Yes, it's the thing that makes me go woot. And if you can't already tell that I bought Mass Effect, I'll tell you that I bought it.
Guys, I bought Mass Effect today.
And because It's so late, I'm going to be very brief and elaborate more on the topic later.
Mass Effect is awesome.
After having seen videos of it, and reading about it, I had a fairly clear picture in my mind of what ME was. I understood that it was merely Gears of War + RPG. I was very wrong. Whilst it does retain that 3rd person shooter style, the RPG bit is not just tacked on like I thought it would be. There is everything you'd find in your stock standard RPG. Running around a central HUB city looking for quests, buying new equipment, or just talking to people. In fact, once I hit the main hub city, I managed to get myself stuck for about an hour because I couldn't find where I was meant to go (damn elusive docking bay). It's like the style of a standard RPG formula mixed in with some open world-ness. Upon receiving your ship you're able to traverse the Milky Way in search of planets to explore and quests/missions to complete.
It's all quite good.
But I have some complaints.
My squad dies almost all the time. I've been playing this practically on my own, and if it wasn't for them waking up after the enemies were all dead, I'd have no squad. When ME2 rolls out some time in the future, squad AI will hopefully be improved. And I'll be damned if they don't show some initiative and throw in some Co-op play. Being able to bring my main character over to someone else's game, and play with them, would be awesome.
Next, elevators are way too fucking slow. It's the future. Technology is elite. Elevators move at lightning speed, if lightning was Egyptian slang for grandma. They absolutely crawllllll and it's terrible. Saving the blue alien chick involved a boss encounter at the top of an elevator. Unfortunately for me I failed it a few times and had to restart that section from the bottom of the elevator. That coupled with the slow load times made for a less than pleasant experience.
Yes load times are bad, but considering that they only happen when you change planets or die (and sometimes but not often during a stage) they're not that bad. Unless you die a lot.
Desipte those bad things, I started playing as soon as I got home, and stopped playing not very long ago. This game is good. I look forward to playing through it, then trying again with a different class.
I also wouldn't mind picking my own damn surname. Rufati Shepard is the weirdest main character name I've ever had.
I'm out.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Look! It's evolving!
This has nothing to do with Pokemon and everything to do with gaming. Well, gaming franchises, rather.
After having played some older games in a franchise, followed by some newer ones, it's very weird to see how drastically some things can change. Let's look at the beloved Burnout series of games.
The previous 4 games, Burnout 1, 2, Takedown and Revenge are all very similar. Almost the same game each time. Yes they're good, but there isn't much of a difference. Exactly the same mechanics, all the same (or similar) cars. Then come Paradise. It reinvents itself as an open world racer. Not only that, but it doesn't do what the NeedForSpeed series did, and lock out 80% of the area. The entire world of Paradise City is available from the very beginning. As you drive around you'll see various food chains, car dealerships, and so on. There are no menus. No merely going from one event to the next (although you still can, kinda). It's all very open and all very freeform. In fact, when I first started playing, I did a few event and then just drove around the city for an hour or so. Even if you're not in an event, there are things to find and do (not that you have to). Another good things they've done is that once you rank up, all the event wins are cleared, and you can win those same events again. This means you're never stuck with only the types of races that you suck at.
It's all such a drastic change, and so different from previous games. Although I would say that this game is definitely the best in the series and, if anything, the only problem I have is that there is no quick navigation to a race like there was in the NeedForSpeed games. There's not even a GPS to guide you to an event. Even though there may be an event less than 10-20 seconds from where you finish, that's not always the event you want to do. In the case of Burning Routes (time runs specific to each car), it sucks when you fail and want to retry, but you have to go back to the very beginning, because that's where the start for your current car is. The ability to jump to an event, or GPS navigation to it would've been a nice addition.
And for the people who say there aren't any load times. Why do you think that screen pops up whenever you start an event? There's no reason to waste 5-10 seconds every time you start an event, other than load times. It's just like good editing, it's seamless, almost invisible. Just because it doesn't say Loading... doesn't mean it isn't there.
I also found it interesting that between PGR2, 3 and 4 that the changes were quite.. Interesting. In PGR2 you won Kudos by winning races, and that was the currency. In 3 Kudos are a measure of your rank, and Credits are the currency. Now in 4 there is a separate, more realistic, rank system, and Kudos are the currency. Again. Also the career mode of 3 is now the arcade mode of 4, and the career of 4 has been reworked.
