Ratings Explanation

Here is the utilized rating system I use to put a quantification from whence only subjugated feelings and ideas are now truncated into numerical form. Ratings will be on a scale of {-10 to 10}, {-10} being the worst like ET the Extra Terrestrial and {10} being reserved for games that need to go next to the bowling trophies and the baseball signed by relief pitcher "the Mad Hungarian" Al Hrabosky.

Now to make such a hefty judgement on all the needs of a gamer, one has to weigh all the factors that make up a legendary release of a game and games that need to sink in hot summertime garbage juice. 

1. Difficulty and Reward - Is the game hard but rewarding when accomplished?  Do you want to bust your console with a battle axe after only a couple hours of play?  Can the game be played in your sleep while you care for you child, cook dinner, and fill out your taxes, and all memories of the game become forgotten quickly thereafter? 
2. Learning and Yearning Curve - Can anyone learn to play it and yet not be a master after about 2-3 hours of play?  If people start the game and step away will they want to pick it up again later?  Does it feel like it needs to be finished?  
3. Tingling the senses - Controls, graphics, sound: feels good, looks good, sounds good yet doesn't tax a system it's played on.  Controls get the job done and yet don't become an extra burden that you have to deal with.  Graphics push the envelope of the system they are on yet don't succumb to usual over done games that clip, lag, and bug you to death.  Sounds mimic real life, set the mood, are creative, and aren't some awkward Hanna-Barbera situational additions.  Will this game be used later on as a benchmark or a comparative example in any way?
4. The rug tying the room together - Storyline, depth, cut scenes, loading time, monotony, violence, humor, packaging, properly debugged prior to launch, total hours of play for respective genre, possibility for sequels/expansions, advertising and overhype, availability, extra merchandising, etc

Year End Review: the big star is falling, through the static and distance

Quoting the honorable Arnold Schwarzenegger (including his political career), "One more thing; I work alone," this year started with a lot of mediocrity but thankfully didn't end that way. Both solo and multiplayer games were great this year with the usual lacklusters, buttbusters, and a few mind twisters due to microsoft, nintendo and sony all having their consoles out on the market long enough for quality game development. The biggest releases of the year were either sequels or remakes of originals with very few new game franchises and the best games being solo adventures.

The most innovating hardware release of the year was Wii Fit and software was Fallout 3.

The biggest pile of old banana peels and three week old used diapers, even though I would of loved to find an EA or a Disney type sing a-long game for your pre-adolescent American Idol to blast their undeveloped vocal cords with, was at first hard to think of. I pondered long and hard what had happened this year and remembered that I should probably go a tried and true direction; based from a movie in which the movie was as equally if not more vile - Jumper: Griffin's Story.

A question which I heard from the PAX (penny arcade expo), that took place in August, was how feasible and/or motivated developers and publishers are to invest so much time and money into games that make the same amount of profit as the more novel games such as Guitar Hero which take very little development at all to create.

Compared to last year, there were a lot more quality games released, a huge boom from the end of October through the Christmas season, but compared to my teenage years of gaming and overlooking my collection vs the old days, the collection seems smaller and not filled with as many gems.

It hurts to reflect on the fact that the gaming industry is so large in comparison to when I was a child and therefore should really be producing one gem after another. My latest generation console collection looks like a handful of starlets hidden among piles of pleasure themes and get rich quick schemes. This worries me about the future years when most games don't give the appeal to even play through them more than once and can be completed in just under 20 hours or only breaking them out if others are around to play with you when these days working in the family is usually done by both parents and should be by all thirteen and older children. In the end it's all in the power of the dollar and what you spend your cash on to influence the profits of the companies that choose to create quality thumb mashers or drink coasters so take heed with what you throw your cash towards.

With the new year comes a new rating system to put a quantification from whence only subjugated feelings and ideas are now truncated into numerical form. Ratings will be on a scale of {-10 to 10}, {-10} being the worst like ET the Extra Terrestrial and {10} being reserved for games that need to go next to the bowling trophies and the baseball signed by relief pitcher "the Mad Hungarian" Al Hrabosky.

Ratings are based on what I presented in the Fallout 3 review:

1. Difficulty and Reward - Is the game hard but rewarding when accomplished?
2. Learning and Yearning Curve - can anyone learn after about 2-3 hours of play and will people want to play it
3. Tingling the senses - Controls, graphics, sound: feels good, looks good, sounds good yet doesn't tax a system it's played on
4. The rug tying the room together - Storyline, depth, cut scenes, loading time, monotony, violence, humor, packaging, properly debugged prior to launch, total hours of play, possibility for sequels/expansions, etc

Usually anything above a rating of 5 is worth the purchase and anything below is reserved for those who are monopoly man rich or have a strong love for similar games.

Here's what I bought, how far I got, and what I thought of the games in 2008 in autobiographical order for each system:

360

I was very happy with the year end releases available for the 360. Again issues with choosing 360 or PC versions happened on a couple of occasions almost always ending with the PC as the flagship. The 360 only selections were solid and Microsoft has in my opinion exceeded Sony in the console market for good games due to their prices for their console and availability of developer tools since the old beastly Xbox original days.

Best purchase on the 360: Fable 2

Worst purchase on the 360: Operation Darkness

# of games beat vs unbeat for 2008 on the 360: 5 v 4

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 - {rating: 4.5} It's odd to say but this game didn't really feel like its original journey into Las Vegas. It felt more like following people into Atlantic City just for the weekend. The high neon glare environment was missing from most of the game and it puts you back into what felt like an older Rainbow Six game. On the upside the progression/unlocking content and ability to customize your character really made for some nice additions. Too bad 1 and 2 weren't just one gigantic game. Overall a good game but the first was better. Took about 20-25 hours to fully complete.

