So, I found a new MMO to play, which is one of the main reasons I haven't been posting much as of late, but I gotta tell you this one is pretty awesome. It's a free one so check it out yourself if you're into gaming and looking for something to play. This one is a real time almost brawler type game where you get to just go into missions, kill everything, get rewarded and move on. The character creation is kind of limited where you have to pick an actual character to play their class (Evie - Mage/Alchemist/kick ass scyth girl, Lann - Double Sword/lance quick melee attacker, or Fiona - Slower 1 sword 1 shield user with powerful attacks.) There are two more characters they'll be releasing later.
The game updates by episode, adding on a couple levels every once in a while, the next update is coming on the first of December. Right now the game is pretty simple which is to say you can basically solo all the missions if you know what you're doing but it's a lot more fun with other people playing. Most parties are made of 4 people however right now there is a single raid which can hold up to 6 people but can still be done solo if you're a high enough level with enough skill. The spells are quite limited as of right now and there aren't that many melee combo's to do, but like I said they update fairly often as MMO's go. This game is actually a Korean game that's been carried over to America.
The bad part about the game is that there are indeed some glitches that the company is working on to fix asap, and the game is lags a fair amount if you join someone else, however it can be worth it if you have a good connection to go launch your own mission and let people join you to reduce lag on your part (that's what I do). Other than that, a couple of quests seem messed up but they all play out except one and they're fixing that in the next update.
All in all, it's a great game and if you're looking to start MMO's or you've been playing for a while but looking for something new, this is definitely a good one to get into for a bit to see what's up. It's been keeping me occupied for a couple hours a day every day since I started playing. So, if you get it, have fun! If not, I'll be reviewing Kinect soon so keep checking up on me! :)
Monday, November 22, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Fallout New Vegas
Okay, this game has a small mix of a review but mostly it's good. Starting out I have to say game developers need to spend the money to hire testers. The game has a ton of bugs including a bug that corrupts your save game data so you have to start over, or, if you're lucky, start from the last save before the newest one. My arms always tend to go off screen in first person mode, or block my view by moving up and into the middle of the screen, and, like all games on this particular engine, it's so easy to get stuck in between rocks, branches on tree and in one occasion in between the railing of a staircase.
Now that the bad stuff is out of the way, here's my review of the actual game and not just the bugs. This game, is in fact, awesome. I thought because Bethesda wasn't the full time developer on this game that the game would suck, but in fact, it's even better than Fallout 3. There's more missions to go on, more companions, new enemies new guns, they took some of the somewhat unnecessary skills out of the game and replaced them with skills that are more necessary depending on the way you play the game, such as survival if you're playing it on the new hardcore mode, where you have to watch out how hungry, thirsty and tired you are. Survival allows you to cook the food you find in the wasteland which feeds you more, or allows you to make special tools for healing limbs and such.
The aiming system seems much more realistic, relying more on your skill rather than the games d20 (luck) to factor in so you can more easily snipe people earlier in the game if you buy a scope for one of the weaker rifles. There are so many quests that after you've done about one half of the main quest you can already have 20+ levels under your belt and still not have met half of the factions in the game. For instance, I'm level 15 right now and I've just decided to head into the New Vegas strip, I have people to chose for my companion and to tell you the truth, that are at least 4 others I can go out and find, but haven't found yet. I wanted to more the main quest up a bit so I could get into New Vegas for another quest that I was on.
Like Fallout 3, you can chose to be good and evil and although this isn't forced nearly as much as in Fallout 3, it's more hidden. For instance, and there's spoilers in this example so skip the next couple of sentences if you don't want to spoil anything, there's a mission in a town called Novac (which, humorously is just a "No Vacancy" sign as the town name) where, to advance the main mission, you have to clear out a nearby facility of Ghouls (Fallouts version of zomies is the closest I can explain them) and when you get in there you hear a guy on a speaker as you to go find their room. The guy on the speaker is part of an order of good Ghouls who are trying to fulfill some religious type thing in where they take off in rockets to find a place of their own. Anyway, there's an underlining decision to make here. Most people are going to take their extra quest and be good and try to get them out by clearing the facility out of the Nightkin in the basement and not kill anymore ghouls (which can be hard if you're not sneaky) and help them escape. However, not noted, is that you can just kill all the Ghouls, good and bad, skip their quest and just run back to Novac and tell them it's cleared out. Of course, that's going to negatively effect your ending credits in the game, but it's a much quicker way to get through the main mission.
Other than that, the graphics of the game are pretty stunning. Las Vegas is already a desert, yes, however they still manage to find a way to make Las Vegas look like even more of a wasteland. The facial expressions aren't nearly as good as they can be (when comparing to games like Half-Life 2) and it's not nearly as big of a hit on you when you first leave the doctors office as it was in Fallout 3 leaving the Vault because you're not on a cliff overlooking the entire wasteland. The new guns seem more up to date and not like a bunch of scrap thrown together, the fire effects are nice but nothing too impressive you now have plasma weapons instead of just laser weapons for energy which are a cool effect and finally the deaths are still outstanding. While you don't dismember people nearly as much as in fallout until you get the bloody perk, you still have a good number of ways to create gore in the game.
My only complaint that doesn't involve glitches is that the game isn't as open to early exploration nearly as much as the last one, you kind of have to follow the main quests for a couple of towns in order to level up or else you're going to die. I don't mean that you might die, I mean that you will. If you leave the first town out the back way you end up heading into dens of the two (debatably) strongest enemies in the game. You end up having to follow the main quest rather than just explore or else you're going to end up dying a lot.
