Which is not the point of this post. At least, not directly. Nor are the “bugs” in the game – bugs which the reviewers are quick to point out, but the internet has been strangely quiet about.

No, the point I’ve been rapidly running away from, only to circle back upon when it was least expected is: I’m willing to say that this is the Game Of The Year.

At least, that’s what I was thinking a about an hour ago. Then I began to wonder which games were actually released this year, and how it compares against them.

As I always do when wondering something, I checked Wikipedia – the bastion of all human knowledge. I quickly managed to dig up their list of games released in the year 2010, and was staggered by just how damn many games were actually released in past year.

At a rough counting, I would say a metric shitload of them. Over 200 have been – or will be – pushed out of the developers doors and into the sweaty hands of GameStop workers world wide. Or the local equivalent should one live in a land where GameStops are not a thing.

Regardless, that’s a lot of games. A lot of games I am not, in anyway, qualified to remark upon.

I can, however, compare Fallout: New Vegas to the games that I did play, so I quickly pulled them out of the list, and have compiled them below.

As you can see, there are eight of them.
Eight.

Nine if you count the one that is based on a movie, but hasn’t been released yet. While I know enough that the vast majority of movie based games suck, I’m willing to risk it seeing as it’s related to TRON.

But, again, I digress.

At an average of one game every two months, I’ve picked up one Windows game (even though I only own a Mac), two full XBox games, two full PS3 games, and an XBL Arcade game (not sure why that’s on the list, TBH.) Even though I tend to prefer the PS3, my purchasing has been pretty evenly distributed over the two major consoles.

No Wii love at all this year. Which, honestly, was not a surprise.

With this (short) list in mind, it’s time to double back and again ask: Do I still think Fallout: New Vegas is the best game I’ve played all year?

Star Trek Online (STO) is pretty darn amazing – it has managed to hold my attention, off and on, since February. Cryptic are constantly adding new content, and tweaking/revising existing content. But it does have its own problems. The content that is there, now, is still sparse. The various stories it tries to tell are good, but not great – and are either too fragmented, or not detailed enough. And, surprisingly, there aren’t any immediately memorable characters in the game.

So, while I love the game – and plan on playing it for at least another year – it’s not better than New Vegas.

Next, there’s Just Cause 2, another fun game. A great sandbox game, one that I still play occasionally, when I feel the need to drive around a small island country acting like a horrible person.

And that’s pretty much all I have to say about that. The gameplay is way fun, but there isn’t any memorable story. It’s basically a Micheal Bay action flick, which is great fun to watch/play, but not something that would be nominated for any real awards.

No where near a contender, really.

3D Dot Game Heroes was a lovely, wonderful, fun throwback to the 8bit days of yore. Lots of fun to play, lots of silly side-quests, and self aware story telling. A great, fun game. One of the most fun, and most original, games I’ve played in years.

Also, one of the more frustrating. And not “frustrating until you memorize the dudes movements” kind of things, but “frustrating because the world map is a bit hard to remember, and the damn camera never quite works the way it should, dammit, now how the fuck do I get back to the damn Fire Temple anyway?” kind of thing. I still say it’s the Legend of Zelda sequel I’ve been waiting years for, but it’s not something I think I’ll ever go back and play again, let alone finish.

I’m happy I bought it, and I’ll still heartily recommend it to anyone who enjoys Action RPGs, but that’s about as far as I’m willing to go with this one.

Finally, we come to Halo: Reach. What do I need to say, other than it’s the Haloz? Only, in many ways, it’s not. Yes, you still shoot guys in the face, but there are enough changes to the game that it feels like it belongs to a separate franchise from Halo 3. The single player campaign has been fun, and the characters are well fleshed out. The story is much deeper, and somewhat easier to understand, than the previous Halo games. (Yes, the previous games had stories. Or so I’m told. I only ever got “Aliens bad, shoot them” out of the previous entries, but some gamers swear there’s more too it than that.) And the mulitplayer is frantic, and kinetic, and way more fun than it should be.

It’s also repetitive. It is not at all addictive – I don’t ever find myself thinking “Just one more level, oh, lemme check this out, what the fuck do you mean it’s three in the morning?” when I’m playing Reach. I, quite naturally, get a level in, have my fun, and then am ready to do something else. Something that isn’t Halo.

