E3 Sucks for us folks not privileged enough to attend, and no game in my enormous “Pile of Shame” can even come close to keeping my attention for more than a few minutes at a time after experiencing the awesomeness that is MGS4.

I almost regret having played MGS4 before working through my “Pile of Shame.” I fear they shall forever remain unbeaten! Damn you Kojima!! *shakes fist angrily in the air*

“Mad props” must be given to the folks over at Bethesda for their latest Fallout 3 trailer featuring the happy 50’s era family living in the “Home of Tomorrow.” The trailer did a wonderful job capturing the tone and atmosphere that is Vault-Tec! Also, I greatly appreciate the fact that the Vault-Tec phone number presented in the trailer is actually a working number, however nothing special happens after dialing it, just some funny comments by an outdated robotic voice asking you to please hold. Go ahead, give it a try! (1-888-482-8588)

Technorati Tags: E3, Fallout

It was the wee hours of the morning when I finally guided the most heroic old man I’ve ever known to meet his fate. An old man who, in his youth, single handedly took down the most skilled military unit in the country that went rogue after being taken over by a man with delusions of grandeur. A man who proved a single person can destroy a next-generation, nuclear weapon equipped, all-terrain, bi-pedal tank time and time again. He was no ordinary old man.

I knew his father and his mother, in fact I can honestly say I had a hand in their first encounter. She was a beautiful woman who could handle any situation thrown at her with an iron fist. His father was a strong leader, and an even stronger soldier with big ideas to create a world free of government oppression and control. A haven of sorts, for people to live out their lives with out fear. A place that could not be influenced or changed by the likes of evil men and their twisted ideas.

I guided him and witnessed the countless horrors and betrayals which he endured through out his life. This old man has traversed countless battlefields, witnessing first hand the depravity of man. His brother in arms and commander betrayed him for his own twisted purpose. His former unit turned against him in order to achieve a greater power. His two brothers plotted his demise and ruthlessly carried out their plans without remorse. No, this man had no life…he was dead from the beginning. His existence was merely to serve a purpose, to serve the very government who empowered the evil men he would later be sent to destroy.

To kill your commander, to kill the members of your unit, to kill both your brothers, to waste your youth on the endless battlefield, this is an impossible burden which no one man should be able to endure; yet this old man has lived through it all and is willing to keep fighting until he encounters his destiny, and finally earns some rest.

It was the wee hours of the morning when I finally guided this heroic old man to meet his fate. There he sat, alone in a graveyard, with a single bullet in the chamber. A gun, pointed directly into his mouth. This old man is tired, and has served his thankless purpose to the world…he is no longer needed, he is an obsolete relic of wars past. “War has changed,” his body is giving out, and an ungrateful nation survives yet another tragedy. A single gunshot is heard in the distance…this unheard of hero’s flame is extinguished. He has earned his rest.

Technorati Tags: Kojima, Metal Gear, MGS4, Old Snake, Solid Snake

An MMO for a more "mature" audience, at least that’s the mantra Funcom utters about their recently launched "Age of Conan". What exactly makes this a "mature" game? The "M for Mature" ESRB rating, the fabulously gory fatalities, or is it the promise of in game nudity? After spending much of my free time this past weekend playing through "Age of Conan," I’m still not sure what exactly makes this game so much more mature than your other MMOs other than the potential for topless women and the occasional vulgar language and brutal fatality.

Upon initial impression "Age of Conan" is a beautiful looking MMO, no doubt about it! The promise of future support of DX10 effects via a "soon to be released" patch will only benefit an already gorgeous MMO. In an era where most MMO worlds look ages behind our current gen graphics, "Age of Conan" is an MMO graphical jewel.

The character creation screen is pretty robust for an MMO allowing you to make various small and large tweaks to your appearance, including several tattoos and scars. Of the several cultures to choose from, each has its own interpretation of the various basic fantasy RPG classes. I created a male Tempest of Set, which is the "spellcaster/healer/priest" class of the Stygian culture.

