WWAP Hailin September 24th

Would you like a glass of Whine?

I was going to whip up a post on what we are playing on the usual Thursday but the combination of late nights gaming and work spoiled that for me. So I didn’t forget I am just getting this in late.

Skate. with me

Well let’s start with Skate. I am still playing the hell out of it and I have come to the conclusion that this game is the most fun I have had yet with an extreme sports franchise. I usually prefer snowboarding titles but the snowboarding titles with the exception of amped 1 have strayed way to far away from realism for my tastes. I would love for Black Box EA to make a boarding titles. We will see. After Skate. I no longer see Activision as the king of extreme. T2 was the last great hawk title.

Less is more

Less really is more when it comes to skate. You have less tricks which leads to less points which leads smaller combos. This is in no way a bad thing. I see this as a good thing. I am no longer striving for carpel tunnel syndrome trying to whip out D-pad combos. Your board is the right stick, your body is the left stick. The triggers represent your hands. Very very simple. The city it takes place in is San Vanelona. The city feels great when skating around it. It isn’t decorated with a city hall that has 20 quarter pipes built into it. It would feel more alive if the citizens and vehicle didn’t look so generic in design.

All the skaters in the game are not very well known in the ranks of Tony Hawk, Bam Magera or Jason Ellis. You know what I am fine with that. As soon as the skaters were announced I went to Youtube and checked out them out. A lot of them really represent street skating at it’s core. You really get a sense that the devs for Black Box just love the heart and soul of skating with there choices.

The only really over the top moments are when you compete in the X-games since Sal Masakela MC’s the competitions. I am a tad shocked by his presence as I always thought of him as a puppet to Tony. /shrug what do I know.

I only complaint would be near the end of the game as the video parts you select to star in become ridiculous and you have to start flicking the stick around like a crazy man. This become really evident when you have to do the end Thrasher video parts. 6000 points in skate is really difficult to do and the only way I have found to do them in 30 seconds is to get spastic with the stick. I really find myself not wanting to do them. But if I want to unlock everything then I have no choice.

Blue Dragon

Since I have gotten my hands on Skate. I have yet to dive back into Blue Dragon. I just find the game boring and I believe MMO’s have ruined me forever. I am hoping Lost Odyssey will bring back that spark with it’s FF10, FF7 style game play. It’s not that Blue Dragon is a bad game because it is not. I just find that the story is not holding my interest. Though I have to admit that I have had my best sleep possible playing this game.

EQ2

I have been diving even deeper into Eq2 and I have to admit now that I am in my mid fifties. (Yes WHOOT I am level 55) It is starting to feel like a chore just to level. I find myself not wanting to log in because it is such a pain in the ass to find a group and then spend the next 2 hours getting ten percent as people feign interest for ten minutes and then leave. You spend more time trying to keep a full group then actually doing something. It is frustrating as hell. I may have to go back to questing solo (/shudder) then putting in my LFG “LF serious groups only”.

When I play EQ2 I am tad hardcore, I want challenging mobs and dungeons and I want a team that has a minimum of 2 hours to kill. Non of this half an hour BS. I come from, as my closest friends know, what I call the Final Fantasy generation. The whole you stuck with a group for 2 plus hours you didn’t log in get a group and run. Now really this could be my fault for taking part in a game that I feel is becoming more one sided towards the soloer. I have always felt horrible if I said after a death that I had to leave then log off then back in. Coming up with excuses to leave crappy groups is becoming so much tougher in EQ2.

All I hope in the end is if I stick with it is that 60+ has a more dedicated grouping atmosphere. Or I will not be picking up the new expansion and I will be moving onto another game.

I think if I could find a guild (Though I love my crew don’t get me wrong.) or steady group in my level range that quested and xp’d together I would be enjoying the 50’s so much more and it wouldn’t feel like a job or grind. Those perfect opportunities only come once in a blue moon.

Well that was my week of gaming in a nutshell. I will try harder to make it a much smaller gap between posts.

Hailin signing out, peace and game hard my friends.

PS My gamertag is hailin if anyone like to add me.

Guess whos back. Back again.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I know you all missed me! Life has come at me full throttle This last 2 weeks or so, and I don’t see it relenting any time soon. For the few that don’t know my personal life, I am expecting my second child at the end of September. On top of that already stressful proposition, My wife has been put on bed-rest. So my WWaP will be fairly short and sweet for a while. It also doesn’t help that the NFL season starts this Thursday.

So enough about me, lets talk about me and what I’m playing! I have passed on my copy of Bioshock with out completing it(I know, stunning) so it doesn’t taunt me away from the things I need to complete around the house. I’m a sucker to peer pressure usually! Plus I know my brother-in-law will enjoy it and give it a good home while I neglect it! This weekend was filled with family so we busted out the Wii for some challenges! I have become a triple threat. I am currently 5-0-1 In Wii Baseball, I am undefeated at tennis and I am also the undisputed Heavyweight champ of Boxing in the house! WooHoo!

