The Death of Guitar Hero

First let’s get the obvious “our thoughts are with the people who were laid off” out of the way.

Now, how does it effect Rock Banders (and gamers in general)?

Well we could see the signs at least a year ago. Rock Band 3 was announced with the “real guitar” and piano hardware, what was Guitar Hero’s response? Warriors of Rock? Although the game has a bunch of good songs (most notably Rush 2112), it seemed like a desperate last gasp in comparison to RB3.

It’s only a wonder this didn’t happen sooner. Think about it, how did Rock Band advertise? It didn’t. Game sites and word of mouth made Rock Band popular. Now look at Guitar Hero and all those Bob Seger commercials. How much did those cost?

And then of course there’s the market over saturation. Seriously: Warriors of Rock, Guitar Hero Smash Hits, Guitar Hero 4, Band Hero, DJ Hero, Guitar Hero Aerosmith, Guitar Hero 5, Guitar Hero Van Halen, DJ Hero 2, Guitar Hero Metallica. And those are just off the top of my head! What was the logic in this? I could go on for hours, so let’s get to the benefits.

The immediate benefit is that Rock Band is suddenly a monopoly over the genre. And since Harmonix is a pretty well liked by everyone, this is sort of like having Santa as president or something. If a band wants to be in a music game they pretty much have to go to Rock Band.

The next big thing is that it forces anyone who is a new entrant to the music genre or a Guitar Hero fan to go to Rock Band. This will greatly help the franchise which is frankly no prize right now either.

What are the problems? First is the people who are saying this is the death knell of music games. It’s not. It’s sort of like saying HD-DVD dropping out of the HD wars was signifying the end of HD movie discs. Yet Blu-Ray is still around.

Even then, it’s not some sort of revelation that music games are in a slump. The problem is the image this presents might turn off artists from using Rock Band.

Finally the worst part is how shaky it makes Rock Band look. If a well established game like Guitar Hero can just collapse, can the same happen to Rock Band? A couple of songs and I could have been a Guitar Hero player. That’s a lost investment in hardware, software and downloadable content. They can at least use the hardware for RB3 but even then, what happens if Harmonix closes? Then where would we turn?

Game Review: Rock Band 3

Rock Band 3 was a long time coming. Rock Band 2 was released way back in 2008. Unlike the Guitar Hero franchise which has a seemingly endless amount of sequels and spin-offs, we only had The Beatles: Rock Band and Green Day: Rock Band to tide us over. After such a long development, will Rock Band 3 be the pinnacle of music gaming it's supposed to be?

In some ways yes. Consider that I haven't played with the actual stringed Rock Band guitar or the other advanced guitar. I have had experience with the Rock Band Piano Keyboard (smart ass EB Games employees). Well let's start with the piano then. It's fun. A lot of fun actually. The keyboard itself is well-made and the charting is stupendous. Two complaints:

1. The bar to activate overdrive and effects is way on the left side, which more often than not causes you to lose focus.
2. This is a big one, upgrading songs from Rock Band 2 and DLC for Rock Band 3 Keyboards costs the FULL PRICE of the song. Yup, apologists can "but they have to re-license the songs" to the cows come home cause that's horse shit. Sorry there's no way I can be nice about this. If they had been up front about it, say, a year ago and said "Yup your going to have to re-pay for the songs for Rock Band 3" then they'd have my sympathy. Instead they didn't announce shit and waited until two weeks after Rock Band 3 was released and the first DLC came out. Fucking cockbites.

 Okay I have to calm down. Let's get to the good part, the music and game play. If your a metal lover than your probably going to be disappointed with Rock Band 3. Thankfully I hate metal, so Rock Band 3's soundtrack was amazing (albeit confusing: Who the fuck asked for Rock Lobster? Or that llama song?). Huey Lewis, INXS, J Geils Band, Joan Jett, Dire Straits, Ozzy, Police, Who, Doors, Hendrix, Bowie and the Beach Boys? HELL YES!

I thought the feel of Rock Band 2 couldn't get any better. I was wrong. Rock Band 3 feels so solid its unbelievable. The menus are much better (although switching users is still a pain in the ass) as well. What about the campaign? It's a disappointment. The idea behind it is great: go to different cities on Tours playing your choice of various setlists with different challenges. That's totally fun. The problem is it's too damn short! I never completely finished Rock Band 2's campaign, but Rock Band 3's campaign can be done in a day! They spent way too much time on their goal system when they need to expand the campaign. This is inexcusable when they've gotten rid of other various player modes.

Overall the game is a shame. A shame that they had such good bands and good game play ideas that they cocked up the best single system multi-player game with too much other crap and (to me) shady tactics.

7.5/10

P.S. Where the FUCK are the goddamn pianos? I have not seen one single Xbox 360 Rock Band 3 piano at any store I've been to (including Buffalo and Toronto). What is this shit? I'm sure we all thought that Mad Catz would be on top of this but it's FUCKING JANUARY! And now they're just talking about not having enough MIDI connectors? And they're only shipping 4000? How many games of Rock Band 3 were sold? I'm pretty sure they sold more Stage Kits than that!

MADCATZ! PIANOS! NOW!

2010s Stinger503's Video Game Awards

2010s Stinger503's Video Game Awards

Biggest Game I Didn't Play But Wanted To
Nominees:
Battlestations: Pacific
Ghostbusters: The Video Game
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
Wolfenstein
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Halo 3: ODST
Winner: Halo 3:ODST - No doubt the biggest upset of the year was that I did not play ODST. It just didn't drum up enough interest in me as Modern warfare 2 or Beatles Rockband did.

