Just Cause 2 Self Made Videos - Please Watch

So I've become somewhat of a champion for Just Cause 2 and over the weekend I decided to try something out.

This game knows it's insane and that it allows you to do some pretty neat stuff. I realize that they know their game is awesome because it comes with a video capture and youtube uploader in it. Why else would they include that if it weren't for showing off?

Now the videos below aren't really showing off. I made them purposefully for you guys to see a little of why this game amazes me. If you watch them I promise I'll shut up about this game.

This is the first one I made. I wanted to show you guys a little bit of the scale of a very small section of the game. This is just one of many sky scrapers around the world and it's not even the biggest one. I also wanted to show how easy it is to go where you want to mid-flight and free fall.

32 seconds in I point to the blimp that's in a later video.

1:18 during free fall I find a random car I'm going to land on.

1:50 this is using the grappling hook as a slingshot to move yourself around with your parachute open.

This one I made to try and give you an idea of how gigantic the game world is. I stole the airliner from the airport in the game. As soon as the video starts I try to pan around so you can see all the islands around the world and just how large it is. The part I'm flying over is covered in snow because of the altitude.

15 seconds there's a random base you can assault to cause chaos and get points.

43 seconds I do a "stunt jump" and from there I could attack others if need be.

1:20 I bail out of the plane and free fall to my favorite spot....the blimp.

2:13 I free fall to the ground. Sorry I spin around in circles. I couldn't decide where I wanted to land. I was debating just smashing into the ground.

This video is the FIRST time I'd ever tried this. You grappling hook your car to an airplane and ride in the car.

58 seconds in I do a stunt jump just because I wanted to and it breaks my attachment to the plane and sends me into a free fall that I can't control. Took me by surprise and made me laugh.

Lastly, this is my favorite. I got attached to the plane on too short a leash and....well....it's pretty funny.

58 seconds I chose to break off from the plane on purpose.

All in all I hope these videos give you a glimpse into the world of Just Cause 2. It's hands down the best sandbox game ever.

Different Perspective

I don't impose video games on my wife.  She is incredibly kind in how often she lets me play without making a fuss about it, and as a result, I deliberately resist the urge to get her more involved in my world.  On her own accord, however, she requested that we purchase a Wii so she could play some games every now and then.  The 360 and the PS3 were a little intimidating, and she thought the casual nature of the Wii would be perfect for her pick up and play, easy to put down, hopes of video gaming.  She was right, and it was a great buy for our needs.  It's been really cool watching her get the hang of things, but it's been a little odd to see how she relates to the games.

She doesn't "learn" the same way that most gamers do.  I think this might be true with many casual players, but it's almost like she doesn't want to make the investment into improving her playing.  If she dies too many times in a row, instead of "learning" why she died, or what caused her mistake, she'll turn off the game and try again another day.  It almost reminds me of a person watching TV.  She is a passive participant, not a deep part of the intricacies of the world.  It's a very passive way to play, and she seems to be enjoying herself, so I only help out if she asks me.  (She did call me "coach" once after I verbally walked her through a tricky part... that was kinda weird.)

Despite her passive approach to the gameplay, she seems to be getting a deeper connection out of the characters.  I might ask her how her day went, and when she tells me she played some Wii, she'll also explain how it made her feel. ("Luigi is a dope! He keeps getting lost...", "I always go talk to Mail Toad, she gives me five 1ups!", "Bowser's such a jerk!", etc.) It cracks me up, because I've never looked to deep into the stories of the simple games I enjoy, but she seems to be attached (or conversely, annoyed) to the characters in and of themselves.  A personal favorite was when I asked about a different character who gives 1ups, and she told me he was a tease because he only gives one away.

She is, however, very proud of her gameplay.  At least, to me.  She'll let me know if she gets a couple stars with the same level of excitement that she would let me know that she got a nice compliment from a co-worker.  I hope she isn't proud just to impress me, but I think it's cool that she's finding success in a game and knows that I know what it took to get that far.

I can't imagine how cool it's gonna be to have a kid learn to play games too.  3N3MY has already started to breach the far corners of that boundary, and it's probably pretty amazing. It's an entirely different perspective that I don't think any of us could ever have honestly because of our "gaming upbringing."  I don't know if any of you have had any similar experiences, but I'd be interested to hear them.

This is so true

The original caption for this stated:

"Gaming started a trend to appeal to more people. Hard core gamers wanted hard core games, not something that would build your self esteem" - source

Impact Deaths in Just Cause 2

I know I've said it on this blog before, but I'm a BIG Just Cause 2 fan.

