Video Game Awards

Watched Spike TVs VGAs tonight and it was short. I know they skipped some categories and wow, some of the presenters were annoying.

Congrats to Red Dead Redemption for getting Game of the Year but Mass Effect 2 should have gotten it. It has wider appeal and is an almost perfect game.

Black Ops of course won for best FPS and Woods got Best Character.

There were some cool reveals too. Mass Effect 3 trailer! I saw it and screamed like a 12 yr old girl. It'll be out holiday 2011. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception will be out November 1, 2011 and the teaser trailer looks great!

Portal 2 is coming out and so is Gears of War 3. Portal had a teaser as well but nothing about Gears 3. I was following Cliffy B's tweets though. I love that guy. He makes me laugh and he is as snarky as I am.

I think Gary Oldman or Martin Sheen should have won for best male voice. Reznov is a favorite of mine and no one beats the Illusive Man.

There were a few more "reveals" and more winners but they didn't show everything on the show. You can go here to see everything. They really need a bigger time slot. Looking through it all Red Dead Redemption took a lot of the categories. Some I agree with, others I don't. I'll have to wait and see what other game award shows think.

I picked up Tomb Raider Underworld for $8 and am trying to download the DLC. It's really creeping along slowly.

Can't wait for Christmas so I can give the husband Fallout New Vegas. I even picked up the hardback guide since someone told me it had some great preset characters to try out. I am kind of wishing I had bought the Collector's Edition since I saw him looking at it the other day. Maybe I'll find a good deal later, like I did with Fallout 3 and buy it then. I'll just sell the used one.

Fable 3 Understone and Black Ops/Microsoft beef

I downloaded and completed the "Understone" DLC for Fable 3. It was nice having something new to do in there but it was short. I need more DLC. I need to do a second playthrough on evil. It was worth the 400 points though.

Treyarch and Microsoft:

Microsoft announced they would be bringing down the "ban hammer" on anyone in Black Ops that creates a Swastika for an emblem. This weekend alone, I came across 2 of them. Then I saw 2 KKK's, one KKK with a black man hanging from a tree and of course the various sex acts, penises, vaginas and forms of bestiality.

I think Treyarch gave too much credit to their fans. Treyarch, I hate to break it to you but at least half of your gaming base...are morons. Yes, I said it. They are the slime in the gene pool. You had a great idea with the customized emblems but you forgot how immature and stupid most of these people are.

My disappoint in the human race is this; these people probably spent a significant amount of time creating that back of a woman with a gaping vagina, anus and semen and I have to ask why? So much creativity and that is what you come up with?

Yes they have the "report emblem" option in game but does it really do anything? Some of these emblems are gross and so offensive the person making them should be put on an island away from society.

Black Ops..fun fun fun

So I have been wasting time on Black Ops messing with the Easter Eggs Treyarch put in it. I love hidden stuff like that.

So by now I am sure everyone knows you can get up from your torture chair at the Main Menu and walk around. Go to the computer and type in Zork to play a game I played way back when called Zork. Best text based game in memory.

Type in DOA to access a "zombie map" called Dead Ops Arcade. This one is way fun and you can play with 4 people just like zombies.

Type in 3ARC UNLOCK to open the 'Five' zombie map without completing the campaign. What's the fun in that though? 3ARC INTEL will unlock all the intel but you can't get the achievement if you do this.

Now even more in depth is the computer itself. It's Unix based and you can access e-mails, pictures and other documents once you figure out the logins and passwords for each person. There is a CIA and Dreamland servers. I think I found a Derriese server too but I haven't been able to figure out the login and passwords for it. It's really interesting and adds to the overall story.

I finished the campaign on Veteran, which wasn't easy but the stupid game said I didn't do SOG or The Defector on Veteran so I didn't get the achievements. Grrrr
Not sure how I could have switched difficulty mid-game but whatever. I will replay those evil levels.

My love for Treyarch has been redeemed

Thank you to Treyarch for actually listening to the female gaming community and acknowledging us. They fixed the issue for the 2 avatar codes by giving all female gamers free codes. Wow, that is how you go above and beyond. It was unexpected. Honestly, I have a whole new respect for them.

