Zombie Prom and Fallout 3

I have been playing Fallout 3 again. I mean I needed to finish it anyway and I am hooked. It really is an amazing game. I even like the DLC. I have spent many hours on it and I am just now getting to the second DLC pack. Everyone I know is playing Batman Arkham City and Battlefield 3, both games I do not own at this time, so why not indulge in a little single player.

I can't get enough Fallout and I really do hope the plans for a Fallout 4 do not fall through. Oh and no multiplayer please.

Tonight I am headed to a Zombie Prom. Not sure what it entails but there are zombies and someone there to do my zombie make up. I am game. I'll have to let everyone know.

Mass Effect 3 has disappointed me

I have been very vocal about my love for the Mass Effect series. I loved everything about it. It had a great story. The story would customize itself based on your playing and decisions. You got to transfer your save to the next game in the series and what you did in game one effected game two. I mean it was fantastic.

Now they have gone and did the unthinkable...multiplayer. Why? I mean seriously, why? Mass Effect is a fantastic SINGLE PLAYER game. Why slap a multiplayer on it and say "look how cool we made your game."

I heard the multiplayer rumors about a year ago and was contacted directly by one of the guys working on Mass Effect 3. He said he promised they would not ruin the game I loved so much and yet, that is what they have done. Players worked hard to create their own stories and universes in Mass Effect and now they are asking us to let other people in. I didn't want that. It will ruin the experience. Part of the appeal was the fact that everything I did in the game, every person I spoke to or killed, had some effect on what would happen in the future. Now I have to rely on other people to help me shape the third installment? I do not want that. This is my universe and I don't want anyone else in it. I mean, I managed the impossible in Mass Effect 2...I kept both Jack's and Miranda's loyalty. I have heard that is pretty difficult to accomplish, yet I did it. Why would I want the unknown element of some idiot online to help dictate whether or not I get to defeat the Reapers in Mass Effect 3.

So far the multiplayer reads like a combination of Call of Duty and Gears of War 3. You have 4 player co-op (CoD zombies) to help defeat waves of enemies (CoD zombies, GoW horde) and in process you will earn credits you can use to upgrade your weapons and equipment (CoD Black Ops). Multiplayer will effect your regular game too and somehow play into your ability, or lack of, to defeat the Reapers. I own those 2 games already and if I wanted to play them, I would. I needed Mass Effect for that much needed break from online multiplayer.

Anyone who has played a game that has a decision based element to and and co-op knows the risks. Let's take Fable 2 for example. We were all excited by the drop in/out co-op until people would join and start killing innocents, making your "good" game go "bad" and making the Fable worls fear you. It would make you lock your game down so people couldn't join. It was a pain and you know it.

Now we are being asked to do the same thing, then to add insult to injury, you will need to have EA's infamous online pass to play. Of course buying the game new means you'll get it in copy or at least it had better, but if you get it used or have more than one console and account, you'll have to shell out $10 to play. I think they just added multiplayer so they could charge this little fee. Next thing we will see is the "Season Pass" for however much money so we can get the first however many DLC packs for a discount price. If the internet can give an idea of how people feel about this, I am not the only person that isn't happy. Most Mass Effect fans are very upset.

I am so disappointed in the direction Mass Effect has gone that I am tempted to give up my Collector's Edition and not play Mass Effect 3. I am starting to think that single player games are dying out due to the almighty dollar. The big developers like EA have forgotten to listen to the players and what the players want because they feel that adding multiplayer will bring in more buyers and they'll make more money. News flash, those die hard FPS players that didn't like nor play Mass Effect before, aren't going to play it now.

Oh and thanks for lying to me and ruining my game. It doesn't matter how good the multiplayer turns out to be, you ruined the essence of my game, the single player experience.

Steve Jobs' passing

As everyone knows, the nerd world lost one of it's greatest yesterday, Steve Jobs. Now I could have an entire blog post listing everything he ever did or invented but that isn't what I am after.

Steve Jobs was one of the 2 greatest visionaries in the tech world. I consider Bill Gates the other one. Love or hate Apple products, you still have to give Steve props for everything he accomplished.

Without him, our technological world would be entirely different. He wanted technology to be innovative and accessible. He achieved that so many times over. I can remember when I was in 6th grade, learning a basic programming language on an Apple computer. There was a van full of them that would travel from school to school because schools just didn't have the budgets back them for computer labs. This was long before the Mac too. Yes I am dating myself. Just pretend I am 20-something.

