Goin' to see Lew

Tonight I'm going out to see comedian Lewis Black who I'm a huge fan of. So I'm going to leave you with some classic Lewis



I'll update when I come home!
Update: Lewis was hilarious! After the show we ate at Shoeless Joes and I had a lobster pasta which was great. Then we went into the casino and played the slots. I won $100. Woot!

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

Game Review: Fallout 3

Fallout 3 is one of the greatest games this year. It's an amazing representation of how games are art. Because any mission, any moment, could be made into a movie or book. And this just shows who much work goes into games. Not just a nuclear wasteland. But a 1950's styled nuclear wasteland! And just miles of interesting places, interesting characters and everything.

The story is great, revolving around you searching for your father. But the starting 30 minutes are amazing. You are born in the Vault and grow up. It a rich experience. Then in the theme of Oblivion, when you finally get out and see the world for the first time, you're amazed. There's a sign saying View Point or something and you got up to it and there's this sprawling land in front of you with dead trees, a broken freeway bridge and a small decimated town.

The big problem is the level cap is 20 and the game ends when you complete the main quest which is extraordinarily lame. And now, to fix those you'll have to buy DLC, how cheap is that!? I haven't played it since I beat it so I'll be playing it again in March when the last of the DLC comes out. Really lame that they did that. But it's an amazing game none the less.

Programming: 9/10 : A couple of bugs, and who thought a level 20 cap was a good idea?
Graphics: 10/10 : Brilliant representation of a nuclear apocalypse it's so rich to look at the sun come up over the wasteland
Story: 10/10 : Amazing. The greatest start to a game ever and there is such a twist near the end I was just amazed.
Atmosphere: 10/10 : Who knew an 1950's nuclear wasteland would be so fun
Controls: 9.5/10 : Well implemented, although the pip-boy seems out of place in B button
Overall: 10/10 : One of my favourite games of all time.