Woot for rehashed games and true sequels.
After having played some older games in a franchise, followed by some newer ones, it's very weird to see how drastically some things can change. Let's look at the beloved Burnout series of games.
The previous 4 games, Burnout 1, 2, Takedown and Revenge are all very similar. Almost the same game each time. Yes they're good, but there isn't much of a difference. Exactly the same mechanics, all the same (or similar) cars. Then come Paradise. It reinvents itself as an open world racer. Not only that, but it doesn't do what the NeedForSpeed series did, and lock out 80% of the area. The entire world of Paradise City is available from the very beginning. As you drive around you'll see various food chains, car dealerships, and so on. There are no menus. No merely going from one event to the next (although you still can, kinda). It's all very open and all very freeform. In fact, when I first started playing, I did a few event and then just drove around the city for an hour or so. Even if you're not in an event, there are things to find and do (not that you have to). Another good things they've done is that once you rank up, all the event wins are cleared, and you can win those same events again. This means you're never stuck with only the types of races that you suck at.
It's all such a drastic change, and so different from previous games. Although I would say that this game is definitely the best in the series and, if anything, the only problem I have is that there is no quick navigation to a race like there was in the NeedForSpeed games. There's not even a GPS to guide you to an event. Even though there may be an event less than 10-20 seconds from where you finish, that's not always the event you want to do. In the case of Burning Routes (time runs specific to each car), it sucks when you fail and want to retry, but you have to go back to the very beginning, because that's where the start for your current car is. The ability to jump to an event, or GPS navigation to it would've been a nice addition.
And for the people who say there aren't any load times. Why do you think that screen pops up whenever you start an event? There's no reason to waste 5-10 seconds every time you start an event, other than load times. It's just like good editing, it's seamless, almost invisible. Just because it doesn't say Loading... doesn't mean it isn't there.
I also found it interesting that between PGR2, 3 and 4 that the changes were quite.. Interesting. In PGR2 you won Kudos by winning races, and that was the currency. In 3 Kudos are a measure of your rank, and Credits are the currency. Now in 4 there is a separate, more realistic, rank system, and Kudos are the currency. Again. Also the career mode of 3 is now the arcade mode of 4, and the career of 4 has been reworked.
Woot for rehashed games and true sequels.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Scammers be silly.
Upon checking my email this morning I find an email from the team at Xbox, or so it would seem. After more of an inspection, I can see that the tail end of the email is not from Xbox.com, but from another source; email.xbox.com, that's xbox@email.xbox.com who sent me the mail
And the reply-to address is support-b09dqseb3v36h6acbmtmjarmb9kajs@email.xbox.com
No, I did not just violently face mash my keyboard for about 10 seconds. That's just their email.
If that wasn't enough, they often leave links that point to a very long address starting at email.xbox.com, so if you know anything about some things, then it's easy to see that this is not the official Xbox.com we all know and (not really) love. But that's not all.
The final thing I've noticed in the email is the misspelling of the term TrueSkill (a term made up by Microsoft) as TruSkill. There is meant to be an e in there, fools.
I have no idea what they'd be trying to scam off people. Nor am I willing to go to that website. Things like this are ridiculous, and I'll be happy in another 10-20 years when the only people using the internet actually know what they're doing. Also, to illustrate why you can't just omit a letter and expect everyone to be fooled...
It'd be like sending an email to the UN, asking for World Pace. Noobs.
And the reply-to address is support-b09dqseb3v36h6acbmtmjarmb9kajs@email.xbox.com
No, I did not just violently face mash my keyboard for about 10 seconds. That's just their email.
If that wasn't enough, they often leave links that point to a very long address starting at email.xbox.com, so if you know anything about some things, then it's easy to see that this is not the official Xbox.com we all know and (not really) love. But that's not all.
The final thing I've noticed in the email is the misspelling of the term TrueSkill (a term made up by Microsoft) as TruSkill. There is meant to be an e in there, fools.
I have no idea what they'd be trying to scam off people. Nor am I willing to go to that website. Things like this are ridiculous, and I'll be happy in another 10-20 years when the only people using the internet actually know what they're doing. Also, to illustrate why you can't just omit a letter and expect everyone to be fooled...
It'd be like sending an email to the UN, asking for World Pace. Noobs.
PGR3 Qualifies!
Or, at least, I do!
