Rats.  Wait, what is UMK3?  Damn you people with the putting initials in the Subject and all.  That's got to be the third time in the last couple of days, at least.

Of course, as I wrote that, I figured out it was a Mortal Kombat game.

I just finished Stamp Mode, in fact.  I was suprised to find out I was playing on Easy.  There's still Normal and Hard to go (doubt I'll get through those, though.

If it's Phantasy Star Universe and not Penn State University you're talking about, then a headset isn't useable anyway.

I like the game overall, but I have some gripes:

1. I buy games like this to pick up and play the games I want to play. Stamp mode was a pain in the ass for me because half the games I will never play again and I didn't wanna play them to begin with. Plus making me unlock some of the ones I did wanna play felt cheap.

2. Bowling and a few others games just don't have the right feel with the stylus and are pretty crappy.

3. Too many Japanese games I care nothing about (Shogi, etc)

4. Many of the games are kinda basic, barebones, and thus don't have much depth or customizability.

I agree with those gripes, though I am enjoying Stamp Mode and think it goes pretty fast.  Shogi, in particular, was the worst.  Too much to take in, and the fact that there's no option to have non-Japanese characters displayed on the pieces (in Mahjong, too and that card game that Nintendo got its start publishing in the 1800s) sucks and makes it overly difficult.  The bare bones games are a godsend in Stamp Mode, I think, but even if you never play those or the Japanese ones or bowling and darts, that still leaves a crapload of great games to play many times, which is no doubt why you actually like the game, as you said.

Mission Mode is a little scattershot, for me.  The first one you can select (for Doubt It) is proving impossible for me, but the rest in that block were a breeze.  A bad choice, as I can see people never giving Mission Mode a fair chance if they can't get past the first mission.

Oddly, that helped me remember the phrase "port forwarding" which helped me track the info down in a search on this forum which led to the link I needed.  So, thanks.

By the way, here's the link if anyone else needs it:

http://live.tommccann.net/

Advance pack is out.

I upgraded to an internet voice service today, which required getting a new cable modem, and suddenly my wireless network connection with the 360 is in the red (I was usually getting 3 bars). 

I thought there was a post somewhere on these boards about manual settings (I feel like it was in a Chromehounds board), but now I can't find it.

Any thoughts or advice?

By the way, though the timing is suspicious, it's entirely possible that the two events are not related, but I still need to make that connection stronger.

I'm assuming there's "NDA" slapped all over M:UA or you'd give us an indication of your thoughts, right?

I really just bought this for multiplayer.  The demo was that awesome.

But I fired up the single-player portion (because I can't connect to Live whenever I boot DA up) and the game LOOKS fantastic...

It's a shame, however, that I can't get further than the first few guards.  I've died like, 5 times, trying to get past the first few guards.  And this is on normal difficulty :/

And why give me a random bottle on the ground (to toss, I'm guessing to get the guards to react to a load *CRACK*), when wherever I toss it, the guards don't react to it!?

Thats weird, I remember in Pandora Tomorrow the guards reacted to the bottle.  I'm on the fence with this one but I probably wont end up buying it just yet.  I'd love to hear more impressions though! 

I had difficulty in exactly the same spot.  Must have gone through that area nearly a dozen times.  But I'm the kind of guy who likes to sneak up behind every guard and capture them to see if they have intel.  It's really just that first guard that's a pain.  I think it might have to do with their alertness level.  For me, I had already opened the gate, so they were looking for trouble.  Also, I think you have to move a little more slowly in DA than previous games to avoid being detected.

http://www.thewiire.com/news/522/1/Wii_Kiosks_to_be_Wireless_Supervised

I know some stores that will not be able to provide a person to guard the Wii.  Kobra may not be that far off...

Gamespot review- 8.5.

Sounds pretty good but it seems more Pandora Tomorrow vice Chaos Theory (ie treading water vice a leap forward).  Which is fine- I really liked Pandora Tomorrow but it sounds like we might have to wait until next time out for another leap forward.

GS mentions the poor framerate on occasion which really bugs me.  By most accounts it's not a huge step up graphically from CT (indeed I think it's the same engine) so there is really no excuse for sub-30 fps performance IMO. 

http://www.webster.com/dictionary/vice vs http://www.webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?sourceid=Mozilla-search&va=versus

I finally downloaded it and played.  I bought it right away, it just brought back too many good Lumines memories.  I only played for about 45 minutes.