Worst Game
Winner: None for 2009, I just never played a bad game this year, not saying there weren't any.

Best Music
Nominees:
Band Hero
Lego Rock Band
Modern Warfare 2
Beatles Rock Band

Winner: Beatles Rock Band, tons of great Beatles music. Undeniably good.


Best Cinematics
Nominees:
Halo Wars
Resident Evil 5
The Beatles Rock Band
Winner: Resident Evil 5 - Just amazingly well done.

Best Voice Acting
Winner: - Billy Murray as Captain Price in Modern Warfare 2

Best Accessory
Nominees:
Facebook
Twitter
Wireless Headset
Winner: Wireless Headset

Best Multiplayer Games

* Best Two-Player One System

Nominees:
Resident Evil 5
The Beatles: Rock Band
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Left 4 Dead 2
Winner: (Tie)Modern Warfare 2 & Left 4 Dead 2 - Definitely equal, because of how good they are, but also by how limited they are. Modern Warfare 2's Spec Ops were great but only offline multiplayer is a huge issue. Playing Left 4 Dead with a friend is how it should be.

* Best Online

Nominees:
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Resident Evil 5
Halo Wars
Winner: CoD Modern Warfare 2 - By adding attatchments, weapons, titles, callsigns and killstreaks, they revolutionized online play again.

* Best Overall

Nominees:
The Beatles: Rock Band
Lego Rock Band
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Band Hero
Left 4 Dead 2
Resident Evil 5
Winner: The Beatles Rock Band - Just magnificent fun, especially adding microphones, just completely enhances the experience.

Best Xbox Live Arcade Game
Nominees:
Braid
Castle Crashers
Battlefield 1943
Shadow Complex
Peggle
Winner: Shadow Complex - Amazingly well made game. Great year for arcade games.

Best Music Game
Nominees:
Band Hero
The Beatles Rock Band
Lego Rock Band
Winner: The Beatles Rock Band - Build off of the great Rock Band games with more microphones, better unlocks and great music.

Best Racing Game
Winner: Burnout Paradise - Fortunately its demo wasn't fully indicative of the game. The game was quite good.

Sports Game
None- Just wasn't a big year to me for sports games.

Best RTS/RPG
Winner: Halo Wars

Best Action
Winner: Resident Evil 5

Best Shooter
Nominees:
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Left 4 Dead 2
Left 4 Dead
Winner: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Yet again one of the best experiences in shooters this year.

Best Level
Nominees:
Left 4 Dead- Final Stage of Dead Air
Modern Warfare 2- Second Sun
Resident Evil 5- Volcano
Shadow Complex
Winner: Second Sun - Turns the game on it's head. Completely unexpected.

Best Story
Nominees:
Modern Warfare 2
Resident Evil 5
Lego Rock Band
Shadow Complex
Left 4 Dead 2
Winner: Resident Evil 5 - Definitely one of the best stories of the year. Also has a ton of history behind it.

Best Game
Nominees:
Halo Wars
Resident Evil 5
The Beatles: Rock Band
Lego Rock Band
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Band Hero
Left 4 Dead 2
Left 4 Dead
Shadow Complex
Winner: Modern Warfare 2 - Although the campaigns a little lack luster. The Spec Ops and Multiplayer more than make up for it

Prediction for Next Year:
Alan Wake (again), Splinter Cell Conviction or Rock Band 3

Game Review: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Modern Warfare 1 was easily one of my favourite games of all time. It had a great story and excellent multiplayer. Let's get "No Russian" out of the way. Yes it's pretty crazy, but it at least has some context (your a CIA operative and are trying to get close to a terrorist). Think about Grand Theft Auto, a series practically built on the ability to kill civilians. And in the rest of the game you fail if you accidentally kill a civilian, so it balances out.

Now further on in the story it gets ludicrous. Russia invades the U.S. basically the plot of Red Alert 2, instead of Kirovs there's choppers and planes. Where was my iron curtain?

So from there it becomes your standard "We're the US fightin off the ruskies". And that's the same problem MW1 had, the fun parts are when your the English team, not fun is with the US team. Why is that? My favourite missions are when your methodical, not frantic getting hit from all sides.

Now getting away from the story is multiplayer. Which is fantastic! The upgrade for weapons keep the game fun. It's just a blast to play. There seems like a limited number of maps, amd of course it has the love hate relationship with me as always. There's also the co-op which I felt should have been integrated with the story.

Programming: 9/10 : Overall pretty good, but the glitches such as the javelin glitch and the "private ranked match" glitch show that there could have been a little more time spent
Graphics: 9/10 : Good, but starting to show it's age
Story: 7/10 : Kind of ridiculous
Atmosphere: 7.5/10 : Not as fun as MW1
Multiplayer: 10/10 : Improves on MW1 10 fold
Overall: 9/10 : Overall still a great game, but not a classic like the first.

P.S. I thought they were joking on Bleep Bloop when they said Dick Cheney quotes show up when you die. Sure enough, they do. *facepalm*

Game Review: The Beatles: Rock Band

What I liked about Beatles: Rock Band is that it gets us to the core of the Rock Band and Guitar Hero game which is simple: Playing kick ass music. It's not about who gets the best score, it's about enjoying the music.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

First off lets get this out of the way: not being able to export Beatles songs does suck. BUT it needed to establish itself as it's own game, and it does that perfectly. We never really wanted to pop in Rock Band 2 and play that instead, we just kept going from song to song and having fun.

The inclusion of having three microphones was just a brilliant move, and I hope it's applied to other Rock Band games. The game is being well supported with DLC and I hope that continues to happen.

