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Well folks, that's all she wrote. Tonight I completed the single player of GRAW on normal difficulty. Woo hoo! Completing GRAW got me thinking about the games I have finished so far in 2006. Check this out:
DOA Extreme Beach Volleyball (Xbox)
Hexic HD (XBLA)
Feeding Frenzy (XBLA)
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (Xbox 360)
I find this list very eclectic. All in the interest of being a well rounded gamer I suppose. And I can't believe I've actually completed 4 games. Anytime I finish a game, it's a big deal. 
P.S.-I also received my very first (and probably last) achievement in Bejeweled 2 today (completed 80 puzzles). It's been quite a productive gaming day.
ICandee
I only played 2 games yesterday: Bejeweled 2 and GRAW. I was enjoying Bejeweled until my 360 froze up and I lost all of my points and my save so now I have to start over in Endless mode. So then it was on to GRAW co-op Elimination at around 1:00 this morning.
Co-op against the baddies went well except for the one time I actually found myself considering a team kill. Now, I'm not like that normally (my team kills really have all been accidental). But I had a supper sweet spot last night, you know what I mean, the perfect place to shoot bad guys before they even make it close to the team. When out of nowhere, one of my teammates walks right in front of me and basically takes the spot. Now, would it have been ok for me to shoot him? Or did I do the right thing by walking around aimlessly for the rest of the match? Ah well, no biggie I actually got a lot of kills last night so one little tiny non-incident won't change that. Go me! We had a blast, as usual.
What a way to start your day! If I went back and looked, I would probably find that most of my blog entries have gushed and sighed about how good GRAW is so I'm really trying to not repeat myself here with the same old things. However, I would like to have GRAW's babies. There! I'm done, I promise!
Holy Grenade Launcher, I love that game!
ICandee
As some of you have been nice enough to already notice, I have indeed added a new banner to my blog-o-rama. Finally! I have been beating myself over the head trying to get this thing of beauty up and it's finally finished.
I just realized today that the sandbox module only comes up in Internet Explorer not Mozilla Firefox. 
Once I figured that out, I switched to IE and got it up and running. The actual banner itself was made with Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro 7. The cartoon "doll" of sorts came as a base (read: naked bald chick) from Dahling.com and I used PSP and PS to add hair, clothes, etc. I snatched a picture of a 360 controller and animated it (thanks to RuFfNeCk for finding one small enough for me to use) and voila! Instant cuteness on my blog!
Enjoy!
ICandee
How about a little break from the 360 to discuss Nintendo's latest bombshell, eh? When the "remote control" controller for the Nintendo Revolution was first announced, the majority's first thought was, "WTF?" Then it seemed that most people were intrigued by the idea, then they actually started looking forward to it. Everything was peaceful and calm. Nintendo fanboys everywhere rejoiced and all was right with the world...
And then there was "Wii" (see bomb dropped here)
The Revolution is not the Revolution. Nintendo's new console is not called the Nintendo Wii. It's just Wii.
Once again, shouts of "WTF" were heard all around the world. (I know I shouted it at least) My first thought was, "They are going to be a laughing stock! This has got to be a joke. Tell me at E3 that a different name will be announced...Please!" Now that I've had time to think about it...Well, I still don't care for it, but Nintendo isn't stupid and I can't wait to see how they are going to convince me that this was a good decision. Here's a defense of Nintendo's choice in naming their new baby. It's make a good case in my opinion: Game|Life
Will the name keep me from getting a Wii at launch? Nope. But holy next-gen Batman, what a name!
ICandee
I wish I had Marble Blast Ultra Chick's job. How cool would that be to go into work and all you had to do was say:
"Checkpoint...mega marble...super speed...gyrocopter...ultra blast..."
I'd like to meet her one day and asked how she got that job. I'd make a good power up announcer girl for games I bet.
BTW, here's something fun to do in MBU if you and a friend are bored.
1. Open a room in Marble Blast Ultra with a friend
2. Both go find the "Super Speed" power-up
3. Head to the end of a big expanse and then face each other
4. Super speed towards each other and see which one of you gets knocked back the farthest.
*It's also fun to act like you picked up the Super Speed when you really picked up Mega Marble. Hit the trigger right when you get up on them and they go flying! Muwahahahaha!