Battlefield: Bad Company - {Rating: 4} If you like laughing at, not with, Larry the Cable guy, the single player game can be quite enjoyable but very short for the full price of the game. Controls are the oddest I've seen for a FPS in a while and the AI is usually way too tough if the minimap didn't exist. Multiplayer, which I have seen videos for but have not tried myself, looked fun or at least would be with a free month of Xbox Live. Completed the single player in probably 8-12 hours of play.

Grand Theft Auto IV - {Rating: 7} Thug life. It's hard to express how surprising GTA4 was in its self-conflicted main character who really seems to fall into his criminal life rather than aggressively seeking and blooming into a random killing lunatic like the other GTAs. Supposedly two different endings from a major turning point can be obtained but the ending I received was so good I didn't want to go back and change anything I had done. Out of all of the GTAs this was probably the best done as far as missions and their tie in with relationships and the storyline. A couple improvements to the gun play portions of the game still didn't fix the problems I still had with the usual aiming and maneuvering and it still felt like a Rockstar game. It took about 30 hours to complete and was well worth it to play through once.

Too Human - {Rating: 3} Great to look at, different idea of controls, a good mix of diablo and other classic mixed play types, and Norse mythology, this game sadly falls short of anything beyond the 20 hours it takes to beat (way too short for RPG) and really isn't for everyone. It's best described like this: She at first had me at with her good looks then I started to get to know her and found out it was only skin deep. I broke up with her without trying a multi-partner type relationship that she suggested, and she left telling me that I'd come crawling back after a year or two to try the relationship again since she was set on building a business that was much like a franchise.

Mercenaries 2 - {Rating: 5} Never playing Mercs 1, Mercs is a GTA with a military backing that doesn't really give the side quest push GTA dangles out in front of you. The game makes up for it in air strikes and hijacking helos. Almost everything can be destroyed and can be with quite devastating weaponry such as carpet bombing or satellite guided missiles. This is a great one time through game since the story really seemed like it wasn't there. Took about 15 hours to complete and yet was fun the entire time. [Previous Review]

Operation Darkness - {Rating: 1.5} Another turn-based small group strategy game from Atlus taking place in a WW2 setting. Goes from easy to accomplish to damn near impossible within one level. Has issues where you get a "game over" happening due to small miscalculated line of sight or unforgiving enemies that are extremely overpowered in comparison to your characters. Probably only appealing to those that played Tactics Ogre, I have yet to finish this game and just get pissed when I think about trying to.

Infinite Undiscovery - {Rating: 4} Where have all the RPGs gone? This was the first decent classic medieval type RPG out for the Xbox. Taking the gameplay type from FFXII this was a nice change from the old stop and fight random encounter RPGs. A very odd storyline and characters that I first thought were just bad translating voice jobs, this game takes a ton of time on cutscenes. Gameplay isn't near as good as FFXII but it's been 2 years since that game was released and this is a reminder that tri-Ace is still creating games with Squaresoft, including the great Star Ocean series (due out quarter 1 of 2009). [Previous Review]

Fable 2 - {Rating: 8.5} Aw, I if I had a kid I would want it to be a little British kid. A great solo or co-op RPG this game's biggest fault was being released too close to so many other quality games. And with that fault came my inability to sit down and play through more than 10 hours so far but I've watched my wife play through over 25 hours and enjoyed just listening to the humor and culture that only Lionhead puts in games. Guess I'll have to make my wife sit down again for tea and crumpets during the holiday season with me so I can finish it. [Previous Review]

Tom Clancy's End War - {Rating: 6} "Breaker, Breaker 1-9 this here's Rubber Duck. Wait, what do you mean you don't understand that command?" Utilizing a peripheral that used to be used for trash talk about chocolate milk and pwnage, End War does an excellent job implementing a strategy game on a console while still keeping the game fun and enjoyable to watch and play. Voice commands are simple and can be quickly given even if after every command a couple random expletives are added. I played the demo for about 5 hours and have played the single player campaign for about 10 hours. I am keeping this game on the back burner for after Fable 2 and Fallout 3. When that day comes I'll crank the Warren G and happily yell WMD. [Previous Review]

PC

Another year where there were few PC only games, as it has been the trend for the past 5-10 years. I also switched over from my years of Windows 2000 use to Vista and built a new computer just for the occasion. Also got a large usage out of my iMac and started on new adventures with technology based on a different operating system other than one from Microsoft. It almost ended up that the comps were used outside of games more than using them for what they do best. Almost.

Best purchase on the PC: Fallout 3
Worst purchase on the PC: Conan the Hybordian Adventures
# of games beat vs unbeat for 2008 on the PC: 3 v 2

Crysis - {Rating: 6.5} How much did you spend on your computer? Keep it upgraded? No I mean with the latest of the latest. No even better than that. Well guess what, I've got a game that will prove to both of us if you are lying or not. Medium settings? Ha, you did lie to me. An overall short game, 15 hours at most, this game, if you can find a system that can handle it, is the best in looks and physics to date and probably will be for quite a while. Let's just call it the new test standard to replace Unreal Tournament, Counterstrike, and Castle Wolfenstein. Completed and good for the one time through or to test your new drivers/video card.

Company of Heroes + Opposing Fronts (expansion) - {Rating: 7} Need any more games about WW2? Even one that's been out for a while? Well you should need one more and this would be the one. A strategy game focused on smaller squads and combat tactics such as line of sight, elevation, terrain effectiveness of armor, traps, artillery, air strikes, gun emplacements, etc., this game was a nice change from the old steam rolling with gigantic numbers strategies. Storyline and cutscenes along with the map actually felt like progression through the timelines of real portions of WW2. Took about 30 hours to complete the original and an addition 15-20 for the expansion along with a slew of random runs against just the computer. Quite a blast the entire time.

Conan: Hybordian Adventures - {Rating: -2} High hopes. What could of been something of great decapitation and splendor instead was riddled with bugs and choppy gameplay. Soloing was fun but felt the same no matter what class was chosen. Amazing detail but lack of good endgame fun made this one a month of finding out that jumping into a game right when it's released, instead of waiting and reading reviews, may have to be adjusted accordingly in the future. Garbage after 1 month of play.

