Bob Barker should have Neutered this one...

Well I thought how bad can you screw up a game show that has been on for literally decades? Oh how wrong I was. 

Yeah that isn't the best of endorsements for this game, but it's the truth. I rented this one for my Wii with the hopes that my wife and i would have a lot of fun bidding on things, spinning the "Big Wheel" and playing the Price is Right Games. Sadly, it didn't happen. 

Starting off the game boots up with the Price is Right music, and i start thinking, "Oh yeah bring it on Bob!" Much to my dismay there is no voice of the beloved Bob Barker in the game... nor is there the voice of the new host Drew Carey. Just some run of the mill voice over actor (no offense whoever you are) that reads the lines that you WISH Bob was. 

The game starts and you get to choose between several different avatars to use as your on screen character. Nothing really of note except that the only African American person looks like a homeless crack head you would see on Cops for some reason. Input your name, and let the fun begin. The next item up for bid... Actually this is one of the things that did impress me about the game. They show you a full motion video of the item you have to put a bid on, complete with "The Bob Barker Girls" showing it off. Then it breaks down again. Everyone places a bid and the winner gets the value of that prize added to their "winnings". No second chance for the other players you automatically move on to the first game. 

You get four different games to choose from, i don't remember what they were b/c they all pale in comparison to "Cliff Hangers" which is in the game. The winner of the previous game gets to choose first, then so on down the line until all the participants have played a minigame of their choosing. Nothing much more than that, again there was FMV but the video at one point didn't match the item description they were giving me on screen, that's a downer.

Next we have the Big wheel spin. You know the drill Spin the wheel get the closest to the Dollar that you can without going over and move on to the Showcase Showdown. Well the only flaw here is that if only one human player gets to closest to the dollar then the game is over. so even if you don't get the dollar you move on anyway. . . 

Showcase showdown is pretty much the same, watch, bid, and hope. Don't go over and win, come with in $250 of the amount and win BOTH. Prizes were shown in the FMV, bids were made, and the game was over... that's it.

Nope i didn't miss anything. Start all over again if you actually liked playing a really bad version of "America's Favorite Gameshow". I didn't enjoy the first trip (it didn't help that my wife won) so after trying to talk myself into playing again (and losing) i put it back in the envelope and back to the warehouse it went. 

This is one of those rare games that makes me very happy that i have a subscription to Gamefly. I don't think i can even recommend this one to the fans of the show that haven't left with good ol' Bobby B. 

Cue the sound ghost of Rod Roddy!!

Bom bom bom ba bom  waaaaaaaaaa....

Mystery Case Files; Millionheir

Do you like those games in Highlites where you have to find all the hidden items in a picture. Did you ever watch "Finders Keepers" on Nickelodeon? Do you enjoy those bar games that make you find the differences between two pictures? Did you find Waldo?

If you answered yes to any of the previous questions, and have a DS and $20 then this game might be fore you. 

Mystery Case Files : Millionheir, isn't going to change the way you look at your DS or revolutionize the game market, but its still fun. The "story" (if you can call it that) is that you are a detective and the millionaire "Phil T. Rich" (no that's not a joke) has gone missing. It's up to you and your trust stylus to find him. I don't know exactly how you connect finding items on a screen to interviewing a suspect, but somehow that's the way to solve the case. Find enough items with in your (optional) time limit and then solve one more puzzle and move on to the next person. 

There are around 10 different areas and their respective inhabitant to talk to and interview. Most of the time you are just finding the proverbial needle in a hay stack. Some of the other puzzles are spin offs of a jigsaw puzzle, bejewelled, and others. There are several special items and little gimmicks that the game uses well enough. Goggles see under water, x-ray sees through things, and you can even blow in the DS mic to "clean things off". 

Once you play through the game you can go back an complete it at different skill levels, and as i said before you can turn on or off the optional time limit, making you work harder to find items. I would say that this game is great for travel but if that travel is on a bumpy road, prepare for motion sickness. 

I rented this as a stop-gap game between several other big name titles that were coming out. It served it's purpose, and i enjoyed it. Like i said before if you have twenty bucks and just need something to do on your DS, you could do a LOT worse than this game. 

From the Depths of the Vault (not a Fallout Review)

So being a self professed game-aholic, i am fully aware of my addiction and the effect it has on me. Here are but a few examples of what i mean.

First, when a game comes out that has any media push behind it, my friends will almost immediately come to me and ask if i have played "Game X" yet. Because sadly they know that either i already have or am planning on it. I am thought of as the person in my circle of friends that has at least heard every gaming nugget of info out there and can explain them. 

Second, I also am a music nut. Putting these two passions together (Gaming and Music) and you get a very strange cocktail. I almost always have a song from some game running through my head. Be that the theme from Golgo13, to Super Mario Brothers, Oblivion, or even the Underground passage from Goonies II (which is currently on loop in my brain.  On my iPod i have about 600 different songs either taken directly from a game or inspired from games. 

