MGS4 Gameplay Footage

If you've ever wondered about what makes me so interested in the Metal Gear Solid series, it is the new stuff they keep coming up with. Plus, it's fun to be able to sneak around people and use strategy to beat a game rather than just running through it like Rambo.

Here's the video.

Some new things in the game include:

• A suit that changes to match the environment automatically
• Becoming a statue to avoid notice
• CQC is back and even better than in MGS3
• Rolling around in tin cans :)
• Moving in FPS mode
• Using a mini Metal Gear
• Actual battles which have outcomes that can be affected by your actions

No word yet on whether it'll be multiplayer... I've always said that MGS would be spectacular in two player co-op mode. Here's to hoping!

Spore Video

Remember that awesome Spore footage from a year ago? Well, there's been new footage up from this year and the changes are amazing. Check out this video that shows how far Spore has come in a year.

Guild Wars: Eye of the North available for preorder

The newest chapter of the Guild Wars series, Eye of the North, is now available for pre-order, either online or at several stores. The first true expansion to Guild Wars is scheduled for official release on August 31, although pre-ordering players will have access to a sneak preview weekend Aug. 24-26.

But that's not all. Pre-orders will also get access to three exclusive weapons in game, as well as a trial period to try out other continents in Guild Wars that the player otherwise hasn't purchased.

More information is available at the game's site, here.

In game trailer available here.

Edit: The abbreviation of the game might be important...GW:EN

Smash Bros. Release Date

Just in time for Christmas, Super Smash Bros. Brawl will release on December 3rd, 2007! Too bad Derek will be leaving shortly after that and I'll never get to play it...

Dr. Wright

Something Kris might find interesting here... Super Smash Bros. Brawl is including Dr. Wright from the SNES version of SimCity as an assist trophy! I think that is absolutely hilarious... This is still my most looked forward to game at the moment (even over Spore! but that's because it won't be coming out 'til forever...).

PSP Square Enix Games

This makes me want a PSP. I'm not going to get one of course, but a remake of Final Fantasy Tactics with new playables classes?! Me want!! I'm not as excited about FF Tactics Advance 2 for the DS because Tactics Advance wasn't spectacular. Crisis Core looks pretty cool, as does the new Final Fantasy fighting game, Dissidia. Unfortunately, Square's first fighting game, Ergheiz bombed so we can only hope that this one does better. We'll see!

So many games (and systems), so little time (and money)!

Blogging Zelda

Check out this site... It's a guy who is playing through a ton of Zelda games and giving his impression as he goes. It's actually kind of neat because he plays them without guides and most of them he's never played before. So you can get a true feel of how the game is, based off a normal everyday person's experiences.

Check it out.

New Starcraft II Units Revealed

See Kotaku's article.

These are all Protoss units, again. They include the Soul Hunter, Twilight Archon, Phase Cannon (the new Photon Cannon), and the Tempest (the upgraded Carrier). Check it out!

Spore Delayed Some More

Nooooooooooo!!!!

Well, I guess it can be considered a good thing. I'd rather have the game delayed until its ready than have a game that just doesn't live up to the hype.

Smash Bros. Page Updates

The Smash Bros. Brawl page now has daily updates about Brawl, including new information. There isn't much there yet, but there are still some cool new things. The Gooey Bomb is a bomb that can stick to characters as well as terrain. They can be transferred between people, however. I'm picturing a suicide bombing attempt!

Also they have screenshots of the battleground stage, which has a background that changes between day and night the longer you play! Looks neat.

The Last Remnant

Square Enix has announced the first of its many new generation games that will be released. It will be for both the 360 and PS3 (more reason to get a 360 over PS3, it has PS3 games plus its own).

Looks neat. It's another RPG (gotta love 'em)!

FEATURES
Imagine a vast, war-torn battlefield, scarred by years of conflict. Countless enemies surround the player, who is backed up by his own army. Threatened by numerous foes and saved in the nick of time by allies, players will feel the true tension of a soldier on the battlefield. In THE LAST REMNANT, as many as seventy units will duke it out at once in fierce yet beautiful battles. Backed by the visual power of next-gen hardware, the unique play style and battle system will challenge and invigorate players like never before.

More than 70 at a time? Wow! I can't wait to see a trailer.

I Concede Defeat - Steven

I give up on PS3.

I have long been a supporter of PlayStation and with good reason. PlayStation smoked its competition and then PS2 came along and whooped the GameCube and XBox into submission. But PS3 is just falling behind. For a long time I said, "Just wait til the games come out." But you shouldn't have to wait any longer than this. PS3 loses.