Yes, after some domestic disputes with my evil router of unholy doom, I went to the interwebs in search of help topics, help forums, help sites, and so on; all with the goal of getting the damned NAT to let me play in PGR Tournaments.
It finally worked. Here's the result.
The first time I submitted had me at the 99th seed position. That is to say that I was 35 places outside of the quota. Of course this was on a track that I haven't played a million times, a car I've never used, and manual transmission which I'm not that great with (until I learn the track). So a glass of Coke and 20minutes later, I managed to hit 47th seed.
I've qualified for now. I just hope no one knocks me out of the running, because I want my achievement!
Later on I might try and get into a PGR4 Tournament... Yes I have PGR4. I got it because it was 40$ @ BigW. If you don't have it and you remotely like racing games, then get it. The game is good, but since it was released around the time of other, more prominent games (Halo3 for one, I think), many would have overlooked it.
I am winner, hear me roar.
Edit :: As of this writing, I have been pushed back to 48th seed. I'll find you, whoever you are, and when I do you're gonna be sorry. Let's see how you like negative player feedback, fool.
More Edit :: As of this next bit of writing, I was pushed back to 49th. But I've just bettered my time, and hit 44th. Can you dig it, sucker?
Yes, after some domestic disputes with my evil router of unholy doom, I went to the interwebs in search of help topics, help forums, help sites, and so on; all with the goal of getting the damned NAT to let me play in PGR Tournaments.
It finally worked. Here's the result.
The first time I submitted had me at the 99th seed position. That is to say that I was 35 places outside of the quota. Of course this was on a track that I haven't played a million times, a car I've never used, and manual transmission which I'm not that great with (until I learn the track). So a glass of Coke and 20minutes later, I managed to hit 47th seed.
I've qualified for now. I just hope no one knocks me out of the running, because I want my achievement!
Later on I might try and get into a PGR4 Tournament... Yes I have PGR4. I got it because it was 40$ @ BigW. If you don't have it and you remotely like racing games, then get it. The game is good, but since it was released around the time of other, more prominent games (Halo3 for one, I think), many would have overlooked it.
I am winner, hear me roar.
Edit :: As of this writing, I have been pushed back to 48th seed. I'll find you, whoever you are, and when I do you're gonna be sorry. Let's see how you like negative player feedback, fool.
More Edit :: As of this next bit of writing, I was pushed back to 49th. But I've just bettered my time, and hit 44th. Can you dig it, sucker?
Friday, February 15, 2008
WTF Update
Woot, Team Fortress Update =D
If you're like me and are currently using Valve's Steam software, then you more than likely know of (or own) Team Fortress 2 (TF2). If you actually play the game, then you also know this; there hasn't been a major content update in, like, forever. So it's about damn time that this update goes live, because I'm sick of the same 5 or so maps over, and over, and over...
Yes I can understand that making too many maps can make the game bigger (too big? don't think so), it also puts more pressure on players to learn the maps to play successfully. But when you have a handful of maps that just rotate, one after the other, it gets very.. Grating.
Until the recent addition of Well (CTF),which was a remake of the 'Well' Control Point map into a Capture the Flag affair, there was only one CTF map. Just one. So what I heard on my Ventrilo, and people in game, was "Map change, woot... Oh god not 2Fort," as 2Fort has been the only CTF map available until recently. But even with the introduction of a map that was merely modified, I don't think it's good enough.
In my opinion, we should be seeing at least 1 new map every 1-2 months, to allow for the design of it, and testing. It shouldn't take any longer than that, at least not for a single map. And running on that kind of schedule, you'd be bringing in 6 new maps a year. You might even go smaller than that, I suppose. 5 maps, maybe 4 at the least, but then you're putting them too far apart for the liking of your typical gamer. That probably won't happen, but hey, I (we) can dream.
The other thing I'd really like to see would be 3-way maps. Putting not 2, but 3 teams against each other. 3-way CTF with only one flag in the middle of the 3 bases. 3-way Control Point, where each base has a point, a point in between all 3, and a point between each base (i.e., between red/blu, blue/other colour, other colour/red) so a team needs to capture an adjacent point before being able to assault the base.
But then I don't even know if that could even be done, considering the 2 team style of Valve's games has been this way for a long time. But I can keep dreaming!
