I’m on vacation in Florida with my daughter visiting family. I don’t necessarily try to play fit video games into my schedule, unless there’s something worthwhile to play. The next morning after I arrived, Dead Rising 2: Case Zero was available on the XBL Marketplace. While my Daughter plays around in my parents living room (currently learning to navigate on two feet – very exciting) I’ll play some XBox on my Dad’s amazing beautiful Samsung DLP – the best looking TV I’ve seen.

Case Zero is something epic. You get a standalone prequel to the upcoming Dead Rising 2 which acts as a demo for those interested, but also a nicely wrapped up story arc to satisfy what demos cannot generally provide. It is $5 though, which I think is worth it, especially when you consider that your progress is then imported into Dead Rising 2. Even if you didn’t plan on picking up Dead Rising 2, you really should give this a shot.

The thing that has really made me connect with the game, making me even more excited about the full game, is the main plot and characters involved. You’re a Father trying to keep your Daughter safe. This is something I can obviously connect with. At my Daughter’s age, it is so important that I make sure I have her bottle and diapers wherever we go. Yeah, that’s not the same as an anti-zombie agent, but still…

It makes me wonder about other games with similar themes. If I just met a girl I’ve fallen in love with, would it be more engrossing to play a game with a similar plot? I think a Silent Hill game or two did this with family members. I think a deeper plot element with close personal relationships would be big in gaming if done correctly (I could be missing this, since I can’t stand RPG’s). Like sometimes the need for a suspenseful movie, I could look for the same in a game. Something to do with a Father/Daughter relationship? Brotherly love? Friendship? I generally skip this in favor for gameplay, but Case Zero has probably changed the way I look at things. I’m now more interested in playing Heavy Rain since it is deep in personal relationships – but will the gameplay keep me going? The demo was a bit slow for me…

But back to Case Zero; what Capcom has done here is excellent. No surprise really since Lost Planet 2 is such an awesome game. Honestly, I want to see more of these $5 mini-games that also give you a good impression of the full game while supplementing story and possibly affecting the that said full game.

Now…Zombrex or High Stakes Edition?

You might have seen Chad’s breaking post below. You might have even been on the internet yesterday. I was actually on an airplane during the whole mess, so I’m a little late to the game. Unfortunately Microsoft has decided to add an extra $10 for a year of XBox Live Gold. I think it’s pretty stupid, but it’s a business decision that went like this:

Microsoft did the research. The number of members that may not renew or start a new account, while being affected by the pricing, will still pull in the money. These gamers have games invested, time invested, and XBL friends. They are, in a sense, stuck. Also, $10 extra is not a lot. It’s just a shit thing to do.

A shit thing to do. Companies do things for business purposes, but sometimes, a company will let certain ideas go for the sake of the customer. Microsoft went from the latter to the former. I also think Sony screwed up. Their PSN Plus service offers me absolutely nothing that I care to spend $50 a year on. I don’t even get any instant gratification from giving them that $50.

The price won’t kill me, or anyone really – Microsoft knows this. The problem here is that they are doing this to us. If they can come out with a good reason for it, I’m all ears. Microsoft is doing less for us and more for them. The opposite of what they did for us when creating the brand (though I’ve heard they turned down making Dreamcast games playable on the XBox, so I’m starting to get even more pissed).

I tend to avoid sandbox-style games (especially if you play a law-breaking character) because they always do the the same things and never anything new. I still try them, though. Red Faction: Geurilla worked because it did so much different. Destrcutible environments, Martian setting, crazy sci-fi gadgets, etc. Wheelman introduced the greatest driving mechanic in sandbox gaming (hey devs, any of you plan to expand on that…please?). Just Cause introduced verticalness. Problem with others, they do the same thing. Nothing to get me to want to go back. This might be what sells and makes my rant rather pointless, but I expected more. Just Cause 2 is the same but restricted freedom. Stunning visuals and great marketing made gamers think this was a better game than the first, alas, ’tis not true. Crackdown 2 gave me no reason to do it all again. Red Dead Redemption, while I may get flack for this, had the problem of GTA IV’s horrible controls. GTA IV…just more of the same really.

