your GamerTag. The design for the Avatars was done by Rare.

Netflix - For those of you who didn't by the Roku Media Player, you finally get your Netflix streamed to the 360.

Online Marketplace - Now you can buy your games for download on the Marketplace and they will start auto downloading! (exciting for me, hopefully they will have the demos as well.)

Party Mode - Lets you connect to 7 other people and share photos, vote and voice chat, play games (and watch your avatars respond to each other)

UPDATE: User Generated Content: With Microsoft's XNA users can now create, share and vote on user generated games! Look forward to Nerd Nats!

UPDATE 2: Oh yeah, you can also load a portion of you Games to the HDD for faster loading.

All in all it should be neat. We'll let you know our impressions after we play with it a bit.

~K

DLC Monday - Spore: Extra Limbs!

2008-11-17T21:35:00.000-05:00

Hello and Welcome.

Are you ready to get back that Arm and Leg you paid for Spore? Well EA decided to give you 24 for free!

Mega Man needs new arms

These free parts are part of the 3 patch to be released since the games initial release. Its nice to see them giving something for free. There were also a few minor bug fixes. You can read more about the patch here. They also added the ability to have unique screen names for each member of your house hold (now I don't have to share my wife's!)

Don't worry though, EA isn't THAT nice. They can't give you everything for free. With the announcement of this patch, they also announced the Spore Creepy & Cute parts pack. This game has been out for only two months and they are already releasing add-ons. Seems they are going the same route as the Sims games.

The parts are 'Exoskeleton' arms and legs. They will help give you creature that nice armored or skeletal look you had to force with the in game armor, or random parts. Check out a montage of the parts below:

Anyway, I am off to create some new freaky creatures! Stay tuned to my SporeCasts for more updates!

~K

Retro Thursday - MegaMan X4

2008-11-13T15:43:00.000-05:00

Hello and Welcome.

This week's Retro Thursday we will talk about one of my Favorites: MegaMan X4.

X4 was the first entry on the PlayStation and brought with it a few new conventions. For one, X and Zero grew a little taller, and had more of a contemporary anime look to their sprites. It also added anime cut-scenes to tell key parts of the 'story'. The most notable feature however, is the ability to play the entire game as Zero.

X4 Opening Cinematic

Aside from these extra features, X4 was pretty much more of the same: 8 Maverick Bosses with the same weakness systems that made MegaMan great, X's upgradeable armor, and chargeable enemy weapons.

Despite all that, or maybe because of, this is my favorite MegaManX game. Playing as X is fun as always, due to the ability to upgrade, but Playing the game again (or the first time) as Zero is where I got the most challenge and enjoyment.

Zero's arsenal consists of different sword attacks gleaned from defeated Mavericks. All of these sword attacks are (obviously) melee attacks, so you can't attack from a safe distance like X. It makes for a challenging and rewarding combat for sure.

X4 is available as part of the MegaMan X collection for PS2 and GameCube (it's probably less than $20 at your local game retailer). The collection also has X1-3 and 5-6, plus two games that were released only in Japan. I think it is MegaMan cart racing or something silly like that.

Anyway, pick it up, woop up on Sigma with Zero. You won't be sorry.

Unplugged Wednesday - Library Edition

2008-11-12T15:48:00.000-05:00

Hello and Welcome.

Ok, so this weeks unplugged is actually the complete opposite. Its all about the Library being PLUGGED-IN.

Ok, before I even start on this. WTF is this poster? Oh my god, it looks like Gandalf the Purple, the love child of C-3PO and HK-47 (KOTOR), and Generic Pink Hair Space Pirate Girl (Or maybe U-la-la's sister...). Oh Wizards of the coast, you positively SLAY me.

The event is sponsored by the Wizards of the Coast and ILoveLibraries.Org. It is set to contain a mix of Board and Video Games (Probably Magic the Gathering, and Magic Online...).

So, How do I feel about this? Well, as a gamer I think it is exciting that gaming has reached such mainstream attention that Libraries are starting to pay attention.

On the other hand, as a well rounded individual I am not sure I like it. I have always looked at my library as a quiet place I could go to study, read, or research without being distracted by my surroundings. I can imagine someone coming into the library, seeing this event, and walking straight out of the door.

Of course, I assume this was an inevitable (and not necessarily recent) development considering the growth of the technology age and the internet. First it was cd's, then Graphic Novels, then DVDS, and now Video Games. Even my local library has a WEEKLY Wii Wednesday (Other branches have it on different nights, it is a rotating event) so this shouldn't be all that surprising.

There is another perspective to this as well. This event will get people (and not just kids) into their libraries and see how libraries have adapted in the last 10 years.

For a list of participating libraries, try here.

So, get out of your mom's basement and check it out. You might make a friend!

~K

New Release Tuesday - Wii Music

2008-11-12T01:20:00.000-05:00

Hello and Welcome.

This week we are going to talk about why I don't play my with my Wii anymore. (what?)

Wii Music is the latest creation by famed Mario (and Zelda, Pikmin) creator Shigeru Miyamoto. However, lately Miyamoto has been content to create stuff that only really appeals to people who did not, on a regular basis, play much if any Video games at all. These things can really only be referred to as Software for the Wii, rather than the oft used moniker "Games". I am of course referring to things like Wii Fit and Wii Music.

Miyamoto, the Impresario of my cynicism

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying there is not a place for these "Casual Games". I mean, who am I to challenge Nintendo's right to print money. I just think that there should be a modicum of production value put in these games.

I tried variable ways of playing this game, and just found myself not enjoying any of it. I played by myself, improvising and Jamming out on songs left and right, but I wasn't having any fun. The main reason behind this is the HORRIBLE public domain set list (there are a few decent licensed songs.. but not many). Sure, there are a few good Nintendo classics: SMB Theme, Zelda theme. But forcing me to play Twinkle Twinkle little star 5 + times as a tutorial, and to unlock stuff in a word: Blows.

So, Its better in mutliplayer right? WRONG. Even if you are playing with someone with a remotely good sense of rythm and music theory, you still have to rely on their abilty to complement your own freestyling. And if they don't possess any of those skills? I might as well strap the WiiMotes to my dogs forheads and let them wrestle through "Yankee Doodle".

Ravi, losing his mind over Wii Music

Anyway, I am going to go play some RockBand. Angry Nerd out.

~k

DLC Monday: Mirror's Edge Demo

2008-11-10T17:18:00.000-05:00

Over the past week, I've played through the Mirror's Edge demo about four times. Honestly, I don't think I'll buy the game (but that's more due to money constraints than liking it), but it's definitely a fun demo.

After breezing through the quick tutorial, you get to whet your appetite for parkour as you play through the first piece of the game. It's a fun ride, and it feels incredibly natural as you use the trigger buttons to bounce from wall to roof to ledge. The controls did take a moment for me to get used to, but once I started really running, it fit the game wonderfully. Once you get to the combat, I kind of felt like things fell apart. I know that you are encouraged to run rather than fight, but when you are required to encounter a baddie all I did was keep hitting the disarm button until I got it right. I'm sure there's more to it as you get better at playing the game, but that's really all I knew how to do at this point.

Since this is only about the demo, there isn't much else to talk about. I know I'm interested in playing more, but I don't know if it's worth the $60 (although definitely worth it when a price drop hits).

Unplugged Wednesday: The Stand (Comic series)

2008-11-05T15:36:00.000-05:00

The Stand is a great book. I haven't read much Stephen King outside of The Dark Tower series, but when I read The Stand earlier this year, I found that I was missing out on a lot. However, this isn't about the original book, instead this is about the new comic book adaptation that Marvel Comics has begun to release. Sadly, since I do not have a good comic shop near me, I've only had the chance to read the first issue.

On the whole, it's a good adaptation. The art is good and it's not nearly as wordy as the book can be at times, but as I read the issue, I kept getting the feeling that I was missing something. Not that the plot is hard to follow or anything, I just really felt like it was turning out to be The Stand Lite.

I really think that instead of trying to retell the exact same story as the book, it would have been a bit more interesting for them to take the world that King established in the original novel and use that as a basis for starting different stories to tell. Who knows, that could be the plan down the line, but I didn't really feel like they were going to do that since the issue was basically the first few chapters of the book setting up the same group of characters for the same plotline.

All that grumbling aside, it's still a good read. I think it will be a good way to get people to read the original novel so that they can get all the extra details. Also, I have hope that in future issues they'll add in little bits that weren't in the book (maybe add in a few side stories or something). That's my hope anyway.

By the way, since today is the 5th of November, go read V for Vendetta tonight.

New Release Tuesday - Fallout 3

2008-11-04T14:18:00.000-05:00

Hello and Welcome.

This will be our first entry in "Fallout" week (sorry for missing yesterday...).

So, lets talk a little bit about Fallout 3 shall we?

First, a brief history of Fallout. Fallout was originally developed by Black Isle studios and Interplay, whose most notable games include the Baldur's Gate series.. The rights to Fallout 3 where sold to Bethesda (makers of The Elder Scrolls Games: Morrowind, and Oblivion being the most recent.)

The previous versions of Fallout where Isometric Turn-Based RPGS. Fallout 3 takes the system used in Oblivion, the 1st and 3rd person perspective and twitch based action. The new feature in Fallout 3's combat system that we didn't see in Oblivion is the V.A.T.S system. The V.A.T.S. system allows you to spend a set amount of action points to target specific parts of your adversary's body: Head, Torso, right and left, arms and legs, as well as their weapon. This typically ends in a the targeted body part exploding in a bloody mess. One hilarious result of these explosions: each piece of your enemy is searchable. I found two pieces of armor, a gun, and some ammo in a jaw bone. A JAW BONE.

V.A.T.S. in action

Other than the V.A.T.S. system, combat is inaccurate and annoying. And don't even think about using the 3rd person view. It is really only good for watching your character skate around D.C. and looking at his armor. I find myself running out of ammo and switching to a crappy baseball bat, or board full of nails, which tends to do very little damage very slowly. This means that I end up losing most of my health during each fight. This further complicates my situation because I am always low on health items. And the ones I DO have all increase my radiation levels significantly.

Visually, Fallout 3 exceeds Oblivion in most aspects. I say most because there are no lush landscapes that you would expect in a fantasy game. However, the level of detail in each ruinous city, town, and ravaged landscape is very impressive

The scope of this game is very ambitous. With a total of 200 possible endings (though each only minor change from the previous) it should keep people (like me, who tends to get all or most of the endings in games like this) busy for a long time. The endings are based on choices your character makes through out the game many with far reaching consequences, like setting off the nuclear device in the town of Megaton ( I did. ).

There are many things in the asthetic of Fallout 3 that reminds me of some other great First Person games recently. The black humor of all the fallout games, but specifically the radio stations and music (which I love), remind me of Bioshock. The open areas, and mutated enemies, and general lonliness of most areas reminds me of Half Life 2.