Warhammer: Age of Reckoning - {Rating: 4} So then I did wait for some reviews and this time it was worth it to find out how good the game was. Lots of PvP focus this is one of the first MMOs that feels pretty good to just jump on and play for a little bit instead of hopping on and waiting around to see what's going on for the night. If you loved the Warhammer universe this might be the game for you. I'm just not sure this will actually stand the test of time vs WoW. I have since cancelled my WAR account after the release of WotLK due to the cost balance of having both and only playing one. [Previous Review]

Spore - {Rating: 6.5} I did well in art class or at least that's what my art teacher told me. She said I was very good at rendering already created objects into my own creations. Well good thing EA made a game for anyone who parked their toshie in art class to create something out of the depths of their minds. You know that place in your head in between the taste of blue cheese, old episodes of Simon and Simon, and farfrompuken bumper stickers? Read my in-depth review if you want to know a little more than my ramblings. Few PC games can gather a crowd to switch off and play without a multiplayer environment. Not entirely done with the single player game, I tend to find myself just playing with the creator modes. If you can dream it, you can evolve it in Spore except for the damn baseball field I want.

Farcry 2 - {Rating: 7.5} While blasting Toto's "Africa", I found myself unjamming the lovely Mac 10 in the best 1st person shooter since Crysis. Taking me about 40 hours to complete, the action is always fun but the story is hard to remember or follow with similar character names and large gaps of time spent roaming the countryside. The 1st person action and graphics in this game are big strong points but I'm not sure that it is worth replaying the whole thing over to try to see if other endings can be achieved. Well worth the one time play through just remember to bring the bug spray.[Previous Review]

Fallout 3 - {Rating: 10} Bert the Turtle hopefully prepared you for what is one of the best games to come out in almost 3 years. If it's not the beautiful landscape, butler robots, empty bottle scavenging without the 10 cent refunds, or gruesome dismemberments, then it has to be taking in large enough doses of radiation to regenerate crippled limbs. One thing that I failed to mention in my previous review but really helped in making a good judgement of Fallout 3 was the fact that the game really did not have much hype prior to release (HALO *cough*cough*) unless it was searched for. This helped keep judgements and enjoyment of the game for those that actually took a chance and played it. A must play for elderly to children alike, this will be a game that other game companies will either copycat or be compared to for years to come. About half way through this game, I'm not intending to rush this at all. [Previous Review]

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King - {Rating: 5.5} Well thankfully one company is out there consistently making great quality games and that company is Blizzard. It's really hard to find many faults with the products they produce and if you are playing MMOs, the odds will say you're playing WoW. And if you're playing WoW, the odds will say you probably bought this expansion within the first week of its release. And since we all love gamblers and statisticians, make sure you also go out and hug your neighborly financial advisors and home loan providers for all their hard work they've done the last few years. Well maybe things will change since this was an election year and many gamblers went out there and voted. Remember, always bet on black, oh, excuse me African-American. [Previous Review]

Wii

Nintendo is by far the best company at making games to sit next to someone and play together. Now not necessarily needing to be sober to do so, the Wii also gives much enjoyment just watching others play games as it does actually being the player. This year added to one more in the multiplaying arena but really has lacked quite a bit in the solo play compared to its first year on the market.

Best purchase for the Wii: Mario Kart

Worst purchase on the Wii: Animal Crossing: City Folk

# of games beat vs unbeat for 2008 on the Wii: 0 v 3

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn - {Rating: 3.5} Sequel to gamecube's path of radiance, more of the same with no real big changes overall compared to it's counterparts. I really enjoy these turn based grid strategies but they are not for everyone. Only made it about 1/2 way through the game and got distracted by other releases so I can't say much more about the entire game.

Super Smash Bros - {Rating: 5} Sequel to gamecube's smash bros. Great multiplaying fun with a very neat single player side scrolling adventure. Tons of unlockables and many hours to make your hands bleed. Pikachu your face, pikachu your ass, pickachu your balls into outer space. So much stuff to unlock I have gotten side tracked to actually finish the single player adventure but I find myself passing out controllers for this one on the weekends when people find their way over to my house.

Wii Fit - {Rating: 5} Cost is a bite in the wallet but the piece of equipment is amazing. Will probably be implemented later into some other innovative games in conjunction with the normal controller. The fitness game included is laughable in it's blunt honesty and seriousness of how it portrays your image (wii self image) and is unforgiving in your failure to improve your body and health. Great way to torture those that already are self-conscious or show off your balance while drinking alcoholic beverages and doing yoga stances. Does not have an end to it but has additional games and activities to be unlocked.

Super Mario Kart - {Rating: 6} Another in a line of sequels from gamecube classics. It comes with a nice little miniature kart steering wheel that makes you feel like you are at the family fun center. The same one that has the miniature golf course with the windmill that spins but is missing half a blade and has the funny smell of three week old pizza and popcorn. The game is a lot like the original and just as fun with even more tracks and characters to choose from. If you are going to race with someone else this is the game that everyone can enjoy. Also doubling as a great DUI benchmarking game, I have yet to make it very far within this game but again another in multiplaying fun.

