Modern Warfare 2 Prestige edition unboxed
Rejoice Modern Warfare 2 fans. The time has come for the unveiling of the prestige edition for the Xbox 360 version. Before i say anything about it, please watch the video and look at all what you’re getting for a rumored price of $80.
Click on the link and marvel at the goodies. I like the working NVG (Night Vision Goggles) that they will throw in. Hope this comes out on the PC too.
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will hit store shelves on November 10, 2009 for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.
Battlefield Heroes is Now Live and Online
After months of months of testing and closed beta, it has finally arrived. What am i talking about? It’s Battlefield Heroes, the free online FPS game from EA Games.
All you have to do is sign up and create your own account by clicking here
Be warned though that after signing up, you will be required to download the game on to your browser (it’s a whopping 4 gig in size so i’d recommend you to download the client and leave the computer on)
See you guys in the battlefield!
Thoughts About Musical Simulation Games
Nowadays, video games are entering the mainstream market. One of the most remarkable is the music simulation games. First there was Guitar freaks/Drum mania by Konami. Then came the Americanized versions namely Guitar Hero and Rockband. Then, thousands of others joined the formula and started their own “inspired” games.
I wrote this article because I stumbled upon an article that sort of condemns these simulations as a tool for appreciating music. I’d say, being a widow musician, I’d have to disagree with what the music gods say. These games are supposed to spread out the music for people who don’t know them yet AKA the mainstream market. Besides, what is music for if it’s not to be heard by other people? It’s sort of like written literature; if nobody reads it, what the hell is it for? It’s just sad that these respected musicians are too narrow minded to embrace another media to let their music be heard. Besides, they’re being paid for the royalty. I honestly think that there’s no substitute for the real thing when it comes to real instruments vs virtual ones on learning how to play them. But the virtual ones can actually make you practice the feel and the rhythm of the song and that’s in my opinion half of the song. Sure you don’t get to fret up complex Dm7+5 something something chords on a virtual one but at least you’ll get the rhythm.
Bottom line. It’s nice to play Guitar hero or Rockband as a simulation game. Even with my real band, we also play Rockband from time to time. Because it’s a different experience yet somehow retains that camaraderie found in a band. You work together for a common goal. It’s also nice that some kids actually pickup a real guitar or drums to learn songs from these media. It’s a win-win situation. I don’t see why those guitar gods wouldn’t want them to be heard.
Link to the article:
geoDefense for iPhone/iPod Touch Review
Remeber Geometry Wars for the Xbox Live Arcade? Well, there’s a little cool tower defense game for the iPhone/iPod Touch that looks similar to the said XBLA game, aptly name geoDefense. Note that geoDefense and Geometry Wars were created by different companies. Nonetheless, it’s obvious where the game’s visuals got its inspiration.
Good Points
Like I mentioned before, the graphics look like it’s the tower defense version of Geometry Wars – which is a good thing! It’s simple yet elegant. You get to see all those cool particles when mobs explode, cannons firing like pea shooters, and missiles homing on their targets, and the grid moves because of the shockwaves of explosions.
Sounds are okay and noteworthy. There are only a few sound effects present in the game, mostly shooting and exploding, and the occassional “Warning: Meltdown Imminent!” voice of a computer.
geoDefense
Bad Points
There are only 5 types of towers in the game – the cannon (or pea shooter), laser (able to fire in a straight line spanning the length of the screen), missile tower (missiles home on targets and has a blast radius), shock tower (slows enemies down), and the vortex tower (drains energies from mobs and explosions to make other towers more powerful). It’s quite a few towers really. The game would’ve benefitted more of there were a lot more towers to choose from.
There are 34 levels in total, 10 Easy, 12 Medium, and 12 Hard levels. I have no major complaint regarding the level design, most of them are out of the box and not something you’d expect, except for the last 2 levels in Hard Mode. Those last 2 levels will feature a new mob type, something I’ve never encountered on the last 32 other levels. It’s equipped with the most annoying and frustrating capability that’s guaranteed to drive a player nuts (Sorry I won’t mention what the capability is to avoid spoilers). The power the new mob has, in my honest opinion, was a bit game breaking. Imagine showing a mob type in the last two levels – in 34 levels! There you were going on your merry way, down to the last two levels of the game, then BAM! That no good mob type appears out of nowhere and makes you ask yourself “WTF”. Not funny.
Conclusion
Worth the price of $3.99 (at the time of writing) and can keep you hooked for a while. Graphics and sounds are generally okay, and with the 34 levels included in the game, there’ll plenty of time to waste playing geoDefense.
