Couple Gaming

First is the anticipated announcement of Gears of War 3, the trailer can be found below.   Not much to say about this, but I can complain that it’s a whole year away!  But good to see 4 player co-op in it.  This is one of my favorites game series.  Right along side God of War

Netflix is sending out disks for the Wii this week, ours is suppose to be here today, lets see how well the tiny machine does with streaming shall we?  I know my daughter has been waiting for this forever.  Just wish that the Wii and PS3 could stream without the silly disk.

And last and probably the thing most people won’t see.  A new paperback book based on DeadSpace will be release July 10 of this year.

Dead Space™: Martyr (A Tor Trade Paperback; $14.99; July 2010), the first novel based on the award-winning Dead Space videogame franchise. Dead Space: Martyr delves into the back story of the fiction including the history of the Church of Unitology, the discovery of the enigmatic “Black Marker” and the mysteries behind an alien artefact of unknown power. Dead Space: Martyr will be available in July 2010 at select retailers worldwide.

As you have seen previously, an RPG became a family affair, and to this day we are still trying to finish Dragon Age.  But we also still really really enjoy it.

So I am not looking forward to Hunted: The Demon’s Forge by inXile.  Not only is it a new RPG that looks amazing.  But it also has co-op!  Seriously, Co-Op an RPG with the wife will be awesome!

More info on the game;

“Set in a dark fantasy world, Hunted: The Demon’s Forge is an unforgettable cooperative action game, pitting you and your partner against waves of vicious enemies. Taking control of either E’lara, a ranged weapon expert, or Caddoc, a master swordsman, you must use a variety of weapons, powerful spells, and cover tactics to battle your way through menacing dungeons, overgrown ruins, and downtrodden towns. Discover secrets and complete co-op-based puzzles whilst exploring the sinister world to discover answers to the game’s deep, dark mysteries.”

For the PS3, 360 and PC

Way back in the day.  I was a young man sitting in a dark room.  With nothing but the glow of the monitor to light my face and fingers as I typed away in the Lower Lights BBS to what I thought was a girl.  Now, we will never know if it was, but I remember many nights like that.  I know Ophilye use to be on lower lights doing something very similar.  So when a game like this comes along, everyone who use to use a BBS should really give it a go.

Digital: A Love Story is a great little game that brings back many memories of being on a BBS trying to meet some hot nerd girl.  Go check it out at http://www.scoutshonour.com/digital/

Dark Void finally arrived.  I have been looking forward to this game for some time now.  Flying around in a jetpack, taking cover vertically, hijacking UFO’s.  What’s not to love?  This game.  Thats what.

I am SO disappointed in this game.  The story line is shallow, the graphics are not up to par with what this generation of consoles can do, and the game  play is seriously lacking.

My daughter and I sat down to try this game out.  She loves watching me play games and she loves aliens.  So this should have been a good experience for us both.  You start the game flying around with your jet pack and you have NO idea how to control this thing.  So its just you, zooming around trying in vein to shoot UFO’s.  And then BAM! It’s a cut scene and you are starting all over.  And by all over I mean the game is finally starting.  You are no just a normal joe flying over the bermuda triangle.  The of course you crash after seeing a UFO.  Now you are exploring the jungle for some reason.  And then you see an alien robot kill  a guy.  The alien leaves and you go grab the guys weapon.  A huge gun.  Ohh and he has another on him for your partner.  That’s right, he was carrying two huge guns…..anyway! I am not going to tell you everything, for those of you who want to play this game there is no reason for me to spoil it.  But lets just say don’t expect much of a story and don’t expect the game play to live up to the hype.  I do understand maybe this hype was all my own.  But regardless I am disappointed.  What could have been a good change of pace for shooters is just another disappointment and now I am going to go back to Darksiders where I actually enjoy myself and possibly where it ends and my daughter isn’t crying and begging me to stop playing.

Dragon Age is the first real game I bought for my PS3.  I saw it on sale for about $40 for the PS3 right after it was just released, while the 360 version was still $60. I figured since it is a single player game, I won’t need to be on live and it will give the family time to play their other games in the other rooms.  Also the dust on the PS3 was just embarrasing.

Turns out the wife and daughter are big fans of RPG’s.  Who knew?   So for the past two months, almost everynight, we gather in the spare bedroom and play dragon age.  And by play I mean I play, but the girls get to tell me what choices we are going to make and what spells to pick when we level.   The story in dragon age isn’t bad, but it doesn’t really bring anything knew to the table either.  An evil is acending upon the world and you need to gather all your allies and defeat it.  Easier said then done of course.  And the story is interesting enough that you won’t be complaining about it.  What really sets Dragon Age apart is the charecters.  Each one has a back story that you can learn if you find the right items and ask the right questions.  While you are on your journey they will randomly talk to each other about their past or thoughts.   We really enjoyed having Allister and Morrigan in the party because they would always be arguing.  But be aware that to gain approval with one, might be a dissaproval for another.  For instance we wanted to sleep with Morrigan, but with Allistar in the party every choice we made that she approved of he didn’t.  And at one point he almost left our party for good.  So we made it up to him and then dumped him in camp as soon as we found a new warrior.  Dragon age is full of quests that take a fair amount of time, but we have played over 50 hours and we still aren’t bored of it.