Though there are some negatives in Fallout 3, in general, my journey from vault 101 across the vast wastelands of post-WW3 Washington D.C. has been an enjoyable one. If you enjoyed Oblivion, or Bioshock, you will love Fallout 3.

Free Play Friday: Fable 2 Webgames

2008-10-31T21:00:00.000-04:00

You want free stuff for your Hero in Fable 2, you say? Well that's easy, just head on over to Fable2.com and you can enjoy a couple quick games that will be pretty rewarding in the long run.

The first one isn't so much a game as it is an interactive play. As you work your way through, the little puppet gets to make a few good/evil choices that affect which prizes you wind up getting. I went through and did all the good choices and got a doll and some tattoos waiting for me when I went to a specific treasure chest in-game (the one in the Guild Hall, for those wondering). Outside of the fact that you get free prizes for your Hero, the play is actually really cool and looks exactly like it belongs within the world of Fable.

The second game, Chicken Kickin', is a pain in the ass. Maybe its just my stupid computer, but every time I try to do the game, either the meter loads funkily or I can't aim the chicken right, so I haven't won anything yet. I do know that if you can complete it (or get the target score anyway), you win a nice chicken suit and you can get the title of Chicken Chaser from the town crier for free as well. I'm going to keep trying every once in a while to get the suit from this game, but I won't put too much effort into it, it just winds up being way too frustrating I think.

The total items you can get from the website are: a book with the Feign Attack expression, a vial of pink dye, a 3 piece chicken suit, 2 Lionhead tattoos (one for face and one for body), and one Hero Doll.

Finally, even though you don't have to play a webgame for this one, according to Joystiq you can get the free Halo armor for your Hero that was supposed to be exclusive to the Collector's Edition of the game. Joystiq has the information on how to pick yours up here. I signed up, but it says it could take up to 10 days for it to come through, so mine hasn't arrived yet. Although, I did see it on my brother's Hero and I must say it looks pretty cool. However, my Hero will never wear it, because she just looks so awesome in her hot pants and rich woman's shirt.

Retro Thursday: Fable: The Lost Chapters

2008-10-30T17:16:00.000-04:00

The first Fable came onto the scene in 2004 and barely a year later was rereleased with extra content and an extra island/ending for the story portion of the game. When I picked it up and began my playthrough, I found an incredibly enjoyable (although sometimes flawed) action -RPG experience.

The thing that really pushed the game along for me was the fact that the story was completely engaging. I loved the fact that you got to start out as a child (albeit not for too long), and then got to trace the child's journey through training and then work your way up to become the Hero of Albion. The big draw of the good/evil choice scenario was cool enough, but when you get to the main point of the game, all you have to do is make one choice that really effects what road you walk down to the end. I (like usual) went through the first time being a goody-two-shoes, but once I had completed the storyline, I went back and had some fun at the brothels just long enough to get back to neutral territory. It also helped that I would beat my wife until she would divorce me, then remarry her.

The battle system worked well enough, although I don't think I ever used a ranged weapon during my travels. Magic was definitely a plus to keep around, but I would never use, because I didn't want the white glowy all over me. I know it made sense to put that in as a consequence for using all that power, but I always wished that I had been able to use it the whole game and not worry about how nasty I'd look.

I also really loved the customization of hair and clothes. Being able to dress my dude up and walk through Bowerstone and see all the ladies fall for his manly awesomeness.... priceless. Again, the only gripe with this is that certain clothes added to your good/evilness, and I kind of wish it hadn't because I would want to wear the badassy assassin clothes, but I didn't want it to take away from my goodness. It's a small complaint, but I definitely felt it while playing.

Although I never felt that the game ever had everything working perfectly (I would always run into a stupid combat glitch or get stuck on a wall), it was definitely a wonderful play and completely set up a nice framework for Fable 2, which takes everything to the next level extremely well.

Unplugged Wednesday - Fables

2008-10-29T23:16:00.001-04:00

Hello and Welcome.

Our third entry in Fable week is actually not related to the Fable series of games. Today we are going to talk about the Vertigo Comic: Fables.

I have always been a big fan of alternate interpretations of classic stories. Gregory MacGuire's Wicked series, The Looking Glass Wars (Alice in Wonderland), and even Stephen King's Dark Tower series to an extent.

Fables is exactly that. It is the story of all the people and creatures of legend living in New York city (for the Human Fables) and upstate New York on the "Farm" (for those less than human Fables).

The Fables are in NYC because they were exiled from their lands by the "Adversary" as he systematically took over their lands with his evil army. The human fable community is run by the Deputy Mayor, Snow White and her trusty sheriff Bigby "The Big Bad Wolf" who thanks to a glamour, has a human form. Snow White, and the whole community, deal with any number of situations over the course of the books: Murders, Revolutions, etc.

As far as the art goes, it is very detailed and vibrant at times, but still has a somewhat dated look (though I think that is the DC/Image style). The stories within each arch are very interesting and deal with "Real" problems in the "Mundy" (their name for normal "Mundane" humans) world. For example, Rose Red (Snow White's forgotten sister) slept with Prince Charming (SW's husband) and now they are divorced.

The stories are also often humorous. One of my Favorites:
Goldilocks to Papa Bear: "Do you think I share your son's bed only because is happens to be 'Just Right'"?
Papa Bear: "No, it's because papa's l'il boo bear is hung like a --"

Anyway, I definitely recommend Fables, if you are in to the alternate version types of stories.

And if you are REALLY into Fables, you might check out the spin-offs (I haven't): Jack of Fables (no good Jack of the BeanStalk story), and 1001 Nights of Snowfall: a prequel to Fables.

~K

New Release Tuesday: Fable 2

2008-10-28T22:19:00.001-04:00

Hello and Welcome.

For our second entry in Fable week we are going to talk about the newly released Fable 2.

Before I get started I just want to give you a list of the things I have done so far:

Worked as a Blacksmith, Woodcutter, And Bartender, and Bounty Hunter
Courted and Married "Jen the Barmaid" who is described as "Good, Straight, Raunchy, and Unchaste"
Bought my first house and made it our Marital home.
Attempted to consummate my marriage by having Protected Sex with Jen (come on, she is a "Raunchy, Unchaste" BARMAID), She didn't like that.
Tried again, no protection, she went for that.
She immediately got pregnant, and I immediately got an STD. My character is now a poster child for Safe sex.
"Accidentally" lightninged the 5 random people that walked into my home while I was looking at my baby. The baby and wife got lightninged too. Oops.
Kicked 6 chickens.
dyed my clothes and hair with "Red Letter Dye"
Posed for multiple statues.
Purchased numerous Shops and a few houses, and rented them all out.

Anyway, I loved the original Fable. It was one of the gateway games I used to get my wife to play WOW. So I was obviously excited about Fable 2.

So, what is new about Fable 2? For one it is significantly larger than its predecessor. Peter Molyneux has been quoted as saying it is about 10 times as large as the original. You now have the ability to choose your gender, something that Molyneux desperately wanted in the original. Within that, as a female character you can become pregnant (and impregnate as a male, obviously) and have children who grow throughout the game.

Another new addition to your 'family' is the dog. The dog can be taught a number of skills (mostly tricks and expressions like your character), but the most notable skills are treasure finding, and combat.

In the previous Fable, your character would take quests to earn renown and gold. In Fable 2, quests only net you renown. To get gold, you must take one of the various jobs: Bartender, Woodcutter, Blacksmith, Assassin, Slaver, Slave Liberator, or Bounty hunter.

You may also purchase and rent real estate and shops. With each piece of property, you can change the rent (or rates in a shops case) by a certain percentage. You can also decorate your houses, etc, with finer furniture to make the basic rate (and selling price) higher. Higher rates make you more corrupt, where as lower rates make you more pure. Each piece of property you own pays you the specified rate every 5 minutes of real world time, even when your game is turned off. Subsequently, your family(ies) deduct a certain amount of your income for household upkeep.

In the previous Fable, your character's apperance morphed as he progressed in age as well as based on whether he performed Good or Evil deeds. In Fable 2, these features and others contribute to your appearance:

Good or Evil
Pure or Corrupt
Wealth & Poverty
Slim or Fat
Young or Old

The hero's Skill, Will, and Strength attributes play also affect your appearance. Strength makes the character more muscular, skill affects height, and magic gives the hero glowing blue veins. Also, any combination of the above extremes can be combined, you can have a Good, yet corrupt Fat Cat, or a Pure, evil pauper.

The main reason that I was excited for Fable 2 was the concept of Offline, and Online Co-op. I was excited to play this game with my wife, and with my friends.

Lionhead was unable to complete the online portion before going to print, however, a patch was available on Day 1 of launch to enable this feature.

Unfortunately, the Multiplayer still sucks. Both locally and online. I was really excited to have my hero traipse around in my Wife's world, as well as my friends causing havo... I mean joy, to all of their inhabitants... But no, I have to be one of 6 preset "Henchmen" (good, neutral, evil/Male, female). Sure, I can import my Hero's abilities and experience as well as take home a portion of the gold and experience I recieve in my friends game. But that is not enough. Fable is a game of virtually limitless customization, but I can't show that off. Bad form Lionhead, bad form.

There have also been a number of game breaking bugs, but I won't go into detail here.

These things aren't enough to destroy, or even tarnish past a certain part, my love for this game. It is still a great game, I just hope they get these bugs fixed (before I find them) and enhance the Multiplayer.

Well, I am off to adventure in Albion.

:: Rude Gesture::

~K

DLC Monday: Pub Games.

2008-10-27T15:00:00.000-04:00

Hello and Welcome.

Our first entry in Fable week will focus on the XBLA game: Fable: Pub Games.

Pub Games was essentially a way to rack up gold in Fable 2 before the game came out. It also offered 15 items that could be one from the tournaments in the game.

There are 3 different games if Pub Games: Keystone, Fortune's Tower, and Spinner box.

Each of these games offers numerous variations on the games and stakes as well as 5 tournaments per game, corresponding to your players star level. The difference in a tournament game is you are betting against other "Players" and not just the house.

Keystone

Keystone is essentially a combination of Roulette and Craps. You place primary bets on the "Arch Stones" around the top of the game prior to the game starting. Before each dice roll you place inside bets on the Board, similar to the way you would place bets in Craps.

And that is what this game is: Craps. Just like real Roulette or Craps, your odds of winning are painfully low. I hate this game....

Anyway, the Prizes you win from the 5 levels of tournaments are:

Plaits Hairstyle Card
Dog Book: Backflip
High Rollers Coat
Potion of Will
Championship Pistol

Fortune's Tower

Fortune's Tower is essentially a type of solitaire (and probably exists in one of those 300 solitaire games collections...). After you make your bets, cards are placed one row at a time, starting with the face down "Tower" card and incrementing one card at a time for each subsequent row. Once a row is placed by the dealer, you have the option of taking the sum of that rows cards as your winnings. Sounds easy right? Well, if a card lines up with any card of the same number on the previous line the game ends and you loose your money. Each deck has 4 "Hero" cards that can negate this effect if they are dealt in a row. Also, the Tower Card will automatically be used the first time this happens. If you make it to the last row without using your Tower card (hero cards are fine) you win the jackpot, which is the sum of ALL cards on the Table.