(Wife's Purchase) Animal Crossing: City Folk - {Rating: 3} A great teaching tool for showing children what real life will feel like as long as you make them play it for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Not very much of an improvement whatsoever, this game is only going to appeal to those who have not played the previous versions. But another ironic sutblety is the fact that this feels like a metaphor for switching from one job to another (original to sequel) and feeling the same constant grind of day to day work even if it is a "new job". [Previous Review]

Games I didn't spend the money on or never rented but I should of:

Ninja Gaiden 2, Call of Duty 4, Gears of War 2, Dead Space, James Bond 007: Quantum Solace, Left 4 Dead, Mirror's Edge, Personal Trainer: Cooking

2008 memoranda

1. Total new games purchased: 22
2. Best 1st person shooter: Farcry 2
3. Best RPG: Fallout 3
4. Best Strategy: Tom Clancy's End War
5. Best Multiplayer game with friends in the same room: Mario Kart
6. Best Multiplayer game with friends across the world: WotLK, WoW
7. Biggest surprise of the year: Fallout 3
8. Approximate hours spent playing games in 2008: 2007.5 huh that rounds to 2008 (60% being WoW)
9. # of new games beat: 8
10. # of unfinished single player games: 7
11. # of new games without a single player storyline: 7
12. # of controllers broken: 1 Wii controller and 1 mouse
13. System played the most: 360 (not counting time on computers)
14. Biggest real world event missed while playing games: Election of President Obama
15. # of times playing games pissed off the wife: 156
16. Average # of extra applications running in the background while playing computer games: 4 (2 internet websites, iTunes, calculator)
17. # of new songs listened to while playing various games this year: 2157
18. # of days the lawn should of been cut but was instead pushed off an extra day due to games: 20
19. Biggest hopeful for 2009: Resident Evil 5
20. # of approximate phone calls received while neck deep in something requiring concentration on too many subjects at once: 300
21. Last indescision I need solved before the end of 2008: Nuggnuts.com vs Whoppervirgins.com

Music of 2008

It's been a good year for listening to new music.  I found I had purchased more music this year than a few previous years and am pretty happy with almost every choice made.  So here's a quick list of what I felt were some of the best choices of 2008.  Thank you Andy for all the helpful searches and exchanges and First Order Historians for their constant blogging.  Please note that some choices are not new releases in 2008 and just a new purchase within 2008.

Regrets of which I had few

1. The Magnetic Fields - Distortion 
2. (Most of the album) Thief - Sunchild
3. (Most of the album) West Indian Girl - S/T
4. Not finding a Faunts album for sale
5. My job for not allowing me go see more shows
6. Hella (The Ladies) on the wrong days
7. Having to say the band name Loose Fur
8. Not knowing more Scandinavian Languages
9. Still enjoying CAKE

Favorite Purchases of 2008

1. Aimee Mann - @#%&*! Smilers
2. Alaska in Winter - Dance Party in the Balkans
3. Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
4. Anna Jarvinen - Jag Fick Feeling
5. The Besnard Lakes - S/T
6. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
7. The Clientele - God Save the Clientele
8. Costa Music - Lighter Subjects
9. David Byrne and Brian Eno - Everything that Happens will Happen Today
10. Department of Eagles - In Ear Park
11. DeVotchKa - A Mad Faithful Telling
12. Dido - Safe Trip Home
13. Emiliana Torrini - Me and Armini
14. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
15. Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
16. Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree
17. Halou - Sawtooth EP
18. Headlights - Some Racing, Some Stopping
19. Helio Sequence - Keep Your Eyes Ahead
20. The Innocence Mission - We Walked in Song
21. Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
22. Johann Johannsson - Fordlandia
23. Longwave - Secrets are Sinister
24. Mogwai - The Hawk is Howling
25. Mum - Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy
26. The National - The Virginia EP
27. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
28. No Kids - Come into My House
29. The Notwist - The Devil, You + Me
30. The Postmarks - S/T
31. Ra Ra Riot - The Thumb Line
32. Ratatat - LP3
33. School of Seven Bells - Alpinisms
34. The Sea and Cake - Car Alarm
35. Sea Wolf - Leaves in the River
36. Sun Kil Moon - April
37. Tunng - Good Arrows
38. TV on the Radio - Dear Science
39. U.N.P.O.C. - Fifth Colum
40. The Weepies - Hideaway
41. West Indian Girl - 4th & Wall
42. Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer

Surprised to find something of age that should be purchased

1. Cocteau Twins
2. Julee Cruise
3. David Bowie - Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
4. Bachman-Turner Overdrive for Karaoke 
5. Phil Collins - No Jacket Required for Karaoke
6. After careful combing through loads of his music Brian Eno
7. Blues Image

2008 lyric choices

Here's a list of songs I pulled lines from:

the big star is falling, through the static and distance = Magnolia Electric Co, Farewell Transmission

you should follow me down. there's no color and no sound in a black and white town

= Doves, Black and White Town

with two cats in the yard life used to be so hard

= Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Our House

what begins as an unguarded train of thoughts slowly can become an addition to slumber

= School of Seven Bells, Half Asleep

the hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new land to fight the horde, and sing and cry: Valhalla I am coming! = Led Zeppelin, Immigrant Song

oh baby you, you've got what I need, but you say he's just a friend = Biz Markie, Just a Friend

don't leave a key underneath that mat for me
= The Postmarks, Goodbye

but she didn't know how fortune swings, the price you pay when disaster sings = Firekites, Same Suburb Different Park

we burnt to the ground left a grave to admire = Beirut, Sunday Smile

patience is a virtue until its silence burns you = TV on the Radio, Love Dog

and then they show me a world where I can be so dependable, clinical, intellectual, cynical = Supertramp, The Logical Song

he can't believe the love I give is not enough to end your fears = Phoenix, Too Young

hand let go of his with ease n' grace, don't let him bleed under your nails

= Emiliana Torrini, Hold Heart

I was good with names, I had a way with faces

= Destroyer, European Oils

snowshoes and hunters carried the curtail for you

= Midlake, Young Bride

and if you really want to shake it off, you've got to re-arrange us = Mates of State, The Re-arranger

no escape from the circling place

= The Notwist, Where in this World

and ricochet on how I need you

= Sea and Cake, Crossing Line

forgot to carry the zero

= Built to Spill, Carry the Zero

they are intelligent; they are smarter than the most up-to-date supercomputers, we cannot underestimate them = Man or Astroman, Theme from Eeviac

Animal Crossing: City Folk: with two cats in the yard life used to be so hard

Time to make the donuts. Already made the donuts.