This same is a few things. First, there’s always a map. It could be a western, or my main point, Mafia II, and there’s still a magical mini-map. To me, that just throws out all immersion. I would have loved it if in RDR, all you could do was pull out a map you somehow obtained. It should be part of your inventory. And if you’re lost, go up to an NPC with the map out and they will point out where you are. Or if you’re alone, use the sun or moon. Mafia II threw me off today. I couldn’t help but feel I was playing your average sandbox game but with a different skin. Secondly, I get to some timed missions. They are not fun, just filler between the fun. It starts to feel like a chore. Wheelman did a good job by making all the chore missions optional, but by doing them you upgrade certain aspects of your character, be that driving or shooting. Red Faction made chore missions still affect the entire game as a whole, as you may have destroyed an enemy instillation that later on allows you to waltz through. That is what sandbox really is.

If I’m going to continue to play these sandbox games, there needs to be less me too, and more immersion.

And all this from a couple hours of Mafia II.

If you’re one of the many (thanks) followers of BlueGamer on Twitter or Facebook, you know you get regular, interesting news from the video game industry. Most of that is thanks to gaming sites that include sharing options in their articles. For some reason it has slowly gone away, and I’m not sure why. It would only benefit these sites by possibly getting new viewers that stumble upon mine – or others’ – tweets. It has come to a point where it is difficult for me to do this. I used to just click a button or two and there’s a headline and link to the article. Now, with the absence of said functions, I’d have to type out the headline and create a link. Yeah, that shouldn’t be too big of a deal but I think it would make it easier for everyone if these tools were never removed in the first place.

Game Informer – They’ve got Facebook, but it’s limiting. Phil Kollar has told me they are working on the sharing tools, so they get a pass for now.

Kotaku – They’ve got a tweet option – but I don’t like Kotaku. Articles tend to be written with certain intentions in mind, and as good of a writer as Stephen Totilo is, I can’t help but think he has little clue on what he’s writing about. Apparently he just played Doom for the first time. I dunno…

Joystiq – This was my go-to guy. Ping.fm is mandatory as it shares with both Twitter and the Bluegamer.net facebook Fan Page. They removed all sharing functions except for “like” for Facebook. That is seriously lame. Their sibling, Engadget, has a nice tweet link at the bottom of their articles, and like Kotaku, it brings up a window with the text so you could edit it before initializing the tweet. I’m still baffled at why Joystiq removed these functions in the first place…

GiantBomb – I think the community here sucks as talked about on the Bluecast. Sucky doesn’t stop there, as the tweet links only work sometimes. And when they do, they aren’t set to auto-shorten URL’s, so you might as well create the tweet yourself.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun – Awesome for gaming news…but it’s only PC. They have the sharing thing going on correctly, but Twitter as the only option sucks. Again, Ping.fm is mandatory for me. I don’t mind copying the twitter link and pasting it into my Ping.fm Chrome extension, but still…

Let me know if I’ve missed any sites. These are just what I find when looking for news. N4G…you never know if it’s real, so I just avoid. If any of these sites are interested, Bluegamer.net has a neat sharing function, similar to what Joystiq used to have.

I will repeat, BlueGamer.net has the greatest sharing function in the gaming-blogsphere. Let’s just hope that helps me out in some way…

Since I moved into the new place, access to generations of consoles has never been easier. When I have guests over, the console of choice is usually the Dreamcast. That’s how awesome guest visits are. A thread in a forum I frequent sparked the interest of Propeller Arena. This was a Dreamcast title that I had been looking forward to during the console’s life. I’m a fan of aviation titles, and had imported the Aero Dancing games from Japan and am a huge fan of Air Force Delta. I tell ya, the Dreamcast had it all. Anyway, Propeller Arena got cancelled after completion. This was due to the attacks on 9/11. The game incorporated combat flying and skyscrapers. Would it have hurt Sega worse to release the game? My life’s eternal pains – the failure of the Dreamcast, the Alien vs. Predator movie, and no chance of Snipes in a Blade 4.

Anyway, not too long after cancellation, an image of the game popped up on the internet. At this time I really didn’t know where to look nor had the connection or capabilities of getting the game into a playable state on my Dreamcast. Since the recent interest, in a matter of minutes I found the image, put it on a CD and loaded it up on the Dreamcast. It’s an amazingly fun game. Arcade air combat with a killer soundtrack, comprised of awesome punk music – very similar to Crazy Taxi all-around.

But like I always am with my gadgetry, I wanted to play this in the best way possible. I have the VGA adapter for the Dreamcast, but internet searches just led me to the answer of ‘no’. That is, most newer TV’s can’t display the Dreamcast’s resolution out of the box. It would require a scaler around the $100+ mark, or modification of the VGA box itself – not sure where I’d even start there. I could just hook it up to my computer monitor, but I’m in it for the big screen especially if I have guests over.