Then last night, my aforementioned brother-in-law brought over Madden ‘08(BASTARD! Now I want it). I had talked myself out of the game this year but Wow have they improved this game! Not only are the graphics a bit better (little tweaks here and there), but game play has been dramatically improved. Tons of new features that I barely got to see. Most fun was the Fantasy draft. not only do you get to draft from the entire NFL, you can also add Hall of Fame players if you so choose. My Linebackers where Mike Singletary and Jack Ham! Good times. Any how…time to get back to what I was doing….wait, what WAS I doing?

Here’s to Michael Vick hopefully spending 28 Dog years (or more) in jail!

Shadouwolf

WWaP Hailin 08/30/07

So this week has been gaming filled. With still my parents as background noise of them yelling at each other as they tile my bathroom.(Get in there and do it yourself Hailin) Hell no apparently you haven’t worked home improvement with my step-mother. I stay far away.

We went with a nice black wood grain inspired on the floor and a rock like brown on the walls. Very stunning I know I don’t explain it well.

Anyways to the heart of the post GAMING. Well I did a bunch of more hours on the Skate. demo. Even though I skated a little in High School about 15 years ago (I was horrible) I always felt I had a passion for the sport. Skaters would have and would still call me a poser, which I feel is unfair. I do feel you can have a passion for something but not be very good at it or at all. Football is a perfect example billions of americans watch it but very few are good at it yet no one calls them posers. If that was the case Football would not be the number one media sport in the US.

So if you are at your local skate park instead of picking on that kid, who is wearing a Hawk T and Vans, standing there on his board not moving. Leave the kid be. He may just have a passion for what he is not very good at. Hell you may have a fan and don’t even know it.

Wow where did that come from. That life lesson what sponsored by the letter P.

Anyways yah I have played the crap out of that demo and I still think it has life left in it. I can see this being the game that sparks controller sales. If you don’t believe me you don’t have the demo.

In the MMO world as I stated in an earlier post I have gone back to Eq2. I am enjoying it immensely and can’t wait to hit 50 which I should tonight. I have set an easy goal for myself which is 50% per night. 20 more levels to 70 and it should if I stay on track (Which I won’t) will take 40 days so I will be 70 right before the new expansion which I am DYING to play. I have found with my Warden it takes on average an hour and thirty minutes to get that 50% which I feel is a nice light commitment to the game. I would love to do more but as I am not the strongest soloer and get bored easily as a warden. I never built my Warden to play solo but since I have returned it is nearly impossible to find a group in the high 40’s to early 50’s. I am determined to stick with it. By the early 60’s when I respec to the wisdom tree (Bigger Heals) it should get easier for me to find groups.

Since EOF they added a separate tree for each class to specialize in more ways. I do not really like the warden for the fact they went melee for it. I can imagine once you get down the tree for 75% melee crit you can solo a ton better but right now it is slow going. I can’t believe I am saying I want faster leveling. I guess if the groups were crazy out there I wouldn’t really care about leveling speed. I guess part of me just doesn’t want to give up since here I am posting about it.

Also I helped a fellow guildie and a poor stray Iskar Templar do some Rock Crawlers for a heritage quest. That was good fun and I was so excited to help a fellow guildie accomplish something like that. The best part is myself and another guild warden (Hadia) tanked these triple up rock worms but with 3 healers it really wasn’t that hard. Big ups to Hadia, Avora, Hammer, and the stray Iskar who’s name escapes me. Though it was short our time together it was so much fun. I sorta felt silly afterwards though because at one point us Wardens got excited and pulled one to many. Which yes would be two. So I tanked one and Haida tanked the other. The Templar healed both of us. Hammer who was on his Coceror I should have stepped away and said “Hammer mez that worm.” I thought about this afterwards and went Damn and filed it away for next time.

So far my return to Eq2 has been so so. Happy about my guild, excited about all the changes that SOE has made the COMMITMENT they have to this product. It is so stellar. The dev team over there is coming up with some fabulous changes. My only hope is in say 6 months time they start going over the old zones and revamping them cause they are still stale and boring as they ever have been. The three expansion zones are fabulous. EOH, KOS and DoF are amazing. Trotting through them has me so excited for RoK. (Rise of Kunark)

I am going to put it in my post, AGAIN. PLEASE devs steal the walking while casting from Vanguard that is so damn game changing for the good. Shut up kiting haters. It is for the best and even you know it. I shall throw a at you and another .

All in all it has been a terrific week for me gaming wise. Now if only my work week was as fun.

Hailin signing out , peace and game hard.

PS Sorry if I got anyone’s name wrong.

What AM I playing????

here I am with another riveting episode of what we are playing. Unfortunately this weeks may be a touch on the bland side. After having Bioshock for nearly a solid week, I have yet to get more than 2 hours of play time. So many things going on. Weddings, Family visits, but most importantly, Fantasy Football! I actually tried doing a pay league this year in the hopes of winning some cash! So my weekend was shot! Oh well

But what little I did play of Bioshock, I was thoroughly impressed with it! As we all know, Amazing graphics. The story line is very intriguing. still not sure what the hell is fully going on. Is Andrew Ryan Still alive? Did he “plan” for this to happen? Why/How did i know to use plasmids? For those of you who either played the demo or are playing, I think the opening sequence is huge foreshadowing! “My dad said I would achieve great thing. I think he’s right” Hurm. Anyhow, hopefully I will be back later this week with a better what I am playing. Until then…

Keep your feet on the ground but keep reaching for the stars!

