With a special three day holiday weekend I get an extra day of gaming in. Nice. I played quite a bit on the new Pinball FX table and it is worth the 200 Points it costs. It has plenty of complexity to it while not being to crowded. Just the kind of table I enjoy.
I finally added another stick of RAM for Gears of War (PC). While the game is now playable it still stutters quite a bit and has challenges when dealing with either a lot of enemies or a big enemy. Nevertheless, I have progressed through Act I without seeing anything new. I tried to play in a multiplayer game and had zero luck. Apparently, this not a hot PC title.
Finally, we played a bunch of Rock Band yesterday (hi Beck!) and we unlocked the Endless Set List. We didn't invest the 30 hours it takes to beat it - that'll hopefully be next weekend. I also tried the vocal tour. At first it was a challenge to adapt my awful voice to pass the songs. Once I stopped worrying about how I sounded - things are much better.
One last note, OXM issue 80 arrived on Friday. There are three Rock Band songs on the demo disc. The tune Sprode is something absolutely amazing to behold. And that is all I will say. (This disc also has the Turok demo on it. I did not try it... yet.)
Showing posts with label Gears of War. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gears of War. Show all posts
Monday, January 21, 2008
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Playing Today: Call of Duty 4, Gears of War (PC)
There's good news and bad news. Firstly, I now know of the joys of COD4. Secondly, Gear of War is not running as well as I had hoped. In the case of COD4, I have reached the fun portions of the single player campaign. There is definitely more story here than I expected and more than is seen in Halo. This game understands how to tell a cinematic story without sacraficing gameplay.
As for Gears, I am hoping that adding some memory will do the trick. If not, I guess it'll be sold. Frowny face.
As for Gears, I am hoping that adding some memory will do the trick. If not, I guess it'll be sold. Frowny face.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Playing This Weekend: Call of Duty 4, Gears of War (PC)
Two games played this weekend: COD4 & Gears of War. Although, I played through the tutorial of COD the other day, I didn't get a real feel of the single player until Sunday. The story is definitely interesting and the graphics are gorgeous. I'm still on the fence about the gameplay. While the controls are similar (if not identical) to prior iterations of COD, the game plays as if you are in the middle of a war zone. 90% of the time I have no idea if I am shooting a friendly or some evil terrorist. I "get it" but wonder if that will become a frustration later on in the game. It definitely would be a frustration in the hands of the wrong developer.
I installed Gears of War on my new PC and just delved a bit. I caught some slow down and might need to shut off every other program in order play. The graphics, on my rig, are not as good as on the XBOX 360. The gameplay feels exactly the same as on the XBOX (I am using the wireless controller adapter to play). More time will tell.
I installed Gears of War on my new PC and just delved a bit. I caught some slow down and might need to shut off every other program in order play. The graphics, on my rig, are not as good as on the XBOX 360. The gameplay feels exactly the same as on the XBOX (I am using the wireless controller adapter to play). More time will tell.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
An Open Letter to Microsoft
Microsoft,
Your Interactive Entertainment Business division is floundering. Specifically, two areas are obviously in need of a major re-haul. First, your initial XBOX 360 hardware is fundamentally flawed. Secondly, your support services are under-staffed, under-educated, and insufficient for the amount of traffic they are receiving. To fix these problems I offer you three solutions: recall, relaunch, or red ring. These three solutions can be implemented individually or collectively. Hell, for all the general public knows, you may already be implementing these changes. If that's the case, all we ask for is more transparency.
RECALL. The XBOX 360 hardware launched was flawed. Every owner of a XBOX 360 sold at launch is guaranteed a broken console. To make matters worse, every owner of a refurbished XBOX 360 is guaranteed another broken console. We know this not because you've admitted this problem but because of the preponderance of evidence. If the Internet is used as a trustworthy source of information and compare the amount of broken XBOX 360 claims to those of every other current console on the market, it is apparent that the XBOX 360 owns the market of hardware failure. If your own corporate admittance as the basis of this argument, Peter Moore's (former Corporate Vice President of Interactive Entertainment) three year warranty extension should suit just fine. Logic indicates that making such a drastic financial sacrifice for your customers is an open admittance of failure. Unfortunately, this program is not enough.