If you're like me and are currently using Valve's Steam software, then you more than likely know of (or own) Team Fortress 2 (TF2). If you actually play the game, then you also know this; there hasn't been a major content update in, like, forever. So it's about damn time that this update goes live, because I'm sick of the same 5 or so maps over, and over, and over...
Yes I can understand that making too many maps can make the game bigger (too big? don't think so), it also puts more pressure on players to learn the maps to play successfully. But when you have a handful of maps that just rotate, one after the other, it gets very.. Grating.
Until the recent addition of Well (CTF),which was a remake of the 'Well' Control Point map into a Capture the Flag affair, there was only one CTF map. Just one. So what I heard on my Ventrilo, and people in game, was "Map change, woot... Oh god not 2Fort," as 2Fort has been the only CTF map available until recently. But even with the introduction of a map that was merely modified, I don't think it's good enough.
In my opinion, we should be seeing at least 1 new map every 1-2 months, to allow for the design of it, and testing. It shouldn't take any longer than that, at least not for a single map. And running on that kind of schedule, you'd be bringing in 6 new maps a year. You might even go smaller than that, I suppose. 5 maps, maybe 4 at the least, but then you're putting them too far apart for the liking of your typical gamer. That probably won't happen, but hey, I (we) can dream.
The other thing I'd really like to see would be 3-way maps. Putting not 2, but 3 teams against each other. 3-way CTF with only one flag in the middle of the 3 bases. 3-way Control Point, where each base has a point, a point in between all 3, and a point between each base (i.e., between red/blu, blue/other colour, other colour/red) so a team needs to capture an adjacent point before being able to assault the base.
But then I don't even know if that could even be done, considering the 2 team style of Valve's games has been this way for a long time. But I can keep dreaming!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Gamerscore What Up.
What up, indeed.
For those of you who might not know what Gamerscore is, it's just a numerical representation of certain feats that you've achieved in games on your Xbox360. These range from the norm of actually beating the game, or beating certain stages, to performing other, more difficult, tasks. Now these can range from beating the game in its entire entirety of entireness, to playing the game in a way that it probably isn't usually played. One example of the former can be found in Project Gotham Racing 3 (PGR3). It involves clearing every championship in the game at the platinum (highest difficulty) level. An example of the latter is found in Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. This one involves staying alive for the first 60 seconds of the game without attacking at all. That one was hard to do. And it's very an 'outside the box' way of playing the game. But the achievement is there, and if you want the score, then you try for them!
If I haven't mentioned previously that I've signed up to MyGamerCard, then I'll do it. I have signed up. You can even check out my profile. It lets you see what I play, and how much I've achieved. It's cool. I got it to start with because they generate a signature image for you that showcases your Gamerscore data, and I figured it was a nice way to let people on forums that I go to that I play on 360's Live service, so they can play with me, too! An example of that generated majiggy can be found... Here...
How awesome is that? Kthxbai.
No really, though. I think Live is a service that other Console (and online service) providers should be taking a look at. The only other thing I've used that is this good would have to be Valve's Steam client (although Steam does have its share of problems).
There's no point in reinventing the wheel. You just make it a lot harder for yourself to build something that's good. Take a look at consoles today, not much has changed over the past 10 or 15 years. I mean fundamental changes to the way that they work. There have been practically none. They all have controllers, you pop in the game media, and away you go. No one has challenged that idea, and gone and made a console that defied all the current norms. It'd be silly. It's the same reason that the steering wheel/pedal systems in cars has been the same for so long, cause it's great. Instead of doing odd things (Friend codes, I'm looking at you Nintendo) why not just improve upon good ideas?
Now a rant for some good measure. Friend codes are the most cumbersome, and really just plain silly thing that anyone could come up with. It goes against the whole simplicity of the Wii. People who want to play together have to exchange codes, there is one code for your Wii and one for every code using online-enabled game. So for each of those games, you must input the code of each of your friends - and this is done using the software keyboard styled interface. And you've got to do this for every subsequent game. Not to mention that the only way to get your own code is to boot up that game, and login to the WFC and get it (then take a note of it).
A long time ago, before the Wii was released, this idea sounded good. I already enter people's emails into my MSN and whatnot. However I do this with hardware built for the job (a keyboard). And whilst I do have to enter in more things for every chat program I used, chances are, I'm only ever going to use MSN. That and I only ever need to add a contact, or receive an invite. We don't both have to add eachother, and then wait for the service to recognise that we have, and then play together.
It really is kind of obscene after you think about it for a bit.
