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Wednesday | July 1st, 2009

Action Theater: Confusion

When you have spent a long time playing video games, sometimes you start to see the common elements used and reused in video games. One of them is “The Big Gun.” It seems that having a big gun is a big deal in some games: From the mako gun in Final Fantasy Seven, to the various “big guns” in the various World War 2 games, to the big gun (seen here) in the Operation Anchorage Downloadable Pack in Fallout 3. Yes it is fun (and the effects in Fallout 3 is awesome) but sometimes you wonder if development teams “borrow” ideas from one another, heh…

That is a rhetorical question by the way.

Bro of STEEL…costume from Fallout

July 2nd, 2009

You know..we haven’t had any cosplay stuff on this site for a long, long time. Unfortunately I am not goign to show you cute Asian girls in cat ears and a tail, but it instead a bad *A* dood in a Brotherhood of Steel Outfit.

You know..from Fallout.

bro-of-steel

I would love one of those…

You can see the complete outfit and pieces of it by clicking here.

Very very cool. Two thumbs up.

- Warren

How to buy a graphics card - Gizmondo

July 2nd, 2009

eggomania

Over at Gizmondo, there is a nice break down of how to buy a graphics card for your PC and what to look for. Sometimes it can be a bit confusing, with all the names and numbers associated with buying a new graphics card. They do a good job on breaking this down and explaining what the heck you are looking at anyway:

Whether you’re buying a new computer, building your own or upgrading an old one, the process of choosing a new graphics card can be daunting. Integrated graphics solutions—the kind that come standard with many PCs—have trouble playing games from three years ago, let alone today, and will put you at a disadvantage when future technologies like GPGPU computing, which essentially uses your graphics card as an additional processor, finally take hold. On top of all this, we’re in the middle of a price dip—it’s objectively a great time to buy. (Assuming you’re settled on a desktop. Ahem.) The point is, you’ll want to make the right choice. But how?

They have a lot of good advice. Basically it boils down to you probably don’t need the most expensive card out there and make sure you know what your getting in to before you go and make a purchase.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

- Warren

A couple of cool videos for a Thursday Morning

July 2nd, 2009

I was sent both of these on twitter today and thought I’d share them.

The first up is just a bunch of ducks walking up an escalator. You know…trying to go up the down one. You have to root for the duck family I think.

The second is a Cadbury commercial the are showing in Hong Kong (it seems.) I hadn’t seen this one before but I thought it was funny and cute ;) It reminds me of what my brother and I used to do as kids (yeah..kids…) to music.

Hope you enjoyed them!

- Warren

My Dead Heroes

July 1st, 2009

mydeadheroes

Welcome a new sister site to the web www.mydeadheroes.com.  My Dead Heroes is a site devoted to spiritual development and personal growth presented in hardcore fashion.  It’s a place for misfits, rejects and those that may not feel like they fit into mainstream Christianity.  MDH will not shy away from tough subjects or back down from stupid dogma. It’s about a real relationship with a real God, no holds barred. Death is celebrated here! Death to self, death to stale religion and a place where our heroes are dead.

Final Fantasy XIV site is live

June 30th, 2009

Just wanted to point out the official Final Fantasy XIV site is live.

Final Fantasy XIV

They don’t have much, a trailer, some awesome artwork, registration…but keep your eye on it for future news. The game is set to come out in 2010 and that is not far away at all. Click here to go to it.

Also the best FFXIV related news site i can find (at the moment) is ZAM’s Final Fantasy XIV area. They have translations from Japenese magazines, interviews with people involved, and other such stuff. There isn’t a *whole* lot, but there is more then you might think.

Click here for the ZAM site.

FFXIV is a game I am really looking forward to, so we’ll be posting info as it comes up.

- Warren

Quick DS Reviews

June 30th, 2009

First up is Lux-Pain seems like an interesting adventure game on the surface but deep down it is a flawed work that will kill that interest wholly and completely.  The art looks good and the premise reminds you of one of those weird but enjoyable anime plots where you tap into the spiritual world to fight off the denizens of the night.  The only issue is that the appearance is about all it’s got.  The gameplay is so dull, unforgiving and nonsensical that you realize there is little here to push through. The name lets you know what the result of playing is…pain.

The next game is Steal Princess from Atlus. It’s a 3D casual play platformer that will have you jumping, swinging, fighting and swapping out items to use on the battlefield so you can try to go onto the next level. Steal Princess has a light hearted story, good art and lots of dialog. All in all it’s an average game. One cool feature is the ability to build your own levels which is one thing I loved about the Advances War series. That helps in replay value of any game. I wouldn’t pay full price for it so if you can find it on the cheap and in need of some casual game play then it may be a good find.

The final Nintendo DS game I’d like to talk about is called From The Abyss. It’s an action game in the vein of the old SNES Zelda genre. The graphics are ok, character creation is so-so but the gameplay is below average. They try to offer some hooks in your special attacks but I thought is was more frustrating and dull than fun. A low end game overall and a definite pass.

-Wes

Star Wars: the Old Republic In Game Footage video

June 26th, 2009

Just a video showing all the currently known In Game Footage for The Old Republic.

Probably the MMO I am most looking forward to.

Source

- Warren

Wonderking Beta Giveaway

June 26th, 2009

Massively is doing another beta key giveway. This time it is for the really adorably saccrine cute Wonderking Online.

Click here to go to the site to get the key. Just leave a comment about why you want in the closed beta.

