Analog Drift Episode #12 – 12/24/09

Just previewing a few games coming out in 2010: Transformers War For Cybertron, Spec Ops: The Line and Red Dead Redemption. Merry Christmas Everyone!

Analog Drift Episode #11 (Part 2 of 2) December 11, 2010

Analog Drift Episode #11 (Part 1 of 2) – December 11, 2010

Wii for $150 at Walmart! (December 5th–12th)

As reported by Joystiq.com:

Sad that you missed all the Black Friday sales? Walmart wants to take advantage of that feeling of being left out, with a series of December sales and price drops. The most exciting offer: for one week (from December 5 -12), every Wii will come with a $50 gift card, effectively dropping the price to a ridiculous $150.

Red Dead Redemption, Much Improved Graphics

Still working on my full video blog.  The wife has me working on decorating the house for Christmas.  So hopefully I can get something done with it soon.

But in the mean time, I just saw that Rockstar Released a new trailer for Red Dead Redemption and I had to share it.  The game looks like it’s coming along very nicely and the textures are looking a lot more detailed that the trailer they showed previously.  This is definitely one of the best looking games I’ve seen in a while. 

The environments are beautiful, they show majestic looking snowy mountains and lush pine trees.  Not just barren deserts and open plains.  The voice acting and expressions are great.  They also showed you using a variety of weapons like Gatling Guns, cannons and explosives with the old Wile E. Coyote detonators.  I can’t wait to pick this game up in April 2010.

Just the Drift

Not a full blown video blog.  Just one of my short checking in posts.  I will be calling these posts “Just the Drift” for now.  I need a better title though.  In the future these may be my off-topic posts or whatever comes to mind.  Also, I posted this with my cell phone to try out the video camera on it.

Platinum Dragon is Coming Back!

Working on a new video blog.  Should be ready sometime after Thanksgiving weekend.

Analog Drift Episode #10 - October 3, 2009

It's October now, I thought I would give you my top 5 Horror Games of all time. Enjoy.

Analog Drift Episode #9 - September 26, 2009

Just a brief note about Tokyo Game Show, PlayStation, Dead Rising 2 and Lost Planet 2.

Crappy Day/Week

Been a crappy day at work, so podcast is delayed.  Maybe Friday or Saturday.

Analog Drift Episode #8 - September 17, 2009

This week I talk about Smackdown Vs. Raw 2010 Roster and more. PS3 Releases, PC Deals, Much More.

Analog Drift Episode #7 – September 10, 2009

This week I discuss new releases on PSN and this week's sale on Direct2Drive. You can find that sale at http://www.direct2drive.com/d2dturns5

Analog Drift Episode #6 - September 3, 2009

My thoughts and impressions on PS3 Firmware version 3.0 and Assassin's Creed 2. Kind of a short video this week. Hopefully something more interesting next week

Analog Drift Episode #5 - August 27th, 2009

This week is a slow news week with Gamescon being over and everyone at home playing Batman: Arkum Asylum, so I decided to talk about my top 10 most anticipated games of 2010.

Video Blog August 20th, 2009

Just thought I would get back into my blog with my new computer.  Sharing my thoughts this week on WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw 2010, OSMOS, PS3 Home and PS3 in general.

The shocker!

I was tempted to pick up inFamous, but not tempted enough to pay the $59.99 for it.  Luckily I stopped at a store in Mansfield, OH called Buybacks and some PS3 traitor was trading in all his PlayStation games for an Xbox 360.  I scooped this one up right away for $40.00.  I’m glad I found this great deal too, because game kicks ass.

The controls and animation are very slick.  You feel very empowered while playing this game.  So far I have only tried the good side, but I hear the bad side is way more intense.  The missions do repeat but I find them way less repetitive than most open world games.  Most of the missions are enjoyable except for some of the time trail ones are a little too linear. 

The story is one of the only parts that this game fails on, but the experience is too fun to discount it very much.

Rating – 8.5 out of 10

You are my guide, my path-beater to the next incarnation.

I went to Target the other day and found this pretty little gem for $20.00.  I have been a Tomb Raider fan since its first release on PlayStation many years ago.  I own every other title out there.  But with the economy in shambles I have been tighter on my game budget.  So I waited to pick this one up. 

One of the first things I’ve noticed is that the controls take a while to get used to after playing Uncharted.  For some reasons it seems like Lara’s animations don’t transitions as well as Jakes.  I find myself thinking this game would have benefited from some additional polish.  Often times grabs don’t catch in the right place and collision detection isn’t up to snuff.  I’ve also seen a few creatures stuck in endless wall-crawling loops. 

I am also disappointed with the lack on any kind of traditional item system.  Just like the original game, Lara’s main guns have endless bullets.  However, all of her other guns are given to you from the get go and there is no need to find ammo.  I don’t mind scrambling for ammo, I think it adds a layer of realism to the game that is now missing.  I used to love the feeling of finding a new gun as well but now they are all open to you from the start which I feel was a great way for the previous games to offer you awards along the way.