Nintendo's newest release Animal Crossing: City Folk is just the game to teach little Billy how the grip of the real world can trudge on with no real end in sight to only be taunted with an inflated overpriced economy and large communication problems with neighbors. Ok it's not that bad but if you were to play it non-stop for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, most of the year it would feel like that.

I myself did not purchase or have any intention of playing this game whatsoever but alas a wife that loved the original Gamecube version was almost destined to buy a sequel. The only real great reason and reward for playing the old Gamecube version was the ability to play classic Nintendo games such as Balloon Fight and Super Mario Bros as they could be collected as items to place in your character's house. Not doing any research or reviewing prior to buying AC:CF was probably a large mistake on both of our parts. What makes a sequel good for a franchise is more of the same with new innovations (Fallout, Call of Duty). AC:CF has barely anything new to it when compared to the original and in the end feels like the old grind of collecting, fishing, and conversing that was great the first time but leaves a bad aftertaste to have to do it all again without any new types of experiences.

Very few games that are not MMO in nature utilize the time system employed in the Animal Crossing series. It's a great long term experience to witness the real time changes, events, and environment evolution dependant on the time of day or year as long as it was only done in small snippets every few weeks. There are holiday events, birthdays, bugs to collect that only appear at night, etc and all of this could be experienced in the short term if you were smart enough to mess with the console's time clock to pull an 88mph fast one.

The largest goal (if there really even is one) was furnishing your house with lots of random quirky items some of which were so rare that people would gloat and tout their findings on forums and phone calls alike till you became so disgusted with the game that a running microwave oven seemed like a good home for the disc. A new feature to AC:CF is the ability to travel to other player towns via Internet connectivity and even go to an auction house setting where collected items can be bid on or sold between players.

Overall AC:CF is great for those that have never played an Animal Crossing game before but for those that have, I'd suggest skipping this one entirely. Instead go spend your cash on something more worthy like a new suit and tie so you can go out an get a real job like your parents did. The bums lost Nintendo!

Logitech Squeezebox: what begins as an unguarded train of thoughts slowly can become an addition to slumber

Much to the hatred of those that attribute the whole idea of a portable personal music device solely to Apple's iPod invention, portability in music can been seen more now than any decade before it even though I have the distinct reoccurring memory of you wearing knee-high tube socks, roller skates, black wife-beater, and a TPS-L2 Walkman cassette player back when you dated that girl that only listened to ABBA.

Some things that have spawned from the last five years in portability and wireless capability with music players are nice gadgets such as these handy ones from Logitech. Named after that thing that your momma plays on when daddy comes home never letting him get no rest, the Squeezebox Duet and Boom are two great additions to those that have and love to play music all night in their homes.

Not focused on the idea of portability, these devices use wi-fi and ethernet connections to allow for an all-in-one listening station. If you are like me and have digital music contained within multiple devices or want to pull music from Internet based services such as Sirius, Rhapsody, Pandora, or podcasts and free Internet radio these babies can and willingly give in to your hearing desires. Along with these is one of the more unique services Live Music Archive which contains a lot of high bit rate recordings of various musicians. Both devices have some of the best compatibility around and also do not mess with default settings of any computer that they connect to (make this your default player?, guess the right answer to click to continue...).

The biggest difference between the two is that the Duet (below) hooks to your home stereo system to output the music where the Boom (Above) is well, a self contained stereo. The Boom and is great for someone that doesn't own an expensive home stereo unit but if you are one of the lucky ones that has come into owning a good system, the Duet is a better choice.


The Duet's biggest selling point is that it comes with a great remote that controls much like the iPod (there are you happy now that I used the iPod as a standard for comparative purposes?). Its display is as good as an iPod and can be used at quite a distance away from the receiver box.

Being one of the better external hardware companies that focuses on computer based products, Logitech offers this gadget at one of the most affordable prices coming in at $270-400 for either choice. It seems like a steep amount but the next step above it is Sono's at $1000 and things go upward from there in price. Well either that or some very cheap piece of technology that's more of a hassle than just putting your computer next to your TV and stereo on some cement bricks and old stacks of vinyl like the Trashmen.

A downside to these systems are that they are really only for people that wish play their music in a different room of their home than their music holding device is located. If you happen to have a good set of computer speakers within the same room that you do most of your entertaining then this is even more of a luxury than you'd want to admit.

Hey I know damn well you would love to hear Kate Perry blasting out of your $5000 speakers while you cook some creme brulle in the kitchen and then move into the bathroom for some more intimate grooming and need to switch it right away to Kellie Pickler for the occasion, so rally up some coin and buy yourself a squeezebox to Git R' Dun.

CNet's Reviews:
Logitech Squeezebox Boom
Logitech Squeezebox Duet
PCWorld's Review:
Logitech Squeezebox Duet
Googled Reviews:
Logitech Squeezebox Duet
Logitech Squeezebox Boom

Oh and for those of you thinking about what to get your loved one for Christmas and the Logitech Squeezebox can't be found in your checkbook, then you might want to consider this instead.

WotLK: the hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands to fight the Horde, sing and cry: Valhalla, I am coming!

Ah the Ottoman Empire. No not an inappropriate name for a specialty furniture shop, I'm referring to the record account holding MMORPG known to anyone who watches TV commercials, plays video games, and hasn't been trying to reenact fallout shelter living from Blast from the Past, as World of Warcraft by Blizzard Entertainment.

It is very hard to take a contrary stance as to the point that the Blizzard beast WoW is by far the best altogether MMORPG available. Down Caps Lock Key, down boy.

I am always in search of better and more fun to play games. An MMO compared to a solo RPG gives the chance to interact and play with so many others. WoW is the best MMO for just that opportunity. I have played and tried many before WoW including Ultima, EQ, FFXI, DAOC, Asheron's Call, Conan, Warhammer (and a few others that I can't remember their names at the moment) and in my constant pilgrimage to find the best MMORPG, WoW is the one I keep coming back to. It's not to say I haven't had fun playing other MMOs. I had quite a bit of fun with FFXI especially, but the downsides of each have pushed and pulled so many other people, like myself, into the realm of WoW for their MMO pleasures.

