29 September 2007
New Err...Top 5
So I've got the new Top 5 up from last week. Touchdown Travis decided to join in on the fun with Weapons. You can check it out at the Top Five Archive
28 September 2007
Loose Ends & Podcast #029
So theres been a few loose ends that I've been meaning to tie up.
First off Brad you misspelled Bungie in your Halo 3 impressions - very unprofessional.
Second, second I already have a cuddle pillow so I didn't need to buy that one. I went for the mousepad instead because it's more practical.
Third, Here's the new show. Nick and I basically talk about everything except Halo 3.
The Let's Not Talk About Halo 3 Show - [Podcast Archive]
First off Brad you misspelled Bungie in your Halo 3 impressions - very unprofessional.
Second, second I already have a cuddle pillow so I didn't need to buy that one. I went for the mousepad instead because it's more practical.
Third, Here's the new show. Nick and I basically talk about everything except Halo 3.
The Let's Not Talk About Halo 3 Show - [Podcast Archive]
David's Super Amazing HALO 3 Impressions
Hey what's up guys. It's been a while since I posted so I thought I'd use this time to post my impressions of Halo 3.
I don't have the game.
Thanks for listening.
I don't have the game.
Thanks for listening.
27 September 2007
Everyone Should Have Seen This Coming
No big surprise here but the number of people playing Halo 3 online is causing some Xbox Live slowdown that is causing inaccurate stats and inability to use friends lists. If that annoys you so much, I guess you will just have to wait until the little 8 years olds get so good that people will quit playing.... which we all know will happen sometime in the next couple of days.
Nick's Halo 3 Impressions
I guess it's my turn to shell out my personal opinion of this years most anticipated game. I've been rather open about my opinion of the series thus far but for those of you who don't know, I think Halo in general is extremely overrated. Now, with that said, I have some surprising news for you... I really like Halo 3. Having played the Beta a few months back, I was already a little impressed with the overall feel of the game but I remained as reluctant as ever. I remember thinking that there is no way Halo 3 could be any different than Halo 2 because nothing that was being shown really introduced anything that new. Let me also say that to a degree, I was right, this game is definately Halo 2 with a glossy new coat of paint but for some strange reason it still works.
Visually this game has the same feel as Halo 1 and 2 but adds a lot more detail. The multiplayer maps look great and offer some of the best arena's i've ever had the pleasure of killing people in. The game really starts to shine when playing the single player campaign though. I have completed the first full level on heroic difficulty mode and I am already more interested in this campaign than I was with Halo 2. The first level drops you down in the middle of a beautiful, lush jungle which looks amazing. There is detail everywhere and if you stand still, you can actually see little insects flying around. I am particually pleased with the blur and exposure effects that have been implemented. When you turn really fast, the whole screen blurs and when you look into the sky, your eyes actually have to adjust to the brightness before you can make out the blue sky and clouds. The level design has also taken a step in the right direction which makes for a much more interesting gaming experience.
The biggest improvement in my opinion is in the weapon variety. I disliked Halo 2 (which I finally beat yesterday) so much because the weapons were so boring. The only fun weapons were the Fuel Rod Cannon, Rocket Launcher, and the sword but luckily, Halo 3 has added enough new weapons to the old arsenal to make this game worth my time. Don't panic, the old classic weapons like the Assault Rifle and Needler are still there but Bungie was nice enough to add goodies such as the gravity hammer and the Mauler. Another interesting dynamic is the deployables such as the bubble shield and flare which add a unique twist to the classic and, forgive me, boring gameplay.
Overall, I think Halo 3 is the first game in the series that has actually lived up to the hype. It is true to the old "if it's not broken, don't fix it" mentality while adding in some interesting gameplay mechanics that make this game truly stand apart from it's predecessors. I have been drawn into the campaign so far but who knows if I will be satisfied when Master Chief finally "Finishes the Fight".