Sidenote: I've cleared all the achievements in Boom Boom Rocket. It's like DDR, but with fireworks.
Good night.
For those of you who might not know what Gamerscore is, it's just a numerical representation of certain feats that you've achieved in games on your Xbox360. These range from the norm of actually beating the game, or beating certain stages, to performing other, more difficult, tasks. Now these can range from beating the game in its entire entirety of entireness, to playing the game in a way that it probably isn't usually played. One example of the former can be found in Project Gotham Racing 3 (PGR3). It involves clearing every championship in the game at the platinum (highest difficulty) level. An example of the latter is found in Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. This one involves staying alive for the first 60 seconds of the game without attacking at all. That one was hard to do. And it's very an 'outside the box' way of playing the game. But the achievement is there, and if you want the score, then you try for them!
If I haven't mentioned previously that I've signed up to MyGamerCard, then I'll do it. I have signed up. You can even check out my profile. It lets you see what I play, and how much I've achieved. It's cool. I got it to start with because they generate a signature image for you that showcases your Gamerscore data, and I figured it was a nice way to let people on forums that I go to that I play on 360's Live service, so they can play with me, too! An example of that generated majiggy can be found... Here...
How awesome is that? Kthxbai.
No really, though. I think Live is a service that other Console (and online service) providers should be taking a look at. The only other thing I've used that is this good would have to be Valve's Steam client (although Steam does have its share of problems).
There's no point in reinventing the wheel. You just make it a lot harder for yourself to build something that's good. Take a look at consoles today, not much has changed over the past 10 or 15 years. I mean fundamental changes to the way that they work. There have been practically none. They all have controllers, you pop in the game media, and away you go. No one has challenged that idea, and gone and made a console that defied all the current norms. It'd be silly. It's the same reason that the steering wheel/pedal systems in cars has been the same for so long, cause it's great. Instead of doing odd things (Friend codes, I'm looking at you Nintendo) why not just improve upon good ideas?
Now a rant for some good measure. Friend codes are the most cumbersome, and really just plain silly thing that anyone could come up with. It goes against the whole simplicity of the Wii. People who want to play together have to exchange codes, there is one code for your Wii and one for every code using online-enabled game. So for each of those games, you must input the code of each of your friends - and this is done using the software keyboard styled interface. And you've got to do this for every subsequent game. Not to mention that the only way to get your own code is to boot up that game, and login to the WFC and get it (then take a note of it).
A long time ago, before the Wii was released, this idea sounded good. I already enter people's emails into my MSN and whatnot. However I do this with hardware built for the job (a keyboard). And whilst I do have to enter in more things for every chat program I used, chances are, I'm only ever going to use MSN. That and I only ever need to add a contact, or receive an invite. We don't both have to add eachother, and then wait for the service to recognise that we have, and then play together.
It really is kind of obscene after you think about it for a bit.
Sidenote: I've cleared all the achievements in Boom Boom Rocket. It's like DDR, but with fireworks.
Good night.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Nintendo Obscenitii
Yes I made fun of the Nintendo Wii in my title. Haha? Not really.
I'm just confused as to why Nintendo would allow the Wii to have such incredibly lackluster online services, when Microsoft's Live service is absolutely astounding. Honestly.
It does the whole Virtual Console thing (although lacking actual old school titles), but to a better degree. Wondering how Street Fighter II will play on your 360? Download the trial version. For free. Right away. Play it. You don't need to look for reviews telling you about the game itself. You don't need someone else to explain the emulation issues, if any. You just get the limited version of the game, play it, and you can decide whether it's worth your money. Simple.
What do I have to do on Wii's Virtual Console? If I so much as want to try it, I have to buy it. Simple. And whilst there may be a lot of good games on there, I'm not about to throw down some cash just to test it. I wish I could get demos for it like I can on Live. Yeah I know some people will say "ROMs," but that's hardly the point. It'd just be nice to try before I buy =| same goes for Wii games!
It just makes me think of, like... In the world of video game speed runs, people usually come up with techniques. Now, the bulk of the time, they will share these techniques with the community, so that other players can learn them, and possibly improve their times and so on. Whilst it is a competition to see who is the best, it's still interesting for them to see if someone can do it faster. Why can't Nintendo take a page out of the book of Microsoft, and upgrade their online.
