So NV Video gaming news!

Well then I'm going to filibuster any vote that congress tries to make.

 

1.13

 

ah, but I am going to contest your philibuster and raise you 3.

 

Dang you Acthar! You've not seen the last of me!!

 

SEE! I'm back already!

 

Wow this is definitely some of the most interesting people out in cyberspace.....it's great.

 

CURSE YOU GERSONSITH!!!!!!!!

$1.20!!!!!!!

 

A pox upon you ALL!!!


$1.25!!

 

More gaming news! Final Fantasy XI is in stores today. Its the 2nd largest online RPG right now (behind Ragnarok Online, a Korean MMORPG). Arphaxad and I are getting it today, so we will report if it is a worthy purchase or not. If you are getting it, be on the look out for Rusty Shackleford the Galka on your server (that'll be me ). I was going to be Balki (from that 80's sitcom, Perfect Strangers), but then I found out the race I wanted to be was Galka, not Balka. I was sad because Iwanted to be Balki the Balka. a sad day indeed.

 

Got Final Fantasy XI yesterday. didn't get play much and here is why (start flashback wavy screen and harp sounds):

I got home at around 5:30 and grabbed my copy from Arphaxad (he had picked them up earlier that day). Got home and tore into the box. Holy bejeebus, it had 5 disks. oh well, I thought and started installation. Disk one was a disk for installing the PlayOnline client. It went without a hitch. Then came the toture of installing the actual game. After getting through the first disk fine, it asked for disk 2. Then when I took out disk 2 it gave an error message (which could not be closed) saying "this isn't disk 1, put it back in, you fiend!" or something to that effect. then it crashed on disk 2. twice. Arg. I had to reastart my computer and try again, and the third time was the charm. Everything installed! yeah! that only took me 20 minutes. It was around 6:30 then.

Then came the patch. The patch. The damned patch. Imagine joining an online game after it had been out for a year. Imagine how utterly HUGE that patch would be. Now imagine how slow it would be if it was to be downloaded on launch day. That was the patch for this. 1300 files to be patched. average wait time to download all of the files 4 hours on broadband. and now the worst part. It kept dropping me. It dropped me 6 times. and it didn't try to auto-connect after dropping. it just brought up an error. so i had to sit and watch it. for 4 hours. I finally got it downloaded and installed at 11:30pm.

I went through the registration easily. I was online and ready to make a character. BUT! everything was showing up as black blobs. ARG! Aparrently when I rebuilt my computer I forgot to install the latest drivers for my video card. So I did that. Now I was online and made my character. Next problem. Servers.

Square made 30 servers for this game. Thats 30 servers for the entire world. Not too bad. But to distribute the server load, they don't allow people to choose their own server. Its random based on server capacity. Arphaxad was already on, and on server "kujata" so I spent 30 or so minutes making and distroying characters trying to get it to drop me in "kujata". eventually it did. It was not almost 1 am. I was so tired. I went on the server for a few minutes to make sure everything worked, then went to bed. BEST GAEM EVAR!!!!!

Seriously, after i get to play some tonight I'll give some actual GAME impressions and not just install impressions. because those were terrible.

Oh yeah, if you are going to play, try to get onto "kujata" and look for "Paconious" (me) or "Arph" (Arphaxad). there ya go!

 

ah, the joys of first time installs of online games.

So, has this game been out for a year, or is it brand new? Based on something you said earlier, I thought it was new...

 

It's been out in Japan for about a year and a half. It came out on Playstation 2 there, then PC there, and PC here (yesterday) and on US PS2s in March of next year. The thing is, they all use the same servers. I guess they just had a HUGE patch between production of the disks and and launch day.

 

so if you are playing on a ps2, and I am playing on a pc, we would see each other in game?

Is there a website for this game?

 

"so if you are playing on a ps2, and I am playing on a pc, we would see each other in game?"

Yep. Its the first console/pc world. And every new release uses the same servers, so the North American/Canadian Servers are the same as the Japanese, and it will be the same with the European release too. I guess they want people to mingle.

"Is there a website for this game?"

Nope. Not a one.
Official site
Good site with world info

I want to leave work early so i can play, but we just got a bunch of new computers hwere, so I am ging tohelp set them all up. wee!

