Happy Bungie Day!!

Have you downloaded your FREE Cold Storage map for Halo 3?

It’s in the XBL marketplace today ONLY! Go get it!

For more details, check out the video right here, or visit Bungie.net

Another reason to love Bungie and Halo 3

 

Something incredibly cute and profound happened this morning and I just had to share…

A little background first…I’m a SAHM, but i’m a WORKING SAHM; meaning, I stay at home with my child, AND I work a full-time job from home. Usually, while i’m earning a paycheck, my 8 yr. old son, Knucklehead, spends his time playing on one of our two Xbox’s with what I like to call his ’summertime Xbox buddies.’

Now, these regular gamer-buddies range in age from 8 to 12 yrs. old. Yes, they are the young kids that so many of us adult gamers complain about. Not because they are vulgar or rude, but because they are loud – and happy – and ask lots of innocent questions during matchmaking – and are blissfully unaware of how their yappiness grinds the nerves of us…mature gamers.

Now, these little ones don’t always make the most ideal teammates on H3, but when a room full of 8-12 yr. olds get into a room together for a little forging – it becomes quite magical.

For example, this morning, i’m upstairs programming away, and suddenly I hear my son say, ‘We’ll put our merchandise over here…’; ‘wait, wait – let’s put the parking lot here…,’  ‘Ok – i’ll work the cash register…,’ ‘what would you like? Ok! Thank you for shopping with us!’

Now, I thought for sure he was playing H3, but his dialogue thoroughly confused me, so i went downstairs to have a look at what he was doing. Sure enough, there he was, controller in hand and headset on head, forging with his little buddies. Only this time, they weren’t seeing how many times they could stick one another with a grenade, counting how many different ways a mongoose can fly up a man-cannon, or chasing each other around on ‘Snowbound.’

No, this time, they were playing in a supermarket that they, (or someone else), had forged out of shipping crates. There was a parking lot and a store front; aisles for products, and a customer service counter; there were even displays for weapons and vehicles. Each child had assigned himself a job: a customer, a cashier, a stock boy, even a merchandiser who’d make displays. 

I sat there for a while – watching and listening to their clever banter, and I realized how much they, (and I), were learning from this experience. They were cooperating, performing job-related tasks, and architecturally designing their own store. They were being kind, asking if anyone needed help, and assisting each other with their purchases.

And i’m left sitting there, totally amazed, not only at how well these children were playing with one another, but wondering why I ever worried about how much time they were spending on a video game in the first place. Watching these young children build something together in this virtual sandbox…cooperating, learning, experimenting, playing…it was very inspiring to see. 

I almost feel bad…no, I DO feel bad, for those parents who listen to the politicians, and parental groups…to those who say that video games are bad for our children. Their kids may never know what it’s like to play in Bungie’s world. They may never know what it’s like to create, to learn, and to role-play online with friends. This technology is truly the wave of our future, and I can only hope that as the gaming industry, and Bungie, grows – that they spend more time reaching out to parents who DON’T game, so that their children will get to make their own virtual supermarkets one day too. <3

- Mommy DX

The ‘real’ GTA IV

GTA IV is, hands down, one of the best games i’ve ever played. If you’re curious what the real Liberty City looks like, check out the clip below:

Spotted:

Halo 3 Legendary Map pack advertisement on a billboard in Crackdown. ROFL!

GTA IV

You know GTA IV is HOT when…

 Perez Hilton  blogs about it!

 

Turok – Still a Dinosaur

 

(TRUE ‘M’ for ‘Mature’ - not for the kiddies, folks!)

Turok looked like it would be a great game, didn’t it? After visiting the website, I was very excited to play this title. Gorgeous graphics, powerful weapons, an interesting story, and of course the dinosaurs! Who wouldn’t want to battle the dinosaurs?!

Unfortunately, maybe my expectations were too high, (or the trailer a little too convincing), but I just.couldn’t.get.into.this.game. First of all, the beginning tutorial is almost non-existent. (Maybe the developers thought people would already be familiar with Turok from the last game?)

Secondly, as a new Turok player, I found that doing a few jumps and a climb up a ladder didn’t really give me enough time to get used to the character. Then, to make matters worse, Turok is put in a huge jungle with NO WEAPONS, and NO MELEE ability. I’m sure that the whole point of this was to kind of freak the gamer out a bit, but I found it very annoying. 

Unfortunately, the lack of achievements during local play was also discouraging. The majority of achievements are for online play; however, after participating in an online match, I was even more disappointed with the game than before. The visuals deteriorated significantly, and it was very hard to find anyone without some sort of radar.

Other features lacking in this game were clear story development and the absence of background music. Now, music may not be as important to some people, but for this game, there were large spans of silence between battles, and it was very obvious to me that something was missing.

Fortunately, Turok does have a few good features. The dinosaurs and scenery during local play are nothing short of amazing, and the characters are artistically well-defined. The weapons display was simple to use and I had no problem switching between guns, grenades, bow, or knife.

Overall, Turok has the potential of being a really good game, but unfortunately, this version didn’t live up to the hype. You might want to throw this one on your Gamefly queue, but don’t expect it to stay in your console for long.

Rating:

Conan the Barbarian

This one’s not for the kiddies, folks! Conan the Barbarian is smartly rated ‘M’ for ‘Mature,’ and features all the juicy things that adult games should: blood, sex, and violence. Although playing the brutal barbarian was a lot of fun, I was instantly reminded of the old Crash Bandicoot games – you know, where you want to go off the beaten path, but the game won’t let you?

In fact, I was really surprised that for a 2007 release, that Conan was so old-school. With as much as game technology has advanced in the last 10 years, I have to admit, I was a little disappointed in the design of the game itself. Sure, the graphics were nice, and it was fun to sling a sword around for a while. However, I want the ability to roam freely around the maps, and this game just doesn’t let you do that.

Additionally, I found the game to be quite glitchy, especially when fighting the bosses. Attacks didn’t always work as they should, bosses didn’t always act quite right, and the button sequences didn’t always show up on the screen.  Trust me, the glitchiness is maddening when you’re trying to kill a zombie elephant, but you’re not sure what the hell it’s doing, or what you’re supposed to do to it.

Next time, I would like to see a smoother gameplay, the ability to roam the maps, and the option to go back to the different Acts in order to work on leftover achievements.

Overall, even with all the kinks, Conan was still a fun game to play. Who wouldn’t have fun rescuing maidens and fighting lions? So, if you’re into the older-style gaming experience, pick up Conan, it’s definitely worth the rental.

Rating: