Video game reviews, rants, complaints and praises!

• 28Mar 09

  New Gaming PC!

  Well, I finally caved and decided to build a new gaming rig. My old compter (specs are in an older blog posting) was on its last leg. Blue screen after blue screen and now the old rig's video card was dying: that's what the final straw was that broke the camel's back. Below are the specs of my new rig:

  • AMD Phenom II X4 920 2.8ghz quad core Processor
  • Gigabyte GA-MA770 ATX Motherboard
  • G.Skill 4gb DDR2 1066 memory
  • XFX GeForce 9800gtx + 512mb GDDR3 Video Card
  • Seagate Barracuda 250gb 7200rpm Hard Drive
  • LG Dvd Burner
  • OCZ Fatal1ty 550w Modular PSU
  • Antec 900 ATX Gaming Computer Case
  • Windows Vista Home Premium
  • 19'' Gateway widescreen monitor
  • 19'' HP widescreen monitor

  Well, thats it! I also picked up Dawn of War II, Mass Effect and EVE Online, all of which play beautifully on the new rig.

  • Posted Mar 28, 2009 8:22 am PT
  • Category: Computers
  • 5 Comments

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• 15Feb 09

  PSP 3000: First Impressions and Review

  Hey guys, just got me a brand, spanking new PSP 3000. And guess what....I LOVE IT! Here's what I got:

  • PSP-3001
  • 4 GB Memory Stick
  • Official Sony PSP Case
  • Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

  Here's what sold me on getting one:

  • Sleek, slim design. Its incredibly light!
  • The game selection. I'm a huge fan of older RPGs and all the ports of older PSX games is what drew me to the handheld. Not to mention the newer games that are out for it: God Of War: Chains of Olympus, Patapon and Crisis Core.
  • Remote Play. Probably one of the coolest features to ever grace us with it's presence on a handheld. Within 20 minutes of opening the box, I was streaming my music and video from my PC to my PS3 to the new PSP! The ability to play your older PSX titles is also really frickin' cool (loading up Xenogears and playing on the PSP was pretty sweet).
  • The screen can get pretty bright, which is great for playing outside on a sunny day.

  Although the device is great overall, there were a few areas I found myself to be a little disappointed and hope Sony improves upon in the future:

  • Only 802.11 B wireless support. Especially with the advent of Wireless N technology and the ability to stream music and most notably video, I'm a bit disappointed to see an older network standard in a device that can do so much. Wireless G would have been better!
  • The web browser. It's slow and clunky. I'm not entirely surprised, however, that the browser on the PSP wouldnt be very good; the browser on the PS3 isnt very good either.
  • No bluetooth support. I'm not really talking about bluetooth for the sake of file transfers (thats what the wireless is used for!) but rather for peripheral support, especially since the PSP can support Skype. The ability to sync a bluetooth headset, for example, for multiplayer and for Skype would have been pretty cool.

  • Posted Feb 15, 2009 6:39 pm PT
  • Category: Editorial
  • 1 Comment

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• 31Jan 09

  I Need A New PC

  Man, it's been a while since my last post. Well, I've finally beaten MGS4! I have to say it's one of the best video games ever made. I'll never forget the microwave tunnel scene and smashing the hell out of the triangle button to keep Snake moving! The cinematography is stunning! In my opinion it surpasses many movies out there today. Truly, its light years ahead of any other video game to date. Let's see, I've also beaten Prince of Persia. Not a bad game at all, it had its problems but definitely worth the $40 (yay for Gamestop sales!).

  But moving on to the reason for this post. I think I need a new PC. I'm hoping someone can give me some advice because I've been out of the PC gaming scene for a few years now and I'm looking to get back into it. I dont even know if my current rig can run any of the games I'm looking to play. For those who are willing to help, here's my current build:

  • Pentium 4 3.0ghz
  • 1GB RAM
  • XFX nVidia GeForce 6600gt
  • 250GB PATA Hard drive
  • 450watt PSU
  • Windows XP MCE 2005

  I'm looking to play mostly older titles (i.e. games that came out about 1-2 years ago) like: Titan Quest, Guild Wars (maybe), The Witcher, Mass Effect, and World In Conflict.

  So yeah, there ya have it. I'm debating whether or not to just upgrade what I currently have (like add more RAM, new video card, etc) or just simply build a new rig from the ground up. Anyone got any advice?

  • Posted Jan 31, 2009 9:35 am PT
  • Category: Computers
  • 2 Comments

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• 27Nov 08

  I'm Back!

