MW2 Stimulus Package Trailer

Cue LA13 talking price point.

New Madden 11 Blog Promises Fixes that were Promised in Madden 10

Here is the latest from Ian Cummings, creative director of Madden 11.  More promises of fixes, this time with receivers!  Stop me if you heard this before.

In fairness there are some new details that they talk about in regards to the receivers in Madden 11.  However the tone, that we are finally fixing receivers, that was promised last year as well..

Halo:Reach Looking Better Every Day

Here are some details on Matchmaking and MP tweaks.  ShackNews got a coup on this one.  I expect the Bungie weekly update to give more details.

My favorite bit of news is the new queuing system that will make it easier to join friends who are already playing.  There are some other good nuggets in there such as a more streamlined presentation of friends in-game, which will allow you to not have to use the dashboard as much and an improved voting system.

Courtesy of ShackNews.com

For those that feel the need to compare yourself to other people online ( compensating for something?) there is the new Arena and monthly leader board rankings.  There are also some new items that show an interest in being sure that everyone gets matched with appropriate gamers.

Courtesy of Shacknews.com

If they could confirm there is no map that is similar to Valhalla in the game I will be in nirvana.

I’ll Take Folding Like a Cheap Suit for About 38 Bucks, Alex.

So Gamestop.com has a Buy 1 get 1 Used Game Sale.  And while I was on the “not going to buy a game this year except Halo: Reach train” ten minutes ago, well, that was ten minutes ago and I got two games that I have had my eye on for a while.

Yes, I gave in, and even paid for shipping though I had a code for free “saver” shipping.  I feel very Ace Venture, post Einhorn kiss right about now.  I know that once I have the two games NHL 2K10 and Burnout Paradise in hand, I will feel better about the whole thing.

The key will be not allowing this slope to become slippery.  It was just 12 minutes ago I was planning on making my way through long forgotten games in my catalog.  Now I am planning on a new game ( at least to me, it is a used sale) gorging during spring break next week.

The mantra begins again.  No new game purchases except Halo: Reach…but that Left 4 Dead 2 expansion is coming soon….

Gears of War 3 Drop Date Set?

The word is that Spring 2011 is the time for Dom and Marcus to return.  The 2nd game dropped of the radar of most gamers rather quickly.  Don’t believe me, look at Major Nelson’s Top Ten Twenty each week.  It is usually in the middle of the pack.  That is terribly unimpressive for a AAA exclusive.  Sure the adversarial is hopelessly broken in the game, but I would think it is worth a  spin once a week for Horde Mode alone.

What impresses me the most is that there seems to be a marketing plan besides, ” Throw it all in Holiday”.     I am not in for Natal, but I look forward to both shooters that bookend their master plan.  Hey M$ don’t be sad,when I am buying as little as I am, ” Two out of three ain’t bad”.

Activision Draws a Line in the Sand.

Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Package Map will cost 1200 MS points or 15 dollars of real money.   Activision evidently has not made enough off of the game, so they are seeking to bump the revenue by increasing the price point of a 5 map DLC map pack.  Two of these are retread from CoD 4.

The traditional ( can it be such a thing so early in the game of DLC) price point for map packs has been 800 MS points or 10 dollars.  There have been exceptions like Gears of War 2′s Dark Corners DLC, but that had a deleted scene and other rationale building features. ( Like an intro from D-Bag Blezinski).

Per map I have paid what the Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Package Map is charging, 3 bucks a map( see all the Halo 3 Map packs). There is something gluttonous about the “top grossing entertainment property of all time” feeling the need to raise the stakes and go all in on raising the bar.  Did they have to use ” stimulus package” in the naming?  While I am sure it was meant to be tongue in cheek, it comes off as arrogant and snarky, and I know the latter for sure.

In the end I suppose it was inevitable.  The new standard for XBL Arcade games has been set to 1200 MS points.  1200 is the new 800, at least that is what I am sure M$ and all the developers want you to believe.  The line has been drawn in the sand.  And I am sure that even if you don’t cross this one that there will be one in the near future that will entice you across. We all have our sweet spots just as sure as we enjoy looking down on others for theirs.

In the end this is much ado about nothing.  What did you say when the price point went from 50 dollars last generation to 60 dollars in this one?  Yeah, that is what I thought.  Get your points ready MW2heads.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 Thoughts – In Medias Res

Just to get it out front I have lower expectations on the game.  I picked it up five months after launch.  I paid 19.99 on an Amazon.com deal.  So from the get go I may be more forgiving on the game than those of you who plunked down the full 60 bucks on it.  I can see some of the negative points on the game.  What it boils down to for me is the game is a ton of fun.

I am a Marvel geek.  I have my kids hooked on Super Hero Squad.  I buy my son Spiderman t-shirts any time I see them on sale.  This one hits me in the right spots.  Some of the things that I love about the game:

• I love the mission direction.  Click the right stick and you will know where you need to go.  I found the first MUA clunky as there were times I had no idea where I had to go next.  Feel free to comment how I suck, that this was an issue for me in the first game.
• The “boss battle” intros are great.  It is a small thing, but I think it adds a lot to the game.  They zoom in on the character and have a title ( for no comic or DC fans) of who he or she is.
• The fusions are a lot of fun to play with.  I like how you can build your team to have one of each kind ( clearing, guided and targeted).  I have read other reviews where they say there is very little difference.  They are wrong.  Clearing and guided are huge for when there are swarms of enemies.  Targeted are huge for power boss battles like Wonderman.
• I am almost through the game, I think, and I cannot wait to run through it again.  I have played this one through with Daredevil.  I look forward to trying another character in co-op.
• I have not, and will not play with Iron Fist.  As mentioned in a prior post when he was announced; Danny Rand died on cancer.  I just feel there are some ways of dying that should not get ” The comic book treatment”.  Cancer is one of them.  My boycott does nothing but make me feel better.