All in all Fallout New Vegas is a great game in itself and after a couple of patches will be just about perfect. I can't wait to see the DLC they end up coming out with this one. The game play is great. The Graphics are just as good as ever. Finally, one thing I forgot to mention before, the game seems much more moddable on the PC than Fallout 3 considering there's numerous user made mods for the game already out. If you're a gamer, I'd definitely pick this one up and try it out.
Now that the bad stuff is out of the way, here's my review of the actual game and not just the bugs. This game, is in fact, awesome. I thought because Bethesda wasn't the full time developer on this game that the game would suck, but in fact, it's even better than Fallout 3. There's more missions to go on, more companions, new enemies new guns, they took some of the somewhat unnecessary skills out of the game and replaced them with skills that are more necessary depending on the way you play the game, such as survival if you're playing it on the new hardcore mode, where you have to watch out how hungry, thirsty and tired you are. Survival allows you to cook the food you find in the wasteland which feeds you more, or allows you to make special tools for healing limbs and such.
The aiming system seems much more realistic, relying more on your skill rather than the games d20 (luck) to factor in so you can more easily snipe people earlier in the game if you buy a scope for one of the weaker rifles. There are so many quests that after you've done about one half of the main quest you can already have 20+ levels under your belt and still not have met half of the factions in the game. For instance, I'm level 15 right now and I've just decided to head into the New Vegas strip, I have people to chose for my companion and to tell you the truth, that are at least 4 others I can go out and find, but haven't found yet. I wanted to more the main quest up a bit so I could get into New Vegas for another quest that I was on.
Like Fallout 3, you can chose to be good and evil and although this isn't forced nearly as much as in Fallout 3, it's more hidden. For instance, and there's spoilers in this example so skip the next couple of sentences if you don't want to spoil anything, there's a mission in a town called Novac (which, humorously is just a "No Vacancy" sign as the town name) where, to advance the main mission, you have to clear out a nearby facility of Ghouls (Fallouts version of zomies is the closest I can explain them) and when you get in there you hear a guy on a speaker as you to go find their room. The guy on the speaker is part of an order of good Ghouls who are trying to fulfill some religious type thing in where they take off in rockets to find a place of their own. Anyway, there's an underlining decision to make here. Most people are going to take their extra quest and be good and try to get them out by clearing the facility out of the Nightkin in the basement and not kill anymore ghouls (which can be hard if you're not sneaky) and help them escape. However, not noted, is that you can just kill all the Ghouls, good and bad, skip their quest and just run back to Novac and tell them it's cleared out. Of course, that's going to negatively effect your ending credits in the game, but it's a much quicker way to get through the main mission.
Other than that, the graphics of the game are pretty stunning. Las Vegas is already a desert, yes, however they still manage to find a way to make Las Vegas look like even more of a wasteland. The facial expressions aren't nearly as good as they can be (when comparing to games like Half-Life 2) and it's not nearly as big of a hit on you when you first leave the doctors office as it was in Fallout 3 leaving the Vault because you're not on a cliff overlooking the entire wasteland. The new guns seem more up to date and not like a bunch of scrap thrown together, the fire effects are nice but nothing too impressive you now have plasma weapons instead of just laser weapons for energy which are a cool effect and finally the deaths are still outstanding. While you don't dismember people nearly as much as in fallout until you get the bloody perk, you still have a good number of ways to create gore in the game.
My only complaint that doesn't involve glitches is that the game isn't as open to early exploration nearly as much as the last one, you kind of have to follow the main quests for a couple of towns in order to level up or else you're going to die. I don't mean that you might die, I mean that you will. If you leave the first town out the back way you end up heading into dens of the two (debatably) strongest enemies in the game. You end up having to follow the main quest rather than just explore or else you're going to end up dying a lot.
All in all Fallout New Vegas is a great game in itself and after a couple of patches will be just about perfect. I can't wait to see the DLC they end up coming out with this one. The game play is great. The Graphics are just as good as ever. Finally, one thing I forgot to mention before, the game seems much more moddable on the PC than Fallout 3 considering there's numerous user made mods for the game already out. If you're a gamer, I'd definitely pick this one up and try it out.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Psych Season 4
I have to say the show really picked it up this season. There were unexpected twists and turns in the cases where in the first 10 minutes I didn't already have the case figured out myself and yet it still had everything there to solve it! They toned down when Shawn spots something that acts a lead which makes it even less obvious in some cases and the Finale for this one was a continuation of season 3's and I have to say it was impressive and heart wrenching. It may not be as funny as season 1 was, however season 1 was new, there are still laughs in this season but it's a more legitimate mystery series now than it was in the beginning, throwing twists, turns, comedy, drama and even some action into the mix that makes this show what it is. Can't wait to watch all of season 5, hopefully I'll get updated on it before I have to wait for it's release on netflix. Thank you for reading!
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Halo Reach October Update: Part 2
Bungie is coming out with a bunch of updates this month, the last update was pretty good and adding Co-op campaign missions into matchmaking on the 15th also added a great new aspect into the game. However the BIG update is coming on Tuesday with new playlists and changes to both matchmaking and firefight. Here's the list of additions as a preview courtesy of the mods at Bungie.net.
October Playlist Updates: Part Deux
Playlists
Maps
Gametypes
In addition to the Playlist changes, we’re also introducing two new Forge Map Variants with this update, Cliffhanger and Atom. Atom will be on display in the Team Slayer, Team Snipers, Team Objective, Multi Team, and Big Team Battle Playlists. Cliffhanger will be found in Rumble Pit, Team Slayer, Team SWAT, and Team Objective.
That's correct, two new maps, one of which, Atom, is user created. So get out there and start making maps for Bungie to add because I guarantee the more maps made and posted on their forums, the more maps that will be made playable in matchmaking.