So who wins? Is it the Wii or the 360? For most people it is a toss-up. I think I have decided which system I enjoy more, however. My pick is the 360.

Wha, wha, whaaaaaat??? Steven decided he likes the 360 more than the PS3?? Is it the end of the world? My reasoning? It all has to do with the games.

Let's consider the games I like that are currently out for each system, and the games which are coming out (PS3 included). We'll start with the Wii.

Wii
Wii Sports - Very fun for a time, but seems to get old rather quick for me.
Twilight Princess - Another great game, but one I could play on GameCube.
Super Mario Galaxy - Seems to be a good new addition (looks better than Sunshine) but just by watching the trailer, it doesn't feel right.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl - The crown jewel of games for the Wii. Probably the most anticipated game for me (more than FF and MGS).

PS3
There are no games currently out for this system that I think is worth the time... But there are games coming out:
Final Fantasy XIII - Looks awesome, but there has been talk that the series could move to the 360 as well. There is no official announcement about that, but it doesn't seem unlikely. Square-Enix has already begun making games for the 360.
Metal Gear Solid 4 - Probably the game I want the most for the PS3...

360
Gears of War - Cooperative mode kicks Halo's ass. Enough said.
Crackdown - Better than GTA, which I love.
Assassin's Creed - Looks amazing!

All in all, I just like the XBox games the best... I enjoy the Wii games, and I'm looking forward to the two PS3 games mentioned more than for any Xbox game, but there just isn't enough on either for me to feel like I want to purchase system, especially at $600.

I probably won't buy a 360 either (no money or time), but now I know which I would buy.

Political Incorrectness In Games

Ever notice when a game is politically incorrect. For example: Punch Out! on the NES. Just about every opponent you faced is given some racial name based on their nationality and is made fun of left and right (no pun intended). Yeah, that was pretty funny. But then, there are some games that just step a bit too far. This is the story of one of them.

In the early 1990's (1994, I believe), Sierra released a game that I LOVE call Detroit. Yes, it is another business sim like I oh-so-love. In this one you take the helm of a car company and do everything from developing new models to conducting research to building factories. Very awesome game if you can find it (very hard to come by). However, there is one thing in it that is just WRONG. In fact, it is so wrong that I personally get a kick out of it. However, if a Super Bowl commercial with a similar idea in it got bashed left and right for it by activist groups, than this is far far wronger. If your company goes bankrupt, you get a game over animation. Generally, it goes something like this. You see a businessman in his office (presumably, you the player) at his desk with a cup of water in his hand. He then goes over, looks out the window, and places the glass of water on the ledge. He then proceeds to open the window and jumps out of it. The scene fades with the blinds swaying in the wind due to the open window. ... ... Quite a graphic ending for a business sim...

I for some reason just remembered that one and figured others might get a sick laugh (or start a political uprising from interest groups that I can watch and laugh at). But still, people, put a little logic into what you put in games. That should have been more obvious than not putting Hot Coffee in GTA (and hell, they didn't leave it in the game unless you hack it).

Yet Another Worst Level

SWAT 3. Great Game. AI was cool. Realism was amazing. Most levels were ones that made you think.

Then there were the sewers.

One level some criminals took over a section of the LA sewers. You have to arrest them. Oh, and there may be a couple of innocent workers. And by the way, the sewers are a three floor maze. Oh, almost forgot, they have planted bombs the size of transistor radios. There are seven of them. And they go off in 30 minutes. And no, you don't get a map you can use in mission. Did I mention the posion gas that, when standing in, you can't fire your gun or use flashbangs since they set off the gas and you die? Good luck!

Hard Mode is Here!

Guild Wars has introduced Hard Mode. There's just way too much information for me to post it all in such a short amount of time, so I'll just copy/paste from their site. See below.

Hard Mode
Hard mode has been introduced for the Prophecies, Factions, and Nightfall campaigns. Players who have completed a campaign can now try playing it again in Hard mode for the ultimate challenge. By playing the game in Hard mode, players can find new treasures and earn new titles and rewards.

Now that players can choose their difficulty level, we've adjusted monster AI in Normal mode to present a more moderate challenge. The most advanced and difficult monster behaviors are now reserved for Hard mode. (Note: Certain elite missions may be extremely difficult to complete in Hard mode. We will examine these missions and make any necessary changes at a later date.)

Changes to Normal Mode

The following monster AI modifications have been made to Normal mode only. Monsters in Hard mode continue to use the most challenging AI available.