Speaking of i would highly recommend that everyone check out several bands that are my favorites as far as this category goes. The Advantage, The Minibosses, 8bit Weapon, and Mega Drive. All of which do some pretty amazing renditions of your favorite (and mine) video games. 

Lastly, I never suffer from "Buyers Remorse". Unless the game i just got is truly horrible and i can't stand the fact that it is in my possession, i very rarely feel bad upon purchasing a game. Except for the fact that i have games now that i have yet to finish. Which brings me to the new Sidebar that i added today to the site. Taken from the 1up shows inspiration, i have added the "Pile of Shame". These are games that i own and have yet to finish. There are some very old games in there and most of them are well worth the trouble of finishing, but i just get distracted so fast to another more shiny new game. 

And on that note i am off to my 360 and the comforts of the "Wasteland" and Fallout 3. . . 

Brothers in Arms; Hell's Highway

I wasn't ready to play this the first time i sat down with it. I played thru the tutorial but then got bored. I picked it back up however when i had a little better attention span and really like it now. It takes some time to get used to the fact that you aren't a "Super Soldier" that can take down the Axis Powers on your own. You are a commanding officer and that is what you do... Command. Tell certain fire teams to set up at point A and fire on point B. There is a lot more strategy than i thought would go into this game, and this is fine by me and it works quite well. 

Scout out the landscape, figure out ahead of time how you want to approach a skirmish, then execute. Once you get used to the fact that you can't rush in, and you have to approach each fight with a certain amount of strategy most players will do just fine.  

However the down side is quite steep. The multiplayer aspect of the game is pretty much your standard FPS game. The difference being that you have a (human player) commander and they give you orders on where to go and set up and do what with whatever. The problem is that you don't HAVE to do this. So as you might expect if you get a team that is a bunch of randoms, they aren't probably going to listen to you and will just go off on their own and die. The up side is that if you have a team that works together like a well oiled machine you can dominate. 

The story really relies on the fact that you have played the two previous games (which i had not) so if you don't have any emotional attachment to anyone i can see where the story would fall kinda flat.   The game itself looks a little on the dated side as well. You can tell that this game was ment to have come out about 2 years ago. Unfortunately they were using an older version of the Unreal Engine i believe and the time shows. I guess that is what happens when delays plague your release. The sound quality is done well, nothing feels out of place, and they don't go down the path of over using words that describe "Germans" like "Krauts" or "Jerry" so frequently that you can't stand to hear it anymore.   

All in all the game is put together well and the entire package is worth checking out. It's just too bad that it was forced to sit and wait for almost 3 years before it could be released.  

 *the pic above was taken from Joystiq, only b/c of my love of the site and the picture itself*

15 seconds of fame

So i recently posted a review through the website Slapstic.com and apparently through that the website N4G.com found the review and posted it to their page. 

One step in the right direction. Now if only i can do that all the time everything will fall into place. 

"I love it, when a plan comes together."

Here is the link to the article.

Fallout 3

This is an actual shot of me, just after my "Head A Splode". 

Fallout 3 is finally here. I actually have it (lunch box and all) in my hand. This game couldn't have come out at a worse time too. I haven't even begun to scratch the surface of Fable II, and haven't even started working on my LittleBigPlanet creations. 

Well either way i can't wait to take my time and walk through the wasteland after exiting vault 101 tonight. Wish me luck on the outside. Oh and don't forget to wear your goggles.

Tears of... Er... Gears of War 2

So if anyone out there reads this then you are probably into Videogames, if so then you probably heard of Gears Of War, if so then you probably saw the "Mad World" commercial they did for it a couple years ago. This is the follow up to that commercial. The song featured here is "How It Ends" by DeVotchKa. 

It attempts to put the same Emotional twist on the fighting that the other commercial did. It works well with the video and the clip is put together nicely. I don't think anyone will be crying over Marcus Fenix or Dom but hey, EMO kids cry over all kinds of stuff. 

Clip Embedded below.

Dead Space

Ok well first things first... NOT A GAME FOR KIDS!!! 

Little kids i mean. The 12 year olds that just learned what "four letter" words are fun to say in an almost public place... they can still play b/c they are anyways b/c their parents don't care. No, i mean the little little ones. They need to have this game well out of reach. 

Second. Take a look at the pic, a good long look at it. Yeah those things are everywhere. They will attack you, from front to back above and below. They will find you and get you. 

This game is, in short, very well put together. Slick production on every level, music, sound, voice acting, lighting, everything. I don't think this game is a "Horror" game really though. I would say it falls more to the "Thriller" category. Sure there are several moments that you will jump at, maybe even yelp like a little girl that just had a frog shoved in her face like an old 1930's sitcom. More so than that though is the overall sense of dread. Turning every corner with you gun out, opening every door waiting for something to try and rip your face off. Playing last night i actually turned my ringer off on my cell phone b/c i knew that if my wife were to call me in the middle of playing this game, i could very well crap my pants. 

