Stronger Than Moustachio

LA Noire Review

2011-06-18T03:36:00.000-07:00

After several headaches later I had to upload my video review onto Vimeo, since no other video content site would sync my audio correctly. It's still like maybe a half second off but it's not horrible so watch my review and let me know what you think! :)

LA Noire Review from Strong Moustachio on Vimeo.

Gaming Goons Podcast

2011-05-13T13:27:00.001-07:00

Hey guys!

Don't forget to check me out this week on the latest gaming goons podcast (glee edition). haha.
Oh, I'll be posting an actual entry this weekend, so keep an eye out for that! xoxo.

http://www.thegameraccess.com/shows/gaming-goons/

Portal 2 Video Review

2011-05-01T12:53:00.001-07:00

Omgz Im Back! Gears 3 Beta

2011-04-25T12:12:00.000-07:00

Ok ok ok. I've been gone for FOREVER and a day but I've been busy! Going out of country, moving, getting a new job, working on big girl things, actually trying to have a life somewhat. Haha but I'm back! Huzzah! And here to write some more junk to make you all irritated! Ready, so here goes!

Am I the only one who is slightly disappointed with this beta access? I wish it had more maps and more multi-player modes. To begin, playing a versus type multi-player mode in third person is just god awful. Maybe I've been spoiled by FPS, but I really dislike it. It just seems slow, it doesn't "flow" well, and it's harder to aim/see the characters you are suppose to be shooting at. Especially when you have a billion fanboys playing the beta, it's like I barely get a chance to spot them before I'm a bloody pulp. That's another thing that bothers me about the beta, is the amount of WHINING the players do on it. About winning, about losing, about "stealing" kills, c'mon guys, what is this, Halo? I'm just going to be blunt and say that I think I'll give the multiplayer a pass when I get Gears 3 and just stick to the campaign. For me, the story is all I really care about anyway. If I wanna play versus I'll just stick in L4D. :P

/end rant

Zeit Squared : If Doctor Who Played Video Games....

2011-01-26T09:22:00.000-08:00

Here the ghost enemies are stealing health while the player is shooting ahead.

A few weeks ago Microsoft released a new XBOX Live arcade game by Brightside Games called Zeit Squared; a time traveling shoot ‘em-up that uses your tactics and decision making skills to advance the game. For 800 Microsoft Points, or $10 on Steam, you get a crafty arcade game that comes complete with 6 unique game modes, time traveling, boss fights, and the traditional side-scrolling screen that we’ve all come to love (and at times hate.)

The object of the game is to shoot the glowing enemies before they pass you, or they will steal some of your health as they pass by. There are enemies that do not take your health away as they pass but do provide extra bonuses like health and extra time traveling time. The player uses the time travel to go back or forward in time to kill enemies they may have missed as the side scroll moves or to shoot enemies that are “ghosts” and only appear in time travel mode. Sounds confusing right? It can be at first but once you complete a few rounds you become addicted to the time travel and use it frequently.

n fact, the time travel is a huge part of the gameplay; it allows players to set the pace of the game and use their skills to be one step ahead or in some cases behind the enemies’ tactics. In addition, the time traveling displays your previous path traveled, or shadow, in which you can use to your advantage and set a shock wave against approaching enemies, wiping them out. There is another slight catch to Zeit Squared’s shoot ‘em up personality, every time you fire it takes a bit of your health away. This prevents button mashing and shooting blindly into the night. You do gain health when you kill an enemy but you definitely become aware of your firing usage when your health is at 5%.

Zeit Squared is suited for any gamer of any skill level. The different game modes provide a challenge for those hardcore gamers that seek one and downright addicting fun for those that play for leisure. I enjoyed playing mostly for leisure as I couldn’t get too far into the game because my tactics and skills were apparently not creative enough to advance into the game. Despite my progress, I would recommend the game to anyone seeking a shoot ‘em up game with a twist. It makes you use your mind and plan ahead, something that is under used in games today.

Yet another Jurassic Park game...

2011-01-20T16:07:00.000-08:00

That's right, yet another Jurassic Park game attempt. Haha the first thought that popped into my mind was that a lot of the kids who play games today weren't even alive when the first Jurassic Park was released into theatres. I remember seeing it in a drive-in theatre as a kid. now we're going way back. :P Telltale Games is set to release their newest adaption of a Jurassic Park game set for release on PC/MAC sometime this spring. Question is will it be worth playing and will it live up to fans of the film? I ask this because the track record for games based off of films isn't to great, with most of them being complete garbage, previous Jurassic Park games included.

Pipe bomb out! haha.

Instead of just shooting dinosaurs and running a muck ( if you want that, play Jurassic The Hunted, an awesome dinosaur game) Telltale Games wants the player to be emersed in the character development and story of the game, much like the plot of a film. This Jurassic Park game is meant to be a direct sequel to the first film, although no dashing Jeff Goldblum will be present to provide his ever so snide commentary. Darn. The continuation of the story of the first Jurassic Park film will bring in many a player who has ever watched Jurassic Park and is looking for answers to questions unanswered. Telltale games also is hinting at the introduction of another dinosaur to join the crew of the velicoraptor and T-Rex, a "nocturnal creature" if you will. I don't know I feel about that, I like my classic dinosaurs. I'm sure this game will probably get trashed in reviews when it is released but I still want to give it a go because dinosaurs are awesome, Jurassic Park is awesome, and playing a silly stupid game once and awhile is awesome. Games can't always be so mind blowing and amazing, that gets boring real quick. For example, most of the shooter games being released are basically a modified version of all other games out. You've played one shooter, you've played 'em all. But that's a different blog topic... haha. Yes. DINOSAURS=RAWRRR.

Best Games of 2010

2011-01-07T14:46:00.000-08:00

So maybe this post is a bit late, however, I've been busting my arse off working two jobs. Now that the Christmas retail hell is over I can get back into what I love doing, rambling about silly gaming stuff! Below are my picks for the best games of 2010, im not going to bunch things into categories or anything like that because in all honesty no one really cares. haha.

My first pick for the year would have to be Mass Effect 2. The storyline and the multitudes of outcomes that this game provides is just mind boggling and is what really stays with me when picking my favorite games of 2010. While some people despise having to read all that text in the video games, I quite enjoy it. It's a nice balance of gameplay and fantasy where you can let your character be however badass or angelic as you'd like. I tend to feel like video games today concentrate more on the gore and violence than what actually happens in the game itself. I'm not totally against the mindless blood, gore, and violence (which is why I play "plotless" games like Left 4 Dead) but it's nice to have a game to cosey up to once and awhile, just like a good book.

The most engaging game of 2010 in my best of list.

Second on my list would be Red Dead Redemption. Classic Western Revenge plot meets Grand Theft Auto. The gameplay of this game is fantastic, sure it involves riding your horse everywhere but I quite enjoy that. It provides a nice downtime to the gunslinging criminals of the West. The mix of animal hunting, people roping, criminal slaying, horse breaking, and people watching make this game entertaining for hours. When you get bored of being the good guy you can go ape shit and go on a killing spree while evading the sherriffs and hostile townspeople. Good times. Another thing that makes Red Dead Redemption so entertaining is the ability for multi-player and the awesome DLC packs that come with the game. Well worth any investment into the game in my opinion. Plus, who doesn't love western zombies?

Next up on the best of list would be Halo Reach. I know what you're thinking "How can a game where I get harassed by little kids be a great game?!" I'll tell you why, douchbag players aside, Halo Reach really is a great game. The campaign is fun although not really long but the variety of games you can play in Multiplayer is so large that I find it hard to ever get bored playing Reach. Sick of being sniped all the time in SWAT? Go play Invasion. Tired of losing your territories? Go play FireFight. Bored with defending the same spot for minutes on end? Go the the blood baths of Big Team Battle. On top of the multiplayer, the ablility to create your own worlds in Forge and being able to share in game content such as movies, pictures, worlds and all that fun Halo stuff! I'm not even that big of a Halo fan, but this game has got me addicted. Oh and the soundtrack to it is simply amazing, I find myself humming the Reach menu screen music constantly.

