Gears of War 3 and Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2 for me

Well, clearly I was wrong and am going to have to jump in with you guys next time I get the chance!

I still play semi-frequently, but don't try to get in with you guys because I suck and will only piss you all off.

I have plenty of fun in Mercenery TDM and Mercenary Moshpit though!

The new controller let's you play the game you were just playing on the TV on the go.

Curious how well that will work.

The news came out about what the zombie mode of Escalation really entails, and I'm suprised no one's talking about it here.

First off, here's the trailer for Call of the Dead

Holy shit!  Grindhouse-style George Romero-inspired and starring Danny Trejo, Micheal Rooker, Robert Englund and Sarah Michelle Gellar.  Plus a cameo by Romero himself.

I wasn't really thinking about picking this up, but now I'm not sure if I can miss it.

 

That... that may just be the single most fuckingly awesome thing I've seen from any first person shooter.

Ever.

I just honestly don't see Nintendo really working things out for the dedicated gamer market (the people who grew up with Nintendo in the 80's and 90's) anymore, but that's fine too. I like what they are, and as long as they keep updating their classics and coming up with some new IP's periodically (pity that Pikmin never seems to have caught on, it was pretty inventive), I'll have a place for them in my gaming library.

But beating either MS or Sony at what has now become their own game? I'm not so sure Nintendo even wants to do that, much less is willing to change things enough to hit that market.

Actually I figure they're just putting extra resources into the 3DS right now, and then once that's fairly solid we'll see the next Nintendo console announced at either E3 or TGS in 2012, with a release of 2013.

I'm stoked for this, and honestly, I rather hope the Dragon Quest XI is a 3DS title. 

OMG. DO WANT.

DAMN, that is one ugly screenshot!! 

It was cutting edge for the time. 

I know! It's just funny to look back and realize: 'Man, we thought that was hot.. and played the hell out of it!' 

I will never forget my first time playing Everquest.  I made a wood elf and being up in the trees in Kelethin was so amazing.

Same here. Everquest was the first mmo I tried, and looking back I can honestly say it was a watershed moment. One of the single most significant moments in my lifelong gaming hobby.

I've tried to recapture that feeling that starting in a new "world" like that gave me, and nothing else has managed to ever live up to it again. WoW at launch came very very close, but didn't quite best it.

While I would prefer the core Forza games remain racetrack-focused (and there are a LOT of great tracks out there we haven't seen in a Forza or Gran Turismo title yet), I have to admit that a Forza: Unlimited would be fucking awesome.

Why does Japan keep accepting my mediocre trade offers?  Is it just a novelty to have American pokemon?  Are they just being nice?  Are they hoping I'll have given them nicknames with roman characters they can't input in the JP version?

I'm only at the 6th gym and I already have all three starters and one of the fossil pokemon.  Thanks, Japan! 

Yes, just like you might be excited to have pokemon with Japanese characters for names.

I've been known to make some trades in Pearl/Platinum for "lesser" pokemon to get ones from other countries.

I played 40 rounds and got 16w-16t-8l

On the controller front I know a guy over at GWJ thought he could pull it off but after one night said it required just too much precision, I could see maybe testing the road cars with a gamepad but the two oval cars are run on such small tracks you really need a wheel, I've seen controller guys on track and they can't hold the steady line around those tiny ovals.

Yeah, that was me. I actually tried a road car (Pontiac) on a road track (I forget which one) and you're absolutely correct: holding a straight line was impossible. I could manage the turns reasonably well, but still not with anything approaching the precision you would need to have in order to drive on a track with other people.

I'm definitely giving iRacing another go in the future when I can afford to get a good wheel/pedal setup. If you have a wheel and pedal set for the pc already, I highly recommend giving iRacing a whirl; it looks like something truly special in the world of simulation gaming.

You know, I think I just have to accept that Heroes of Might and Magic III was one of those rare "perfect games" that will never quite be rivalled by any that come after it.

Thank goodness for Good Old Games.

Finally figured out where they hide the friend code.

wonderpug: 3181 5435 0258

Yeah, rather than showing with any of the other online stuff, Friend Codes are squirreled away in the Pal Pad menu in the Key Items pocket of the bag.

Mine is 3696 9465 8129.  I'm going to register wonderpug right now!

-Autistic Angel

When do you get access to that? I need to get people added to mine when I can too, and will post my own code.

Easily episode 1. It set the stage for the rest of the season, and none of the other episodes quite lived up to it. Not to say that any of them were bad, but just not quite as great.

I have to fully agree here. I'm hoping that we get more episodes in the future that manage to recapture some of the tone of the first episode.

[and has already had a sequel]

damn, it's hjard convincing people to buy a PC game that's over a year old and has already had a sequel when it's still at 60 bucks.

Fixed that for ya.