One solution is officially recalling all affected (infected) consoles. No one outside of Microsoft corporate knows how many XBOX 360s will initially fail (8 million? 10 million?) and that number will increase even higher if you calculate the number of broken refurbished consoles. Instead of slowing down customers by forcing them to call 1-800-4-MY-XBOX, a separate recall would sacrifice short term financial and public relations momentum for long term customer satisfaction. If you want to create your own recall department to handle the bulk of these issues that would assist. Allow consumers to send back their broken (or soon to be broken) consoles when they are ready and show some skin instead of hiding in your trench coat. It's not as if you're running an illegal dogfighting ring.
RELAUNCH. Instead of a full-fledged recall, you could just completely relaunch their console. After the holiday season, perhaps in January and February, you'd halt all new XBOX 360 shipments. Clear all remaining inventory, stockpile redesigned (and functioning consoles), and tell the world that the XBOX 360 will be coming back soon. Tell software manufacturers that they can still sell their games except that new consumers won't be able to buy new consoles. In fact, if implemented fast enough, this plan could be used to spike console sales for the holiday. Drop prices $100 just to clear the shelves and parents will have no reason to sit back and disappoint their video game starved kids.
You might be wondering why a relaunch will work? Three recent examples provide evidence that a relaunch can help revitalize your presence and broaden your audience. The release of the DS Lite, the PSP 2000, and the PlayStation Slim all pushed slowing console sales back to where they need to be. In fact, the PSP 2000 might just save the lagging console from irrelevancy. Find a new game (GTA IV?) or peripheral (HD DVD) to bundle with the system, price it competitively and show the world that they can be confident with a functioning console. With a relaunch you'll lose a bit of ground short term, however, you will be better off in the long run. Your momentum should pick up with superior software and you'll have much happier customers.
RED RING. The failure of your warranty extension is hampered by slow service response, poor customer service, and the overwhelming number of broken consoles. Your customer service department either needs to be complete nuked or expanded extensively. Instead of removing all of your current agents, how about creating a division that only deals with red ring failures? If a consumer sees the red ring, they can call 1-800-RED-RING and speak with an agent about sending back their console. Eliminate the obnoxious computer agent and send customers straight to a team of representatives that only deal with the red ring. This will lighten the load of your other support agents so that they can deal with all of the other (less rampant) issues with the XBOX 360.
At this point it is apparent to everyone that things aren't getting better any time soon. This fact is even more troublesome because the greatness of your software is obvious. Gamers want to play BioShock, HALO 3, Dead Rising (still), and Gears of War. Nintendo apparently hates adult gamers and Sony is too busy trying to sell BluRay to the world. You, Microsoft, needs to step up to the plate now and make further changes. You need to make these changes soon and make them public. You already have an excellent grasp of community and some wonderful PR mouthpieces to utilize. Your faithful fans are losing their patience and it will only take one great game to change the tide.
Hopefully and yet jadedly yours,
Alex
Your Interactive Entertainment Business division is floundering. Specifically, two areas are obviously in need of a major re-haul. First, your initial XBOX 360 hardware is fundamentally flawed. Secondly, your support services are under-staffed, under-educated, and insufficient for the amount of traffic they are receiving. To fix these problems I offer you three solutions: recall, relaunch, or red ring. These three solutions can be implemented individually or collectively. Hell, for all the general public knows, you may already be implementing these changes. If that's the case, all we ask for is more transparency.