Halo Reach wins my multiplayer heart.

The Passing DLC for Left 4 Dead 2 also makes my best of 2010 list because Valve attempted (and is still doing so) to interact with their Left 4 Dead Community by creating new game mods for Left 4 Dead 2 and encouraging fans in participating in their gaming with polls and creative contests. The Passing map itself is alright, nothing to new to the typical Left 4 Dead gameplay there. However, the way Valve is pushing the boundaries with new content every week or so not only allows for the game to have great replayability but also pushes the envelope to other developers in creating new ways to keep their gamers playing their games!

I can't really think of any games in 2010 that really wowed me other than the above mentioned. I could throw out some honorable mentions to Limbo, Doritos Crash Course, and Plants vs. Zombies. Great arcade games that should be given a chance if you haven't played them already, but not notable enough to make my best of list.

I also thought about doing a worst of 2010 list but decided against such negativity in my blog. Trying to start 2011 out right! haha.

I would welcome any thoughts on the games that you thought were the best this year!

xoxo

Oh yeah and if you haven't noticed I try to do the Gaming Goons podcast everyweek or so. You all should tune in! It's a good laugh!

I hate water balloons: Review of Free Xbox Arcade Games Doritios Crash Course and Harm's Way

2010-12-10T19:18:00.000-08:00

Wow. It's been forever since I have posted an entry. Sorry about that! Been busy with birthday stuff in Las Vegas and working two jobs, so I barely have a moment to breathe! Anyway, this entry is going to be about the Doritos Crash Course and Harm's Way Xbox Live Arcade games (for free!!) My favorite of the two would probably be Crash Course, so I'll start with that. Crash Course is like a game of Wipeout and Ninja Warrior. You run your xbox live avatar through obstacles and try to get the best time. The courses can be pretty challenging and sometimes just downright frustrating! You can "chicken out" if you cannot get past an obstacle, however your time trial will end, which will basically make that course run useless. One thing I absolutely cannot stand are those darn water balloons! They knock you off the track and slow you down. So annoying!

An avatar smashing into the TV screen after being thrown off course

I do like the animations where you fall, "fly" into the tv screen, and just all around mess up. Makes for a good laugh. The most contributing factor to this game being such a success is the ability to play multi player and race against your other xbox live friends. This will make you constantly strive to beat their times and top your own best time. For being a free arcade game, this is where it's at!

Harm's Way Carnage

Harm's Way isn't that bad of a game either! It's like Mario Kart meets Borderlands. You can choose to be a turret operator or drive a vehicle. If you are a driver you basically drive your vehicle around the track (which looks like the wastelands of Borderlands) and try to knock your opponent behind with the special attacks you can pick up along the race track ( like Mario Kart). If you choose to be a turret operator, you're objective is just to shoot the drivers. Still fun, but less involved in my opinion. This game has amazing graphics and solid game play for being a free xbox live arcade download. However, this game just seems familiar, nothing new about a Mario Kart/Blur type racing game.

Both games are pretty solid and really entertaining and for the cost of NOTHING, I highly recommend you go and download these Arcade games asap!

Fallout New Vegas / Red Dead Redemption Undead Nightmare review

2010-11-04T16:57:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Check out my new video blog where I go into further detail on New Vegas and talk about the Red Dead Redemption DLC Undead Nightmare. :D God are the video thumbnails YouTube picks are bad or what? Yikes! haha

The Game Creators Winners!

2010-11-04T10:24:00.000-07:00

Hey there ladies and gents, James from The Game Creators , asked me to do a blog on the contests winners for their site who developed gaming apps for Netbooks! And since I'm all about the gaming community and creating your own content, I of course obliged. Anywho, the winner for the best overall game was Carlos Wilkes who created a game called Astrodude, where you drive a car around an asteroid with precision and patience, but also speed, without dying.

Astrodude Game Play!

I also encourage everyone to check out the other winners because these people can be the future game developers of tomorrow! It's a lot of impressive work that deserves acknowledgement! Check out all the winners here : http://www.thegamecreators.com/intelcompo/winners.php

Let's support our other gamers ya'll!! :) And Congrats to the winners!

Guest spot on Gaming Goons Podcast

2010-10-27T18:48:00.000-07:00

In lieu of a text blog you can listen to me cuss and make an ass of my self on Gaming Goons podcast this week. You can catch it right here : http://www.thegameraccess.com/shows/gaming-goons/gaming-goons-episode-29-dont-say-we-didnt-warn-you .

However, come Halloween I'll have a ghoulish episode for ya'll! :D Have a fantastic Halloweens!

Fallout New Vegas Review : The First Hours

2010-10-19T17:39:00.000-07:00

**Contains some spoilers, so don't read if you don't wanna know!**

So far, I like this game. I wish I was playing more of it now, but since my xbox is at the hospital (xbox repair center) I cannot. :( However, I did get to play New Vegas at my sister's place for a few hours so I could write about it! I bought the Collector's Edition, which seems to be worth it. It comes in a nice box complete with graphic novel, playing cards, chips, the platinum chip, and making of DVD. I also purchased the game guide with the game but have yet to open it. :P

Anyway, the beginning is kind of funny with the questions that the Doctor asks you, the inkblots are cool and one of them looks like a female reproductive part (which ironically can be an option in the dialogue in regards to that!) After you get out of the normal character set up options you can do a tutorial with a lady named Sunny Smiles and her doggie. It's optional but I think worth it since you can gain some bottlecaps. One of the quests that seems easy but took me way to long because I couldn't see anything, was gathering the xander root and broc flower to make the healing powder. I could find the broc flower in the cemetary ok, but I could not, for the life of me find the root. It's actually to left of the big tree stump near the door of the schoolhouse that faces the robot's, Victor, shack(house). Speaking of Victor, that robot is just creepy! One of my favorite creatures of the Wasteland are the Gecko's, which to me look like a type of Pokemon. I think they adorable but can be deadly in packs. They are fast fuckers!


Gecko, I choose you!

There's a part of the game where you come across the Caesar's Legion in Nipton, who look seem very similar to werewolves.( I don't think they ARE werewolves, they just remind me of them). I think it's funny since there are vampires in Fallout 3. Can I smell Twilight? Maybe it's a joke, maybe im just looking into things too much. It's still comical to me regardless.

But all things can't be great. The game is having some major problems, such as lagging while you are walking and having your pip-boy and VATS over-sized on the screen to the point where you can't see what you are doing. However, it is the release day of the game, I would expect some sort of patch to come out within the next week or so to solve these problems. I also don't like the health items that improve your HP for only a few seconds. It seems pointless to even use them when you are getting hammered by enemies. I don't think it's worth even using the space in your limited amount of space that you can carry. Another thing that's kind of a nuisance more than anything is the limited amount of saves you can do yourself. You are limited to only 100 saves, but can get around this by going through doors a lot, waiting an hour, or using a bed. It's still kinda a pain in the ass though.

But bad things aside, I really like this game. The graphics have improved a lot since Fallout 3 and the game play is so far pretty dang fun. I can't wait to get my freakin xbox back so I can play more! It's such a tease! Ahhh!

Being a girl gamer/techie nerd in a male dominated industry.

2010-10-16T08:05:00.000-07:00

Yours truly concentrating hard. :P

Alright, this is a topic that I've been wanting to write about this for awhile but never have. I've always been proud of being a girl gamer, nerd, tech geek, and all around goofy lady but I feel like women don't receive the respect they should in those worlds. If a girl is into things that mostly boys are into, such as video games, they are seen as women who cannot be girly and attractive. I think the stereotype is a fat, overweight girl playing games. (While that stereotype is in the male gamer world as well). I read an article a few weeks ago that was talking about how games can be sexist towards women. While I partly agreed with it, I'm not offended by the use of women in games. Sure, most of the time they are busty, excessively thin female characters, but I guess games do have to "target" their main audience(boys). The only thing I wish that was more present in games would be lead female characters that aren't so slutty looking. I think that's why I lean towards games like Mass Effect and Fallout, where you can make your own female protagonists.