This game is by far my favorite because you actually have a chance at winning if you play it smart.

Ok, the five tournament items for Fortune's Tower are:

Deepest Dark Chocolate
Sleepmaster 3000 (its a bed, duh)
Potion of Strength
A Face Tatoo
Championship Cutlass.

Spinnerbox

Spinner Box is slots. 'nuff said.

The five tourney items are:

Apple Pie
Hat, Headband, and Mustache (its a book.)
Body Tatoo
Potion of Skill
Mysterious Ring

Other than achievement points (like the 0 gamer-score "Fabled Financier") and some items there is not really any point to pub games ( you can play all these games in Fable 2) at this point. You ESPECIALLY should not get Pub Games if you are planning on paying the 800 Microsoft Points ($10). It came as a preorder bonus for Fable 2 (the only reason I have it. ;) ) and is definitely not worth $10 bucks... I recommend hitting up your local Gamestop to see if they have any of the preorder cards left over(mine had like 15).

Other than that, the concept of pub games is an interesting one. The fact that a publisher would allow you to amass wealth in a game (as well as items) BEFORE it is released is a bold concept (especially considering it shipped with numerous bugs that allowed you to cheat your way to wealth). I guess it is the wave of the DLC future.

~K

This Week: Fable Week.

2008-10-26T15:08:00.000-04:00

Hello and Welcome.

Just wanted to give you a preview of the week to come. We are dedicating this week to all things Fable.

We will keep the same format as always, but everything will be related to Fable in some way. It will be fun, so stay tuned.

For now, I will leave you with a few of the hilarious quotes I have heard so far in Fable 2:

"If you ask me, it's a great time to be alive. There's not even that much disease considering we never wash!"

"I heard the Guildmaster had the ability to talk to any hero at any time! Sounds kind of annoying to me."

"There are many conflicting legends as to whether or not the Hero of Oakvale killed the Guildmaster. It's said that the words, 'Your health is low' were carved into his forehead. "

There is a description on a love potion that says "60% of the time, it works everytime"

~K

Freeplay Friday - Sonny

2008-10-24T20:07:00.000-04:00

Hello and Welcome.

The rate at which flash games are developing now astounds me. Previously flash games where relegated to puzzle games like Chuzzle, or word games like Text Twist. But now you can play full on FPS games or RPGs, and some of them are actually good!

Which brings us to our freeplay game of the week: Sonny.

Sonny is a Tactical RPG on the Kongregate site. Kongregate is a collection of Flash games and a place for flash game developers to, well, congregate and share there stuff. Kongregate also offers achievements(for you achievement whores) and a slew of other features. Plus it is free.

Sonny is bassically a loot whore game ala Diablo, but with turnbased RPG gameplay. Sonny wakes up on a ship after a blind man resucitates him. What Sonny doesn't even know about himself is, he is a zombie. Nevertheless he proceeds to irradicate zombies, and zombie hunters alike.

Utilizing skill trees and attributes very similar again to Diablo, Sonny eventually learns a vast repitoire of skills that he can use in his skill loadout.

The main (simple) reason I like Sonny, is each piece of armor/weapon you find is clearly visible on your characters.

Sonny Battles

Despite being a flash game, sunny is fairly deep and offers many hours of game play. Can't play it for many hours? Well, like all good RPGs sunny utilizes a save game feature. As long as you play from the same computer that is.

Sonny, and all the games on Kongregate, are free to play. So what are you waiting for?

~K

Retro Thursday - Mother 3

2008-10-23T14:28:00.000-04:00

A couple weeks back, I professed my love for Earthbound (or Mother 2) and although Mother 3 has been out in Japan since 2006 it was just last Friday when the English fan translation was finished and I could finally check it out for myself. Since Friday, I have logged about 12 hours into the game and have to say that (despite early misgivings) it is completely living up to my high expectations.

While Earthbound began in the middle of a representation of small town America and you gradually moved into larger and larger cities, Mother 3 begins in a town that has no concept of money and is one with the surrounding nature. Soon into the game, things begin to go sour, as people discover that guys wearing pigmasks have begun to experiment on the local wildlife in order to make "cooler animals." Fast forward 3 years (or 2 more chapters into the game) and the pigmasks have transformed the town into modern suburbia through the use of their Happy Boxes that the townspeople became addicted to. At my present point in the game, the way to save society and return it to a sense of normality is to retrieve the seven pins located throughout the world and release the dragon hidden inside for good.

Yeah, it's a pretty obvious statement - very similar to the one made in Earthbound, but the writing is really what makes it stand out. Without spoiling anything in the game, I have to say that the way certain events were scripted do a great job of expressing the emotions of the characters and give you that little tug at your heart that connects you to the characters and pushes you forward into the game if only so you can find closure alongside them. With this comes the same wacky sense of humor found in EB that keeps me grinning throughout the game (especially when you run into each of the Magypsies).

The combat in Mother 3 has the same interface as EB in that you don't ever see your characters performing actions through the battles, however there is one really cool addition. In each battle, if you are able to press the attack button at the correct time in beat with the background music, it allows your characters to attack multiple times and score more damage. This, however, this is incredibly hard to do - the highest combo I have achieved is only 4 hits, and that was with the backbeat turned up after hypnotizing the enemy. Maybe it just shows how bad I suck at music...

Altogether, Mother 3 is a great package that just feels good to play. Like all the best 16-bit rpgs, it sucks me back to a time of naivety and complete joy that came with playing video games. I guess the best thing that can be said about it is that every day since I've gotten it, I couldn't wait to get home from work and play more.

Unplugged Wednesday - Video Game Halloween costumes (Ok, its really cosplay..)

2008-10-22T21:40:00.000-04:00

Hello and Welcome.

So this week, I thought we could talk about what everyone is going to be for Halloween. I was thinking about going as something Video Game related so I started looking for Ideas.

Then I stumbled on this:

Wow, that is a pretty amazing costume. MegaMan helmet, mega buster, THAT LIGHTS UP. This kid is so awesome.

So I thought, Hey, I could do something like this right? Just change the scale a bit, and it would work great. And so I found this:

So it looks like Mega Man is out. I mean, I don't want to look like this fool. Maybe I will just carve my Pumpkin to look like Mega Man.

Ok, my list of Ideas right now are:

Castle Crasher Knights
Gordon Freeman (Half Life, I would have to grow my beard back though...)
King of All Cosmos (Katamari).
Cervantes (Soul Calibur, ok it's just a glorified pirate....)

Those are what I have so far. Any other Ideas? Votes?

New Release Tuesday - My Japanese Coach

2008-10-21T09:10:00.000-04:00

Hello and Welcome.

This week we are going to talk about a ... well, not really a game per se, but a piece of DS software: My Japanese Coach.

I swear, the power of the Nintendo DS continues to amaze me. Even before the Wii, Nintendo managed to create a device that transcends the common notion of gamer. Considering that they have sold 81 MILLION DSes world wide up till now, I would say it is a pretty viable platform for anything.

So, now we have software on the DS that will help you to learn man languages: French, Spanish, Chinese, among others, and finally Japanese.

Being someone who took 2 years of Japanese in college and has been to japan numerous times, I was a little skeptical of this at first. My main skepticism came from how the experience would be presented. Would it be for those people whom knew no Japanese? People who knew just a little (I know some of you Anime watchers out there no SOME japanese...). Or people who had formal training in the past?

Surprisingly there is enough here for all but the most fluent Nihongo speakers.

With a total of 100 scripted lessons (teaching grammar), then 945 more lessons of Vocab, this is a fairly fleshed out piece of software.

There is an initial "Placement" exam that allows you to skip up to 11 levels based on your proficiency. For the unitiated, it starts of using "Romaji" or english characters, but by level 13 it is consitently using Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji for reading, and writing with Hiragana, and Katakana.

Lessons start with basic vocab and grammar and are completed by "Mastering" words and phrases. To master these phrases you must play a number of games (Very much like Brain Age actually) that involve writing, listening, and even speaking. There are also flashcard and memory style games, just to name a few.

Will this game make you fluent in japanese? Far from it (though it might help study for the 4th (lowest) level of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT)). But it will give you a great base to build your Japanese proficiency on. As with any language (even your native), mastery comes from constant studying, practice, and every day speech.

Anyway, I plan on buying this for my wife, so she and I can talk bad about all those Gaijin around us. Hopefully my friends *hinthint* will get it too so we can all talk to each other in this wonderful language.

Come on people, I need someone to practice with! All that being said, I leave you with this:

I mean really, don't you want to know WHY they have these games?

~K

DLC Monday - Soul Calibur IV: Vader Vs. Yoda

2008-10-20T14:09:00.000-04:00

ello and Welcome.

Alright, Finally some Soul Calibur 4 DLC that is not school girl uniforms... That's right, Yoda for PS3 and Darth Vader for 360.

So for all you PS3 owners out there, congratulations. The cheapest character in fighting game history is now at your disposal (next to Gon from tekken, Maybe.).

Each character will be available on Thursday for $5. As much as I would enjoy playing Vadar, 5 bucks seems like a bit much for an aditional character. Especially when the game itself costs $60.

Of course this seems to be a trend with DLC packs of late. Charge 5 bucks for something that doesn't really change the game at all. Instead it just changes how the game looks. Mega Man 9 did it the with the Proto Man DLC, and more games are doing this type of thing. Sure it isn't $3 horse armor, but it also doesn't add as much as something like the FREE bikes update to Burnout Paradise.

Ok, sure, Darth Vader has a different move set from the other characters, but at this point, hasn't everyone already chosen their character, or characters? Sorry, I just have something against a company charging me an arm and a leg for a game, then the other arm for content that was ALREADY DEVELOPED when the game shipped. But thats probably just my PC side talking, ignore him he gets a bit angry sometimes.

So, if you have SC4 and want these other characters, Check it out.

::rage quits::

~K

Freeplay Friday - Mega Man: The Power Battle

2008-10-17T14:07:00.000-04:00

Hello and Welcome.

This FreePlay Friday is going to give relief to all of you stressing about Mega Man 9. Get ready for some Mega Man : The Power Battle.

The Power Battle was originally released as an arcade game in Japan. It was packaged as part of the Mega Man Anniversary Collection (along with its sequel) on the PS2 and GCN.

And now you can play it FREE on gametap. It requires the Gametap client and a small download, but it is completely free once you get that set up. And it runs on crappy machines like my laptop.

