Maybe last week you didn’t notice that we didn’t upload episode 20.
No, we didn’t forget – we simply wanted to make sure that it was special so… we didn’t upload it. Sorry, if you feel like suing us for this. If you still want to however, please address your government and demand that pizza become a vegetable. Thank you for your understanding.
-Mike
Now that Mike and I are doing a podcast every Friday, during which we talk about video games and news regarding video games, I have little reason to do any “Weekly Update” posts any longer. Doing the podcast is much more enjoyable, and we tend to also talk about things more in-depth than if I were to write everything out. Example:
“This week I played Tetris. It’s a very fun game. Putting the blocks together is fun. Great game.”
See? Compared to me actually talking about the game, a written post is like something you’d find in a second grade classroom. I’d much rather talk about stuff I’m playing with Mike than write a few sentences about it.
Don’t take this the wrong way, though! I’m not saying blogging isn’t fun anymore because I do podcasts now. I will still be posting written articles whenever, and likely they will be more focused on one subject rather than many. Getting sidetracked is what the podcast is for.
Okay? Okay. Thanks for your time. More stuff soon – I just got into Dragon Age and I need to write something about it. Not sure what just yet, but something!
-rav4ge
Hi everyone, Stefan and I over the past week have been updating stuff like crazy.
As of now, for example, we have uploaded a Fallout New Vegas Honest Hearts DLC play through, a segment called back to gaming in which me and Stefan go back and play some old games, and lastly I have uploaded many helpful videos on where to find unique and special items in the Honest Hearts DLC.
Our craptube youtube channel can be located here.
…My apologies for the title. It’s pretty bad, I’m aware. I seriously couldn’t resist it or come up with anything better, though. Tell you what – come up with a better title and I’ll change it along with giving you some props for besting my feeble titling abilities. Done and done.
Brink is almost here, with only two days until release! I’m beyond excited to finally play it, and I’m hoping it delivers in all the ways Splash Damage has promised. As long as the gunplay is enjoyable, the classes cohesive to the gameplay, and the customization near-limitless, I’ll consider my money well-spent. I’m predicting eights and nines for numerical review scores, though I have a feeling Brink may get hammered for the single-player being more like an offline mode than a campaign, but I could be wrong. Besides, most are buying Brink for it’s multiplayer above all else, including myself. This is Splash Damage, after all, and multiplayer shooters are their specialty.
NOW PLAYING:
Gears of War 3 Beta (360): I wrote about the Gears 3 beta in my last post, saying that I liked the game but missed the classic gametypes like Warzone that were present in Gears 1 & 2. I’m happy to say the newly-added “Capture the Leader” gametype is my favorite out of the three and has really re-sparked my interest in the beta. It’s freaking great!
Explanation wise, it’s exactly what it sounds. Each team has a random leader selected every round, and the enemy leader has to be captured and held “bullet-sponge” style for a total of 30 seconds to win the round. When a leader is held, the abductor can only use their pistol and is very slow moving. Occasionally, the leader can struggle and bite the abductor to hinder movement, which keeps the leader from feeling like a total piece of meat when captured. It’s an amazingly fun gametype, and is easily the most team-oriented out of the three offered. If both teams work together and provide a good balance of aggression and defense, matches can go on forever. It’s the intensity and urgency to win in this gametype that I crave, and what keeps me coming back.
This and Warzone will probably be my favorite gametypes in the full version of Gears 3. Love you, Epic Games! Please never change. Oh, and while you’re at it, don’t change the sawed-off shotgun either. You and I both know it’s fine the way it is.
Call of Duty 4 (PC): I installed this a week or so ago after getting one of those COD-itches. I guess you could say I’ve been playing it in preparation for Brink, but only for getting comfortable at PC shooters again. I doubt dropshotting and quickscoping will transition well to Brink, but hey, it all helps.
Leveling up again in this game has been fun. It’s almost a good thing to have so few weapons unlocked, gives me time to really spend time with each and discover what works best for me. The M4 and Mini-Uzi are my current lowbie favs. The M4 is just a balance of power and accuracy, while the Mini-Uzi tears apart anyone within short to medium range. I actually got a super-spray with the latter today, which was one of those “did you see that?” moments where you wish dearly that someone besides you had been there to see it.
World of Warcraft: I re-subbed to WoW a little under a month ago, and I had been leveling my Shaman, Spiffs. WoW is fun and all, especially because I found a good guild to talk to via Ventrilo, but I cancelled my sub today after some thought. Brink and exams are on the horizon, and I have other games to play that are more enjoyable than straight leveling.
While it was good to get a taste of Cataclysm again and visit my favorite MMO world, I don’t think I’ll be returning anytime soon. The more I consider my short relationships with MMOs, the less I want to play them. The genre is just getting stale, and things like shooters or a good single-player game like Dead Space 2 are much more enjoyable. The Old Republic remains as the last beacon of hope for my interest in MMOs.
VIDEO OF THE WEEK:
You may be wondering how I could possibly find a video that bests last update’s Admiral Ackbar “Penetrate it” classic. I’ll be frank – I can’t. But I have been enjoying this series of Amnesia: The Dark Descent commentaries by GoldGlove, mostly due to his over-the-top reactions to every scream and whisper he hears. Good stuff.
Here’s the full playlist. Not only are the videos fun to watch, but it’s good to see a (mainly) Call of Duty commentator branch out to games like this.
-rav4ge
Previously, I had already written this post. But, Windows Live Writer decided to have a little crash deal and lie to me about autosaving the post all along… piece of shit.
I bought Blogjet, which is what I’m using right now to write this. It’s very similar in function, and hopefully decides to not crash whenever. I don’t think it supports autosave, but at least it doesn’t lie about having it.
Anyway, enough about how much computers suck sometimes! Let’s talk games.
NOW PLAYING:
Playing Rift got me all excited about MMOs again, so I broke down for the millionth time and resubbed to World of Warcraft. I get why people are totally done with playing it, even after Cataclysm. It’s a six-year-old game, and the players who are leaving it for games like Rift and soon SWTOR are just burned out on WoW, no matter what Blizzard adds to “refresh” it. It’s like a turd – no matter how much Febreze you spray on it from time to time to keep it smelling nice, time goes by and it smells like a turd again. For me though, that turd has not been explored enough and -
You know what, I’m dropping the metaphor.
I keep fooling myself in that “I’m done with WoW” and “I’m done with MMOs.” Sure, I get tired of them much quicker than most, but I still haven’t seen most of what WoW has to offer. I’ve seen some of Outlands thanks to my Death Knight, but that’s it. I feel like I cheated out on WoW early, and I should at least try to spend some more time with it. One of the ways to guarantee my interest in the game is to join up with a good, active and friendly guild, which I have done. I remember playing City of Heroes back in 2009 or so with this awesome Super Group. They had Vent, and it was awesome to talk with them because it made leveling on my own so much more enjoyable. This is my approach to WoW – leveling by myself is fun, but I would enjoy this same kind of company.
As for Rift… yeah, I doubt I’ll be touching it again. It’s fun, but all it’s done is remind me how much I need to play WoW again.
On a non-MMO note, the Gears of War 3 beta comes out this week for those who preordered. I have Monday off, so I’ll hopefully get to spend some time with it then. Gears 3 is literally my most anticipated console game this year, I can’t wait to get back into it. I had good fun with Gears 2, but it took forever to find matches and the general player count was very low. Gears 3 will be great in that people are actually playing it. Oh yeah, and dedicated servers FTW!
VIDEO OF THE WEEK:
Clocking in at only 13 seconds, this video is short but also amazing. I’m not even going to explain it, just watch.
-rav4ge