Anyway, as I was saying, girls don't get respect. As soon as you are playing a multiplayer game and the male players figure out that you are girl they treat you in a totally different way. Some people act nicer, some get more vulgar, while some have animosity towards you. Heaven forbid if you are better than a male player, that really seems to grind their gears. hehe. It's not just in video games where I have experienced a negative attitude, I have also experienced a sort of sexism in my professional life. It seems as if companies don't take you as seriously in a creative field like programming or video editing. I know most companies claim to be equal opportunity but I can't help but feeling their is a bit of prejudice every time I interview with one. It's as if being a semi attractive women, I am unable to be a geek or "one of the guys." It's always a struggle of trying to prove myself to men. Rawr.

But enough of that, I am proud of being a girl and being pretty damn nerdy. Yes, I love video games, movies, comics, programming, gadgets, guts, blood, gore, etc. I love meeting people who like the same things, most of the time they are men. However, I love talking nerdy things with other girls but I find them few and far between. In the end I guess I want to say to all of you girl gamers out there, we need to make ourselves more known and kick more ass than those boys! The Spice Girls said it best : Girl Power!

End of my rant. :D

Valve can suck a big one. Sacrifice = Craprifice

2010-10-06T07:20:00.000-07:00

Alright, I'm a big Left 4 Dead fan so I was somewhat excited to get a new DLC to play. Well if I could even get through any of the levels without the game glitching out. So Valve says they will release The Sacrifice on October 5th for both PC/MAC/360. The PC and MAC kids get their DLC in the morning and I have no clue if 360 owners got it that night. I was able to download it the next morning. Ok, so Valve is a little late on releasing it through the 360 ( or Microsoft is) either way that's still kinda bogus. So with a good nights sleep and a less fuming attitude I go ahead and purchase the DLC this morning. However the campaign is SO GLITCHY you can't even finish the campaign. I've tried it on different servers, by myself, etc. NOTHING. You fall through parts of ground/ramp/whatever that are suppose to be there, so I cant even walk across this bridge to get to the next part of the level. Oh! And when you release the "tank" from out of the train, a hunter comes out but is really the tank and fucks you up. It's really really awful.

If the game isn't completely ready then why release it? Everyone is use to Valve delaying everything. I'd rather wait a few weeks instead of purchasing the DLC for 560 fucking points and not being able to play it because its so fucking glitchy. If you haven't gotten the DLC I would wait because it's just a waste of points until they fix the glitches in the game, and believe me there are a lot of them. It's a shame really because the gameplay and plot looks really awesome(as far as I can tell with how far I managed to get into the campaign). This whole disaster ruined my experience. :( Sad Panda.

***EDIT***

Right now I'm playing on a local server instead of official dedicated and that seems to be doing the trick to the glitches. Hopefully it will work through the entire game. :)

***EDIT EDIT*** 10.12.2010
Alright, so everything works now. Yay! It must have been the typical "I'm not going to work" crap that new products get sometimes. Overall, the ending was pretty stellar. I liked how by the end the tanks would mess everyone up to the point where it is sort of a race to sacrificing yourself (or your teammate doing so) before the rest of your team dies and you have to restart. hehe. thumbs up Valve. Sorry for the bashing, but sometimes you make me oh so angry. :D

Playstation Move = my arm hurts.

2010-10-02T13:19:00.000-07:00

Oh man! I'm going to blog about something that isn't microsoft/ xbox 360 related. So shut up to all the readers/haters who say I am a fan boy errrr girl. Hehe anyway, the other day I was in Best Buy and decided to try out the Playstation 3 Move Demo they had set up in the store. The only game I could demo was a table tennis sport game as part of a larger Playstation Sport Game (kinda like, oh, i dunno, the Wii). When I first grabbed the controller I felt like an 85 year old woman who didn't know how to work the technology. The PlayStation 3 menu screen was a bitch to navigate with the move controllers, it took me a few minutes of experimenting with all the buttons to figure out how to move to the gaming icon. Turns out you have to hold the bottom trigger while moving the controller. I'm special, I know. :)

So when I finally got to the game menu and selected the table tennis the game gives you a calibration screen before you begin. For starters, you are asked to be like the picture in the frame of the box. (Which you can see yourself through the camera). To me it seems like you need A LOT of room to play these games, just based on the distance I was from the television. The calibration took a few times to get right, but eventually I got to play. I must say that these controllers are more sensitive and accurate than the Wii controllers and a bit easier to handle as well. However, the Move just seems like a glorified version of the Wii. It's the same sort of games, motions, etc. And my arm still hurts just the same. The only thing in my opinion that sets the Move apart from the Wii is the camera and the fact the controllers look like a vibrator. haha. All in all though, I still think you can have fun with it.

Halo Reach MultiPlayer = crazy madness

2010-09-21T06:55:00.000-07:00

Photo Op in Forge Mode. Endless fun!

Wow, I have been so emersed in my xbox I haven't written an entry in awhile because I love the Halo Reach multiplayer. I love it. Even though I might not be the greatest at it, as I am sure some of you can verify. haha. Anyway, I am just going to touch base on a few things since there are so many options for the multiplayer, which always keeps things interesting. To begin, my most favorite mode of multi-player is Firefight. It's nice to play Reach without punk ass kids sniping me every time I re-spawn. Plus I love the special weapons you get during Firefight to fuck some shit up. haha. Team Slayer is always a classic, but like I mentioned you always get paired up with the shittiest players; campers, snipers, people who do nothing but throw grenades. It's like playing Modern Warfare 2! haha.

I think one of my favorite modes is Invasion, it's like capture the flag but seems to be more entertaining and doesn't end so fast. (Every time I play CTF, the game finishes within like two minutes, my team is just too good. haha) I could go on and on writing about all the options to different game modes, I guess you'll just have to buy the game to really experience them all, as I'm sure most of you own Reach already.

A new thing to Reach are the daily and weekly challenges. This reminds me of the L4D2 mutations, where it keeps the player motivated to continuing playing the game for weeks after the game is released. I quite like these challenges but am unable to ever complete them all, daily or weekly. I guess I'm not a big enough fanboy of Halo. Which I'm not, I just think it's fun to play, I'm not all serious like most kids who play.

Now for the bad. I really wish that there was an option to "take a break" or pause the game while you are in multiplayer matchmaking. While, I can't see a way to do this without stopping the entire game for everyone, or constantly being killed, not to mention an option like that would probably lag out the server even more than they occur currently. I just think it would be awesome, maybe like, you just dont spawn till you get back. I don't know. When I have to pee in the middle of matchmaking firefight, it's so bad! I'm missing all the fun and get blow up 351325 times. Also, I wish there was more variety of maps in the matchmaking voting. I know they are there but you tend to get the same choices for maps; Boneyard, Spire, Corvette, bla bla bla. The list goes on. Maybe a good DLC would be more map options for matchmaking. I'd like that! Alright, I'm done blabbing now. :)

There's A Zombie On My Lawn: Plants vs. Zombies

2010-09-09T06:06:00.000-07:00

This game is so addicting! At first I was a little skeptical because I have played some pretty bad "zombie" games. (Mostly on the slot machine...hahaha). However, this game is hard to take your eyes off of, the level of concentration needed is pretty high since the object is to keep zombies off your property while you are constantly trying to plan the zombies next move. You do this by planting different that plants that either shoot the zombies, blow them up, give you sunlight(to grow more plants), among loads of other things. The interface of the game is quite simple but I enjoy the singularity of the game. I have yet to download the entire game since it does cost 1200 microsoft points, however once I get a little extra money I shall play more than just the demo! You get your money's worth with all the different gameplay types, you can choose to do Adventure, Mini-Games, Puzzle, Survival, and Zen Garden. The zombie killing possibilities are endless!! Plus I love the characters, they are just too cute! Who thought a zombie game could be cute?! Below is an example of how the gameplay is in adventure mode. Zombies come from the right, you plant your garden warriors anywhere on the grass (or in the pool in higher levels). I would definitely recommended downloading the trial game, if not the real game, to get your daily dose of zombie fun! In adorable form! :)

I wish I could swim in a pool with a bucket on my head...

