Our new official day is Wednesdays, at 7pm to 10pm. We couldn't get LA5 267 (with the nice big projector) so we're sticking with good old dependable 261.
As this is the first week of classes, there is no meeting, but next week will be our first with console gaming and brief discussions on the new semester.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
The Force Unleashed arrived in my mailbox today, and I prepared myself for a torrent of mediocrity. After all, I'm no fan of constant beat'em ups and this one screams beat-the-shit out of everything up!
Actually, the opening level letting me play as Vader with complete force powers was an enthralling game of Sith badassery. I'd like to say force powers are a very feel good field days in fun, flinging wookies and stormtroopers alike with nary a remorseful thought. Choking anyone I feel like slowing down with, then picking up the pace by holding a rock with my sith force power and chucking it at a pack of enemies.
There seems to be a weird distance ratio going on though. The farther away I am, the more likely I need to use force powers to fight, and the more fun I'll have. Inversely, if I'm near enemies, it might be more effecient to hack and slash with my lightsaber, but I'll be falling back on hack and slash tactics, and thus, will have trouble embracing the fun of that.
That's my idea in a nutshell. I want to throw futuristic exploding barrels at you people, but you have to go off and shoot me with your "lasers" and "grenades". The problem can be alleviated with lightning from mah fingertips, but as a beat'em up, things start to appear pretty static for me.
It's a pretty solid package that deserves some attention for it's DLC changing things up, but it's not a blockbuster like the hype leads you to believe.
Actually, the opening level letting me play as Vader with complete force powers was an enthralling game of Sith badassery. I'd like to say force powers are a very feel good field days in fun, flinging wookies and stormtroopers alike with nary a remorseful thought. Choking anyone I feel like slowing down with, then picking up the pace by holding a rock with my sith force power and chucking it at a pack of enemies.
There seems to be a weird distance ratio going on though. The farther away I am, the more likely I need to use force powers to fight, and the more fun I'll have. Inversely, if I'm near enemies, it might be more effecient to hack and slash with my lightsaber, but I'll be falling back on hack and slash tactics, and thus, will have trouble embracing the fun of that.
That's my idea in a nutshell. I want to throw futuristic exploding barrels at you people, but you have to go off and shoot me with your "lasers" and "grenades". The problem can be alleviated with lightning from mah fingertips, but as a beat'em up, things start to appear pretty static for me.
It's a pretty solid package that deserves some attention for it's DLC changing things up, but it's not a blockbuster like the hype leads you to believe.
Friday, January 16, 2009
The Great Circuit City Close Out
Bad news: Circuit City, Best Buy's biggest competitor, is finally going under as per predicted by the financial Nostradamus' in the world. This will leaving gaping holes in mall and shopping center real estate spaces, not to mention thousands in unemployed.
Good news: For us techies, we can score some price slashed, liquidated gear. Bad news comes from Gizmodo, but I read Lifehacker usually. Here it is in their words...
Good news: For us techies, we can score some price slashed, liquidated gear. Bad news comes from Gizmodo, but I read Lifehacker usually. Here it is in their words...
So keep your Circuit Cities under lock and key to make sure you grab that external hard drive you've wanted to separate your important work files from your sitting-on-your-ass-and-proscrastinating files.
The catch: According to Gizmodo, prices may go up to MSRP on Saturday, meaning the whole "sale" part of the liquidation sale isn't exactly accurate. Those prices may drop drastically between now and the March 31 close, so it'll be worth keeping an eye on.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Why Prince? Why?
Prince of Persia arrived in my mailbox just yesterday, and I'm already sending it back.
Congratulations Ubisoft! You've successfully made a swish with the paper ball that is Prince of Persia into your proverbial trashcan (with optional basketball hoop).
Here are the things I'm going to troll on...
+ The Prince is utterly caucasian. You'd think if this as, you know, Persia, or vaguely middle east, someone would at least have an accent. The titular Prince spouts painful sarcasm (or wit, what have you), sports a questionable tan, has blue eyes, and sounds like he stepped out of a Southern Californian private school. Is this Prince of Persia or Los Angeles?
+ The levels are very similar in gameplay. In the original trilogy, you'd maybe get a spiffy new sword, or traps would get more elaborate and monsters would even appear as well. Here, I'm wall running my brains out. I'm wall running, pole jumping, and vine climbing until the cows come home. There aren't any neat booby traps or even cool mistake rewinding time controls. I'm doing the same thing over and over again, that is, wall running, jumping, and if I fall, I just start over at the beginning of the acrobatic puzzle, cause my partner just teleports in and might as well say, "Dying isn't cool? LOL! Lemme help you out!"
+ Remember the acrobatic, fighting machine that was the Prince in the trilogy? Well say hello to the new, slow paced, en garde Prince! Seriously, I'll beat the shit out of who suggested the change in combat, because it's just an arena mash fest. Mash X, sometimes Y, and if you're luckly, you'll skip the fight entirely by getting a ring out. But forget about rolling out of the way and gracefully flipping from one enemy to another. You're fighting one on one whether you fucking like it or not.
+ Lastly, as I mentioned before, the levels are very samey. Here's what you're gonna do for a routine hour of gameplay. Brisk jog to the level proper, run on some walls and jump off some obstacles, kill a bad guy or two, "heal" the land, collect shit, rinse, repeat. It's almost as if the time control mechanic wasn't thrown out and I'm reliving the same gameplay over and over a la Groundhog Day. Well Bill Murray had it easy cause he eventually got out of that time warp. I'm stuck in this cycle until I beat the game...
or turn off my Xbox.
Congratulations Ubisoft! You've successfully made a swish with the paper ball that is Prince of Persia into your proverbial trashcan (with optional basketball hoop).
Here are the things I'm going to troll on...
+ The Prince is utterly caucasian. You'd think if this as, you know, Persia, or vaguely middle east, someone would at least have an accent. The titular Prince spouts painful sarcasm (or wit, what have you), sports a questionable tan, has blue eyes, and sounds like he stepped out of a Southern Californian private school. Is this Prince of Persia or Los Angeles?
+ The levels are very similar in gameplay. In the original trilogy, you'd maybe get a spiffy new sword, or traps would get more elaborate and monsters would even appear as well. Here, I'm wall running my brains out. I'm wall running, pole jumping, and vine climbing until the cows come home. There aren't any neat booby traps or even cool mistake rewinding time controls. I'm doing the same thing over and over again, that is, wall running, jumping, and if I fall, I just start over at the beginning of the acrobatic puzzle, cause my partner just teleports in and might as well say, "Dying isn't cool? LOL! Lemme help you out!"
+ Remember the acrobatic, fighting machine that was the Prince in the trilogy? Well say hello to the new, slow paced, en garde Prince! Seriously, I'll beat the shit out of who suggested the change in combat, because it's just an arena mash fest. Mash X, sometimes Y, and if you're luckly, you'll skip the fight entirely by getting a ring out. But forget about rolling out of the way and gracefully flipping from one enemy to another. You're fighting one on one whether you fucking like it or not.
+ Lastly, as I mentioned before, the levels are very samey. Here's what you're gonna do for a routine hour of gameplay. Brisk jog to the level proper, run on some walls and jump off some obstacles, kill a bad guy or two, "heal" the land, collect shit, rinse, repeat. It's almost as if the time control mechanic wasn't thrown out and I'm reliving the same gameplay over and over a la Groundhog Day. Well Bill Murray had it easy cause he eventually got out of that time warp. I'm stuck in this cycle until I beat the game...
or turn off my Xbox.
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