Bungie is still on my list. They still owe me a Banshee code for a female avatar.

Call of Duty: Black Ops and more sexism

First, all of the Treyarch haters out there spewing about how Treyarch ruined the Call of Duty franchise with World at War...why are you playing Black Ops? Oh because you can't admit you're wrong and the game is EPIC! It is everything Modern Warfare 2 should have been but wasn't.

Yes, I love Black Ops like I love my husband. It is WONDERFUL. It's beautifully rendered and it almost looks like the game was rendered in realism mode. I don't know how to describe it other than that. The controls are solid and I love the fact I can buy what I want to play with rather than getting stuck with what the game give me. It makes the game personal, like it was developed for me.

The first thing I did was load an old zombie map. Yes, I bought the Hardened Edition. The graphics are cleaned up and my old buddies are back. I love Dempsey and the drunken Russian. Then I loaded the new map that is unlocked from the beginning. The map is huge. I mean huge. I never did find the electricity and was running around killing and opening doors. Awesome. I hear that more maps unlock as you play the campaign on different difficulties and you can unlock a presidents mode. Nothing like killing zombies as Nixon or Castro.

Online play is fun and not as frustrating. I like the things they put in place to attempt to prevent boosting like not tactical insertion in free-for-all mode. Way to go, stick it to the cheaters. I know I am bloody sick of them. Though claymores next to a tactical insertion was always fun. Yes I am the girl that did that to you over and over. Quit boosting.

I will say that one of my favorite new modes is Combat Training. FINALLY! A way to practice online play without going in and dying a lot in game. It's pretty sweet. You, and some friends if you have any, can load this up. Pick a map and a game mode. The game then loads "bots" for you to play with and against. It names the bots with names form your friends list. The AI isn't stupid either. They make you work for the kills. You earn rank, cash and unlocks just like regular game mode so you can try out different load outs before you go and earn the cash in regular mode. Then you know exactly what you want to buy without wasting money.

The veteran campaign is difficult so far but not so difficult, yet, that I want to chuck my controller through the screen but I am not skipping through it picking flowers like I did on Modern Warfare 2. I like a challenge and I was sorry Modern Warfare 2 had to be dumbed down for lazy gamers.

Okay so you get the idea, I like this game. I haven't tried Wager nor Bounty modes. I'll wait until I have some cash. Hey, guess what, it appears to have split screen too. When I was going into mulitplayer it had "turn on second controller for split screen" option. I guess I could have gotten away with one copy then but no I don't have to share the TV. Split screen turns off options like surveillance cameras and such.

Now for my sexism rant. When I couldn't use the avatar award from my Halo Reach controller, I was angry but chalked it up to a coding error. Well I take it all back, gaming is sexist. I had pre-ordered 2 Hardened Editions and when I picked them up I was given two code for the Black Ops Flight Suit. Great! One for me, one for hubby. I went to redeem code..."sorry this is for male avatars only. Give to a guy you know" message came up. Seriously! Again?! Okay I was mad. I paid just as much money as the guys and I had looked forward to this, part of the reason I flippin' pre-ordered. Then there was a code in the game for a Woods Suit. I went to redeem the code from MY copy of Black Ops and got the same message.

Microsoft, you need to get with the program. Girls play video games. Girls play hardcore video games. We are not sticking cutesy games like Kinectimals and Sims 3. We enjoy avatar crap too. We will dress them up like soldiers if it's from a favorite game. We are not in the kitchen making sandwiches. Geez.

More Fable 3

I am loving this game. It's like brain candy. There are some glitches but overall, nicely done.

The story is a good departure too. They didn't just pick up the same villain and do another game. Whole new ballpark. The game play is solid and there is a nice variety of weapons. Upgrading means doing the requirements for that gun. No more finding gems.

Expressions? Well I am not in love with the new system. You no longer get to pick which expression you get to do under good or evil. You get what pops up and whether or not you do it, is up to you. This made opening a Demon Door a pain.