Halo Reach Reaches Everywhere!

2010-08-27T07:58:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I know Bungie and Microsoft are on crunch time with their marketing for Halo Reach but man do I see things for it everywhere. I can expect it to be whored out on xbox, that's normal. However, even when I watch TV or search for something ridiculous on youtube a Halo Reach advertisement seems to be popping up everywhere. To me it seems like it's a tad bit on the overkill side. Anyone who is an avid Halo gamer or even just a casual gamer knows about Halo Reach and has probably pre-ordered it if they want the game on it's release date. To me releasing all these trailers does nothing for a new consumer, they would have no idea what the fuck the trailer would even be about. Sure it's awesome to see the trailers as a Halo fan but it still doesn't do anything for me. It seems like Bungie is releasing a trailer every other day! I feel bad for their video producer. haha. I'll end my little rant with my favorite Halo Reach trailer. In case you haven't seen any. (Which I highly doubt!)

My Scott Pilgrim created avatar

2010-08-18T21:07:00.000-07:00

haha this really has nothing to do with gaming but my avatar looks like me, is cute, and is left 4 dead like. ( i did that on purpose.) yay for fun internetz!

yay video game cuteness!

My Crysis 2 Geek Out

2010-08-18T20:51:00.000-07:00

So after watching a many of the Crysis 2 demo's from the various gaming conventions this summer, I am officially brain washed into wanting this game. First off, I love the landscapes and the background development of this game. Crisp graphics and dynamite sceneries to look at and develop a story out of. Plus the similarities between this game in New York Future and New York Present is pretty damn awesome. Anyone who's ever been to Grand Central in NYC and has seen the demo of the gameplay inside Grand Central knows what I'm talking about.

How does this NOT look amazing?!?!

Anywho, the game takes place in what Crytek likes to call a "choreographed sandbox" where the gamer gets to make their own open action decisions in the game while still being d guided by scripted cut scenes that drive the plot and gameplay along.(Not to mention make the game more interesting!). In this first person shooter you rely heavily on your gun selection and "Nano Suit", which allows you to become somewhat of a super marine with invisibility and increased armor protection. After all, these are the marine's of the future United States of America. :P The popular feature of 3D will also be compatible with Crysis 2. I have yet to see what this looks like, but Crytek describes it as a "concave" 3D experience, where instead of things popping out at you (like when you see a 3d movie for instance), the gamer is sucked into the game. For example, bullet shells that fly past your head in a realistic way. I am interested to see how the 3D turns out and definitely want to try this game in that mode. Another option with Crysis 2 is multiplayer, from what I have seen of the demos of the multiplayer so far it looks alright. To me the campaign looks more exciting. The multiplayer looks very similar in style to BattleField Company 2. So if you're into that, it might be cool for you. Anyway, I've been babbling forever. I can't wait for when this game comes out, I don't think I'll be disappointed and if I am you'll be the first ones to know! haha. :)

Hot Pursuit @ Gamescom

2010-08-17T15:43:00.000-07:00

Alright, I vaguely touched upon Need For Speed : Hot Pursuit during the E3 conference, but I thought Id give this game another shot for Gamescom.

The new trailer shows more of the gameplay that we've all come to love about the recent Need For Speed games. Sexy cars, high tech police vehicles, open roads, and fun obstacles. Plus, I can always get down with some online multi-player! What makes this game a little more unique is Criterion's own social networking type service called Autolog, which provides status updates and photos from in and outside the game. Need for Speed Hot Pursuit seems like it won't disappoint based on the trailer alone, it looks like a game where you can have fun for hours! Just be careful when driving on the real roads! haha.

Video Blog Alan Wake

2010-08-06T21:00:00.000-07:00

I want to Limbo.

2010-08-05T05:46:00.000-07:00

So the Bethesda Softworks interview was really awesome! I find out next week if I'm the luckiest bastard on the earth and get the job. Im only up against two other people so I have a pretty good chance! Anywho, none of you care about that. I was going to write a blog on Alan Wake this week but I need to play a little more of it to determine a solid opinion on it. So it's Limbo. I want to play Limbo, like with the stick. haha. That aside I think this game is really solid albeit a little to expen$ive for the length of the game. However, the 1200 microsoft points shouldn't lead you astray.

It's refreshing to play a game where you don't just mindlessly shoot anything that pops up in front of you or are confronted with billions of text and cut scenes you have to read. Limbo is simple. Simply beautiful. I absolutely am in love with this classic eerie feeling. The game consists of situations where you have to put your problem solving skills to the test. Try things out, die, try something else out, die again, and maybe if you're lucky you'll figure out the obstacles. Some are fairly simple and others can be a bit tricky. Having to use your brain in a video game and really strategize? Gasp. Unheard of. haha. Limbo's simplicity and problem solving scenarios are what really make this game great in my opinion. I wish this was a longer game so I could be entertained for days and days. Who knows, maybe we'll be blessed with another game like Limbo from Playdead in the future! :)

Thirsty Thursday Gaming Edition!

2010-07-29T12:36:00.000-07:00

So Thursday is here, which means tomorrow is Friday, and then its the weekend! woo hoo! Why not a get a head start by starting your weekend off with some awesome cocktails! What makes these so awesome you may ask? These cocktails are video game themed! Below are two of my favorites, all drinks courtesy of http://www.thedrunkenmoogle.com/. Moosey on over there and find some gaming themed cocktails of your own!

This one looks so delicious. Delicious apocalypse....

Fat Man (Fallout 3 Cocktail)
Ingredients:
3/4 shot Spiced Rum 
1/4 shot Cinnamon Whiskey 
1 shot Vanilla Vodka
6 shots Dr. Pepper

Directions: Pour the Dr. Pepper in a highball glass and mix in the shot of vanilla vodka. Pour the spiced rum and cinnamon whiskey into a shot glass. Make sure bystanders are out of blast radius and deploy the fat man (er, drop the shot into the highball glass). Consume and make sure to find some Rad Away, quick!

The Fat Man, mini-nuke. For when you just don’t have the time.
(Drink created and photographed by The Drunken Moogle)

And of course I cant go without putting a L4D cocktail up and I <3 Makers Mark!

The Flaming Hunter (Left 4 Dead Mixed Drink)

Ingredients:
50ml Maker’s Mark Whiskey 
10ml Cherry Heering 
10ml Contra 
A dash of Angostura

Directions: Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker and shake well. Pour into a small glass and add one or two cherries to sit at the bottom.
Drink created by OXM UK.

L4D2 Mutation Reviews

2010-07-20T06:21:00.000-07:00

So now that we have a fair amount of weeks under our belt with the new mutations in Left 4 Dead 2, it's time I give my opinion on the quality (or lack of) of the mutations and their replay ability. And besides, I missed writing about Left 4 Dead. Anyways, my first criticism is that most of these mutations lose their luster after about 2 plays. You either get frustrated and quit, or it's just plain boring. To me the only mutations so far that have been worth playing a few times over have been Bleed Out, for it's pure difficulty and Versus Survival because it's really fun to play as both sides. And now that I think about it, I really enjoyed Four Swordsmen as well, the game play was difficult but it beat out how fun it was to run through a level with no zombies other than special infected. Except killing the tanks were a bitch and the boomers were useless/annoying as they inflicted no damage other than an annoyance and blurred vision.

Chainsaw Massacre was strangely disappointing; the game play was glitchy (the chainsaw's ran out of gas midway through the campaign and I had no weapons!!) and it just wasn't that fun. The Last Gnome on Earth was just a repeat of the achievement in the campaign modes. Follow the Liter was somewhat decent, the spawning of the gas cans kept you going, but again I was just bored with the campaign mode like feel, in other words, nothing special. Room for One had amazing potential but failed miserably. Instead of being the first one into the safe-room, I imagined it would have been like everyone makes it to the safe room but then you have to kill each other to see who remains as the last player in the safe-room. Boom Headshot I couldn't stand, because let's face it, I suck at head shots. haha. The current mutation Hard Eight is really, really, difficult. I haven't decided if I like yet or not. The duplicate spawning makes for the game to be sort of predictable however.