Visually this game has the same feel as Halo 1 and 2 but adds a lot more detail. The multiplayer maps look great and offer some of the best arena's i've ever had the pleasure of killing people in. The game really starts to shine when playing the single player campaign though. I have completed the first full level on heroic difficulty mode and I am already more interested in this campaign than I was with Halo 2. The first level drops you down in the middle of a beautiful, lush jungle which looks amazing. There is detail everywhere and if you stand still, you can actually see little insects flying around. I am particually pleased with the blur and exposure effects that have been implemented. When you turn really fast, the whole screen blurs and when you look into the sky, your eyes actually have to adjust to the brightness before you can make out the blue sky and clouds. The level design has also taken a step in the right direction which makes for a much more interesting gaming experience.
The biggest improvement in my opinion is in the weapon variety. I disliked Halo 2 (which I finally beat yesterday) so much because the weapons were so boring. The only fun weapons were the Fuel Rod Cannon, Rocket Launcher, and the sword but luckily, Halo 3 has added enough new weapons to the old arsenal to make this game worth my time. Don't panic, the old classic weapons like the Assault Rifle and Needler are still there but Bungie was nice enough to add goodies such as the gravity hammer and the Mauler. Another interesting dynamic is the deployables such as the bubble shield and flare which add a unique twist to the classic and, forgive me, boring gameplay.
Overall, I think Halo 3 is the first game in the series that has actually lived up to the hype. It is true to the old "if it's not broken, don't fix it" mentality while adding in some interesting gameplay mechanics that make this game truly stand apart from it's predecessors. I have been drawn into the campaign so far but who knows if I will be satisfied when Master Chief finally "Finishes the Fight".
Halo 3 Super Hyped Awesome Wow Impressions!!1!11
Maybe not the best game ever, but it's pretty damn fun. I haven't really played the campaign much yet, but I tried out the first level with 3 other people. It was cool but started lagging really badly. I sheepishly realized later I forgot to turn off bittorrent. The problem with playing with 4 people is trying to follow the story with 3 people talking into your ear. Even when noones talking it can be annoying to hear someone elses TV through the headset. Graphics are very nice in the campaign as opposed to regular multiplayer which is still very much a sharper looking Halo 2. The AI is awesome as always and the one liners are still hilarious.
A majority of my time with the game so far has been on regular multiplayer with 3 other friends. The game is still fast, fun, and extremely addictive. One of the reasons I think Halo multiplayer is praised so much is because Bunjie is so talented with map design. The maps may not be as detailed as a Call of Duty or Rainbow Six map but they are extremely well balanced. It's nearly impossible to get cornered or find a cheap place to camp because there is always another way in-or-out of every room or crevice. They seem simple at first, but the maps are actually very well conceived.
I missed out on the beta and haven't yet fully grasped all the nuances of the weapon balance, but I have faith that we are in good hands with Bungie. The new weapons and deployables are really cool but there is a bit of a learning curve with the latter. I've clocked about 8-10 hours in already and still don't use the deployables very often. The new items are auto pickup and I rarely notice that I have one in my inventory. I think they add a lot of depth to the game so I hope I get used to them.
I'll play the campaign in coming weeks so expect impressions on that soon. From what I've seen in gameplay footage, the game looks like it will be filled with plenty of "WOW" moments. Can't wait.
(edit) I forgot to mention the fun of Forge mode. It really does have a slight Little Big Planet feel to it. You can edit stuff in the world while playing in it with other people. Pressing up on the d-pad turns you into one of those floating robot eyes or whatever from the first Halo game. You can seemlessly jump from player character to this edit machine all very rapidly. The floating eye can fly anywhere in the map but is still very much killable. You really have to mess around in there to understand the fun of it, but dropping a Scorpion tank on an unsuspecting player is friggen sweet. There really are a ton of options and Bungie put of some example game types they created in forge mode. If you get a lot of people together "Pirate Ships" mode is extremely fun. I definitely see Forge mode greatly extending the life of this game.
A majority of my time with the game so far has been on regular multiplayer with 3 other friends. The game is still fast, fun, and extremely addictive. One of the reasons I think Halo multiplayer is praised so much is because Bunjie is so talented with map design. The maps may not be as detailed as a Call of Duty or Rainbow Six map but they are extremely well balanced. It's nearly impossible to get cornered or find a cheap place to camp because there is always another way in-or-out of every room or crevice. They seem simple at first, but the maps are actually very well conceived.
