Eenie, meenie, miney...

Alright, I have a gaming problem and I'm going to put it out for all of you to chime in on. This is the first winter in a long time I can remember so many good games coming out. Due to financial strappings that have not been resolved (but I was hoping would be) I am going to be very limited in my purchasing ability and I don't have a ton of gaming time the way it is.

Before I list the games that I'm torn about let me tell you this, I have to get Smackdown vs. Raw 2008 next month because it's a family game for us (my wife, son, and I are big wrestling fans). Plus the demo was pretty damn fun and you should check it out if you haven't already. So I'm figuring I can get one more game before Christmas comes around.

Call of Duty 4

CoD2 was a great SP experience but I didn't like the online that much. I have little doubt that Infinity Ward will make another great, cinematic SP campaign and I was crazy for the MP beta that was released. The only problem is that I am loving H3 online so much that I'm not sure I'll want to play CoD4 online instead. The problem then becomes that I believe CoD4 will be a lot like Counter Strike in that there is going to be a steep learning curve for anyone late to the party. Not only that but since you get better equipment as you play new people are going to be even more behind the eight ball. I got the beta a couple weeks late and when I first started playing it was rough. People already knew the maps and had more effective weapons so it was tough going. The one thing that helped me was that the level cap at 16 made it easier to catch up. If everyone could have kept leveling and gaining stuff it would have been damn tough to stay in it. If I have to choose between H3 and CoD4 on the nights I get to game then my skills are going to suffer in the one I don't play.

Mass Effect

I'm a huge RPG fan. I grew up playing D&D, Shadowrun, the Marvel RPG, White Wolf games, and a bunch of others. It's in my blood and Mass Effect looks to be the mother of all console RPGs to date. BioWare is an incredible dev that realy knows what they are doing with RPGs and I really want to play this. Thing is, it's only a SP game. Now that's not a bad thing in my mind, in fact, it's quite the opposite. I really enjoy an engrossing SP experience that I don't have to worry about keeping up with someone else or finding someone to play with. BioShock was incredible and I played through it almost three times and with all the different character choices you can make in ME I know Iwould play through more than once. But because it's SP only I could get it anytime and have the same experience. I don't have to worry about my skill level, ranking up, or unlocking new weapons. Honestly I could wait a whole year to get the game and it would be the same experience as if I had gotten it on day one. Sure I might stumble across some spoilers in a podcast or forum but other than that there isn't going to be anything that would change the game for me if I wait.

The Orange Box

This is easily the greatest gaming value in console history. On top of that HL is my favorite FPS of all time and I have not played Ep.1 or Ep.2. Portal is intriguing and getting rave reviews and, other than lag issues, Team Fortress2 should be a blast. So if this is such a no-brainer why didn't I pick it up over the weekend? I almost did when I was walking by it in Best Buy but restrained myself. Of the five games (that's just awesome to say...5 games, wow) four of them are SP only experiences and I have already played one of them. So my Mass Effect argument is echoed here in that it doesn't matter when I play these games because, other than spoilers, the experience will be the same no matter when I play them. Team Fortress 2 does look like a ton of fun but I'm not sure they are going to be able to reduce the lag issue sufficiently and, again, I don't know if it could stand up to my H3 online obsession. I will be getting the Orange Box at some point but should it be now or can I afford to wait?

Guitar Hero III

I am a metal head. A pure headbanging rock-n-roller to the core. I still buy t-shirts of favorite bands (Iron Maiden is the greatest) and wear them when I go out even though it draws strange stares from the younger crowds. One thing you should know is that I have always loved the guitar and tried desperately to learn to play and failed each time. I had an instructor tell me that he would keep taking my money if I wanted but suggested that I do something better with it because I was just not ever going to be able to play the guitar. Harsh I know, but at least he gave it to me straight. Then, years later, I found out about GH and how awesome it was to feel like you are actually playing and knew I must have it. I bought GHII and loved it. I was never able to do expert or even the higher sets lists on hard but it was still a hell of a lot of fun. The new one seems as though it will be more of the same great game with a better, wireless guitar and boss battles. Since I have a GHII controller my wife or son and I could actually play together this time around. Again it's a matter of whether I would play this instead of H3.

So there's my issue. Thoughts, suggestions, ideas? What game would you get?