The Game itself is pretty simple. Rather than progress through a long (sometimes frustrating) stage to fight the boss, you immediately fight the boss. Plus you get unlimited continues and ressurect in battle with the boss at the same level of health, so it is pretty easy. Think of it like an Anti-Mega Man 9. If you get frustrated with MM9, boot it up and woop up on some Master Robots.

You can play as Mega Man, Proto Man, or Bass. The style of the game looks just like Mega Man 7, and you can play 3 different worlds. Mega Man 1-3, 4-6, and 7. Each World has 6 Robot Masters from the Various games and a Dr. Wiley stage at the end.

You still get the bosses power after a battle, and they can be used to defeat other bosses more easily.

I highly recommend a controller for this, as it is very difficult on the keyboard (carpal tunnel?).

So, give it a try and show those robot masters that you aren't afraid of them (just their hideouts....)

~K

Retro Thursday: Kingdom Hearts 2

2008-10-16T21:25:00.001-04:00

[EDIT] Hi, Kent here. I know KH2 isn't really that retro, but my internet was out, and Nate was kind enough to step up and throw something up here at the last minute. Enjoy!! [\EDIT]

When I first heard about a game that was an amalgamation of Disney and Square franchises, I was so excited to check it out. But then I heard it was on Playstation 2, and as one of the only people who has never owned a PS2, I missed it... and then I missed the sequel. Now that I've borrowed my brother's PS2 (which enabled me to play through Shadow of the Colossus), I have the opportunity to play Kingdom Hearts 2. Before you say "what about the original?" I was told that I should just skip it for its crappy camera and just play the second. It did provide a few moments of having no idea what was going on, but I soon got a handle on the story (not that it really mattered, but more on that later) and continued on.

You begin the game as Roxas (who turns out to be Sora's Nobody) in Twilight Town... blah, blah, blah. It would be pointless to try to explain the story outside of: Sora has a Keyblade, Sora uses the Keyblade to seal worlds away from the Heartless, the worlds are Disney movies, Sora wants to find his friends Riku and Kairi. That's all you really need to know, because the main story really goes out the window everytime you go to a different world and you wind up just playing through plotlines of Disney movies with Goofy and Donald at your side (as a melee and mage character respectively).

It's pretty fun to play through the plots of certain movies that have good action -like Mulan or Lion King, but the Beauty and the Beast and Nightmare Before Christmas levels in particular got pretty tedious for me. Speaking of the action, it's basically a game of repeatedly pressing X and letting Sora do the combos for you and Donald or your other partner (based on the world) heal you when you get low. The combat got a bit boring, but was never really that hard until the last few bosses, where a couple of them were controller breakingly frustrating - nearly as bad as The Force Unleashed (click to read my thoughts on that).

But really, the whole reason to play the game is the interaction with all the familiar Disney characters (or Final Fantasy characters, if that's your thing). In this respect, I'll admit Kingdom Hearts does pretty well. It reeks of nostalgia everytime you enter into a familiar world and get to see and chat with all the characters within. Although, like I mentioned a little above, the Disney levels are pretty much coincidental to the plot as a whole and I really wish they could have worked it in a bit better. The only level that felt like it belonged within the story was the Disney Castle, and that's only because it was pretty much created to fit within the lore.

It was a fun game as a whole, definitely worth the current budget price, but my interest in the upcoming Kingdom Hearts titles really depends on how they work in the combat and story, seeing as those were the two things that felt a little lacking to me.

Unplugged Wednesday - Lost

2008-10-15T22:26:00.000-04:00

Hello and Welcome.

I recently started watching the show LOST. I have heard for years that is was a great show but never watched it because, lets be honest, how good could a dramatic version of a reality TV show (Survivor) really be?

So, I added it to my netflix queue and it sat at the bottom for months. Finally, after hearing the now defunct GFW Radio talk about the latest episode week after week, my wife and I decided to watch it.

So far I have watched almost through the end of season 2 (this in only a few weeks) and I am already hooked. The show thrives on coincidences and surprises. The web that connects people just by the end of season 2 is pretty ridiculous.

Mysteries like the "Others" and the Black Smoke beast keep you guessing as to what will happen next. Plus they have a Hobbit.

Charlie Pace and Merry Brandybuck

So far my favorite character is John Locke. Aside from being slightly obsessed with the island, Locke is an intelligent, multi-faceted character who more often than not has a great grip on what is going on in any situation.

If you aren't convinced enough to take a spot in your Netflix Queue or on your DVD shelf, you can watch the first 4 Seasons on ABC's website. Just make sure you catch up before Season 5 starts in February!

~K

New Release Tuesday: Star Wars - The Force Unleashed

2008-10-14T12:44:00.000-04:00

I was pretty excited when my brother-in-law said he'd let me borrow The Force Unleashed when he was done with it. This excitement lasted all the way through the first level, when I got to walk through Kashyyyk as Darth Vader and throw Wookiees from bridges to their death. The second level brings you into control of Vader's apprentice (who you find as a child in the first level), and from there things seem to go sour.

First of all, the combat is bad. When my character is facing a bad guy and I press X to attack him, the Apprentice should not turn around and attack at an explosive pod that causes him to lose half of his life bar. It would be funny if it happened only once, but its a continual problem. I was faced up against a rancor and pounding away at him, only to have the Apprentice decide that a flower was more dangerous and turned his back, allowing the rancor to pummel him from behind. Also the typical enemies can negate about 90% of your force powers, which takes away everything that makes being the Apprentice cool. Let me run down a typical combat encounter for you: press x 4 times... watch the Apprentice's lightsaber connect one of the four times... try Force Lightning... watch the enemy reflect/ignore the blast... get knocked over by the enemy.... get attacked on the ground and during the animation while you get up... die... scream expletives and throw controller into couch.... repeat.

Moving away from the combat, the camera has got its own set of issues. Take for example the time that I Force Pushed a door open and proceeded into the little room to get the hidden holocron, only to find myself stuck behind the same doors I had blown open, because the camera decided to move to a position that made them invisible. I had to Force Push another 10 times before the Apprentice magically jumped from the room back into the hallway. I also spend way too much time babying the camera, contiunually moving it into a position so that I can see what's going on around me (and yet it's still not enough to keep from being hit by unknown baddies that always lurk beyond view.

Before I get into the story, I have to admit that I am not finished with the game, I still have 3 missions left to accomplish. With that said, the story is pretty good so far. There hasn't been anything life-changing to come from it yet, but I understand that the ending is supposed to be pretty dang awesome. It's a pretty neat idea, giving Vader an apprentice to go around and hunt down the last few Jedi (I can believe that some escaped Order 66 - they are Jedi after all). I just hope that the obligatory choice between the Light Side and Dark Side that I sense coming never actually arrives. It would be nice to just continue on being a bad guy and not have to worry about making a choice that will affect the ending of the game (although I already know there will be).

To put this simply, if you are a Star Wars fan - rent or borrow this game first. You might find that everything I've said doesn't apply to you, then you can go ahead and buy it. Just be warned - it's not the greatest Jedi game out there, for that I suggest playing the Jedi Knight series (particularly Jedi Academy).

DLC Monday: Secret of Mana.

2008-10-13T21:38:00.000-04:00

Hello and Welcome.

Ok, first, sorry for no free play friday, I was distracted....

Now, on to today. You may be asking yourself, "Hey, isn't today MONDAY, and doesn't a game like Secret of Mana belong on Retro THURSDAY?" Well, normally you would be right. However, Nintendo's Virtual Console released Secret of Mana today!!!!!

Secret of Mana is a slightly different take on the classical square RPG. It is an Action RPG (like Zelda) which is playable by up to 3 characters. You control either the "boy", "girl", or the magical "Sprite".

As you progress through the game you receive a number of different "Mana" weapons that can be upgraded into different forms throughout the game. Most notable of these weapons is the "Mana Sword". These weapons are the Boy's mainstays but are also used by the Girl and the Sprite. The Girl also has defensive magic, were as the Sprite has Offensive magic. Magic takes the form of Elemental creatures who lend their powers to the other characters.

Square also implemented a lot of the SNES "Mode 7" graphics engine. You see this alot in the world map navigation ( like Final Fantasy 6) and even in some of the boss battles.

I really enjoy the music of Secret of Mana, it is a bit different from Nobuo Uematsu, or Yasunori Mitsuda's works, but it is still epic and really suits the mood of this game.

Epic Title Screen

Not really much else to say about this. If you have a freind,or family member who loves zelda, or square games, you should check this out on the Virtual Console.

The only draw back of the VC release... No online multiplayer. I really hate you sometimes Nintendo, I really do.

Anyway, if you don't own the cart, I recommend it. It's 800 points and well worth it.

~k

Retro Thursday: Earthbound

2008-10-09T16:21:00.000-04:00

Earthbound (or Mother 2 if you want) is quite possibly my favorite game of all time. The gameplay is your typical Japanese RPG, complete with lots of grinding and semi-random encounters, but what really sets the game apart is the crazy awesome (and also just plain crazy) story.

Earthbound is a classic RPG on the SNES that takes place in a pretty modern world (unlike the swords and sorcery of other 16-bit RPGs), and in the game you take the role of the boy Ness, who soon learns that he is one of the chosen few who will save the world from teh evil Giygas. During your time in the game, you run into your friends who help you on your way Paula the psychic girl from Twoson, Jeff, the genius from Winters, and Poo the amazing from Dalaam. The four kids travel throughout their world collecting the 8 sounds from the Your Sanctuary locations into your Sound Stone in order to use the world's power to turn away Giygas' evil.

Your time in the world introduces you to awesome people like Everdred, the loveable thief in Twoson park, Master Belch the pile of goop who enslaved the Mr. Saturns of Saturn Valley, or even the hit band - the Runaway Five! Speaking of the Runaway Five, the music in Earthbound is wonderful. It's really odd and strange at times, but every bit of music fits in with its point within the game so well, that whenever I listen to songs from the soundtrack (pretty muc every day), I can imagine that part of the game vividly. Basically, what really makes Earthbound so wonderful is the characters. The conversations with even the random townspeople are good for a chuckle. It's a really well written (and translated game), that I like to pull out at least once a year and play through.

Now, all I have to do is pray that they release it on the Wii Virtual Console, or (like in my dreams) release it on DS with Mother 1 and 3.

Unplugged Wednesday: Y: the last Man.

2008-10-08T21:38:00.000-04:00

Hello and welcome.

This week I am going to talk about a graphic novel series: Y: The last Man.

Published by VERTIGO (subsidary of DC) and Written by Brian K. Vaughn and Pia Guerra, the main artist. Y tells the story of Yorick Brown, the last man on earth and his capuchin monkey Ampersand the last male mammal, after a plague wipes the earth of all male life. Its less of a plague and more of a "Every male falls down and dies at once" event. From there Yorick decides he has to find his girlfriend (almost fiancee) Beth.