• Monsters in Normal mode now respond more slowly to AoE damage.
• Monsters in Normal mode are now less likely to kite for long periods of time.
• Melee monsters in Normal mode will once again focus all of their attacks on a single target.

Accessing Hard Mode

• To gain access to a campaign's Hard mode, you must win the final mission for that campaign in Normal mode.
• Once you win a campaign with any character on your account, every level 20 character on that same account will have access to Hard mode for that campaign.
• All Hard mode content is intended for level 20 characters. All monsters are at least level 20, and all henchmen who are below level 20 are automatically promoted to level 20 when taken into Hard mode.

Hard Mode Loot

• The average number of uncommon and rare items has been increased in Hard mode.
• While in Hard mode, the number of gemstones that players receive from chests after defeating each region of the Domain of Anguish has been doubled.
• Elite and non-elite Skill Tomes have been introduced into the game. You can acquire these new items by defeating creatures while in Hard mode.
  • There is a non-elite Skill Tome that corresponds with each of the ten professions. You may use a Skill Tome to learn any non-elite skill associated with that Tome's correlated profession if that skill is unlocked on your account. Non-elite Skill Tomes may be obtained from any normal creature in Hard mode.
  • There is an Elite Skill Tome that corresponds with each of the ten professions. You may use a Skill Tome to learn any elite skill associated with that Tome's correlated profession if that skill is unlocked on your account. Elite Skill Tomes may be obtained from any boss creature in Hard mode.

Hard Mode Rewards

• Players will receive the following gold, experience, and skill point rewards while in Hard mode:
  • Prophecies Mission Completion: 500 gold + 2,000 xp + 1 skill point.
  • Prophecies Bonus Completion: 500 gold + 2,000 xp + 1 skill point.
  • Factions and Nightfall Master’s Reward: 500 gold + 3,000 xp + 1 skill point.
  • Factions and Nightfall Expert’s Reward: 300 gold + 2,000 xp + 1 skill point.
  • Factions and Nightfall Standard Reward: 200 gold + 1,000 xp + 1 skill point.

Hard Mode Titles

Vanquisher Title

• A new Vanquisher title track has been added for Tyria, Cantha, and Elona. These titles will keep track of which explorable areas have been vanquished in a given campaign's Hard mode.
• A new Legendary Vanquisher title track has been added. This title keeps track of the number of campaigns a player has successfully vanquished.
• Once an explorable area has been vanquished in Hard mode, players will receive gold equal to three times the number of creatures defeated, and experience equal to five times the number of creatures defeated.
• Some explorable areas have regions that are blocked off to players until the associated mission has been completed. It is recommended that players complete the mission before trying to vanquish the explorable area of the same name.
• In Hard Mode, if all party members of a group are dead and at 60% Death Penalty, they will be returned to the outpost instead of being resurrected.

Guardian Title

• A Guardian title track has been added for Tyria, Cantha, and Elona. These titles are the Hard mode version of the existing mission completion titles.
• A Legendary Guardian title track has been added. This title keeps track of how many Protector and Guardian titles a player has accumulated throughout Tyria, Cantha, and Elona.

Lockpicks

• Your characters can now acquire lockpicks. These new, special items can be found in Hard mode and may also be purchased from any merchant (with the exception of those found in Pre-Searing Ascalon).
  • The chance to retain a lockpick upon opening a chest is determined by the following formula: (Character level / 2) + (3 * Treasure Hunter ranks) + (2 * Lucky ranks) (%).
  • In Normal mode, chests have built-in bonuses that make them easier to open than chests in Hard mode.
• Lockpicks may be used to open any locked chest in Normal mode, but they are a requirement for opening any chests in Hard mode.

Mission Adjustments

The mission completion times for the purposes of Standard, Expert's, and Master's rewards have been increased in the following Hard mode missions:

Grand Court of Sebelkeh

• Hard Mode Master's Reward: completed in under 12 minutes.
• Hard Mode Expert's Reward: completed in 12-16 minutes.
• Hard Mode Standard Reward: completed in over 16 minutes.

Ruins of Morah

• Hard Mode Master's Reward: completed in under 10 minutes.
• Hard Mode Expert's Reward: completed in 10-14 minutes.
• Hard Mode Standard Reward: completed in over 14 minutes.

Vizunah Square

• Hard Mode Master's Reward: completed in under 35 minutes.
• Hard Mode Expert's Reward: completed in 35-40 minutes.
• Hard Mode Standard Reward: completed in over 40 minutes.