Posted by Q @ 2:12 pm EDT | Permalink | 7 Comments

Customizable Future...

Well, I finally got to play some custom games last night in the Halo 3 beta.  Now I know the forums are flooded with news about the customs, people's thoughts on the available weapons, and how cool it is to fly around Valhalla with low gravity/high speed; so I'm not going to rehash any of that here.  I'm not foolish enough to think that my ramblings are so important that everyone is waiting with bated breath to hear them.  I will say that I saw two things that really left an impression on me:

1. High Ground is probably the worst map ever for a 2-flag CTF game (seriously, it's fucking horrible)
2. The sheer number of customizable options is simply staggering!

The second point is what I want to talk about although, trust me, the first point can't be overstated.  After our room broke up last night I decided to stay on for a little while just to look through the custom game options (for those that don't know, when you leave a room that was playing customs you will still be in the custom lobby).  I always found myself trying to come up with new and inventive game types in H2 for my Clan to play so I spent a lot of time in the custom game menu.  Let me just say that the option set you had available in H2 is like a mouse-sized poo pellet compared to giant, steaming mound of Silverback shit that is the H3 option set.  While I don't like the interface (I would much rather have a cascading menu system but that may change in the final retail version) I was blown away by all of the things you can set.  Things like:

• Headshots on or off
• Gravity adjustments
• Speed adjustments
• Grenade regeneration (you automatically regenerate grenade just standing there)
• Motion sensor radius and what shows up (just friends, foes, both, or both all the time)
• Slayer team lead advantages and disadvantages
• VIP radius affect traits

and tons of other cool stuff (look in the forums for a complete list) that will make for countless new variations of gametypes. There is also the option to save the settings for the gametype you are currently playing to your HD so we won't need to waste forum posts and PMs outlining how we setup a game variant, which is a great feature.  Sure the SP campaign is a big part of the game but the MP is where the real meat and staying power of the franchise is.  While I really enjoy getting a group of 4 together and pwn'ing n00bs in MM (made even better this time around with the 'Team and Party Only' voice option) I have always loved the fun and crazy action that happens in the custom game rooms.  Hell, MLG is a custom game type and that is the only way I really like to play H2 anymore.  I think I will be spending a whole lot of time trying to recreate and tweak old H2 custom favorites as well as coming up with entirely new customs to spring on Clanmates and friends.  I'm actually just as excited at the prospect of creating customs as I am for playing the full game! 

I know that this is just the beta glitch and things may very well change for the final version but it's obvious that Bungie is really trying to cater to the community and give them the options to do what they want.  There are going to be some people that never even open the custom options (or are scared away by the intimidating number) but for those who put the time into learning and exploring the available options the rewards will be apparent.  Yes, the fruits of the custom creators out there will be sweet indeed the next time around.  The only thing that could get my custom juices flowing even more is if we got a glimpse of that, as of yet, unannounced map editor that they're including.

Posted by Q @ 10:26 am EDT | Permalink | 6 Comments

A True Crap Shoot...

Beta testing is something that has been going on for years in the PC world but console users just haven't had the ability to do this.  With the proliferation of broadband and the ever expanding user base on Live it was only a matter of time before the software giant decided to wade into deeper beta waters and get the console gaming community involved in bug squashing.  It is also no surprise that one of the first real open beta games is going to be an FPS of some repute, Halo 3.

I know, I know it's not the first beta on Live but I did say "one of" the first betas.  You could have taken part of the beta for PSU but that was difficult to sign up for a pain in the ass for what you got.  Shadowrun (another first-party FPS) just had a sign up for an open beta that will start this month and run until March '07 and that is where I want to draw my comparison. 

First, let me explain that when I say 'open beta' I'm referring to a beta program in which everyone has a chance to be allowed to play.  A 'closed beta' in my mind would be an invitation only beta in which you had no way in unless the dev knew you and asked you to participate.  This may be incorrect terminology but hey, it's my blog so deal with it.