It's sense of scale and freedom is unparalleled in gaming and it's tons of fun to play. It is the only open world game to ever encouraged experimentation on this level. If you haven't played it, you should.

Anyways, the makers of the game created a map of 11 Million impact death spots and put it in a video. It's astounding that every spot of light in the map is where someone died because they hit the object too hard. If you know the game world the video is especially awesome. I'm a big fan of the dual blimp spot.

MW3

The new trailer just launched.

What are your thoughts? It's impressive as always, but do you guys even care anymore? I was left impressed, but at the same time had a feeling of deja vu. I've been here. I've seen this. I've played this 6 times already. I had to force myself to finish the Black Ops campaign.

Undoubtedly the campaign will be over the top and the mp will be addictive, but I just can't bring myself to buy another COD game.

Amateria told me that his store already has over 100 preorders.

Honestly, will you guys buy it? I'm gonna say no, but if the rest of this blog gets it.....I'll probably swallow my pride and follow suit. How else am I going to spend my Christmas if not by yelling about killstreak hacks and people losing TDM for me with a whopping 1 kill and 16 deaths?

Dead Island Preview

I know someone has mentioned this game before and I really wasn't interested in it, thinking "it's just another zombie game". Until I saw this today...

http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/05/23/dead-island-trailer-shows-eleven-minutes-of-in-game-footage/

Awesome! Free-roam, sandbox style with zombies. I may be getting this game now...

Brink Review

I know this is incredibly late and I was going to pass up writing a review but some of the complaints regarding the game are unfounded. Many gamers and reviewers are discriminating against a game that wasn't made by either Activision or EA/DICE. I haven't put much time into the game as it didn't have enough draw to pull me away from my relapse into World of Warcraft. It's been a slow time for gaming and I reactivated my WoW account and joined a server to play with a Christian guild.

Anyways... at the bottom is a solid review I found from PC Gamer that does give credit to the game where credit is due (My review is also based on the PC version).

Likes

♥ Something New - It was really nice to play a shooter that wasn't a rehash of the same old, same old. Cartoony graphics + classes + leveling + parkous = new and fresh.

♥ Smooth Launch - I can't speak for console issues but the PC launch was extremely smooth. I saw a lot of complaints regarding the launch and bugs and though I encountered some, none were game-breaking. The game locked up once, fixed by a restart. The sound died once, also fixed by a restart. Compared to the Bad Company 2 PC launch and the Black Ops PC launch (both riddled with awful bugs that made them unplayble for the first week or so, Black Ops being the worst), Brink has been pretty smooth.

♥ Graphics & Art - I've definitely enjoyed the look and the feel of the artwork, the design, the characters and what not. The game is running smooth on high settings as well.

♥ Class & Leveling - The classes are a lot of fun and each have their own appealing elements. The Operative seems a little weaker compared to the others as it does not have any "boosting" skills such as healing, refilling ammo, or boosting damage like the other classes. Disguising yourself as an enemy is a heck of a lotta fun though. There are 20 levels and 5 (levels???) within those 20 that unlock different tiers of abilities. The abilities seem well-balanced and nothing is overpowered, specifically the turrets.

Dislikes

- Missing Components - The game appears to missing some elements, like a lobby or way to locate specific dedicated servers. You choose a level you want to play and then join a random group. It has worked smooth so far but the PC crowd specifically, requires some more depth to choosing where to play.

- Maps & Gametypes - The game could have definitely benefited from some more maps. Though some of the gametypes seemed fresh, I would have liked to see some old favorites such as CTF or a Domination/Control type game. I think CTF would be particularly fun in Brink with the classes and parkour elements.

- Combination - I've heard this complaint and it's a decent one. All the elements are great but they don't quite mesh together perfectly. I.E., the parkour moves are great but at times you have to be perfectly lined up with an obstacle or piece of the terrain. Headshots should be more powerful, Operative class needs some boosting abilities, etc., etc.

Result

I think the game is definitely worth purchasing. I'm not really sure about it's staying power but if I can pull myself away from WoW, this is the shooter I'll go to. I still play Bad Company 2 some but I'm over Black Ops and "new map packs" can't keep me coming back to that game. However, wait until you can get the game for $40 and it's definitely worth it. I at least picked it up for $50 on Steam.

It's a fresh, new IP that has a lot of potential. All the elements don't mesh together perfectly but with some fine tuning, a decent size patch, and some DLC, it could easily turn into a AAA title. Splash Damage is a company to keep an eye on in the future.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/05/20/brink-review/

Idea

So I was finally moving all my original XBOX games, on goozex, from my stash to my queue for trading. This is something that I've been deliberately not doing for some time.

