We all remember the good times we had crawling through dark castle corridors shooting tons of nazis only to be confronted by a giant mechanized hitler in the end. Well, maybe some of you new gamers don't remember it, but the madness that is Castle Wolfenstein has been a long time staple in PC gaming. Set in 1943, the new Wolfenstein plans on delivering that same kind of over the top, nazi packed, alien invading, depravity insuing madness that the series has long been known for.

The name game in the series, whether a working title, is currently called "Wolfenstein". The game itself is currently planned for simultaenous release across the PC, 360, and PS3. Nazis are making a glorious return, and have found alien artifacts. Them nazis are going back to their evil ways and plan on performing all kinds of world shacking madness. Its up to you, a trusty tommy gun, and your own ingenuity to battle back hordes of nazi alien scum! You'll be greeted by the common spree of old WW2 guns that everyone has grown to hate over the last few years, as well as a plethora of alien beam weapons.

Combine two parts Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, the inevitable trip to the drug filled city of Amsterdam, and all the beer you can possibly imagine and you have the stereotypical trip to the Benelux. As part of my search for all things great Vandal decided to take a trip to the most random European country he could think of, Belgium. Located somewhere east of France, Belgium is home to some of the strangest individuals the world has ever seen. Whether you're wandering the red light districts or playing Wii Fit in some dark alley with a bunch of French speaking chicks, Belgium has a lot to offer. I'm currently enrolled inVrije Universiteit Brussels,a Dutch speaking college. Funny thing is, I don't even speak any Dutch. Video games are an integral part in the daily life of a Belgian student. Posters are scattered about depicting what could only be described as Guitar Hero tournaments on acid. Belgians also tend to hate the PS3. As you walk down the street you notice that all the electronic shops are filled with PS3s, and everyone laughs when you mention one. The Wii is seen as even more of a toy than in America. The only way you're going to find one is if you're in a child's toy store standing next to the GI Joes.

The Beginning of the End

I've been a long time Silent Hill fan, and have bought practically every last thing Konami has put out. The picture books, Origins, the novels, details of backstory, etc. Whatever has the Silent Hill name I tend to buy. Its not suprise that I've been following Silent Hill 5 closely. Its one of the sequals to my favorite franchise of all time! After seeing this shot in a german magazine I was shooting up White Claudia and scrambling for my Silent Hill 2 game while trying to tie the new hero to the old cast:



And then came the illfate day of April 26, 2008. I was browsing neogaf forums looking for some good gaming news when I came across some media concerning Silent Hill [Homecoming]. Apparently there have been new footage released of the game. So I non-challantly opened the thread and began perusing the pictures. To my chagrin, it seems as if the entire character model for the character had changed, and the graphics turned to some unrecognizable mush!



Needless to say I was distraught. I kept trying to find a reason why the graphics would have taken such a HUGE downgrade. Was it something that happened? Was the game lost in translation? Or was it merely a mix up, and screenshots of an unnanounced Wii version of the game were accidently released? The latter question was the one that gave me comfort. Maybe my favorite franchise of all time would still be left intact. But then it hit me. I saw a link to new gameplay videos of the 360 version of the game. I knew it was the 360 version because it had the 360 version controls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Spb1pvbVklU

Those horrible texture and changed character model stared me down, beating me into the painful truth. Many people on the neo gaf forums are beginning to tell me that they downgraded the visuals so everyone on every platform would be getting a similar experience. I thought to myself, "So help me god, if thats the case the world will see an even more vengeful wrath that makes Fallout Vandal look like Princess Zelda". I'm still skeptic, as this hasn't been confirmed yet. Could this merely be some early Wii version that didn't get its control buttons phased over? I'm overly optimistic, but so help me god. Mark my words if the Wii screwed up my favorite franchise of all time, there WILL be heck to pay.

4:10PM EST: Door Steps

Like all good stories, my journey started around a bottle of beer. Today is the festive day of New Years Eve, and to celebrate my buddy decided to show up at my door step asking for some beer for his party later tonight. In order to weasle the beer away from my parents, I decided to make the decision to pretend I was going out to buy a Wii. Upon giving my unnamed buddy the Red Hook ESB Original Ale (5% Alcohol), he gave me two bucks....two bucks that would change the course of history........forever.

4:15PM EST: Outside my Car

My unnamed buddy asked me if I could give him a ride over to the mall because he wanted to get something for his girlfriend. Having already told my parents I was going out, I decided this was going to be a wise decision. On our way over to the mall my friend began to feel extremely hungry, so I decided to treat him to some Krystals.