Every newly created character arrives in the city/state of Tortage after a devastating storm wipes out the slave ship you were serving on. It is here where you will learn to play the game and your class properly for the next 20 levels, give or take. Tortage is your typical "n00b" zone with your basic fetch quests, kill x number of this, and solve that mystery.

What really sets Tortage apart from other MMO starter cities is the well done voice over work for all your quest giving NPCs. Reading blocks of text explaining why sorcerer Y needs X number of frog tongues is not really my idea of "immersion." I demand voice overs for all MMO quest NPCs from this point forward!

Another very unique feature of Tortage is the ability to carry out story specific quests in your own private instance of the world (aka single player mode). The entire single player mode in Tortage takes place at night, while the multiplayer mode takes place during the day. This MMO single player mode for important story quests ensures that you will experience the story on your own without any griefers, or long periods of waiting for the quest item/enemy to respawn. This is an ideal way for my "lone wolf" styled play habits of most MMOs I play, while still maintaining the option to "group" and take on more "epic" challenges. Who really needs to group up to run fetch quests anyway?

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Technorati Tags: Age Of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, Conan, Tempest of Set

I found this image while browsing PSP Fanboy, all credit for this awesome piece of artwork goes to canecodesign over at DeviantArt. Great work!!

Technorati Tags: 300, 300 Patapons, Concept Art, Patapon, Spartans

The pirating of games has been an on-going issue since before I care to remember. My early PC gaming days involved copying, and sharing games between my friends and I. Eventually, downloading became my primary means of acquiring new PC games in my early years. Why did I do it you ask? For many reasons, but primarily the lack of income!

Kids these days dont quite have the money to buy fifty or sixty dollar games as often as he/she would like to. Hell, I know full grown adults that can’t afford to buy new games but maybe once every couple of months. That was fine and dandy a few years ago where one game could last a person months at a time. I remember being perfectly content playing Perfect Dark on N64 for almost half a year before I even thought about buying another game. Alas, those times are gone now, and many games have become short five or six hour experiences relying on multiplayer to fill the void. If you think about it, you’re paying almost ten dollars an hour to play that short game…minimum wage is barely $5.75. A person earning minimum wage would have to work 10 1/2 hours, just to earn enough money to buy your five hour game!

At this point, it shouldn’t be a big secret that the US economy is currently suffering from high gas prices, lower valued dollar, and raising cost of goods and services. The government is bending over backwards to forgive debt and losses of big corporations by offering tax cuts, and lowered interest rates. This in turn leads to a lower valued dollar, since countries with lower interest rates attract less investors. This lower valued dollar leads to a price increase of goods and services which leads to increased interest rates on consumer credit cards, since credit companies still need to maintain growing profits, and as a result…decreased consumer spending. The consumer is left dealing with the weight of a struggling economy on their shoulders.

As our economy worsens, piracy goes up. Consumers just don’t have the same purchasing power they had only a few years ago, but they are already accustomed to getting a “new game fix” ever so often. People won’t change their rate of consumption due to limited funding, they’ll simply turn to other sources. Digital forms of entertainment such as music, movies, and video games are easily distributed over the “series of tubes” called the internet. This is why, now more than ever, a growing number of companies and developers are speaking out about the rampant piracy going on these days. The numbers are vastly rising due to our slowing economy!

Its a widely known fact that Asia is one of the highest pirating areas of the world. Think back for a moment about everything you just read above. Asian countries, such as Japan, are incredibly expensive to live in and maintain a standard of living similar to ours in the US. Tokyo,Japan has been named as the most expensive city to live in the world! The power of the Yen is horribly low, and goods in Japan cost three to five times what they do in the US. This, I fear, could be the eventual fate of the US if something isn’t done about our economy now!

So where am I getting at with all this? I just wanted to state that piracy is directly linked to the state of a countries economy. No more, no less.

Technorati Tags: Game Pirating, Pirates, US Economy