Anything that has a post-apocalyptic, post-epidemic premise, almost always appeals to me. I like the idea that we as humanity may be posed with a situation that doesn't fit into the constraints of Technology, or society as we know it. It is really only in situations like this that the strength of our humanity will be proven (or most likely disproved).

That being said, the story in Y starts out strong, with a fair amount of struggle, and moral decisions for Yorick (which he usually makes, IMHO, the wrong choice.). Quickly add in two female (obviously) companions, Extreme Feminist groups, and hot girl on girl action (a joke, small one) and the story takes off with a boom.

However, the story progresses over 10 books, and about 3 years and begins to lose focus as well as adding unneeded complexity to the story. I mean, don't get me wrong, complexity is great when you do it well, but Y continues to add complexity just for the sake of complexity.

Still, Y is a worthwhile read. I don't know that I would recommend buying it, but the art is good, the story decent. So, if you have a friend with a copy, grab it, otherwise, check your library.

~K

New Release Tuesday: Dilemma

2008-10-07T21:32:00.000-04:00

Hello and Welcome.

I know you are excited to hear about this awesome new game: Dilemma. Dilemma is the newest game by developer Tnek Sllennur of some other game he released before....

Ok, that's all completely made up. Dilemma is not actually a game (as far as I know of). It is, in fact, a dilemma.

So what is this dilemma? Well, writing about games is the dilemma. It isn't really the writing about games that is the problem, its the constant reviewing of games. With the limited resources we have available to us here and Nerd's Natterings it gets difficult to play (and review) a new game each week. Plus there is the fact that in the summer (yeah, I know it is already over) new releases are less frequent (though this summer had a decent amount).

Furthermore, I really want this site to be (as someone so eloquently put it) more than a bunch of press release inspired reviews. I would like to cover more interesting things, editorial style, all the while keeping it in the confines of our self prescribed parameters. Not that their is anything wrong with reviews.

Ok, enough rant. Today I want to talk about new releases, not a specific release, but the concept of new releases as they pertain to physical media.

With the advent of digital distribution (see DLC Monday) and the increasingly widespread use and availability of Broadband internet many, myself included, thought that physical media would soon be a thing of the past. Especially with each major platform promoting their own DLC service: Wii's Virtual Console and WiiWare, Xbox live arcade, and the Playstation Network, not to mention services like Steam and others on the PC. However, it seems that the opposite is happening. With Gamestop, one of the key distributors of video games here in the states, reporting increased earnings of 25-30% for the last few quarters of the last few years I don't see digital distribution becoming the mutually exclusive way to get games.

For me, it is a hard choice to make. On the one hand, I love the idea that I can sit in front of my TV or PC and see what came out this week and be playing it in minutes. On the other, I like to collect things and I am sort of a packrat. I enjoy seeing my collection of star wars DVDs, among others.

Of course, the thought of one less thing cluttering my house, and cheaper more easily accessible games is always appealing.

So, I pose the question to all of you readers. Would you rather pay $60+ for a game and have the physical disc, an addition to your collection, and more clutter? Or would you prefer to download all your games (and all that entails: more harddrive usage, no clutter, less driving, no collection.)?

Leave us a comment with your thoughts.

DLC Monday: MegaMan 9

2008-10-06T10:44:00.000-04:00

Hello and Welcome.

Wow, I love Mega Man. Loved it since I saw that atrocious box art and knew I had to play it. So this week I decided to talk about the recently released : MegaMan 9.

Love that box art, huh? Capcom opted for a retro look to MegaMan 9, rather than the anime-esque approach of 7 and 8. Keiji Inafune (and much of the original MegaMan team) wanted people to experience MegaMan in all it's simple and original glory. Removing things like the Charged shot, and the slide, MegaMan 9 is MegaMan in the purest form.

One of the things that MegaMan 9 returns to, is the blistering difficulty of the original games. Actually, its more than the difficulty of original games. The original difficulty of MegaMan was a combination of the limits of programming and graphics. MegaMan 9 is intentionally difficult at times. It lulls you into a false sense of saftey, then attacks when you have no hope (or chance) of salvation. Don't take my word for it, check out this video:

Mega Man 9 'Game Center CX' clip

The music in this game is as good as any of the classics, MegaMan 2 and 3 not withstanding. (the Video above should give you a good idea.)

Capcom finally decided to be "progressive" and stray away from all this "Man" business. Instead of 8 "Man" robots, they included one "Woman" robot. Splash Woman to be exact. She's a mermaid. Progressive right?

Another new feature of MegaMan 9 are the "Challenges". These are feats(similiar to Xbox Live achievements) that accomplish nothing but bragging rights. Some of the achievements for the XBLA version are derived from these. For a least of Challenges check here. Achievements here.

The last new feature I will talk about is the availability of DLC(for a DLC game?) . The confirmed list includes Proto-Man as a playable character, as well as some additional modes, mostly higher difficulties (like we need that...)

Well, I am going to go back to trying to defeat the 8 Master (er, 7 master, and one Mistress?) Robots. Luckily I have two controllers (in case I break one...)

~K

Free Play Friday: Rayhound.

2008-10-03T23:59:00.000-04:00

Hello and Welcome.

Ok, Ok, I know it is a little late, I was sick and at the airport, cut me some slack.

Today we are going to talk about a fun, free shooter for the PC: Rayhound.

As many of you know, I am secretly the world's biggest shooter fan(little joke there for 1up readers and listeners). Seriously though, I do really like shooters, especially those that take a unique approach on the whole shooter genre. Of course, it might be a stretch to classify Rayhound as a shooter. You never actually fire a shot in this game.

Rayhound's play mechanic is simple. Use your gravitational field to redirect enemy fire back at the enemy.

Deflecting bullets in Rayhound.

There is a little more to it than that; enemies appear on the screen in clusters and fire shots at you en masse. As the shots get close to you clicking your mouse emits a gravitational field that, depending on how long you hold the mouse, will be redirected at your foes. You can also use your captured shots to sort of slingshot fire towards your enemies my moving your ship as the shots rotate around you. Additionally, you can boost (by moving your mouse quickly in one direction) to deflect shots back at your enemies. Only with careful use of both the boost and your gravity field will you reach the higher levels of the game. Your life is measured in time. Each level you complete awards you more time, and each shot you take subtracts 10 seconds.

Gameplay

Despite what you see in the above video, Rayhound doesn't have (at least as of the version I have) any sound effects or music. This game would be perfect if it had something retro-techno like the video shows.

My favorite thing about Rayhound is its size. Coming in at .5mb Rayhound can fit on any device (pendrive, iPod, FLOPPY DISC for goodness sake) so you can take it with you anywhere for a quick game.

Rayhound was created by a Japanese individual named Hikoza Okubo. You can download it here.

Rayhound is a great game that, though lacking any sound, is great for quick on the go gaming.

~K

Retro Thursday: Xenogears.

2008-10-02T22:27:00.000-04:00

Hello and welcome.

This week on Retro Thursday, We will be talking about a Playstation 1 (PSX) Game: Xenogears.

So, I recently bought a psp. One of the main reasons I did this,was because I heard you can play PS1 games on the PSP and it works like a charm. And since I had a large library of PS1 games (RPGs specifically) that I had never completed during my PS1 days, I thought this was my chance. What I didn't realize before I bought it; you must play the game remotely on your PS3 or use custom Firmware to play the games. Not wanting to shell out $500 more, I opted for the ardous process of getting custom firmware on my PSP.

NOTE: All the games I play on my PSP I OWN the physical disc, and are not available on the Playstation Store in the US. If a game becomes available on the Playstation store in the US you should buy it (as of the date of this post, Xenogears is not in the US Store , but on july 25th it was made available on the Japanese store) I do not promote, or condone piracy. Nor will I provide any information on how to put custom firmware, etc on you PSP.

Another reason that I was excited to play these PS1 games on my PSP is summed up by two EVIL words: Battery Backup. As many of my friends could tell you, I have a very unlucky history with games and memory cards that use a battery backup, instead of solid state memory like SD cards and sony's MemoryStick. I have lost countless hours of RPG and other game progress because of this (the main reason I have so many unfinished PS1 and PS2 games....). The ability to back up my saves (which I do weekly, now) and the assurance that, if my battery dies I won't have to start ALL over, Made this a perfect fit. Seeing as this is the third time I have played Xenogears (First time I had a bad disc, so had to wait a few years before I got a better disc. Started over, and lost my save more than half way through....))

But enough about my sad gaming history, we're here to talk about Xenogears.

Released in 1998, Xenogears was produced by Hiromichi Tanaka (producer of the great Secret of Mana), and Hironobu Sakaguchi (Final fantasy) among others. The Anime cutscenes where drawn by Koichi Mahimo, who was a lead animator for the Ghost in the Shell and Neon Genesis Evangelion animes.

Music (some of my favorite square music) was composed by Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger) and definitely exemplified his own style, rather than trying to emulate Nobuo Uematsu ( And not putting himself in the hospital for it!).

Xenogears had me hooked from the first time I played the demo which came with my friends Final Fantasy 8. The interesting thing about this title, Square almost did not release this game in America (it never reached the European PAL territories) due sensitive religious themes (which I find pretty humorous, considering half of the PS1 RPGs where about killing "god").

Probably, the most interesting aspect of this game is the unique (for the time at least) battle system. Using a "Combo" system of weak, medium, and strong attacks (Triangle, Square, and X buttons.) you learn new "Deathblows" based on the amount of times you press certain attack sequences. As you learn new deathblows your "Gear" (bipedal mechs that are used to fight larger enemies) also recieves new attacks. The magic or "Ether" system in Xenogears feels pretty tacked on at times, the only really useful Ether attacks are the ones that heal your characters.

Xenogears is also supposed to be the 5th installment of 6 in the Xenogears universe (sounds like Starwars math to me...). The first four chapters where released as the Xenogears : Perfect Works, an encyclopedia of Xenogears art and history that was released only in Japan. The 6th volume of the Saga was never released, but many fans thought that Namco's Xenosaga was going to be a sequel. This wasn't that strange of an assumption given that about 70% of the original Xenogears staff worked on Xenosaga. Unfortunately for most fans, Namco and Square weren't best buds so the rights to Xenogears remained with square. Xenosaga is more of a reset on the whole Xenogears universe.

Well, that is enough for me. Gonna go hook up the PSP to the TV in my hotel and play some more Xenogears!

~K

Unplugged Wednesday: Watchmen

2008-10-01T16:17:00.000-04:00

Watchmen is one of those books that is good the first time you read it, but every subsequent time it seems to get better. The story takes place in the 1980s, masked vigilantes have been outlawed by the Keene Act - all except those who have decided to work for the government. In the beginning of the book, the Comedian (one of the government's heroes) is murdered. The book then follows the musings of the one illegal vigilante still on the streets - Rorschach. Rorschach becomes convinced that the Comedian's murder is part of a plot to kill off or get rid of all the masked heroes. Without going into spoiler territory, that's it in a nutshell. The problem is, no simple explanation really works for this book.