Nahpui Quarter

• Hard Mode Master's Reward: completed in under 40 minutes.
• Hard Mode Expert's Reward: completed in 40-45 minutes.
• Hard Mode Standard Reward: completed in over 45 minutes.

Tahnnakai Temple

• Hard Mode Master's Reward: completed in under 30 minutes.
• Hard Mode Expert's Reward: completed in 30-35 minutes.
• Hard Mode Standard Reward: completed in over 35 minutes.

Sunjiang District

• Hard Mode Master's Reward: completed in under 25 minutes.
• Hard Mode Expert's Reward: completed in 25-30 minutes.
• Hard Mode Standard Reward: completed in over 30 minutes.

Raisu Palace

• Hard Mode Master's Reward: completed in under 26 minutes.
• Hard Mode Expert's Reward: completed in 26-28 minutes.
• Hard Mode Standard Reward: completed in over 28 minutes.

Imperial Sanctum

• Hard Mode Master's Reward: completed in under 3 minutes.
• Hard Mode Expert's Reward: completed in 3-6 minutes.
• Hard Mode Standard Reward: completed in over 6 minutes.

Alternate Elite Mission Access

• Bosses in Hard mode now drop Underworld and Fissure of Woe Passage Scrolls. These scrolls allow a party to enter these realms even if their territory does not have the favor of the gods.
• The Kurzick Bureaucrat [Faction Rewards] in House zu Heltzer now offers Passage Scrolls into Urgoz's Warren. Players may exchange 1,000 Kurzick faction to obtain one of these scrolls, which will transport one person to the outpost.
• The Luxon Scavenger [Faction Rewards] in Cavalon now offers Passage Scrolls into the Deep. Players may exchange 1,000 Luxon faction to obtain one of these scrolls, which will transport one person to the outpost.

Existing Title Changes

• The Skill Hunter title track has been divided into individual title tracks for each campaign.
• You can now obtain the title Legendary Skill Hunter. This title track can be earned by gaining the Skill Hunter title across all campaigns.
• You can now obtain the title Legendary Cartographer. This title can be earned by full exploring all of Tyria, Cantha, and Elona.
• The final rank of the Sunspear title track now requires 50,000 Sunspear promotion points.

Realm of Torment Rebalancing

• Decreased the number of Torment Demons that cluster together in the Domain of Secrets, the Domain of Pain, Nightfallen Jahai, and the Depths of Madness.
• Decreased the overall number of enemy groups in the Domain of Secrets, the Domain of Pain, Nightfallen Jahai, and the Depths of Madness.
• Adjusted the enemy patrol routes in the Domain of Secrets, the Domain of Pain, Nightfallen Jahai, and the Depths of Madness.
• Adjusted the size and makeup of the Torment groups in the Domain of Fear.
• Adjusted the monster spawns in the Depths of Madness. The changes include (but are not limited to) the movement of patrols, the size and makeup of groups, and the location of boss encounters.

Audio Updates

• Combat sounds have been improved.

UI Updates

• Added a Rename button to the Manage Templates panel so that players can rename their saved skills and equipment templates.
• Added a Template Code panel to simplify template sharing. This panel can be accessed by clicking the disc-shaped icon in the Skills and Attributes panel.

Miscellaneous

• The price of keys that previously cost 1,500 gold have been reduced to 1,250 gold.
• The first-person camera has been adjusted to allow players to more easily play in first-person mode. Scrolling with the mouse wheel still allows you to leave first-person mode, however, you must now scroll a little more than before.
• Loot now scales according to party size.
• Repeated map entry no longer reduces loot.
• Made preparations for the Double Sunspear Points and Double Lightbringer Points weekend event.
• Removed the Wintersday 2006 Championship Trophy.
• Added the Celestial Tournament 2007 Championship Trophy.
• The Xunlai Tournament House NPC has returned to the Great Temple of Balthazar, Lion’s Arch, Kaineng Center, and Kamadan to reward players with their Celestial Tournament prizes.

Bug fixes

• Fixed a bug that made it possible for Heroes on a flag to be pulled too far from their ordered positions.
• Fixed a bug that could cause a Hero to stop responding when players set their skill priorities.
• Improved target locking for pets.
• Fixed a bug that prevented various team and boss auras from displaying properly.
• Fixed a bug that caused Kournan peasants to appear as if they were glowing.

Galactic Civilizations II and What's Important in Video Games

Some companies just don't get it. Some of the big players just keep taking the same idea and putting new graphics and effects on them. We keep seeing the same games coming out of companies like EA. Other companies just get it. They realise gameplay is the key. The perfect example is Stardock, esspecially in Galactic Civilizations II.

