neorants

Check out the Destructoid article Grand Theft Angel: How Liberty City plays nice. It’s a refreshing alternative to the usual GTA-bashing that accompanies each release from Rockstar.

By Victims of Science. So. Much. Win.

So lately I’ve been playing skate. It’s a skateboarding game, kind of like the Tony Hawk games, but better. Let me first say that if you had asked me whether it was better on the first or second day I played it, I might have expressed a somewhat different opinion, because the game’s learning curve is steep. The control scheme is called “flickit” and its name comes from the fact that most tricks are executed by pulling the analog sticks on the controller in one direction, then flicking them in another direction quickly.
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So, I just finished Assassin’s Creed. Took me a while to pick it up, but I’m glad I did. In the end, I overcame my initial hesitation after seeing the lukewarm reviews by reading Gabe’s writeup at Penny Arcade. He was basically dead-on. This game is incredibly engrossing if you let yourself get caught up in the storyline. It seems like the folks who gave it a bad rap are the ones who have short attention spans. One other thing. The swordplay is some of the most fluid and engrossing I’ve experienced in this style of game. The move set isn’t huge, much of it is contextual, but the combat was more visceral and intense than anything in the recent Devil May Cry 4. Who cares if the tasks are a bit repetitive when the narrative and gameplay are executed so well?

…and there’s not a chance I’ll have the amount of time/manpower needed to implement it. Been brainstorming for a while on something that would make unique use of the capabilities of the iPhone to deliver a compelling experience, and think I finally have something, in the form of a game. Only problem is, there’s no way I will have the time to build all the components required. Not to mention, I’ve never programmed on the iPhone, so I’ll have to learn that environment first.

Shame the iFund looks like it requires you to be a business guy to get your foot in the door.

The other day, I made the first response to this thread on the AD forums, in which some server transfer needed to be reminded how to make some friends on a new server. It resulted in a back and forth battle between the players of Argent Dawn and this Cring guy… Anyway, apparently, he dragged his old friends to our realm forums now, in retaliation. The good news of all this is that calling attention to this guy has resulted in the return of Ubarlight to our forums. There are a ton of threads showing up, so I won’t link them here… but it’s comedy gold.

My recent gaming addiction has been Crackdown. It’s another one of those “open world” games, in the style of Grand Theft Auto (not surprising, since the creator of that game was behind this one). A lot of reviewers have been giving the game some grief for not containing enough of a storyline, but I really, really like how open-ended the game can be. The process of “leveling up” your agent is addictive, as is the crazy stuff you can pull off once you’ve gotten a few stars.
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So, you may remember this post, mostly because I slack on posting and it’s still on the front page. Anyway, I guess I lied. I did in fact get Grand Marshal on Halloween. I still think everything I said in the post is true. The system is truly messed up. I was lured by the news that you would maintain your highest achieved title in the expansion. As it turns out, I’m the second dwarven Grand Marshal on Argent Dawn, which is kind of neat, I guess. Freakin’ night elves.

So, I just stumbled on Metal Wolf Chaos — I can’t believe this game was never released in the US. The basic premise: The President of the United States hops into a giant mech to defeat his traitorous Vice President. If the President was issued a giant mech like this instead of Air Force One, I think we’d have more competition for the office. :)

I posted the following rant on the WOW forums, and thought I would repost it here.
Continue reading ‘Thoughts on the Honor system in WOW’ »