  After seven months, I've decided Philadelphia wasnt the place for me and I've returned to good 'ol Virginia. The job market in Philly (and the surrounding towns) was god awful. Nearly 3 months of hardcore job hunting practically got me no where, couple that with the high cost of city living and the insane crime rate, and you'll begin to understand why I decided to leave.

  Well, I've been back in VA for about two and a half weeks now and things are going really really well for me. Here's a quick break down of the good news:

  Within a week and a half I was able to land a job. I am now an Account Executive for Cobb Technologies

  Michele (my gf) was able to land a job quicker than me. So now we are both working again!

  The cost of living is alot lower here in VA, we're able to save a lot more money.

  Finding a new tenant for our place in Philly was easy, so now I wont have to pay rent and I'll be able to officially "break" the lease, thus breaking all my ties with Philly.

  Lastly, upon telling a friend that I needed a new phone for work, he offered up his 1st gen iPhone for practically nothing. So now I'm rolling with an iPhone thats in pristine condition.

  Basically to sum things up, I cant believe the luck we've had moving back. Things seem to be falling into place and seem to finally be working out after seven long months of trudging through what seemed like an endless amount of **** Now that I finally have the internet up and running where I live (FiOS!), I can now get back to gaming again! Anyone care to join me?

  • Posted Nov 27, 2008 7:29 am PT
  • Category: Other
  • 1 Comment

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• 24Oct 08

  Resistance 2 Beta First Impressions

  I finally was able to snag up a Resistance 2 Beta key from d/l Qore Ep. 3. The download took about 2 and 1/2 hours total and the intsall was quick. For those of you wondering, the beta consists of a small portion of just the multiplayer aspect of the game, specifically the Cooperative and Competitve play.

  So far all I've played is the co-op and let me tell you: its freakin' amazing. The classes seemed to be balanced pretty well. For example, games that have too many of one class or too few of another class tend to wipe at some point in the mission. I've played all three classes, they are as follows: Soldier, Medic, and Spec-Ops. Essentially, each class has their own weapons and special skills. As you play through co-op you'll recieve XP for just about anything you do such as killing enemies, completing objectives, giving ammo, etc. Each class's roll is pretty straight forward: the soldier is the "tank" of the group, he's got big guns and has an energy shield he can deploy to protect him and his group; the medic heals the group by draining the health of enemy units; and spec-ops does high damage weapons and supplies the group with ammo.

  There's only one map in the beta (for co-op), but to be honest its more than enough. I've played probably close 15 or 16 co-op missions and each time the objectives were different. Not sure how that works or whether when you host a game you can select which objectives/missions to play, as I wasnt able to host a game (kept getting network errors).

  Speaking of errors and glitches, seeing how this is a beta, I should probably let you all know how those are doing. Well the biggest problem I've come across is connecting/hosting games. Sometimes you'll just get error after error after error and you wont be able to connect to games at all. I attempted hosting a few games of my own but they all resulted in "Failed to connect to server" or "Network Error." I imagine though since the beta just went public that might account for the server issues.

  Other than that the game ran great. No graphical glitches of any kind. The framerate was awesome! In many of the games I've played the number of units on screen and the amount of explosions and gun fire should have bogged the system down, but the game held its ground and I havent even experienced one frame rate hiccup!

  The graphics are a HUGE upgrade over the original game's, although I will say they arent spectacular by any means, but the game still looks pretty good. The sound is excellent. Even with all the explosions and gunfire (which sound awesome) I was still able to hear my teammates talk (the ones who had a headset).

  Overall, this game has definitely lived up to the hype in my opinion. As I said earlier, I believe the beta is now public, all you need to do is sign up on the website and you should get a key. If youre even remotely interested in shooters and/or multiplayer games that emphasize teamwork, you NEED to play this game! I cannot wait for Nov. 4th!