That's not all though, there have been massive renovations to firefight and score attack starting on the 19th as well. Those are also listed in the update, so I'm going to throw them in down below.
Score Attack Playlist Updates:
Firefight Playlist Updates:
Thank you Bungie for posting these updates and I can't wait to play the updates which are due to be released on the 19th (this Tuesday). Thank you also for making solo campaign games (games started outside of matchmaking) only allow you to get your commendations up to silver. That's making a huge step against all of the people farming the levels to get credits and boost their way up the ranks. Great job Bungie, keep up the good work.
Also, don't forget, new maps are going to be added at the end of November, check the Bungie website for the update on those.
October Playlist Updates: Part Deux
Playlists
- New Playlist: Team Snipers
- New Playlist: Living Dead
- Rumble Pit
- Lineup rebalanced to offer more kill, less frill.
- Removed Infection, Safe Havens, Race, Rally, Headhunter Pro
- Removed “Classic” gametypes
- Team Slayer
- Removed all Snipers gametypes
- Team SWAT
- Added SWAT Magnums gametype
- Team Objective
- Removed 1 Flag Classic
- Removed Headhunter Pro
- Removed the following gametypes from Hemorrhage due to the size of the map with only 8 players:
- Multiflag Classic
- 1 Flag CTF
- 1 Flag Pro
- 1 Bomb Assault
- Removed Oddball and Hot Potato from Boardwalk
- Multi Team
- Removed SWAT
- Removed Classic gametypes
- Removed The Cage
- Changed weighting for Rocket Race so it does not have a 100% chance to appear in Slot 3
- Big Team Battle
- Removed Multiflag from Boneyard and Spire
- Invasion
- This playlist now offers 3 voting options
- Firefight
- Updated Firefight playlist gametypes to be a full set instead of 1 round. Adjusted skull progression.
- Removed Friendly Fire
- Score Attack
- Removed Crash Site
- Added Mythic Score Attack
- You can no longer pickup other weapons in Sniper Attack
Maps
- Zealot/Arena Zealot
- Arena Zealot is now used for all Slayer gametypes
- Players can no longer stand on the edge of the generators in space and crouch to shoot below the shield
- Asylum
- Softkill zones added to the tops of the Sniper buildings
- Boneyard
- Modified respawn zones for Slayer gametypes
- Hemorrhage
- Modified respawn zones for both bases
- Respawn timers for all Warthogs on Hemorrhage should now be 120 seconds
Gametypes
- CTF
- All CTF gametypes should now have a player respawn of 10 seconds
- All Classic CTF gametypes now feature Flag At Home To Score and Touch Return
- Flag At Home To Score disabled for all non-Classic CTF gametypes
- Modified Flag Return and Flag Reset times:
- 1 Flag on Small maps use 10 second return and 30 second reset
- All other CTF gametypes use 30 second return and 45 second reset
- Assault
- Assault gametypes now have a player respawn time of 10 or 15 seconds depending on the map
In addition to the Playlist changes, we’re also introducing two new Forge Map Variants with this update, Cliffhanger and Atom. Atom will be on display in the Team Slayer, Team Snipers, Team Objective, Multi Team, and Big Team Battle Playlists. Cliffhanger will be found in Rumble Pit, Team Slayer, Team SWAT, and Team Objective.
That's correct, two new maps, one of which, Atom, is user created. So get out there and start making maps for Bungie to add because I guarantee the more maps made and posted on their forums, the more maps that will be made playable in matchmaking.
That's not all though, there have been massive renovations to firefight and score attack starting on the 19th as well. Those are also listed in the update, so I'm going to throw them in down below.
Score Attack Playlist Updates:
- Score Attack:
- Added Glacier map.
- Increased Time Limit to 15 minutes.
- Gruntpocalypse:
- Added Glacier map.
- Increased Time Limit to 15 minutes.
- Sniper Attack:
- Added Glacier map.
- Increased Time Limit to 15 minutes.
- Weapon pickup is now Disabled.
- Increased Melee Modifier to 150% to match Damage Modifier.
- Mythic Score Attack:
- The same set up as Score Attack but with the Mythic Skull on.
Firefight Playlist Updates:
- Firefight:
- Added Glacier map.
- Increased Time Limit to 30 minutes.
- Increased Wave Limit to 1 Set.
- Round 1 has only Tough Luck skull.
- Round 2 has Tough Luck and Catch skulls on.
- Round 3 has Tough Luck, Catch, and Cloud skulls on.
- Friendly Fire is Disabled.
- Betrayal Booting is Disabled.
- Generator Defense:
- Added Glacier map.
- Increased Time Limit to 30 minutes.
- Increased Wave Limit to 1 Set.
- Round 1 has only Tough Luck skull.
- Round 2 has Tough Luck and Catch skulls on.
- Round 3 has Tough Luck, Catch, and Cloud skulls on.
- Friendly Fire is Disabled.
- Betrayal Booting is Disabled.
- Rocketfight:
- Added Glacier map.
- Increased Time Limit to 30 minutes.
- Increased Wave Limit to 1 Set.
- Friendly Fire is Disabled.
- Betrayal Booting is Disabled.
- Sniperfight:
- Added Glacier map.
- Increased Time Limit to 30 minutes.
- Increased Wave Limit to 1 Set.
- Bonus Wave Squad 1 set to Hunters.
- Bonus Wave Squad 2 set to Hunters.
- Bonus Wave Squad 3 set to Hunters.
- Friendly Fire is Disabled.
- Betrayal Booting is Disabled.