One part of the MMO experience that keeps players coming back to the same game is expansions. Wrath of the Lich King, Blizzard's latest expansion was released on Nov 13th, within 24 hours had sold 2.8 million copies.

Thinking about trying to review an expansion to an MMO is a difficult task to accomplish because I have to assume that those that care to read this review have already played WoW (2.8 million out of 6,602,224,175 chance). I also have to assume that you've got a character that is near the level 70 pre-WotLK cap. If not, you'll just be futilely banging on the keyboard as the review will do absolutely nothing for you and further reading will not be to your liking (except the section at the end) and even if you do play WoW, I'm not sure there's too much I can do other than talk about the observations I've made.

For those that don't know, I tend to focus my WoW involvement on my doppelganger blog Lifeblooming Onion but I feel that since 2.8 million copies of this piece of software have been sold, I need to make an effort to give it some sort of respect here too.

For those of you that play WoW, casually or every waking non-working hour hardcorely, I'll touch on some of the highlights and compare the changes to the vanilla version and the Burning Crusade expansion. I first was pushed from the latter type of player to the former due to a lot of physical realm responsibilities and events that occurred during the month of November. But thankfully, before November was in full swing, a prerelease patch was given to all those that were already playing. A lot of "expansion" features were made available at that point and the following is a list as to those changes:

• New class spells and talents
• Stormwind Harbor
• Barbershops in capital cities
• Zeppelin towers outside of Orgrimmar and Tirisfal Glades
• Two brand-new Arenas featuring challenging new layouts, terrain hazards, and moving obstacles
• Blizzard's usual teasing of its players by offering only the whip cream instead of handing us the whole cherry pie
• Guild calendar
• Hunter pet skill revamp
• New profession: Inscription
• Achievements which sometimes are just for bragging rights and others yield actual rewards
• Changes to things such as Spell Power and Healing Power have now been combined into the same stat and therefore similar gear can be used for dps and healers alike.

The expansion itself included the following additions:

• New continent called Northrend to explore. Northrend features ten zones with content for levels as low as 68, though players may travel to Northrend at any level. One zone is open PVP no matter what type of server you play on.
• New instances including many 5, 10, and 25 man dungeons. A new addition is 10 man and 25 man versions of larger dungeons will now be open and loot will be different depending on what version is run.
• Death Knight Hero Class. This class starts at level 55 for those that already have a character above that level and is somewhat a cross between a warrior, paladin and warlock in its abilities.
• Graphical improvements including magic effects.
• New Factions
• Plethora of quests
• More frustration
• New Mounts
• Lots more of the same
• More fun
• More of the word More

Combined there were plenty of changes, and from what I remember, more than when TBC was released. Some were way overdue like the guild calendar while others were somewhat a surprise such as achievements giving new mounts and small pets.

Here are my observations of WotLK:

1. The first thing that should slap you in the face once your foot hits the snow in Northrend is the noticeable overall style that the landscapes have compared to TBC. TBC had a fantasy sci-fi look mixing medieval with futuristic. Some people really enjoy fantasy sci-fi and others, like myself, find it to be an awkward conglomeration of things that shouldn't be placed next to one another. Northrend's decor is more of the classic vanilla WoW focusing mainly on the medieval setting and doing so with landscapes, weapons, mounts, etc.
2. The next thing you'll notice is the neverending story called the grind. By grind I mean leveling and by leveling I mean spending way too much time doing tasks for ungrateful NPCs. For me to reach one more level of experience I had to almost put in 6-8 hours of play which gave me FFXI flashbacks on the same level of seeing my buddies die face down in the muck.
3. Reputation grinds seem easier as the total amounts have either changed or including larger gains in accomplishing quests. Faction tabards now give the ability to give you rep based on that faction no matter what level 80 dungeon you are doing.
4. Inscription is a wild card profession including once per day random recipe gains. Herbalism is a must to go along with it and scales to a large amounts herbs needed to level as you get to the herbs of TBC and beyond.
5. Death knights seem like a great class but I'm not sure they will ever be a main tank for a guild beyond smaller 5man/10man things. Everyone I had talked to about their DK really seemed to enjoy it over the last TBC pally/shaman addition.
6. I haven't fully tested PvP, Arena, and BGs for this expansion yet so I am unsure on how those are now. There are additions such as the BG Strand of the Ancients and an outdoor all PVP area both involving the use of seige weaponry.
7. Most of the fluff from dungeons (walking distances, extra packs of mobs) has been removed for the new ones such as the Violet Hold which instantly throws you into 1/18 encounters and can be completed in under 30 mins. The look of the dungeons is very well done and gives each their own little persona.
8. Lots of extra distractions from dungeon diving and pvp like new mounts and pets are very plentiful and hard to pull some people away from.
9. Dungeon difficulty has been changed going back to more of the original version of WoW where damage is more predictable instead of sporradic and helps keep raid makeups more diverse.
10. Achievements, which at first looked to be all wastes of time, can actually yield some very individualistic rewards that few others will have such as tabards, mounts, pets, titles, etc.
11. More abilities and talent spec choices giving players more choices and decisions but making balance something harder to achieve for Blizzard.

WotLK is more content, more undiscovered territory, and more distractions from the real world for those that already love and live for WoW. What each want out of their monthly payment experience is up to the individual but know that if you aren't attempting to experience all that you can, you might be missing out on some great fun.

So get out there today with your group of friends and start to make the cold journey through Northrend into the soft heart of the Lich King.

To those that are on the edge since TBC or before, others intending on putting more effort into playing now, not a single reason as to why to start a frustrating debate, and probably because this is a better outlet for my opinion over my other blog:

Since playing the expansion and talking with people that had given up during TBC or earlier, with people that had taken time off and planned on coming back just for the expansion, and with those that have played everyday since WoW was released, I am starting to notice a trend in the types of people that are playing WoW.