But to Left 4 Dead 2 and Valve's credit it's not just the mutations that I am disappointed with, it's the players! I don't know if I just have extremely bad luck or what, but every time I do a quick match on xbox live I get paired with the WORST players, which makes playing the new mutations even more unmotivating and boring. I always seem to get the 12 year old boys who scream into the mic's and boss people around as my partners in the end of the world. Or the silent folk who either go idle all the time or just stand around and do nothing. Please god someone decent play with me. :) That's an invitation for you to invite me to your games. :)

I think for the next blog I'm going to write about Alan Wake and it's nightmare inducing game play.

Zombieeeee Red Dead Redemption DLC

2010-07-09T08:01:00.000-07:00

Ok ok ok. So I know what you're thinking, "why does this girl keep writing about Red Dead Redemption?!?!" But I just couldn't pass up writing up a little post on this DLC, sorry guys. First off, ZOMBIES in the Wild Wild West?!?! Hell yes. I have such a love for zombies. Now for the details: Along with a few other DLC's this pack is titled the "Undead Nightmere Pack" (out Fall 2010) where ghost towns and cemeteries come to life. spooky. Apparently there are new additional animals added to the pack as well. Zombie coyotes? Haha we'll see. Not too much detail on this yet but it seems really awesome. Although, if I may throw out one criticism here, it seems like EVERY game nowadays is throwing out a Zombie DLC in addition to their games. I think it's kinda starting to get played out. Left 4 Dead should have a DLC where the zombies are people and the main characters are zombies. That'd be neat. Anywho, I'm rambling. In all credit to Rockstar though they are releasing other DLC's for RDR in addition to the Undead Nightmere Pack, with the titles of : Legends and Killers Pack(new map locations, characters, etc), Free Roam Pack (title states the obvious), and the Liars and Cheats Pack (new multiplayer mini games, competitive modes, etc). So at least we'll be having some good 'ol western fun for awhile now. Yeee hawwwwbrainzzzzz.

Red Dead Redemption Co-Op

2010-07-02T06:07:00.000-07:00

Yikes! Been busy working a lame job while looking for a real job I can be passionate about and totally forgot to update the blog! I suck, I know, but luckily I enjoy blogging about video games so I always have content to write about! Anywho, so the past few days I have been playing the Red Dead Redemption Co-Op with my growing Scottish posse (haha) and man is it hard! Maybe we all suck at playing the game, but the Co-Op seems vastly more difficult than the free roam or campaign modes. The trick is you actually have to stay together, kinda like L4D or you'll be shot and killed with no one around to revive you. Another thing that works well is to take your time while advancing on the enemy. You can't really pull a Rambo and run into the fire like in some games, otherwise you surely will be shot as will your teammates who come to revive you, and before you know it you are starting the mission over. But despite it's difficulty I find it really fun. Who doesn't like a challenge? I just wish Red Dead Redemption would come out with a co-op campaign option to make riding through the wild west a little less lonely.

My 3 month late blog on the Mass Effect 2 ending/game

2010-06-22T13:01:00.000-07:00

Oh Garrus. You know I love you and love cuddling with you. You are the most humorus love connection on the Normandy 2. Oh yes. Sorry, but you know that this game cracks me up!!

Alright, now that my affection for Garrus is known I can go onto blabbing about what I love about Mass Effect 2. I FINALLY finished this game a few days ago. What a bitchin' (not epic! hehe) ending! I don't want to give too much away for fear of turning off blog readers who haven't completed the game yet, but damn! So awesome. I lost two squad members though, Tali and Miranda. :( . I lost Tali because I made a bad squad leader choice and I lost Miranda because I lost her loyalty when her and Jack were fighting and couldn't get it back. Boo! I'm going to try and re-do the ending part and keeping all of my squad, infact, I think I'm going to play this game all over but try to do it as either an all paragon or all renegade. I haven't decided which yet.

Anywho, this game is so much more fun than Mass Effect. I think that the plot and dialogue is significantly better, the gameplay and action scenes are way better, and lets face it, the romances are just too great to pass up. I think the romances and the dialogue that comes with it are some of my favorite parts in the game. At first I had a hard time choosing who to pursue, I just want to spread myself all over the place. I mean, I am the commander I should be able to eff anyone and as many characters as I want! But unfortuneately for me you have to be monogomous and I chose the ever charming and hilarious Garrus to be mine. I was bored and looked up the other romance options for the female shepard on youtube and glad I chose Garrus. He is the most fun. Although that annoying Kelly girl will get with anyone male or female, assuming she doesn't die, and like dance all dirty for you apparently. Gross.

So enough about the romancin', I really like all of the upgrades, biotics, and weapons that you can get with this game. If you do your combo's right you can take out a lot of enemies in a really awesome fashion and before you know it the game is over. With the ending and the lead in to what will obviously be Mass Effect 3, I am really excited to see how all my ingame decisions in ME2 (especially the one at the end) will effect the gameplay and outcomes of Mass Effect 3. I read that there are over a 1,000 different things taken into consideration from the choices you made in ME2 for the gameplay in Mass Effect 3. BITCHIN'. All and all I am in love with this series and don't want it to end with Mass Effect 3, hopefully it will have like offshoot games like Halo. Keep it up BioWare! <3

E3 Nintendo and Sony Conferences Reviews

2010-06-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

yay! 3am half drunk video blogs! that's how much I love you guys. hehe.

Ubisoft Disaster at E3. WTF list of disastrous ideas: Shaun White Skateboarding, Battletag, and Innergy

2010-06-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

Man, what sort of hippies work at Ubisoft? Hippies with bad ideas even?! Even the host of the Ubisoft presentation wasn't enthused and was totally sarcastic and skeptical during the entire show. What a disaster.

Well, I'll start off with the things that were decent about this conference, Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. This game looks pretty great, the graphics are really on point and the gameplay seems super fun, filled with all sorts of combo's and moves. I have never played any of the Assassin's Creed series, but my interests are definitely peaked as a result of the showcase. Ghost Recon was pretty awesome too, well what I could see of the demo, Ubisoft spent half the time showing the damn xbox controller. Yes Ubi, I know what an xbox controller looks like, I do play games afterall. At any rate, I don't know about the invisibility thing. Seems like most of your time is spent trying to sneak around enemies without them noticing. Maybe this is just me being an American, but I wanna run into a place and fuck shit up with the enemy very aware. haha.

Ok, now the fun part. WTF Ubisoft? 85% of your showcase were awful ideas that won't take off with any sort of demographic. "Games You Can Feel?" Oh, I felt it alright, felt the pain of having to watch this awful presentation.

First on my WTF list is Shaun White's Skateboarding. Uhhhh aren't you a snowboarder? Don't you have a snowboarding game? Oh that's right, no one cares about snowboarding and no one cares about this stupid skateboarding game either. The skateboarding game market has been sucked dry from the Tony Hawk and Skate series, among god knows what other awful b-rate skating games are out there. Oh sure! You can create your own rails and tricks on nothing, in mid-air, without falling off! What's the point of skating a map then? Might as well have a blank screen and create from there, I don't want to make my own rails, that's the point left to the game developers. Lazy fucks. Also, the fact you don't fall off while making the rails makes it really unappealing. All I can say about this game is that it's dull and can be thrown in the skating game pile from 10 years ago. This is game is in fact 10 years too late.

Next of my WTF list is Battletag. Hahah I don't even know where to start. Hmm, how about with the presentation of the game? It was a totally scripted but unscripted entry. It was meant to look spontaneous and cool, but it just turned out being really awkward and totally lame. By the end of the laser tag game the presenter was so out of breath, he couldn't even talk about the game. Why would I want a video game in the real world, especially laser tag, which is already in the real world? STUPID. If I wanted to play laser tag, I would just go play laser tag. Also, I can just imagine all the kids playing this outside with their toy guns and having the police called on them by a concerned naive neighbor. Stupid idea Ubisoft. So stupid.