All and all if you’re a fan of RPG’s you should already own this game.  If you aren’t sure you like RPG’s you should probably own this game.  If you hate RPG’s but like avatars having sex, you should own this game.  I can’t think of a good reason no one shouldn’t own this game.  And remember.  Just because it says single player on it doesn’t mean your family can’t enjoy it as well.

I have been a fan of the Alien and Predator movies, books, comics, etc for a long time, and the old Aliens vs Predator game was one of my favorite games, it had everything a fan wanted and more.  So it goes without saying that I am looking forward to the new Alien vs Predator game, and now they realease in the U.S. the Hunter Edition.

As a fan, I can say I will be buying this without even knowing if the game is as good as it looks, just so I can have a facehugger and new comics.

Hunter Edition confirmed for US consumers! There, I can finally say it; the Hunter Edition which was announced fairly recently from our European friends is now 100% confirmed in the US with an added bonus – a hardcover graphic novel from Dark Horse Comics featuring the original Aliens vs Predator comic!

PlayStation 3 pictured, click in to see the images of the Xbox 360 version as well

Don’t worry, all the other goodies are still included, such as the four Multiplayer maps (before they release to the general public), a fully articulated and disturbingly creepy Facehugger model, Weyland Yutani sleeve badge, and a 3D lenticular postcard. To sweeten the deal, if you pre-order you can pick up some exclusive skins for all three species in multiplayer.

Tale of Tales, the creators of “The Path”, are releasing a little more information about their newest venture, tentatively titled “Fatale”. The game is based on a biblical story, specifically Salome, a princess that demanded the head of John the Baptist. I’m definitely not up on my biblical stories, and so could care less about Salome, but they gave us a snippet of what to expect:

The character of Salome is complex because “Fatale” is designed to evoke all possible interpretations of her legend simultaneously. Salome is at once the mighty princess who mercilessly seduces men to their downfall and an innocent child on the brink of womanhood who is manipulated by the grown-ups that surround her. But she is also just a girl, a teenager who falls in love with the wrong man at the wrong time. She gets a first taste of the sweetness and the bitterness that we all know so well. And then there’s the Salome created by Oscar Wilde: a mad woman, lurking in the shadows of our souls, a selfish, passionate, wilful creature who will stop at nothing to get what she wants.

Ooooh, sounds as complicated as Shakespeares Ophilia! I’m definitely a sucker for character development in game play.. so I’m excited to hear more.

If the image looks familiar, you’ve been playing too much Silent Hill. “Salome was designed, modelled and textured for the project by leading game artist Takayoshi Sato, of Silent Hill fame.”
Return to their site http://tale-of-tales.com/Fatale/ to get more information.

Cooking Mama, if you aren’t aware of it, came out on the DS years ago to rave reviews. Not only was it not a typical hack-n-slash or driving game, but it was one of the first games to really utilize everything the DS’s touch screen had to offer. You chopped, pulled, blew, stirred, and created something you could have actually applied to real life.

In other words, girls everywhere squealed with joy, and boys begrudgingly became addicted when they failed at making rice.

The followups (Cooking mama 2 & Cooking Mama for the Wii) tried to do the same, but somehow fell a little flat when it came to the ingenuity and excitement. The wii became difficult to manage and the followups felt too much like the look-alikes (“Happy Cooking” anyone?).

With Gardening Mama, some of that magic has come back, spiced up with a touch of Nintendogs, and with a little of the “Dolphinz” urgency thrown in for good measure.

You get to mix up dirt, pull bugs off leaves, blow away clouds (getting horrendously dizzy after 3 screens), decide flower colors, decorate yourself with said flowers, make rainbows, and get graded on how well you do it all. Like Nintendogs, you earn Gifts based on how good you do (which you use to decorate yourself, the garden, and add Unique flowers). However, like Dolphinz, your constantly on your toes about all the flowers that are wilting if you haven’t tended to certain plants while you’ve been tending to others.

There is always something to do, always a reason to turn it on & play, always some new vegetable to plant or flower to see.

Unfortunately, there are NOT multiple logins, so you have 1 garden that everyone gets to tend. It’s not too bad, though if you’ve been looking forward to cutting the kiwi you tended to so well, I suggest hiding the cartridge until it’s done. Also, the map is very difficult to manage (seriously, would it have been THAT HARD to let people use the direction pad to move around?? Or given us a zoom-out??), and you still have the same problems as previous versions, when they give you an arrow, and you get to guess what the hell you’re doing. So, the frustration level does occur, but not as much.

I definitely suggest BUYING this one, not just renting it. You’re going to feel horrible when you have to send back the garden you put so much time & energy into.

OK, if you haven’t seen or heard of “The Guild”, I’m not sure how you even got to this website. If you are a real gamer, I don’t even have to post this.

But, if you are like me & have just simply been kayaking & head-down in a database for the last week, then this is your reprieve:

Felicia Day & the members of the guild ask “Do you want to date my avatar?”  For the record?  I do.  Seriously, I think my husband would understand.

WARNING: This song WILL get stuck in your head. And you may have a mad desire to follow @feliciaday. And possibly re-join WoW. Did you hear they announced that Azeroth is going to be destroyed by a dragon, and you will be able to be a wolf? Yeah…

.. Yeah…

OK so how is this for awesome, in my previous post about games we missed I talked about Mechwarrior being one I missed and would love to see again.  And look!! A new Mechwarrior!!!  Obviously this is a teaser trailer and there isn’t really any details listed yet, but it still gets me excited just to see.

Now all we need to do is get a Mechwarrior MMO to make this series the best ever!