  • Posted Oct 24, 2008 2:42 pm PT
  • Category: Games
  • 2 Comments

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• 20Oct 08

  Hello Friends: An Introduction

  Hopefully some of you will read this, but I'm doubting that any will. But here it goes. Well, I'm fairly new to this whole Gamespot and blogging thing and figured since the majority of you guys on my "friends" list dont know anything about me I should probably introduce myself and let you all know a little bit about me. Plus, its like 1:30am here (Philadelphia) and I'm bored as hell. So without further adeu:

  Hello. My name is Thomas. Obviously, I enjoy video games immensely, but we'll delve further into that in a bit. I'm 23 years old, I grew up in Sterling, VA (a suburb of DC). I attended Christopher Newport University in Newport News, VA (southern VA, sandwiched between colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, Virginia Beach and Norfolk). In May, after an arduous five years, I finally graduated college with a Bachelor's in Classical Studies (for those who might ask, Classical Studies is the study of ancient, albeit, Greek and Latin, history and literature). In June, I moved to Philadelphia, PA to pursue a PhD in Classical Studies at the Univerisity of Pennsylvania and in mid September I came to the realization that I didnt want to spend my 20s trudging through school until I was 30ish. So, I left school and decided to enter the professional workforce. And well, now, I'm still looking for a job. Ugh.

  But, we'll move on. That's pretty much who I am and where I came from. Now for the good stuff: hobbies and interests! Obviously, I enjoy the internet (hence the blogging) and I enjoy video games (hence the blogging on a video game website). I've been playing video games since I was a wee little booger. I used to watch my older sisters play Super Mario Bros. on the original NES and was amazed. My first console was the Sega Genesis and, my god, I loved the god damn thing. Unfortunately, it broke some years back and I've never replaced it I currently own a PS3, PC and a Wii (although I dont play it much and its, in all reality, my girlfriend's). I like just about any game genre out there. Although, I tend to lean towards RPGs (love, love, love Final Fantasy!) and action games. I'm really beginning to warm up to racing and shooters as well.

  Obviously, I have other hobbies/interests other than gaming. As I stated earlier, I have a degree in Classical Studies. I enjoy ancient literature. Yes, it sounds really nerdy and maybe a little weird (ok, well it kinda is) but trust me, Latin and Greek is ten times more emphatic of a language than English and some of the story telling (especially Homer and Vergil) is probably some of the greatest pieces to ever be written in the history of Western civilization.

  As a (self proclaimed) nerd, I also enjoy technology. I'm tech and gadget freak. I own several computers (both PC and Mac) and I love to tinker with em. Generally, if some crazy new gadget comes out, I usually drool over it for a month then I attempt to scrounge together any cash I have to get it.

  I really really really enjoy movies as well. My DVD collection is huge and now I'm beginning to collect Blu-ray movies as well. Lets see, some of my favorite movies of all time would be (this is off the top of my head, so bear with me): Demolition Man, The Fifth Element, LOTR, all the Star Wars movies, really any movie that deals with the ancient world like Troy, Gladiator, 300; Back to the Future trilogy, all the Indiana Jones movies, just about any super hero movie, etc etc etc, and there's a **** load more that I cant think of.

  Ok, moving on. Not all my hobbies/interests are nerdy. I also enjoy art and design. I'm learning design and web design in my free time (my gf is teaching me, she's a professional designer). I enjoy sketching and I like to paint, although I'm not very good at it. Also, I do some "manly" things as well. I love football. I'll watch just about any sport. I used to go snowboarding alot when I was in high school and in my early years of college. I also love to play baseball and football.

  Well, I've rambled for quite too long. Thats pretty much who I am. I'd love to chat about any of the above (especially Classics, if youre into that sorta thing). Just drop me a message.

  • Posted Oct 20, 2008 11:00 pm PT
  • Category: People
  • 0 Comments

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• 18Oct 08

  Initial Thoughts: A Pleasant Surprise

  

  I am not a fan of the horror genre. I am not big on playing a "shooter," whether it be first person or third person. But on the recommendation of a friend I caved in and bought Dead Space. So what are my initial thoughts, you might ask? Well, well, well, lets see: surprise is the first thing that comes to my mind! The game is actually pretty good, pretty damn good.

  The first thing I noticed were the amazing graphics and voice acting. The gameplay is pretty fun and the story is (so far) surprisingly captivating. I always figured most horror games to be cheap scares with alot of gore. Dead Space still brings the gore (which I'm ok with) but its more suspenseful than scary, which I like. As for the "shooter" aspect, its pretty entertaining. Its nice that I dont have to just simply pump round after round into any part of the alien to bring it down. Instead, I need to take the time to aim and blow off their limbs. The use of stasis and kinesis in combat also adds a nice element and it livens things up!

  So far this game is pretty damn good, especially considering 1) the fact I dont like these types of games and 2) never really heard of the game (or heard any hype for that matter) until about a week before its release. This is definitely a most welcomed pleasant little surprise!

  • Posted Oct 18, 2008 10:12 pm PT
  • Category: Games
  • 5 Comments

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