Last on the WTF list (although there are plenty more I could bitch about) is Innergy. Hahaha a yoga game? Really? Pretty sure when you are doing yoga you aren't suppose to focus on annoying video games. I need to do drugs just to understand what the hippie with the red hair was even talking about. Follow the cute bubble? Good god. Isn't Innergy a "fitness" beverage? How about we start making games for those who actually like playing video games? Not for mothers who buy a $300 console to play one stupid game. I'm sick of all this fitness crap. Go away.

Phew I'm done with my rant about how awful this is. Final Verdict:

Highlights of EA at E3: Dead Space 2 and Crysis 2.

2010-06-14T15:49:00.000-07:00

Man has it been the year(s) of sequels or what!??! I just got done with viewing the EA show at E3 and so far, the only thing that really excited me was Dead Space 2 and Crysis 2. Although Need For Speed Hot Pursuit looked fun, but I'm not totally pumped on it like DS2 and Crysis 2.

Ok, so Dead Space 2 was amazing. We still have creepy aliens, even creepy little alien babies. I love punching babies. ;). A new feature, which I'm beginning to love in games, are those slow motion kills. Where you can see whoever is being killed really get fucked up. hahaha. Isaac's armor is also updated, giving it a more edgy but desolate futuristic look. The new game takes place in a city and not on a ship, it kinda gives me that Bioshock sort of feeling. And last but not least, the ENORMOUS monster alien thingy at the end of the preview at E3 looked so amazing, not to mention creepy. Out 01/25/2011

Then we have Crysis 2. Wow. Just wow. Takes place in an evacuated NYC and is complete with those badass weapons we loved in Crysis. What I'm really excited about is the gameplay in New York City. The demo they previewed at E3 looked like Grand Central Station so much (since I am a former new yorker and all) and there is nothing cooler than blowing up things in places that are real and places you have visited! haha. What also makes this game awesome is the 3D aspect across all platforms. I wish I could've seen the preview for the 3D but I'm sure it's going to be amazing. It's the only game being released this holiday season with 3D on all platforms. Definitely going to pick that up in 3D. Out in December 2010. YAY!

Kinect! New XBox Gaming Interface!

2010-06-14T05:43:00.000-07:00

Xbox is finally modifying their xbox 360 interface after several years. The new Kinect for Xbox is a slim black device that is a motion tracking, picture taking, video streaming device that will enhance the xbox experience.
While it looks pretty awesome to interact with, I think the problem with this new system will be the sort of games you'll be able to play. It will be much like the wii, where its really awesome for like one or two games then it gets sort of repetitive and boring. I hope Xbox can prove me otherwise. Here's a video that shows the enveiling last night!

Red Dead Redemption Review RDRR!! get it? hardy har har?

2010-06-01T15:30:00.000-07:00

haha. ok ok. so i'm a dork, it's true. But this game is BADASS. It's definitely like grand theft auto but in the wild wild west. I'm going to start with the bad then runaround to the good. yeeehawww! So, first thing's first. I really want to fuck whores! haha. it's sad i know. Why does Marston have to be a "family man". It's obvious Bonnie wants to fuck him and so do all the skanky prostitutes. He he. Another thing that annoys me about the game are some of the missions and quests you have to do. Like herding cows, what a pain in the ass. But some of the good things, one achievement where you lasso and kidnap a female and lay her on the train tracks, then BLAMO she gets run over by a train and you get a whole 5 gamer points! Ye olde villain style.(Achievement named Dastardly) Another thing I like about this game is the online multiplayer feature. When you die in a gang fight or mission you don't have to start over, you just spawn. I dig that. I do wish this game offered co-op campaign gaming though, it would make riding through the desert for 10 minutes much more bearable. Anyway, I give this game a super thumbs up, like most other people. Just watch out for the cougars.

Yay! I'm back! XBOX 360 Wireless Adapter

2010-05-23T11:50:00.000-07:00

Oh poor little bloggy how i have neglected you during my move. Well I'm all moved away from the east coast and now settled in in the great Midwest. Anywho, my topic is going to be on the new xbox 360 wireless adapter! Yay!

First off, how did I ever live without one of these things!?! An ethernet cable works fine, yes, but you only have so many ethernet ports in the house/apartment/dwelling so that's a little annoying. I like the wireless capability of putting my xbox in any open tv in the house but I'm not thrilled with the pricetag. I find the $100 new retail price a bit steep. I got this adapter used for 50 bucks, so not too shabby! The new xbox wireless adapter like the one pictured above, is open to more wireless networks, so it's wireless potential is even faster, better, and more compatible with any network. Overall, I'd say the wireless adapter is a great buy, but not essential in one's xbox gaming experience.

I'm so busy!

2010-05-12T19:22:00.000-07:00

Ah!! I've been so caught in up graduating college and getting ready to move halfway across the country that I didn't come up with anything to write about this week. However, I will share with you my most favorite L4D2 parody video on youtube! enjoy!

Fallout : New Vegas

2010-05-03T18:14:00.000-07:00

With the obvious success of Fallout 3, new contender, Obisdian Entertainment, is planning for the newest of the Fallout series, Fallout: New Vegas to be released in Fall 2010. I for one am pretty excited for this game, granted I never game even CLOSE to finishing Fallout 3, I still enjoyed the gameplay and plot of the game, except when I died. haha. Fallout: New Vegas involves the same sort of engine and style that was present in Fallout 3.

Fallout: New Vegas takes place 3 years after Fallout 3 and 39 years after Fallout 2, however the plot in Fallout: New Vegas will have nothing to do with that of Fallout 3, but try to incorporate Fallout 1 and 2 into the story.

The story begins with your character being shot and left for dead (haha l4d!) on the perimeter of New Vegas, Nevada. A robot digs you out of a shallow grave and you are nursed back to health by doctor Mitchell. Just like Fallout 3, you have to take a "test" or "psych profile" administered by Dr. Mitchell to determine what sort of character you shall be during the game. What answers you choose in the profile determine the type of weapons you are efficient with, the dialogue in the game, behaviors, etc. The development of reputations and karma is more specific in New Vegas. If you have a positive reputation with a faction, you may be more likely to recieve a quest than if you had a negative reputation and vice versa.

In any case, Fallout: New Vegas, seems to be a hit before it will even hit the shelves in the fall despite Bethesda having no part in creating this part of the Fallout Series. I know it will be on my pre-order list later this summer. Can't Wait!

PS- Why do all these futuristic desolate robots look alike? The robot in New Vegas looks like the robots in Borderlands. uhhhh. let's be original. come on guys.

L4D2 Mutations List!

2010-04-26T20:17:00.001-07:00

Courtesy of 30ninjas.com

Bleedout – In this game mode you are given only temporary health, which reduces at a speed much faster than normal. No health kits will drop, however, pills will spawn very frequently. The game will also increase the amount of random panic events in an attempt to catch you off guard.

Chainsaw Massacre – Also known as Chainsaws. No weapons will spawn. Players will be given chainsaws with infinite gas to use for the entire campaign.

Last Gnome on Earth – Also known as Guard the Gnome. Gnome Chompsky will spawn at the beginning of the campaign and must be carried to the end of the campaign to win. Zombies will only attack the player carrying the Gnome.

VIP Target – Like Last Gnome on Earth except in versus mode.

Follow the Liter – Also known as Linear Scavenge. This game mode plays like normal scavenge mode, however only one gas tank will spawn at a time forcing the survivors to pick them up in a specific order.

Versus Survival – A competitive survival mode. Players take turns controlling survivors and special infected in survival mode. The winner is the team that lasts longer as the survivors.

Gib Fest – Also known as M60s and Rambo. Each player spawns with an M60 and a Magnum with infinite ammo. No weapons will spawn.

Hard Eight – In this mode, eight special infected may spawn at once in an attempt to kill you, as opposed to four.

Max Specials – This mode plays like survival mode except there is no cap on the number of special infected that may attack you forcing you to deal with many at once.

First Man Out – If one survivor dies, the entire campaign is lost.

Room for One – There is only room for one survivor in the rescue vehicle at the climax. Players will have to fight each other to be the last survivor standing while still helping each other enough to get to the rescue vehicle.