The service is there for them to see. What it does, and so on. The services of Live could be adapted by Nintendo in an effort to have a more robust online package - because right now it does not. Although I will say one thing, and that is at the moment Nintendo couldn't improve its online even if it wanted to. There are storage concerns to be met, and as the Wii stands currently, it just doesn't have enough. I've gotten quite a lot of content for my 360 in the past few days. Gigs in fact. And the HDD is still more than capable of holding some more stuff. All the Wii has is 512mb =/ so for the moment, the Wii is being shut down big time due to its lack of download-able content.
I guess if Nintendo doesn't have some kind of plan to release a HDD expansion for it soon, I'll be tempted to get Guitar Hero 2+3 on the 360 - if only for all the extra song packs. GH2 alone has something like 7 packs, with 4 or so songs each. It seems crazy that the Wii version of the game is missing out on 20 or 30 possible extra songs. But oh well.
I bought Gears of War today. It was cheap. And man is this game good =D I'll probably talk about it more later. It's very late and I should sleep some time soon ~_~;;
PS: I got a bunch of free map packs for GoW, talk about an awesomely robust service. Live is ridiculously good. As for the Wii store... Sorrii, but it isn't good enough =/
I'm just confused as to why Nintendo would allow the Wii to have such incredibly lackluster online services, when Microsoft's Live service is absolutely astounding. Honestly.
It does the whole Virtual Console thing (although lacking actual old school titles), but to a better degree. Wondering how Street Fighter II will play on your 360? Download the trial version. For free. Right away. Play it. You don't need to look for reviews telling you about the game itself. You don't need someone else to explain the emulation issues, if any. You just get the limited version of the game, play it, and you can decide whether it's worth your money. Simple.
What do I have to do on Wii's Virtual Console? If I so much as want to try it, I have to buy it. Simple. And whilst there may be a lot of good games on there, I'm not about to throw down some cash just to test it. I wish I could get demos for it like I can on Live. Yeah I know some people will say "ROMs," but that's hardly the point. It'd just be nice to try before I buy =| same goes for Wii games!
It just makes me think of, like... In the world of video game speed runs, people usually come up with techniques. Now, the bulk of the time, they will share these techniques with the community, so that other players can learn them, and possibly improve their times and so on. Whilst it is a competition to see who is the best, it's still interesting for them to see if someone can do it faster. Why can't Nintendo take a page out of the book of Microsoft, and upgrade their online.
The service is there for them to see. What it does, and so on. The services of Live could be adapted by Nintendo in an effort to have a more robust online package - because right now it does not. Although I will say one thing, and that is at the moment Nintendo couldn't improve its online even if it wanted to. There are storage concerns to be met, and as the Wii stands currently, it just doesn't have enough. I've gotten quite a lot of content for my 360 in the past few days. Gigs in fact. And the HDD is still more than capable of holding some more stuff. All the Wii has is 512mb =/ so for the moment, the Wii is being shut down big time due to its lack of download-able content.
I guess if Nintendo doesn't have some kind of plan to release a HDD expansion for it soon, I'll be tempted to get Guitar Hero 2+3 on the 360 - if only for all the extra song packs. GH2 alone has something like 7 packs, with 4 or so songs each. It seems crazy that the Wii version of the game is missing out on 20 or 30 possible extra songs. But oh well.
I bought Gears of War today. It was cheap. And man is this game good =D I'll probably talk about it more later. It's very late and I should sleep some time soon ~_~;;
PS: I got a bunch of free map packs for GoW, talk about an awesomely robust service. Live is ridiculously good. As for the Wii store... Sorrii, but it isn't good enough =/
Saturday, February 02, 2008
notepad.xbox
So I'm writing this in good ol' Notepad at the moment. My computer isn't connected to the great interwebs, so I can't do this as usual on the oh so lovable Blogger.com - so here I am.
Why is my compy not connected? It is not connected to our network for the moment, because our new XBOX360 is! Yes, the console that I have been... Less than friendly towards... Is now one that I own. Huzzah.
Why now you ask? Why after all this not caring about fancy graphics? I still don't care about fancy graphics. I'm running the 360 to my computer in 4:3, just because for some reason, the 16:9 just isn't translating to my software properly, so I get this squashed image. I'm also not using any of the HDTV stuff, nor the HDMI. The games look really nice, a lot better than anything on Wii, but that's not what made me want to get it.
Online.