I've noticed people only really continuing their WoW lives for 4 reasons: Raiding, PVP, socializing, and there isn't a better MMO out there. It is an MMO and therefore puts you in situations for necessary interactions with others but if you are a person that has a hard time socializing and finding others that have similar play schedules and interests, you start to become ostracized intentionally or accidentally so my suggestion is to not pick up the expac if you haven't already.

Since WoW is an established MMO, trying to pick up from a previous spot (well under pre-WotLK lvl 70 cap) or starting from the beginning is almost asking to be placed in the corner by yourself for months while others are out in the playground reaping the fun of things you cannot be involved in. Socializing as a lower level is something that you can join in unless it's talk focused on in-game aspects and then it's like a five year old child sporting an average IQ trying to get involved with a conversation about diversification of 401k elections in a crashing market, a bouquet of a Chilean wine versus a French, and String Theory. Again you become left out in the cold.

If you aren't into the socializing but want to play with random other people, PVP is really the main outlet and is a constant forum of debate for balance of play. This is can be the main reason people will choose a different MMO over WoW (aka Warhammer) or quit MMOs altogether. And even though recent changes have made BGs and other PVP (arenas) unorganized messes, good true fun PVP is still an organized form of play done with others.

The fact that there isn't a better MMO out there is mainly a financial constraint and is only noticed because you have to flip the bill once a month. If you pay for it ($156-180 for an entire year of play) you really should be trying to get the most for your money and that requires playing with the massive amounts of others.

Solo PVE will only get you so far and pugging dungeons can be nightmarish and suicidal. If you are all alone and solo PVE all the way up into the level 80 cap you will be greeted by a lovely brick wall of boredom and thumb twiddling as there is nothing else left for you to do unless it is with others.

In the end, organized dungeon diving and PVP are the only things you can do in the game beyond leveling and they have to be done with a group. Yes, you can sit and chat like I mentioned but if that's all you're doing why not download a free IM program or join a pedophile free chat room? This leaves you with playing with a few other people or larger groups of 25 people. The 5 to 10 man content only gets people so far before hitting the brick wall again and to be effectively jumping into that sized content with outside of game responsibilities can require closer to 10-20 people respectively.

Blizzard really puts some of the biggest amount of time and thought in its 25 man dungeons which is the last outlet for everyone. Progression through these dungeons require some of the best teamwork, leadership, and coordination which is best accomplished through already solid relationships that can only be built by previous camaraderie. All of that cannot be accomplished overnight and is best done by people playing together for quite a bit of time prior.

So if you are on the wall on whether to buy and continue your WoW adventures, remember in that your ultimate goal should be aiming for endgame dungeons and/or PVP with a good social guild to do that otherwise you really aren't getting your money's worth and could just spend 50 bucks on something else. If you already bought WotLK, I hope the best to you in your raids and HKing continuance as you attempt to slay the Lich King.

Fallout 3: don't leave a key underneath that mat for me

Dear diary, Jackpot!

Due to the love for this game along with a handful of others that were released within the same month, I held off on reviewing Fallout 3, from Bethesda, to allow myself to soak in a good dose first without regretting a new spontaneous appendage growth. After 10 levels of play and over 20 hours in I can safely say without any regret or second guessing that this is the best game to come out in a few years.

Now to make such a hefty judgement one has to weigh all the factors that make up a legendary release of a game. So I'll quickly run through a list as to what I look in for a game.

1. Difficulty and Reward - Is the game hard but rewarding when accomplished?
2. Learning and Yearning Curve - can anyone learn after about 2-3 hours of play and will people want to play it
3. Tingling the senses - Controls, graphics, sound: feels good, looks good, sounds good yet doesn't tax a system it's played on
4. The rug tying the room together - Storyline, depth, cut scenes, loading time, monotony, violence, humor, packaging, properly debugged prior to launch, total hours of play, possibility for sequels/expansions, etc

Fallout 3 doesn't lack from much at all. It might be a little more difficult to learn but overall nails all 4 factors well above average. It probably shouldn't be played by all children as to the somewhat excessive and exaggerated violence or the tie into what could be a grim reality but if a kid can somehow afford to pay for it and the system to play it on, they're probably old enough to play it. Even though it's the 3rd in the series, previous games are unnecessary to enjoy this version as pieces of Fallout 1 and 2 are sprinkled throughout the game.

Taking place in the year 2277 (30 years after Fallout 2) you are a dweller of Vault 101 (near Washington DC) and have never stepped foot outside of your vault. A war ravaged the land 200 years prior and your father one day decides to leave the vault. Quickly you follow his path out into the ravaged Wasteland. From there the game becomes very like Bethesda's prior open style games where you are able to travel anywhere you can survive and make whatever choices you see fit to the people and things you encounter.

Fallout 3 is an RPG in the sense that you can change your character over time and can interact with those around you with narrative dialogue. The combat however is much like a 1st person shooter but with the addition of a stop time system called VATS. Similar to Fallout 1 + 2 you have an action point bar which at any time can be used to complete actions in VATS. The VATS system is probably the most unique idea around for combat in its presentation of how combat could go.

Statistically connected to your character's attributes, your actions and their outcomes are based off of RPG elements such as skill using the type of weapon, range from aggressor, etc. You press a single button to initiate VATS and select where you would like to attack your target and a percentage appears as to the possibility you will land a hit. The whole system is actually optional in usage and can be ignored but I recommend that you shouldn't due to its helpfulness, uniqueness, and visual splendor.

Once your action points are spent the rest is played out much like a beautiful slow motion orchestrated movie. Only it's better than a Wachowski and John Woo film combined (Ok minus the leather and doves). The outcomes can be jaw dropping and darkly humorous like using a sharpened frozen banana because you can eat the evidence (not in the game).

What Bethesda designers do well is making tediously repetative activities fun. Hacking into computers, for example, is done by scrolling up a page of many different words and making attempts at what the password is with the computer telling you how many letters are correct out of the selection before you are either locked out, pick the correct word, or start all over again.