There is a mission where you have to find flowers and a mission you have to find books. I have heard grumblings about not being able to complete the flower one unless you are evil due to some sort of programming glitch and that a certain book you need is missing entirely. I haven't run into it yet myself so I'll have to see if it's them or the game.

Getting all the Legendary Weapons is going to be a challenge too. I have collected or have access to all but 12. No one has been trading or willing to sell them so, not sure what I am going to do to get them all.

Fable 3

I played this all day yesterday. Game is a whole lot of fun. I like the graphics, way to step it up, and the environments are beautiful. I am really going to enjoy this. Nothing better than Simon Pegg and John Cleese either. I like the new way to change clothes and weapons in your 'Sanctuary.'

One beef, there are definitely some unfinished aspects and programming errors. I was forced to restart a game because there was a dialogue error. Nothing I did would force the next speech, that would allow me to continue my game. Not even going back to the previous save point. That was aggravating.

The upside, if you still have your Fable 2 game save on your HDD this game will 'peek' at it and see what gender you were. I tested it out. I started my first game as a save on my flash drive, it told me my father was a great hero. I restarted it on the HDD with my Fable 2 game and it told me my mother was a great hero. Nifty!

Some of my friends have pretty much plowed through the main storyline (as far as becoming ruler at any rate) in a day but there seems to be much more after that. I haven't gotten that far yet. I am a much more meticulous player and will go through every little thing I can before I continue.

Oh and one more beef, I don't know that I like the way the expressions work. I do like the fact it's a push of the button to do one, I don't like the fact I can't pick which one I want, or at least I haven't figured out how. When you choose to interact with an NPC, it appears to just randomly choose a good and bad expression. You just decide which. The dancing one is a bit awkward but funny. You have to hold the hands of the NPCs for escort missions, which can look ridiculous also.

You can get married to your Xbox Live friends and have a family with them. Neat little twist. PLus you can go into 'partnerships' with them too. I haven't gotten that far yet either.

Medal of Honor

Medal of Honor Tier 1 has gotten a lot of flack because it's not Call of Duty but I will say it's a pretty decent game. The campaign is fun, as long as you don't have the set of backseat gamers behind you like I do. The multiplayer is very cool and you will have to use some skill. This is no run-and-gun like Call of Duty. It is a good blend of Call of Duty and Battlefield Bad Company 2.

Now the beefs: It doesn't seem finished. There are areas on the game where the graphics are gorgeous, well rendered and have perfect texture. Then you'll find areas that seem pixelated and choppy like someone forgot to come back and clean it up.

You will find some glitchy areas in the campaign too so I hear though I haven't had it yet. My husband says he has has the AI go dumb on him a few times and just stand next to an enemy. Overall though, good story and fun campaign. People say it's about a 6 hour campaign which is disappointing to me.

Next week Fallout New Vegas releases but I won't be playing that until after Christmas since it's a present for the husband. Week after that Fable 3 comes out. I already have it paid for and can't wait to get it.

A friend also sent me Dragon Age: Origins so I'll have to start that too plus finish Fallout 3. I really wish I could get paid to play and review these games like this. It would free up so much more time for me to actually play. *lol*
I need more time to play.

Oh and for anyone thinking about buying Dragon Age Origins, the Ultimate Edition releases October 26th so you might want to wait. It'll be $60 and come with all the DLC and expansion. That is $85, round about, of DLC. I figured it out.

Fable III controller

I picked my Fable III controller up today and it's pretty! I love the tattoo design on it. I have noticed all the new controllers have a chrome center button now. It's shiner than the old silver button.

I loaded my free tattoo code that came with it as well. Of course I can't see that for a couple of more weeks, when Fable III comes out.

Medal of Honor in about 5 days too.

Is the Slim that much better?

I got my 360s last night and hooked it up. I see two issues with it.

First, the vent that allows the Xbox to blow out hot air is on top. Yes, right on the top of the machine. Everyone I know has put a game on top the of Xbox at some time or another. Blocking this vent will definitely cause the Slim to overheat plus the air blowing out of it is very hot. I don't mean really warm like the Elite but hot.