360 has some of the most robust online features I have ever seen in a console. Not that I've seen it in many. The online is spectacular. From multiplayer, the scoreboards, achievements, add-ons, demos, and so on. Even unnecessary things like videos are available. I knew that LIVE was a good online service. Just how good was not apparent until I witnessed it for myself. I've had it for half a day, and already my GamerTag is on my Facebook =D I've also gotten a few demos easily enough. It's all fairly seamless. My only gripe so far would have to be that it doesn't come with a keyboard by default, which is something I could really use for all the text entering involved with certain things. But meh, it's ok for now.
So what does this mean for RufiGaming? More games to review and to talk about in general. Whilst before I might have been able to comment on 360 games based on other articles, now I can speak for myself! The entire Demo thing is breathtaking to say the least. Until now I haven't been able to play before I pay without a) having a friend with the game or b) obtaining the game in fiendish ways. The weirdest thing is that for too many people, all these features are now 2nd nature =/ I'm behind T_T
With that said, I just picked up the demos for Burnout: Paradise, and DefJam: ICON. Burnout is stunning. I've only played it for a tiny bit, but it's great. The last burnout game I played would have to have been 2 or 3 on the original XBOX that my friend Rob owned. And as for DefJam, well, it's a very interestingly done fighter.
When I have more time and it isn't 3am, I will have to see about writing up my own impressions for the demos.
And in other new, I'm about to go job hunting in the areas of beta testing, and QA (quality assurance) in general. Considering my sudden interest in being critical about things where I previously wasn't is kind of the thing I need to be if I end up doing this stuff. I've had lots of ideas for changes in games, and these aren't massive changes, but slight ones that subtley impact certain aspects. Make certain things more friendly or appealing, and so on. Change things up. You get the idea. I think the fact that the idea I submitted to YouTube got implemented was a real boost for me. Maybe that's what started this o_o
Well, my console listing has just hit a +1, and so... I don't know. I now have potentially more games to talk about? Yes.
Night.
Why is my compy not connected? It is not connected to our network for the moment, because our new XBOX360 is! Yes, the console that I have been... Less than friendly towards... Is now one that I own. Huzzah.
Why now you ask? Why after all this not caring about fancy graphics? I still don't care about fancy graphics. I'm running the 360 to my computer in 4:3, just because for some reason, the 16:9 just isn't translating to my software properly, so I get this squashed image. I'm also not using any of the HDTV stuff, nor the HDMI. The games look really nice, a lot better than anything on Wii, but that's not what made me want to get it.
Online.
360 has some of the most robust online features I have ever seen in a console. Not that I've seen it in many. The online is spectacular. From multiplayer, the scoreboards, achievements, add-ons, demos, and so on. Even unnecessary things like videos are available. I knew that LIVE was a good online service. Just how good was not apparent until I witnessed it for myself. I've had it for half a day, and already my GamerTag is on my Facebook =D I've also gotten a few demos easily enough. It's all fairly seamless. My only gripe so far would have to be that it doesn't come with a keyboard by default, which is something I could really use for all the text entering involved with certain things. But meh, it's ok for now.
So what does this mean for RufiGaming? More games to review and to talk about in general. Whilst before I might have been able to comment on 360 games based on other articles, now I can speak for myself! The entire Demo thing is breathtaking to say the least. Until now I haven't been able to play before I pay without a) having a friend with the game or b) obtaining the game in fiendish ways. The weirdest thing is that for too many people, all these features are now 2nd nature =/ I'm behind T_T
With that said, I just picked up the demos for Burnout: Paradise, and DefJam: ICON. Burnout is stunning. I've only played it for a tiny bit, but it's great. The last burnout game I played would have to have been 2 or 3 on the original XBOX that my friend Rob owned. And as for DefJam, well, it's a very interestingly done fighter.
When I have more time and it isn't 3am, I will have to see about writing up my own impressions for the demos.
And in other new, I'm about to go job hunting in the areas of beta testing, and QA (quality assurance) in general. Considering my sudden interest in being critical about things where I previously wasn't is kind of the thing I need to be if I end up doing this stuff. I've had lots of ideas for changes in games, and these aren't massive changes, but slight ones that subtley impact certain aspects. Make certain things more friendly or appealing, and so on. Change things up. You get the idea. I think the fact that the idea I submitted to YouTube got implemented was a real boost for me. Maybe that's what started this o_o
Well, my console listing has just hit a +1, and so... I don't know. I now have potentially more games to talk about? Yes.
Night.
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