Healthpackalypse! – This is versus mode except no health items will spawn.

Iron Man – Also known as Hardcore. You won’t be able to respawn or restart once you die in this mode. Once you are dead you are dead and you have to restart the whole campaign.

The Four Swordsmen – No weapons will drop, each player will be given a katana, and only special infected will spawn.

Boom Headshot! – Only headshots will kill zombies, but each zombie goes down in one hit. Special infected also need to be killed with headshots.

Ultra Realism – Realism mode but even harder. Death is permanent for the entire campaign. Basically Realism and Iron Man mode combined.

Last Man on Earth – This is a mutation of single player mode. You will play through the campaigns alone without any assistance from computer controlled characters. Only special infected spawn, and reaching incap means death.

The Last Samurai – Another mutation of single player mode. You will play through the campaigns alone armed with only a katana, facing wave after wave of normal zombies

Realism Scavenge – Scavenge mode with realism modifications. Stronger infected. Survivors don’t get outlines.

Versus Co-Op – It’s the plain old multiplayer campaign mode, but in reverse! Four A.I. bots take control of the survivors, and it’s up to you to stop them as the infected.

Madness – Also known as SPARTAAAA! Just kidding. In this mode no special infected will spawn, however normal infected will spawn much more frequently, will move faster, and will deal increased damage. In addition, there will also be an increase in the rate of random panic events.

I cannot wait to play these. The chainsaw one seems like one of the best ones, although all of them seem fun as hell! Thoughts?!

The Passing L4D2 DLC finally out!

2010-04-22T10:53:00.000-07:00

******CONTAINS SPOILERS*******

Yeah. I deserve a kickline, after having to wait an extra MONTH for this DLC to come out! Anyway, was it worth the wait? I don't know. The gameplay is pretty much the same, there is one new melee ( a golf club) and one new weapon (M60). It's the same kill the zombies and get raped by Chargers gameplay that we all have experienced in the original L4D2 campaigns. It's kind of fun having the "original survivors" be embedded into the plot of the DLC but I really wanted to play as the L4D1 characters in The Passing. So I was disappointed. And my sister and I so called that Bill would be one of the original survivors to be killed off. Knew it! You can find his body at the end of The Passing campaign. What makes this download worth my 560 Microsoft Points is the mutations trials they have going on. Mutations are tweaks and changes to the game rules that can be applied to any game mode. Each of the Mutations lasts for a week and is replaced by a new mutation. Apparently there are 20 Mutations so that will keep Left 4 Dead 2 alive and kicking and add some well needed spice to the game after playing the same 5 (or I guess 6 now) new campaigns. I also think it's really awesome that they have a L4D2 blog and that the user can vote on the new Mutations so the most popular Mutations of the game will be cycled into normal gameplay/interface on the menu. And these weekly Mutations will also give me something to write about. hehe. Anyway, in a nutshell the L4D2 game add-on is alright, but I wanted more! Maybe I'll see it in the next Mutations. In the meantime must eat more brrrraaaaainnnnnzzzz.

oh and PS!: I bought a new xbox just in time for this DLC. hehe. I couldn't miss it!

Red Ring of Suck.

2010-04-20T20:17:00.001-07:00

lolz I look so tired and haggard. college does that to you.

yes yes yes!

2010-04-17T09:02:00.000-07:00

I stole that meal car in Saints Row 2 that I've been dying for and I pimped it out. Not much of a blog but really awesome that I got it. hehe.

Win a 1600 Microsoft Points Card!! LYke Omgz!

2010-04-12T18:58:00.000-07:00

I like gaming and I am a creative person. I figure there has to be more people like me right? So I'm running a contest where the best, most creative person who sends me a little something on why they dig gaming gets a FREE Microsoft Points Card for 1600 Microsoft points. It can be anything from a poem to a video to a drawing, or whatever you can conjure up. No rules except the deadline is May 3rd! Click Here to email me your submissions! Yay!

Oh yeah, I'll post the winning entry on my blog. So others can see your masterpiece! :)

Saints Row 2

2010-04-11T19:48:00.000-07:00

Why is this game so awesome and how come I haven't played it sooner?! It's like Grand Theft Auto but way less lame and seriously hilarious. I wanted to steal a vehicle that was a hot dog meal (like fries, a hot dog, and a drink on wheels) but my friend couldn't stop it. I love how my character looks and my belt is quite priceless might I add. hahaha. Hmmm. Playing this game an hour feels like 5 minutes and before you know it, it's 3 in the morning! haha. Later in the game you can have hoes and stuff. It's like my dream life. Tattoos, weapons, fast cars, dumb bitches, and lots of gore. Ok, ok, maybe not my DREAM life but it's pretty damn sweet. Perhaps THUG life is a better term. Anywho, I'm going to post another picture of my sweet sweet felon <3

Hipster Felon? xoxo

video killed the gamer star?

2010-04-07T14:58:00.001-07:00

Alright all you videogame lovers, I'm going to make an awesome video for ya'll. Any suggestions as to what you want to see? I'm open to all suggestions and rule at making videos.(Not to toot my horn or anything). Comment back for idea's and I may choose yours to make. You know you wanna! xoxo.

I always like to savor the last drop before popping the heat sink

2010-03-31T17:30:00.000-07:00

Ohh, I'm so close to finishing Mass Effect 2 and I must say I may be in love with this game. The dialogue and story line of the game is just so phenomenal. I think my favorite aspect of the game is pursuing the romance subplots. I have decided to go after that awesome turian, Garrus. His dialogue makes me actually laugh out loud and he's just a sweetie-pie compared to the other romance options for the female Shepard. Below is a series of clips from the romance dialogues from mass effect 2 just so ya'll can see how funny these writers really are. **WARNING** could be a spoiler if you haven't played the game and want to experience everything anew!

oh and my Shepard character is wayyyyyy hotter than the one in that video. ;)

More News on The Passing, a possible Survior to be killed off!!

2010-03-23T07:38:00.000-07:00

As I was playing Borderlands with my sister yesterday, she informed that in the new DLC for Left 4 Dead 2, a survior character was to be killed off. She speculates that it will be Bill from the first of the L4D series since the voice actor for Bill was apparently being difficult during the production of Left 4 Dead (If you notice in the Crash Course DLC from the first Left 4 Dead, Bill hardly has any dialogue). Why I kind of like the idea of a survior turning zombie, I really hope it's someone like Louis. We all know he's the special infected's bitch. hehehe.

XBOX 360 new "Slim" version motherboard pics leaked?

2010-03-17T14:46:00.000-07:00

Well there it is, in all it's glory. The rumored xbox 360 "slim" motherboard. Question is, is this a fake picture or the real deal? According to people at Microsoft, maybe following in the direction of Sony by re-designing the xbox 360. Lord knows it's been a good 4 years since the 360 has been updated (lets face it, it's a little big and a little noisy). Coupled with red ring of death problems and the fact that the current xbox 360 console is due for a makeover, this leaked hardware picture of the motherboard may not be just a rumor. There also has been talk that the harddrive will be built into the xbox instead of it being a detachable harddrive as it is currently. I don't know how I'd feel about that. Especially if the slim 360's get the red ring of death, how am i suppose to retrieve all my hardearned achievements if the harddrive is embedded within the console? Those tricksy microsoft people! I guess time will tell if the slim is an actuality. Personally, I'd welcome it, especially since my xbox is on the verge of hitting the wall. Yay Xenon version of the xbox!

William Shatner starts his own social networking site?!

2010-03-15T19:48:00.000-07:00

Ok ok, so this isn't about games but I couldn't help but post this. His new networking site is called myouterspace.com , and you guessed it, it's a social networking site for sci- fi geeks and nerds. I can honestly say this is completely hilarious to me. I think I may sign up just for the fun of it! haha. I wonder if Priceline would give me any good deals to planet Zara with the Rocketman....

Oh my Mass Effect 2, melt my face off.