Now, I think that a beta for Halo 3 is great.  It will not only allow rabid fans to get a taste and promote the hype, but it will also allow Bungie to get useful (at least in some cases) feedback from fans on how to make the MP game great from the start.  We all remember the 1.1 patch that was released for H2 and fixed all the BR and grenade problems right?  This should theoretically help them avoid such a misstep this time around.  That's not to say there won't be tweaks because MP can always be improved but at least they shouldn't need to make any drastic changes like with the 1.1 patch.  What I'm curious about is just how random being chosen for this beta is going to be.  I signed up for the Shadowrun beta when I heard about it and during the signup process you had to fill out a small questionaire.  The questions asked were obviously there to extract certain demographic information that FASA coud use to separate the signees into different groups.  Then after that is complete they can choose certain numbers of participants from their pre-sorted demographic pools to get the type of feedback that they are looking for.  It's obvious that hardcore gamers are going to give different feedback than casual gamers and FASA seems to have worked that into their beta selection process.  FASA also stated that the initial group that will be chosen to begin play in December will be very small but the group size will be continually increased as the beta goes on so you could be chosen later down the line.  This seems like a good system to me.  It's no guarantee that you are going to be chosen but it is setup in such a way that it seems like it will provide FASA with a lot of good feedback.  The Halo 3 beta signup, however, seems to be little more than a completely random choosing system.  Signing up (at least for me) consisted of nothing more than logging into the website with my passport account and filling out my name, address, phone number, and email.  No questions, no inquiries, no nothing.  Essentially I just filled out Publisher's Clearinghouse form and stuck it in the mail hoping for the giant million dollar check to show up at my door.  Bizarre!

It almost seems to me that Bungie is less concerned about the type or quality of feedback that they are going to receive from this and are using it as more of a marketing tool to keep Halo 3 on everyone's mind throughout the year until it's released.  I'm not sure I like that.  Like I said I like the idea of beta testing and getting feedback from the people that are ging to be purchasing the game, but it just doesn't seem that they are really putting a great deal of effort into this beta.  At least not into the initial stages of it.

Another thing that is bothering me about this is that Bungie has stated that signing up for this beta is only the first way to get into it.  What?  There are other ways of getting into a beta?  Obviously they aren't talking about sending out personal invites (although several game journalists will probably be extended this courtesy) so what are they talking about?  I believe that they are referring to being able to pay to take part in the beta as it's winding down.  I know that it has been all over the net the past month that the H3 beta was going to be a pay-to-play system but then with the website for signing up that seemed to dispell the idea.  Unfortunately I think it is still going to be pay-to-play for those that aren't chosen out of the magical hat.  While I want to play in the beta, one of the reasons is to provide meaningful feedback to Bungie that can hopefully help them shape the game into more of what I want to see.  By the time they open it up for the pay-to-play crowd it is going to be less of a beta and more of a demo/hype machine.  It may help them with load testing and MM tweaks but I have a feeling by that time they are going to be wrapping up the data collection from the beta testing group and just go with the information they have already collected.  The pay beta will probably last 4-6 weeks at the end of the beta and then there will be no more Halo 3 until the release in November. 

Don't get me wrong I still want in the Halo 3 beta.  I want in REALLY, REALLY BAD!  But I can't help thinking that I have an infinitesimally small chance and once I get to pay for it my voice will be little more than another fanboy crying out for changes to be made to a system that has already been determined.  Here's hoping that I have a better shot at Shadowrun (which needs my help more anyway).  Good luck!

Posted by Q @ 2:17 pm EDT | Permalink | 2 Comments

First or Third...

Everybody is a critic.  That statement holds true for just about everything including movies, food, television, and (believe it or not) video games.  I read quite a bit of gaming news and listen to a lot of gaming podcasts in order to stay informed about the state of games and the industry so I'm exposed to a ton of critics.  Even more than that I have discovered that I myself am actaully a video game critic.  I definitely have opinions and find myself making counterpoints to journalists views all the time.  Hell, that's one of the reasons that I started this blog.  Well recently I have been hearing one criticism about M$ and the 360 come up over and over and I want to give my two cents.  The criticism is that M$ only has 2 game releases coming out this holiday season that are first party games.  My counterpoint...who cares?!

Alright, I admit that it's not a very verbose counterpoint but I like to keep things succinct and direct, and it's actually more poignant than at first glance.  Let me expound on my thought and see how you feel about this.

