This, my friends, is a beautiful thing…
This trailer, along with the May release date, has no doubt caused the largest boner popping among Duke Nukem fans worldwide since the PAX demos after Gearbox took over the reigns. It’s time to kick ass and chew bubblegum…and you know the rest, don’t you?
Counting the days now… (along with my 3d Realms Duke Nukem Forever wallpaper, which I’ve kept up in anticipation)
– DGM-payne
Quite frankly I’ve been meaning to make this post for atleast the past month or two (or three) but I seemed to slip away from the whole blog thing for awhile there. The site’s not going away or anything like that, I just fail to update from time to time (and sometimes unfortunately, like in this case, extended time). I would have liked to share my take on some E3 titles and updates while the event was still completely fresh but I’ll still try my best to cover some upcoming titles. On that note, let’s talk about a couple things…
I’m sure you’re also probably well aware that the price of all titles shot up to $15 this year (last year only a couple were this high) which I wasn’t too impressed about. I was interested in Limbo and the new Castlevania game from the start, the rest were rather MEH to me. I played the Limbo demo when it came out but I have yet to pick it up. Considering I haven’t paid $15 for an arcade game yet I couldn’t warrant a few hours of single player play time (even if it is grand fun) to justify it, I think I’ll wait it out for a sale. I’m still a bit on the fence about the Castlevania game even, which is coming this wednesday. It looks simply awesome because of it’s new co-op and other multiplayer but if I can’t find a good amount of friends off the bat (no pun intended) to play this with I might just wait it out also.
I don’t think I have to go into this one any further…but I will note that both the videos of co-op and the new beast mode are looking pretty bomb so far. EDIT : I just learned through major nelson’s website that the proceeds go towards the charity Child’s Play so not so bad I guess.
You know, that motion control thingie for the 360 that costs about half the price of a new console. That’s right, Kinect is coming this fall for $150 and as much as I think it’s kinda neat and all I think I’ll have to pass on it for now. Maybe if I was some working class shmoe who had some money burning a hole in his pocket and was looking for a new way to entertain his family with motion controlled animals/dancing/racing etc. outside of the Wii environment I might have been interested. The only thing Kinect related that has piqued my interest so far is Child of Eden and well, since it can be normal controlled as well, I think I’ll forgoe the $150 though. Best of luck to you Microsoft, trying to get a piece of that sweet Wii market.
Since when have PC games retailed at $60 anyways? Haven’t they always been $50 at maximum? I pray to God that the other 2 titles of the trilogy are nowhere near this price. Hey Blizzard, just because this game took you 10+ friggan years to crank out to us doesn’t give you the right to hose us. Thanks. I know I’ve said this before but the lack of LAN support still pretty much bums me out as it was a big part of my original Starcraft experience. Alas, I’ll check out the sequel soon enough.
I was twidling my thumbs waiting for the next Heavy Rain add-on, feeling less than satisfied by the first one, when low and behold I learn that they’ve been put on complete stop in favor of development on new motion controls for the game. I was not too impressed by this move by Sony (no pun intended…alright, maybe a little), who pushed for the added controls. The Move is pretty cool and all I suppose, though I still think it looks like some fruity microphone or demented bingo dabber of some kind, but is it really worth halting all add-on content completely for some new controls? I’ll let you decide…
Hell, I haven’t even played the second No More Heroes OR Super Mario Galaxy 2 yet. I’m sure by the time Metroid : Other M gets here though I’ll hop back on her and show her some new lovin’.
I’ve been playing Secret Armory on Borderlands lately, thanks to the Xbox Live Deal of the Week that finally had the 2 other add-ons I still needed on sale. Before that Crackdown, which I’ve almost maxed out in gamerscore now. I’ll get in on the second one once I find a decent priced copy.
Lastly, this is also Riskening’s 100th post…which I was trying to think of grand ideas for it but isn’t my return just grand enough for ya?
– DGM-payne
The Xbox Live and Modern Warfare 2 communities are all abuzz lately with the release of the “Stimulus Package” map pack which arrived on Live first today (no word on other system release dates yet). It features 3 new maps and 2 redux maps from the first Modern Warfare for 1200 MS points ($15). Above is a picture from the junkyard map with a doghouse near the center. I watched the trailer last week and heard some commentary on the maps but I’m not quite convinced yet.
I did enjoy the game, having spent a good amount of time on the single player campaign and multiplayer such as Special Ops and the usual other online modes. I think the price is a bit excessive, possibly because all the map packs for World at War were 800 MS points each for the same amount of maps and most add-ons don’t hit this price either (Borderlands and Assassin’s Creed for example). Add up all the add-on content for Resident Evil 5 and you only get about half this price also, and added atleast several hours of gameplay. I’d rather spend the extra 400 MS points on an Arcade game or something similar.