The tech world will be a darker place without Steve Jobs lighting it up. I don't know that there is anyone that is "up and coming" that will be able to take his place and be as imaginative has he was.

He was an amazing man and the world will miss him.

Gears of War 3

I have finally finished the campaign and all I can say is, well done! The final battle is way more epic than the less than stellar boss battle in Gears of War 2 and much harder than Raam in Gears 1.

I love the new characters especially Sam. The dialogue that they scripted between her and Baird is awesomely funny. Plus she is sarcastic and I am afraid to admit it, but I am the same way. She just appealed to me. There are lots of loose ends that are tied up and a couple of sad moments but the story is engaging and I found myself not wanting to stop playing because I had to see what happened next.

Graphics are much improved. They paid more attention to the backgrounds this time too so the environments are richer and more detailed.

Multiplayer...well I have never been a fan but they have some modes to do like. Beast Mode is my favorite. You get to be the locusts and you have to kill all the humans within a certain time limit. Managed to get together with some friends and beat all 12 waves on Insane. I am pretty proud of that. Of course Horde Mode is always fun. I like Warzone. It's like Team Deathmatch but you only get one life. King of The Hill is another one I like. Wingman is only fun if you are with friends or someone that is talking. My wingman died right off the bat and left me to fend off the others by myself. Capture the Leader is basically getting to the enemy leader and holding them hostage until the timer counts down. Then you kill them and your team wins.

Of course Team Death Match is there and I am still not a huge fan. I'll try it again and see what happens. Execution is difficult. You have to kill with an execution and you get 1 life.

This version of Gears has something new, tons of weapon skins and I mean tons. They have everything from rainbows and lightning. The problem with it is, you have to buy them. If you're on Xbox Live and you want every single skin, it's going to cost you 3600 points. To put it in perspective, it's $50 for 4000 points. They also have a "season pass." It's 2400 points and will get you the first 4 DLC packs. Now Gears DLC is notoriously expensive and they have said buying the season pass will save you 33% in the long run.

All and all, this game did not disappoint me and I definitely think it is worth picking up especially if you played the other 2 and want to know how the story ends.

Some news

I am trying a new venture and have started writing for www.sfx-360.com as a junior staff writer. It's definitely a nerve wracking experience for me since I do not consider myself a writer. I am just a person that has stuff to say about the things that go in her head and around her person. They seem to see something in my blog they liked so here I am.

So far I have done a press release and I finished an article about 2 porn-stars starting an adult webcam service you can watch while they play video games, topless. It was something that was going to go here because I didn't know if sfx-360 would be interested in something rather inflammatory but they did.

I will still be blogging, so don't worry. I will have Gears 3 in my hands next week and I am sure I'll have something to say about it.

Please feel free to look over the sfx-360 site. They do more than just games.

What makes you "hot?"

So I was at work last night and there was a maintenance crew there consisting for 4 guys. I think only one of them was barely over 30. They were discussing the new Gears of War 3 game and how excited they were it was coming out.

Of course as soon as they noticed me, they stopped talking about games like they were embarrassed. To alleviate this, I told them how excited I was it was coming out and how I was a huge gamer too. They started chatting me up a bit and talking about how cool it was I played games too and not just flash games but real games. As I was leaving the theater they were working in, I overheard one guy say that "a girl is instantly hot if she plays video games."

I am instantly hot just based on the fact I can stick a grenade to your head in a game? That is kind of cool. However, I don't think that rule would apply if I was 600lbs and have warts all over my body. Plus, if this were a true statement, I wouldn't have to put up with being called fat, ugly or slutty when I am playing online. Men are not logical creatures apparently.

This got me thinking about the definition of the word hot. My husband will tell you the fact I play video games (and am pretty good at them), drink good beer and am decidedly attractive (in his opinion) makes me hot. He also thinks I am pretty intelligent and have a strong personality (not sure this is a compliment) so at least there is some substance there. We've been married 18 years so it must work, right? Some men will say a hot woman looks like a Barbie and likes to be a trophy or likes to do girlie things, like shop. I will confess I am a tomboy at heart and used to play G.I Joe/He-Man with the boys. As well as old school D&D. I even have 20-sided fuzzy dice hanging from my rear view mirror.