 

Well, had the whole weekend to play FFXI, and its pretty darned good. The graphics were really good and the music was very Final Fantasy-ish, even including the level up music . They fixed a lot of things which I thought were terrible in most other online games. They made it so you squelch different parts of game text. I personaly turned off other people's fights. I didn't want to see "Joey Joe Joe Shabbado hit the Pbbt Beast for 10 damage" over my text. When you start fighting a monster, it locks that monster so only your party can kill it, so no more kill stealing. Automaps. Thank God almighty for them. In most online games I get SOOOOOOO lost because a lot of the terrain locks too similar, but the map feature in this game is very useful. Loot distribution is good too. You can set it to auto divy, casting lots for items, or manual distribution. Makes it fair for party members for getting loot. Self healing is by far the best ability in the game. You can heal yourself if you are not in danger by basicly taking a nap, making solo playing not impossible. There are also many little features that I have yet to mess with like fishing, cooking, and item creation. Soon enough though. I give this game my seal of approval goodness.


P.S. if you play, get the playstation to usb adapter. makes the game MUCH better.

 

The Zodiac is out, well shipping anyway. From what people are saying, they have been waiting for 2 or 3 weeks for their overnight shipping to arrive. Too much demand and not enough supply I suppose. I am not going to cover this too much, if you want some news on this device (I know I am going to get one some time soon, as I want a new PDA) go to www.ZodiacGamer.com. They have reviews, previews and all sorts of other tidbits about the Zodiac.

Next up is the N-Gage. Apparently, it has been hacked to bits. People are able to upload the games easily and play them on another company's cell phone (which may or may not look like a taco). This doesn't bode well for Nokia's system. 7 games out and it may not have any more arriving.

well, we are nearing Chirstmas time and that can only mean one thing: a deluge of video games. In addition to FFXI (great game, but too time consuming) there are also a few otehr games that I think are worth noting.

RPG Maker 2. I know many of you reading this are saying, "they made an RPG MAKER 1?" Yep. I have it, its sooooo time consuming, but it was fun when i finished a game. RPG Maker 2 allows you to make a 3D Isometric 1 player RPG for PS2. you can create and edit all of the NPCs and even edit the battle system to your likings. With the new ProAction Replay (Gameshark) you can even share your games over the internet via save game sharing. Some bad parts (from many many reviews) are the fact that you can not edit character models, textures or other graphical nuances. This makes for many games that look VERY simillar. Also is the vast amount of time required to make anything worth playing. You have to make everything. NPCs, towns, castles, dungeons, monster stats, combat system, everything. way too much of a time investment for me, so I will probably not be picking this one up.

SOCOM II. More of the same from SOCOM 1. I didn't like SOCOM 1. I probably won't even touch this.

Mario Party 5. I liked Mario Parties 1-4. Good meories of playing them in my dorm room with Darkstar and gerson and a few people from my floor. I will give this a looksy, even though I can guaruntee it will be more of the same.

Mario and Luigi. This looks intersting. its Super Mario RPG III for GBA. You control both Mario AND Luigi at the same time. I will be giveing this a try just to see how it works. Its been getting good reviews so far.

Mario Kart Double Dash. Its mario kart. up to 8 player multiplayer. it rocks. no need to explain further.

I am sure there are many MANY other games yet to be covered, these were just ones that popped into my mind. Speak up and let us have some other prejudiced previews for some other games! BLARG!

 

ah Mario Party.. I shed a tear for the memories... good times, good times...

 

3 games I'm excited about this holiday season.

1- Tony Hawk: Underground. I have played all 4 of the previous Tony games and loved them all. Darkstar and I used to spend hours trying to come up with the most extreme combos, I of course cannot be beat. The difference with this one is you play yourself building a professional career. You can actually email a pic of yourself to them and they give you a code to unlock your own face in the game. That's crazy!

2- Return of the King. Of course I look forward to anything having to do with Lord of the Rings. This game looks to be at least as cool as the last one if not cooler because you can play as Gandalf finally.

3- Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2. Holy crap this is the most exciting one for me. The first was an amazing game with 2-player cooperative non-stop action. The game ending left us in enormous suspense hoping for a huge sequel, and now its finally here. Moka and I played the first game for 14 hours straight to finish it in easy mode to unlock the harder stuff. Amazing game.

 

I forgot about LOTR. That looks to be very awesome. I am probably going to pick up the PS2 version of it. That is the onlyversion that has online multiplayer. That way I can screw around and get the other player killed without even knowing who I just made angry. I love the internet.

Also, though not realted to video games, but cool, Spielberg is looking to make a Goonies 2 movie some time soon. sweet!

 

more gaming news coming at you!

First off FFXI. I stopped playing. I was a month in when I realized that there were more important things to spend my time and money on (mainly women, who take 5 times the time commitment and 100+ times the costs), so it had to go. It was a fun game, and if you are looking a for a good MMORPG, that would be my choice. Just be prepared to invest sooooo much time into it.