So my next project will be find a way to get the VGA resolutions out of my DC on my big screen. It’s a mandatory assignment and I’ll post as I progress.

QuakeCon has started and I will be there. Luckily it’s one of those cons that is local, so getting there is not an issue. Unlike PAX, where I’d have to get a flight, hotel, food, etc. Can’t do that now. I’ll actually be in Florida during PAX. One day I’ll make it there…

I’ve been playing the Scott Pilgrim game on PSN. I got it on PSN instead of waiting for the XBLA version for a few reasons: $8 through Ubi’s store, no online play…and that’s about it. First impressions were okay. Once I “got it” I realized this is just River City Ransom. At first, I was put off by this because with all the time put into that game I knew I was done forever. But with the music, graphics, and random video game references throughout, the game has me. Not thinking I’d do local co-op, I had a couple buddies over for three player. Luckily, I had the DS3 for rumble, the SIXAXIS that came with the unit, and an adapter to use a PS2 controller (used for 2D Pad for my SHMUPS). So setting it up was no problem. It’s fun, but the time put in singleplayer doesn’t translate well for multiplayer, unless the other players are roommates, family, or significant others. It just takes time.

The music in this is good. From Anamanaguchi:

And a few of us will be hitting up the midnight showing for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. I’m about 90% back to health, so I hope between QuakeCon, midnight showing, and daughter time, my body still has a chance to fully recover.

I got re-sick this weekend. I went a week with strep, and I guess my body knew I was half-assing it when I decided to down some Woodchuck on Friday night. That led to an uncomfortable Saturday with the bacteria rising from the dead to once again infiltrate my tonsils, and Sunday plopped on the couch to really allow my immune system to work without interruption. I don’t feel too bad because I was able to take my daughter out Saturday. I meant to do the same Sunday, but I instead filled it with movies, coincidentally, of the gaming variety – Tekken, King of Kong, and Second Skin.

A straight to video Tekken movie is really all most people need to hear to avoid it. As with my games, I’m one to give this stuff a shot. For instance, the DoA movie turned out to be one of my favorite films ever, and Tekken is quite similar. While darker, Tekken does a good job of sticking with the source material and giving the actors awesome costumes to match their virtual counterparts. People complain when movies don’t use likenesses, but then complain when they do because of the literal game to film translation – but I’m one that loves Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, so cheesy costumes are just my thing. Like DoA, the girls in this were pretty nice. In the past I wouldn’t normally admit to this kind of thing, but just enough skin on some hot girls and the movies got itself some bonus points. The actor playing Christie was smoking, and the pants she wore were quite a revelation. We need to get these in regular style. In the end, the movie was very enjoyable with very little slow-down and great visuals. Recommended for gamers…not sure about anyone else.

King of Kong is a documentary about how the world records for popular 80′s arcade games started and the people making those scores, along with current competition. I gotta say the idea of Twin Galaxies is awesome, as an international score keeping entity. But Billy Mitchell is an ass. While it started off showing him as a respectable badass gamer, he then shuns away from live tournaments out of fear. During this, an up and coming competitor, Steve Wiebe, scores higher but they wont accept it because it wasn’t live. Steve redeems himself live, but Mitchell sends a tape upping that score which the fucking Twin Galaxies accepts – total bullshit. Yeah, they went back and wrote Steve a letter apologizing, but as a gamer myself, Twin Galaxies will not be something I recognize. The in-people are the top scorers – shits gonna be fixed. Interesting movie, but pretty depressing representation of hardcore gamers.

Lastly, Second Skin. Not what I was hoping for, but this documentary followed around MMO addicts. People that met online, bonds formed, addiction, etc. It never really went anywhere instead of just pointing out what any addiction/obsession would do to you, but my favorite had to do with a guy from PA. He tried getting help but it didn’t work out for him. So on his own, he loses fifty or more pounds and gets a good job, getting his life back in shape. Good for him. But it brought up a point. For some of these people, if you replaced the computer with a TV showing a football game, you’d have the same damn thing. Society just doesn’t get that yet.

Now to get rid of the bacteria. I may just nap early…no gaming for me.

StarCraft 2 is a fun game. It’s within my favorite genre, real-time strategy, specifically the base-building variety. There aren’t many more base-building, resource-gathering RTS’s anymore. C&C 4 really changed that up, and DoW2′s base-building is extremely on the light side – in favor of unit customization, but still a ton of fun. But this is where my point comes in; StarCraft 2 is still the same game from 1998. That’s not a bad thing, but it doesn’t do anything new. But at the same time, base-building RTS’s just haven’t been popular anymore. They have their initial release, some campaign talk, then drop out of existance. That is, except for Blizzard’s StarCraft. But why?

