AndrewTS

I played it last night. The skills are cool, the QTE isn't *quite* so bad because the buttons correspond to the part of the screen you need to press (Up down, left, or right), but it was annoying in GodOW and pretty much sucked there. My biggest annoyance with the game is that the AI was kind of lame. Bioshock had that problem too, but at least splicers used guns and BDs were a nice change. In Jericho I'm fighting kamikaze zombies all the time. I also downloaded the demo for TimeShift, which I hadn't heard of before, and I was digging the core gameplay mechanics/gimmick (time manipulation), even if the art design made it look like a *shameless* ripoff of Half-Life 2. Apparently it used to be a really bad Xbox and PC game that was completely redone, but I had a lot of fun with it and will probably at least rent it to go through campaign.

All PS3s are equipped with b/g wi-fi compatibility *except* the now-defunct 20GB units.

That just doesn't hold true for Halo, but games that bit the shield. However, in Halo 1 you had a life bar + the shield, and then on you had just the shield in 2 and 3. I think most people would agree with that. There's plenty of legit complaints to make against the Halo games. I mean, this guy makes more and he's just ranting for the sake of ranting/entertainment: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/v...ctuation-Halo-3 . I know it's probably a priority to make enemy A.I. good, but ally A.I., when it's bad, can really hurt enjoyment of a game. Although it seems like even A-grade titles have problems with them. So many games w/ ai partners turn into escort missions. Dead Rising allies are borderline brain-dead ( I hand you a gun and you ****ING SHOOT ME IN THE FACE ONE SECOND LATER!?! *RRRRRRRRRRRRRR--*). In Gears, you've got your allies barreling-ass in when you're up against a troika, and while you're popping a sniper and going for a better position, you have to step over 3 wounded because you can't risk healing them. In Halo 3 though, at least your partner who isn't cannon fodder (Arbiter) seems to be damn invincible. Also, after playing the Marathon Durandal demo...this is one the amazing, fantastigoric, astounding titles that were "dumbed down" to make Halo? I'll take Halo until they modernize it, kthanx. I'm convinced some of the hate comes from bitter Apple fanboys, though.

I'm slowly but surely filling in gaps in my maps, limited only by how much the DSL battery holds out. Argh. I can't believe I forgot to charge it overnight. At any rate, the control scheme works really well. At first the boomerang was iffy, but I discovered that holding down to the L button lets you switch to your equipped item as long as you hold it (thanks to a NPC tip), making it much more useful than I imagined in combat. Plus, when you've purchased the shield, you automatically block small projectiles coming at you from the front.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller...? I just finished God of War 2. After the demo left a bad taste in my mouth I passed on it, but after getting it for 20 bucks I have to say it's amazing how much the overall feel and basic mechanics of the game has seemed to improve. There's more solid platforming, combat isn't so much of a chore, and naturally there's no Hades section. I tire of the QTE stuff, but, eh, it's not that common.

No wind changing. Drawing notes on maps. Grabbing and throwing a bomb with two quick taps of the screen. Really digging this.

Finished my first real dungeon. Feels very old school, although using the boomerang in the heat of battle requires you to act very, VERY fast a lot of times.

Yup, which is why Majora Link was a kid.

It's out. I picked it up this morning just as they were yanking them out of the shipping boxes. Game begins with a nicely-done recap of The Wind Waker, pictograph-style. Textures are a tad grainy in the real-time cutscenes, but everything looks terrific during gameplay. Currently just getting the swing of the controls, but it's not much of an issue as I'd played other games that used the stylus for movement. Moving, picking up, tossing pots is a cinch, and you can use the stylus to determine just where/how far you throw them. Nice touch.

Yeah, but no VC games support the nunchuck or the Wiimote pointer, so until that happens, I'm going to keep my expectations down to earth.

That's far more modern Sonic games than you should ever admit to owning, Alex. Come on, Shadow?!