First, I will say, they have used a pretty old concept: Civ. However, they put it in a creative enviornment (Space). The key to the entire game is the gameplay. Every improvement they make is centered around that. It has good graphics, none that will blow you away and sometimes there are tiny visual glitches, but they work. The music sets the mood but is nothing to write home about. But gameplay, that is top notch. They are currently working on their fifth patch (six if you count the expansion pack but that you had to buy) and each improved them game. They didn't just fix the game, they improved it. New options were added, setting tweaked etc. The amazing thing is how they did it; they asked (dun dun dun) gamers what they wanted to see added. Go figure, a gaming company asking its clients what THEY want. How common and low, I know.

Let me also say that Galactic Civilizations II is a great game to give a whirl. The AI plays a fun game that you can both work with and against (again, Stardock looks to players with the highest scores and asks them for strategy to make the AI better). The trade system is great, as everything has value to the computer. You must design your ships and the ship builder alone is a sort of game in itself. There are plenty of technologies to research and improvements to build. Further, they had no problem trying to put humor in the game with funny descriptions and strange events. If you ever had fun playing a game from the Civ series, you will love Galactic Civilizations II (and I highly recommend the expansion pack for some natural improvements that fight right in).

Guild Wars Hard Mode

I mentioned Hard Mode in a previous post, and I have done some digging about the subject. The most information in one place happens to be at GuildWiki. Check it out for yourself.

The basic overview of hard mode as we know it (there is no official word yet), is that each mission in the post-searing world can be played again on a harder difficulty. Monsters will be more difficult. Remember when you had to run from a bunch of monsters at the end of the Great Northern Wall mission? They were all about level 8. If you go back now, you can defeat them rather easily. Now imagine doing that mission again, and instead of a ton of level 8 Charr running after you, it is now a ton of level 24 Charr.

Apparently there will be new items that drop only in hard mode as well. This includes a new item called the lock pick, which reportedly can open any chest in the game.

There are a few titles that can only be gained by playing hard mode, including the new Guardian and Vanquisher titles. Also the max title for Sunspear and Lightbringer can finally be achieved.

For those of us still working on Normal Mode, some of the more difficult bosses and monsters will be toned down when Hard Mode is released.

There is no specified release for hard mode yet, though the updates later today lead me to believe that it will be soon. It has been stated that Hard Mode will be implemented as a game update, not as an expansion.

Major Guild Wars Updates

First, users now have an extra 20 slots in their storage account for every campaign that they own. Instead of 20 slots (which is what we had initially), players can have up to 80. Those of us with only the Prophecies campaign now have 40.

Second, a couple missions have been updated. Most specifically, the Divinity Coast mission, which involved finding the Chosen villagers, has been made a bit easier. "When approached, the chosen villagers will now appear on the player's Party bar." Also updated are D'Alessio Seaboard and Gyala Hatchery.

Third, Augury Rock is now a mission after you complete the three required missions before it. Apparently this is in preparation of the new Hard Mode Guild Wars has been planning. The first I heard of hard mode it was through one of those titles. Apparently they will be releasing it soon. I'll search for more information later.

Other stuff

• A new cool thing is that you can now command pets to attack, guard, and heel. Also, Hero and Henchman AI has improved.
• There is a new Automated Tournament system and preparation for the open beta test has begun.
• Lots of new changes to the UI. Check out the webpage itself for more information.
• Lots of skill changes.

See the official website and GuildWiki for more information.

Kingdom Hearts III

More PS3 goodness! Kingdom Hearst: Final Mix 2 was released in Japan for the PS2 about a week ago. This game is basically a remake of Kingdom Hearts 2 with new features, extra bosses, and most importantly a new secret trailer at the end. Check out this link at YouTube for that trailer. It is pretty cool looking (and that's on the PS2, imagine the PS3).

The reason I still say I like the Playstation 3 better than the Wii and the Xbox 360 is the games. PS3 didn't have a good line up of release games, but they've got the best games coming up. Just to name a few...

• Kingdom Hearts III
• Grand Theft Auto IV (see below post)
  
• Final Fantasy XIII (some of this is actual gameplay)
• Final Fantasy Versus XIII (trailer)
  
• Metal Gear Solid IV (TGS trailer, original trailer)
  

Also looking forward to Assassin's Creed, which comes out for both PS3 and XBox 360. See trailer and demo. Note: The demo is for the XBox 360.