4:32PM EST: Drive-Through Window

We arrived at Krystals and the line was totally cleared up. Because my friend is a huge goliath, he decided to order a dozen Krystal burgers, which are about the size of a quarter of a regular burger. (So like, four Krystal burgers = Mcdonalds burger...so like, he ate five burgers or something). It took him some time to finish up those burgers and then we set our sites on the mall.

4:40PM EST: Stop Light.

Between the mall and the Krystals was one very large intersection that also happened to be right next to the Toys'r'us. A fat lady and her kid had just pulled up beside us as I turned downed the radio because Eminem - Rain Man was on, and thats not the kind of song you listen to when two dudes are in a car. I just so happened to hear the fat lady talking on the phone with the clerk at Toys'R'us. She had this really happy look on her face as the boy rolled down the window. "Wassup dood?" I asked. "They got Wiis over at the Toys'R'Us!" said the tween. "OH ***** MONKIES!" my buddy yelled out loud. "We gotta get over there dawg, thats the Wii". 4:50PM EST: Line inside Toys'R'Us

As we sat in line we began to see a few people getting Wiis, which only served to highten our expectations. The guy right in front of me walked up to the counter and began to have a winded conversation with the clerk about the PSP and DS, something I was getting extremely irritated about because there was only one clerk working. I promptly told the old bugger that the PSP was 129.99 and that he needs to go to a used bookstore to get the dang thing because this is Wii time, and I want my Wii. 4:51PM EST: Talking to the clerk as the man sulked away.

What follows is the conversation that took place between me and the clerk:

Vandal: "So whatsup man?"

Clerk: Nuttin much, what can I do for ya?

Vandal: So I saw ya'll had some Wiis, can I get in on that hot joystick action?

Clerk: *Odd Look*

Vandal: I wanna buy a Wii -_-

Clerk: Oh ok, one second sir.

*Clerk scurries off into the back*

Clerk: You're really lucky sir, we only have exactly one Wii left.

As the clerk said that, the fat lady that I had met on the road got frustrated and the kid who had been so awesome suddenly started crying as he said, "You stole my Wii :,(". Of course I could care less, as I walked off with a ton of games and a Wii!

The total ammount? 535 dollars, the ammount in my wallet? 535 dollars.

My Vandal senses are tingling! *Starts dancing to rain man*

HALO 3 IS OUT!

So yeah, thats one incredibly random intro, and two things that seem like they would have nothing in common. If you thought that, boy were you wrong. A few nights ago me and about five friends decided to camp out for the long awaited sequal to the unanimously declared "Best console shooter". Whether or not thats true is for another discussion. We're here today to talk about the travesty that occured after I got home from the three hour long campout with a tournament afterwards. (Guess who won? ......Some random fat guy that beat me by just a few kills. ***** leaping monkey energy sword wieling elites) All that randomness aside, what occured as I got home would be written down as the greatest tragedy in all my life time of gaming.

It all started after the grand introduction came and the great music that we've all come to know and love came on the screen. The Buddhist chanting combined with the awesome smell of my metal limited edition case filled my room with an orgy of awesome. I began to slowly connect to Xbox Live and was greeted by tons of shinning lights representing my comrades in arms across the world. "HE** YES!" I shouted in anticipation as I began connecting to what I thought was going to be the greatest first match of my entire life.

The screen blackened, a loading icon popped up, eight players began to fill my screen (none that I knew), and I was itching for an amazing first person adventure! Little did I know that someone in the room knew who I was, and called me out; "Hey its Vandal! I'm gonna rape you foo" shouted the scary voice from across the microphone. I was both startled and scared at the prospect of some random person on the internet threatening to rape me over a game of Halo. I quickly left the room and shuttered in the corner for the next half hour.


So was my first day of Halo extravaganza.

I'm one of the most avid supporters for PC games you'll ever find. I love the large ammount of content, great graphics, and enriching competitive multiplayer atmosphere you just can't find on consoles. One thing that does tick me off, however, is the blatant disregard for quality control that you find in many PC games. This has been brought to light while sitting around in vent drinking some Gatoraide and whiskey while the effiminent priest in my guild was complaining about the state of World of Warcraft.

World of Warcraft, as many of you know, is a popular PC game that has thousands........no millions of subscribers. Blizzard was the company who made this game. Blizzard used to be a company known for amazingly high quality games and cared for their customer. While they do still make great games, their growing pains from such a succesful title has caused flagrant disregard for their consumers. They have neglected the state of their game to the point that end game content has become a mine feild of tedium treking through green bars and emergency monitors.

The fix it later mentality of PC developers needs to change, it HAS TO CHANGE. Their disregard for quality control could turn in to a huge problem down the road. Don't come crying to us when Starcraft 2 sells like balls in America because you neglected your consumers. Have fun in Korea.