Thank you Bungie for posting these updates and I can't wait to play the updates which are due to be released on the 19th (this Tuesday). Thank you also for making solo campaign games (games started outside of matchmaking) only allow you to get your commendations up to silver. That's making a huge step against all of the people farming the levels to get credits and boost their way up the ranks. Great job Bungie, keep up the good work.
Also, don't forget, new maps are going to be added at the end of November, check the Bungie website for the update on those.
Psych Season 3
Just finished the 3rd season of Psych and I have to tell you this review is pretty much the same as my last one. As a matter of fact, you can read my review for Psych season 2 and pretty much have the same thing.
HOWEVER
The last episode of this season was simply epic. There were some funny parts but that's not the important thing. The show took a twist from their normal Halloween based finale and went into a awesome finale. I'm not going to spoil too much for you, but just know this, you have to watch the rest of the season for the final episode to take it's full effect. I can guarantee if you've followed the show from the first season until now and you like Shawn even a little bit you'll find the finale to this season will make you laugh, cry and get really angry and happy all in a single 45 minute show. Simply put, the season wasn't as good as the first season and is very predictable until the last episode where the turns they take put the show back above the second season and gives a promising turn into season 4. Keep watching for that review in the next couple of days.
HOWEVER
The last episode of this season was simply epic. There were some funny parts but that's not the important thing. The show took a twist from their normal Halloween based finale and went into a awesome finale. I'm not going to spoil too much for you, but just know this, you have to watch the rest of the season for the final episode to take it's full effect. I can guarantee if you've followed the show from the first season until now and you like Shawn even a little bit you'll find the finale to this season will make you laugh, cry and get really angry and happy all in a single 45 minute show. Simply put, the season wasn't as good as the first season and is very predictable until the last episode where the turns they take put the show back above the second season and gives a promising turn into season 4. Keep watching for that review in the next couple of days.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Psych Season 2
Just finished the second season of Psych and I have to say, not as good as the first season. While the show still has it's moments and is all together still interesting, I didn't get as many laughs out of the second season. The show is becoming slightly predictable, pointing things out that are clues to the crime but it's still fun to try and decipher how those clues are going to be used in the show. In a couple episodes they throw in a major clue in the beginning and if you remember that after a while you'll find that it helps finish the case and you can finish it even before Shawn, who's name I mispelled in my season 1 post (sorry).
Anyway, while the show isn't quite as funny it's still an interesting show. Can't wait to review season 3. Thanks for reading.
Anyway, while the show isn't quite as funny it's still an interesting show. Can't wait to review season 3. Thanks for reading.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Psych Season 1
A man with the ability to notice things and deducting from them (for lack of a better way of explaining it) turns in a tip about a crime he see's on the news and the cops take notice and bring him in as a suspect to several crimes he's tipped them off for. He lies, tells them he's a psychic, and suddenly is sent spinning into the world of police investigations all the while keeping the ruse of a psychic.
Sounds kinda like Law and Order or something with a twist, however once you watch the show for probably less than a half hour you find that this hilarious series of events are fun, entertaining and provide one of my favorite forms of entertaining, mysteries. The show takes you through Sean and Gus, getting a case and going through and solving it, all the while throwing twists, turns and hilarious events that kept me myself laughing for quite a while in some cases.
I picked this show up randomly from Netflix because of my love of psychics and paranormal stuff to find out that it's exactly not what I thought it was, instead I was tossed into the antics of the two protagonists and loving every minute of it. If you ever see this show, whether you're a Netflix viewer or you find it on T.V. I certainly recommend it to anyone who loves police comedies.
Sounds kinda like Law and Order or something with a twist, however once you watch the show for probably less than a half hour you find that this hilarious series of events are fun, entertaining and provide one of my favorite forms of entertaining, mysteries. The show takes you through Sean and Gus, getting a case and going through and solving it, all the while throwing twists, turns and hilarious events that kept me myself laughing for quite a while in some cases.
I picked this show up randomly from Netflix because of my love of psychics and paranormal stuff to find out that it's exactly not what I thought it was, instead I was tossed into the antics of the two protagonists and loving every minute of it. If you ever see this show, whether you're a Netflix viewer or you find it on T.V. I certainly recommend it to anyone who loves police comedies.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Red Vs. Blue (Seasons 6 and 7)
While not as funny as the original Blood Gulch Chronicles (seasons 1-5) Red Vs. Blue made a comback a while ago using halo 3. Rooster Teeth transferred the show using "new armor" as the upgraded graphics this time instead of the time warp (I liked the time warp better) in the almost latest seasons, I'll review season 8 when I finish watching it, they focused more on advancing the story rather than just having laugh after laugh. Granted there are some hilarious moments in the new seasons but not as much as the first 5.
Turning the show to focus on the freelancers, a new person (they've hinted that it's actually a group) called "The Meta" and the A.I.'s associated with the freelancers, Red Vs. Blue took a turn for a more serious story rather than just a back and forth between the original cast. Adding many new characters and bringing back most of the old ones the new cast are more serious and take on a more intellectual approach (just enough to look down on the original cast's stupidity which make them hilarious in the first place) and end up being the main story while the original cast is there for comedic relief and those hilarious quotes fans have come to know and love.
The new seasons aren't terrible, however I have to say I'm a bit disappointed on the serious twist the show has taken. Although I find the story interesting it's not why I started watching Red vs. Blue all those years ago. All in all it's a good web-show, even if the new story takes away from some of the laughs I enjoyed so much with the original seasons. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed.
Turning the show to focus on the freelancers, a new person (they've hinted that it's actually a group) called "The Meta" and the A.I.'s associated with the freelancers, Red Vs. Blue took a turn for a more serious story rather than just a back and forth between the original cast. Adding many new characters and bringing back most of the old ones the new cast are more serious and take on a more intellectual approach (just enough to look down on the original cast's stupidity which make them hilarious in the first place) and end up being the main story while the original cast is there for comedic relief and those hilarious quotes fans have come to know and love.