One final note, my favorite part of the Wii (the Virtual Console) has just released another great game for the Nintendo 64. Star Fox 64!

GTA IV Trailer

I wasn't all that interested in picking up a new GTA game because I've outgrown/overplayed them, if you know what I mean. The new GTA is coming out for PS3, so I won't be able to get it anyway, but I do like to admire the way it looks. It looks sweet. See for yourself.

GTA IV Trailer

More Info on the Official GW Wiki

For those of you interested, I've browsed through some of the new Official Guild Wars Wiki and found out some more information about it. To read the full page with all the information, follow this link.

The biggest piece of information I've gathered is that GW has plans to implement its wiki into the game itself. They explain it better than I ever could.

A couple of years from now, we hope that all of our games have wiki support integrated into the game as a built-in help system. We think it would be fantastic if a player could select 'help' and then click on any quest, mission, skill, etc., and get complete documentation about that item in-game from the Guild Wars wiki site. This is a long term vision but something we should start working towards.

There are a few clear problems we need to solve today as a prerequisite to that vision. First, the game's wiki documentation needs to be hosted on a site that can scale to handle the potentially huge volume and huge bandwidth that would come with game integration. Second, the game's wiki documentation needs to be hosted on a site that we can guarantee will always be available. Third, the game's wiki documentation needs to be hosted under a license that permits integration with the game. For all these reasons, we think it makes sense for ArenaNet to start providing free hosting for a wiki site on our servers, and to start working with the community to bring this vision to reality.

Sounds like a great idea to me! It's also a new idea. I haven't heard of any other game working on something as awesome as this. One of the problems with help documents are that they aren't really that helpful. Most of the time I am unable to find what I'm looking for, especially in help documents for Microsoft products. If Microsoft were to follow ArenaNet's example and can manage to make it work out right, this could be huge... and helpful.

One of the biggest questions asked by GW fans is whether or not the site will be monitored closely by "GW police" or whether it will be more like GuildWiki. Here's the answer:

We're offering to provide free bandwidth and servers, but it is our hope that community members will run the wiki, just like community members run Guild Wars wikis today. We encourage those who administer and moderate Guild Wars wikis to contact us; we'll give you equivalent rights on our hosted servers.

Will ArenaNet own the content?

ArenaNet is not attempting to own user-contributed articles or have any special rights over them. ArenaNet is offering to host user-contributed content under the terms of the GNU Free Document License, which is the same license that Wikipedia uses. Contributors will own the copyrights to original content they write, and by uploading them to the ArenaNet-hosted wiki site, they will be making their articles available for other people to use under the terms of the Free Document License.

The GNU Free Document License (GFDL) is the same that StrategyWiki uses as well. It's a great license. Note that GuildWiki uses Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license, so it may be difficult to move things between the two.

Speaking of GuildWiki, another big question was the relationship between the official wiki and GuildWiki. According to the FAQ, Guild Wars has a lot of support from the creators of GuildWiki and has even been given quite a bit of hints and tips. It is likely that both wikis will be able to thrive alongside of each other, and even support each other.

There's more there, so check it out if you want any more information.

Guild Wars News

Lots of news coming out of Guild Wars this week! Here is a brief synopsis. Check the links for more information.

First: Guild Wars has launched its official wiki! The main page is laid out nicely, but as you can imagine there isn't much content up at this point. However, I imagine that this will change rather quickly, given how popular the unofficial GuildWiki is. I haven't seen a discussion on GuildWiki about the new official wiki yet.

Second: Guild Wars has announced an expansion pack to the game. It will be called Guild Wars: Eye of the North and apparently requires one of the previous Guild Wars installations to be played. It is set to be released during the 2007 holiday season. See GuildWiki's page for more information.

Third: Guild Wars has announced a new game, Guild Wars 2. This new game will be similar to Guild Wars in that it is located in the same world. However, new gameplay will be introduced, including five different playable races including humans, Charr, and three new races (Norn, Asura, and Sylvari). There will be no monthly fee to play the game. Check out GuildWiki's page for more information.

Read the press release for the official announcement.

Gamespot Review: Command & Conquer 3

9.0 out of 10

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/commandconquer3/review.html?tag=nl.e579

Greatest Moments in Final Fantasy

This post is going to outline what I think are the three greatest moments in Final Fantasy. I won't put them in any specific order, since they were all amazing moments.

************SPOILER WARNING***************

This section may include major spoilers for people who have not played the game before. If you do not wish to know, do not read this section.