ICandee
Perfect Dark Zero was already #1 on my list of "Most Disappointing Games" when it was released, primarily due to bad character models, bad voice acting, shaky gameplay and 20,000 bullets to kill one bot in multiplayer. It wasn't that the game was horrific or anything, but I was really hoping it would be better than it was, especially considering it was a 360 launch title.
This opinion changed somewhat when I started playing the game in co-op. A not so hot game is one thing when you're playing alone. This one actually became decently fun when played with another person. Or so I thought...
Enter Mission 5 or as I like to call it, "The Seventh Portal of Hell". Okay, that was probably a little overboard but I feel betrayed. At first I kept my frustration to myself because I didn't want to seem "whiny" simply because I wasn't good enough to get through the mission alive. But by the 4th time we both died, RuFfNeCk finally said, "I need to take a break, this is really frustrating me!" Whew! I didn't feel so bad after all...at least it wasn't just me.
Now, I'm sure there are plenty of people out there that beat this mission no problem and think that I'm a total wimp for complaining about this. Let me just say: It's not that the mission is in itself difficult. That would be one thing. It's the fact that two people in a hovercraft with a rocket launcher should not be able to be killed so easily by baddies on the shore, shooting BB guns. The fact that I wasn't the only one frustrated by this both comforted me and gave me pause.
I've noticed on message boards like GameFaqs.com, a lot of people will post their frustrations regarding various sections of whatever game they are playing, ask for some help getting through it and they undoubtedly get hammered with rude, arrogant posts by know-nothing-know-it-alls including comments like, "That was teh esiest prt! Youra teh loser! Quite whinning beo-tch! I got throogh it fin u jst cant play games" etc and so forth. This mystifies me quite frankly. Yes, yes I realize that most of these fools are children but the lack of class, courtesy and helpfulness is something that always irritates me. It makes me want to find the answer for them (even if I've never heard of the game) and post something sweet to make them feel better.
What does all of that have to do with me loathing PDZ at the moment (I'm sure it will win back some affection from me, I can never stay made at my games for long)? Not a darn thing. But here's what can be considered a point (and quite possibly a lecture):
If someone is asking a question and needs help (if you know the answer), please answer them graciously. If you feel the question is stupid, needless or it just plain irritates you, please don't answer at all. Just be the bigger person and be kind whenever you can...
*sniff* I think I'm tearing up...What a sweet little blog entry...*sniff*
ICandee
Yesterday I returned my rental copies of Tomb Raider and Call of Duty 2 because I have this unholy fear of returning anything late. That's one of the reasons I don't even like to rent games because I always feel pressured to play as fast as I can and return it before they start calling. The other reason is that if I like the game, I've already spent $8.00 that won't go towards the purchase of it (unless I want to be evil and never return the game, then they'll just charge the balance to me). The problem with that is that I adore my GameRush guys (they all know me on sight now) and I really don't want to make them mad at me.
What's the point of all this? ... Actually I don't remember where I was going with this so I'll make up a new point. After returning the game, my guys decided to play some COD2 multiplayer and they had the biggest room yet. Crap! Ah well, no biggie. I spent the greater part of the night cycling through almost every Arcade I have to date and watching Spongebob Squarepants on DVD. It occurs to me that this doesn't quite seem like the party life, but then I spent most of my early twenties as a club chick, so in a way, gaming couldn't have come along at a better time.
Anyhoodily doodily, Call of Duty 2 is next on my list of "To Be Purchased" as soon as I figure out how to buy it without breaking my bank. I'm very grateful for the apparent "slow down" in game releases (although I did add Brain age for my DS this past weekend).
In other news, I am on the 5th mission in Perfect Dark Zero co-op with my darling of a RuFfNeCk who doesn't seem to mind coming to my rescue when I'm surrounded by badly rendered baddies trying to shoot me. He's either the most patient person I've ever known or he's suppressing his frustration with my gameplay and will errupt one day and take out an entire block full of people. Let's hope it the former.