The new seasons aren't terrible, however I have to say I'm a bit disappointed on the serious twist the show has taken. Although I find the story interesting it's not why I started watching Red vs. Blue all those years ago. All in all it's a good web-show, even if the new story takes away from some of the laughs I enjoyed so much with the original seasons. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Halo Reach Rank Cap News Update
Bungie announced on their twitter that the rank cap is indeed being lifted and when it is, all the credits that everyone's accrued are going towards their new ranks, they're not ripping us off like I was thinking! I know, short blog entry but still a widely unknown fact as anyone who looks on their forums can see.
Paranormal State
I love watching Paranormal shows, and it's not because I believe, I'm definently the first one to point out how some "unexplained" occurance can be explained, basically I'm a skeptic. However, if you look at any of these shows from the right standpoint, which is generally a stance in which you believe or desperately want to believe (I'm the latter) then Paranormal State can be quite entertaining. While the narrorator and his "log" can be pretty obnoxious and some of the special effects and added noises take away from the show (as they do in any paranormal show) this one has some pretty good episodes that will actually keep you on the edge of your seat hoping that they make it through the investigation.
Now, for the bad part. The good shows only come every once in a while, but mostly they're boring. Generally they find a small haunting, they research the history of the place, say some prayers, here a noise and then the shows over. As a matter of fact, a majority of the shows are exactly that, however if you come across one of the shows that's a special (a 45 minute show as opposed to 25 minutes) they're usually pretty good.
All in all, while the show can be annoying, too short or just boring at some times, at least give the specials a chance. And if you're interested in paranormal research, they throw some facts, experiments, psychics (in about every episode) and some theories into the show that are pretty interesting and can usually be backed up in a book or online.
Now, for the bad part. The good shows only come every once in a while, but mostly they're boring. Generally they find a small haunting, they research the history of the place, say some prayers, here a noise and then the shows over. As a matter of fact, a majority of the shows are exactly that, however if you come across one of the shows that's a special (a 45 minute show as opposed to 25 minutes) they're usually pretty good.
All in all, while the show can be annoying, too short or just boring at some times, at least give the specials a chance. And if you're interested in paranormal research, they throw some facts, experiments, psychics (in about every episode) and some theories into the show that are pretty interesting and can usually be backed up in a book or online.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Dr. Horrible's Sing along blog
Okay, at first, I didn't realize this was a real movie, I thought it was another one of Felicia Day's web movies, like The Guild, but when I saw it on Netflix, I figured I had to watch it, I mean, come on, Felicia Day and Neil Patrick Harris! Anyway, I just watched it for the second time and I have to still say, awesome movie. It doesn't seem like they had a huge budget, however they still managed to pull off a good musical with the true essence of what a good movie is, Comedy and Drama (The happy face and sad face you see associated with Shakespeare)
Anyway, Doctor Horrible is played by Neil Patrick Harris and he's trying to get into the league of evil (which is ran by a horse *chuckles*) however he's in love with a girl. Through a series of events the girl (Felecia Day) falls for the Doctors nemesis. It's a short movie and I don't want to give too much away but it's definitely a good movie, especially if anyone likes anything with either of these two actors in it, or if you're one for modern comedic musicals.
Anyway, Doctor Horrible is played by Neil Patrick Harris and he's trying to get into the league of evil (which is ran by a horse *chuckles*) however he's in love with a girl. Through a series of events the girl (Felecia Day) falls for the Doctors nemesis. It's a short movie and I don't want to give too much away but it's definitely a good movie, especially if anyone likes anything with either of these two actors in it, or if you're one for modern comedic musicals.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Halo Reach october update
Here's the list of the updates (now live) for the first of many October updates.
PLAYLISTS
Rumble Pit
* Added Crazy King
* Added Juggernaut
* Removed Oddball on Asylum
Team Slayer
* Removed SWAT
* Removed Classic
* Weights adjusted based on voting data
Team SWAT (New!)
* Based on existing Team Slayer SWAT offering
* Removed Hemorrhage
* Replaced Zealot with Arena Zealot map variant
Team Objective
* Added Crazy King
* Added several gametypes on Powerhouse (CTF, Assault, Stockpile, Crazy King, 3 Plots)
* Removed heavy vehicles from all 4v4 Team Objective gametypes
Multi Team
* Added Rocket Race
Big Team Battle
* Added Crazy King
* Removed SWAT
* Removed Snipers from Boneyard
* Weights adjusted based on voting data
Doubles Arena
* Removed Slayer Pro for Season 2
* Removed Boardwalk
* Replaced Zealot with Arena Zealot map variant
Team Arena
* Removed Slayer Pro for Season 2
* Replaced Zealot with Arena Zealot map variant
MAPS
Arena Zealot (New!)