So, no, Halo: Reach isn’t it either.

Fallout: New Vegas has a compelling main storyline, one that Nadia has said several times is like watching a movie. At times a very creepy movie, but a movie. It also has many, many, many compelling side stories. Many unique, quirky and fun characters to find. It near perfectly balances SRS GAMING with light-hearted humor, and damn creepy moments of WTF’itude.

It’s addicting. With so many places to explore so damn close to one another (it’s really, really hard to go more than four minutes without finding SOMETHING, contrary to some reviews) and with almost everything being actually interesting, it’s very hard to walk away. Even for spectators: Nadia has said, a couple of times, that just watching the game is very addicting – she’ll stay up far later than she intends, just to see what’ll happen next.

And it’s fun. Shooting dudes? Fun. Exploring buildings? Fun. Looting Vaults? Fun. Wandering the Mojave Wasteland, in search of more caps, or more dudes to shoot, or more funny notes, or more weird occurrences? Fun.

So, yeah – upon further, mature, reflection, I’m confidant in saying that Fallout: New Vegas is my Game of the Year. The best damn game I’ve played all year long, and one that will continue to eat my free time for the next six months.

Gabe Newell, Director of Game Development - Valve Software

Hi, how are you? I’m fine. The weather is finally cooling off, which is nice – won’t have to run the AC as often, which in these harsh economic times means I might be able to save a bit of cash.

But, enough small talk – this isn’t a social call. No, I’m actually writing you (or pretending to write to you via my blog) in order to register a formal complaint on the latest DLC for Left 4 Dead on the XBox 360.

This product is, sadly, buggy and not at all worth the seven dollars you are charging for it. Oh, I’ve read the sob story that Microsoft forced you into charging for the content, that you wanted it to be free but Microsoft made you charge for it… And that’s fine, that’s understandable, I suppose. They want you to charge for it, well… charge for it. But a whole seven bucks? For a level that takes less than half an hour to complete, and is full of bugs? I’d expect this from Bethesda, but not you. You made Portal, one of my favorite games of all time, and the Half-Life series of games, which are astounding.

And you also made… This. This pile of crap.

I’m sorry to be harsh, but that’s what it is: A pile of crap, a box of turds costing seven dollars.

The level is rife with clipping issues – many walls and trucks and containers can just be walked through as if they weren’t there. Normally, this wouldn’t be much of an issue – except one kind of needs barriers to act as barriers when one is attempting to find some sort of shelter from an incoming zombie horde.

Or, perhaps, this was an intentional thing, created to ratchet the difficulty of the game up a few notches? I should hope not- that’s what the difficultly setting is for. No, it’s just crappy level design and even worse QA.

There are also several building whose interiors appear to exist on other planes – peering into the door ways from outside gives one a grand view of the entire map, but entering them places on in a dark, dank closet. It’s a neat riff on the whole Portal thing, to be sure – but I don’t think it quite fits with the L4D experience. I also think it might be just plain buggy.

Then, there’s the end game.
Turn on the generator, I’m told.
What generator, I wonder? There’s nothing that looks remotely like a generator anywhere near the rest of the end-game barricades and turret. It was only through wandering around – and back tracking – that I was able to find the damn thing. What happened to the hints from the other levels that gently nudge one in the right direction?

I can see why this was free on the PC – it’s not really worth much. It should have been the same cost on the 360, or – because Big Bad Microsoft is being such a bully – no more than two bucks.

Honestly, had I the chance to do it all over again, I’d much rather have spent the cash on that neat Superman/Batman cartoon than this. I probably would have gotten far more enjoyment from it. And that makes me sad, because I normally enjoy Valve games. This, however, has made me reconsider my purchase of Left 4 Dead 2. I’m forced to wonder if this quickly tossed off bit of DLC is an indication of the level of quality the quickly tossed off sequel is going to be. Unless the reviews are stellar, I’m probably going to wait until I can pick up a used copy and a cheaper price.

Well, thanks for letting me vent – and for normally making quality games. Just stop pushing out over-priced, buggy DLC.

Then I realized that I don’t really need to spend as much time detailing everything – it’d be better for everyone if I just summed stuff up, and moved on to a new post.

