you know card games are a shaky business, its so easy to fail making a new card game. you can have a lack of organized play, bad marketing, hell you can have a bad game period. even just trying to create a player base when other games dominate the market is difficult. that being said, probably my second favorite card game out there is being put on hiatus.
the World of Warcraft TCG, which you may have read me praising for its wealth of gameplay types, great player inscentives, price, and all around good game design is being put on hold for quite literally the dumbest reason ever.
bad press.
seriously out of everything that couldve pulled the game it had to be that?!
now i dont claim to know the whole story but let me explain. I first saw this post on WoW.com (not to be confused with the official site worldofwarcraft.com)
http://www.wow.com/2010/02/17/upper-deck-comments-on-loss-of-wow-tcg-license/
my first reaction whats "AWHHHHAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTT?"
thats right complete with sideways head turning.
why the hell would Upper Deck do anything like counterfeiting? apparently, at one point they held a liscence for Yu-Gi-Oh, to what extent i don't know but in some capicity. after this liscence was lost, they continued printing cards allegedly and Konami sued them.
well after following the chain of articles the picture began to clear up a bit
http://www.wow.com/2010/02/12/blizzard-wow-tcg-will-come-back-better-than-ever?icid=sphere_blogsmith_inpage_wowinsider
http://www.wow.com/2010/02/12/upper-deck-and-wow-tcg-parting-ways?icid=sphere_blogsmith_inpage_wowinsider
and the even older post (over 92 days old -- thats 3 months!)
http://www.wow.com/2009/11/15/rumors-of-wow-tcgs-demise-greatly-exaggerated?icid=sphere_blogsmith_inpage_wowinsider
after all of this its hard to see how this wasn't comming, but all in all it basically points to several factors, and despite which are true and which aren't, it seems like the WoW TCG was destined to get away from UDE no matter what.
curious about all this i went to the Upper Deck site for the WoW TCG, no mention there of losing the liscence (big surprise), but on the Upper deck main page i did find these:
http://www.upperdeck-international.com/tabid/56/language/en-US/Default.aspx?AnnouncementID=20
http://entertainment.upperdeck.com/ude/en/articles.aspx?aid=7453
I didnt bother checking Konami's site, this confirmed for me all i needed to know. UDE was sued for violating liscencing agreements. is it so hard to believe they might lose contracts because of the negative publicity?
not really.
is it hard to believe they would play the bad ecnomy card to try and save face in light of negative allegations to their comany?
not really.
its also no secret that Blizzard and UDE worked very closely on the WoW TCG, to what extent was the work done who knows, but if it is true that Blizzard has had a majority in the planning and development, maybe they say this as an easy way to bring things in house or to another company of their choice.
at this point anything is possible, but to anyone out there who loved this TCG as much as me, make sure you use any UDE points you have left over, and any unredeemed loot cards. cause theres no telling what will happen to them after march.
im not sure what to make of the crafting redemption issue, i myself was planning on redeeming some just recently, but i guess i have nothing to really lose by sending them in. hopefully theyll be able to honor everything they recieve before a certain date.
there will also probably be a snatch and grab for cards before march, but i think that waiting for sales from either UDE, just before they lose thier liscence or from the distributors they sell what they can of thier stock to before hand. i do expect some good deals for packs and boxes online.
but most of all im keeping my fingers crossed that the game does come back, or that the format of the game doesnt change. Id hate for all my old cards to be useless if they bring the game to a new company and they change it up.
heres to hoping.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
James T. Shepard!
and of course as awesome as DA:O is, you know i still had to put it down in favor of (surprise) Bioware's sequal to the awesome game Mass Effect.
cause nothing beats galavanting about the galaxy and screwing alien chicks!
...oh and saving the known galaxy from anihilation
hands down the best thing about the game is you can import your character from the first game.
some people (including me) had trouble importing characters at first but replaying the game from your last save on the first game really quick will fix that (last save is usually an auto save just before fighting Saren's "final form" so its only like 5 mins). but importing your character is so awesome, starting a new character is really kind of a shame. it imports your class and appearance both of which you can alter if you choose too, but most importantly it imports a certain ammount of your characters gained renegade or paragon attributes, and all of your previous games sidequests and backstory info. remember Conrad Verner? oh yeah hes back with a side quest. Reporter on the citadel? prepare to be harrased by her again. Remember the colonists from Feros? you get a side quest after checking up on them! not to mention your character relationships from past games play a role still with extra scenes or unique dialogue lines when you run into those characters again.
the gameplay itself however is alot different from the first. the RPG elements have been scaled down but as much as it sounds like a bad thing its really not. the shooting and action are much more fluid in this game, creating more of a sense of urgency since you dont have to go to the wheel menu ever 5 seconds for a biotic, tech, or weapon power. and while there still are abilities to use, 3 can be mapped to hotkeys for instant use, and some have even been combined (for intance instead of having pistol marksman, carnage, overkill, and assassination, soldiers in mass effect 2 have adrenaline rush, which works for all weapons)
your weapons no longer have to be leveled up individually either, leveling one job specific trait will increase the damage for all the weapons that character can use as well as other things like your renegade and paragon gain rate, health, or biotic and tech powers. this allows for less time contemplating where exactly to put each point but still lets you choose which skills to focus on and which to ignore.
also your weapons are static, no longer can you use an untrained weapon at the cost of your aim and accuracy, you are forced to only have the weapons your character can use period. thankfully each job can have at least 3 weapons including the new heavy weapons, and in some cases the new SMG gun class.
and as much as i loved the Mako im a bit glad to see it go. being the kind of guy i am i tended to explore each and every inch of a planet surface just in case something of real value was laying around. most times there wasnt. but not you drop straight into missions on planets that have them via the new dropship, and for resources (which actually serve a purpose in this game!) can be scanned from orbit and have probes sent to collect them for you, taking less than half the time of a mako tour.
the missions and quests even feel different, the missions are more plentiful, but less long. and considering how i talked about mission length for DA:O im rather pleased about that. you have both a recruitment and a loyalty quest for each character, totalling 18 character related quests, with more side quests availible during missions or from other characters on the normandy, quests are still found while randomly scanning planets, and on occasion from Admiral Hacket or the Illusive Man.
and completely new are renegade and paragon actions... at certain times during normal diologue sequences you will be given the ability to press either the right or left triggers for an awesome actions-speak-louder-than-words moment that changes the course of the conversation. for instance growing tired of listening to a low level eclipse boss give me attitude as to why he wont give me the info i want i literally kicked him through the window of a 50 story building. now he'll have time to think about why he shoulda cooperated with me on the way down! LOL
also new this time around is the Normandy itself, there are now 5 decks, your captain's quarters, the command information center (CIC), crew's quarters, the engineering deck, and the cargo bay. and THANKFULLY its not a 10 minute elevator ride between them. there is however a loading screen but it can go as quickly as 15 seconds if you load the game to and play it from your hard drive.
and the final mission is so totally epic its almost perfect, depending on all the missions you ran pior, your upgrades, and who of your team is loyal to you the mission can go tons of different ways. youre even given choices on who to let handle certain situations. with your choices determing not only the success of the mission, but whether or not your characters live or die.
and theres more love insterests to choose from too. i wonder what Tali looks like under the suit...
*ahem*
and of course the game as lovely as it is cannot escape my criticism :(
one thing i miss is the Mako (wait didnt i just say i liked it being gone? wait for it....) missions (oh!). driving around on certain planets was actually pretty cool, Noveria especially and nothing beats the feeling of driving around in a tank with a kinetic shield. there are obviously no longer any driving missions in this game and i kinda wish there was. now thankfully the rumor mill suggests there will be one coming in a DLC featuring an upgraded Mako but i'll have to cross my fingers and see
and aside from the cliffhanger ending my really only other gripe is the lack of time with Legion. i wont go into details cause itll spoil it for ya, but you get him at the end of the game and you dont really have much time to try him out before the end.
also theres no worthwhile lesbian love intrest! WHHHYYYYYYY? well you can bang Kelly Chambers as a female Shepard but she wont net you the paramour achivement. BLAST!
this game gets a bangin' Tali/10
cause nothing beats galavanting about the galaxy and screwing alien chicks!
...oh and saving the known galaxy from anihilation
hands down the best thing about the game is you can import your character from the first game.
some people (including me) had trouble importing characters at first but replaying the game from your last save on the first game really quick will fix that (last save is usually an auto save just before fighting Saren's "final form" so its only like 5 mins). but importing your character is so awesome, starting a new character is really kind of a shame. it imports your class and appearance both of which you can alter if you choose too, but most importantly it imports a certain ammount of your characters gained renegade or paragon attributes, and all of your previous games sidequests and backstory info. remember Conrad Verner? oh yeah hes back with a side quest. Reporter on the citadel? prepare to be harrased by her again. Remember the colonists from Feros? you get a side quest after checking up on them! not to mention your character relationships from past games play a role still with extra scenes or unique dialogue lines when you run into those characters again.
the gameplay itself however is alot different from the first. the RPG elements have been scaled down but as much as it sounds like a bad thing its really not. the shooting and action are much more fluid in this game, creating more of a sense of urgency since you dont have to go to the wheel menu ever 5 seconds for a biotic, tech, or weapon power. and while there still are abilities to use, 3 can be mapped to hotkeys for instant use, and some have even been combined (for intance instead of having pistol marksman, carnage, overkill, and assassination, soldiers in mass effect 2 have adrenaline rush, which works for all weapons)
your weapons no longer have to be leveled up individually either, leveling one job specific trait will increase the damage for all the weapons that character can use as well as other things like your renegade and paragon gain rate, health, or biotic and tech powers. this allows for less time contemplating where exactly to put each point but still lets you choose which skills to focus on and which to ignore.
also your weapons are static, no longer can you use an untrained weapon at the cost of your aim and accuracy, you are forced to only have the weapons your character can use period. thankfully each job can have at least 3 weapons including the new heavy weapons, and in some cases the new SMG gun class.
and as much as i loved the Mako im a bit glad to see it go. being the kind of guy i am i tended to explore each and every inch of a planet surface just in case something of real value was laying around. most times there wasnt. but not you drop straight into missions on planets that have them via the new dropship, and for resources (which actually serve a purpose in this game!) can be scanned from orbit and have probes sent to collect them for you, taking less than half the time of a mako tour.
the missions and quests even feel different, the missions are more plentiful, but less long. and considering how i talked about mission length for DA:O im rather pleased about that. you have both a recruitment and a loyalty quest for each character, totalling 18 character related quests, with more side quests availible during missions or from other characters on the normandy, quests are still found while randomly scanning planets, and on occasion from Admiral Hacket or the Illusive Man.
and completely new are renegade and paragon actions... at certain times during normal diologue sequences you will be given the ability to press either the right or left triggers for an awesome actions-speak-louder-than-words moment that changes the course of the conversation. for instance growing tired of listening to a low level eclipse boss give me attitude as to why he wont give me the info i want i literally kicked him through the window of a 50 story building. now he'll have time to think about why he shoulda cooperated with me on the way down! LOL
also new this time around is the Normandy itself, there are now 5 decks, your captain's quarters, the command information center (CIC), crew's quarters, the engineering deck, and the cargo bay. and THANKFULLY its not a 10 minute elevator ride between them. there is however a loading screen but it can go as quickly as 15 seconds if you load the game to and play it from your hard drive.
and the final mission is so totally epic its almost perfect, depending on all the missions you ran pior, your upgrades, and who of your team is loyal to you the mission can go tons of different ways. youre even given choices on who to let handle certain situations. with your choices determing not only the success of the mission, but whether or not your characters live or die.
and theres more love insterests to choose from too. i wonder what Tali looks like under the suit...
*ahem*
and of course the game as lovely as it is cannot escape my criticism :(
one thing i miss is the Mako (wait didnt i just say i liked it being gone? wait for it....) missions (oh!). driving around on certain planets was actually pretty cool, Noveria especially and nothing beats the feeling of driving around in a tank with a kinetic shield. there are obviously no longer any driving missions in this game and i kinda wish there was. now thankfully the rumor mill suggests there will be one coming in a DLC featuring an upgraded Mako but i'll have to cross my fingers and see
and aside from the cliffhanger ending my really only other gripe is the lack of time with Legion. i wont go into details cause itll spoil it for ya, but you get him at the end of the game and you dont really have much time to try him out before the end.
also theres no worthwhile lesbian love intrest! WHHHYYYYYYY? well you can bang Kelly Chambers as a female Shepard but she wont net you the paramour achivement. BLAST!
this game gets a bangin' Tali/10
Dragon Age: Outstanding!
I'm alive.
no really, i've just been a hermit...
as usual.
Its been video game time for me since the release of 2 incredibly awesome video games.
first i was derailed by is Dragon Age: Origins.
i have to say, screenshots or trailers for the game didn't really make it look amazing. they focus more on showing a couple short FMV sequences and some gameplay, which normally would be a good thing, but RPGs dont have the same kind of flashy gameplay as other games.
but trust me the game is awesome. you can definatly play it a few times cause the replay value is amazing. each main quest can have at least 2 ways to go through it, sometimes more, with 2 different outcomes which heavily impacts the game's endings.
and with character creation you can pick one of 3 races, each with a choice of backstory, and without that job select up to 2 unique specializations. my rough math says theres 72 different characters possible counting only combonations of race, backstory, job, and combos of 2 specializations. thats not counting choices of gender, positive or negative alignment, different choices made during the main quests, the side characters you choose to join you, or any of the multiple endings you can get.
i'm not good enough at math to figure that out.
if that doesnt impress you maybe the fact that there is a varitable cornicopia of love instrests, tons of sidequests including character specific sidequests given to you by your companions, and some very challenging optional bosses. not to mention theres already 3 DLC already out one of which includes a fully integrated new character. not to mention blood dragon armor for this and Mass Effect 2 if you bought the game (which you should you pirating ninnies)
if that wasnt enough March brings us Dragon Age: Awakening, a full game expansion with 5 new companions, a new main story line, new areas and an all new origin story.
phheeeewwwww... sorry gotta take a breath there. lol
theres only two things i dont like about the game. first its bloody hard sometimes. i really suggest taking the time to completely reprogram certain characters tactics (its a series of cause and effect senarios for the ai to prioritize during battle) to make them more effective. the spirit healer character you can recruit has such a horrible tactics set its a miracle she gets off a single healing spell. that ones got to go. also any tanking character you leave to AI should also be reprogrammed. doing this makes battles go smoother but there still plenty of frustrating "Your journey ends..." screens. in fact, i actually had to lower the difficulty on some fights after dying 10+ in the same situation.
the other thing is the length of some of the main story missions. im not a 15 yr old kid with hours and hours with which to play games anymore, and i like to usually play a quest or a mission straight through before turning it off, so on some of the missions the length was a little much. the mages circle in particular was a little too long for my taste as that one mission can take a couple hours if you let it. so stock up on potions and get all the extra inventory spaces you can, cause thats a doozy. keep in mind the length of the game itself is actually quite good, its really just the length of certain missions that gets a bit tedious.
all in all i love the game and cannot wait to get Awakening. i'm sure ill talk about that plenty when it comes out.
i give this game a solid fuedal lordship/10
no really, i've just been a hermit...
as usual.
Its been video game time for me since the release of 2 incredibly awesome video games.
first i was derailed by is Dragon Age: Origins.
i have to say, screenshots or trailers for the game didn't really make it look amazing. they focus more on showing a couple short FMV sequences and some gameplay, which normally would be a good thing, but RPGs dont have the same kind of flashy gameplay as other games.
but trust me the game is awesome. you can definatly play it a few times cause the replay value is amazing. each main quest can have at least 2 ways to go through it, sometimes more, with 2 different outcomes which heavily impacts the game's endings.
and with character creation you can pick one of 3 races, each with a choice of backstory, and without that job select up to 2 unique specializations. my rough math says theres 72 different characters possible counting only combonations of race, backstory, job, and combos of 2 specializations. thats not counting choices of gender, positive or negative alignment, different choices made during the main quests, the side characters you choose to join you, or any of the multiple endings you can get.
i'm not good enough at math to figure that out.
if that doesnt impress you maybe the fact that there is a varitable cornicopia of love instrests, tons of sidequests including character specific sidequests given to you by your companions, and some very challenging optional bosses. not to mention theres already 3 DLC already out one of which includes a fully integrated new character. not to mention blood dragon armor for this and Mass Effect 2 if you bought the game (which you should you pirating ninnies)
if that wasnt enough March brings us Dragon Age: Awakening, a full game expansion with 5 new companions, a new main story line, new areas and an all new origin story.
phheeeewwwww... sorry gotta take a breath there. lol
theres only two things i dont like about the game. first its bloody hard sometimes. i really suggest taking the time to completely reprogram certain characters tactics (its a series of cause and effect senarios for the ai to prioritize during battle) to make them more effective. the spirit healer character you can recruit has such a horrible tactics set its a miracle she gets off a single healing spell. that ones got to go. also any tanking character you leave to AI should also be reprogrammed. doing this makes battles go smoother but there still plenty of frustrating "Your journey ends..." screens. in fact, i actually had to lower the difficulty on some fights after dying 10+ in the same situation.
the other thing is the length of some of the main story missions. im not a 15 yr old kid with hours and hours with which to play games anymore, and i like to usually play a quest or a mission straight through before turning it off, so on some of the missions the length was a little much. the mages circle in particular was a little too long for my taste as that one mission can take a couple hours if you let it. so stock up on potions and get all the extra inventory spaces you can, cause thats a doozy. keep in mind the length of the game itself is actually quite good, its really just the length of certain missions that gets a bit tedious.
all in all i love the game and cannot wait to get Awakening. i'm sure ill talk about that plenty when it comes out.
i give this game a solid fuedal lordship/10
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Army of the Dead
This here is my new Death Knight deck in the World of Warcraft TCG. they came out with a mini set of something like 40 cards to introduce the Death Knight class including 2 heros, 1 horde and 1 alliance.
despite that they didnt feature anything death knight related until 2 set releases later, in Scourgewar, so i had to really put my Death Knight deck on the back burner for lack of a clear focus.
now that Scourgewar is out theres alot more abilities and a few more heros to choose from so i think i can confidently put my first Unholy foot forward! lol.
Hero: Saeryn Dusksorrow
Abilities (18):
Equipment (7):
Allies (19):
Quests (16):
So first what we have is basically Ghoul beatdown. you put some ghouls out, you attack, you untap em, attack again. so on and so forth. "how do you bring ghouls out?" you may ask. well the answer is simple. kill allies!
unfortunatly most of the time its your own allies you need to kill. so if thats the case, why not play allies that are happy for the grave anyway?
Thats why most of the allies in my deck have going into the graveyard effects. like Vanessa Fairgraves. for 3 you get a 3 Attack 3 Health ally that says "When vanessa is destroyed, put a ghoul ally token into play with 3 [melee] atk / 3 health." that and guys like Boneshanks and "Fungus Face" McGillicutty make destroying your own allies not so bad.
so once theyre dead you put out a Drandus the Deathcaller or two and attack away with your ghouls for great justice! (or lack thereof!)
and if anyone catches a beat on ya, just hit him with the Army of the Dead! Bwuahahahahahahahahahaha!
despite that they didnt feature anything death knight related until 2 set releases later, in Scourgewar, so i had to really put my Death Knight deck on the back burner for lack of a clear focus.
now that Scourgewar is out theres alot more abilities and a few more heros to choose from so i think i can confidently put my first Unholy foot forward! lol.