When I think about the sheer amount of hours I put into some of those game like HALO, Project Gotham Racing 2, Rainbow Six 3 and Morrowind it makes me sad to think about getting rid of them. I feel a sentimental attachment to them all. They are my games and I love them all.

While moving them I realized I can still easily play these games on PC! It sounds stupid to have such an obvious revelation, but to a near lifer console player it's still a novel idea.

Anyways, I started digging around and looked up the original HALO on PC and realized that match making exists online for it! Match making and the astoundingly good coop for Rainbow Six 3 works as well!

Since neither of these games are at all playable online in any fashion on consoles I'm going to get them both on PC.

I'll be posting reviews and impressions as they come along, but was just excited to give these games another run and see if they are up to snuff on PC.

Rainbow Six is already confirmed for trade on goozex. Let me know if anyone wants to play!

L.A. Noire First Impressions

I broke down and ordered the game yesterday. I was going to wait a little while, but figured I might as well get an Amazon credit toward my next game purchase, whatever that might be. I went with the PS3 version, as I'm told that the game was originally a PS3 exclusive for quite a while and the game is so massive that it's 3 discs on the 360. Just simpler this way. Anyway, the game keeps an exact count of your play time, so after 2 hours, 42 minutes and 14 seconds, here are some thoughts:

-The controls, much like the GTA games and RDR, are way less than awesome. While in those games you had to hold or tap A/X to run, in this game you have to hold R2 to run. It still BOGGLES MY MIND how Rockstar does not just implement an analog movement system into their games. Not only do you have to hold R2 to run, but it's just a little sluggish moving into and out of the run cycle. The walk itself is a little slow and clunky for my liking also. Getting around doorframes, etc can be a chore just like in RDR. This could ALL be fixed with analog movement.

-The sound design is top-notch so far. The very first case you take on leads you to an alley. When you arrive and the officer is explaining what's happened, it actually "sounds" like you're standing in an alley talking. Eerily accurate. Same with the echo of the siren on my car as I drove through a tunnel. Awesome.

-Questioning people in relation to cases is quite fun. They'll tell you something and then you have to judge whether they're telling the truth, "doubt" them to try to get more info, or accuse them of lying. If you do accuse them of lying, you must have proof (from gathering evidence) or else they'll call you on it and clam up. I've done 2 cases so far with very different results. In the first one I did almost everything exactly right, but in the second one I messed up both of my big interrogations with a cafe owner and a widow. I think this means I just have to end up doing a little more work, because there will always be a way to solve the case. I'm not sure exactly how "bad" you're allowed to do yet. It's early still.

-After a case, you get rated on number of clues found, questions you got correct during interrogation, how much damage you did to your car or property or people. Also, it gives you a tip on what you could have done better. Cool.

-I had to find a phone and call dispatch to get an address. It just struck me as funny to see that. It's such a contrast to how things go now.

-When you're driving to different locations around L.A., you can have your partner drive, which skips immediately to the destination. Big thumbs up for having that option. If you do this, though, you miss out on Street Crime cases.

-Street crime cases are emergency calls you'll get over the radio when you're randomly driving around during your main cases, much like the side quests in RDR. You can choose to do them or just skip them. One thing that's kind of annoying about these so far is that I've just had to shoot everybody. Some guys had stolen a trolley operator's shoes (of all things) and I came across them in an alley. One guy ran and got into a car and drove off while the other just stood in cover trying to shoot me. I tried to tackle the remaining guy so I could arrest him, but it didn't work and he killed me. Then I let them both get into the car and tried to shoot the tires out. That didn't work either and they got away. It makes me wonder if I'm going to have to simply shoot everyone or maybe use a little strategy once in a while. If it's the former, I'm going to rack up quite a body count by the end of the game.

-You have a log that looks kind of like a movie script that you can check any time. It contains every word that's been spoken so far during that particular case. This could prove to be useful. It would be cool if they did use it that way.

-Finally, I have a specific hope for the game. I want there to be one huge, overarching case that I figure out slowly as I go along. It could (and should) sporadically intersect with the smaller cases throughout the game and the game eventually ends with you solving the big case. I think that would be most excellent.

In closing, it's a good time so far, except for the less-than-perfect controls. I didn't mention it earlier because it's obvious, but the game looks amazing. The facial animations and the mouth movement/lip synch is spot on. Voice acting is good so far and the writing is quality. Going through each case is really like watching an episode of CSI or something. Er, playing an episode? I don't know.

Walking for Games

No, this isn't a charity post, but more of a funny moment in my life yesterday.

My son will be 1 year old in a week and he's been walking really well for over a month now while holding on to stuff like our couch or entertainment center.