I didn't realize they made it so TMs can be used unlimited times; that's such a great change.  I don't think I ever used them in previous games because I always felt I had to save them for when I was absolutely sure I was ready to use them--which was never.

This is me exactly.  I would never use them because I wanted to hold them for just the right Pokemon.  I was excited about this change as well.

Same here 100%! This is quite possibly the single biggest positive change they could've made to the gameplay of the franchise.

Heh, Blackthorne was my first Blizz game too, followed by Rock n Roll Racing, which is still one of my favorites they've ever made. I'd love to see a remake of both games on a modern console; hell, Rock n Roll Racing would be such a perfect match for an XBLA/PSN game!

I don't get the love/hate so many people waffle back and forth with regarding this game. It's crazy! I just pop it in, have some fun, some matches are horribly unbalanced, most are at least reasonable, and then I shut it off when I'm done and go do something else. Call of Duty is the popcorn of my gaming time.

[Spoiler]

Whatever our views on bigotry are, I think we can all agree that the French are not to be trusted.

Oy! Fuck you to, you American bigot! Deriding my proud ancestry...

Spoiler for Hiden:

Nah, don't worry, it's all cool. I don't trust me either! Mwahahaha

You know, I should just setup an auto-payment option with Turn 10 and save me the trouble of keeping track of their releases and going to the store. Because these guys know how to make kick-ass racing sims.

[Spoiler]

The LOTR trilogy - Several moments that always get to me: the fall of Gandalf, Theodred's funeral, last march of the ents, the charge of the Rohirrim at the Gladden Fields (so awesome and inspirational of a scene!), Theoden's death, and the end of all things.

Braveheart - it really does have a gut-wrenching finale.

Spoiler for Hiden:

tee hee

Saving Private Ryan and Titanic: each of these has a specific moment in the film that gets to me. In SPR, it's the landing on Normandy Beach, because shit really went down like that. In Titanic, it's when the ship is getting to the late stage of sinking and there's a montage of different people accepting their fate and/or dying. Because, again, shit really went down like that. Reflecting on the horror that people have faced in various tragedies really gets to me at my core. Which brings me to...

Hotel Rwanda - holy fuck is that one horrifically difficult movie to watch.

Twilight - because it makes me weep for our species.

[Dragon Quest VI]

This week is a one-two punch for all my gaming needs until mid-summer, with Dragon Quest VI and Tactics Ogre dropping!

I'm actually disappointed that Jack Wall won't get to finish out the trilogy.

Oh right, NOW you come back, when everyone's realized that FFXIII sucks so no one cares enough to want to hold you to our bet from way back when.

Seriously though, damn... four years. Time flies like crazy! Welcome back dude!

At least it can't be worse than Wild Wild West. 

Oh, you say that now, but just you wait...

With the new maps prompting me to change up my playstyle more, I've found that I'm really digging going for a stealthy setup (ghost & ninja) with a silenced shotgun and the crossbow, using sleight-of-hand to help with the slow reloads. As long as I keep on the move and don't fall into the temptation to prowl a specific location for too long, it seems to be serving me really well.

Also starting to get around to playing with the heavy guns more, throwing an ACOG on a LMG on some of the maps with longer sightlines is pretty wild.

I was trying to come up with the 'ideal' map design based on what I see and hear from the more vocal COD players. I decided that there were two types: 1) basically an oval with a open track around the outside, with 2 or 3 corridors connecting the the long sides. 2 story buildings in the middle with one window a side. 2) a flat completely open field with one 2 story building on each end. The teams would always spawn in the middle about 10 yards apart. Kinda like nuke town without any cover.

For settings, UAV always on, only the currently winning team can get kill streaks, no perks. Also you are forced to always move, there is no 'neutral' position on the joystick. Alternately if you stand still for more than half a second you die.

Heh, I was going to post something like this, but you beat me to it.

Kowloon and Discovery are my two favorites of the new map batch. Both have a lot of ground to cover and lots of elevation variety, nooks & crannies, and approaches. Great fun roaming around those two maps, and in particular I love how both maps actually play well to a variety of builds moreso than most of the maps before now.

Sometimes I think I'm the only person genuinely happy with CoD multiplayer for what it is. It's not a military sim, but it's not Unreal Tournament either. It's somewhere in between, and actually provides enough variety in the maps, guns, perks, and killstreaks to provide fun for shooter fans of most types. You like camping? CoD's got you covered. Prefer to spray'n'pray while running around like an overclocked hamster? Have at it! Want to play somewhere in the middle? You're good too!

And I switch up my playstyle a lot, which is probably why I enjoy CoD so much. My general style is more of a stalky-type, but sometimes I enjoy being a semi-campy sniper (even though I suck horribly at it), sometimes I enjoy throwing on heavy machine guns, lots of ammo, and roaming the map spraying hot lead everywhere, and other times I want to load up every possibly explosive I can at the same time and just go nuts.