Hero: Saeryn Dusksorrow
Abilities (18):
- 4x Deathcoil
- 2x Army of the Dead
- 2x Raise Dead
- 3x Icy Touch
- 3x Death Pact
- 2x Mind Freeze
- 2x Arcane Torrent
Equipment (7):
- 4x Runed Soulblade
- 3x Scourgeborne Battlegear
Allies (19):
- 2x Deathcharger
- 4x Drandus the Deathcaller
- 4x Vanessa Fairgraves
- 2x "Fungus Face" McGillicutty
- 2x "Acid Hands" McGillicutty
- 3x Boneshanks
- 1x Ethereal Plunderer
- 1x Conqueror Kagon Blackskull
Quests (16):
- 3x Betrayal
- 3x Chasing A-Me 01
- 2x Finkle Einhorn, At Your Service!
- 3x Hazardous Materials
- 3x Brothers in Death
- 2x Solanian's Belongings
So first what we have is basically Ghoul beatdown. you put some ghouls out, you attack, you untap em, attack again. so on and so forth. "how do you bring ghouls out?" you may ask. well the answer is simple. kill allies!
unfortunatly most of the time its your own allies you need to kill. so if thats the case, why not play allies that are happy for the grave anyway?
Thats why most of the allies in my deck have going into the graveyard effects. like Vanessa Fairgraves. for 3 you get a 3 Attack 3 Health ally that says "When vanessa is destroyed, put a ghoul ally token into play with 3 [melee] atk / 3 health." that and guys like Boneshanks and "Fungus Face" McGillicutty make destroying your own allies not so bad.
so once theyre dead you put out a Drandus the Deathcaller or two and attack away with your ghouls for great justice! (or lack thereof!)
and if anyone catches a beat on ya, just hit him with the Army of the Dead! Bwuahahahahahahahahahaha!
Monday, December 21, 2009
Here Wii Go!
Well, My birthday was pretty awesome.
you know, if any of you cared :p
first we went for sushi at my favorite sushi restaurant, Sakura Sushi (on Lee Trevino past Pebble Hills GO THERE!) with my dear wife and friends and then back to my place for cards, video games and desert!
My lovely wife got me New Super Mario Bros Wii which if you dont yet know is the 4 player old-school-style Mario game for Wii.
since its 4 players theres basically 2 modes, cooperative, where youre *supposed* to help each other and complete levels, and coin battle where you try to see which one of you can get the most coins from the group.
now i say "supposed to" because frankly its pretty damn hard not to knock your friends off ledges and into lava, off a platform floating above a cliff, or straight into the path of a hammer bro. and dont even get me started on the green and red shells!
now, although its hard as hell to not kill each other in coop mode, dont let that dissuade you. good times were had by all, no matter how many times you heard someone shout "damn you! that was my fire flower!". in fact i think people were so wrapped up in playing NSMBW that people forgot i even had Super Smash Bros Brawl.
after all that i watched funny people (actually a very good movie) and then played some WoW TCG against Mike and then went to sleep.
and that was the day BEFORE my birthday. lol
actually we celebrated sat so we didnt do much on my actual birthday, just applebees and playing Fallout 3. Rock!
you know, if any of you cared :p
first we went for sushi at my favorite sushi restaurant, Sakura Sushi (on Lee Trevino past Pebble Hills GO THERE!) with my dear wife and friends and then back to my place for cards, video games and desert!