Good as bought, because I don't plan on hooking up my n64 again for a while. Your next assignment, Nintendo--Goldeneye with dual analog support on the classic controller.

n64 did, sometimes

My collection rotates a lot because of buying/reselling and trading in games I beat but didn't like enough to keep. I'm hesitant to call it a "collection", more like "games I have right now." I'll try to get my digital camera working to at least get a few snapshots of what I got at the moment, though. I'd have to lay out all of my N64 stuff, due to having few boxes. I guess that's why the AVGN bitches about lack of end labels so much. YNA-- curious--how long you had the River City Ransom? Finding a cart of it in the wild has been nearly impossible. I want to see Anya's collection.

Video reviews of crappy pirate/cheap ripoff game consoles: http://www.youtube.com/user/ashens Gamestation: "I give it a 7/10, the least you can give a game before a publisher pulls their advertising." POPstation: Neo Double Games: "Ryu and Ken don't live here."

Was the recharging shield in any console FPS before Halo? Any FPS?

Well, it was two Marines, who don't use each other's names, and it sounded RvB-ish. I wasn't sure if that was it or if that was something else they did, and they had another sequence. Why does everyone seem to think I'm a smartass? I finished campaign last night. At first, I had a hard time on the last level, because I handled it like I handle any Flood level...beat feet and and try to get the hell where I need to go. That failed...again and again. Then I got pissed and decided to annihilate every damn one of them. That worked.

They did just release the Mid 2007 iMacs...they want to sell a lot of those so if those people want Leopard they gotta buy it extra.

I didn't notice any references (although to be honest I wasn't really looking for them) but I did hear Adam Baldwin and Nathan Fillion as soldiers. Alan Tudyk did some voice work as well, but I didn't notice his voice to be honest. There's apparently a Red vs. Blue easter egg in one of the scenes. I think it's at the beginning of the stage where you look through a doorway and you see a Warthog getting 'naded. You're supposed to turn off the main hallway and down a path until you come to a locked door where apparently two of ther RVB characters (it changes depending on the difficulty level from what I've heard) arguing about getting let in. It's supposedly pretty funny, I'll go back and see if I can find it for sure. Then of course there's the skulls scattered throughout the game. Haven't heard of anything else for sure though. .......do you mean the one I posted here?

Random thoughts: Whatever happened to the Grunts, Hunters, and Elites banding together to oppose the Brutes, Prophets, and the rest of the Covenant? After the civil war erupted back in Halo 2, I thought those others would be working with the humans. Yet, here I am again, sneaking up on and killing Grunts. Hunters I can see, maybe they were just being taken in by money or just blindly believed the Prophets, but the Arbiter was like a warrior Jesus to the Grunts. It seems odd that they'd be fighting against him and the Elites. Anya mentioned that there's some Firefly actors along with some Firefly references in the game. Music is one area where Halo continues to trounce Gears of War. At least until Gears gets more than just, like, one song during most gameplay. Tossing a grenade at a ROCKET POWERED Brute just as he's landing, having it stick to his groin, and getting to watch him freak out for a second or so, before he explodes, is really f'n funny.

Thoth: there's also a terminal right before you get to the cartographer where the fonts and look is very similar to Marathon as well. I doubt it's the scores as much as the advertising campaign. It's a bit much.

Considering how few of us probably ever owned Macs or downloaded the later Windows ports, why don't you elaborate (with spoiler tags, of course)? I've tried to get into Durandal (the demo at this point), but it gives me headaches, so I doubt I could put any major effort into trying to get into the trilogy. Especially with the rumors of full-on remakes for the series. When was the last time you tried it? They did make updates to reduce some of the.. issues with nausea and such. I don't think they'll let me make updates on an XBLA demo. It's good to hear I'm not the only one, though.

Except that the Rock is a better actor and has alot more charisma. And this movie doesn't look like shit. It looks like a fun family movie. Well, Pacifier made a ton of money, regardless... While it's hardly likely to usher in a bunch of 'em, look forward to the new Rambo. Even with the stupid title.

Hands-on impressions from another site (one that I don't normally approve of, but it's a good read): http://www.seganerds.com/2007/09/25/tgs-20...-of-dreams-wii/ Seems like nunchuck style (or the rumored classic controller support) is going to be the best way to go with on this one.

Am I the only person that thinks BRUTES USING JET PACKS is just about a dozen kinds of silly?