When a comic deals with issues like rape, miracles, and sanity, it begins to transcend the stereotype of the superhero comic that we all know. Alan Moore is an incredible writer in the comic medium and Watchmen is where he really let it all out. Each panel and issue is expertly choreographed to fit within the greater story so that the next time you come back and read through, you can see all the foreshadowing and bits and clues that you may have missed on previous reads.

With all that being said, Rorschach is one of the greatest protagonists ever. You may not like his style or his creepy monotone voice (as they call it in the book), but he knows what he believes and nothing is going to stop him from pursuing what he believes to be right. His character gets even more interesting when you begin to learn his backstory and the events that led him to his decision to become a vigilante. Rorschach isn't the only good character in the story though, each character is well developed and sympathetic, which makes it hard late in the story when you have to choose who you want to root for.

The best thing I can say about Watchmen is that even though you can do what I'm doing now and try to sway or interest you into reading it, the book really comes into its own when you are able to discuss it with another reader. There is few things as satisfying as having a good talk about the characters and what they represent in our world or how could things have been resolved differently in the story, etc.

Watchmen truly is a classic that deserves its place in everyone's shelf of honor. Read it, but don't put too much hope in the movie. Terry Gilliam once said that it was unfilmable, and I think I agree.... but I can be proven wrong.

New Release Tuesday - RockBand 2

2008-09-30T21:00:00.000-04:00

Hello and Welcome.

Wow, its hard to believe that less than a year ago, I was hauling all the Rock Band instruments out of the box, and trying to get my family to play it with me. And now, RockBand 2 has arrived.

Unfortunately for me, I broke my Drum Pedal about a week ago, during an intense online session with Nate and Dan.

The remenants of my Pedal

Thanks to a little ingenuity from Dan, I purchased some hardware to create my own Cyborg pedal.

Then New, Reinforced Pedal

It seems to hold up pretty well, so here's hoping I won't be paying $15 or more for a new one!

[EDIT] Some people wanted to know how I did this. See below:
Required Parts:

a small piece of metal with screw holes (I found this at Home Depot, but they have similar things at Walmart)
small screws (about 6) that will fit flush with the piece of metal. Try to get the shortest length that will fit with your metal sheet.
Broken Pedal
Super Glue (optional, but helps)

Steps:

Do your best to fit the Broken Pedal back together (hopefully it is only in two pieces)
[optional]Once the pieces are flush librerally apply super glue to the crack. (careful not to get any on the hinge!)
[optional] Let the glue dry before moving on.
depending on where your fissure is, align the metal piece so that you are able to fit at least 2 screw wholes over the hinge piece. The more screws on this side the better. make sure all screws are placed at least 1/4" away from the crack line ( to prevent further cracking.)
once you have determined where your piece will lay, use something to secure the metal piece. (rubberband, tape, anything to hold it in place.)
Use something to mark the holes you want to use. Whiteout works really well. Otherwise you will have to drill the holes with the piece on, which can be a pain.
Remove the metal piece.
Drill the holes. Make sure you use the appropriate drill bit for your size screw!
Fit the metal piece back in place and put your screws in.

Viola! you know have your own Franken-Pedal. If you have any questions, post a comment!
[/EDIT]

One of the features that I feel really makes RB2 shine (I am looking at you Guitar Hero) Is the ability to import all the songs from the original (minus 1 or 2). Sure, you have to pay $5 to do it, but if you loved the songs from RB1 and want to play them with a shiny new veneer, well now you can.

The basic set list has 75 songs (plus 9 bonus songs). Add to that 247 songs available for download as of today, 55 of the original 58 RB1 songs ("Enter Sandman" by Metallica, "Run to the Hills" by Iron Maiden, and "Paranoid" by Black Sabbath are not available, thanks Guitar Hero...) for a total of 389, the set list is shaping up to be pretty awesome. I won't list them all here but it isn't hard to find the list.

For the truly hardcore, Harmonix has created a premium package that includes this . This Drum set was created by the Ion drum Company, and is also a fully functioning electronic drum kit. Or you can settle for the MadCatz Cymbal add-ons to make your drumming slightly more authentic.

ION Drum Kit

My favorite instrument is still the drums, but I seriously doubt I will fork over the money to get this drum set... Maybe the cymbals.

All of this makes me feel sorry for Konami. Konami actually started this franchise, but never brought it to the states. They had 3 different games, Beatmania ( a dj simulation game) Guitar freaks and Drum Mania . They are trying to get into the American market with their game Rock revolution, but unless you just have money to burn, not many people will be able to afford ANOTHER Band music game.

I don't really have much else to say about Rockband. You either get it (and love it) or you don't.

DLC Monday: Bionic Commando: Rearmed

2008-09-29T23:42:00.000-04:00

I had never played the original Bionic Commando, but when I started hearing all the hype for the XBLA/PSN remake, I thought it would be worth checking out. Especially for the lovely little price of $10.

The best thing about the game is the co-op play. Probably the worst thing about the game is the fact that co-op is limited to one console - no online goodness. The often brutal difficulty of BC makes it wonderful to have a friend to back you up - mainly because when you die, you won't be sent back to the last door you went through, but instead resurrect next to the other player. This makes the more frustrating parts of the game that much more bearable because you know that you've got another player to fall back upon.

Enough about co-op, how hard is the game for just one player? It's actually not too bad on the normal level of difficulty, but if you try anything above that be prepared for a serious challenge. While playing through, you can definitely tell that it's a remake of an NES game. It forces you to memorize enemy placements and swing points so that many times your first time working through a level is more about learning where you are expected to go rather than getting all the way through it. This, combined with the inability to jump and the focus on learning how to use the claw really makes the game all that much more rewarding when you finish a level (and not just to see the quips when you fight the bosses). However, there is one piece of the game that feels like a true waste of time to me - the overhead levels.

You see, when you are travelling on the map from one level to the next, there are times when you will randomly encounter a truck on the map that forces you to go into a level with an overhead view (rather than the sidescrolling of the regular levels). The thing that is frustrating about these encounter levels is that they are completely pointless. Aside from being able to pick up a 1up, nothing is accomplished in the level. All I do when I get these encounters is equip my rocket launcher and sprint through the level to destroy the truck at the end, ignoring all guys in my way. Sure, these levels were kind of fun the first few times, but I've grown so sick of doing them that I will waste time on the map to try to go around the trucks.

As I mentioned the rocket launcher earlier, I thought it might be prudent to go ahead and say that the selection of weapons in the game is wonderful. Aside from a few moments in the game that it requires you to use specific weapons, you can go through the entire game using your weapon of choice (mine happens to be the vector cannon, which shoots lasers at an angle). Other choices include the shotgun (good for close combat), the revolver (default weapon, but it's actually really good), or the machine gun (great all-around, but takes time to reload).

The final thing I need to mention about BC:R is the challenge mode. Basically, this is a separate part from the story mode where you are set in an area and told to go from one point to another. It sounds easy, and sure the first few challenges are, but once the difficulty starts to ramp up the game becomes the 7th level of hell. Later challenges require you to hit an exact pixel to survive from one swing to the next, and while it feels rewarding to finish one of these super difficult challenges, failing 20 times in a row on one particular spot is pretty frustrating.

To sum up, especially for only $10 bucks on XBLA or PSN, Bionic Commando: Rearmed is a wonderful piece of gaming that really feels like you are playing an NES game (and that's a good thing).

Free Play Friday: ThinkTanks.

2008-09-26T22:22:00.001-04:00

Hello and Welcome to our first Free Play Friday.

This week, I am going to talk briefly about a game from the InstantAction website. A little BackGround for you: InstantAction is a website that allows you to play free, browser-based 3d games. It is the product of game developers Gargage Games. All that is required, is an internet connection, a plugin, and a one time download for each game.

The game I want to talk about breifly is called ThinkTanks. In ThinkTanks you pilot a small SD(super deformed) tank... with a brain on top (get it? :) ).

Loosing my mind in ThinkTanks

Think Tanks is pretty simple. Essentially, you just drive you tank around, shooting tanks on the opposing team. ThinkTanks has two modes. DeathMatch, and Scrum(Capture the Flag). Each level has some power-ups (Area Of Affect weapons, rapid fire, etc). The action, is pretty fast paced, but nothing revolutionary.

The most amazing thing for this game (and all of InstantAction) is the fact that they are fully 3D Games that run in your browser, with out the need to install a full game. ThinkTanks was orginally a PC/Mac game with a single player adventure mode as well as the multiplayer modes you see in the InstantAction versions.

A Lot is going on in this 3d Browser Game

So far, I really enjoy ThinkTanks, and the rest of instant action. Its still in Beta, so their are some bugs, but I think it definitely will expand as more people use it.

InstantAction uses a revenue model that we are seeing more often free online games these days: Free to play, extras you pay. This appears to be a more and more viable model for online games, and works out well for people like me who just want to casually play some new games every now and then. So, Come and join me in a game of ThinkTanks!

Thats it for the first week of Nerd's Natterings! I hope you all enjoyed it. Come Back, tell your friends, tell THEIR friends. See you all next week.

~K

Retro Thursday: E.V.O

2008-09-25T15:06:00.000-04:00

Hello and welcome to our first Retro Thursday.

In light of our post Monday on Spore, We are going to talk about a Super Nintendo game: EVO - Search for Eden.

EVO was released in 1993 by Enix (The company behind the Dragon Quest games, who eventually merged with their rival Square ). EVO is an action platformer with some RPG elements. The game is broken up into five worlds or ages (Fish Age, Amphibian Age, Dinosaur Age, Mammal Age, and the "Age of Eden"), each with multiple stages. The world map (and levels for that matter) is structured similarly to Super Mario World. You progress through each side-scrolling level fighting enemies, and eating the meat they leave behind. This meat serves two purposes, first it restores your health, second it serves as an experience system (EVO Points) which allows you to evolve your character in a few different ways. You can save these evolutions in the "Record of Evolution" for later. At different points in the game, you can aquire crystals that give you special properties. The green crystal, allows you to turn in to any creature in the record of Evolution. The red crystal, allows you to unlock secret powerful creatures (which you can save in the record of evolution...) for a limited amount of time.

Check out this video review of EVO.

Turn the volume down if you just want to see some gameplay.

And that is why I decided to post this week. The premise of this game is almost exactly the same as Spore. Sure, spore has slightly more complex game play, but the core element, the one that makes spore truly interesting, is the ability to evolve your creature. Sure, it isn't quite as dynamic as Spore's creature creator ( you can't say, articulate your spine), but each level offers a slew of different parts you can use to upgrade your creature. In total, there are eight different parts of your body you can upgrade: Jaws, Horn(s), Neck, Body, Hands&Feet, Dorsal Fin, Tail, and the Back of your head. Each part has multiple options each typically better than the last.