One of my favourite parts is the bonus material, such as pictures, factoids and videos. If anything I want more! The game plays well and is a little more picky with notes than Rock Band, in my opinion anyway. The story is loyal to the different periods of the Beatles music and was a blast to play.

Programming: 10/10 : 0 bugs, game loads quite fast
Graphics: 9.5/10 : The gang is captured perfectly and everything else is standard for Rock Band
Story: 9/10 : Could have been a little more, but addresses the history of the Beatles well.
Atmosphere: 10/10 : Captures the essence of Beatlemania perfectly
Multiplayer: 10/10 : The more the merrier, adding three microphones is something I hope to see in Rock Band 3
Overall: 9.5/10 : I don't think I could ask for a better Beatles game. Highly recommended.

P.S. When is Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da coming?

Busy Weeks

Up ahead I'm going to have several busy weeks, so here is what you can expect: An ass load of movie reviews including Hurt Locker, Avatar and Youth in Revolt. My 2nd blog day is coming up in 10 days as is my Video game awards.

Stinger503's Report of Toolbaggery 11/12/09

For those of you who don't know, Australia's game rating system doesn't allow games for people over 18 years of age. To put this in perspective, imagine if we had no 18-A or R rating in North America. How many good movies, that aren't appropriate for children, would we be missing?

Well probably one of the biggest toolbags of the year is Australia's Attorney General, Michael Atkinson, who says "I accept that 98 per cent, 99 per cent of gamers will tell the difference between fantasy and reality, but the 1 per cent to 2 per cent could go on to be motivated by these games to commit horrible acts of violence," he added. Yeah buddy, that's how society works. Only 1 to 2 percent of people flying are terrorists but let's not allow anybody to fly.

To quote Pink Floyd "We don't need your education! We don't need your thought control!"

What a toolbag!

25 Holy Crap Moments in Gaming

25. Left For Dead: Dead Air
In the finale to Dead Air, you step out onto the tarmac to prep the military plane for flight. When you first come out you see a plane coming in and crash, throwing debris everywhere! Video

24. Halo: 343 Guilty Spark
Just simply iconic Halo level..."I've got a bad feeling about this..." Video

23. Metal Gear Solid 2's Ending
So your playing this game and then suddenly your in a 20 minute cut scene about the new world order. As you just crashed into downtown New York and then battle it out from there. Video

22. Braid's Ending
Although overrated in many cases still a solid mysterious ending to a extremely well made game. Video

21. F22 Lightning II's Big Honkin' Air War
Basically self explanatory, its you and your team vs the other team, with literally dozens of aircraft flying around, its enough to make Maverick from Top Gun crap his pants.

20. Call of Duty 4's 1st Level
Although this isn't what most people remember Call of Duty 4 for, it certainly set the tone. Basically you are a national leader captured by a rebelling force and are being taken to be executed. You can't do anything but look around as your country is being overrun by rebels. Basically Infinity Ward's way of saying: "You ain't seen nothin' yet" Video

19. Call of Duty 4's AC130
The moment you pull the trigger and blow up a house, you simply want more. An amazing level and fun to play. Video

18. Half-Life 2: We don't go there anymore.
Only moments after she told you that Ravenholm is a hell hole, Alyx tell you to go through this festival of haunted nightmares (that's right nightmares that are haunted as well). Video

17. Splinter Cell Chaos Theory's Mexican Standoff
There's was definitely a holy crap moment when your faced with shooting Sam's war friend Douglas. Video

16. Gears of War 2: Riding horseback
Definitely the best moment in the Gears series was riding on the Brumak and blowing the hell out of everything in sight. Video

15. Prey's Opening
Prey was probably the biggest sleeper of 2006. I still remember the feeling I had playing the demo. The first level starts you in a bar where you explore the area, interacting with objects, and then the UFO comes. It's a great opening, and it only gets better too. Also: Killer soundtrack (needs more cowbell though) Video

14. Red Alert's Ending
I giant WTF happened when I played Red Alert to the end of the Soviet campaign as NOD leader Kane comes out of nowhere and shoots the Nadia who just poisoned Stalin. "I AM the future" Damn! You don't screw with Kane. Video

13. Halo: The Pillar of Autumn
The opening level of Halo perfectly sets up the franchise and multi-million dollar money maker. Starting of with some light diagnotics they drop you straight into some fighting. Video

12. Splinter Cell: The CIA
The is just something inherently awesome about breaking into the CIA. Video

11. Call of Duty 4: Ghillies in the Mist
One of the most badass levels of all time, just wonderfully developed. Period. Blowing off a guys arm and then jumping out of a building as it explodes is awesome. The Last Stand, avoiding soldiers, and just the amount of detail put into the old Soviet city is simply amazing. Video

10. Fallout 3's Ending
No I'm not talking about its crappy ending. I'm talking about it's HOLY CRAP THAT ROBOT IS BLOWING THE HELL OUT OF EVERYTHING ending. Video

9. Titanic Adventure Out of Time
One of the best games I've ever played. But the ending takes the cake as you run around the ship as it sinks, trying to figure out how to do everything right while not getting killed. Video

8. Half-Life 2: Meet the Antlions
You're in your little car and getting carried over a ton of giant bugs ala Starship Troopers and over course the DROP YOU! Of course no one tries to help or anything either.