Game: Final Fantasy IV
Section: The Opera Scene
Reason: It was really amazing. It had perfect music. For the technology, they did a lot with it. It was very moving and just really well done.

Game: Final Fantasy VII
Section: Death of Aeris
Reason: Very very moving and well done. Plus, they killed off a main character mid game, something not many are willing to do. Plus, we were attached to her (though admittedly I liked Tifa far far far more).

Game: Final Fantasy VIII
Section: The Dance
Reason: Perfect Music. Perfect story foreshadowing. Probably the best FMV scene ever. Just Freakin Awesome.

Worst...Level...Ever...

In response to Kris' best levels post, I am forced to haul out the worst level I've ever seen in a video game. It's in Bubble Bobble (the NES version), which you may remember I praised for level A6 (a completely freefall level). However, even though I love Bubble Bobble, I can never forgive the developers for level 57:


The baddies at the top are "Super Sockets". They shoot beams down at you. To beat the level, you must either pray for a "kill all the enemies bonus" or bounce on your own bubbles all the way to the top (without being hit by a beam, which is an exercise in luck most of the time), and then kill the baddies before they run into you. Oh, and the bubbles float downward in this level, so you get one chance to jump on it before you start falling all the way back down the wall.

I challenge anyone to come up with a worse level.

Props to Sydlexia.com for the picture. Check out their Top 100 NES games entry for Bubble Bobble.

Gamer Image - Steven

Apparently Shigeru Miyamoto is "concerned about gamer image." See this link for the article. The reason I mention this article is because of the following paragraph.

He also spoke of the 'gamer image' - mentioning that in 1998 the top selling games were Goldeneye 007, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Gran Turismo, Banjo Kazooie and Mario 64. Fast-forward to 2005 and we see the top games were predominantly similar to each other or sequels. Grand Theft Auto:San Andreas, Madden NFL 2005, Halo 2 in two varieties and ESPN NFL 2K5.

While I understand what Miyamoto is saying, I don't think that problem is too serious. He may be right that there are less and less original games, it isn't necessarily a bad thing. For example, the reason Ocarina of Time and Mario 64 were so popular is because they were such great games. Even those were based off of other games. And there were more games after them. Some were flops (Super Mario Sunshine) and others were not (Wind Waker and Twilight Princess). If a game does well then new versions of that game are most welcome, especially if they add a little something new to it.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas may be like GTA 3 and GTA: VC but it adds new gameplay. This goes for Halo 2 and Madden NFL 2005 as well, just like many other games out there. Games that don't add anything new at all don't tend to do well. In other words, we should begin to worry when games can't come up with anything new.

There of course are some really great games out there that are very new and innovative. Take Shadow of the Collosus for example. Never before had a game come up with such a neat idea. You have to climb massive colossi, which move and attempt to shake you off. Not only was it original, it was fun. The Wii adds for a whole new level of possibility with games. I personally can't wait for a flight simulator that utilizes the Wiimote effectively.

What are your thoughts?

Best Video Game Levels

Ok, so as a quzi followup to my best SNES games, I add a new discussion. What are the greatest video game levels of all time?

I will list some in no particular order:

Casino Night from Sonic 2
1-1 and 1-3 from Super Mario Brothers 3
Lavos battles at end of Chrono Trigger
First Dungeon in Legend of Zelda-the original (Steve)
Mine Carts from Donkey Kong Country (Specific name I do not remember)
D-Day from Allied Assault
Facing Worlds from Unreal Tournament (Derek)
The Hunter's Map from StarCraft (Steve)
Castle 4 of Super Mario Brothers (Derek)
A6 of Bubble Bobble (Derek)
The Overlord final battle from StarCraft (Derek)
Altered Beast first level (Steve)
Last race in the Mushroom Cup of Super Mario Kart (Derek)
Colossus 1 in Shadow of the Colossus (Steve)

Add more that you can think of!

What are Fanboys?

Via Button Mashing, I found this link about fanboys. Definitely check out the link. It is pretty darn funny to read.

I am fortunate enough not to know any true fanboys, though I do see traces of it in a few people I know. I have in the past sounded slightly fanboyish, especially in relation to the release of the Wii and the PS3. I am, at least, smart enough and un-fanboyish enough (hurray for making up words) to know when this happens. I am proud to say I've never called myself hardcore.

I'd like to see others' thoughts on this idea. Who is the worst? Nintendo fanboys or Playstation? My vote goes Nintendo, I've never seen more childish discussions than on GameFAQs polls when a Nintendo character goes up against a strong Playstation contender. It gets to the point where even the Nintendo fanboys argue with themselves over the same thing! I've never seen that with PS...