My lovely wife got me New Super Mario Bros Wii which if you dont yet know is the 4 player old-school-style Mario game for Wii.
since its 4 players theres basically 2 modes, cooperative, where youre *supposed* to help each other and complete levels, and coin battle where you try to see which one of you can get the most coins from the group.
now i say "supposed to" because frankly its pretty damn hard not to knock your friends off ledges and into lava, off a platform floating above a cliff, or straight into the path of a hammer bro. and dont even get me started on the green and red shells!
now, although its hard as hell to not kill each other in coop mode, dont let that dissuade you. good times were had by all, no matter how many times you heard someone shout "damn you! that was my fire flower!". in fact i think people were so wrapped up in playing NSMBW that people forgot i even had Super Smash Bros Brawl.
after all that i watched funny people (actually a very good movie) and then played some WoW TCG against Mike and then went to sleep.
and that was the day BEFORE my birthday. lol
actually we celebrated sat so we didnt do much on my actual birthday, just applebees and playing Fallout 3. Rock!
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Wish List
Well cause its getting close to christmas birthday i thought i'd make a list of stuff i want
you know.... cause i want it
Nintendo DS:
Pokemon Heartgold
Glory of Heracles
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Xbox 360:
Halo: Reach Collectors Edition
Fable III Collectors Edition
Fallout: New Vegas Collectors Edition
Green Day Rock Band
Dragon Age: Awakening
Final Fantasy XIII
Halo 3: ODST
Borderlands
Dragon Age: Origins
Mass Effect 2: Limited Edition
Microsoft Points
PSP:
Metal Gear Solid Peacewalker Collectors Edition
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
Final Fantasy Dissidia
Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny
Wii:
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Super Mario Galaxy
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Nintendo Points
Cards:
Wrathgate booster packs (WoW TCG)
Scourgewar booster packs (WoW TCG)
Fields of Honor booster packs (WoW TCG)
Zendikar booster packs (Magic:tG)
Worldwake booster packs (Magic:tG)
Others:
Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty Collectors Edition (PC)
Halo Lengends (2 disc DVD or Blu-Ray)
Star Trek Online Collectors Edition (PC)
Speed Racer Manga Collector's Box Set
an iPhone (preferably 3G or 3GS)
Mass Effect Redemtion (Comic, Darkhorse)
you know.... cause i want it
Nintendo DS:
Pokemon Heartgold
Glory of Heracles
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Xbox 360:
Halo: Reach Collectors Edition
Fable III Collectors Edition
Fallout: New Vegas Collectors Edition
Green Day Rock Band
Dragon Age: Awakening
Final Fantasy XIII
Borderlands
Microsoft Points
PSP:
Metal Gear Solid Peacewalker Collectors Edition
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny
Wii:
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Super Mario Galaxy
Nintendo Points
Cards:
Wrathgate booster packs (WoW TCG)
Fields of Honor booster packs (WoW TCG)
Zendikar booster packs (Magic:tG)
Worldwake booster packs (Magic:tG)
Others:
Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty Collectors Edition (PC)
Halo Lengends (2 disc DVD or Blu-Ray)
Star Trek Online Collectors Edition (PC)
Speed Racer Manga Collector's Box Set
Thursday, November 19, 2009
My Xbox 360 is Inspector Gadget...
Remember that show? lol., well it does have everything to do with the point im trying to make so i'll run it down for you.
Inspector Gadget was a secret agent who's body was augmented with all sorts of gadgets to help him in his espionage. in actuality he was kind of a loser and his gadgets although cool, never helped him much. it always came down to his niece Penny and her dog to help him save the day and accomplish his missions
ok, what the hell does this have to do with my Xbox? well they just added 4 new distinct features to the Xbox 360 console a couple days ago, Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm, and the Zune Marketplace.
The Facebook and Twitter tabs are an Xbox 360 way to bring social networking to games. mostly its just a slightly watered version of the 2 current most popular social networking sites (cutting out the facebook aps, and facebook chat functions only). Its good for you if the computer is currently occupied (or dead if youre like me :/ ) but otherwise the web version will still be your best bet. Twitter is twitter so if youre all about the tweeting than its pretty much the same actually lol.