Next, Mario and Luigi for GBA: Excellent game. I downloaded the rom (I know, I know, shame on me) to test to see if i liked it. I played all the way through and it was quite possibly one of the most fun rpgs I have played in a long while. I went out and bought it (to absolve me of the sins of rom downloading) and I played it through 2 more times. it's just that fun. Kudos to Nintendo for making such a great game. 5/5

I haven't bought any other video games this month, but i have been hearing great things about the new prince of persia game. like, game of the year great. I haven't gotten a chance to try it yet, but if I get some time, i will most definitely give it a go.

I am still looking to get a Zodiac (I just don't have the money for it right now, stupid car registration), and any one who wants to donate to the cause ('cause I need more money) feel free to. so there is some gaming fun time news for you all. any other reviews would be awesome!

 

I used to play the original Prince of Persia back on my 8086 w/ CGA. It was a lot of fun then and the new one is next on my rent list. I recently played Manhunt and it was ok. Basically you kill people in different ways with some cool graphic shots, but other than there's not much to it. Don't get me wrong, it was fun slinking in the shadows and knocking peoples heads off with a bat, but there wasn't really anything to hook me long term.

 

oh, also, I was talking to one of my friends who has dungeons and dragons:heroes for xbox. his verdict: rent it. The game itself took about 8 hours to complete and there were many small flaws that made the game frustrating to say the least. Apparently when any body goes into a menu the rest of the world slows to a crawl. Not a problem in single player, but in multiplayer, I can't see agame where every time some one wants to use a potion, everyone else has to stop as being fun. He also told me that the save system is terrible. If you have three people playing and all three save, then all three are available when it comes time to play it again. BUT! If only 2 of those players were to play the next time and the third is missing, then it ERASES his or her character forever. that is so lame. so unless you always have everybody there, you can't play.

Along the same lines as that is Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles for Gamecube. I am looking foward to that. Its hard to find any good 4 player rpgs. It uses the gamecube to gameboy advance adaptor to alleviate the whole "slow down the game to access items" problem of D&D:H. I heard it was a very good game, but I have yet to play it, as it is coming out in february. The only downside is in order to play multiplayer, everyone must have a gameboy. No getting around it. so, for four players you would need: a gamecube ($100), 4x Gameboy Advance (4x$70), 4x link cables (4x$10), and the game ($40) for a grand total of $460. yoozah, thats a lot of money. Fortuantely I have 2 gameboys, a link cable and the gamecube and my brother has a gameboy, which would mean all we would need for 3 people is 2 link cables and the game ($60) which isn't bad, but jeez. Go nintendo.

 

Acthar, do you have a PayPal account so people can donate to the cause?

 

i can start one. if anybody show interest in the "Give Acthar money to buy crap" fund then i will start it tonight! also, the bidding on my old visor was up to $1.25. keep it rolling. I still want to unload, er, sell this fine pda.

 

I got some new games, all for Xbox

Prince of Persia This game is very well done, nice tight control, quite fun and beautiful to look at it. One cool feature is the sands of time, If you have some in your inventory and you walk off of a cliff you hit this button and time reverses its self so you didn't die. Very cool, especially for those magnetically attracted to cliffs.

Burnout 2 Pure arcade racing fun. With spectacular crashes, the game stops briefly to show you a birds eye view of your crash, the flying car pieces and the resulting pile ups! Awesome. Also great is the sense of speed which increases dramatically with your boost meter which fills up by power sliding and near misses with other cars. Did I mention the adrenalin rush you get going full throttle with the boost into oncoming traffic??!! WOOT!

Topspin This is a tennis game and a must have! Yes you heard me right. If any of you played Virtua Tennis or Tennis 2k2 for the Dreamcast you know what Im talking about. Except here the control is deeper with the ability to put a bottom or top spin on the ball. Not to mention the most robust create a player Ive seen this side of galaxies.

Tony Hawk Underground I love the Tony Hawk series so I lov this game as well. They made some changes to the series that I found kind of odd and misplaced but it doesnt dampen the overall experience for me but as I said, I love this series.

Rainbow Six 3 move out, sneak, sneak, infa red, heat vision, target sighted, scope, BLAM!, sneak, sneak, move in, flash bang and clear on zulu, roger, in position, ZULU!, there they are! FLASHBANG!, pop, pop, pop, area secured, sneaky sneaky... all goodness.

Dino Crisis 3 ummm next!

Crimson Skies Alternate Reality Bi-plane shooter, lots of fun

Panzer Dragoon Orta old school style rails shooter but fully 3d. Wanna blow stuff up? This is the prettiest game to do it in.

more coming....