2010-03-15T19:32:00.000-07:00

Wow. Just wow. I finally finished playing Mass Effect 1 so I could go on to playing Mass Effect 2 which I purchased a few weeks back with Borderlands. And while Mass Effect 1 is pretty damn good, Mass Effect 2 practically melted my face off. Or maybe that was the flu I had last week, though I'm pretty sure it's ME2. It was so hot I actually took notes on what I liked and disliked about the game. I'm only about 5 hours into the game but absolutely love it.

Alright to begin with the things I like, navigation within the Normandy 2. Thank god, no longer do I have to run around the frigate trying to find members of my squad to hit on and insult. I can just take the handy elevator, with it's navigation menu that leads me to my shipmates, to find teammates to insult and sexually proposition. Upon entering my captain's quarters I couldn't help but laugh when I found a picture of Kaidan (my old love interest from Mass Effect 1) on my desk. Oh clever Bioware. Another thing about the game I like is the better gameplay and plot. While the Mass Effect 1 plot was really interesting, the ME2 plot seems to flow even more like movie. With the enhanced player HUB(pop up explanations of items and identifications of who to talk to/pick up) and the plot, I find myself not wanting to turn this game off, too bad I have other obligations such as school and work. And last but not least, how is awesome is it that the decisions you made in Mass Effect 1 affect the gameplay in Mass Effect 2!?

Things I don't like about ME2 are the clips you have to pickup to restore your ammo. I know this is more realistic of the typical shooter game but I liked NOT having to worry about ammo in ME1. My only woe back then was the overheating which we still have in ME2 but not as often. Another thing I am miffed about is the use of the joystick to select your biotics/weaponry powers. It's still as finicky as ever and I still have a hard time selecting the option I want. I wish they would have improved this, say with making these choices with the directional pad instead of the joystick. That's pretty much it on complaints about the game thus far, besides the fact the character Professor Morin sounds like William Shatner on speed.

okay. phew im done. back to mass effect 2.
:)

2010-03-09T19:59:00.001-08:00

So my weekend was pretty rockin, had fun in Philly and am back in the dreadul New York area, coming down with what I think is the flu. Anyway onto videogames, since I've been gone I haven't played many video games but I am having a session soon with more Borderlands gameplay. Over the weekend I discovered another nifty video game blog. The name escapes me but I will be sure to find out more when I feel like getting out of bed.

**EDIT**
The blog is called Zero Punctuation.
It's pretty hilarious. He tells it like it is, no bullshit required.
Check it out: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation

Funny bit on L4D2:

Wolverine X-Men Origins XBOX 360

2010-03-06T17:38:00.000-08:00

I'm in Philadelphia, but that doesn't mean I'll stop the blogging! So the other day I decided to pull out my Wolverine X-Men Origins game to play since I haven't played it in awhile. It's still as amazing as the day I first played it. I still think this game is highly underrated. Yes, it's a video game that co-incides with the movie, but the scenes in the video game aren't really related to the film, which I actually like. That way, neither ending is revealed if you haven't seen one or the other. The gameplay is gory and awesome and the combo moves never get old. I'm also a fan of the slow motion attacks, which have also appeared in games like Arkham Aslyum. For a game based purely on a pretty mediocre movie, I'd give it a thumbs up. I'd also go as far in saying that it's probably better than the film. hehe.

XBOX 360 and Twitter: tweet 360?

2010-03-03T14:58:00.000-08:00

While the twitter and facebook editions to the Xbox live gold subscriptions are several months old, I have decided that these are fun to use, but sort of pointless. Don't get me wrong, I love not having to get up off my bed and update my twitter/facebook through the messenger kit on the xbox but I really don't use the xbox twitter and facebook too often. Which is surprising since I am a social networking addict. There is something about it I don't like. Perhaps it's the ability to change or post certain things. For instance you can't retweet on the xbox live Twitter and you can't comment on Facebook. That's half the fun of the networking sites! Maybe xbox live plans to update these services one day. I hope so. Another feature I wish was included in having the networking sites on xbox live is to be able to add your xbox live friends to twitter or facebook. There is something of this sort included in Facebook, but I find it only works with the friends I already have on Facebook, not the friends I just have on xbox live. Or maybe none of my 75 primarily xbox live friends ( as in not in my friends in real/facebook life) have a Facebook? I doubt this very much. Anyway, all the this talk of twitter makes me want to tweet my face off. tweet tweet tweet.

Borderlands: The love child of mass effect and fallout 3?

2010-03-02T16:35:00.000-08:00

So this weekend I went a little crazy and bought several new video games. yay! So I dove head first into Borderlands (with my little sister guiding me through the worlds and leveling me up much faster than I would on my own). My first impression of this game is pretty decent. I love the comic book like graphics/illustrations. It's definitely one of a kind in that respect. The 4 main characters you can play as are pretty solid as well.

However, some of the missions seems a bit tedious and it's a lot of running back and forth, which can get pretty boring. It's sort of like Mass Effect meets Fallout 3. Useless side missions and lots of running around. hehe. On the plus side the weapons available to you are in the plenty, some of which are really awesome and blow things up, while others are weak. I found it hard to keep up with the amount of weapons/choices you have in the gameplay. It's hard to remember what gun does what and which you prefer more. However, despite the mass amounts of weapons and worlds and worlds of maps, Borderlands seems decent so far. Though I have heard the ending is awful. :( We shall see if I ever get there!

Counter Strike: Source L4D2 Weapons : Germany Only

2010-03-01T17:51:00.000-08:00

So the other day I was playing L4D2 with my favorite scottish xbox friend and at the beginning of the campaign low and behold was a knife! gasp! (Excuse my crappy action shot via my TV and iPhone.)

My friend and I were amazed/curious about why we got a melee weapon which we have never seen before playing Left 4 Dead. And believe me, we play it WAY too often. ( It's my favorite game obviously.) Upon some googling during the gameplay I discovered that due to censorship of the game in Germany, Valve released 5 new weapons as a gimmick to get people to buy or play the game. Apparently, unless you own the CS:S Left 4 Dead 2 German distributed game or are playing with another player who is from Germany, these weapons are unavailable to anyone else. Curiously though, I'm playing from New York and my xbox live friend was playing from Scotland, while the other two players were the AI. So why/how did we get these weapons? The world will never know. I had to document it since I don't think it will ever happen again. It's a shame really , because the movement the knife makes when you take out your melee weapon is oh so awesome. Ah, memories.

FFRJPUQ2TAR7

Xbox 360 Chatpad = Best Accessory Yet

2010-02-28T09:42:00.000-08:00

When I first purchased the xbox 360 "messenger kit", that comes complete with a keyboard(chat pad) fit for your xbox 360 controller and a headset, I was a bit skeptical. I thought "who would use such a device?'' Turns out, it's amazing for a gamer who actually communicates with other gamers through xbox live. No longer do you have to fuddle around with painfully selecting each character. The chat pad is easy to use and also easy to play games with when attached to the controller. It easily cuts messaging time in half. Also, with the newer integrations of Twitter and Facebook, it makes notifying your non-xbox friends how cool you are playing Mass Effect 2 much easier. All in all, the controller gets a grade of an A with it's lighted keyboard and cheap price tag, it's a good deal for the xbox enthusiast.

Left 4 Dead 2 AND Left 4 Dead 1 DLC! Finally!

2010-02-24T15:11:00.000-08:00

Yes yes yes! Finally I can play something different than the Dark Carnival campaign a billion times over! Valve has announced an add on for Left 4 Dead 2 which is to be released in "late march" called "The Passing" which takes place after the Dead Center campaign. Best thing about the add on? We get to meet our friends from Left 4 Dead 1! That's right cocky Francis, crabby Bill, pussy Louis, and babe Zoey! Not only that but another encounter with a new uncommon infected is set to be in place as well. While I've read that you cannot play as the L4D1 players, I hope this rumor is untrue. I would love to be Zoey and kick the shit out of Rochelle. Just sayin'! Also in addition to the L4D2 DLC, a L4D1 DLC is set to be released as well to explain how our lovable crew made it to Georgia to meet the new L4D2 cast. (Although I think this is a bit weird seeing as there was no real connectable plot within the first L4D1 like you see in L4D2.) I will be sure to update more on this as I hear more about it/play it.