Dare to Play the Game

Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. Well, barely but I made it to Master Sergeant in Rainbow Six Vegas. I seriously doubt I will be a First Sergeant this week, maybe next. I’m probably going to concentrate on getting a few achievements now rather than worry abo…t rank. I naturally still want to make it to the first officer class but not focused on it. Still playing some Rumble Roses as well and trying to get closer to finishing the Old Spice Challenge; but I’m still over 1000 points short with a little over a month to go. I might have to rent King Kong (super easy achievements) or something.

It’s a little cold outside; but it will start warming up Morgan. The little blue hedgehog said so. Of course he said this as he was running 100 mph past me; muttering something about Rings and complaining about a bunion the size of Arkansas. But don’t worry Morgan, if you just huddle close, I’m sure I will be able to keep you warm (cause I’m cool like that).

Capcom has released a plethora of updates to Lost Planet’s onlinemultiplayer. The update, originally expected around March 9, came aweek early. The fixes should eliminate some of the recurring bugsplayers have been experiencing since Lost Planet’s release in January.

Reload time no longer shortened by initiating a taunt (a popular exploit)Theupdate must be downloaded before gamers can play Lost Planetmultiplayer. Five new maps for Lost Planet have not yet been released,but are expected soon.

Some of those would be useful in Rainbow Six. Lag is often a problem now, I’m guessing stemming from the servers getting overloaded. Maybe this will be alleviated some with people switching to Ghost Recon 2. Lost Planet has a lot of nice ideas, but is really going to get lost in the shuffle with the new pack coming for Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon 2’s entry into the mix. It is nice to see that they are trying a good deal to keep it fresh and new but they are going to struggle to keep interest among the big boys.

Mo Memory on the Memory Unit

Microsoft on Monday announced plans to offer a 512-megabyte memory unit for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system. It also plans to increase the official size limit of Xbox Live Arcade games from 50MB to 150MB. Microsoft plans to sell the 512MB Memory Unit, available worldwide beginning April 3, for $49.99 in North America.

The unit will come preloaded with the Xbox Live Arcade game “Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved,” from developer Bizarre Creations, for a limited time, Microsoft said. The original 64MB Memory Unit will simultaneously drop in price from $39.99 to $29.99.

Good, good. Now if they would just make a 120-200gb hard drive instead of the 20gb mini we are forced to deal with day in and day out. To be honest, on my 360, I am using about 1-1.5 gigs of space (not counting the 6.5 gb that Microsoft reserves for game updates, backwards compatibility, etc). But I have no demos, and no video content. (most of my space used stems from Live Arcade). I really need to back up my stuff; a just in case measure if you will. The 64mb version was really worthless, but this one will get some heavy consideration from me. The only head scratcher is including Geometry Wars; a game which most people have who own mess with Live Arcade at all. (it’s included in Unplugged Volume 1 and I think is an extra in another game as well). Include one of the Hardwood games (not Backgammon) or perhaps something like Jewel Quest. Just make it something that not everybody has :).

As reported, I had picked up Time Pilot via a download card. Well after miserably playing through Frogger which was the other one I picked up (hard, hard game), I decided to give it a whirl. It’s an old arcade game, made originally in 1982 by Konami. It’s best described as a mix of 1942 and Geometry Wars. Translation: lots of shooting fun. The premise of the game is that you are piloting a plane and going through various time periods shooting down various aircraft. As you progress thru time the planes become faster and their missiles start homing in on your location. In order for the boss to appear on each level you have to shoot down a certain number of aircraft (the progress is shown at the bottom right of the screen). The trick to this whole game however lies in the fact that you shoot and move 360 degrees. Depending on which way you go, the game will meet you in providing aircraft. The game has the traditional Live, 12 achievements; 200 points. The achievements are middle of the road, leaning towards the left. I got roughly half of them in the first couple of days; however the remaining ones take a little more skill. Have fun with it; it’s an easy blind buy at 400 MS Points.

We visit a forgotten classic this week; Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. This game was of the rare distinction of a movie adaptation game that didn¡¦t suck. It featured Indy going from level to level saving children, riding minecars and whipping bad guys including a final confrontation with Mola Ram. It was one of the first games who use actual voice clips (with the voice of Harrison Ford and Amrish Puri (Ram)). The whip you used was quite versatile and provided the right umph to the situation by stunning bad guys and breaking locks on the cages of children. If the fourth Indiana Jones movie ever materializes, it would be nice to see this arcade game included on one of the releases as an extra. (of course it might end up overshadowing the actual game released :)).

PS2

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
Burnout: Dominator
Carol Vorderman’s Sudoku
Medal of Honor Collection

PSP

Burnout: Dominator
Carol Vorderman’s Sudoku
Pimp My Ride

PS3

Def Jam Icon
Motorstorm
NBA Street Homecourt

Xbox 360

Def Jam Icon
Ghost Recon Advanced War Fighter 2

DS

Wario: Master of Disguise
Rayman: Raving Rabbids
Shrek: Smash and Crash

A solid release week, the only exclusion seems to be the Wii. Two big mentions to Def Jam Icon and Ghost Recon 2. Sure to sell a whole slew of copies. I’m personally interested in Def Jam Icon but might wait until it gets a little cheaper. I loved and beat the first one, but then to be honest the second while very good; I got bored half way through. (mainly cause you had to keep switching fashions at the drop of the hat to maintain a certain skill). I will be picking up today; Vice City Stories out for the PS2. I had a good time with Liberty City Stories when it got ported over and can only imagine I will have a similar experience. Outside of that; Burnout makes another PS2/PSP run with the 360 & PS3 versions I believe waiting in the wings. Enjoy.

As mentioned, I will be buying Vice City Stories; will also be picking up Ghost Recon 2. However that title is for a friend’s birthday. Me and a little group of my gaming friends will be having a crawfish boil in about 2 weeks. We are going to do the system link thing and play until we croak I suppose. It’s weird, I’m 31 now and I grew up a single child. To be honest, that’s why I lead a very solitary lifestyle I guess. So the above scenario is frankly something I have never done. Should be cool; but I¡¦m just a marvel at how much I never have experienced (don’t expect to jump off any building with just a parachute anytime soon though). Have fun kiddoes.

As Always,
Kedrix of Aldrianian
(*The Forgotten One*)