ICandee
The other night while playing GRAW, we all decided to replay the Wharf co-op mission for any of those that hadn't completed it yet. I have to admit, the Wharf mission is not my favorite one to play. I couldn't really tell you why exactly, I just know that I shudder everytime the host picks that one.
As most of you know, my Boss got me into gaming and it's his friends that I've sort of commandeered as my own so we play together quite a bit. We had cleared out all of the enemy camps and it was on to the docks to finish up the mission. I always go extreme left and around but for some reason I went the next path over to where that short stone wall is. I'm always paranoid at this first entry to the docks because the AI gets smart at times and sneaks up around that wall. So I decide to be proactive, brave and true and start heading around that wall. And a baddie is there! Totally not even looking in my direction! So I draw in a breath...wait until I'm right at his head...Take aim and...realize a split second after I pull the trigger and before the bullet hits that it wasn't a baddie, it was one of my own team mates!
In conclusion, I shot my boss right in the head.
ICandee
Anyone who has read my blog at all knows that FPS are not my strong suit. I enjoy playing them online, mainly because if I don't I'll have no one to play with as my guys are full on FPS whores. (And the award for best run-on sentence goes to...) One of my TehBias.com Dahlings mentioned the other day how he would like to get a group together to play a little Call of Duty 2. Apparently with the new patch out, this game functions much better on Xbox Live. So, being the sheep that I am, I said a little "bahhhh", shook my sweet little tail and ran out to my local GameRush to see about renting it. Most of the time when I'm renting (or I admit, buying) a game simply for multiplayer, I'll play through the first mission or so in single player to get a feel for the controls. This is mainly so that I don't totally embarass myself in the group. (Blowing myself up is one thing, not getting off a shot the entire round is another) I just finished all of the Russian missions. Go me! Yes, yes, I know...This game has been there since Day One, but being a FPS crossed it off my list entirely at first. (These being the days when I thought PDZ would be the FPS to get my motor running) But this is today and let me just say...I love this game!!! It has high tension and high action that never seems to stop. No time to celebrate, the Germans are back! Where are my sticky bombs? I need more ammo! In your face Stalin! I can't see where I'm going! Why is it so dark in here? America rules! Crap, cover cover cover...Run away! Run away! Die Facists Die! (German for "The Facists The") Enemy grenade?...where's it coming fr...BOOM! And what's this? Could ICandee finally be getting quicker at aiming? Could Call of Duty 2 be the game that finally breaks ICandee of the bad FPS habit of having absolutely no skill? Um...well...sort of, yes. Now if you will excuse me, I have explosives to plant.
ICandee
G.R.A.W. was once again the game of choice last night and I couldn't have been happier. Man, do I love infinite baddies! The only downside to that is that if you have a lot of people playing with you, it can be hard to find a good spot at times. What's a girl to do? Start throwing grenades of course! Most of my kills last night were due to pitching grenades as far as the eye could see. Brilliant!
In other news, the last lingering 360-less TehBias member has finally bitten the bullet and got his 360 this morning! Woo hoo!!! So tonight we will once again join in on some G.R.A.W. co-op missions I'm sure. I really hope they patch in some new missions soon as this is one of my favorite multiplayer modes. Welcome to Next Gen FetterDave!
ICandee
Get it? That was a play on "stop the presses"...You know, I really have to learn that if I need to explain why one of my blog titles it funny, it's probably not that funny. *sigh* Ah well...
Anyway, my reason for adding another entry so soon is that during one of my promenades around other people's MSN Spaces, I found an entry over at This, That and the Other that listed this fabulous link that will solve all of our Marketplace Previewing problems.
http://www.xbox360marketplace.com
The gaming universe makes sense again...
ICandee
Further into my search through Xbox.com, I came across what I think to be yet another useful link. This one is great for seeing better views of gamer pictures before you spend the points on them. I was having the same problem with gamer pics as I was with dashboard themes. (see previous entry: "Decorating the Dashboard") So just in case anyone else is, once again, in the same boat with me and never thought to look in the most logical place (i.e. xbox.com), here is the link:
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/marketplace/gamerpics.htm
As with the dashboard themes, this link only previews newer gamer pics, but they do have a lot of them posted. So if you're looking for a new gamer picture for Xbox Live, it pays to visit this link first. (If you didn't already know about it)
Enjoy!