Sometimes I end up in a match with a team that actually works together, and that's fantastic fun. Other times I end up in matches where the other guys on my team inadvertently clicked on a menu option other than "free-for-all" and have no idea what a "team" is. I just roll with it and enjoy each match in its own way. There's annoyances with the game, sure (like the quick-scopers I've complained about before), but they don't kill my enjoyment of the game, fortunately.

Well, the thing is that he's correct for some people. I know a few people who could not watch the film past the first 20-30 minutes because the 3d effect was giving them a genuine headache. I also know a guy who has one eye that's very dominant, so while he could watch the film, the 3d effect wasn't working for him.

So for a subset of the movie-watching audience, I completely agree: short of holographic presentation, 3d movies will never work for them.

However, I contend that there's a very significant portion of the viewing public that does experience well-done 3d just fine, and it has now been shown to be doable in a manner that overcomes most (not all) of the drawbacks of the presentation format.

I'd find his explanation of why 3D "just doesn't work" more interesting if I hadn't already had the jaw-dropping experience (literally; I don't think any movie has ever gotten that reaction from me before) of watching Avatar in 3d. And mind you, this is after watching several other movies in 3d previously, but not really having been impressed by the technology and being ready to write it off as a senseless fad.

Avatar did it so well that I refuse to bother watching any movie in 3d unless it was actually filmed stereoscopically the way Avatar was.

The main thing they did in this game was tone down the killstreak carnage, so this fits.

Of course, I don't get too many 11 killstreaks and am usually the one shooting down the helicopters. 

I never heard anyone complaining about this in MW2 and you didn't even the need the pro version to be invisible to helicopters.

Yup, ditto. I actually liked that they make you earn the Pro version and unlock it to be "invisible" to air support killstreaks. And you can still be attacked by the dogs, RC cars, etc. It's just air-based killstreaks that you are strong against. And despite that, with the better map design and strength of the air support, it's actually MORE difficult in Black Ops (to me at least) to take down helis than it was in MW2.

Overall, I really feel like the balance in the multiplayer kit/perk system is better in Black Ops than it was in MW2. I don't even mind the Last Stand guys; I rarely die to them. Only thing that really does annoy me is quick-scoping, as it's simply ridiculous by any logic.

Well, they earned that precious Huey killstreak, it isn't fair that a Ghost Pro'er can shoot them down! In fact, Treyarch should just fix it so that Huey's can't be locked onto with rockets or AA guns.

Hell, I have the Strela on every single one of my loadouts, even my sniper loadout. It's just too damn useful not to have it. If I'm running sniper and get into a close-up fight, well, it's time to go flashbang -> stab.

I also keep my spyplane and counter-spyplane killstreaks on because I suck at getting killstreaks. It's an amazing rarity for me to get anything higher than a 5-kill streak going. I try switching my third killstreak sometimes, but since I pretty much never get it, it's a non-issue.

And I FINALLY had a match where the opposing team dropping in a sentry gun that I had the chance to destroy before someone else did. Hello Ghost Pro! Woot! I run Ghost on almost every single loadout I have. Being invisible to radar (and now to air support) is ridiculously useful. For my third perk, I have a pretty even split between Hacker and Ninja; both are very useful and hard to choose between for me.

If I was playing with you, I'd beg you to be using hacker.

If I was playing against you, I'd be saying to use ninja.


Because of all the ambient noise / general reduction in sound when you move, ninja I still feel is VERY useless compared to MW2 where it reigned supreme.

Maybe it's just because I mostly suck, but Ninja has definitely helped me sneak up on people and get some satisfying kills. And I know that there's a lot of times that other people not using Ninja has saved me and gotten them killed!

Hell, I have the Strela on every single one of my loadouts, even my sniper loadout. It's just too damn useful not to have it. If I'm running sniper and get into a close-up fight, well, it's time to go flashbang -> stab.

I also keep my spyplane and counter-spyplane killstreaks on because I suck at getting killstreaks. It's an amazing rarity for me to get anything higher than a 5-kill streak going. I try switching my third killstreak sometimes, but since I pretty much never get it, it's a non-issue.

And I FINALLY had a match where the opposing team dropping in a sentry gun that I had the chance to destroy before someone else did. Hello Ghost Pro! Woot! I run Ghost on almost every single loadout I have. Being invisible to radar (and now to air support) is ridiculously useful. For my third perk, I have a pretty even split between Hacker and Ninja; both are very useful and hard to choose between for me.

Even that's not necessarily true. The team with the higher K:D average overall will win in most cases.

A lot of times people back out on a match as soon as it ends when they've lost, hoping they're the host and can boot everyone back to the lobby and deprive them of their post match XP.

Yeah, those people are dicks. And I've been seeing this happen FAR more frequently since Christmas than before. So blaming it on stupid kids is not entirely without some logic, for once. Really wouldn't mind having some sort of "age minimum" filter when queueing for random games.