7. SkiFree's Abominable Snowman
You probably don't remember it now, but when you were just skiing around having fun and then all of a sudden a monster comes out of nowhere and eats your skier alive, you likely said holy crap. Video

6. Red Alert 2: Intro Movie
I still say holy crap whenever I watch this. Drive Friendly. The Texas Way.

5. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's Final Battle
One of the best games I've ever played and probably one of the best endings in a game I've ever played. Having beaten Gannondorf, you run out of the crumbling tower and then in the collapsed ruin you fight the monstrous Gannon in an epic ending battle. Video

4. Halo 3's Ending
What more do I need to say. Just the perfect finish to the great series. Video

3. Portal
You knew this game had to be here. One of the most perfect games of all time. Especially the ending where the entire building blows up and then you have GLADOS sing you Still Alive. Video

2. Call of Duty 4: The Nuke
Of course I wouldn't dare not mention this. During the game you thought you'd play as to characters. Instead, your American character gets his as blown up in a huge nuclear explosion and then you get to walk around like its Fallout 3 as ash rains down on your fallen comrades. Video

1. Doom's Ending
No one could ever have expected to be teleported to a pitch black room full of monsters, but that's exactly what happened. The "what the hell is this?" is the icing on the cake. Video

Pink Floyd: Rockband

Here is how I would do a Pink Floyd Rockband game.

The Early Years:
Piper At The Gates of Dawn
-Astronomy Domine /A Really Good Starter Song\
-Interstellar Overdrive /A really fun guitar instrumental\
-Bike /Would be fun for a vocalist and drums\

A Saucerful of Secrets
-Let There Be More Light /Listen to it, it's the Doom theme!\
-Corporal Clegg /Has a Beatles/David Bowie feel to it\
-Saucerful of Secrets /Crazy Instrumental\
-See-Saw /Interesting Song\

Ummagumma
-Careful With That Axe, Eugene /An 8 Minute Pink Floyd Epic\

Meddle
-One Of These Days /Awesome guitar instrumental\
-Echoes /How could I not use this epic 20+ minutes song to wrap up the Early Years\


Hitting It Big:
Dark Side of The Moon (Full Album)
-Speak To Me/Breathe /The Drummer starts by pedaling the heartbeat, which goes into the sound effects, vocals screaming, then the awesome guitars start with a sweet drum beat. It would be amazing to sing as well\
-On The Run /I think this would be possible to do (Instrumental)\
-Time /What can you say? Classic song, epic solo\
-Great Gig In The Sky /Almost has to be done, thought of has just a piano song but has good guitar pieces and drums\
-Money /Classic song period\
-Us And Them /Great to sing\
-Any Colour You Like /EASILY Pink Floyd's best instrumental WOULD be amazing on guitar (especially if they could both be guitars\
-Brain Damage /Great Vocals\
-Eclipse /One of my favourites\

Wish You Were Here
-Shine on You Crazy Diamond (I-IX)
-Welcome To The Machine
-Have A Cigar
-Wish You Were Here

Is There Anybody Out There: The Wall (Live)
Stop. Why The Wall live you ask? "People are going to ride the whine train all day!" you say. I'll explain it in the songs.
-Master of Ceremonies: ATMOS & In The Flesh (LIVE) /These are just to great not to go together. The singer would say the announcement part. (Which is okay since there's an instrumental)\
-The Thin Ice /Great lyrics, There's an extra bit of instrumental in the live version too\
-Another Brick In The Wall Prt. 1 /Not really to much difference here\
-The Happiest Days Of Our Lives /The originals a bit better, but I also like the lives stronger beat\
-Another Brick In The Wall Prt. 2 /I'll be honest this is the only song not as good as the original, the singing and guitars don't sound as good. However the 2 minutes of extra instrumental is pretty awesome\
-Mother /Again another song with extra guitar solo, yes please\
-Goodbye Blue Sky /Both equally good. The orig. has better light parts, while the live has better dark parts\
-Empty Space & What Shall We Do Now /If for no other reason, What Shall We Do Now is the reason that you'd have the live version of the Wall. Just a cool song. There's a drum solo and a big rock ending!\
-Young Lust /The starting solo guitar makes it so worth it to go with live\
-One Of My Turns /The guitars sound a little better live, but not much difference\
-Don't Leave Me Now /Again, not much difference\
-Another Brick In The Wall Prt. 3 /The guitar is better in the live version\
-The Last Few Brick & Goodbye Cruel World /An awesome instrumental live only, would lead into a pretty much singing solo ending song\
-Hey You /I like the guitars more in this one\
-Nobody Home /Pretty much the same\
-Is There Anybody Out The /There is a ton more to do for the singer in the live version\
-Vera & Bring The Boys Back Home /Basically the same on both\
-Comfortably Numb (LIVE) /solo has an extra minute of badassedness on it. It is literally THE best guitar solo in any Pink Floyd record released. It also ends with a big rock ending.\
-The Show Must Go On /Basically the same, some extra lyrics in the live version\
-Master of Ceremonies: Atmos? & In The Flesh /Just a ton more loud, especially drums\
-Run Like Hell /I love the guitars a ton more live, and the opening speaking to the fans would be great to do\
-Waiting For The Worms & Stop /Basically the same\
-The Trial /Basically the same\
-Outside The Wall /There's nice background singing in the live one\

TOTAL SONGS: 50

Debate: The Wall
In my opinion after completing the game, or completing a challenge like: "Do the entire Wall: Live as a setlist with 5 stars on every song" then you'd unlock the original Wall. However, there's also a possibility of making it DLC, if they did this they could offer Another Brick In The Wall Part II as a freebie with the game. Or the entire Wall as a freebie with a pre-order.