I am rambling but bear with me, I worked last night and haven't had much sleep. Basically I was wondering why couldn't being considered "hot" be as simple as playing video games. Why does being hot have to be complicated and involve so many requirements? My need for a guy to be hot is pretty simple, respect. I must have his respect and he must have mine. I cannot be with someone I cannot respect.

I wonder if those guys would think I was just as "hot" if they knew I was nearing 39 years old. I do not look my age and I am pretty proud of that fact. Girls, stay out of the tanning booths, it ages you.

Dead Island

I will be the first to admit that the first trailer released for Dead Island made my jaw drop. It was poignant and truly heart wrenching. However, I was on the fence about the game itself.

I was worried it would be too much like Dead Rising. I apologize to all the Dead Rising fans out there but I found that game grinding and boring. Plus I detest timed missions. When I play a game I like to explore everything not get jammed into a linear experience contained within a 15 minute time limit. Plus, I thought the story was weak.

So back to Dead Island, I confess I love the game. It reminds me of Fallout meets Left 4 Dead with a little Borderlands sprinkled in. It is a zombie hack-n-slash RPG or that is the best way to describe it. The fighting mechanics remind me of Fallout 3 and the whole zombie experience, Left 4 Dead. The Borderlands aspect comes in with the co-op and the weapons. You have missions to complete like Fallout and Borderlands.

You can play as one of four characters, each with their own back story and strengths. You are on a resort island and the island has become infected with...something. You are immune to turning into a zombie but you can die. If you do die, you lose some money and respawn near the area you died. You get to find mods and create new weapons. I am fond of anything that shocks.

Now the overall gameplay is pretty sweet though I find I use my kick almost endlessly to keep zombies form touching me. Plus it doesn't use stamina like weapons do. If you have zero stamina, you cannot swing a weapon leaving you open to attack. You can pick up med kits but to use them you must use an equip slot, reducing the number of weapons you can have ready to use. Energy drinks, snacks and fruit are lying around but you use them as soon as you pick them up. No collecting.

Now for my beefs, there are some coding issues within the game. I have had missions chosen and couldn't get the NPC to talk to me that I was supposed to be talking to. I was required to exit and reload my game to get it to work. It happened a second time yesterday but I haven't had a chance to reload it to see if it's working now. I had to go to work.

The other issue is throwing weapons. If you throw a weapon at a zombie, when it dies you can go pick it up...in theory. However, if that zombie happens to die and land in a bush, you are out of luck. Your weapon is gone forever. It doesn't seem possible you can't get a weapon out of a bush but there you have it. Of course there are graphical issues and weird little glitches (I got stuck on a railing and couldn't move) but those can hardly be unexpected.

Co-op is smooth when people join and exit but again, it could be better. The people joining the game cannot see the mission map so the host has to lead everyone. The only way to close your game is from the main menu. You cannot just change your setting while in game even though there is an options menu with it listed. It would be nice if you could open and close your game as you needed to without exiting completely. Fable 2 managed to do this so it's not an impossible request.

Also, the cut scenes and dialogue isn't coded for each character and only 1 player. All cut scenes feature all four characters and the character I am playing as (Xian) is female but dialogue often refers to me as male. Then there are respawn issues. I have been killed and then respawned right in the middle of a mob of zombies or right next to a Thug/Suicide/Ram zombies and have been killed again instantaneously. This gets very frustrating since you lose money each time you die and you need money to repair you melee weapons, upgrade weapons and create weapons.

You will also have human enemies as well as zombies to contend with. Humans have guns. Guns kill. You've been warned. Guns are actually easy to find, ammo is not. You can only carry a limited amount of ammo with you, say 50 rounds for a pistol. Be careful with your ammo.

All that aside, this is a game worth picking up and playing. Though you really should get a friend to play with you, at least once you hit level 23. I am getting my rear end kicked by zombies. I don't think there is a game out there where I am have died so often. I think I actually screamed out in frustration at one point yesterday because of an escort mission. I'd get killed, I'd respawn and then then person I was escorting would get killed so I'd have to reload from the last checkpoint.

This game can be long or short depending on how you play it. If you want to do all the side missions, you will be playing for awhile. Some parts of the main story require you to complete side missions so be prepared for that.