* Added a softkill zone to the space area
* Modified initial spawns so enemies cannot see each other
Zealot
* Objects can no longer be dropped into the boot_base
Asylum
* Removed multiple duplicate Headhunter score zones
Boneyard
* Changed the base object for territories from a hill marker to a flag stand
* Objects can no longer come to rest on the out of bounds cliff behind the scaffolding where the Invasion core is captured
* Players can no longer sit in the out of bounds area under the ship scaffolding
Pinnacle
* Health Packs should not respawn after 15 seconds
Hemorrhage
* Landmine removed from Red team's west cliff
* Respawn time for all Mongoose vehicles is now 45 seconds
* Scorpions replaced with Wraiths (4 minute respawn)
Paradiso
* Respawn timer for Concussion Rifle at Red base is now 30 seconds to match Concussion Rifle at Blue base
Reflection
* Changed the base object for territories from a hill marker to a flag stand
Boardwalk
* Changed the base object for territories from a hill marker to a flag stand
Powerhouse
* Respawn timer for all Needler weapons is now 45 seconds
GAMETYPES
Global Changes
* Slayer DMR now has motion tracker enabled
* Evade has replaced Hologram for all gametypes in which players can hold objects (CTF, Assault, Stockpile, Oddball)
* Evade has replaced Dropshield for gametypes which create concentrated gameplay in specific areas (Crazy King, Territories, Oddball)
* All Classic gametypes should now include Sprint as default equipment
King of the Hill
* Teams are now always able to correctly score points
* Players standing in the hill no longer receive extra points upon returning from a host migration
Rocket Race
* Players now attached to vehicles after being on foot for 10 seconds
* Flipped vehicles will be detected to prevent players from attaching to a non-upright vehicle
* Added functionality for tracking and reporting rotations
* Fountain of Mongeese should no longer be possible (don't ask)
* Players are no longer able to jack another teams Mongoose
* Players are no longer forced into a specific role of driver or gunner
* All players start with a Rocket Launcher
* Players move at 50% speed, do significantly reduced damage and are marked with a nav icon
* Players on foot are now able to score points in Rocket Race
Juggernaut
* The Juggernaut no longer sees other players as allies upon returning from a host migration
* New clients after a host migration will no longer lose their Juggernaut status
Territories
* All teams now have separate capture timers for each territory
* Locked territories will no longer prevent players from using equipment
* The flag in the territory is now attached if the territory is a flag stand object
* Added a HUD_Widget to display contested status to players inside a territory
* The progress bar for a territory will now show as full when that territory is being contested (capture progress is saved and will appear again once the territory is no longer contested)
* Random flag clothes will no longer disappear after a round transition
Oddball
* Bombs in Hot Potato now properly report carry time
* Multiple hot potato bombs will no longer spawn in the same location
* The carry time reported stat will now always be correct after a host migration has occurred
* Players carrying the oddball during a host migration will no longer receive extra points
Stockpile
* All stockpile flags are now attached to their spawn location if it is a flag stand
Invasion
* The game score is now set per frame tick based off of the current phase
* A failsafe game end timer has been added to catch any possible bad cases of Invasion games not ending properly
Invasion: Boneyard
* The core will now reset whenever it is thrown through a shield door into a spawning location in Phase 3
Invasion (Assault) and Assault
* Added sudden death to Invasion (Assault) and Assault gametypes
Race
* Players who die before the first checkpoint will no longer spawn in a random location on the map
I think these updates are great, everyone is pushing for getting a snipers playlist so we'll see in the following months which direction Bungie takes the game. For right now, enjoy your new games, new gametypes and any variation they've made to the maps (hurry for Zealot arena!)
PLAYLISTS
Rumble Pit
* Added Crazy King
* Added Juggernaut
* Removed Oddball on Asylum
Team Slayer
* Removed SWAT
* Removed Classic
* Weights adjusted based on voting data
Team SWAT (New!)
* Based on existing Team Slayer SWAT offering
* Removed Hemorrhage
* Replaced Zealot with Arena Zealot map variant
Team Objective
* Added Crazy King
* Added several gametypes on Powerhouse (CTF, Assault, Stockpile, Crazy King, 3 Plots)
* Removed heavy vehicles from all 4v4 Team Objective gametypes
Multi Team
* Added Rocket Race
Big Team Battle
* Added Crazy King
* Removed SWAT
* Removed Snipers from Boneyard
* Weights adjusted based on voting data
Doubles Arena
* Removed Slayer Pro for Season 2
* Removed Boardwalk
* Replaced Zealot with Arena Zealot map variant
Team Arena
* Removed Slayer Pro for Season 2
* Replaced Zealot with Arena Zealot map variant
MAPS
Arena Zealot (New!)