Really, there isn't much else to the game. To get the best parts for you creature, you always have to spend some time grinding (hey, it IS a game by Enix after all) as going straight through each level only nets you enough Evo P. to get the weakest of parts.

So, how does this game hold up today? Well, I started replaying it this week, and I can say, it holds up pretty well. While the backgrounds and levels are far from inspired, the creatures are detailed and well designed. The game play, while repetitive at times, is simple and fun. The music (composed by Kouichi Sugiyama from the Dragon Quest series) has a very classical sound, and easily compares in quality to some of the finest SNES RPG scores.

I was definitely suprised that my nostalgia for this game holds up even today (it rarely does). True, I am a sucker for anything that lets me build up my character, or make visable changes to your character.

All in all, I highly recommend this one. If you can get your hands on a reasonably priced cartridge, pick it up, you won't be sorry. Barring that, we will just have to wait for its release on Virtual console. But given Square-Enix's limited North American support for the VC, I wouldn't hold my breath.

Now that I have propagated my evil Darwinist evolution to our nations children, my plan is almost complete...

~K

Unplugged Wednesday - 4th Edition DnD

2008-09-24T22:42:00.000-04:00

Hello and Welcome to the first Unplugged Wednesday post.

Recently (OK, 4 months ago) Wizards Of The Coast released the 4th Edition of the Dungeon & Dragons Rules. This was in the wake of the creator's, Gary Gygax, recent death.

That's right D&D. If you didn't know I was a nerd before, well I just displayed my laminated card baby.

This week, we are trying something a little different. Nate (our other editor) and I recently had an IM conversation about 4th edtion. Rather than belabor the point, and for the sake of brevity ( yeah right, I know.) I have edited the conversation below:

[EDIT: Due to the length of the chat, I have hidden our discussion by default. Click the heading below to view it.]

Click to View Chat

Kent:
Ok. So we are talking about D&D 4th edition rules.
Nate:
Righty-O
Kent:
I think our first topic should be the difference between 4th and second edition.
Nate:
Well, obviously there is the reformation of the classes and the way spells are worked
Kent:
Right, they pretty much standardized everything in fourth edition.
Before it felt like a loose set of rules, each class having almost a completely different set.
Nate:
It makes it so much easier to work with your class and know that you have some breathing room whichever one you choose
Kent:
Exactly, they did a really good job of balancing the over all game with the new rules.
And that extends to the amount of work involved for all parties. DM and Player alike.
Nate:
Oh yeah, rolling seems so much more streamlined and easier to comprehend on both sides of the board
Kent:
Right. So, I think we should switch focus a bit and talk about The character Classes in the 4th edition core rules.
Kent:
Actually, before we go any further, I would like to clarify that neither of us has played 3rd edition rules, so we are basing all this on the 15 years or so between 2nd and 4th edition.
Nate:
exactly
Kent:
Ok, the classes. We have 8 base classes.
Cleric, Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Warlock, Warlord, and Wizard.
So, Nate, you normally play the healer class in, oh, EVERY game we play. What class are you playing in 4th edition?
Nate:
Due to pressure from different angles, I decided to do a Warlord this time and try out dps/tanking
what about you, Mr. I'm always an elf?
Kent:
Ha, right. Normally I go for the Ranger class. I always like the high damage classes, and the Mage class of 2nd edition, though appealing to me, didn't become even USEFUL until around 20th level. And that was only if you had good rolls.
But, thanks to 4th edition's amazing balancing, I opted for a Warlock this time.
Nate:
What about the new races. I knew as soon as I saw the Dragonborn, that's what I would be
Kent:
Yeah, I think they definitely took an interesting turn this time and put some unique races in the core rules. The races are: Dragonborn, Dwarf, Eladrin, Elves, Half-elf, Halfling, Humans, And Tieflings.
The new races, Dragonborn (Pretty self explanatory.), Eladrin (Basically elves for people who don't want to play elves), and choice, Tieflings (think hellboy...).
Nate:
Each one has some pretty good racial talents too, right?
Kent:
Right, it is funny, because this game (D&D) which created and influenced so many others, has basically changed itself to a table top version of World Of Warcraft.
Nate:
yeah, I really felt that influence when I was reading through my 4th ed PHB
Kent:
So, speaking of racial talents, I think we should talk about the new skill system or "Powers."
Rather than make only a few races useful in a fight, they implemented a "Powers" System.
Nate:
Well, there are four types of powers
Kent:
Right: Daily, Utility, Encounter, and At will.
Kent:
So, this is where I feel WizardsOfTheCoast did their best work.
Nate:
you mean, you like this better than only being able to cast a spell 3 times before resting for a day?
Kent:
Ha ha, exactly. Or less..
So, At Will powers are basically attacks that you can do every turn, that never run out. So, rather than be a wizard with one magic missile spell to use in the whole dungeon, you are actually a wizard, who can command magical energies at your whim.
The next level up from that, are encounter powers. These can be used one per encounter (battle) and replenish after fifteen minutes of rest. Slightly more powerful than At will powers.
Nate:
oh definitely, I know that as I level at-will will be useful, but when we started out the campaign, I haven't even looked at using mine yet
Kent:
The nice thing about at-will powers, is they serve as your basic attack (other than basic weapon attacks) So ,you know, that level one mage can actually do something each turn, instead of try (and fail) to attack with his crappy D2 damage dagger.
Nate:
I agree, it's definitely a good thing to have
Kent:
And it also allows you to have attacks, as a fighting class, that are a little more interesting than :: Attacks with longsword::
Ok, Next are the Daily powers. These are basically the spells of the old D&D - each one can only be used once a day, and then again after 8 hours rest.
Nate:
They are definitely the most useful of my current powers
Kent:
Of course, that's why we can only use them once a day!
Nate:
...and that's why I like them
Kent:
Ok, Next are the Utility powers. None of us have these, (available at level 2) as we are all just peons at this point.
Nate:
Since I haven't really looked at these, what is the cool down on them?
Kent:
Well, the rules are kind of vague here.
Essentially Utility powers are powers that can be used (given a specific trigger) to over come obstacles.
They can be used as often as you like, given the specific conditions of the trigger are met.
An example is the Shadow Veil Warlock power.
Nate:
tell me about it
Kent:
It gives me +5 power bonus against stealth checks, till the end of my next turn. I have to use a minor action for it, but other than that, it is unlimited.
Maybe we should talk about the action types?
Each turn in battle You can use a combination of a move action, minor action, or major action.
Certain powers use different types of actions. Shadow Veil is a minor action.
Nate:
your major action is typically the attack, right?
Kent:
Typically yes.
oh, I forgot one, Free Action.
These are basically things like, battle cries, etc. Things that require no time or effort to preform.
Nate:
right, something that can be done while completing another action
Kent:
So lets go back to classes. I can't really think of any reason why this group of classes is bad. Especially with the introduction of the Power sources.
Each class draws their "powers" from one of three sources: Arcane, Divine, Or Martial power sources.
Nate:
three so far, more are coming
Kent:
Right as they add more classes.
Nate:
These basically determine what your above mentioned utilities draw their rolls from, right?
Kent:
Right. All powers use these power sources.
These are pretty obvious. Divine for healers, Arcane for magic users, and Martial for fighting types.
Nate:
Right
Kent:
Speaking of rolls, That brings up the "Roles" that classes play.
Again another wow type convention.
Nate:Nate:
OH, you mean like tank, dps, and healer?
Kent:
Right. Defenders (tanks) Strikers (DPS), controllers(Controls animals or people), and leader.
Nate:
yes, as we mentioned above, I'm traditionally a healer class
Kent:
These are elements that help in roleplaying, and deciding what each character should do to contribute.
Nate:
yeah, so you don't waste time trying to figure out who can take damage, you just send in your tank
Kent:
yep.
Kent:
Ok, lets switch gears again.
Kent:
One of the most lauded features is the Amazing new online features they have added for 4th edition. 3d character creators, character sheets, encounter creators, 3d dungeon creators, and a live dungeon map.
... Wait, what's that you say...
Nate:
hey Kent, this just in... none of that is up
Kent:
Oh, right, but, that's OK, the new rules have only been out for... oh yeah, 4 MONTHS.
Nate:
oh, right, I thought it was going live with the rules
Kent:
That was their plan, at least, that is what they said.
I mean, these features seem great, but the fact that they have been working on 4ht edition, and pimping these tools since early 07, and still have (almost) nothing to show for it , is somewhat ridiculous.
Especially, when they expect you to pay an MMO level subscription fee for most of these tools($15.99 a month kids).
unless you think that is reasonable?
Nate:
not at all, I don't think that a subscription is the right way to do this
at least in our situation. We play once a week and paying for that really can't be justified for me
Kent:
especially, since, at most, we may get to play 5 times a month for two hours a time.
15 bucks for 10 hours of tool usage?
And that is assuming that we play EVERY week, for the FULL time. Which hasn't happened in the what, 2-3 years we have been playing together?
Nate:
I know, but enough complaining.
what are your final words on 4th edition?
Kent:
yeah, to be honest, that online stuff is just on my "nice to have" list. I think my excitement for 4th edition is pretty much summed up by the fact that I read the PHB cover to cover TWICE in one week, and BEGGED our DM to let us roll characters. This was almost an entire month before we started playing.
Kent:
And your thoughts?
Nate:
Oh, I definitely agree, although I haven't read it cover to cover, I've been thoroughly enthralled with all the new possibilities for our campaign (specifically our abilities to play online). hopefully some online stuff will work out better for us
Kent:
Indeed.

Well, that is it for this week. If you want more information, I recommend visiting the D&D site.

~K

[Edit: If you are interested in joining our campaign, shoot me an e-mail]

New Release Tuesday - Spore.

2008-09-23T22:57:00.000-04:00

Hello and Welcome to our first New release Tuesday.

This week we are going to talk about a recent PC release: Spore.

Spore is the latest endeavor my Maxis studio's Will Wright. Wright is most notably the creator of The "Sim City", and original "The Sims" games. Spore was unveiled four years ago and has received numerous "Game of The Year" awards.

Spore is comprised of five main "Phases": Cell, Creature, Tribal, Civilization, and Space.

Each phase uses a different base game mechanic, that is tied together by a similar theme of growth. I say growth, because evolution of your creature is only a small part of the overall progress through the game. A bigger part of the game is the sociology and relationships that are established with other creatures of the game.

Spore's meta-game is almost a history lesson of PC gaming. The cell stage could be compared to a flash based browser game. The creature stage is similar in feel to an MMO like World of Warcraft. The Tribal phase is a basic RTS similar to the Age of Empires games. The Civilization stage is like, well, Sid Meier's Civilization games. The Space phase is more in line with Galactic Civilization games, where world conquering modes are prevalent. I will explain more on these when I break down the levels.

The most extraordinary part of Spore are the various creators that you are given through out the game.