So, here’s the short version:

XBox 360:

• Updated Interface – Pretty, somewhat more useful
• Avatars – New, Mii like fellows good for… Something, I’m sure.
• Netflix Streaming – Best new feature. Worth the $10 monthly Netflix fee.
• More Reliable Hardware – Finally updated the hardware so it’s far less fail prone. You can actually trust it to keep working.

Playstation 3:

• Tweaked UI – The best interface on a console this generation. Easy to use, easy to find stuff, quck and responcive.
• Best Store – Perfectly laid out, easy to navigate and super fast. Doesn’t  use any strange points system, uses real money for transactions.
• Flash Support – With the built in browser, this allows you to watch YouTube and Hulu on your TV. Sure, it’s not Netflix, but it’s the next best thing.
• Weak Online Support – No standard features for games, no cross-game chat, no universal message box. All very “last gen”.
• Home Bites Ass – Sure, it just launched, but it does bite ass. The player creator is weak, the system is slow, and it’s just not really worth the time or effort to play with it. Maybe it’ll evolve, but right now it’s ass.

Wii:

• Same As Last Time – There’s been no change. Is still easiest to use of them all, but without any real games worth checking out it’s really not worth bothering with. Great for playing the classic stuff, or for parties, but not a Real System.

So, there you have it – My thoughts on the current crop of systems, updated and short.

Dunny0 - XBox Avatar

The Avatar on the left is me… As you can see, it’s a slightly more sophisticated version of the Mii. As of right now there are a few (three) games that will allow you to play as this little bugger. Creating one isn’t too difficult, and once done you can spend some time playing dress up too. Right now the clothing options are a bit sparse, but I’d expect that to change quickly as game devs jump on the bandwagon and offer branded shirts for your little guy to wear.

Netflix streaming is another neat toy added to the XBox’s repository of stuff it can do – and one that I expect to get a lot of use from. The interface is very Mac like, which is a plus, but you are unable to browse for content on it, which is a minus. You still must build your queue on your PC, and then the XBox will see it and allow you to play the movies – kind of cumbersome, really, but not too horrible I suppose. Works great for people who plan out their movie nights, but for those who just want to sit down, find a movie and watch it… Extra work. But, all considered, it’s a darn good service.

Finally, there’s the new UI – which I’m not really liking. It’s been re-done into some mash-up of Apples’ FrontRow and the PS3′s XMB. The whole thing is pretty, but messy. Some options, like friends list management, are not available from the normal menu, you gotta dig into the “other”, secondary set of menus to do that…

So far I’m not a huge fan – the old system worked just fine, this new one just seems like a hasty way to make aging hardware seem hip and current. I’m sure, over time, I’ll get used to it, but I still would rather they had allowed people to decide between using it and not using it.

• A copy of Windows
• Patience

Which of those two do you suppose I am not known for having?

Other than a few mild issues with the quality of the video due to buffering and home-network issues that seemed to be resolved by simply allowing the movie to play for a few minutes, and a few technical problems caused by not having Windows updated correctly because I use a fucking Mac, I didn’t have any major issues getting this working.

What I managed to take away from this is a renewed enthusiasm for the Netflix service, and a burning desire for the damn XBox update to happen sooner.

Demo on XBL and PSN

It’s been a while since the last time I was excited about a new game hitting – I think MGS4 was the last game I actually got all excited over.

Star Wars : The Force Unleashed is one that I’m really looking forward to. Not sure if I’m exactly excited about it or not, but I am really hoping to be.

Tonight I’ll be downloading the demo and giving it a spin – and, since it’s on both XBox Live and Playstation Network, I figure I’ll download them both, and compare the two. I did this once before with Burnout: Paradise, so I figure this might be a good chance to try that again.

As a bonus, and just because I’m a total dork, I’ll LiveBlog the whole thing right here.

So, stay tuned for the fun.

Let The LiveBlog Begin!

• 17:38 -
  Started downloading the demo on both XBL and PSN. Started the download on XBL before PSN, might have been a mistake. For some odd reason the demo weighs in at ~905MB on XBL and ~1350MB on PSN. That’s a strange ~400MB difference… Could the PSN Demo have higher resolution textures or is it just coded poorly?
  Last time a saw a strange difference in file size like this was with Spore, and it turned out EA had just wrapped the Windows version of spore in Wine before releasing it on the Mac.