* Added a softkill zone to the space area
* Modified initial spawns so enemies cannot see each other
Zealot
* Objects can no longer be dropped into the boot_base
Asylum
* Removed multiple duplicate Headhunter score zones
Boneyard
* Changed the base object for territories from a hill marker to a flag stand
* Objects can no longer come to rest on the out of bounds cliff behind the scaffolding where the Invasion core is captured
* Players can no longer sit in the out of bounds area under the ship scaffolding
Pinnacle
* Health Packs should not respawn after 15 seconds
Hemorrhage
* Landmine removed from Red team's west cliff
* Respawn time for all Mongoose vehicles is now 45 seconds
* Scorpions replaced with Wraiths (4 minute respawn)
Paradiso
* Respawn timer for Concussion Rifle at Red base is now 30 seconds to match Concussion Rifle at Blue base
Reflection
* Changed the base object for territories from a hill marker to a flag stand
Boardwalk
* Changed the base object for territories from a hill marker to a flag stand
Powerhouse
* Respawn timer for all Needler weapons is now 45 seconds
GAMETYPES
Global Changes
* Slayer DMR now has motion tracker enabled
* Evade has replaced Hologram for all gametypes in which players can hold objects (CTF, Assault, Stockpile, Oddball)
* Evade has replaced Dropshield for gametypes which create concentrated gameplay in specific areas (Crazy King, Territories, Oddball)
* All Classic gametypes should now include Sprint as default equipment
King of the Hill
* Teams are now always able to correctly score points
* Players standing in the hill no longer receive extra points upon returning from a host migration
Rocket Race
* Players now attached to vehicles after being on foot for 10 seconds
* Flipped vehicles will be detected to prevent players from attaching to a non-upright vehicle
* Added functionality for tracking and reporting rotations
* Fountain of Mongeese should no longer be possible (don't ask)
* Players are no longer able to jack another teams Mongoose
* Players are no longer forced into a specific role of driver or gunner
* All players start with a Rocket Launcher
* Players move at 50% speed, do significantly reduced damage and are marked with a nav icon
* Players on foot are now able to score points in Rocket Race
Juggernaut
* The Juggernaut no longer sees other players as allies upon returning from a host migration
* New clients after a host migration will no longer lose their Juggernaut status
Territories
* All teams now have separate capture timers for each territory
* Locked territories will no longer prevent players from using equipment
* The flag in the territory is now attached if the territory is a flag stand object
* Added a HUD_Widget to display contested status to players inside a territory
* The progress bar for a territory will now show as full when that territory is being contested (capture progress is saved and will appear again once the territory is no longer contested)
* Random flag clothes will no longer disappear after a round transition
Oddball
* Bombs in Hot Potato now properly report carry time
* Multiple hot potato bombs will no longer spawn in the same location
* The carry time reported stat will now always be correct after a host migration has occurred
* Players carrying the oddball during a host migration will no longer receive extra points
Stockpile
* All stockpile flags are now attached to their spawn location if it is a flag stand
Invasion
* The game score is now set per frame tick based off of the current phase
* A failsafe game end timer has been added to catch any possible bad cases of Invasion games not ending properly
Invasion: Boneyard
* The core will now reset whenever it is thrown through a shield door into a spawning location in Phase 3
Invasion (Assault) and Assault
* Added sudden death to Invasion (Assault) and Assault gametypes
Race
* Players who die before the first checkpoint will no longer spawn in a random location on the map
I think these updates are great, everyone is pushing for getting a snipers playlist so we'll see in the following months which direction Bungie takes the game. For right now, enjoy your new games, new gametypes and any variation they've made to the maps (hurry for Zealot arena!)
Blog update
Thanks to everyone who's taken the time to even visit my blog and especially to those of you who've come in and read my articles. I'd really appreciate comments and such on my writing and possibly some advice, suggestions, or requests on other games/movies/tv shows to review. Thanks again for visiting!
Monday, October 4, 2010
Civilizations V
So, I was getting a bit bored with Halo: Reach and figured I'd pick up a new game and I've always liked Civilizations so I picked up the newest one. It's actually pretty cool. I'm going to have to compare it to the other civ games or else this post is going to be massive. :)
The graphics are improved immensely to start and I like the new battle system, it focuses less on building an army that could literally take up every space on the map and move on being able to use the army you have to take out cities. Two armies can no longer occupy the same space, which is more realistic (in terms of physics) and it's easier to keep track of what you're up against in terms of defense or offense.
Cities now defend themselves and gives you a fighting chance against those overly agressive people who like to come in and take over everything before you even have a couple troops to defend yourself with. There are new buildings, new leaders and the addition of City-States that are basically midway between barbarians and NPC players (they're there, but they're small and you can have diplomacy between them).
Other than that, it's basically the same as other civ games, you start in the ancient (BC) era and you work on building a civilization by improving your technology, your diplomacy, building cities, gaining territory and finding a way to defeat the enemies which can be done diplomatically, militarily, by being the first person to launch a space shuttle into space, by having the highest score (Most territory and such) by the end of the match (which can consist anywhere from 200 rounds to over 1000 rounds and ends in the year 2050) or by having the most culture (so much that other civilizations want to join yours)
The graphics are improved immensely to start and I like the new battle system, it focuses less on building an army that could literally take up every space on the map and move on being able to use the army you have to take out cities. Two armies can no longer occupy the same space, which is more realistic (in terms of physics) and it's easier to keep track of what you're up against in terms of defense or offense.
Cities now defend themselves and gives you a fighting chance against those overly agressive people who like to come in and take over everything before you even have a couple troops to defend yourself with. There are new buildings, new leaders and the addition of City-States that are basically midway between barbarians and NPC players (they're there, but they're small and you can have diplomacy between them).
Other than that, it's basically the same as other civ games, you start in the ancient (BC) era and you work on building a civilization by improving your technology, your diplomacy, building cities, gaining territory and finding a way to defeat the enemies which can be done diplomatically, militarily, by being the first person to launch a space shuttle into space, by having the highest score (Most territory and such) by the end of the match (which can consist anywhere from 200 rounds to over 1000 rounds and ends in the year 2050) or by having the most culture (so much that other civilizations want to join yours)
Family Guy Season 9 Opening
Now, I love Family Guy, it's got several different types of humor (some I admittedly don't get) and they always find a new way to tick off censors and insult people looking to shoot down any freedom of speech that might offend other people. The new season doesn't seem to be too different, throwing Clue into their first episode didn't offend anyone I'm sure (and they killed off 2 characters in one episode!) but their second episode I'm sure offended a couple of republicans. All in all, I think the second episode was WAY too political and I didn't find it humorous at all. Politics are thrown into my face every day by news adds online, on T.V. and in newspapers, even the Rolling Stones just threw an issue out with Obama on the front, come on people, you're a music magazine.
Anyway, if you don't watch family guy, give it a couple of tries, if you like political humor, season 9 episode 2 is a good episode to try out, and if not, try season 9 episode 1. If you like mysteries (a la Scooby Doo and Clue) then you'll find the first episode of the season to be pretty amusing.