Downloadable Content:
Singles
-Apples and Oranges
-Candy And A Currant Bun
-It Would Be So Nice
-Paint Box
-Point Me At The Sky

Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
-Lucifer Sam
-Matilda Mother
-Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk
-Flaming

A Saucerful Of Secrets
-Jugband Blues
-Remember A Day
-Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun

Music From The Film More
-The Nile Song
-Cymbaline
-Ibiza Bar
-More Blues
-A Spanish Piece & Dramatic Theme

Ummagumma
-The Narrow Way: Part I
-The Narrow Way: Part II
-The Narrow Way: Part III

Atom Heart Mother
-Atom Heart Mother Suite
-If
-Summer '68
-Fat Old Sun
-Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast

Meddle
-A Pillow of Winds
-Fearless
-San Tropez

Obscured By Clouds (Full Album)
-Obscured By Clouds /Instrumental\
-When You're In /Instrumental\
-Burning Bridges
-The Gold It's In The... /solo could easily be mistaken for AC/DC\
-Wot's... Uh The Deal
-Mudmen /Instrumental\
-Childhood's End
-Free Four /Cool Solo\
-Stay
-Absolutely Curtains

Animals (Full Album)
Pigs On The Wing Pt 1&2
Sheep
Dogs
Pigs (One Of Three)

Final Cut
-When The Tigers Broke Free
-Fletcher Memorial Home
-Your Possible Pasts
-The Hero's Return
-The Final Cut
-Not Now John
-The Post War Dream
-Two Suns In The Sunset

Momentary Lapse of Reason
-Learning To Fly
-The Dogs Of War
-One Slip
-On The Turning Away
-Yet Another Movie
-Terminal Frost
-Sorrow

The Division Bell
-A Great Day For Freedom
-High Hopes
-What Do You Want From Me
-Poles Apart
-Marooned /Instrumental\
-Wearing The Inside Out
-Take It Back
-Coming Back To Life
-Keep Talking
-Lost For Words

On An Island
-On An Island
-The Blue
-Take A Breath
-Red Sky At Night /The Sax would be amazing to turn into a guitar solo\
-This Heaven
-Smile
-Where We Start

Game Review: Resident Evil 5

Resident Evil 5 has an amazing story. Really epic. So for that alone, at least rent the game.


But the best part of the game is the co-op, yelling "HOLY CRAP!" and coordinating with your teammate is a ton of fun. The graphics and locales are well done.

But here's the problems. The single player is ass. It's just not fun playing by yourself. The second problem is the controls are kind of sluggish. I tried replaying a couple time but it was just a struggle. So I ended up reselling it too.




Programming: 5/10 : Controls felt kind of sluggish. Single player teammate AI is horrid!
Graphics: 9/10 : Graphics are really great
Story: 10/10 : Story is thrilling
Atmosphere: 10/10 : The various African locales are really well done
Multiplayer: 7/10 : The co-operative is really fun
Overall: 7/10 : There's an exceptional game here, I think it just gets bogged down a bit.

P.S. I love the main character because his name is Chris, memo to developers: NAME YOUR CHARACTERS CHRIS!

Game Review: Halo Wars

Halo Wars is an RTS based in the Halo universe. The plot is nothing special, Covenant take a thing, try to blow up the world... yadda yadda. In the end it doesn't have an impact on the Halo universe we know and love.

The problem I have with the game is that the pace seems kind of slow. Also a thing that bothered me was that you could on build a couple buildings and defences. And they can only go in specific places around the main construction base. I like the Red Alert scheme where you could build building anywhere around a building you own. It let you be creative with your bases. But they did it for easier controls.

In the end there's nothing wrong with the game. It has some interesting scenarios. However when I finished and looked at the achievements, I thought "ugh". And I knew right then, if playing through levels was feeling like a hassle, I was done. I traded it in for money.

Programming: 9/10 : Very well made game, controls really well too.

Graphics: 7.5/10 : The graphics are pretty good for a RTS

Story: 5/10 : The story kind of weak because of the low impact on the Halo universe.

Atmosphere: 9/10 : The Halo units are done really well

Multiplayer: NA/10 : Didn't really play multiplayer

Overall: 7/10 : Like I said I didn't hold onto the game.

Thoughts On Microsoft's E3 Conference

Damn! First off, DAMN!
That was amazing. Now before I continue I must throw this in:
CALLED IT!
Alan Wake did indeed have an EPIC demo and looked amazing!

Modern Warfare 2 looked great, but it felt like the demo they showed was rushed, in opposition of Modern Warfare 1's slower demo.

Beatles Rockband will indeed have Back In The USSR, I'm Sold.

SPLINTER CELL CONVICTION! HOLY SHIHTZUS! Looked jaw droppingly good!

Then Natal. I'll admit, parts were a little corny. But goddamn! Milo was creepy but even more amazing!

Then throw in Facebook and Twitter. Left 4 Dead 2, Crackdown 2, and
HOLY CRAP DID HALO ODST LOOK GOOD

10 Best Halo Multiplayer Maps

Read this post today and found it interesting. Did a little research and remembered some of my old favs.