The game retails for 29.99.  I would say it is well worth it if you are a dungeon crawler or Marvel comics fan.

New Faith in Achievements; Skywalker or Christmas?

I had reached the point where I felt achievements were ruining gaming on the 360.  People are/were playing games that they publicly admitted they hated.  Who does this help?  The publishers are/were getting a nice bump from these virtual points.  They are were getting revenue from games that would’ve dried on the vine without the nice 1000 GS.

People are/were wasting time and money on something they hate, all for the sake of points that mean nothing. It just makes no sense to me.  It angers me a bit because it shows the dark side of geekdom (one that is prevalent inside me, hence the loathing, self), that we obsess over things that don’t really matter.   If you hate a game it is okay not to finish it.

I love Jack Nicholson.  The only film that I have ever walked out of in a movie theater was “Man Trouble” starring Uncle Jack.  It was awful.  I have sat through some crap in my day, but it was too much for me.  The point?  It is okay to not finish things that in the end do not matter.

The other infection that I loathe with achievements is the way they affect the way people’s online gaming.  I have played games where people have passed by my downed and wounded body all in the name of getting another step closer to gaining progress towards a MP achievement.  I know this because they proudly declared such as they passed by my soon to be corpse on their way to pointless number glory.  The lack of MP achievements is one thing that I feel IW and the Modern Warfare brand has nailed.

In the interest of full disclosure I must admit that I made a joke similar to the story above while playing GRAW 2.  It drew a sharp rebuke from my brother, rightfully so.  It was a lame joke involving my lack of interest in healing him as I had the “Heal 10 teammates” achievement. My delay in attempting to heal him cost him his virtual life.  A sniper ended his virtual life. Even discussing MP achievements can have an adverse affect on game play.

Then something happened along the way to achievement bitterness.  Cyprus Church provided me with a “Lloyd Christmas moment” or  Luke Skywalker moment in introducing me to “Trueachievements.com.  “Achievements, can serve a purpose, or there is still good in them, I can feel it. Both work for me on a film reference level, however they both have very different outcomes to their trust.

At face value Trueachievements.com ( a site that tracks and places a ratio weight on your achievements) would seem to embrace much of what I abhor about achievements.  That is certainly true, “from a certain point of view” ( Obi Wan logic FTW).  What I do like is that it puts the points in some sort of context.  Beating Gears of War 2 on Insane holds more weight than getting 1000 in Avatar ( no, not the blue 3-D one).

In getting involved in that site, albeit in a minor way, I have come to look at some games that I discarded long ago.  Not all the games have earned a reprieve, but it has been good for me to look at some that I did not give enough time to.

Forza Motorsports 2 and All Pro Football 2K8(APF) have been two of the games that the site provided a gateway for me to look at again with fresh eyes.

Forza was an extra game in the Marvel Ultimate Alliance/Forza 2 pack from a few holidays ago.  I have never been much of a racer fan.  That may be due to the fact that I like to hit the accelerator and make crazy turns.  Forza does not suffer such hijinks.  I was frustrated by that the first time around.  The second time I found the beauty of the game.  It is a decent distraction from my NHL 10 woes.

I am loving the different take on football game play that APF provides.  It has its issues.  Then again so does the Madden series.  I never would’ve given the game a  second thought had I not gone looking to work on my completion percentage.  I went for some points, I came out with a solid football game that is now entrenched in my gaming rotation.

This new relationship with achievement is tenuous at best.  I have seen too many people fall victim to the lures of useless points.  At the moment I feel vindicated by my faith in achievements, that there is still good in them.  I fear that at any point I can have the rug pulled out from me. I will be standing on the street like Lloyd Christmas trying to figure how my new found faith in old people could be so misplaced.

I am Bill Bixby

I am the lonely man, heart still broken.  And while I know my heart will go on, for Celine has told me so, I can’t help but miss my NHL 10 every day.

I lost the game about three weeks ago to a crack in the ring of the disc.  It played for a while, but I knew it was only a matter of time.  My beloved game was not going to make it.

Since then I have been wandering around the Xbox Live landscape trying to find something to fill the void.  Puzzle Quest, Madden, Gears of War 2, and NHL Arcade tried, but it was too large a void for them to even come close.  That Celine Dion is full of $hit.  My heart will go on, my @ss.

During the Olympics I went through a massive withdrawal.  Watching the awesome display of hockey by organic players made me yearn for some time on the virtual ice with some pixelized players.

I know what you might be thinking.  If you love the game so much, just get another?  Well, I can’t do that.  I won’t do that.  Sixty dollars is enough to pay for a game.  I am not going to double down.

I briefly considered NHL 2K10.  It would certainly scratch that itch.  I called my local Gamestop.    They were out of NHL 2K10, but full of the knowledge and wisdom that must certainly be a prerequisite to working at Gamestop.

Halo:Reach Beta Video

Incredible..The beta may be worth an ODST pickup for those who do not have it.