Blacksite: Area 51

I don't really like playing too many PC games anymore because they need so much power to run and it seems like you need a top-of-the line rig just to play anything. For a while, I was hooked on Half Life 2, Call of Duty 2 and Spyhon Filter, but now it has all gone to console games. Sure, I actually have to PAY for platform games, but everything is a compromise. Blacksite though is one game that I might just play after I clean out this computer. Blacksite takes place at Groom Lake, an area of land about 90 miles outside of Las Vegas. Midway is actually working on this title. I'm not really too impressed with their work, but hey, I'll give them a chance after seeing the screenshots that accompany this article. This game includes futuristic weapons that would make any geeky kid drool with delight. There aren't too many cut scenes, but rather slow motion so you can see important events unfold right in front of your eyes. Enemies, known as the Reborn, look like something ripped straight from a sci-fi comic book. Some posses special powers like splitting in two when you blow a few rounds into them. Sweet, more to kill. Anyways, not much else is being released from this game, but the Xbox 360 version was on display and the graphics were called "pretty sharp." The demo is out right now, and this summer, the first person shooter will be out for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC. Later.

I Got It.

Today, I dropped some cash and bought Lost Planet: Extreme Condition. After only playing for a few minutes, the game was so much fun and intense that tomorrow I might just blast through homework and class to play it. I'll let you know. Later

My Hero Comes To 360.

I knew that this day would come, but who knew that it would be so soon? In april of this year, Guitar Hero II is coming to the Xbox 360, complete with a wireless controller. It's going to be around $90.00, which isn't too bad for 50 plus tracks. I really thought that Sony had an exclusive deal with Red Octane but it seems that they don't. It's nothing big, they are just going to make more money because of how addicting that game really is. I know the graphics aren't anything to drool over because the sound is the only thing to focus on in this game. All I know is that in April, I am going to be rocking someone's face off on my 360. later.

What A Night.

I was really planning on this day to die, but it just seems that it's never going to happen. here I am, sitting up at 4:47 in the morning, watching the news on tv. After an eventful night lasting till 5am, I woke up at 11, went to 4 hours and 15 minutes of class, and then went to the gym for 2 hours. After that, it was off to work the desk on the first Thursday night for a whole thirty dollars. Yee haw. Anyways, Gears of War and Burnout are just sitting here, all alone. I've also decided to pick up Lost Planet: Extreme Condition next week so stick around for a sweet review on that. Later

Crackdown, Being Shadowed By Halo 3?

From the legendary game designer Dave Jones, who created such other video game masterpieces as Grand Theft Auto and Lemmings comes Crackdown.With the pre-release shipping February 20th, it looks to be one of the best games for the Xbox 360 as of today. Bundled in a limited amount comes with a key to play on the Halo 3 beta multiplayer before anyone else can. I am pretty sure that this game can stand on it's won, but I wonder if some people would really be just THAT tempted to drop the cash (around $60) to just get the key for the multiplayer. As an avid gamer, I still think that I would get the game because I want to play it, not because of something else that comes with it. It's not like the whole game is coming with it; that I can wait for. Patience is a virtue and luckily myself and my bank account have that in common. Anyways, focusing back on Crackdown instead of a key for Halo 3, it promises to be one of the best sellers on the market. Gamestop gives a short description as "Crackdown" pushes the action-driving hybrid genre into the next generation with the first ever truly 3-D playground. Gamers will enforce justice by any means necessary in Pacific City, a crime-ridden urban center built to encourage the exploration of the full width, depth and height of the city. Coupled with highly innovative co-op gameplay — a genre first — and an interactive world where nearly anything can be used as a weapon, gamers will be able to create a volatile cocktail of judicial oppression as they clean up the streets." I am kind of torn between spending my hard earned money on this or Lost Planet, which is a great game from Capcom (but I heard it was on the short side) Crackdown also offers more then 100 tracks and the always awesome ability to use the environment as a weapon. I remember reading an article and seeing a picture of an over-muscular man throwing a car at someone. There is also co-op gameplay and stunning visuals to make this game a must own. In addition, this game lets you roam freely around the city, letting YOU, the game, decide what is the best way to win. That is an amazing concept, and when/if the game is in my possession, I'll let you know how it really stacks up. Later.

Rushing.

Well in the past 2 days all of the residents have moved into my building. I have had no time at all to sit down since we wake up early and are always doing something. Hopefully tomorrow I will have some free time because I only have one class at 1 in the afternoon so hopefully I can find something to talk about. I have been playing Gears of War frequently on a harder mode, and am going to play it again on the hardest setting. In a nutshell, that game is nothing less then addicting and flawless. Later.

Video Games Are Indeed Key

Here's a sweet little atricle I found on stuff.co. Parents, let your kids play video games after chores.