ICandee
Ah G.R.A.W., how do I love thee? Let me count the ways:
1. Playing through the co-op missions for the millionth time. It never gets old and I never learn. (I always die in the same spots, if I don't blow myself up or get team killed first)
2. Realizing that no one has said anything for a while. After a minute of "Hello? Guys? Who's still with me? Anyone? Bueller?" it hits you that you're all alone. Surrounded by baddies...One really is the saddest experience you'll ever know.
3. But most of all, G.R.A.W. is about knowing that no one if perfect. Not even G.R.A.W. That's right, even our sweet little Ghost Recon makes mistakes. Take for example, last night when observing FetterDave in all of his newfound 360 glory, one of my fellow dead soldiers remarks, "Why doesn't Dave have a gun?" Huh? Lo and behold, FetterDave has his gun stowed safely on his back yet somehow bullets were being shot from his empty hands. His empty hands that were also aiming, reloading and taking down baddies. How is this possible you ask? One never questions the logic of love, one simply flows along with it without asking why. One also enjoys the picture below of FetterDave shooting out of his hands. (It's kinda like if Rambo and Spiderman had a baby, it would be FetterDave...cause he shoots bullets out of his hands instead of webs, see?)
G.R.A.W. + ICandee 4-Eva
ICandee
I was in the mood for a new dashboard theme this weekend so I went to the Marketplace and thought, "This Fun Fur one looks like it would be cute." Mistake!!! This theme was not cute, it was scary. So now I was out points...sheesh...
Discussing (ok, I was whining) to a friend that there should be previews available before you buy, he said that there were previews available at Xbox.com. (Figures) So here is a link for anyone else that didn't know (although I was probably the only one that never thought to look).
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/marketplace/themes.htm
I couldn't find a page with all the available themes on it (so if you know of one, let me know!) but I did find one with the newer themes that you can preview before you buy.
ICandee
Superghost passed along a little bit of info I was not aware of: There is a HUGE Far Cry Instincts Predator map contest going on right now at TeamXbox. The maps will be judged by Planet Far Cry and TeamXbox.com. The prizes are awesome to say the least:
From Team Xbox:
In addition to the fame and supermodel-impressing notoriety from having your map featured on TeamXbox.com, the grand-prize winner will receive the following rewards: - Yamaha DVXC700 5.1-Ch Home Theater System with Progressive-Scan DVD/CD/MP3/DivX Player
- Xbox Live Gold one-year value pack, includes a full-year subscription, headset, Xbox Arcade game (Billiards) and 200 Marketplace points
- Xbox 360 Wireless Controller
- Five (5) Ubisoft games
Our first loser, er, first-place contestant will get these goodies:- $100 Best Buy Gift Card
- Xbox 360 Wireless Controller
- Three (3) Ubisoft games
One second-place contestant will receive these snazzy items:- Xbox 360 Wireless Controller
- Two (2) Ubisoft games
And two (2) third-prize winners will receive two (2) Ubisoft games of their liking.Very nice I'd say. Maybe I'm not quite so burned out on making maps as I thought...hmmm... Of course this will (unfortunately) have to wait as I am headed to NYC tonight for the weekend. (Hopefully I'll have pictures to post) The deadline to submit your map is midnight (PST) April 19th. Get making those maps people!
DOA4 doesn't get much play with our group anymore. I'm not sure why, because I love playing it on Live. Well, today RuFfNeCk and I fought out a few rounds and then headed to the lobby. Attribute it to being overly tired, bored or just plain juvenile, but somehow we ended up playing "tag" in the DOA4 lobby.
This basically consists of one of us chasing the other around...well, I'm sure you know how tag is played. At the risk of sounding ego-centric, I totally ruled at DOA4 Lobby Tag. Don't believe me? Well below you will find photographic evidence of my greatness. (Notice my ninja side laughing in triumph as RuFfNeCk bows before me) DOA4 just got a whole lot better. I don't even mind that RuFfNeCk owns me in Ghost Recon, PDZ, Burnout Revenge, PGR3, Marble Blast Ultra...wait...Did he let me win? 
