Letter from the Editor - Willy105
I love you guys.
Well, to be honest, there are times where you make me want to smash a real hammer into my skull because of your stupidity, but blame it on me because I still am here, working on a magazine for System Wars. So no matter what a bad idea it is to keep coming to System Wars is, you can always count on us to try to make it all better.
This month is the last issue we will make this year.
We will make one in January, but we just wanted to make sure you knew. Of course, with every year, there is the time of year we declare Game of the Year. By the time this issue gets posted, Gamespot would have already chosen their Game of the Year (NHL 08?), but whatever the winner is, there will be somebody that says it doesn't deserve it. Like us.
THEY DON'T DESERVE IT.
So we made our own Game of the Year special to show OUR picks for Game of the Year! Plus, we have new comics, articles, sentences, and all that stuff that legally qualifies this as a "magazine". We also come with a new graphical styIe, thanks to our brand new graphic designer (say hello), and to celebrate, we made him make wallpapers for all you guys! Enjoy!
You don't deserve it either...this...is...SYSTEM WARS MONTHLY!!!!
Special Report - Tsug_Ze_Wind
Hello SW! I'm Tsug_Ze_Wind, and I'll be your weathersheep as usual.
I hope you all had as good a holiday as I did, and by that I mean I hope you all did nothing but sit around and curse everything for not being open on Christmas.
Christmas was delivered to the lemmings in the form of a chainsaw to the gut, which is still preferable to underwear and socks. The new Metal Gear game that was hinted at on the official website turned out to be on Apple hardware, which any upstanding lemming has burned all they've come in contact with. Not only that, the war continued between Gears 2 and Resistance 2, with Resistance being nominated for GOTY and Gears 2 very strangely absent. I've decided to name this sequence of events "Gearsistance 2: This Time It's Bias."
It's not all bad for the lemmings though, as their community has been cleared of all charges of being the only racist, sexist jerks that exist. PS Home launched earlier this month, or the beta launched, or the beta became public, or some other nonsense, and beta testers/people trying out the feature came upon a startling discovery. IDIOTS EXIST THAT OWN PLAYSTATION 3S. As sightings of racist gangs and droves of stalkers became more common, the world's most idiotic argument was finally put to rest.
As for Home itself, it'll be interesting to see if it actually becomes a valuable feature for the PS3, or if it remains as Penny Arcade described it.
Sheep got a bit of Christmas cheer from Square Enix, who announced Dragon Quest X for the Wii. Then they all decided to become Atheists, as they weren't getting anything under the tree anyway. Q1 '09 does not look to be the savior sheep had hoped for, so...Let's go Q2!
In closing, I'd like to have a moment of silence for the devs that closed their doors this month: Free Radical and Factor 5. This month was just not a good one for devs that began with F and developed bad games on the PS3 recently. I'd also like to have a moment of silence for Gamespot's credibility, but if we had a moment of silence for every time GS killed it, we would be a very quiet board. 'Til next time, Merry Festivus to all.
Halo: A History - Fabz_95
For those of you who are new to the series (if you are then you shouldn't even be on this site) here's a little info on what the series is actually about. Halo is a science fiction FPS created by Bungie and is owned by Microsoft. The series consists of the same main character, who is the Master Chief who has an AI companion called Cortana. The actual title of the game Halo is talking about the megastructures in the game, which are large halo shaped "planets" which are habitable. People have hailed halo as one of the best FPS series ever and was considered the original Xbox's killer app.
Halo CE
The original Halo, known as Halo Combat Evolved, was released as a launch title for the Xbox on the 15th of November, 2001. As the game sold so well ( by November 2005 the game had sold 5 million copies) the game was ported to PC and to Mac in 2003. The game was then released again as an Xbox originall on Xbox Live.
During the game you were accompanied by Cortana who would help you out during the game. The game did brilliantly as many game magazines praised Halo as one of the best and one of the most important games in history, magazines like Edge even gave the game a 10/10. The gameplay was like other FPS's, the game took place at the Master Chiefs eye view and could move around while aiming like any other FPS game. There were quite a few vehicles in the game such as the banshee, warthog, scorpion etc which switched players to a 3rd person camera angle when they occupied one. Some things that made Halo great and unique from other FPS games were its arsenal. It was praised for having an arsenal where each weapon had its own unique purpose.
Overall the game did fantastic getting 9.7 from Gamespot and Ign and even getting IGN GOTY. It also got 96% on gamerankings.
Halo 2
The sequel to Halo CE, again made by Bungie Studios, was released on November 9th, 2004 and was then released for Windows Vista in May 2007. After its release Halo 2 was the most popular video game on Xbox Live. It held this title until Gears of War was released on the 360 almost 2 years later. Halo 2 was the best selling Xbox game selling 8.46 million copies worldwide.
The game featured a brand new engine and also made use of the new Havok physics engine. The game had many more vehicles and weapons and also had a lot more multiplayer maps. The games plot, which was set in the 26th century, was about the future humanity fight a war against the Covenant. The games story was famous for the ending which was a huge cliffhanger. Reception for the game was very positive scoring 9.4 at GS and scored 9.8 at IGN and was hailed the best Xbox game of all time at IGN.