Within the last week he's stated lettting go of his "crutch" and stands without any help until gravity teeters him too far one way or the other.

Since then you can tell he "wants" to walk. His body language and movement tell me his mind knows what he wants to do, but his body isn't able to yet. My wife and I got really excited when he took 2 unaided steps and then fell to crawling on Friday.

The funny thing happened yesterday morning. My son isn't allowed to touch my game stuff and he's aware of this. His inability to play with my controllers or systems seems only to spur on his extreme desire to touch, slam and throw my prized collections.

Well yesterday when I pulled my DualShock away from his reach he let go of my entertainment center and walked over to me to get it!

My sons first big steps in his life were for something game related! It was hilarious to me and eye-rolling to my wife, but it was very entertaining none-the-less.

Just so you all know. I did let him celebrate by playing with my DualShock and then he threw it across the room.

Being a dad pwns.

Brink First Impressions

Got to play the game for a couple hours yesterday, maybe about 4 or so. So far, I've pretty much enjoyed. Played a lot of the single player and the bots are very comparable to the bots in Left 4 Dead. They are smart buuuuut not that smart. Played a couple rounds of the multiplayer too and it was a lot of fun. One round the security forces had to escort this guy by using medics to refill his health and keep him walking. Our team, the rebels or whatever they are called, have to shoot the escort guy to make him stop and kneel until a security guy heals him.

The security team escorted him all the way to the very end of the level, just mere feet away from the boat they had to get him on and we stopped him there and held the position. As an engineer, I set a turret up at the main entrance and then set up a mine right at the feet of the escort guy. Needless to say, we crushed the other team partially due to their failure to use a door up on the second floor that led out to the dock area. They kept trying to rush the main door and me, my teammates, and my turret mowed them all down.

Anyways, my first impressions are pretty good. Good graphics and art style, solid gun sounds, great teamwork, and the SMART system is definitely a nice touch. Seems like a solid shooter that relies heavily on teamwork. Not sure where all the bad reviews are coming from but it's probably from people who are hardcore Halo/CoD fans. I'll post up a full review once I've played it some more.

I'm tempted.  It's like a souvenir from a really bad vacation, in T-Shirt form!

Penny Arcade Store

Xbox 720

Not sure if anyone had seen the volley of rumors and speculation that EA has a development kit for the next Xbox, but this is a great read giving good reason to think that another Xbox could be much sooner than we all thought.

If the article is correct and the next Xbox drops next year close to the new Nintendo would you buy one?

All Xbox hatred aside I don't think I'll be so quick to early adopt for the next generation, whenever that may be. I was one of the lucky ones that had my launch day 360 last a considerably long time, but don't hold out hope for a reliable product from MS on day one.

The Nintendo console will more than likely be super reliable because that is Nintendo's strength and the tech that they'll be using is already a proven structure for gaming with PS3 and 360.

I wonder what's going on over at Sony, other than trying to fix PSN.

Hardcore Nintendo

CAUTION: Wild speculation occurs below.

Stumbled across this article and it made me want to punch all game journalists in the face.

It's painfully obvious that Nintendo is trying to make a core system again. I know that the Wii has been anything but a failure with it's gigantic install base, but I was always right in saying that they're boned come the next XBOX and PS. They're proving me right by making this system.

It's a power grab to try and reclaim some market share for the next year or so because nobody that bought a Wii is going to line up to buy a Wii 2. They don't see the benefit of Wii Fit HD.

I'm sure that 3rd party developers from the US will start porting stuff to the new system, but I'm still banking on Nintendo blowing a goat when it comes to online functionality. They'll do the traditional Japanese thing and it will exist, but only to the gimped standards that Nintendo deems necessary. Friend codes are still around aren't they?

I guess I've just grown very tired of Nintendo love and nostalgia. So what if they make a "core" system. You'll still be able to get the best core games from the 360 and PS3 with great online functionality and a better controller. The only thing that this console means to the fanboys is Zelda and Mario and Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros in HD. That's all. Same old gameplay with the same old tried and true Nintendo methods.

The best thing the console seems to have is 25gb discs. It's something that the PS3 got right and is currently limiting the 360

No hard drive is another huge problem. This is also what leads me to believe they're online will be garbage. So far they're saying it has 8gb flash drive.....wow. My Droid X has a 16gb micro sd card.

The controller has a 6 inch touchscreen on it. Who the hell cares? It's another gimmick that only Nintendo will be able to effectively use in Zelda or Mario for inventory management. The Dreamcast did a very similar thing with their badass removable memory cards with a built in screen. The only game to use it well was Resident Evil: Code Veronica. It displayed your current health at all times which was nice because normally you had to check your inventory to see your health.