  Maybe LA is wrapping the PS3 version of the game in an XBox emulator… YOU READ IT HERE FIRST!

• 17:50-
  Still downloading, I’m going to go take a short nap… I’ll post more when I get up.
• 19:25-
  Woke up from nap, demo was done downloading on XBox. Gave it a test drive.
  OMFG THIS IS NEAT
  Hard to control though.
• 18:05-
  At “boss” – Yeah, kinda hard – still awesome.
  Once you figure it out, it’s a little *less* awesome.
• 18:19-
  Gonna give the PS3 a go – “installing” the demo. Man, this is one area where the XBox gets it right.
  Weird.
• 20:27-
  Hmm… Looks a bit cleaner, color wise. Maybe it’s just the HDMI though.
  Loading is much much faster.
• 20:35-
  Things do look a lot clearer – I’m going to have to do a side-by-side later, but so far the PS3 is looking nicer to me. Controls are about the same.
  Things seem… Bigger. Not sure why, but it feels bigger on PS3 than XBox. Stupid, huh?
• 20:38-
  Force Lightning FTMFW. I love me some lightning!
• 20:40-
  Gotta pay closer attention on the XBox now – I’m seeing the armor glow on the Storm Troopers where my lightsaber hits them, not sure if I noticed that on XBox.
• 20:52-
  Just finished up my play through on PS3.
  Looking at the cinematic, I’m almost positive now that this game looks better on PS3 than it does on XBox.
  Damn this is a fun game

Well, there you have it – TFU is a damn fun game, and I can’t wait to buy it.
All things considered, unless my later play through change my opinion, this is a PS3 buy for me.

Is this game worth your $15?

Last week, the game Braid was released on the XBox Live service for about $15. The price point started off a mild rant storm on portions of the internets that are very geeky, somewhat cheap and populated by people who spend more time bitching about the price of games than they do bathing or actually spending time with other human beings.

Okay, I’m being a bit harsh, but debating the cost of a game before actually playing it is a tad naif… Which is why I decided to stay out of that “debate” until I’d actually purchased the damn game and given in a full go.

That time has come and gone, and I can safely say that this is a game that strives for greatness with its call backs to the very roots of platform gaming, the stunning soundtrack, the imaginative graphics and the quirky new gameplay mechanics. But is that enough?

Braid has one major claim to fame, and it is the new gimmick it adds to the genre: Time manipulation. Many games before this have attempted to add some sort of temporal mechanic to the mix, and have been met with varying levels of success. The full integration of time into game play is one thing that Braid does absolutlely flawlessly. Be it the player controlled “rewind” or other stage specific time-shenanigans, it just works. There are areas, for example, where time only flows as you move – if you are going forward, so is time. If you stop, it stops. If you go backwards, it does too. It just works, and it’s just damn cool.

Sadly, the rest of the game just doesn’t feel quite as fleshed out. The time thing is there, and it’s great, but the puzzles are etiher “really easy” or “god damn frustratingly hard”, no real space in between. It can, and occasionally does, detract from the fun of just playing the game.

It’s also pretty darn short, which is a bummer. And it’s those too things, the shortness and the complete unevenness of the game that makes me think $15 is $5 too much for this game. If I thought there would be hours of replayability to it, then I would mind so much. But, for me, it’s so frustrating that it’s all I can do to play through it the first time – Once I get a puzzle, I’m not going to go back and attempt it again – there’s no point. And I know that $5 isn’t all that much in the grand scheme of things, but it IS half the price of another game, another game. So, realistically Braid should be the equivalent of two games, which it is not.

However, this is just my opinion – you should play the demo and make up your own mind. You probably won’t regret it.

Thought this was interesting – Someone asked how much I’ve put towards gaming, and so I attempted to the math… The results were a bit shocking.