Last.fm is quite cool, ice never heard of it before but it builds radio stations around particular artists that stream songs by them and by bands of singers that are similar. if all you want are the popular singers, listen to your top 40 station back home, but this is a great tool for finding new or less popular bands. and thankfully if there is too much you dont like, there is a skip button or simply move to a new station. the absolute best part is after youve browsed other stations and told Last.fm what you like, it can build you a radio station with your favorite songs/genres. the only problem with this is it doesnt run behind anything else. you cant listen to this with custom soundtracks or anything. so if youre like me and when you actually DO get a chance to use your Xbox, you probably wont waste time by listening to Last.fm, no matter how cool it is.
and last but not least is the Zune marketplace. this isnt an add-on so much as its an update. they are now using the Zune marketplace for all Xbox Live marketplace media downloads. i'm not sure if game DLC is also through the Zune marketplace, but i think its just music, videos, and movies. the good news is theyve added a couple features like viewing parties where people on your Xbox Live friends list can come in and watch streaming videos with you in a mystery science theater 3000 kinda way. the good news is since all this is from the Zune marketplace theres more content now in the movie and tv categories, yay!
Now what does this have to do with Inspector Gadget? I feel about most of these exactly what i feel about Inspector gadget. Alot of cool features, but he still can't get the job done alone. Xbox has had a recent decline of 360 exclusives in the last year, and although alot of former Playstation exclusive developers are taking games to both consoles Microsoft needs to encourage developers to go Xbox onry! Thats what will sell consoles, not fancy features, not project natal, not Facebook and Twitter for Xbox Live. and while these things are great and add a wide range of things you can do with the console, none of them truly expand on what people buy the console in the first place: the games.
Inspector Gadget was a secret agent who's body was augmented with all sorts of gadgets to help him in his espionage. in actuality he was kind of a loser and his gadgets although cool, never helped him much. it always came down to his niece Penny and her dog to help him save the day and accomplish his missions
ok, what the hell does this have to do with my Xbox? well they just added 4 new distinct features to the Xbox 360 console a couple days ago, Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm, and the Zune Marketplace.
The Facebook and Twitter tabs are an Xbox 360 way to bring social networking to games. mostly its just a slightly watered version of the 2 current most popular social networking sites (cutting out the facebook aps, and facebook chat functions only). Its good for you if the computer is currently occupied (or dead if youre like me :/ ) but otherwise the web version will still be your best bet. Twitter is twitter so if youre all about the tweeting than its pretty much the same actually lol.
Last.fm is quite cool, ice never heard of it before but it builds radio stations around particular artists that stream songs by them and by bands of singers that are similar. if all you want are the popular singers, listen to your top 40 station back home, but this is a great tool for finding new or less popular bands. and thankfully if there is too much you dont like, there is a skip button or simply move to a new station. the absolute best part is after youve browsed other stations and told Last.fm what you like, it can build you a radio station with your favorite songs/genres. the only problem with this is it doesnt run behind anything else. you cant listen to this with custom soundtracks or anything. so if youre like me and when you actually DO get a chance to use your Xbox, you probably wont waste time by listening to Last.fm, no matter how cool it is.
and last but not least is the Zune marketplace. this isnt an add-on so much as its an update. they are now using the Zune marketplace for all Xbox Live marketplace media downloads. i'm not sure if game DLC is also through the Zune marketplace, but i think its just music, videos, and movies. the good news is theyve added a couple features like viewing parties where people on your Xbox Live friends list can come in and watch streaming videos with you in a mystery science theater 3000 kinda way. the good news is since all this is from the Zune marketplace theres more content now in the movie and tv categories, yay!
Now what does this have to do with Inspector Gadget? I feel about most of these exactly what i feel about Inspector gadget. Alot of cool features, but he still can't get the job done alone. Xbox has had a recent decline of 360 exclusives in the last year, and although alot of former Playstation exclusive developers are taking games to both consoles Microsoft needs to encourage developers to go Xbox onry! Thats what will sell consoles, not fancy features, not project natal, not Facebook and Twitter for Xbox Live. and while these things are great and add a wide range of things you can do with the console, none of them truly expand on what people buy the console in the first place: the games.
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