1. Boarding Action - My dream is to have a remake of this map, half Covenant ship with a huge hole in it, half human ship.
2. Ivory Tower - Had a love/hate relationship with this map but I wish it were in Halo 3
3. Blood Gulch - Classic
4. Elongation - Loved this map for it’s design, colors and gameplay. Loved Swat and Snipers.
5. Beaver Creek - Classic map
6. Hang ‘Em High - Loved sniping here.
7. Terminal - Yes, I miss being hit by a train.
8. Zanzibar - I remember E3 when this was unveiled as part of Halo 2’s multiplayer. The spinning wheel and opening doors were amazing.
9. Blackout - I probably like Lockout more but I love the Human setting redesign
10. Backwash - Sort of out of left field, but I really loved the feel of this map

Honorable Mention: Containment, Foundation, Headlong, Relic, Colossus, Warlock
Least Favourites: Waterworks, Burial Mounds, Turf, Foundry, Isolation and Snowbound

Lookin' Ahead 2009 Edition

Last year I did a thing looking ahead at 2008. And boy was I right, 2008 was a blast. Now I know I'm doing this a little late. But here we go:

Already happened: Halo Wars (Review Soon), Resident Evil 5 (Review Soon), Hasbro coming to Live Arcade, Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.
What else?

1. Modern Warfare 2- A sequel to a game so good it doesn't even need to be called Call of Duty any more
2. Alan Wake- A game that's building anticipation via silence. I expect an EPIC demo at E3
   
3. Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams- You. Play. A. Big. Daddy.
4. The Beatles: Rock Band- As long as there's Back in the U.S.S.R.
   
5. I Am Alive - A game where you have to live through a huge earthquake in Chicago, battling for water and trying to save your girlfriend? Count me in!
6. Survivor- Another survival game, except multiple disasters including 9/11 and the Titanic
7. Ride to Hell- A GTA Lost and the Damned like game. Where do I sign?
8. Primetime- Can't wait to see how this is implemented.
   
9. Huxley- The First real MMO game for the 360?
   
10. Red Dead Redemption- I love western games.
11. Max Payne 3- Never got into the first 2 but the same thing happened with Resident Evil 5
    
12. Velvet Assassin- Historical game based in World War II, starring a female spy and featuring Splinter Cell like game play? Who says WWII is dead?
13. Mafia 2- The 1st game looked interesting on the computer, but dated when finally released on the Xbox. I think this maybe a lot better. Love the era.
    
14. The Saboteur- Game based in occupied Paris circa WWII. Hell yes.
15. Splinter Cell: Conviction- There's been a long media blackout since the negative reception of the first information. Will they be out this year? I'm not keeping my hopes up.
16. Sundown- Zombie apocalypse game. Need I say more. Hopefully out in '09
17. Cipher Complex- Interesting Splinter Cell like game.

And that's not including what I can only imagine are going to be huge announcements from E3 '09 in a few months.

Game Download Review: COD:WAW:MP1

Today I'll review the Call of Duty: World At War: Map Pack 1, I won't be reviewing the Zombies map though, just the multiplayer maps.

First is Nightfire: basically a night map in the streets of a German city (Berlin?) in flames. Now as a sniper the map is okay, it's not as big as Seelow and there's a couple of okay sniping spots. The map is pretty fun for objective based games like sabotage. And there is a variety of strategies one can use (ex. go through factory, alley, across street to sniper or enemy base, etc.) so you have to be on your feet.
Overall: 8/10
It's fun but there are areas for improvement.

Second is Station: Basically a recreation of the subway tunnels from the campaign, this map is a bit of a bitch because it seems as though there's ALWAYS someone behind you. This is because of the multiple tunnels that link from the main big tunnel to the secondary tunnels. There aren't any lighting issues here either. Also fun for games of sabotage. Sniping can be done here but it's kind of lame.
Overall: 8/10
Pretty good, sort of like the map Elongation from Halo 2.

Finally there's Knee Deep: This is definitely my favourite Pacific based map. It's quite large and features various sniping spots. Great fun for objective games and death match games alike. Starts out kind of boring but it really grows on you. Favourite map from the pack, better than the other Pacific maps like Makin and Courtyard (not sure of the name).
Overall: 9/10
All round very good.

BUY? Yes

2009 Stinger503's Video Game Awards

Biggest Game I Didn't Play But Wanted To
Nominees:
Ninja Gaiden II
Red Alert 3
Condemned 2: Bloodshot
Battlefield: Bad Company
Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway
Saint's Row 2
Far Cry 2
Guitar Hero: World Tour
Winner: Red Alert 3 - One of my favourite franchises ever gets new life and it's on the 360! How could I not have bought this? Was dislike for EA after they shut down Westwood? Questioning RTS's on consoles? No demo? Who knows...

Worst Demo
Nominees:
Turning Point: Fall of Liberty
Tom Clancy's Endwar
Dead Space
Winner: Dead Space - I heard so much hype about this game, I genuinely was interested. Then the demo came out. Sorry but giving me 25 rounds in my pistol and putting me up against a dozen zombies pounding me is bullshit. When I say screw this 7 minutes into the demo, there's a problem.

Worst Game
Nominees:
Turning Point: Fall of Liberty
Lost: Via Domus
NHL 2k6
NHL 2k7
Winner: NHL 2k7 & 2k6 - Both of these pieces of ass will rot in video game hell. How dare 2k steal peoples money and then NOT patch the game so it at least works!

Best Music
Nominees:
Rock Band 2
Fallout 3
Mirrors Edge
Grand Theft Auto IV
Winner: Rock Band 2 - The Who, Rush, AC/DC, Kansas, Survivor, and Stephen and the Colberts what more do you need?
Honorable Mention: Grand Theft Auto IV - Having Queen and Ricky Gervais = Awesome


Best Cinematics
Nominees:
Gears of War 2
Mirrors Edge
Grand Theft Auto IV
Turok
Winner: Gears of War 2 - Normally I'm not a fan of cut scenes but for this I loved the story they told, very well done
Honorable Mention: Mirror's Edge - personally not a fan of cell shaded cut scenes but I loved them in Mirror's Edge

Best Voice Acting
Nominees:
Keifer Sutherland & Gary Oldman- Call of Duty: World At War
Liam Neeson- Fallout 3
Michael Hollick-Grand Theft Auto IV
John DiMaggio- Gears of War 2
Winner: Liam Neeson - I thought that Liam Neeson's performance as James, the main characters father, was amazing.