RECALL. The XBOX 360 hardware launched was flawed. Every owner of a XBOX 360 sold at launch is guaranteed a broken console. To make matters worse, every owner of a refurbished XBOX 360 is guaranteed another broken console. We know this not because you've admitted this problem but because of the preponderance of evidence. If the Internet is used as a trustworthy source of information and compare the amount of broken XBOX 360 claims to those of every other current console on the market, it is apparent that the XBOX 360 owns the market of hardware failure. If your own corporate admittance as the basis of this argument, Peter Moore's (former Corporate Vice President of Interactive Entertainment) three year warranty extension should suit just fine. Logic indicates that making such a drastic financial sacrifice for your customers is an open admittance of failure. Unfortunately, this program is not enough.
One solution is officially recalling all affected (infected) consoles. No one outside of Microsoft corporate knows how many XBOX 360s will initially fail (8 million? 10 million?) and that number will increase even higher if you calculate the number of broken refurbished consoles. Instead of slowing down customers by forcing them to call 1-800-4-MY-XBOX, a separate recall would sacrifice short term financial and public relations momentum for long term customer satisfaction. If you want to create your own recall department to handle the bulk of these issues that would assist. Allow consumers to send back their broken (or soon to be broken) consoles when they are ready and show some skin instead of hiding in your trench coat. It's not as if you're running an illegal dogfighting ring.
RELAUNCH. Instead of a full-fledged recall, you could just completely relaunch their console. After the holiday season, perhaps in January and February, you'd halt all new XBOX 360 shipments. Clear all remaining inventory, stockpile redesigned (and functioning consoles), and tell the world that the XBOX 360 will be coming back soon. Tell software manufacturers that they can still sell their games except that new consumers won't be able to buy new consoles. In fact, if implemented fast enough, this plan could be used to spike console sales for the holiday. Drop prices $100 just to clear the shelves and parents will have no reason to sit back and disappoint their video game starved kids.
You might be wondering why a relaunch will work? Three recent examples provide evidence that a relaunch can help revitalize your presence and broaden your audience. The release of the DS Lite, the PSP 2000, and the PlayStation Slim all pushed slowing console sales back to where they need to be. In fact, the PSP 2000 might just save the lagging console from irrelevancy. Find a new game (GTA IV?) or peripheral (HD DVD) to bundle with the system, price it competitively and show the world that they can be confident with a functioning console. With a relaunch you'll lose a bit of ground short term, however, you will be better off in the long run. Your momentum should pick up with superior software and you'll have much happier customers.
RED RING. The failure of your warranty extension is hampered by slow service response, poor customer service, and the overwhelming number of broken consoles. Your customer service department either needs to be complete nuked or expanded extensively. Instead of removing all of your current agents, how about creating a division that only deals with red ring failures? If a consumer sees the red ring, they can call 1-800-RED-RING and speak with an agent about sending back their console. Eliminate the obnoxious computer agent and send customers straight to a team of representatives that only deal with the red ring. This will lighten the load of your other support agents so that they can deal with all of the other (less rampant) issues with the XBOX 360.
At this point it is apparent to everyone that things aren't getting better any time soon. This fact is even more troublesome because the greatness of your software is obvious. Gamers want to play BioShock, HALO 3, Dead Rising (still), and Gears of War. Nintendo apparently hates adult gamers and Sony is too busy trying to sell BluRay to the world. You, Microsoft, needs to step up to the plate now and make further changes. You need to make these changes soon and make them public. You already have an excellent grasp of community and some wonderful PR mouthpieces to utilize. Your faithful fans are losing their patience and it will only take one great game to change the tide.
Hopefully and yet jadedly yours,
Alex
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Playing Today: DDR Universe, Sonic the Hedgehog, Pac-Man Championship Edition, Mega Man Powered Up, Gears of War, Burnout Revenge
Sorry about the delay in blogging. Vacation took away from my overall gaming but I was still able to play some new (to me) games. I played DDR Universe and Sonic the Hedgehog (next gen). DDR was surprisingly fun. I didn't expect to hate it completely and that's what I got. It plays like Guitar Hero (duh) and the music was better than expected. I might invest more than 20 minutes in the future but only in the privacy of my home.