250 for Wii
+ $20 x 2 (Classic Controllers) = $40
+ $20 x 2 (Extra Wiimote + Nunchuck) = $40
= $330 (roughly)
$400 for XBox
+ $50 x 3 (Controllers) = $150
+ $50 (Wireless headset)
+ $50 x 3 (XBL for three years?)
+ $40 (Charge Kit)
+ $100 (HD-DVD)
- $200 (Sale price of refurbished XBox when I got it back)
+ $400 (Costs of Halo 3 XBox when I bought it to replaced RROD XBox)
== $1,090 (roughly)
$600 for PS3
+ 50 x 2 (Extra Controller + DS3) = $100
== $700 (roughly)
Grand Total:
$2,120 (Roughly, Not including taxes)

So:

I’ve spent more money on my 360 than I have on the Wii and PS3 combined.

Fuck.

I’m glad this project was tackled – the giant mass of wires behind the TV was some sort of fire-hazard, or at least a hazard to sanity. It looked to be about a foot thick, and I swear it was moving.

Although only two things were removed from the setup – the XBox and the Dreamcast – a total of four power supplies and twenty-something wires were actually removed… I’m still unsure where they came from, but I have not yet ruled out the idea of procreation.

When all was said and done I almost didn’t plug back in the cable box. I’m still thinking – very hard – about pulling it out and stuffing it in a different room.

Maybe, when I’m done with the “Game Room” – the next bit of house work on my list – I’ll move the box into there and – maybe – bring the Dreamcast back into the living room.

Maybe.

Please be seated.

As many (can all four readers be called a “many”?) of you know, I’m an avid gamer. Or, rather, I like to think of myself as an avid gamer, but in reality I’m more of an avid gadget whore who focused his skill points on games.

Either way you split it, I enjoy video games and talking about them, and as such I think it’s time to once again update on what I think of the current System Wars situation.

Handheld

I figure this time I’m going to actually delve into some thoughts on the fairly quiet handheld formats, an area that I’m really not overly I familiar with. While I know – and own – the major handheld systems, I don’t actually play them as often as their home-console counterparts. That may make my views slightly less informed than others, but that’s never stopped me from spouting whatever was on my mind before, so it sure as hell won’t now.

First up, the Nintendo DS, which is currently in its second iteration, the DS Lite. The DS is the one that folds up and has the touch screen, right? The one for small children?

I kid, I kid. Please, put down the torches.

I’ve had the DS since launch (DS “Phat”), and the Lite is a good system. It’s not too big, is fairly comfortable for short gaming sessions (waiting for car repairs, using the restroom, passing the time at an All Hands meeting), and the games normally fun. As they should be, seeing as the majority of the ones I own are mostly scaled down counterparts of existing console franchises. You’ve got at least two Mario games (the shitty one and the not shitty one), a Zelda game (kinda fun, if frustrating) and Tetris.

It’s a good, solid system (literally) with good, solid games.

But, I rarely play it anymore. Mine has been sitting on the table by my bed for the past two months, unused and unloved. The Phat has been sitting in the living room for at least four months now, and the last time it was turned on was to verify that it actually worked.

I have nothing against the system, and do recommend that others pick one up if so inclined, but portable gaming isn’t something I’m into anymore.

That brings me to the Sony PSP, which is also in its second iteration. The only major differences being a bump in system memory and making it slimmer. It is very uncomfortable for long-term play, but it makes up for this in not having much worth playing in the first place. It also provides many scaled down versions of normal console titles, but where the DS does it with new gimmicks and hoobajoos, the the PSP tries to get by with a more “standard” approach to porting. Which is to say, they play like traditional games, screw the innovation.

That said, of the two I prefer the PSP. The games it does have I find more fun and entertaining over the long haul, and they fit my normal play-style, which is analogous to that of a mildly retarded autistic trying to count toothpicks while they are still inside the box. More simply put: I’m not very good but I keep trying anyway, much to the mirth of others.

I am also captivated by the many half-baked features it packs in, such as video playback and internet streaming of content on my PS3/home network, including games and pr— Movie trailers.

Of the two, for the more serious “gamer” I would have to recommend a DS over a PSP. For everyone else, those who just like shiny gadgets what do neat things, I’d suggest a PSP instead. For idiots with too much money? Both.

Home Consoles

Alphabetically, the Microsoft XBox 360 comes in first place amongst the three current generation home console systems. One could also argue that this is the only way in which it comes first, unless one were inclined to make puerile jokes or maybe point out that it is also first in epic fails.

