Saturday, April 24, 2010
Risen (360) Giveaway, Baby Won't Sleep, and Random Bits
It's been one heck of a day. For whatever reason, the baby decided that he would wake up at around 3:30am this morning, and no matter what the wife and I did, we couldn't get him back down. That was pretty painful (and, I'm sorry, but as lovely as the Sprout channel is, I'd much rather be staring at the inside of my eyelids at that time of day) but we figured he’d probably crash for a good nap in a few hours... but he didn't.
With mommy and me drained due to lack of sleep, we staggered through the day waiting for him to finally run out of juice and zonk out... but he didn't. With the internal energy reserves of a long-distance marathon runner, he kept going, and going, and going, and going and still hasn't fallen asleep as of the time I'm writing this entry.
Pray for us.
Games: Gonna clear out the inbox and post a few random bits here –
>In case you missed it, here's a LINK to my Just Cause 2 (360) reviewed which just went up today. There's a lot to like about it, but it's one of those instances where less would have been more.
In other Just Cause 2 news, I just got an e-mail announcing two new DLC packs for the game. I can't say that I'm honestly raring to get back into it, but one of the items detailed was “Parachute Dual Thrusters: twin parachute-mounted jets which transform Rico’s trademark parachute into one of the most nimble and powerful attack platforms.”
I haven't seen what it looks like in action, but it sounds just crazy enough to get me to put another hour or two into the game. If nothing else, I'll just screw around and pick up a few more of the easier Achievements while putting it through its paces. This DLC hits the 360 on May 26.
>Not exactly news, but the Lost Planet 2 multiplayer demo is now freely available on the various DL services. If you didn't win one of the codes earlier in the month, this is your chance to get caught up. If nothing else, give it a whirl and try out some of those crazy Vital Suits.
>Still working my way through Trauma Team (Wii.) Just about through with all of the initial campaigns, and the more I play it, the more convinced I am that it's probably going to end up being my favorite Trauma title of the series. I think so far, the best paths are Forensics and the EMT. The not-best? Endoscopy, by a mile.
The forensics is deep enough and interesting enough to be a game all by itself (and, I buy that in a second if it was) and I like the quickly shifting back and forth between patients when playing as the EMT. One is totally cerebral, and the other is about fast action and reflexes, so it's a good balance. As far as Endoscopy goes, it's just really dull... there are only so many applications for sticking a tube somewhere, and actually having to physically thrust my arm forward in order to make the probe move is a real pain in the ass. It's just irritating, really, and could easily have been done by pushing up on the D-Pad.
I was hoping to get the review done this weekend, but I hit a snag. Each path (out of six) will let you get only so far before you hit "locked" missions that can be opened by making progress with the other doctors. I've done as much as I possibly can, but I hit a puzzle in the Forensics section that I can't solve and I'm stuck. Hopefully this roadblock will be removed soon, because I'm quite eager to push on. That little bump aside, Trauma Team has been a fantastic little title that comes highly recommended.
>The final Risen (360) giveaway: As promised, I’ve saved my final copy of Risen (360) for readers of the blog. I have only one more brand-spanking new, completely sealed and untouched copy of the game waiting to find a new home, and all you need to do to win it is give me three topics that you'd like to hear us discuss on a future episode of the GameCritics podcast.
Feel free to write as much or as little on each suggestion as you'd like, but definitely come up with at least three separate ideas. Leave your three (or more) suggestions as a comment at the end of this post, and I will pick a winner at random from everyone who comments.
That's all you have to do. Pretty easy, right?
Since this post is going up on a Friday night, I imagine that quite a few people will probably not see it until Monday (when they should actually be working) so the winner will be announced on my next blog update, probably Monday evening. That seems to me like a pretty generous timeframe to enter, so hopefully everyone is interested in the game will get a chance to do so.
Good luck!