The bad things: 1) Control is a little spastic if you're moving across the board.  It's too easy to overshoot your mark.  However, I'm sure that just takes a little playtime to get used to.  2) Played mission mode through 5 levels and was told to download the extra pack if I wanted to keep playing.  5 LEVELS.  Barely tutorial stuff.  And the worst part is, the bonus moolah pack isn't even available.

The good: 1) I played challenge mode for the majority of my time, and I didn't hear Hollaback Girl once.  All classic Lumines-style music (not sure if it's the same music...it's been awhile since I played, but nothing screamed, "Oh, I remember this song!").  2) I've heard some complaints that the board was too much to take in.  I have a feeling that may be true for all the suckers who think a 50" TV in their shoebox apartment is a good idea.  If you have an appropriate sized television for the distance you sit from the TV, you should be fine.  3) There are a ton of gameplay options.  The number of things to do is staggering, frankly, for a game on XBLA.  And I haven't even opened the MP menu yet.  4) It's Lumines.  Seriously, this is the game it should be.

Now, again, I've only done 45 minutes.  I haven't looked at achievements yet.  These are really just first blush impressions, but I'm excited about it, to say the least.

Some people have downloaded Lumines, though (http://www.gamingtrend.com/forums/index.php/topic,15621.0.html), so I guess it was up, then they took it down again?  Maybe?

I agree, we probably won't see any exciting new features.  I'm sure it was just down for maintenance and getting this My Xbox or Live Anywhere stuff working.

I had some time this AM and was hoping to play Lumines.  No luck, I guess.

So what was the big mystery with Xbox Live's downtime (though, as of this post, the website is still down, and I can't download Lumines)?

May not be an issue for the American release, but it looks like the European release of Contact has been pushed back to 2/07.

http://www.n-europe.com/news.php?nid=9650

The only problems I've encountered with limited gameplay are the ones getting into the game.  That was insanely frustrating and almost put me off even trying.  And a big one that happened to someone on my team where he got stuck and couldn't move or fire or anything.  He was begging for one of us to kill him.  Finally, I found him.  He wasn't stuck on anything (no wall or step or desk...just open floor), but he sure wasn't moving.  I double tapped him in the head.  Very shortly after that we heard, "Guys...it happened again.  Kill me."  I would call that a sizeable bug.  However, I did enjoy the experience, apart from that.  This game even felt a little more newbie friendly than past Splinter Cell MP games.  Not exactly pick up and play, but it doesn't have a super steep learning curve.  That said, I don't think it'll take long for experts like TML learning a lot of little secrets of the maps and gameplay and stomping over those of us who are trying to figure out why suddenly the camera is at our feet and we can't move when we pushed the left shoulder button (I do know it's the drone, by the way, but I'm still not sure how valuable it is).  Luckily, SC games are mostly about single player for me, anyway.

I wish you could find these movies on DVD.  I, foolishly, bought Hard Boiled on ebay and received a clearly copied version that didn't work.  Grrr.

There are only a couple of songs that I don't like much on that list, and I still think I can play through them.

I'm more pleased with this track list than some of the dreck on Guitar Hero II.

Contact and the two 360 games, for sure.  Maybe WTF.  And Destroy All Humans 2, if they make it BC (and the first one, please).

I enjoy Texas Holdem when I get into a good game.  What frustrates me are the games where everyone goes ALL IN every single hand right from the start.

Agree with that.  I haven't played recently, though.  I wonder if the herds have thinned.

I liked kill.switch best of the ones here, as well (though the Bond game wasn't bad, I just never finished and the Hitman series is one that I always think I'm going to like, and then hate the trial and error-ness of it).

I agree, though, that it's looking like the Woo game is the one to get.

I've got a love/hate with Metal Arms, too.

Yeah, Doom was not worth it, IMO. 

I have to second Cloning Clyde, though.  That's not getting enough love here.  Never got the hang of its multiplayer, though.

GW was great, of course, and Uno is probably my most played XBLA game.  Second might be Marble Blast, but some of those levels get pretty tough.

I also enjoy Wik and Outpost Kaloki X, which never get any mention, really.

Splinter cell-  good graphics !!!!!  really looked clear and had good game play.  I didn't like this because SAM moves slow!!!  You can definitely tell that this is a stealth game.  Controls were fairly standard- again not having much time to mess with them- just way too slow for my taste.  The controls almost seemed really jumpy when you were shooting at a target.  It took a clip to take down one person because of gun recoil.  I would just like to see recoil toned down.  Plus when you move it feels like he is still crouched and walking really slow.

So have you played any of the other Splinter Cell games?  It's not exactly a fast-action sort of series so I wouldn't expect Quake pace or anything. 