I, however, am above such mockery.

Statistically speaking, three out of four people in the world own at least one 360, and a further 2 out of five have at some point purchased a second 360 due to reasons of Red Ring, and/or Death. Quite honestly, the Epic Failure rate of the 360 is the only thing I have against it, but it is such an overwhelming issue that it taints all other aspects of the console.

For my money, many of the best games of this generation of available for the 360 – exclusively or not. Bioshock, Oblivion, Crackdown, Halo 3, Lego Star Wars… The list goes on and on. The online experience as provided by Xbox Live is unparalleled by either of its competitors, and fully integrates into the system in such a way as to make not having it almost crippling. Quite honestly why one would own a 360, and then play it exclusively offline is one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard of.

With the latest system update, the 360 is also a major media hub, allowing it to play divx files over your home network easily, as well as the pre-existing music streaming. There’s also the pretty decent video download service.

Yet, with all this in favor of it, I hardly use mine, and have no plans to buy more games. It is, in all honesty, something with a near perfect feature set, and yet I’m so scared of it crapping out that I refuse to actually use it anymore, and cannot bring myself to further invest in the system through software purchases.

Which brings me to the closest competitor, the Sony Playstation 3, or PS3 for short.

With the latest software update, the PS3 also does a great job handling the majority of divix files you throw at it, and does a far superior job of sorting the media. It does the standard music playback, as well as image slideshows and other such random media features.

It does the Blu-Ray playback, and since BR is the de-facto HD format for home use, this is probably a good thing.

The drive is user replaceable, and the system itself seems a bit more logically laid out and easier to use than the 360.

However, when it comes to games, the library is a bit lacking. There are good games on the system, to be sure, but nothing exclusive that is a Must Own. There is no Halo-killer on the PS3, no matter how much Resistance wants to be that game.

The Playstation Network (PSN) is free to use, but… It’s pretty crappy. It works, when it works, but it has a very last-generation feel to it when compared to XBox Live.

That said, I do much prefer the PS3 to the 360, and it has become the system of choice at the Dunny Cave.

Finally, I come to the Nintendo Wii.

For many in my age group, Nintendo is pretty much where it all started. Oh, sure, we may have had an Atari or a Commodore, but it wasn’t until at least the NES that we realized just Games were Serious Business. It can be argued that the NES is where the current iteration of gaming subculture got its start. Although, this being the internet, anything can be argued, no matter how faulty the logic. I could, for example, attempt to provide an argument showing how Star Wars is an elaborate metaphor of the sexual practices of the lemur, and no one would really care.

But, I digress. The NES is where it started, and now we have the Wii, which through the power of it’s Virtual Console (Wii-NES), we get to experience the glory days of the NES all over again.

For five bucks a game.

Really, the games on the Wii aren’t for you or me: They are for your mom, your grandmother, the crazy guy down the street who talks to trees and small infants. The Wii was designed, and marketed, for those who don’t like games, who are confused by games, and who find games to be scary and/or evil.

The flailing about, the soft colors and not too great graphics, the short playtime and abundance of mini-games… It’s all created for someone other than you or I, someone with a short attention span, too much energy and an overwhelming fear of technology. Hyperactive Alzheimer patients, for example. Or small children.

Yes, it brings a few good, meaty games to the table. There is a Zelda game, although it’s rather rubbish. There is No More Heroes… But mostly it’s mini-games, and sports games, and games that aren’t quite sports games but really aren’t mini-games but more something one might play while in the pub watching a match… And not a whole hell of a lot else.

While this makes the Wii indispensable at parties, as stand alone system, even the nostalgia factor of playing twenty year old games on your 42″ LCD just doesn’t cut it.

At least for me.

That said, I love the Wii and I recommend that anyone who can find it, and who has at least two friends, pick one up. I’m starting to learn more towards a PS3 over the 360, but I still can’t fully discount the number of games there are for the 360. At this point, though, I’d suggest getting a used 360 – the odds on it working long term are about the same as those of a brand new one – and the coin you save can eventually be put towards a PS3. For while I consider the PS3 to be the superior system at this time, and in future, currently it hasn’t got the software library to beat a 360.

I guess I’m becoming a Sony Fanbot after all.