Female Gamer Supremacy
What is it about male gamers that make them superior to female gamers? Personally, this ideology is complete rubbish for me, seeing as I plummeted to oblivion dozens of guys when it comes to Ghost Squad in the arcade. I would be playing along nicely, minding my own business, when big burly men would approach me and ask with a sneer, “Can (sic) I play with you?” I’ll smile innocently and enjoy myself as the males would flush redder and redder (or, in some cases, would grow agitated as the level progresses), when they see evidence of their own arrogance in the score.
Ghost Squad Arcade
Oftentimes my score would be climbing six to seven digits, whilst the men I’m playing with would be doing their best to score points. Of course it doesn’t help that I have memorized the game to the till: they’ll be scrambling along the game blindfolded, trying to best me in a game I have mastered. Of course when their turn runs out (i.e., they run out of tokens to compensate for the one I have entered), the male species would refuse to acknowledge defeat and would mumble something resembling, “have no money for tokens. See you around.”
Ha! No money my ass! Why couldn’t they accept that a tiny girl beat them? Sure, sure. I’m sounding too full of myself, but then again, till how long do we (the females) have to accept this abuse? Men are not better than women when it comes to gaming just because they’ve got enough testosterone to burn a building. Games require strategy, thinking, and patience, which both genders are well equipped with.
Now would probably be a good time to shut up because I have a feeling men would be lining up outside our office to knock me down and throw me somewhere I could just curl up and die. Still, I won’t take that back. If you don’t believe me that I can kick your ass in Ghost Squad, then you’ll just have to see for yourself. Bring it on guys; let’s see who the real man is.
- Mae
A Taste of EVE Online
I’ve been playing EVE Online, on and off, since 2006. I love the game, and collectively, I have probably invested a total of 1 year and 6 months in subscriptions for the game. Some people ask me what EVE really is and what it’s all about, and for the most part, I can only explain what I’ve discovered so far – the surface of a very deep and complex MMORPG.
Of course, not all games are for everybody, and EVE is not an exception to that rule. First, it’s a sci-fi game set in space, where you control, you guessed it, space ships. There are no dwarves or elves or orcs for characters, ships are the only representations of players in the game, aside from the player portrait (human portrait which you create during character creation). Second, EVE is perhaps the most political, economical, player-driven MMORPG in existence today. It is taken VERY seriously by players, specially veteran players who have invested so much time into the game, and have joined corporations – the EVE equivalent of guilds. Suffice to say, if 1.) you’re not a space-themed sci-fi fan, and 2.) You’re not into serious economics and politics, then this game is probably not for you. Then again, if you only intend to scratch the surface, and have your own merry way alone or with just a few friends, indulging the vastness of space and the shininess of your battleships, then you might just enjoy playing albeit only the icing of a VERY big cake that is EVE Online.
Let’s say you ARE into space-themed sci-fi, then you’ll love the engagements – from small dogfights between squadrons, to large, epic battles between corporation fleets, that number hundreds to thousands of ships ranging from frigates to titans. If you love serious ecoomics and politics, then you will love the game’s player-driven economy and politics. But what else is in store for you in EVE? Well for starters, players have the freedom to do anything (within the boundaries of the game’s capabilities) they want in the game. When I mean anything, I mean they can mine minerals, process them, be technology researcher, be a trader, a manufacturer, be a fighter pilot for a militia, be the CEO of your own corporation that makes billions of ISK (in-game currency), be a mercernary, an assassin, a pirate, anything, YES, anything. Another thing, a corporation can actually OWN a part of space and establish a base of operations, and construct space ports, contruction yards, manufacturing plants, etc., and have a little “sector” (or a lot of sectors) for themselves. Of course, what I mean by own, is that they take it by force. If it’s non-NPC controlled space, then it’s free for the taking, provided nobody beat you to it. If somebody has, and you want the territory, then either an alliance or a war is imminent. There’s actually more than just what I have already told you, but those are beyond the scope of this article.
Ship Sizes in EVE
Just how serious is serious? Imagine the real world – the government, any government, is willing to enter a war because of valuable resources. High ranking officials are assassinated so that institutions are destabilized. Corporate espionage and sabotage happens within organizations and companies so that others will thrive. These all happen in EVE. That’s how serious it is. Take a look at these three (some of the most controversial) events in the game: GoonSwarm, Tourney Assassination, and $16,500. These are just examples of just what a player can expect from EVE. Twisted, really. But that’s how things are.
Because of the game’s complexity, some first time players shy away from the game failing to understand what’s great about this MMORPG. EVE Online only has about less than half a million active subscribers and since it only has one live server, about 30,000 players are online at the same time. Note that a player need not be logged in most of the time to progress in the game. That is how the devs designed the character system of EVE. Your character learns skills even while you’re offline.
Watch this latest trailer if you’re interested or head on to www.eve-online.com. If you want a more spruced up guide of EVE Online, you can read this article in Destructoid. Thanks for reading! ^_^
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