I decided to rent Tomb Raider: Legend yesterday and I am glad that I did. This game is quite a bit of fun. Previously, I had attempted to play a PSOne TR game and that lasted about 5 minutes because I couldn't even get through the training session. Controlling Lara was an absolute nightmare and I admire anyone who played and beat that game!
But now we are the next generation and I am happy to report that Lara never looked better. This game is pretty and the only real issue I can think of is that I really don't like the camera. What should be simple jumps can be a little frustrating due to the camera alone. (I'd say 95% of my health loss is due to missing jumps. lol) That being said however, I'm happy with the game and am really enjoying it. I am about 36% of the way through the game and so far it's been simple to get into and learn the controls. (Although I always forget to cut my light on in dark caves. lol)
The interactive cutscenes are a nice touch, which was also a part of RE4. I'm very glad they added this feature as it keeps you on your toes during cutscenes and adds to the gameplay. All in all, for anyone that likes this type of game (again, it seems to be the action/adventure hybrid I like to play), it's definitely worth at least a rental.
The Action/Adventure hybrid tends to be my favorite in terms of video games. There's usually a nice mix of puzzles, combat and platforming. 360 owners were able to open with Kameo and Tomb Raider: Legend has finally arrived.
Now we can add one more to the list apparently. According to a blurb at IGN.com, a new action/adventure game is coming to the 360 in Q4 2007 (2007!?)- The Shadow of Aten:
The Shadow of Aten is a 3D Action/Adventure multiplatform game in which the player assume the role of a new hero, Allan Scott. He is an attractive and enigmatic adventurer who will go deep into the fascinating and mysterious world of Ancient Egypt. The Shadow of Aten is set in the attractive and ambiguous environment of Egypt in the 1930s , full of mysteries, dazzling treasures, half-truths and hidden dangers. The elaborate plot is based on real facts about the worship of the god Aten, the first monotheism of mankind.
(And you get to ride a camel it seems). My first thought is picturing some sort of cross between The Mummy and Indiana Jones. Looks interesting to me already! Supposedly this game will be shown in some form at E3 in May. If anyone else knows anything else about this game, I would love to hear it!
We actually got a pretty good number of people to play some Far Cry Instincts last night. Woo hoo! I was able to drag myself away from the map editor (and BSG) for some multiplayer and I'm glad I did. I was nervous however, as I asked our Host with the Most (RuFfNeCk) to throw one of my maps in there for everyone to try. This would be the first time the guys saw a map I had made and I was hoping they would enjoy playing on it. I thought the map looked great but really had no idea whether it would translate as being playable.
The one we tried was "Fort Dialot". This is a map using the Jungle and Military brush sets. The basic idea of it is an abandoned Army base. I decided to make it a nighttime map due to the middle being a little open, so I was trying to cut down on being able to see from one side of the map to the other. Also, nighttime in an abandoned anything just makes it look creepy. Muwahahaha. The guys seemed to like it for the most part. They did feel that being nighttime made it difficult for them to see weapon pick-ups, health, etc. I could kind of see their point, as I made the map and found it difficult to find new weapons myself.
That being said, I am all about placing weapons and such in logical places on my maps. For instance, you are more likely to find a gun in a building or around a wreakage than laying out in an open field or behind a tree. Same with health and armor. I think that, for me, it's just a matter of trying to create a mood or "environment" that actually feels like there was life to it at some point. Taking that, it makes logical sense to me that "health" would have been kept in and around structures. Now with that being said, I understand that when you're in the middle of Chaos mode, you're not really stopping to take the time to admire the campsite or fuel station I made and you're more concerned about finding pick-ups and the like. 
It's all a matter of taste I suppose. Functional maps are great to play on, but look a little barren. On the other hand, maps with an asthetic are pretty to look at, but may lose something in function.
So it looks like it's back to map tweaking for me. It did give me a thrill to watch other people running around my map, climbing the sniper towers and making strategies based on an environment I had created. Very cool indeed...
A little change around here as I added a profile. Not sure this is the best picture I could have posted but the ones with full frontal nudity won't get here until tomorrow*.