Posts
I'm not sure if these topics have ever been covered before, but here it goes. First, I want to hear about Final Fantasy XIV. Gives us all the details you can find out about gameplay, races, partying, the story, anything! Secondly, Two Worlds II! This is looking to be pretty sweet from the little that I have seen about it, but not much info has come out yet and I want to know! Third, not sure if you would do this or not, but give us the story on how you started writing stories. One of my life's ambitions is to write a novel (or even more if it's good hehe) and the more input I can get from other writers on how they got started is greatly appreciated. Thanks and wish me luck on winning Risen! :)
Contact info:
Twitter - FrehleyzComet
email - frehley75@hotmail.com
I'd love to hear more about my favorite upcoming games:
Skate 3
Little Big Planet 2
Rock Band 3
Those are by a mile my most anticipated games, I've put hundreds of hours into the previous games in the series.
Twitter: @mrj3d
I'd love to hear you talk about:
- Activision putting out three new Call of Duty games in 2010/2011.
- Modnation Racers' track creator and if it will have the same fate of LittleBigPlanet.
- Ubisoft going "Eco-Friendly" and getting rid of physical game manuals.
Thanks!
Contact Information:
email: alex@alexrubens.com
twitter: @alexrubens
Alright Brad, I give, you've posted enough links to this on twitter. :P
Let's see, topics to touch on. This should be interesting since i haven't had time to listen to the podcast in a while. How about one that's been affecting me lately, Telltale Games complete inability to port their engine to another platform without royally screwing it up. Sam and Max for example has huge stutter and Frame rate issues on PS3.
Or maybe you could talk about how you reached your top ten games. This is a subject I've often long debated. Right now I only have 3 concrete entries in my own list.
If you haven't already, maybe you could look into the English translation of Fatal Frame 4. Ken and I both have it. Rather interesting how the team developed the translation and how good a job they did in just 8 months.
-njiska
okay, the 3 topics i would like to here discussion on the podcast is: what movies that should be made into games? why gamers should or shouldn't care about Roger Ebert's take on video games not being art. and is it unfair to release different exclusive reserve prizes with different companies such as Gamestop, and Best Buy like Bioware did with mass effect 2?
P.S.
Get Some Sleep :)
Contact Info:
Twitter - Pandabear_19
email - Greyfox19@hotmail.com
I'd like to hear about:
DRM, and how you think it could be done best (even if it's "not at all").
What would the perfect MMO be like? What mechanics, structure, etc. would make it interesting?
What makes a game worth going to the trouble of importing? And should consoles still be region-locked, or follow the region-freedom of the (physical media for) PS3, PSP, and DS?
Also, Snatcher. I'm intrigued by it (and its place in your top 10) and I'd like to know more about it.
3DSi: is 3D the next evolutionary step in gaming? Touch on the Hidden Pictures game on the DSi.
Next Zelda: I think it was Miyamoto that said that Twilight Princess was the end of Zelda as we know it. What should Nintendo do to revitalize the series?
Sega restructures: Sega is focusing on digital games now. Is this a sign that digital games are a real success? What would you like to see Sega produce as digital content?
Topics for podcast, which, by the way, I love listening to:
-The evolution of A.I. in video games since they have existed
-The effect(or lack thereof) of violent video games to the players of said games (adult and youth)
-Top 5 most overrated games ever.
email: patrick.s.mcatee (at) gmail (dot com)
Twitter: KancerKid
Here are a few topics to attend to:
Our Console-less Future ( ? )
and
Underrated Films Based on Games ( Is it a Yeti? )
and
The Westernization of Japanese Gaming to Increase the Bottom Line
Brandon
bbales@gmail.com
1 - Does DRM change how and what you will purchase on Xbox LIVE. I know DRM has changed a couple of purchases, with the recently release Afterburner Climax being available on PSN as well, I opted to buy the PS3 game, since DRM isn't as much of an issue. MS recently shutting down LIVE for the old XBox, got me thinking that one day this will happen to the 360 and all of my downloaded games will become HDD filler.
2 - Why do you think the PSP, with such a large userbase, hasn't had the success in North America that it receives in Japan? Is it that the software just isn't portable friendly like the DS, or is it a bigger issue?
3 - Speaking of LIVE games, what are your thoughts on Gameroom? Does it have a place in your library, or do you see it as a poorly concieved way to overcharge gamers for content that should be in a bundle?
Thanks for entering, everyone! The contest is NOW CLOSED.
The winner will be announced shortly!
...AND THE WINNER IS:
Glass_Flame!!!
(You can thank my wife... she picked your name out o' the hat.)
Congrats, dude. Email me your info and the game willbe on its way TO YOU!