It's true that the only first party titles being released this holiday for the 360 are Gears of War and Viva Pinata but I don't see that as an inherent flaw.  I think that those that see it as a flaw view it as such because first party titles are automatically seen as exclusives and exclusives sell systems.  I'm not so sure that exclusives sell systems like they used to and the landsape of exclusives is in an industry wide transition now anyways.  I'm not going to go into my views on exclusives right now as I plan on that being an article for a later time but suffice to say I don't see it as a valid argumentfor the topic's criticism.  I may be able to play Rainbow Six: Vegas and Call of Duty 3 on PS3 this fall but that doesn't mean that it takes away from the 360 lineup.  It still puts solid titles on the shelf and enhances a growing library of good games.  How can that be a bad thing?  Would Call of Duty 3 exclusive on 360 be better?  Sure it would but, like I said, the future of exclusives is sketchy and even though you're leaving it up to the consumer to pick which console they want to play it on the game is still going to be a part of a library of games. 

Right now I would also go so far as to say that even the games that will be on both 360 and PS3 this Christmas may still be different experiences and therefore can be considered as different titles in each respective library.  My reasoning for that is the fact that Sony still hasn't publicly outlined it's online strategy and that is where M$ thrives.  There is little doubt that online games are the way of the future and all the game  manufacturers know this.  Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on which console you back) M$ is the king of console online and is really the one that is leading the charge.  Until Sony can prove that it can deliver an Xbox Live type of performance for its online enabled games the games that are released for both systems will be different experiences.  A glaring example is Tony Hawk 8.  Neversoft designed the whole core of the gameplay around it being an online experience yet the PS3 version will not have an online component.  That is HUGE!  It means that, sure, you can buy Tony Hawk 8 for the 360 or the PS3 but you aren't getting the same game.  The PS3 version is going to be  neutered version and inferior in many ways to the 360 version.  That is the only title we are sure is going to be a different experience on each system but it may not end up being the only one.  Online support for PS3 hasn't been announced for Rainbow Six: Vegas or Call of Duty 3 (both of which are coming out very soon) so we'll have to wait and see. 

My other point is that maybe M$ realizes that it doesn't have to make all the games themselves to have a good system.  That is the traditional way of thinking brought about by the dominance of Nintendo in the 80's.  A time when Mario and Zelda ruled the console landscape with a fist full of mushrooms and a boomerang.  But times are changing and the industry needs to find ways to change with it.  I think that M$ made some good moves by purchasing Bungie and Rare (yes I still think they're a good studio) but they also see that they don't need to own a studio to get a great game.  They treat third party developers like they are first party developers by giving them a console that is easy to work on and the support that they need.  They have also shown that they can partner with a company without owning it.  Epic is a third party developer but is being seen as a first party developer for Gears of War just because M$ is going to publish the game.  That is something that they can do in the future to get great games on the system without having to buy up the industry.  Maybe in the future they can find lesser known studios and partner with them to get a great game and raise the that studios stock in the industry.  It would be win/win.

Lastly I would like to think that M$ is smart enough to know when they can't compete directly.  Remember when the Xbox originally launched and they had their own line of sport titles being made by their first pary sport team?  Eventually they learned that they just couldn't compete in the market from a first party standpoint and pulled the plug.  That was a smart move and one that I was hapy to see. NFL Fever wasn't bad but it certainly wasn't as good as the 2K football titles or even Madden.  M$ realized that it didn't necessarily have to be making these games themselves in order to get them on their console and it would be better to stop spinning their wheels trying to play catch up.  A big, intelligent decision like that gives me hope that M$ is smart enough to know what they have to do in this industry to compete.

In the end M$ is a good, solid, smart company that has every intension of trying to claw their way to number one in the console market.  I'm not sure they will ever make it but their drive and perseverance give me confidence in their product and the future for the system.  Just because they don't make a lot of games themselves doesn't mean anything in this new gaming landscape that we are entering.  All that matters is that there are good, fun games added to the library on a continuous basis to give everyone plenty to play in their spare time.  I don't need them to give me first party titles as long as the third party titles are handled with first party care and deliver a fun experience.  And don't forget that until Sony can prove it's online strategy is going to be viable and able to compete with Live M$ is going to have an advantage in every muti-platform title released.  Thake that Kaz!

Posted by Q @ 11:57 am EDT | Permalink | 0 Comments

Walking Towards The Light...