Besides all of the problems the game does a great job of bringing back the mechanics that make the game great.  It has a lot of really clever climbing mechanics.  There are some areas where it gives away just enough of a hint of where you need to go to make you feel rewarded after each successful checkpoint.  That’s something else that amazes me; the check points area really great for a Tomb Raider game.  I also like the fact that this game is very light on the combat, considering it is not it’s strong point.  I couldn’t really see turning this into a Nathan Drake style shooter. 

I’m glad to see my favorite old franchise still has some legs on it and I hope that the rumored revitalization is kind to old fans of the series like me.

Rating – 7 out of 10

Home again.

I have always made it my point as a PS3 fanboy to defend PS3 home.  But even I have to admit that it’s pretty damn boring sometimes.  But maybe that will change.  At GDC 2009 PlayStation Home director Jack Buser announced that there will be a lot more interesting things coming to Home.  "You'll see about three new spaces launched a month - I'll be shocked if we ever go under that number, we have so much in the pipeline," Buser said.

Frankly I’ll believe it when I see it.  The Red Bull, Resident Evil, Warhawk and Uncharted things have all been so so, thus far.  The only thing that will really get my excited about home is when they:

1.  Bring back all-world voice chat

2.  Allow game launching for ALL games.

Anyhow, let’s keep our hopes up. 

Bring back the zombies!

IGN has posted up an article called “Resetting Resident Evil”.  As I have previously stated I can not agree more.  Resident Evil 6 needs to bring back REAL ZOMBIES are it will not be getting my hard earned money, just like Resident Evil 5 will not be getting it.  See their link below:

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/963/963684p1.html

Dead Rising 2!!! I can’t wait!

If you haven’t heard already there is an awesome new Dead Rising 2 trailer out this week.  From the looks of it I guess I will be passing on Resident Evil 5 and patiently awaiting a release date for this game.  If you didn’t play the first one I suggest you go out now and pick it up on Xbox 360 or Wii.  This next title will be available on those systems as well as the PS3. 

Burn some cheap rubber and lay the smack down pardoner.

What I’ve been playing
 
Recently I decided to pick up Burnout Paradise, a game that I have been overlooking for a long time.  The current price on PSN is only $19.99.  The price point was just too good to resist a purchase.  I played the demo some back in the day and I was pretty impressed, but not impressed enough to fork over $59.99.  Now the price is just right for an impulse buy and I am pleased to say the game was worth every penny.  If I would have realized the game was this good at the time of release maybe I would have paid full price.  So I encourage everyone to go check it out.

I am also wondering why Sony doesn’t put more full, retail boxed, games on PSN.  I believe there are only a handful (Siren, Warhawk, Not sure what else).  It’s nice to have a boxed copy to resell when you’re done with it, but with the right price and convenience it’s worth the buy.  I also like the ability to just click on a game a load it up without swapping discs.  Let’s hope developers and/or Sony get more older games like this on PSN.

What I would like to be playing
 
I have been a long time wrestling fan and have been patiently waiting any kind of news about the upcoming Legends of Wrestlemania game.   But at long last my wait is over, IGN’s Greg Miller is supposed to have a feature on this game Friday afternoon.  Frankly the WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw games have been getting stale and TNA Impact was sub par, so I hope this game will be a nice refresh for the wrestling genre.  I also like the thought of playing as some of my old favorites, including original entrance music and personas.  Let’s just hope they’ll have Macho Man and Razor in the game. 

Another game I am greatly anticipating is the sequel to Red Dead Revolver, Red Dead Revolver Redemption, coming this fall to 360 and PS3.  The original game was very entertaining but didn’t fulfill all of my fantasies of what an Old West game could be.  I was more into the open world-ness of GUN.  Hopefully with next gen technology they’ll be able to take all of what made the old west cool and incorporate them into a great experience.

Resident Evil 5 Thoughts

 
Yesterday we were all treated to a demo of Resident Evil 5 on PSN.  I downloaded and played part of both scenarios of this highly anticipated demo late last night. 

My perceptions of this game have been tainted by the media billing this game as a Resident Evil 4.5.  Sadly I see where they are coming from.  The game feels exactly the same, only glossed up with prettier graphics.  I liked Resident Evil 4 as much as the next guy, but this is not what I was looking for in a next gen Resident Evil game.  I also believe that’s it’s time to update the controls.  They really seem to hold you back when fighting enemies like the chainsaw guy.  I found it too annoying and repetitive to have to shoot a couple of times, run past him, quick turn, shoot and repeat.  I would much rather just pop off my shots while strafing around him.  The creators claim they use “tank controls” to add to the tension, but I would have rather seen them build tension without gimped game controls.

I would have liked to see them return to the traditional Resident Evil story line, rather than continuing down the path of Resident Evil 4.  Doesn’t anyone else miss the Zombies?  To me, that’s what made the older games cool.  The monsters in RE4 and 5 don’t appeal to a zombie loving purist like me.  I feel like I am trying to force myself to love Resident Evil 5.  I feel as if Capcom is using the namesake for a bait and switch.  I am hoping that next time Capcom makes the Resident Evil game I really want.  So, maybe I’ll skip this one for now.  I guess the only way I’ll get my zombie fix is by waiting for Dead Rising 2.