Second, the fan itself. Now my 16 year old daughter has a Slim and she has it on a wood stand, so I never noticed this but...my stand is glass. When the fan kicks on it makes a horrible noise because of the vibration. It sounded like a buzzer was going off in another room. I need to figure out a way to dampen the vibration noise. It's really obnoxious.

All and all a cool system. Now my PS3 and Xbox match.

I have another problem but this is with Microsoft's policy. So I had sent my Elite in to be repaired and rather than do that, they sent me a new one. They transferred my game licenses to the new Elite. The Elite was the central Xbox in the house but now that we have a Slim, the Slim needs to be the central Xbox. 95% of all DLC and games are downloaded under my gamertag and on the Elite. I cannot transfer licenses to the new Slim because Microsoft took it upon themselves to do transfer them to the new system they sent me. This means no one can play DLC or downloaded games unless they either play in my room or I have to be signed in on the Slim while they play. I am trying to get Microsoft to see the error and release the licenses so I can transfer them. They have a 'One transfer a year' policy. I am screwed until January if I can't get them to see reason.

Lots going on

Bungie will releasing a patch to deal with the balance issues in Halo Reach. Not surprising to me since that is my biggest complaint. There will be new maps too, if rumors are correct. We'll see.

I got my Xbox 360 Elite back and I now have a Xbox Slim unexpectedly. Odd to have an extra Xbox lying around. I think I will hold it over my 12 yr old's head. If he wants it, he had better buckle down.

I finished the Mass Effect 2 DLC "Lair of the Shadow Broker." Very cool story addition. I won't give anything away but the way it ends, you have access to all the Shadow Broker's files and information. You can keep going back too so I think this will play into Mass Effect 3 in some way. You can purchase survey maps for mineral rich planets, view surveillance videos, dossiers and invest in some money making deals there too. Plus I had a delivery of some upgrades. This will be valuable if it is a "bridge" DLC to ME3.

I also finished the 3rd Mass Effect book, Retribution. If it goes according to the previous book patterns, Mass Effect 3 is going to be a kick ass game. The story was fantastic and it appears to be a set up for the next game. Reapers and Cerberus played a big part in the book. The Illusive Man was taken down a peg or two as well. I can't wait. Damn my impatience.

My Fable 3 controller will be out next week. Fable 3 and Medal of Honor Tier One will be released this next month too. I am so excited. I'll have 2 new games to play around with. I need something that isn't first person shooter so Fable 3 will be a nice break. Now I need to finish paying for my 2 copies of Black Ops before November 9th. I hate the fact we have to buy 2 copies to play together. The one thing Bungie has always done right, online multiplayer co-op/split screen. Saves me a bundle.

I downloaded Marathon Durandal too, one of Bungie's early games. It really took me back, old school. I was laughing all the way through it. Really brought back memories. I know a couple of people that have it now so I'll have to get on and do a couple of multiplayer matches.

Battlefield Bad Company 2 will be releasing their Vietnam add-on in December. Something else I am looking forward to.

Microsoft said they will not be doing Bluray on their next gen consoles? Huge mistake. Just saying. The games are becoming so advanced, you need that Bluray to hold the information, or else you'll end up with stacks of discs for one game. The new controller doesn't seem like that big of a deal either. So you changed the directional pad disk. I don't have that many games that use it where I have a problem with the old one. I am not all that impressed and certainly not impressed enough to pay $65 for it, shiny or not.

There is a lot more I could sit here and ramble about but I have work to do. I'll add more over the next few days. Christmas is coming so the gaming industry is jumping.

More Reach

I played some more of this and I will say I do enjoy the objective games much better than the straight slayer. Invasion and Invasion Slayer are probably my favorites.

Now I do think the sniper rifle is way overdone and they really don't give the Elites a load out to combat it. I love the needle rifle.

The daily and week challenges are entertaining to try to get but I am sure that the novelty will wear off eventually. Especially after everyone gets the achievements for doing them.