Halo 3
Halo 3, obviously being developed by Bungie, was made exclusive for the Xbox 360. The game is the third game in the Halo series and the game concluded the story of the game. The game was released on 25th of September 2007 and was released in 3 versions, Normal versions, limited edition and legendary edition. One day before the game was released, 4.2 million copies were ready in retail stores worldwide which shows how popular the game was.
The game did so well that it grossed $300 million in its first week! It was so popular that 1 million people played Halo 3 on Xbox live in the first 20 hours. The game featured even more vehicles, weapons and maps then the last game game modes which did not feature in the previous games. You were able to save gameplay movies, share files and were able to edit multiplayer maps using the forge map editor. As usual you controlled Master Chief and were assisted by the human marines. However in this game you were also assisted by an alien race called the Elites.
You can already tell what I'm going to say this time. The reception of the game was brilliant. It got 9.5's from both IGN and Gamespot and scored an average of 93% and 94% for Game rankings and Metacritic.
Other
Although the main series is over ( or is it? ) there are still some Halo games in the work. One of them being Halo wars, an upcoming RTS (real time strategy game) that is set in the Halo world. The game is being made by Ensemble studios and is said to be the last game being made by the company. The game is taking place 20 years before Halo Combat Evolved and 5 characters have been revealed so far. These characters are Captain Cutter, Professor Anders, Sergeant Forge, an unknown arbiter and another AI companion called Serina. The game is said to be released on February 26 2009 for EU, February 27 2009 for JP and March 3 2009 for NA.
Another game being made in the Halo Universe is Halo ODST (formerly known as Halo Recon) is a standalone expansion for Halo 3 and is a prequel to the game. People will take on the role of a UNSC Orbital Drop Shock Trooper and the game is set during the events leading up to Halo 3. Although the game looks similar to the other 3 games, players will be playing in New Mombasa in Kenya. The game will include stealth gameplay and will also include open world gameplay.
Well we've come to the end of another fantastic addition to the "A history" series and I hope you guys enjoyed it!
I'll see you guys next time!
System Wars: The Comic #2 - Nintendo_Tom and Hanky_Panky
This is Issue 2 of System Wars: The Comic, which is the last issue Nintendo_Tom and Hanky_Panky (the original creators) made before they were banned.
Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition Review - Fabz_95
Isn't Leon looking a bit festive today? :P
So Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition... A remake of a 2 year old game...
What's the point? Complete rip-off right?
That might be your initial thoughts, but once you play the game you'll be eating those words...
So what's new with this version?
Well if you only owned the Gamecube version then there's a lot of new things in this version.
Of course there are the Wii controls but we'll talk about that a bit later. First of all there are all the extras that the PS2 version had. Not only does it have all the new weapons that the PS2 version had but it also has extra modes such as Assignment Ada, Separate ways and Mercenaries. Assignment Ada and Separate ways are both brand new missions that are played using Ada, so you can know find out what Ada was doing all those times you were playing as Leon. Mercenaries is a mini-game of sort where you can choose up to 4 different characters. This mini-game is pretty fun, especially as there are a lot of high scores people have made online which are pretty tough to beat.
Ok so what about the people that owned the PS2 version? Is there any reason to buy this version?
Well apart from the new wii controls not much... But the game is worth it just because of the wii controls. Yes they are that good. The controls in the game are brilliant. When shooting, you hold B to take out your gun and you press A to shoot. The controls here are very tight and extremely responsive and are perfect for making those vital headshots. If you were a big fan of the PS2/GC version, the controls in this version will be a breath of fresh air. Motion controls are also used for slashing people with your knife. Even though this is a simple mechanic as you literally just slash the air with your wiimote, as it is a perfect representation of how you would slash someone in real life, it makes slashing someone a lot more satisfying. Motion controls have also been added into the Quick time events. Usually during cut scenes, when one of these came up you would tap a button. In the wii version you peform a certain motion with the wii remote. Although this isn't particularly big it is rather fun shaking the wii remote to make leon run from a boulder :P .
Even though there is no extra content for the wii version is it still worth it?
Yes. Yes it is! The controls make such a difference in the game that it is definitely worth it. The reception the game has recieved is proof of this! And even if you think that you won't think the controls will make that much of a difference, trust me, it will. And plus, this is Resident Evil 4 we're talking about. It's such a brilliant game that don't you just want an excuse to play through the game again. Don't you want to headshot ganados, take out El Gigante, kill ashley for fun, wet your pants when the Novistadors jump out at you all over again?
Whether you're a die hard Resident Evil fan or you've just owned Resident Evil 4 or even if you only have the slightest interest in this game it's worth getting.
The game was brilliant in 2005 and it's still brilliant now and deserves to be in your wii collection.
System Wars: The Comic # 22 - Willy105
System Wars Monthly Exclusive Wallpaper Pack! - Crazy_Player
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System Wars: The Game - Willy105
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