*Please note: That was a joke. There will be no full frontal nudity pictures of me posted here so please don't write complaints comments. Any and all full frontal nudity pictures of me are for private viewing only*.
*Please note: That is also a joke.
Not much to report on the gaming front, as I have been wrapped up in watching Battlestar Galatica for the first time. I figure it's only a matter of time before I start going to Star Trek conventions and getting married in some mass wedding at a comics convention. Hexic still won't let me get the last achievement I need. I'm sure this is just a glitch. I can't possibly be this bad at the game...or can I? While I was at a Best Buy in NJ this past weekend, I found one of those charity bracelets for sale. The money was to benefit the Boys and Girls Club so I decided to buy one. What's so special about this bracelet you might ask? Check it out:
That's right. It's say's Xbox 360 on one side and Game.Compete.Win on the other. Well, it's for a good cause and I figure this way people can stereotype me from afar now. I feel tagged like a wild bear that's found it's way to the city. I picked one up for my boss and Ruffneck. Now we can all be tagged as gamer geeks together. Isn't it great?
The Tomb Raider: Legend demo hit the Marketplace yesterday. It took me about 30 minutes to get it downloaded but I had fun playing through it a couple of times. It needs a little polish, but I'm sure they handled that in the finished game which is coming out soon. The graphics were nice looking and I was able to jump right in controlling Lara, using her gadgets and shooting the bad guys. I will definitely be checking out the game (probably a rental).
In other news, Kameo has finally gone co-op over Xbox Live. Woo hoo! Now the only wrinkle to this in my mind is that the entire game is not accessible for co-op play. You get 6 "missions" or areas from the game that you can play with another person over Live. To get access to these 6, you have to unlock them through the single player game. But hey, at least we get something, right? This game is perfect for co-op so I can't wait to try these out on Live.
Well it's finally happened. I am officially burned out on Far Cry's map editor. I can't believe it! Why didn't I take a break before it was too late??? Idiot! So Far Cry will return to the back burner for a while. Not sure what I'll be going for next because as I look over my collection of fabulous games that are worth playing, the only thing I can think is, "All these games suck". Now of course they don't suck but getting burned out on a game can sometimes create a ripple effect that touches other games.
Long story short, I have no witty story to share today. But to make up for it, I'm enclosing a link to a video of the Frag Dolls kicking the IGN editors' asses in Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter: Enjoy!
Last night I was actually interacting with people online. Imagine that! OK, I have to be honest here, I was chatting with a friend for about 3-4 hours while we worked on Far Cry maps and then spent the rest of our time publishing them and checking them out. At one point it became clear to us that we could actually play Far Cry but why should we do that when map editing is so much fun? I never thought I would say this about a game but Far Cry was worth the $60 simply for the map editor. I've barely touched the single or multiplayer games.
In other news, I was babysitting for my boss last night and took my 360 hard drive with me to hook up to his 360. We had heard that you could do this and last night it was time for experimenting. Success! I hooked up my hard drive to his 360 and it was seamless. It went immediately to my gamertag for Xbox Live login and I had access to all of my saves. It's so nice when a theory gets proven, is it not?
Being April Fool's Day and all, I thought I'd post some sort of witty, well thought out scheme to trick y'all but it's just too early in the morning to be witty so I thought I'd gush about Far Cry Instincts' map editor instead. Sorry April 1st!
I love the map editor. It's as simple as that. I played a few multiplayer rounds the first night I got the game and other than that, it's been all about the map editor. This has been my first experience with this type of game function and now I wish it came with every game. The controls are very intuitive and easy to master. I was checking out a friend's map yesterday and he mentioned how he usually goes for asthetic first, then figures out how to make the map functional. This of course set off a brain storm and I immediately started a new improved map that currently I am still working on. I'm excited to get one done and have my friends check it out.
So between making Far Cry maps and trying to get my last achievement in Hexic (ARGH!), I've barely played online with anyone at all. I like to think they all sit around in the game lobby, crying manly tears while remembering all the good times they had with me. They probably all miss me dearly and don't have half as much fun. (Obviously too much map editing has given me delusions of grandeur)
In conclusion, go make some maps, have a great April 1st and beware friends offering you gum (it's probably ink or explosive or something).