Fallout 3, unlike it's similar Morrowind predecessors and other ethical based titles such as Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect, etc, caters more to the ethically evil type of character and the most overlooked, Swiss loving, Nicomachean neutral alignment. Dialogue options usually involve many responses, most of which include at least one similar to a Snake Plissken or Mad Max reply. Hacking into a computer can yield you someone else's money or can lead to valuable information but at the expense that it is "stealing" and lowers your karma even if the person that the computer belongs to is "evil" to begin with. Those Mark, Matthew, and Luke fellows might of been right when they were talking about the Sower.


The environment of interactions between people, aspects of the wasteland itself, the technology, and the way information is presented has a very 1950's tone to it that gives the game a personality where other games sometimes have a gap. This personality is a backbone and helps to pat you on the back any time the unsettling attitude of the wasteland starts to affect you. At the same time the 50's disposition is oblivious to the seriousness of things such as nuclear blasts and presents things in a dark fashion just like the old "duck and cover" instructional videos.

The Wasteland itself is done much like a portrait of the DC area as some major highways and landmarks can be seen throughout the game and contained within buildings are well designed mazes of rubble and ruin. Unlike Oblivion, I felt that there was less repetition in what is contained within buildings and Fallout gives a better feel for truly trying to scavenge and scrounging for items of survival instead of handing out tools and trinkets without a challenge.

One nice change from previous games was a few collector's editions that had some nice TREAsures included like an old metal grade school lunchbox that can only fit 3/4 of a PB+J sandwich, banana, and pudding or the contents of the game, a bobblehead of the lovely Vault Boy, making of DVD, art book, and for the big spenders a PIPboy clock.

There are already plans to release expansion packs similar to those for other Morrowind games as early as January 2009. They include one set in Anchorage, one in Pittsburgh and one as the Brotherhood of Steel in DC.

So would you survive in the remnants of a shattered and irradiated world? Or would your curiosity kill all nine of your lives and make your corpse pile a smoldering flesh pit for good measure? Or would you get the best of the Wasteland and exterminate every begging, crying, ugly forgotten survivor out there? Only going out and buying the game will prove to me what you are truly capable of.

Left 4 Dead + Mirror's Edge Demos: Oh baby you, you got what I need, but you say he's just a friend.

Fight or Flight? Ok most of the time you only care about the question "soup or salad?" but if you had a face full of zombie mucus I'll bet you'd start picking the house shotgun salad.

A new demo that I tried was Valve's new multiplayer co-op game Left 4 Dead. Using the great engine that was a tremendous success in showing off grand digital physics, Valve's latest release is exactly what lovers of the Zombie genre want; Guts, ammo, and running shoes.

Another run of the mill 1st person shooter with nothing that really sets it apart except for, well, 3 things:
1. Zombies. In the 2 levels included with the demo the total kills per level were about 320 or more. And most of the time all those zombies are aggressively pouring out of every nook and cranny that is around you. Added are some special types of zombies each with special abilities to add to the thrill and difficulty and at times mobs of 25 or more will all charge at you making it feel like a movie action sequence.
2. Friends. Picking 1 of 4 infection survivors, you and your 3 friends go from place to place just trying to keep the life bar filled. If you don't know 3 people that own Steam and a copy of the game, a Bot AI is used to fill the gap.
3. Survival. Relying on your friends to watch all angles, including already treaded paths makes Left 4 Dead an interesting game. Flashlight action much like Doom 3 at a very fast pace makes for many adrenaline pumping moments especially when a couple of hallways or windows aren't being watched or some strange sounds seem to bounce all around a room.

Being a big fan of the zombie genre movies and the company Valve, I felt I had a big bias towards this game automatically being good. Trying to ignore the bias I contemplated why it would be financially feasible for people to buy the game. This fork of a decision is what people will ruin their caps lock key over.

The game will only truly be fun if the experienced is shared with 3 others for what it costs. From what I have read the single player type portion can be speedily accomplished in under 8 hours total and the story-line is non-existent. But hey, most 1st person multiplayer games don't even bother with something like that (unreal tournament, quake 3, etc). But unlike these other 1st person multiplayers, Left 4 Dead is really the first that is co-op oriented.

The requirement of having to play with 3 others toward a common goal, aka team work, is best accomplished by doing so with 3 other people you know. I could not see myself hoping onto the game, randomly throwing myself in with 3 children and expecting it to be fun and rewarding for any of us unless people started calling me The Jesus.

In the end it comes down to knowing a few people that are all planning on making the purchase too and playing the game together in order to make it al worth while and for me my Steam friend's list is the saddest and smallest friends list I have.


Once I got sick of running from bloody bib wearing zombies, I decided to try a game where I'd run and run. Mirror's Edge from the Swedish game company DICE was surprising in that it really gave the player a different 1st person experience.

Instead of the usual six foot standing with minor head bobbing coupled with a little ducking, jumping, crawling, Mirror's Edge gives the player a look through the eyes of someone running to make sure your pizza is hand delivered in under 30 minutes while being chased by the neighbor's pitbull or what Franka Potente would see during Run Lola Run.

If you scare easy from heights this game is even more for you. The extreme heights from the tops of buildings as you leap and slide your way to safety while being chased adds to the toe curling and eye closing moments.

The story is done by using anime type bland cutscenes which are easily ignored. The story really reminded me of the movie Ultraviolet and is not the sort of thing you want to be compared to. The controls are odd and quite numerous as this seems to be the first game to really put to use the secondary trigger buttons. If your timing is off you usually plummet to your petunia bowl and sperm whale death.

What separates this game is that it really felt like you are being constantly chased, and in turn adds to the need to dexterously conquer the obstacles to get to safety while the 1st person view ties the experience together with fluid movement.

I would highly recommend this game to rent and play through and ask for doctors to start prescribing it as a cure to those that have vertigo.