Anyway, if you don't watch family guy, give it a couple of tries, if you like political humor, season 9 episode 2 is a good episode to try out, and if not, try season 9 episode 1. If you like mysteries (a la Scooby Doo and Clue) then you'll find the first episode of the season to be pretty amusing.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Halocharts
Speaking of Halo: Reach, I found a pretty cool site for tracking your progress. Right now it's not as updated as Bungie's site, however soon they'll have rankings and they already have a leaderboard up for people signed into their site. I prefer it myself over Bungie.net, although they don't have the heatmaps or the ability to find every single stat for one game, but they do have a pretty cool community and even their own mini game based off of the halo universe called Halosphere. Check it out some time.
Halo: Reach
Okay, I figured that the thing taking up most of my time right now should certainly be the first post in my blog and I have to say, it certainly deserves a good review.
Halo: Reach is the prequel to Halo. Of course with their new technology and such, bungie has thrown in a couple of things that don't add up, such as the Brutes and the fact that there's more spartans and better technology than in the first game, but then again, so did Star Wars. The story is great, it's fun to play, it's dramatic and there's even a couple of parts that may make the soft of heart cry a bit. I won't give away any spoilers, however the gameplay itself is almost flawless. Of course, it's a new game and like most new games this day and age, there are glitches that are soon to be fixed.
Moving onto the multiplayer aspect, Halo has been the top multiplayer game on the xbox since the original game was released only being taken over late in any of the games lives by Call of duty and Gears of war. Once again while there are some kinks to work out, and arguments that the rankings system in Halo 3 was better, I still find the credits system to be a good way to give me a goal to play towards. The biggest mistake Bungie has made are some of the glitches in the game that makes it easy to get credits and now, 3 weeks after release, everyone is at the max rank (for the time being) and there's really no point in actually playing towards max rank because everyone is using these glitches to get their credits.
The game play itself is, in my personal opinion better than any halo yet. The Armor abilities make for a massive new and innovative way to play. You can fly around with a jet pack, become temporarily invincible (And immobile) with the armor lock, or turn invisible and have a radar jammer with the cloak. There are a couple more but I won't give everything away. The new guns add a different gameplay element as well some of them causing you to be a bit more accurate in situations and some of them, such as the needler and plasma pistol, helping your accuracy by adding a little dot to where you should be aiming to hit your target if they keep moving in that direction.
Firefight mode is greatly improved as well, adding matchmaking to the mix so you don't need to recruit your friends to play, which can suck if they're never on. You can play custom firefights where you make up the mix of enemies and how powerful or weak they are and there's also score attack which is a solo mode that allows you to go into certain games (such as an all grunt game) and kill everything by yourself.
Finally the new forgeworld and forge editing are great, you can do so much I can't even begin to explain all of the intricacies. They of course could have added more to it and in the future they probably will (A la Halo 3), but for right now, you can add in your own hand made bases, natural rocks and such, your own weapons and you have a massive world to do it in. I thought it looked small at first, however walking around in it you realize that there is so much room. You can even hover objects in the air now, so you have that extra dimension to build in.
All in all Bungie did a superb job with Reach and there are very few things I personally can complain about in the game that I'm sure they can't fix. I'm sure they'll fix a lot of the bugs in the upcoming patch (2 more days from the time I post this!) and I'm even sure they'll add a load of options, armor and game types.
Thanks for reading!
Halo: Reach is the prequel to Halo. Of course with their new technology and such, bungie has thrown in a couple of things that don't add up, such as the Brutes and the fact that there's more spartans and better technology than in the first game, but then again, so did Star Wars. The story is great, it's fun to play, it's dramatic and there's even a couple of parts that may make the soft of heart cry a bit. I won't give away any spoilers, however the gameplay itself is almost flawless. Of course, it's a new game and like most new games this day and age, there are glitches that are soon to be fixed.
Moving onto the multiplayer aspect, Halo has been the top multiplayer game on the xbox since the original game was released only being taken over late in any of the games lives by Call of duty and Gears of war. Once again while there are some kinks to work out, and arguments that the rankings system in Halo 3 was better, I still find the credits system to be a good way to give me a goal to play towards. The biggest mistake Bungie has made are some of the glitches in the game that makes it easy to get credits and now, 3 weeks after release, everyone is at the max rank (for the time being) and there's really no point in actually playing towards max rank because everyone is using these glitches to get their credits.
The game play itself is, in my personal opinion better than any halo yet. The Armor abilities make for a massive new and innovative way to play. You can fly around with a jet pack, become temporarily invincible (And immobile) with the armor lock, or turn invisible and have a radar jammer with the cloak. There are a couple more but I won't give everything away. The new guns add a different gameplay element as well some of them causing you to be a bit more accurate in situations and some of them, such as the needler and plasma pistol, helping your accuracy by adding a little dot to where you should be aiming to hit your target if they keep moving in that direction.
Firefight mode is greatly improved as well, adding matchmaking to the mix so you don't need to recruit your friends to play, which can suck if they're never on. You can play custom firefights where you make up the mix of enemies and how powerful or weak they are and there's also score attack which is a solo mode that allows you to go into certain games (such as an all grunt game) and kill everything by yourself.
Finally the new forgeworld and forge editing are great, you can do so much I can't even begin to explain all of the intricacies. They of course could have added more to it and in the future they probably will (A la Halo 3), but for right now, you can add in your own hand made bases, natural rocks and such, your own weapons and you have a massive world to do it in. I thought it looked small at first, however walking around in it you realize that there is so much room. You can even hover objects in the air now, so you have that extra dimension to build in.
All in all Bungie did a superb job with Reach and there are very few things I personally can complain about in the game that I'm sure they can't fix. I'm sure they'll fix a lot of the bugs in the upcoming patch (2 more days from the time I post this!) and I'm even sure they'll add a load of options, armor and game types.
Thanks for reading!
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