Best Accessory
Nominees:
Rock Band 2 Drums
Rock Band 2 Guitar
Xbox 360 Wireless Adapter
HD-DVD Add-On
Winner: HD-DVD Add-On - Okay I'm lazy, and this device feeds into that laziness. For $40 I got a DVD player, extra USB port and an HD-DVD player. And I don't have to take the game out of the console to put the DVD in.
Too Little To Late: Wireless Headset - I bought one on Friday but never got the chance to test it. So it's in the running for next year.

Best Multiplayer Games

• Best Two-Player One System

Nominees:
Gears of War 2
Call of Duty: World At War
Fable 2
Rock Band 2
Winner: Gears of War 2 - Combine Horde with Co-op with multiplayer bots and you have the best 2 person experience on the Xbox 360

• Best Online

Nominees:
Call of Duty: World At War
Gears of War 2
Fable 2
Grand Theft Auto IV
Winner: Call of Duty: World At War - Not only taking Call of Duty 4's multiplayer experience but adding vehicular fun.
Honorable Mention: Grand Theft Auto IV - Rockstar took a risk at adding multiplayer, but it payed off in one of the best multiplayer experiences in years

• Best Overall
  

Nominees:
Gears of War 2
Call of Duty: World At War
Rock Band 2
Grand Theft Auto IV
Winner: Rock Band 2 - There is no game where I could get my my sister, her boyfriend and my other sister to have so much fun for hours at a time.

Best Xbox Live Arcade Game
Nominees:
Chessmaster Live
Ticket To Ride
Fable 2 Pub Games
Dash Of Destruction
Winner: Ticket To Ride - I was able to get both my sisters and mom to love playing this game. Very addicting and fun.
Too Little Too Late: Braid - bought Braid late last night, so far it's had an intriguing story and gameplay elements

Best Music Game
Nominees:
Guitar Hero II
Guitar Hero III
Rock Band 2
Rock Band: AC/DC Live
Winner: Rock Band 2 - An amazing set list and great multiplayer

Best Racing Game
Nominees:
Test Drive: Unlimited
NASCAR '09
Project Gotham Racing 4
Forza Motorsport 2
Winner: Test Drive: Unlimited
Honorable Mention: NASCAR '09, EA helped correct it's fucktastrophy (trademark, I created that word) from '08 by improving everything

Sports Game
Nominees:
NHL '09
NHL 2k8
NASCAR '09
Smackdown vs. RAW 2007
Winner: NHL '09 - Amazing that not only does it do everything 2k8 does but adds Be A Pro mode, probably the greatest innovation for hockey games in years.

Best RPG
Nominees:
Fallout 3
Fable 2
Winner: Fallout 3 - An amazing story, world and everything made this an easy choice.

Best Action
Nominees:
Grand Theft Auto IV
Mirrors Edge
Winner: Grand Theft Auto IV - the new polished GTA is great with an amazing multiplayer experience to boot! HELICOPTER RACES!

Best Shooter
Nominees:
Call of Duty: World at War
Gears of War 2
Rainbow Six: Vegas 2
Turok
Winner: Gears of War 2 -
Too Little Too Late: Left 4 Dead- Bought it Friday haven't played it yet

Best Level
Nominees:
Gears of War 2 - Intestinal Fortitude
Grand Theft Auto IV - Three Leaf Clover
Fallout 3 - Tranquility Lane
Fable 2 - Tattered Spire
Winner: Fallout 3 - this is the mission that shakes everything up. It's amazing

Best Story
Nominees:
Gears of War 2
Fable 2
Fallout 3
Call of Duty: War at War
Grand Theft Auto IV
Winner: Fallout 3 - The games beginning is one of the greatest all-time and there's a mission near the end that just throws you through the loop!

Best Game
Nominees:
Fallout 3
Grand Theft Auto IV
Gears of War 2
Fable 2
Call of Duty: World at War
Rock Band 2
Winner: Gears of War 2 - A LOT of people probably disagree with this but I thought that Gears 2's story/Horde/multiplayer combined for the best game this year
Honorable Mention: Fallout 3 - Had a big lead but fell apart at the end with A. Bad Ending B. Not able to continue after last mission C. Level 20 Cap

Prediction for Next Year:
Alan Wake

Game Review: Call of Duty: World At War

Call of Duty has become the Law & Order of war shooters. Having games set in both the Modern area and World War II, it's become the gold standard for FPS shooters (with exception to Halo). And Call of Duty 5 holds that standard well. Many don't give Treyarch a fair shake. A lot view COD5 as a step back regardless of how it actually is.

But COD5 does well. Starting in the Pacific campaign, a welcome first for the series. And then switching back and forth between the Russian front. There's two missions I love in particular 1 involving a plane and the other tanks.

The multiplayer takes the system that COD4 started and improved on it. Throwing tanks in the mix is great. They are easy to take out but a skilled engineer (like myself) can dominate with them. Sniping feels to have improved immensely and I love havin' the ole Kar '98 in my hands.