Super Mario 64 Endgame

After having beaten Super Mario 64 with all 120 stars and the maximum number of coins on most levels, what is there left to do? For most games, you'd say nothing. But for SM64, there's a lot left to do.

For most games, glitches are problematic and annoying. But with SM64, they are actually quite the opposite. Having played through the game multiple times and never encountering a serious glitch once, the game retains its fun, not annoying gameplay. But when you have mastered the game, the glitches (which are somewhat hard to find) become a sort of mini-game by themselves.

I find that I now want to seek out these glitches and exploit them. In my mind, I cannot be a true master of SM64 until I am able to do some of the more difficult glitches and tricks throughout the game. For example, I just recently made it to the top of the castle without using the cannon. It is difficult and took me a good amount of time to complete it, but I did it. I also just recently, managed to complete Princess's Secret Slide in 14.0 seconds exactly, another feat that is quite difficult (the record is 12.4).

There is a lot left for me to accomplish, such as the MIPS trick (using the rabbit to finagle your way through a couple doors) and the "backwards long jump up the infinites stairs" trick. It is possible to complete the entire game with only 16 stars (this was done in under 20 minutes). You can also get an infinite number of coins in a few different levels, after a very tedious, lengthy, and difficult process.

So if you have completed Super Mario 64 with 120 stars, make an attempt at getting every coin in each level. Then when you've done that, try getting on top of the castle and beat you record for the races. Try to utilize the various shortcuts in the game. Then start exploiting glitches. There is a great deal of fun to have, even after completing the bulk of the game.

First Thoughts: Command & Conquer 3 Demo

EA seems to have put together a solid sequel to its Tiberium series. I played the demo yesterday, and I thought it was pretty good. The demo was helpful, if a little slow and incomplete. I would have liked to see more units and structures featured in the demo, to get a feel for the different abilities. The prologue mission was pretty good. The demo mission available was really nice, with plenty of Nod and GDI units available. Skirmish was decent, although I've only played it on Easy so far.

Overall, the demo was pretty good. I'm looking forward to the full game, so I would guess the demo did its work.

Sound: Pretty good, but some of the unit sounds are confusing. For example, it seems that when Orcas (aircraft) are ordered to move, the sound is "Return to base!", which makes me think that the aircraft is actually going to rearm and repair, when instead it may just be moving to another area and remaining there.

Graphics: Very nice. The animations are clean and attractive. It has the "futuristic" feel that you would expect. I wish I had more opportunities to use the Ion Cannon, because I really liked the view.

Units: Only GDI units are usable in the demo, but from what I've seen, I like them. Riflemen, however, seem a bit underpowered. I'm still having a little trouble keeping track of the different vehicles and their strengths and weaknesses, also. Mammoth tanks with the railgun upgrade make Derek very happy.

Defense structures: After playing Generals, where sides have only 2 structures (and can generally get by with only 1), three different defense structures are a little difficult to work with.

Interface: Very C&C. The building bar is very reminiscent of any C&C game, except Generals. The actual interface seems to take too much space on the screen, with the main map visibility being severely reduced. If there was one thing I'd change about the demo, it would be making the interface smaller, so I can see more of the battlefield.

Overall, a great demo. I would recommend any fan of RTS to try it out. Nothing terribly innovative in the game, it's just a good RTS installment.

Great SNES Games

There were a ton of games for the old SNES. I saw *some guy* with a DVD of ROMS for the SNES. There were tons and tons of them. The issue is, how many of those games are even worth playing now (even worse, how many were worth playing then). I propose a list of ones actually worth having and playing TODAY so you don't need to waste a DVD :-).

Chrono Trigger (Greatest game on SNES)
Final Fantasy (All of them)
Super Mario Brothers
Super Mario All-Stars
Super Mario RPG
Aerobiz and Aerobiz Supersonic (just trust me on that one, it is ADDICTIVE)
Donkey Kong Country (I, II, and III, they all had good points, but I was the best)
Mario Kart
Zelda
Secret of Mana
Radical Dreamers (need translation, well worth playing for stories)
EarthBound (mentioned for Steve)
Super Metroid (I dunno, I hated it but so many others would disagree so I'll add it)

Add any I'm missing, but that is a pretty short list and probably not missing many. Still, those games make it worth it all :-)

Announcement: GameSpot look at Empire Earth III

Check out the announcements at GameSpot.

Possible First Thoughts post later on it.