"The more a game fulfilled a player's sense of independence, achievement and connectedness to others, the more likely he or she was to keep playing, Dr. Scott Rigby of Immersyve, a Florida-based virtual environment think tank, and colleagues from the University of Rochester in New York found. And the more fully a player's needs were satisfied, the better he felt after playing.
"We think this is really one of the first validated models of what is going on psychologically when people are playing video games," Rigby told Reuters Health in an interview. To date, he noted, research on video games has focused on their potentially harmful effects, such as promoting social isolation, addiction, and violence.
While the findings don't prove that "video games are always good for you," Rigby noted, they do help to provide a more balanced understanding of people's motivations for playing them. "We're trying to in some sense normalise how people look at video games, rather than seeing them as having some mystical power to addict."
In four studies reported in the journal Motivation and Emotion, Rigby and his colleagues sought to understand people's motivation for playing the games and the games' immediate effect on well-being.
In the first study, they had 89 people play a simple game involving jumping to different platforms. In the second phase, the researchers compared the experience of 50 people who played two 3-D adventure games, one very popular and one less so. In the third study, 58 people tried four different games, while in the fourth the researchers surveyed 730 members of an online gaming community who were experienced in playing "massively multiplayer online" games.
Players' enjoyment of games depended on whether the games made them feel competent and independent, and, in the case of multiplayer games, connected to other players. Players who enjoyed their experience showed increases in well-being, self-esteem, and vitality after playing, while those whose needs weren't satisfied reported lowered vitality and mood.
"Video games we think have tremendous potential to impact people, particularly today's video games which are incredibly rich and complex," Rigby said. "This creates very fertile ground psychologically."
Mastering challenges in video games can be a healthy way of coping when opportunities for feeling independent or competent are scarce in the real world, he argued.
"Video games in some ways are very good at satisfying these psychological needs," Rigby noted. "Often times real life is not as clear...real life often can make you feel ineffective."

Xbox For Sale

Ok, HERE is my Xbox Special edition I am selling. If you like what you see, place a bid. If you win and mention you saw it on here, I'll knock 10% off the final price. Later.

Some Stats.

ALL CONSOLES December '06
Title Platform

1 Gears of War 360
2 Guitar Hero II PS2
3 Madden NFL 07 PS2
4 Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess GC
5 Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess WII
6 WWE Smackdown! vs. Raw 2007 PS2
7 New Super Mario Bros. DS
8 Call of Duty 3 360
9 Yoshi's Island 2 DS
10 Call of Duty 3 PS2
11 Final Fantasy XII PS2
12 Nintendogs: Dalmatian & Friends DS
13 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 360
14 Brain Age: Train Your Brain DS
15 Need For Speed: Carbon PS2
16 Thrillville PS2
17 Tony Hawk's Project 8 PS2
18 Madden NFL 07 360
19 NBA Live 07 PS2
20 Mario Kart DS

Virtua Fighter 5 Looks Amazing.

I can't believe they have already made four of the Virtua Fighter installments and now Playstation 3 has the fifth game in the series. Releasing on February 20th, it looks to bring more to the arcade fighter as we know it. With the capabilities of the Playstation 3, it is expected that this game will be nothing short of ridiculous when it comes to modes other then arcade and the time and effort put into character designs and fighting moves. Not much has been really said about this game, but given the popularity of the series and the past games, this is shaping up to be a great game for anyone who owns the Playstation 3.

P.S. I am selling my Xbox Halo Special Edition and 30, yes THIRTY games AND a DVD remote and 2 controllers on Ebay. Some of the games include Scarface, The Warriors, Star Wars Battlefront 1 and 2 etc. I am probably going to put in up tomorrow, and I'm looking to sell it to pay for books, so help a man out when I put up the link, thanks. later.

Just Got In

Sorry that I haven't been posting on a consecutive basis lately. I just got back into WestConn, so nothing of mine is set up and there are about 100 things I need to do in the next hour, so keep checking back here for updates. Thanks, later.

Nintendo Kicked Some Ass.

Wow, just look at these figures from the sales over the holidays while I droll over playing Burnout: Revenge and Gears of War.
* Consumers purchased every Wii console available at retail -- more than a million in just the 44 days between U.S. launch and year end.

* With sales of another 1.6 million systems in December alone, Nintendo DS achieved full year sell-through of 5.3 million.

* The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was purchased by an extraordinary 86 percent of Wii buyers, or more than 900,000 games for that system alone. Coupled with the companion version released in December for Nintendo GameCube(TM), the two versions of the newest Zelda title totaled approximately 1.5 million unit sales in less than seven weeks, which would represent one of the five best-selling games for the entire year.

* Wii owners also purchased an average of three additional games from a wide library of choices, in addition to the Wii Sports title packed in with every hardware system.

* Two Nintendo DS titles, New Super Mario Bros.® and Brain Age(TM)Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day, also were top-10 sellers for the year.

* Throughout the November/December holiday shopping period, Nintendo accounted for more than half of all video game hardware systems sold in America.

Some Winter Fun.