Graphics sort of fell short in my opinion. Although they weren't bad by any means. It's just that I played it on the Wii with my sister and the opening scene looked identical. And to me it looked terrible. It just left a bad impression on me. The sound is great though. Keifer Sutherland and Gary Oldman both do voice overs (KS for the US, GO for the RS) and it's extremely good. One time me and my sister (while on co-op) were battling with tanks and shells going off. I cranked that shit up to 11 and loved the sound of the mortars going off beside us.

The programming is flawless as far as I can tell with no bugs. The missions jump around to fast. For example you leave the 1st Russian mission in Stalingrad, then your in the countryside chasing the retreating Germans then your practically hoisting the flag above Berlin! Feels almost to jumpy.

Programming: 9/10 : I don't think I've experienced a single bug. Outstanding.
Graphics: 8.5/10 : Graphics were good but fell short of expectations for me, especially with Brothers In Arms looking amazing
Story: 7.5/10 : Story was kind of weak, but I love Russia! For the motherland!
Atmosphere: 9/10 : I thought the Pacific Islands were wonderfully done as well as the Russian areas.
Multiplayer: 10/10 : Just as good as the Call of Duty 4 multiplayer but with tanks! HELL YES!
Overall: 9/10 : A lot of people were wondering how this would stand in comparison to COD4. It holds its own easily.

Game Review: Fable 2

If you haven't read this post about Fable 2 then I'll summarize. I was having a wonderful time and had gotten married and a daughter. Well the game had different ideas glitched and we ended up divorced with my daughter being taken with her. What bullshit. I became invested in that family and just having them taken away like that pisses me off to no end. That killed the game for me really. I considered just not playing it but I still wanted to finish the main quest.

You think I'm exaggerating or being sarcastic but I'm dead serious. My plan was to go on the other quest after the main one, raise my daughter and have more kids, buy more land, etc. But it just died. I tried remarrying and having another kid but the wind was gone, sails weren't moving the boat. I assume I'll start playing again some time but who knows.

The fighting scheme is pretty good, using a mix of sword fighting (or hammer), shooting (or archery), and magic (or Will as it's called in the game). There's tons of characters to interact with. But one problem with that is the interaction isn't as good as I hoped. You never really talk to people other than when they give you quest. You just laugh or dance or drop one pickup lines. Sometimes people say things but it's not really directed at you. It becomes ambient noise, like birds chirping.

Peter Molyneux said that I'd fall in love with the dog, when in reality I didn't give a crap about the dog. Sure I'd heal him when he'd get hurt, but that was because he whines a lot and it was free to heal him. I'm just not a dog person I guess. Put a cat in the game, then you'll have me ;) But I did fall in love with my family (see first paragraph) so I'll give him that. (A bit of a double edged sword)

There's tons of quests, jobs, abilities, shops, and stuff to do in Fable 2. I probably haven't even explored half the game yet.

Programming: 7/10 : A bunch of glitches. Didn't like that you can't talk to people.
Graphics: 8.5/10 : Nice graphics, a little cartoonish but it's intended that way
Story: 9/10 : A bit of a weak ending but a solid story none the less
Atmosphere: 9/10 : Albion is a wonderfully created world
Multiplayer: X/10 : Haven't touched the co-op yet.
Overall: 8/10 : The game is good, could have used some more testing to weed out big bugs like I experienced

Game Review: Star Trek Legacy

Star Trek has always been a fun series. When I saw that this game was ship to ship fighting I jumped on the chance (when it became cheap). This is because I loved the ship fights in the Halo books.

The story is about a Vulcan lady who takes control of the Borg. The story spans the entire Star Trek time line so you start out as Kirk then go to Picard. It's a fun game.

The gameplay involves flying the ship as well as commanding you squad. You have to fire torpedoes and "phasers". Repairing the ship, hailing other ships, scans are all part of the job. This is a little hard but you get the hang of it.

Programming: 8.5/10 : No bugs, solidly built.
Graphics: 8.5/10 : Very good. But your in space so it's mostly black
Story: 9/10 : Great story. Ton of fun
Atmosphere: 9/10 : Outer space and the planets are nice and you sort of get a feel for the original series vs the newer series
Multiplayer: 0/10 : No multiplayer
Overall: 8/10 : A fun game that any space ship battle enthusiast will enjoy

Game Review: Gears of War 2

Wow Gears of War 2 is what Call of Duty 4 was last year. Non-stop fun. Seriously you ride in almost anything imaginable and have some seriously fun fighting.

The story is where I lost my faith in Official Xbox Magazine's reviews. They called it hokey. I called it badass. There's an obvious set up for a 3rd Gears which I can't wait for. Basically there's a main plot of defeating the locust but a side plot with Dom looking for his family. It's a great story. And OXM said Gears 1's story was better. What drugs are they on?

The fighting is the same as Gear's 1 which is to say great. There aren't many new weapons, except the motar launcher and I think the carryable machine gun. One of the greatest parts of the game was in the giant fucking worm. I remember reading someone bitching about it. People, they wanted to mix it up! It was fucking awesome!

The multiplayer is god damned hilarious fun. My roommate and I both play Horde often and someone'll die then the other will get sawed in half from behind and we'll both laugh about it. While the multiplayer does take awhile to find a match once you get one it's just a fun/frustrating as the first Gears.

Programming: 10/10 : I've had 1 minor bug and they've patched so many glitches and cheats
Graphics: 10/10 : In Gears tradition Epic games blasts this out of the park
Story: 10/10 : An intense thrill ride with some emotional parts
Atmosphere: 10/10 : Amazing. Seriously a giant f'ing worm
Multiplayer: 10/10 : Horde is amazing, haven't gotten to deep in the multi but it's fun
Overall: 10/10 : One of the best gaming experiences of the year