Here is a video of it:

Man there are a *ton* of Free to Play MMo’s coming out. Free Realms, Neo Steam, and Runes of Magic are still at the top of the heap for F2P ones. We’ll see if any of the new games can do better.

- Warren

Serious Sam coming to Xbox Live

June 25th, 2009

I am *so* down with this:

serious_sam_2

Croatian developer Croteam is bringing an HD remake of the first Serious Sam game to Xbox Live later this summer.

First released in 2002, Serious Sam: First Encounter remains one of the most manic first person shooters ever committed to silicon, with the PC game providing a masterclass in crowd control and over the top action that gunned its way to a 9.2 way back when.

Eurogamer is reporting that the remake will be called Serious Sam HD – and that suffix suggests it will be landing with enhanced visuals to complement the all-new four player co-op. It’s priced at a not-too-disagreeable 1,200 Microsoft Points.

There were murmurings earlier this year of a third installment in the series, and this timely reboot may well be paving the way for an all-new game.

This is from the IGN Article..actually it *is* the IGN article. Go over there anyway and give them a holla’.

I like this game because it basically throws many enemies at you at once. It doesn’t try to be anything else, just a game where you shoot many things with big guns. Sometimes you just want a game like that, you know?

- Warren

Dungeon Fighter Online classes

June 25th, 2009

dungeon-fighter-online

Just a quick rundown of the Dungeon Fighter Online classes:

There are 5 first-class characters in Dungeon & Fighter’, and each first-class (slayers, fighters, magicians, gunners, priests) character can be promoted into four specialized classes (except priests has only three specialized classes, will be updated in future) upon reaching level 18. Later on, each class can acquire an honorable title at level 48 by accomplishing an awakening quest and gain two much more powerful skills. For example, a Ranger can acquire his new class name ‘Desperado’ at level 48.[2]

Slayer

A Slayer (also known as a Ghost Knight) is a swordsman who uses melee weapons such as swords or blunt weapons, but cannot carry shields due to the demon possessing his left arm. The arm is bound in magical chains to restrain the power of the demon, and the power can be drawn out in order to execute special attacks.[3]

He can be promoted to a Blade Master (a.k.a. Weapon Master), who trains his swordsmanship in spite of the demon’s disturbance, and is recommended for beginners; a Berserker, who gets their name by throwing themselves into the middle of a fight and sacrificing their own health to deal damage; a Soul Bender (a.k.a. Soul Bringer), which can summon the demon in order to provide bonus effects or deal damage; or an Asura, who sacrifices his vision in order to gain powers such as imbuing their weapons with elemental properties. Upon reaching level 48, the classes can further advance to Grand Master (a.k.a. Sword Saint), Hell Bringer (a.k.a. Hellbenter), Soul Reaper (a.k.a. Soul Taker), and Dark Knight (a.k.a. Mahakala), respectively.

Fighters

Fighters are a close-range brawler class. They use gauntlets, knuckles, claws (similar to serrated patas), and boxing gloves.[4]

Promoted fighters can take several forms. Nen Masters can support their teammates or deal their own damage using their powerful spirit. Strikers are quick fighters, using fast punches and kicks to get the job done. Brawlers can use dirty tricks such as throwing sand or nets, or inflicting status effects rather than fighting straight-forward and fair. Throwers continue to train their bodies to grab and throw their opponents.

Gunners

Gunners are a very tall gun-wielding character class. They come from another country (the “Sky Realm”) where magic does not exist and have therefore developed technology to compensate for it.[5]

Promoted gunners can take several forms. Rangers are a stylish sort of gunner, specializing in using revolvers. They specialize in critical hits and quick attacks using both their gun and their kicks. Launchers are heavy weapon specialists. They use Gatling guns, flame throwers, missiles, laser rifles and Steyr sniper rifles, dealing massive area damage to enemies. Recommended for beginner gunners. Mechanics use robots to do their bidding. They don’t do much themselves, but can summon a veritable army of robots to destroy their master’s opponents. Spitfires specialize in infusing various elements into bullets and grenades to deal damage over large areas and inflict status effects.

Mages

Mages are the smallest in terms of physical stature, but wield considerable powers by using magic. They come from “the Magical World.”[6]

Promoted magicians can take several forms. Elementalist control the four elements Fire (火), Ice (冰), Light (光), and Darkness (暗). Summoners borrow the Power of the “Core” Which is the source of all Magical Energy. As they grow stronger they can summon more spirits or contracted monsters faster. (Summoners are not reccomended for beginner players, for one is that there are many ways to skill up a summoner but if you have messed up even in 1 skill point you would regret it to the end, its more alikely that you would want to research up on summoners before trying this class out.)Battle Mages prefer to use their weapons and closer range attacks to take down their opponents. Witches use magic with four elements.

Priests

Priests are actually more of a brawling type class, preferring to mostly use their fists, and occasionally huge weapons, including a cross or totem pole, to deal damage to enemies. They also can choose from a basic healing spell and a couple of other ability increasing spells.[7]

Promoted priests can take several forms. Crusaders are the only support class of priest, and have a large variety of buff spells and healing spells to support their teammates. There are 2 types of Crusader, Battle Crusaders and Support Crusaders. Infighter are close-range brawlers, preferring to slam their weapon into the ground, which forms an area where the Infighter’s stats are increased, and rely solely on their fists to batter their enemies. Exorcists can choose to be either magic casters or physical types, specializing in the use of their weapons and/or friendly spirits.

Click here for the full Wiki article on this game.

- Warren

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