My time spent with Sonic the Hedgehog was less worthwhile. I played for about 5 minutes and quickly sent it back. I didn't like the excessive cut scene at the beginning (despite how beautiful it looked) and had no interest in 3D Sonic. Not sure why I even tried this.
I'm still playing Mega Man but I seem to have hit a wall on the final boss battle. The smaller bosses were all fun to battle and I quite enjoy the game's save point system. However, if I can't progress much in the next few weeks, I guess I'll retire it.
My time spent with Sonic the Hedgehog was less worthwhile. I played for about 5 minutes and quickly sent it back. I didn't like the excessive cut scene at the beginning (despite how beautiful it looked) and had no interest in 3D Sonic. Not sure why I even tried this.
I'm still playing Mega Man but I seem to have hit a wall on the final boss battle. The smaller bosses were all fun to battle and I quite enjoy the game's save point system. However, if I can't progress much in the next few weeks, I guess I'll retire it.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Playing Today: Wii Sports, Uno, Burnout Revenge, Texas Hold 'Em, Gears of War, Guitar Hero II
A nice mix of games over the past two days have kept my attention. I'm still playing Wii Sports, although, losing your bowling skills is quite a frustration. Perhaps I'll just earn a pro score and retire. I played a three inning baseball match and it was pretty cool seeing Rosie O'Donnell (Mii) hit quite a home run. Paris Hilton singled in the 6-0 victory, likely her first game without reaching third base.
A new XBL contest has me returning to Texas Hold 'Em after a hiatus. The contest requires an online multiplayer match per day and I can easily sacrifice 40 minutes for some poker. I wish they would implement the Live Video option, but I'm sure that isn't an easy task. Online play has been more realistic than when this game launched, so, I think a lot of the kid gamers have moved on...
...to games like Gears of War. I played quite a long match of Annex the other day. Annex is the newest gametype with a slew of new Achievements worth attempting. Too bad my first game was ruined by a host that bailed right before the match became official. Sure, it was fun to play the game, but the hosts early exit blanked all of our stats and ended up as a waste of time. Lame. Stunts like this, expensive new content, and glitchers have forced me to retire Gears of War. It has a great single (co-op) campaign and had a great multiplayer component. However, the time has come for me to leave it behind and wait for Gears 2.
I've played some quick games of Uno and I continue to have interest in the Kameo deck. For $1.25, this might be one of the best downloadable bargains on XBL. Hmm.
Played some more Guitar Hero II, mostly just amping up the difficulty of songs I already know. I'm not sure how I'll ever get to the Hard Difficulty and I'll probably bail on the game before then. I have this vision that Super Paper Mario is going to suck away my life soon.
A new XBL contest has me returning to Texas Hold 'Em after a hiatus. The contest requires an online multiplayer match per day and I can easily sacrifice 40 minutes for some poker. I wish they would implement the Live Video option, but I'm sure that isn't an easy task. Online play has been more realistic than when this game launched, so, I think a lot of the kid gamers have moved on...
...to games like Gears of War. I played quite a long match of Annex the other day. Annex is the newest gametype with a slew of new Achievements worth attempting. Too bad my first game was ruined by a host that bailed right before the match became official. Sure, it was fun to play the game, but the hosts early exit blanked all of our stats and ended up as a waste of time. Lame. Stunts like this, expensive new content, and glitchers have forced me to retire Gears of War. It has a great single (co-op) campaign and had a great multiplayer component. However, the time has come for me to leave it behind and wait for Gears 2.
I've played some quick games of Uno and I continue to have interest in the Kameo deck. For $1.25, this might be one of the best downloadable bargains on XBL. Hmm.
Played some more Guitar Hero II, mostly just amping up the difficulty of songs I already know. I'm not sure how I'll ever get to the Hard Difficulty and I'll probably bail on the game before then. I have this vision that Super Paper Mario is going to suck away my life soon.
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