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?

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’m not sure how to insert links. Maybe you can edit this post Adam. This topic seems totally necessary for the site. The once $49.99/year price tag is jumping and extra $10 a year for a total of $59.99. Why? Well I know why. They want more money and I’m sure people will pay it. This will give the X-box shit-talkers something else to throw in the pot. I will pay the higher price but I don’t like it. They better start overloading the service with more free goodies.

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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.

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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…

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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.

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.