I have cleared 30 out of the 49 achievements myself. I'll clear the rest in campaign.

Armor customization is a cool concept but some pieces are so over-the-top expensive that I am not sure that many people will get them. I think with Black Ops coming out in a couple of months, plus many other games in the next 6 months, people might stop playing this so hardcore and never get the million or more points they need to "purchase" these armors.

Bungie will have to release some new map packs fairly early on.

My Elite should be here today. Man I miss having it. I was stuck watching TV this weekend while the husband and 12 year old played. *I had to work* TV programming leaves something to be desired. I missed my Netflix streaming. No I couldn't do it through my laptop since I was working on my laptop.

Reach multiplayer

Wow...really Bungie? I didn't think anyone could screw up multiplayer worse than Bioshock 2 but then you proved me wrong.

Where do I start? Firefight? Hell ya! This is an awesome game mode and I had a lot of fun playing it. I enjoyed it on ODST so this was like frosting on what I thought would be a delicious cake. Then...

I went to the Team Slayer playlist. What a total nightmare. Shield classes are over powered making the person virtually invulnerable and health packs? Really? People can't play well enough on their own so now they can heal themselves all over the map, again, making themselves virtually untouchable. I played a round where the opposing team was camped out at the health stations and were healing themselves whenever the packs respawned. When you see one person has a K/D of 25 and 2, yet everyone else barely reaches 5 kills, you know there is a problem. If you can't play online without a health pack...get off.

I absolutely detest multiplayer. I seriously doubt I will ever play it again. There is nothing fun about it nor redeeming. I don't care if I die a lot so long as I have fun. I was not having fun at all. I am so disappointed I cannot even begin to describe it.

Then there is a spawning issue. I got dragged in, by popular vote of those who were playing, to a snipers and pistols game. I couldn't leave my spawn area because the opposing team camped out and sniped into the spawn anytime anyone appeared. Even when the program tried to spawn me downstairs, it spawned me in front of the enemy. I didn't get a single kill. Hell, I don't think I got to walk 5 steps.

Thank heavens Bungie is not making anymore Halo games. The campaign is a good one to retire on. Too bad they couldn't make Team better. There are many causal gamers I know that are not going to buy this because they have taken the fun out of it for the people that aren't trying to go pro. That is what was nice about Halo 3, anyone could play it and people generally had fun.

Way to suck the joy out of a game...

Halo Reach

I opened my copy of Halo Reach this morning and was greeted with the customization of your character right off the bat. Cool. There are lots of choices though to get all the options, you are going to have to spend the "money" you make in game.

So I got my gal all set up and launched into the campaign first. Yes, I usually do the campaign first. The first thing I noticed were that the controls are completely different. I might have to customize my buttons because having the "beat down" option on the RB is awkward. Then I noticed the character I created is in game. Yes my pink spartan is who I am playing as and it has a female voice. Way to go Bungie.

The environments are much richer than they have ever been and you can actually explore places. I found 1/5 data pads which makes me think I need to restart and comb the areas a bit more. The detail is finally what I expected to see. Thank you Bungie for not disappointing with another ODST fiasco. Let's face it, ODST was sub par at best.

The story is good too and I am genuinely interested. There are achievements that can be gotten in campaign and "firefight" mode so that's cool and I am ranking up playing campaign. Double-y good. Maybe the people that never actually play the game will now that it benefits them.

Okay off to play some more.

Oh and on a side note, my Xbox Elite is finally making it's way back to me from being repaired. That means I can download and play the new Mass Effect 2 DLC "Lair of the Shadow Broker." Wheeeeeee

Definition of frustration

This word has many different definitions for gamers. Some of use define it as getting killed in Halo/Call of Duty/*fill in FPS multiplayer* even though you were firing on the enemy first. Some will harken back tot he days of Sim City and define it as the moment your city was doing well on it's own and Godzilla emerges from the sea, crushing half your town. Still others will define it as the inability to find the creature to kill to get a drop of a rare weapon.