I missed out on the beta and haven't yet fully grasped all the nuances of the weapon balance, but I have faith that we are in good hands with Bungie. The new weapons and deployables are really cool but there is a bit of a learning curve with the latter. I've clocked about 8-10 hours in already and still don't use the deployables very often. The new items are auto pickup and I rarely notice that I have one in my inventory. I think they add a lot of depth to the game so I hope I get used to them.
I'll play the campaign in coming weeks so expect impressions on that soon. From what I've seen in gameplay footage, the game looks like it will be filled with plenty of "WOW" moments. Can't wait.
(edit) I forgot to mention the fun of Forge mode. It really does have a slight Little Big Planet feel to it. You can edit stuff in the world while playing in it with other people. Pressing up on the d-pad turns you into one of those floating robot eyes or whatever from the first Halo game. You can seemlessly jump from player character to this edit machine all very rapidly. The floating eye can fly anywhere in the map but is still very much killable. You really have to mess around in there to understand the fun of it, but dropping a Scorpion tank on an unsuspecting player is friggen sweet. There really are a ton of options and Bungie put of some example game types they created in forge mode. If you get a lot of people together "Pirate Ships" mode is extremely fun. I definitely see Forge mode greatly extending the life of this game.
25 September 2007
It's Finally Here...
So tonight was an eventful night for sure. As you know, David and I worked the midnight launch of Halo 3 and it actually turned out quite interesting. Not only did the beautiful red bull girls show up to hand out freebies, but we were visited by a life size Master Chief (you may have heard about the guy who sold his early copy of Halo 3 on ebay... yeah that's him). Not only that, but the best Halo player on the planet, Walshy from MLG pro team "Final Boss" was nice enough to stop by for an hour or two, allow us to play Halo 3 early and talk and shake some hands before heading to downtown austin for a 5 hour Halo 3 gaming binge with all the fans. The night was really one to remember and I actually feel a little bit pumped to finally play this game. We will be posting some of the pics we took at launch soon but for now... I'm gonna go play some Halo 3! Peace!
-Nick
-Nick
24 September 2007
Tokyo Game Show 2008 Update
Hey everyone. As I announced on this week's show, I am planning to attend the TGS in 2008 and am already making an effort to prepare for it. So I will be documenting the updates on this goal throughout the course of the next year. So here is the first slight update.
September 19, 2007- Made decision to attend and sent email to TGS admin. to find out what steps should be taken to attend.
September 20, 2007- Recieved email back instructing me to send them an email in early August of 2008 to start getting ready.
September 24, 2007- TGS organizers announced that they suspect the 2008 TGS will be held from Oct. 9 or 10 - Oct 12.
I'll continue to post updates as progress is made. Check back soon guys! Peace.
-Nick
September 19, 2007- Made decision to attend and sent email to TGS admin. to find out what steps should be taken to attend.
September 20, 2007- Recieved email back instructing me to send them an email in early August of 2008 to start getting ready.
September 24, 2007- TGS organizers announced that they suspect the 2008 TGS will be held from Oct. 9 or 10 - Oct 12.
I'll continue to post updates as progress is made. Check back soon guys! Peace.
-Nick
Yawn...Is it Halo already?
So apparently Halo is coming out tonight. I don't want to be the one who's gonna be the Halo buzzkill but someone has to do it since Brad is only thinking with his dick. First off, I've given up on collector's editions for quite some time now, especially ones that give you a crappy metal case a bonus dvd. And Nick canceled his Limited for a regular. So we're both covered on the scratch protection. Thanks to all our fans for the concern!
Brad had me watch Jeff Gerstmann's review of Halo 3. I guess he was trying to get me "psyched" for the biggest game in video game HISTORY!!!! There are some cool things about the semi-map editor. But honestly I'm not the type of person who's going to sit there for three hours messing with one game let alone one map. I've always liked the idea and always wanted to take advantage of such options, but my character won't allow me to patiently wait everything to fit into place and mess with things until they are where I want them. I think a lot of this has to do with the controls that are used to pull of customization. The few times I remember really getting into map editors was for Brood Wars and StarCraft. And that was on a PC with a mouse and keyboard. A controller is rarely is best way to implement such features. Which is my fear with the upcoming game Little Big Planet. Creating seems to be such a big part of that game and I don't feel I'll want to deal with possible frustrations in creation.