On January 12th, blood is apparently going to run cold when Lost Planet: Extreme Condition is released. Capcom spent a lot of time and energy on this game to really bring out the best in the Xbox 360 console. The campaign mode starts you off playing as a man named Wayne, whose last memory was of his father being killed by an Akrid (huge, bug like animals that call the planet home.) That sets up the story perfectly as you must take out the bastards. You are either on the ground or in vital suits, which are giant mechanical suits that can send a lot of pain to an enemy. Rather then having a health bar, the game ties the health to the story, fighting on a FREEZING planet. For every enemy that you take down, it leaves a puddle of thermal energy that you must pick up in order to stay warm. If you ignore this, you'll freeze and die. This concept is interesting and ties in very well with being on an icicle of a planet. You must keep moving and fighting instead of exploring, so it is a good way to move the game along with the developer. The gunfighting is intense and seems like a great buy as the game is fresh and offers a few really cool concepts that action/adventure gamers would like. IGN game this game an 8.5 out of 10, so it seems like a good investment. Later.

Walmart Is Going Down

I picked up my 360 from the post office today. Sorry I haven't been posting on a constant basis lately; I've been feeling a bit under the weather lately. Anyways, the box was damaged, there was NO packing materials besides a brown piece of paper; I am heated about the whole thing. My 360 sounded like something was rattling around in the console too.It also took 2 weeks to get here; how can a company who hires more people than the U.S. government take so long to deliver a console? It is beyond me. It did come with Burnout: Revenge, which has been a great game for the 2 or so hours I have been plying it for. Hopefully, Walmart is going to handle the whole situation, like give me a partial refund for their stupidity. Either way, Walmart.com is not going to be receiving any more of my business. I'll shop somewhere else.


P.S. I SAW BUBBLE BOBBLE EVOLUTION TODAY at Gamestop. Those damn liars online, they said it wouldn't be out for a while longer. It was only 30 dollars too, not a bad buy for a great game.

Bubble Bobble For The PSP.

Up until now, I really had no reason to pay my PSP. I had a few games for it, but I had found nothing I really wanted to play. Now they are releasing Bubble Bobble Evolution/Revolution for the DS/ PSP. However, they have not said anything about when they are going to be released in the United States, bummer. You will still get to play as Bob or Bub and shoot bubbles at enemies and pop them. They are changing up how it is played though. I love the Nes version as much as anyone else, but after beating the game more then a few times, I feel as if it is necessary to bring along a wave of change to a classic game.

"We wanted to bring something new to Bubble Bobble beyond a straightforward 3D update. With the PSP, we have its raw power and we've channeled that into creating a deeper, more complex take on the Bubble Bobble concept," says Tony Byus, producer of the title. Marvelous and Rising Star are taking on the project, and are promising an addition of puzzles into the mix, such as doing a certain thing to go on. The game is now split up into levels with puzzles instead of advancing after you kill everything on screen. Stay posted for the release date or go to Gamestop.com. Later.

Hello, Earth? This Is Stupid Calling.

Nothing disgusts me more than a game in which the dumbest elements of life are used to create something that only people with 5 brain cells would buy. I am just going to downright say it, American Idol is 99% garbage. The remaining 1% is the first show where people get shut down by Simon and still believe they are God's gift to man. Of course, they had to take it another step by making it into a video game. If you want a game where you must sing, try Singstar; at least it doesn't have that annoying banter of Simon Cowell. American Idol is just more of a reason I don't turn to Fox between the months of January and May.

Don't look for me to post tomorrow because my 360 SHOULD be coming in with Gears of War and Burnout: Revenge. Later.

Halo 3 Wants You!

yes, that is correct. The people who bought you the first two installments are looking for a few regular Joes the chance to test out some of the new multiplayer segments of the upcoming Halo3 game. It isn't going to be released until a few months into this new year, but there are websites and blogs alike that focus only on the development of this game.

Released today, Halo junkies found out that there are three ways to be a part of this new experience. A while ago, it was only thought that you could register at the Halo 3 Website, but that is not true anymore. The newest edition of Gamepro has an advertisement for Crackdown, a game to be released on February 20. When one of those games is bought, a special beta key code can be found inside which will grant access to the test.

The last way (and you can still get into this) is by playing Halo 2. "From February 1-3, gamers in the US who play three hours of Halo 2 over Xbox Live will qualify for entry. The first 13,333 gamers who have played Halo 2 over Xbox Live during the specified time period and who register at the Halo 3 Web site will be entered into the beta program. " <--straight from Gamespot.com

I wish I could play this, but my ass is going to be at college where they won't allow anyone to log into Xbox live. Yes, it is a drag, but then again, it sort of gives you a chance to get homework done.

I Always Love A Fishing Game.

Since I got the 360 for Xmas, (Still hasn't gotten here), I decided to look around for some of the best games for it on the system. I found the usual suspects like Gears Of War, Dead Rising, and Burnout Revenge, but then I saw something that I am going to want when it comes out in just a few days. Rapala Trophies is the name of the game with a pre-release on the 9th of this month. I checked around, and Walmart isn't going to ship this item until March 1st. Anyways, it looks to bring back the actual fun of video game fishing like the ones in the arcade that always took so much of my money. Rapala Trophies features realistic underwater environments, 11 species of fish, 20 unique tournaments to enter and 12 unique maps in realistic geographical locations. Since Bass Masters came out, I have been looking for a great fishing game. If you're into this too, the PSP version came out on September 1st, so pick up a copy and go fishin'.