Tonight, it had a new meaning for me---

Frustration: noun: Playing Fallout 3, running across a Super Mutant Behemoth while completely unprepared, finding a spot it can't follow you in but you can shoot at it, getting close to killing it and the game freezes.

I was aimlessly wandering around the Wastes in Fallout 3 on the direction of my backseat gaming husband. *I remember now why I don't usually listen to him* I came across a Raider slave camp. I went in and killed the Raiders. Found a Super Mutant Behemoth in the center of camp, caged. I set all the slaves free, ran into a shack and killed the last 2 Raiders. As I walked out of the camp and was trying to decide if ti would be possible to kill the Behemoth through the fence, I noticed one of the slaves I had freed freeing the Behemoth. Not awesome. I ran next to a train and found a section the Behemoth wouldn't follow me into so I could back into there and shoot him. Eventually he'd turn around and that would give me a chance to regroup.

I had gotten his health down to less than half. That was no mean feat considering I had weapons that really wouldn't make a dent in his health. The game suddenly froze up.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I turned the game off and now I am having a beer. Enough said.

Xbox Live price increase

Microsoft announced yesterday that they will be increasing prices for Xbox Live. Starting November 1 of this year, one month will move from $7.99 to $9.99; three months will be increasing from $19.99 to $24.99; and a one-year membership will be changing from $49.99 to $59.99.

Of course, many people are foaming at the mouths about this and they have every reasons to in some respect. $60 for a year of online play is a lot of money and if you have more than one in a single household, like me, it can be crippling. I am looking at $240 a year.

Now Microsoft had also announced 'Family Packs' starting in November at $99 for 4 memberships. They haven't made an announcement on whether or not they will be increasing that price as well or if they have scrapped the idea altogether. I hope they haven't. I am willing to pay $120 for 4 if I have to.

Microsoft hasn't stated exactly why the increase but they are quick to point out the fact Xbox Live offers Netflix streaming, Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm. They are going to add a video chat with the Kinect, Hulu Plus and ESPN.

Okay, sounds cool, right? On the surface, yes. But let's take a closer look.

Facebook: How many people actually access it through XBL? Honestly, it isn't that great. You can only see limited items on XBL Facebook. You have always been able to access Facebook through the Playstation Network for free since it has an internet browser. The Wii has an internet browser also.

Twitter: Again, kind of a pain to use through XBL though not as bad as Facebook. Again, free through PSN and Wii.

Netflix: This is the same across the board, need to sign up to use.

Now Hulu Plus sounds good except, there is a $9 a month subscription fee for Hulu Plus according to their website. So raise XBL $10 and then add another $9?

Last.FM: Sorry I don't use this at all on XBL.

ESPN: Wow, not into sport so I don't even care for this option.

Video Kinect: I don't even have the Xbox Cam. I don't plan on buying the Kinect unit and my family and friends do not have Xbox 360s much less this so we can talk. I have Skype and that's good enough.

I like the idea someone had of having 3 membership tiers. Leave gold the way it is and have a platinum one with the new added features. Frankly, I don't think Xbox needed Facebook and Twitter. Get rid of those and try these though I seriously doubt Video Kinect will get used for much more beyond video mutual masturbation and exhibition, sort of like the Xbox Cam now.

Let's have a moment of silence

My Xbox Elite started flashing it's one little red light of death. I have sent it out for repairs.

I had planned on buying a new one after Christmas and moving the Elite upstairs to replace my old 20GB. $106.75 later....

Hopefully it won't be gone long. The new Mass Effect 2 DLC "Lair of the Shadow Broker" comes out on September 7th and I really want to play it. Plus Halo Reach drops this month. It completely figures, right?

If I could afford it right now, I'd just get the Halo Xbox. It looks pretty sweet and it makes cool noises.

Going back to Mass Effect 2, I saw this today: http://kotaku.com/5625154/hey-its-jack-from-mass-effect-2/gallery/3

I am not into cosplay but I can totally appreciate the work involved in some of the costumes. I am really impressed by this plus she shaved her head! How cool is that? I have seen some spectacular Mass Effect 2 cosplay costumes lately.