Well friends, the time is finally drawing near.  The time of change that I knew would be here eventually.  The time when I would finally have to move on.  No I'm not leaving the site and no I'm not abandoning my blog (so stop hoping)  but rather preparing for the departing journey from what has become my gaming cornerstone, Halo 2.  It's been a great run and I don't regret a single game but I also don't feel sad about moving on, because I see it more as moving forward.

There is no doubt that Halo 2 had a profound effect on my life as a gamer.  It was an incredible experience that I never tired of and one of the few games in history that, IMO at least, lived up to the hype.  Sure I had critical assessments on some of it's design choices (especially the neutered pistol and overpowered sword) but I was nothing but impressed about the game as a whole.  It had an engaging and entertaining story (which I fully expected to have a cliffhanger ending for the third installment), beautiful graphics, smooth gameplay, great AI, and was just a hell of a lot of fun to play.  But it wasn't the great single player experience that really hooked me on this game and kept me coming back day after day for two years.  No, it was the one thing that set it apart from the other great shooters before it...the online play.

Now when I say that the online play hooked me I have to make an immediate distinction.  I'm not referring to matchmaking or a specific game type but rather the one thing it delivered that I didn't expect, the social aspect.  I had never played many games online and didn't have broadband until shortly before the Halo 2 release (I got it installed a few weeks before so I could be ready) so I really didn't know what to expect.  I thought it would be fun because playing in LAN games in Quake and SoF had been great in the past and that was all I had to compare it too.  In my mind it would be kind of like a giant LAN session but without all the heavy lifting and cable connecting.  Instead it turned out to be exactly like that.  One of the things I loved about the LAN sessions was the fact that there were a bunch of your gaming friends right there in the room with you and you could laugh, joke, and talk shit.  That made it more than just a game.  It made it a social experience and I never thought that could happen in an online game for me.  Little did I know how wrong I was.

Not long after the game's release I found the geezer gamer website and realized that there was a giant community of adult gamers just like me.  I started filling my friends list with good people and having a great time playing online.  What was great wasn't just the game playing but the socializing that went with it.  You could sit in the lobby and just shoot the shit with the other people in the room and have a good time.  It was just like a LAN but now I could sit around in my underwear (something that I was banned from years before) and not have to lug equipment around. And just when I though things couldn't get better they did.  I found a group of guys that had formed a clan and were kind enough to invite me into their circle.  They were the Senior Citizens Clan and they turned out to be the best reason I had to keep playing the game.  Night after night we would get together to laugh, talk, and play and it never got old.  Sure there were nights that I got frustrated with the game but I always came back.  I formed a real friendhip with all of my clan mates that transcended the game.  It was a friendship that I never thought $50 would buy me (hell I couldn't even get a hooker to pretend she liked me for $50). 

Earlier I said that Halo 2 had a profound effect on my life as a gamer, but as I sit back and reflect on the past two years I realize that it's effect didn't stop with gaming.  It brought me into a community of likeminded, funloving adult gamers who I could call friends.  Even more than that it gave me a kind of second family.   One that helped support me through my father's terminal cancer and let me know that you don't have to grow up with someone to form a real bond.

So why am I moving on?  Because that's life and there are more games to be played.  Besides I'm not moving away from my friends or my Clan and that's why I'm not sad about the whole thing.  The coming months finally has a group of games that are going to be too much for Halo 2 to stand up against.  There's Gears of War, Call of Duty 3, Rainbow Six: Vegas, and Lost Planet just to name some of them.  They are all going to be good games (some great) with engaging gameplay and a strong online presence.  I may still play Halo 2 once in a while but it definitely won't be the one I leave in my 360's DVD tray at night (I love the boot to dashboard feature).  I also know that the community is going to start shifting too.  360s are going to be bought and we are all going to move forward into the next-gen of online gaming together. 

So over the next few weeks I'm going to try and get some more Halo 2 in before the November rush hits.  Like a nice long goodbye session to a game that has effected me more than I ever thought a game could.  But don't doubt that I'll still be getting ready for that journey towards the light, because the future definitely looks like it's going to be bright.  Hopefully you all won't be too far behind and we can be curb stomping some locusts and drinking some beer soon.  Oh ya, and I promise I won't tell you I'm in my underwear...naked is my new thing anyway.

Posted by Q @ 4:38 pm EDT | Permalink | 2 Comments