One positive thing I will have to say about Halo is that it has always had good music. The theme is rather inspirational and other themes are mood setters. It's a good soundtrack, but not exactly spectacular. And with the incorporation licensed music from bands I feel it's only going been going downhill.
While I am excited about the 4-player co-op mode, recently we've begun discussing when the "get together" is actually going to happen. So of course the new problem is when are we actually going to be able to get four players to run through the entire game co-op mode. Our work schedules fluctuate and vary and Nick, Travis, & I all go to school during the day. So I'm beginning to worry about my Halo experience and purchase will turn out. I have to easy Brad's mind a little a assure him that I will be picking up Halo 3 and will play it. And don't worry because I'll be sure to "FINISH THE FIGHT!" But only when Microsoft hurries their ass up and sends me back my, hopefully fixed correctly or replaced with a console with HDMI out, Xbox 360.
Oh, one final note. I was excited to hear from Gerstmann that the ending makes sense and that it concludes the trilogy well. I'm very skeptical that this is the last we'll hear from the Halo series. Halo Wars is on it's way and I know Microsoft isn't just going to dump their biggest cash cow for good. People probably pick up pretty heavily on my anti-hype but when you're surrounded by Halo "taglines," crap like keychains, magnet and sticker sets, and kids and fanboys screaming about Halo all day, you kind of get tired of it. Plus I'm a completely different game player than most of the people who want to have Halo's baby. I'm not really a big FPS player, I'm really into Japan Culture, I play more music/rhythm games, and I'm more about saving the Princess than being a badass. If it gives you any incite about me, my favorite part in the first Halo was the escape in the Warthog at the end of the game.
Brad had me watch Jeff Gerstmann's review of Halo 3. I guess he was trying to get me "psyched" for the biggest game in video game HISTORY!!!! There are some cool things about the semi-map editor. But honestly I'm not the type of person who's going to sit there for three hours messing with one game let alone one map. I've always liked the idea and always wanted to take advantage of such options, but my character won't allow me to patiently wait everything to fit into place and mess with things until they are where I want them. I think a lot of this has to do with the controls that are used to pull of customization. The few times I remember really getting into map editors was for Brood Wars and StarCraft. And that was on a PC with a mouse and keyboard. A controller is rarely is best way to implement such features. Which is my fear with the upcoming game Little Big Planet. Creating seems to be such a big part of that game and I don't feel I'll want to deal with possible frustrations in creation.
One positive thing I will have to say about Halo is that it has always had good music. The theme is rather inspirational and other themes are mood setters. It's a good soundtrack, but not exactly spectacular. And with the incorporation licensed music from bands I feel it's only going been going downhill.
While I am excited about the 4-player co-op mode, recently we've begun discussing when the "get together" is actually going to happen. So of course the new problem is when are we actually going to be able to get four players to run through the entire game co-op mode. Our work schedules fluctuate and vary and Nick, Travis, & I all go to school during the day. So I'm beginning to worry about my Halo experience and purchase will turn out. I have to easy Brad's mind a little a assure him that I will be picking up Halo 3 and will play it. And don't worry because I'll be sure to "FINISH THE FIGHT!" But only when Microsoft hurries their ass up and sends me back my, hopefully fixed correctly or replaced with a console with HDMI out, Xbox 360.
Oh, one final note. I was excited to hear from Gerstmann that the ending makes sense and that it concludes the trilogy well. I'm very skeptical that this is the last we'll hear from the Halo series. Halo Wars is on it's way and I know Microsoft isn't just going to dump their biggest cash cow for good. People probably pick up pretty heavily on my anti-hype but when you're surrounded by Halo "taglines," crap like keychains, magnet and sticker sets, and kids and fanboys screaming about Halo all day, you kind of get tired of it. Plus I'm a completely different game player than most of the people who want to have Halo's baby. I'm not really a big FPS player, I'm really into Japan Culture, I play more music/rhythm games, and I'm more about saving the Princess than being a badass. If it gives you any incite about me, my favorite part in the first Halo was the escape in the Warthog at the end of the game.