I’m sure there’s plenty of hardcore online players out there that will fork over this cash to get it soon as possible which will make this a success per usual though as far as Modern Warfare goes. I guess I get more satisfaction out of the Special Ops experience, which I wouldn’t mind seeing a new mission or 2 there and maybe a few new achievements here and there but I digress. I feel the competitive side will always take favor in this case though, even though there’s more cooperative potential.
Whether it is the fact that I don’t think I’ll get as much use out of it as the Nazi Zombie maps of World at War (which I definitely yielded the most time out of it for the money spent), or the fact that I tire easily of the other online modes that carry over from Call of Duty to Call of Duty (or a little bit of both), I think I’ll be waiting this one out and seeing if I want to step back into the fray once it goes on sale (similar to what I did with the first Modern Warfare’s Variety map pack).
If you do decide to get it before this Sunday (or have already done so), then you’ll be able to get in on the double XP goodness if you have some ranking up to do.
– DGM-payne
You’ve probably atleast heard about Game Room which hit XBLA and Games for Windows Live today, or atleast you do now. It’s a pretty neat idea : being able to share your own personalized arcade with retro titles along with your friends or even compete in challenges in said games while all along seeing your avatar at the helm of the arcade cabinet. The initial download is free and you pay MS points to unlock full versions of each game (Konami, Atari, and Intellivision being game types at the moment, more game packs to come in the weeks ahead) or play timed demo versions using in-game coins (you’ll get 20 coins at the start and can earn more by visiting friend’s arcades). Besides unlocking games for unlimited play there is also the option of spending 40 MS points (50 cents) for a single play. Like some insanely easy achievements? There’s also about 7 achievements you can get before even buying a single game just by placing props, themes, and what not (for the gamerscore fiends out there). All those things said I like the concept but I have a couple little annoyances with the current state of the game…
Overall it’s a cool concept albeit a bit poorly implemented. If you don’t mind the prices I’d say go for it. There’s some pretty solid retro titles to be played. Here’s to hoping for some lower prices and even better retro titles in the weeks to come.
EDIT (3/30/10) – This post right HERE on the xbox.com forums pretty much covers some great improvements, many of which I touched on above. I also learned recently that they won’t be doing the weekly game releases until late April. Bummer…but hopefully they’ll iron out some issues in the meantime (we can hope).
– DGM-payne
I’ve been playing Perfect Dark for the XBLA for the past couple days and I was admiring the music (among other things) that I hadn’t really experienced since playing the original back in the N64 days. This also got me thinking about some of the other memorable musical pieces in my video gaming experience, specifically epic boss battle scores. Such as…
(Haven’t heard the songs before or need a refresher? Click the screenshots for zipped up mp3’s of each song.)
Baby Bowser (Super Mario World 2 : Yoshi’s Island) – You gotta admit, for a game that is generally as light hearted and “fluffy” as Yoshi’s Island (and later Yoshi’s Story) this is a pretty rocking final battle theme. It starts from the moment Magikoopa flies over with his magic dust (as per boss usual in this game) and makes Baby Bowser into a horrible giant. With the castle in ruins Bowser starts coming at you from the background and the music really adds something to the duel that makes it stick out in your mind.
*Couldn’t really find a screenshot of this one easily, sooooo general Rool shot it is.*
King K. Rool (Donkey Kong Country) – It starts out pretty innocently enough, with a mock ending sign and credits when you first land on the last level of Rool’s pirate ship. That is until you’re hurled into a final confrontation with the reptile himself. That’s when the music suddenly changes from a simple pirate theme into something faster paced and easily another one of my favorite boss themes.
Sloprano (Conker’s Bad Fur Day) – Not only is it one of my favorite games, but it is also probably one of the most ridiculous boss battles you’ll ever encounter. In this boss battle you fight a (quite literal) giant pile of operatic singing poo. What makes it memorable (besides the utter uniqueness of it) is the catchy lyrics which is comprised of 3 verses throughout the encounter, the third even having a back and forth with Conker. It’s vulgar, it’s funny, and it’s the music that makes it just plain over-the-top epic in my book. (Unfortunately they censored the song in the remake Live and Reloaded, but I’ve included the original : so listen at your own discretion.)
There’s just a few of my favorites. I bet I could come up with dozens more if I stuck my mind to it, but these are some of the top in my mind.
Whether they’re from video gaming generations past or some of the current ones you probably have atleast a few that stick out in your mind as well.
– DGM-payne
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