The first creator you experience is the simple Cell creator, which allows you to modify the creature you start the Cell phase (and game). This creator only allows you a limited amount of customization of your creature( The cell stage is on a two-dimensional plane). You can attach different weapons, flagella, and orifices for food to your cell. Each part makes your creature better at a single aspect of its existence; Speed, maneuverability, consumption, attack.

The second creator, the Creature creator, is truly where, IMHO, Maxis and Will Wright put their best efforts. The creature creator has approximately three hundred different parts that you can use to customize you creature. These parts include: mouths, eyes, noses, ears, hands, arms, feet, legs, details, and Weapons. You can also specify the number of vertebrae in your creatures spine, as well as its curvature, and the density of each vertebrae. With approximately 17 million creatures in the Sporepedia there are some very off the wall, wierd, complex, funny, and plain creatures. Once you have decided on all the appendages and phalanges your creature needs, the game procedurally generates the creatures movement and mannerisms.

Later in the game, you encounter creators that allow you to create buildings, vehicles, space ships, among other things.

Once you progress to the creature stage, the game begins populating your world with content from the Sporepedia. Some of this content is created by Maxis, but the vast majority of it is player created. Who knows, you may actually see one of your friends creations in your world!

A brief explanation of the phases:

CELL: In this phase you start out as simple cellular organism, and must kill other creatures, or destroy meteor rock to unlock parts to upgrade your creature, till you amass enough DNA to progress to the next stage. This two-dimensional stage is simple, but fun as it gives you a glimpse of the customization to come. From the offset you choose whether you are a Carnivore, Omnivore, or Herbivore. If you choose Omnivore, your actions (how much plant matter as apposed to cellular matter you consume) affects what you will be in the next phase.

Check out the following video to see it in action:

CREATURE: This phase begins with your cellular creature developing legs and moving from the primordial goop to dry land. The play-scape changes from 2D to 3D and the world opens up. you acquire parts and DNA as in the Cell phase, but your relationship dynamic with the creatures around you changes. In this stage, you must either befriend, or subjugate the other creatures to allow your creature to evolve. You can also form a party of (eventually) up to 3 other creatures to help you impress or suppress the other creatures. Your attitude towards other creatures, hostile or friendly, affects your social skills in the next phase.

Check out the following video to see it in action:

TRIBAL: In the Tribal phase, you switch from controlling a single creature, in WOW style gameplay, to Controlling a group of creatures in an RTS style mode. In this mode you will gather resources to help you build more creatures, Buildings, and equipment for your creatures. You can either ally with the other species on the planet, or annihilate them. Your actions in this mode, affect your civilizations behaviour in the subsequent mode.

Check out the following video to see it in action:

Having only progressed to the Tribal phase of the game, I will now give you my impressions of the next levels.

CIVILIZATION: The Civilization Phase switches you from Creature units, to vehicular units and focuses on building and conquering cities. Based on your actions from the previous phase, you will be either a Religious, Economic, or Military power. Each "power" allots you vehicles that correspond to your alignment. You can convert to your religion, build trade routes, or destroy with force, respectively, based on the alignment.

Check out the following video to see it in action:

SPACE: The space stage, for me, appears to be the most interesting stage. In this stage, you progress from commanding vehicular units to being the captain of a spaceship. With this spaceship you can abduct creatures from other planets, terra-form uninhabitable planets to lush paradises, invade and conquer enemy worlds, among other things. In all your world conquering goodness, you may even come across a tribe of creatures that you created (maybe abducted from your planet when you where in a previous phase?).

Check out the following video to see it in action:

Now that you know a little bit about the game, why not check out my family's creations so far:

All in all, spore is a great game (should be after 4 years of hype...) but it still has, what some might call, failings. For one, you can install spore only three times per box. After that, you must wade through EA technical support before you can reactivate the game a 4th time. This may not seem like a big deal, but to someone who reformats their machine often ( I do once every 6 months, barring any incidents.) this could be an issue. On top of that, say you bought one copy of the game for your household, and you and your significant other each want to have an account to share your creations. Well, too bad, as EA only allows one account per activation key.

Despite all this, I still love the game, and highly recommend it to pretty much anyone.

And now for this week's releases (there were a lot. :) )

Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2009 - 360, PS3, PS2, Wii
LEGO Batman: The Videogame - 360, PS2, PS3, Wii ~ my pick of the week. N. DQ4 is good too.
Igor - NDS, PC, Wii
Cabela's Legendary Adventures - PS2, PSP, Wii
Brothers in Arms Hell’s Highway - PS3, 360
Line Rider 2: Unbound - NDS, PC
Armored Core for Answer - 360, PS3
Baja: Edge of Control - 360, PS3
BUZZ! Master Quiz - PSP, PS3
SimCity Creator - NDS, Wii
Battle Fantasia - 360
Birth of America II: Wars in America - PC
Brain Quest - Fifth & Sixth Graders - NDS
Brain Quest - Third & Fourth Graders - NDS
Crysis Warhead - PC
DanceDanceRevolution X - PS2
Dark Horizon - PC
de Blob - WII
DRAGON QUEST IV: Chapters of the Chosen - NDS ~ my pick of the week. K.
Dropcast - NDS
Football Mogul 2009 - PC
Ford Racing Off Road - PC
Hell's Kitchen: The Video Game - PC
Kirby Super Star Ultra - NDS
La Tale - PC
Lost in Blue: Shipwrecked! - WII
Mazes of Fate - NDS
Mount & Blade - PC
Namco Classic Fighter Collection - PS2
NARUTO: Ultimate Collection - PS2
Nikopol: Secrets of the Immortals - PC
PAC - MAN Power Pack - PS2
Peggle Nights - PC
Pirates: Duels on the High Seas - NDS
Rebel Raiders: Operation Nighthawk - WII
Red Baron Arcade - PS3
Red Bull BC One - NDS
Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Colonization - PC
Speed Racer - The Videogame - PS2
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - WII
Starpex - PS3
The Witcher Enhanced Edition - PC
Time Hollow - NDS
TNA iMPACT! - WII
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (War) - PC
Wario Land: Shake It! - WII

If you have comments, you know where to stick them.

Now, go out and pick up spore, or one of these other great games!

~K

DLC Monday - Castle Crashers

2008-09-22T09:44:00.000-04:00

Hello and Welcome to our first DLC Monday.

This week we are going to focus on a downloadable game on Xbox Live Arcade: Castle Crashers

Castle Crashers is the newest game by the team that brought us Alien Hominid. [EDIT: some people where asking who the developer was: The Behemoth. There, are you happy?] This game is basically an amalgamation of Gauntlet and Golden Axe with a few RPG elements thrown in. It all boils down to a fun beat'em up with a ton of re-playability.

Gameplay consists of running around while hacking and slashing enemies. As you progress through the stages you gain experience and levels, allowing you to upgrade one of four attributes; Attack, Magic, Defense/health, and Agility/Pet. Throughout the game you will collect various weapons that affect you stats in different ways (about 80 or so in total, with subsequent playthroughs) and include such ridiculous things as a fishing pole, Umbrella, Chicken, Sausage, LightSaber and more. You will also collect various pet "orbs"(kind of like animal heads...) throughout the game, all with varying abilities (increase defense, knock down foes, etc).

You start the game with only 4 playable characters(Red, Blue, Green, and Orange Knights) but unlock more characters by beating the game, with each knight, then beating the game again with the unlocked character. You can also unlock characters in one of the two minigames: The arena. Each character has a unique look, and a unique magic.

The other minigame is called "All you can quaf", an eating contest for up to 4 players which doesn't require any skill beyond who can alternate button presses the fastest. This is my least favorite part of the game, and luckily is completely optional.

The Character and level designs are often hilarious and just plain weird. The game ~~rips-off~~ borrows many games and popular culture memes. Lightsabers, ride-able mounts ala GoldenAxe, Terminator 2 death scene, All in a very Rube-Goldberg manner. While the levels are interesting and well drawn, they fall into the stereotypes (intentionally I believe) of most games: Desert, Forest, Ice, Lava levels, etc. There are many other homages to games that I won't spoil here.

The music in the game is silly at times, but for the most part complements each level nicely.

The game is not without problems however. Though it allows for online and local co-op, most people (myself included) have experience difficulties with connecting to an online session. Also, I experienced numerous anomalies in game play that caused me to repeat whole levels: Enemies freezin on screen and becoming invincible (you have to kill them all to progress), overwhelming number of enemies attacking me to the point that I was frozen in place and couldn't die (you have to fall down to die...). A patch is coming in the near future that should address some of these issues.

Despite these issues, I really enjoy the game (beat it last night) and look forward to subsequent playthroughs. I am sure there are a lot of features I missed, but, download the demo (then the game, believe me, you will) and see for yourself.

And now for this weeks DLC releases(and some of last weeks)Click the names for more info:
Virtual Console:

Vectorman(800 points) - This was a great Genesis game that really pushed the system with some impressive 3D and great music.
Super DodgeBall(500 points)

WiiWare:

MegaMan 9 (1000 points) - A return to the roots of MegaMan. 8-bit graphics, sound, and difficulty!
Plättchen: Twist 'n' Paint (1000 points)

XBLA:

Domino Master(800 Points)
Feeding Frenzy 2: Shipwreck Showdown(800 Points)

Xbox 360:

Burnout Paradise Bike Update (Free)

PSN:

COD 4 Map Pack - (repriced to $4.99 until the 25th)

PSN-PSP:

Cube ($9.99)
PQ: Practical Intelligence Quotient ($9.99)

And that's it for DLC Monday! Let us know what you think in the comments.

~K

Hello and Welcome!

2008-09-20T22:41:00.000-04:00

Hello and welcome, to our blog.

Nerd's Natterings is intended to bring you a variety of Nerd related news, information, and speculation from many different facets of Nerdom. Our main focus will be video game related, but we will also venture into the realms of comics, books, movies, music and pretty much anything that falls into the realm of nerdy.

In general, our format will be as follows:
Monday: DLC Monday. We will focus on at least one recent downloadable content whether it be from Xbox Live, Playstation Network, Wii Virtual console, Steam, or another downloadable service. We will also provide a list of the weeks releases.
Tuesday: New Releases Tuesday: We will review one new release a week, and also provide a list of all the new releases for DS, PSP, PS2,PS3, 360, Wii and PC.
Wednesday: Unplugged Wednesday: Humpday will be mainly focused on all things non-electronic; Comics, Books, Tabletop gaming, movies, music (ok, not TOTALLY unplugged...) and any new releases that catch our eyes.
Thursday: Retro Thursday: This spot will be for any retro games we are playing, or any remakes of old Games. Covers a pretty wide scope but should be fun.
Friday: Free-Play Friday: Every Friday we will recommend a free to play game. Look for anything from Pop-cap to F2P MMO Games.

Also, look for related and unrelated news for each day's post.

First post should be up this Monday. Stay tuned!

~k