I'm just sick of Nintendo always getting a pass because they're Nintendo. They dropped the ball and left the consumers that got them to where they are years ago.

Even if this machine owns you can still only expect a new Mario or Zelda every 3 years. You're looking at probably one of each before the new competition rolls out.

I think that this will go the way of the Dreamcast. A (debatably) great system that tried it's best to make up for a poor previous system. It attempts to grab up market well before the competition and then gets left in the dust. Left to make the worst Sonic games ever for the rest of it's terrible existence.

Mario on 360 and Zelda on PS3. I'm just saying.

PSN Still Down

I don't know what annoys me the most:

The insane amount of people, organizations and countries trying to sue Sony.

Congress saying that they don't want the PSN back online till they're satisfied with Sony's response to the problem.

Or that it's still down.

I guess I just hate bullshit opportunist used car salesmen, but I'm really just starting to get pissed that the PSN is still down.

Anything plugged into the internet CAN be hacked. Nothing is unhackable. It was just Sony that was targeted.

Yeah it's free, but this is getting to the point where even I've had it. Fix the fucking thing.

Ditching the 360. An honest retrospective by a dual 360 hater and PS3 fanboy.

On this blog it's a known and widely disliked thing I did by getting rid of my 360 and going full PS3.

After getting to spend just a short amount of time with the 360 again this weekend (Lead Salad visited me) I'd like to take a look back, get nostalgic and honestly ask myself, did I make the right choice?

Since the reasons for me ditching the 360 have been wildly spewed from my mouth and keyboard I'll keep that to a minimum, but will sum it up as being mainly a feeling of betrayal as a consumer by Microsoft. Betrayed by nickeled and dimed costs as well as the utter failure of them to fix a broken console spurred on by the consumers continuation to buy the damn thing.

For work Salad will sometimes bring his 360 with him when he travels. Since he stopped by my place a couple days before work began he had it with him. After a 3 hour Portal 2 coop marathon he said he wanted to show me the Gears 3 beta.

As soon as he turned on the 360 I instantly became somewhat nostalgic. Not sad, but more akin to the feeling you get when you see an old game you love booting up or when I hear the menu music from Morrowind. A feeling of hey there guy, remember me? Remember how much fun we had? You love me.

I realized how much I missed just how visual the 360 menus are. A little too visual as far as advertisements go, but visual none-the-less.

Seeing Amateria and Sporadic Spider online as the old avatars was refreshing. Watching Salad pop into a chat with them seamlessly and talk without lag or having to say, "can you hear me?" a thousand times was awesome.

I sat and watched as Salad joined a party and played the Gears 3 beta with them and was impressed with what I saw. It was still Gears at it's core, but seemed much smoother and lag free. I started to feel like maybe this was a great game. I started to think maybe I shouldn't have ditched my 360 so I could play this with the guys. Then I saw Salad get blown to bits over and over with the sawed off shotgun and instantly put those crazy notions out of my mind!

Why the hell would I subject myself to that crazy ass broken MP again? I came away from watching the beta with the strong impression that it's somewhat fixed, but still broken. Any game with that much of a douche strategy IS broken. Sure it's totally playable, but fundamentally flawed. You just have to decide what your personal threshold of douche tolerance is and either play it or don't.

I finally asked if Salad had brought a second controller. I wanted to play as a group with the guys again and everyone had Halo Reach (a game series I've struggled between hating and loving since Halo 2). We popped it in and got to playing and I realized after 1 minute that I didn't miss that game at all. It still feels like water guns with 50% gravity and caters to weapon, vehicle and power up control. Bottom line is any feeling of wanting to play that series is pure emotional nostalgia. It was good to be away from it for so long and come back and still hate it. In my mind it reaffirmed what I feel to be true. Halo sucks.

Even though my time with the 360 was short I feel that I don't miss the console as much as I thought and even feared I would. I either played or watched the 360's two biggest exclusives and I don't miss either of them. Bad Company 2 is better than Halo and Uncharted 2 is better than Gears of War 2 and I'm gonna call it, 3 (does that even make sense?!).

The conclusion I came to is that I still feel I made the right choice about getting rid of the 360. If I still had mine it wouldn't get near the amount of play that my PS3 does and I still wouldn't be up for paying for another year of Gold Membership as well as the looming cost of replacing the thing when it breaks because it will. Towards to end of my career with the 360 I only enjoyed L4D and Gears of War 2 Horde. Not worth the 60 bucks.

I guess I realized what I actually missed when I initially put on Salad's headset. Playing with my friends. This should be remedied now that Amateria realized how good Uncharted MP is.

Feel free to comment and ultimately rip me to shreds.