StarCraft is easy. Maybe not against a bunch of Zerg AI or a Korean opponent, but the actually strategy involved is small. Though, the professionals have the math down. There are calculations for build order and such which then makes those higher-level matches about time rather than actual skill to stand your ground. That’s what I dislike about that type of RTS.

This is where Command & Conquer comes in. That RTS really had me pulled in and I’m sure I’ve played much more than StarCraft (though, I can only ever get people to play SC online so it’s possible my multiplayer time is higher in that regard). C&C always had factions with completely different unit types. While SC or SCII may seem that way, you can actually pick any unit and find its comparable counterpart from another faction. And micro-managing. Later C&C’s made it important to keep units alive in order for them to gain veterancy. Also, earlier C&C’s were really about skill in regard to maps. They were assymetrical and the resources were randomy scattered. Tiberian Sun even had a random map generator. It wasn’t about the map or how quick you were – maps were whatever – you just had to create a good army and good defense. I don’t know how to stress this enough – it wasn’t about the map, but how you manage your army.

With that, StarCraft II isn’t doing anything new or interesting, and it’s selling like mad. I think that’s good for the name of base-building RTS’s. I hope to see more devs working on BBRTS’s. Though, I hope they add some innovation. Like in Act of War, purchasing an upgrade that allows troops to use non-lethal combat, so you could then capture enemies and gain a secondary income source. See? That’s micro-managing. Or how about attaching commanders and/or squad leaders to groups of units for bonuses? For the record, I’m not a fan of building infantry as squads. Ew. But, Dawn of War is fucking fun.

What StarCraft 2 did right was with the campaign. It is large, with many possibilities. Path-branching, upgrading, and very story-driven. There’s gameplay here between the missions. It is very cool. I’m about the finish the game so hopefully my review will be up soon.

The last post was a whiny bitchfest. But I thought I was justified in my bitching. Out of fucking nowhere, StarCraft 2 is at my door this morning, delivered by UPS. So, to back up a bit, GameStop had my order on 5-10 day shipping. They were then offering free three-day shipping to CE purchases. I contacted them to see if I could get the three-day shipping, but they said my order has been processed so it’s too late. That sounded like BS.

But now, the very next day, StarCraft 2 is at my door? Either they listened to my bitching and fixed the shipping without telling me, or this is just the way the shipping was the whole time – still not telling me. Still lacking in the customer service, but hey, I now have the game. And it is beautiful.

The CE on my desk.

This is how a Collector’s Edition should be. I wish more games did this as I like gaming memorabilia. There’s a soundtrack, behind the scenes DVD, giant art book, comic, and a USB flash drive that looks like Jim Raynor’s dog tag that has SC and Brood War on it. That’s epically awesome.

As for the game, so far they are doing things right. It runs beautifully, looks gorgeous, and adds just enough – not too much – to keep it more of the same. In between missions, you are in a hub-like environment with little story tidbits throughout and options for upgrading your troops. Kind of like DoW2, but unfortunately not that awesome. The full base-building of SC2 and the customizing of DoW2 would be the greatest RTS ever…if it was in the Tiberian universe (hehe).

I’m not surprised StarCraft 2 is awesome, but there’s a part of me that wants the upgrading of the single-player to some how work in the multiplayer, only to give the multiplayer that deeper level of play. C&C4 tried it, but they didn’t really make a game with that one…

I’d normally be at something like a ‘StarCraft II Midnight Launch’. But I’m not this time. I mean, I guess I could be there to watch everyone buy the game and take it home to play, but I won’t be a purchaser. I’d feel left out. See, back in April Gamestop had a promotion where you could buy the Collector’s Edition of SCII for only $80 – a good $20 off the regular price. This Collector’s Edition is pretty badass. I’m all for waiting on the shipping. Though, at the time there was an option for free 5-10 day shipping. I was down with that. Now, there’s an option for free 3-day shipping. I contacted Gamestop about changing the shipping, but they say they can’t since the order is already processed. I say that’s a bunch of BS. My account doesn’t even show the game as shipped. There’s a two day processing…process as well. That seems like plenty of time to change the shipping.

I’m pretty pissed.

I don’t need it right away, but after all the good Gamestop has been doing as the largest gaming retailer, a little customer service problem like this should have been handled similar to – oh, I don’t know, how Amazon works?

Something as simple as changing shipping on an order that is still ‘open’ with a two-day processing…process, should be taken care of.