Ah, yes.  I remember this post now.  Titled something like, "Important info that you must read or you will die!" or something, right?

Have you played the previous games?

I spent twenty minutes trying to play a game and couldn't get in at all.  I was stuck on the joining session screen or the host ended the session or I got inexplicably kicked from the session.  No joy for me.

I really love the series, though, for the single player.  I'm also curious, papasmurf, about what you didn't like.  Can you link to the other thread?

Definitely worth $18.  A ton of fun.  Really slick environments (and they look even better on the 360), tons of things to do on the checklists for missions (if you like that sort of thing, it stretches the gameplay by a few hours), and well designed gameplay (with tons of explosions). 

The reason you can plug a clip into a guy forever is that you're going up against guys in armor.  You've got to go for their heads or get them with the environment.  Basically, you have to not be an idiot to play, which explains the response from the counter jockey, and yet, I'd describe it as mindless fun.

Got to play tonight, and I'm joining the "meh" choruse.  I enjoyed the other Phantasy Star games for awhile (actually tracked down the elusive Gamecube broadband adapter to play it), but that was a port of an older game.  I was expecting a few more bells and whistles, a little more streamlining of the interface(s), or at least the ability to talk over live instead of awkwardly typing or scrolling.  What's the point of Live enabled MMOs if you can't talk live?  Or did I miss something?  The world seemed very sterile and empty, which doesn't work for me in this day and age.

I can see why people get into this kind of game (even why I can), but isn't it just endless level grinding?


Still, if the single player is great, I may jump on board for a brief while.

Locked up in the tutorial for me, too.  On the way to the third floor.

Not a good sign.

Especially given that this thing is shipping in two weeks.

Pre order in for console, 2 games and one extra nunchuck combo.  They wouldn't let me pre order the component cables, though.

Do they have a wirelss head set out yet? 

End of the month.

http://www.ebgames.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=802336

I can't believe I am excited to pay $25-30 for what would undoubtedly be bad PC freeware.  But finally, with a stylus!

And there are so many other games.  It's kind of overwhelming.

I'm enjoying the alternate modes, too.  Stamp mode is kind of fun.  You play all the games, essentially.  There is a flaw in the system, though, where if you're good at a game, you get enough stamps that you probably only have to play it once, but if you're bad, you may have to play three times.  Good for training, I guess, but I like playing the games that suit me more.  Still, you can play those in free mode and unlock things.  There's also a mission mode where you're given challenges to overcome in each game (correctly calling someone a cheater 5 times in a game of BullshI Doubt It, for example).

A lot of quick fun to be had here, for sure.

And, of course, I picked it up today at Best Buy.  Thanks for the offer, though, jblank.

I played Career mode for about an hour.  Presentation is lacking, for sure.  The spliced commentary can be annoying (though it is varied as Old Negus mentioned). 

Still, I was unlocking things willy-nilly, so I think I'll have some fun with it, anyway.

Only games that supported widescreen on xbox will be widescreen on the 360.  The console maintains the original aspect ratio.

Can you touch on said issues without spoiling the review?

Even though it showed as shipping on Monday, no one in my area has it still.

EDIT: Oops, scratch that.  Best Buy has it.  I'll get it this afternoon.

How is it?  I was reading about the single player, and it looks like it could be fun in a "not real poker, but a fun game" kind of way.

The price is nice, and with nothing coming on the 360, I'm getting the itch to buy something...

Fees were just announced at $9.99/month.  Six months $49.99.

If the single player is good, I may be in, but otherwise I just don't see it.  Never got into monthly fee games for very long.

Clubhouse Games has been getting pretty good reviews, so I'll probably pick that up.  I'm also watching reviews for Crash Boom Bang! and Monster Bomber, but I don't have high hopes.

If Spyro gets good reviews, I'll be very excited, but will probably wait for BC on the 360.

I would be looking forward to it... but I already played this generation's version of it *cough* Kill.switch *cough* and feel as though it'll just be a prettier version of that which will make people gaga for a month and then realize, "Hey, this is like Kill.switch... a game that sucked."

RUN FOR COVER!  Fire.  Fire.  Fire.  Throw grenade.  RUN FOR COVER.  Chainsaw (kewlie effects).  RUN FOR COVER.

I really enjoyed kill.switch a lot.  Finished it and everything.  It averaged 78% on Gamerankings, which isn't bad. 

Using the same criteria you listed (except the "sucked" part), you could count Full Spectrum Warrior in the same way.  That game was fantastic.

You know, I knew that and remembered it after I put up my smart ass post.  There's a lesson in here, but damned if I can find it.