The rest of the game is just average i guess. Not to detract from the game as a whole, but if you are looking for a beautiful story arc or looking to gain something from having played this game, its just not there. The story is run of the mill "In space no one can hear you scream." stuff, and by about chapter 5 you pretty much have a clue of how it will all end. 

That being said this game is still great. I am very happy that i am playing it, it was well worth the wait. I just don't see a lot of "replay-ability" in it. Once you finished the story and the game itself, your done. 

They say it's not the destination its the journey that makes it all worth it. Well that couldn't be more true with this game. The ride to the end is well worth the effort put into the game, just don't expect a watershed moment when you finally hit your stop. 

Ok ok ok... not so bad

Ok so as most already know the first possible "Killer App" for the PS3 (besides MGS4) is Little Big Planet. Supposed to be coming out tomorrow (Oct. 21st) however due to some soundtrack issues, it has been delayed. 

At least it isn't as bad as would be expected. The delay has only pushed it back apparently a week. Now the release date is set for Oct. 27th, with a "No Street Date" clause on the game. Meaning that they should get them as early as Oct. 26th and can start selling them at any time. This is good news b/c i want to get as much time in with the single player game as possible before the vaccum that is Fallout 3 comes on (which is the next day actually). 

Once i actually sit down with my creation and tweek it some more i will post a video of it. Can't wait to see some more stuff from some of these people. Several stages that i played made by just random Beta testers was simply AMAZING!!

Booooooo!!!

No that is not inreferance to the fact that Halloween is coming soon...

more toward this... from pretty much the internet.

"That little, er, BIG delay that we reported earlier today? Yeah, it's now effective for the entire ... planet! In a statement published on semi-official site Three Speech, SCEE confirms that the worldwide delay is indeed due to "one of the background music tracks licensed from a record label for use in the game," which references "two expressions that can be found in the Qur'an." (We've posted the full statement after the break.)

No word yet on the new release date for any territory. And we're still awaiting SCEA's response to the matter, which we hope to update with shortly.

Update: Media Molecule has released a statement noting that they have anofficial patch ready for day one, but "a decision was made within Sony that the right thing to do for quality and support of people with no on-line was to replace existing disks." The patch is still ready and the post suggests it will likely "go live at the same time as the game," which still has no new release date."

This is me pissed that i have to wait till WHENEVER to play this game now. Can i have the Beta back then please??

Pregnancy Confirmed!

Just got back from the Dr.'s office. It is confirmed that my wife is carrying the sequal. She is a little over 8 weeks pregnant which puts the due date around the end of May.

It was very surreal seeing the Ultrasound of the little thing (i say thing b/c who knows). We got to see the tiny and i mean tiny heartbeat. I don't know what else to say. I am going to be a father in about 9 months and that is a little weird. At least i have NINE MONTHS to prepare myself and everything around me for the new arrival.

I will post the picture of the untrasound soon.

Thank you 1Up!!

Big Thanks go out to 1Up!!

I have been trying to get into the Beta for Little Big Planet litteraly ALL WEEK. Tonight i got confirmation that i had won my code. I am in!! It is downloading as i type this message. I am pretty sure how my weekend is going to go now. I only wish that the beta didn't end in 7 days. Oh well at least i actually won and can start to create my masterpiece!

So thanks again to 1Up!! You guys always have a way of making my week and my weekend better.

NEW PUNCH OUT!!

So this news recently broke, and i was hesitant about even caring about the fact they were doing Punch Out!! again. Considering the fact that the first was one of my top 10 NES games of all time, and subsiquent games haven't been able to capture the flavor of the first one... 

Boy was a wrong (at least visually and audio-bly?). If you haven't watched the above clip do it now... i will wait... ... ... done good. See (and hear) what i mean. All that was missing from that little preview was a very stereotypical black man as your trainer, a pink track suit, and crowd noise (you know what i mean you can hear it in your head now). 

Can't wait to find out more about this game, just a shame it probably won't hit until well into 2009.

Delay, a window into the future.

So i haven't been posting recently b/c i have been working... and i have been trying like a crazy person to get into the Little Big Planet Beta. Ridiculously hard to do apparently. 

The game releases on Oct 21st, the Beta started last week, and i still don't have a code. I am not one of these people that i have seen posting in certain forums that are up at all hours of the day and night mashing the refresh button hoping that they get in. That isn't my style, i have the game paid for and i am just waiting to pick it up. It is amazing that people are so nuts about getting into this they are losing sleep. 

I just watched the special episode of X-Play where they go thru a lot of the aspects of the game and it only made me more sure of it being a hit. Like i said before, this game is going to get a lot of attention from me in the near future. Which is going to be hard considering Fallout 3 is coming like the next week after LBP. I guess i will have to play one in the morning and one at night. Wish me luck.

Seatbelts.