Shadouwolf

Hailin’s WWaP August 24, 07

Well it is that time again for me to look back to what I was playing this week and for you to go oh whatever.

This week was spent for the most part in the Skate demo. We are in the process of installing a new bathroom (Well parents are. I just watch them argue and play the role of muscle.) so I haven’t had as much gaming time as I would have liked. So I played the demo cause I could fit the odd session in here and there. I would have loved to say here is my little skater dude throwing out a sweet line. But I can never get the Skate.reel feature to work. I have tried all the forum suggestions and nothing is working for me. /shrug.

The Skate.reel is just what it’s name implies. You make a short 30 sec video of your favorite wreck or line. I have tried a couple times and I can’t get the damn thing to work for the life of me. The last one I did I wanted so much to save if even for myself I spent about 10 minutes just trying to hit this one ledge. Finally I hit it and pulled a very nice grind on it even coming off the ledge was beautiful. So I edited it made it look pruty found the perfect camera angle. Compressed it then uploaded it and Boom nothing at all. So I can’t even show off.

This all leads to my latest rant. EA for crying out loud get off your HIGH HORSE and come back down to planet earth and realize that whoever is running your networks is a FRIGGIN idiot. I could sit here and actually blame the skate.reel faultiness on it being a beta if it wasn’t for the fact that EA has suffered with server instability since the very first product that was online enabled. I remember the nightmarish times spent in Burnout or Tiger 06 trying to connect to games whether it was Xbox or PS2. EA servers are the worst servers bar none. So why are they not using a tried and true product that works like Microsoft Live servers? I think it is because EA wants to give MS what little control they can. EA like MS love to rule their own roost. For EA to give server control is to much for them to handle. But that is just my theory what is yours?

I am going to say right now that I have no networking skill outside of using a standard 4 port router. I have never even used a wireless network. I am admitting I am no IT or TWITER. What I do know is port forwarding should be a thing of the past. The fact that we are still having to go in and add ports or even DMZ our routers for 360 use is ridiculous. I don’t have the answer as to why this still goes on and why it still needs to happen. (If I did I would be on Techtv or Revision3 with Leo Laporte or Patrick Norton.) I guess if there was any positive out of this situation it is the learning frustration that comes with setting up a new router or network. That sense of accomplishment that comes with finally figuring out something that difficult. Then being able to use that information in real life. Just don’t let it go to your head or you will end up like me the temporary IT guy at work. Which the joke is on them cause after 3 years I still can’t figure out EA’s servers, port forwarded or not.

Oh yah I went back to Vanguard. I want to see the server merge in action. If anyone has a character on Florendyl or soon to be Seradon let me know I would love to meet up and do some partying. My level 20 necro Xiler would love the company. If you can handle grouping with someone that will crash to the desktop every hour or so. HA! Where did I put my .ini tweaks? /flush

Oh my pimpage for this week is the podcast Voyages of Vanguard hosted by Troy it’s cause of his show I went back. It is part of the VirginWorlds Collective. Check it out he is getting better with every episode.

Hailin signing out, peace and game hard.

WWaP Hailin August 17th

Hmm What we are playing. Hmm that is a good one. Well I did play COH I got DR. Flambe up to a respectable lvl 28. On Saturday I hooked up with a really fun Dark/Dark Scrapper who was lvl 38. She was a blast and a lot of fun to be around even after the ten deaths we had trying to complete her mission. It was the first dungeon I had been in that didn’t feel like a repeat. On Wednesday I played the Bioshock demo since the top secret pew pew demo that everyone and there dog is in doesn’t run on Wednesday for US players.

Bioshock is brilliant but I like duh. So to make it easier here is the IGN Review for you. Got a 9.7.

That is about it for this week since the Skate demo was delayed I don’t really have a preview of it yet. Soon I hope.

Hailin signing out, peace and game hard.

What We are Playing. Round 2

(game show voice) “Welcome back to another exciting episode of what we are playing now! I hope you enjoy this weeks post. So with no further ado, Heeeeeeerrrrreeeessss Shadouwolf!!!”(Crowd erupts with applause)

Hey all. Lets see. The day after last weeks episode I finished up Gears of War. Over all I loved the game. I was only a touch disappointed in the ending. What about his father? I mean he seemed so concerned about him and then you hear nothing more about it. And can we say, What a set up for a sequel? I mean at least let me THINK I have won. I think the whole speech from the “queen” Locust could have been saved and used at the beginning of the sequel! Thus making me feel as if i had actually accomplished something other than angering them! It also now makes me less inclined to get the sequel cause its like they plotted it instead of the “hey our game was a huge success lets make another. Other than that….Amazing game!

So now I have moved on, what is it that Ill be playing till your beloved Bioshock comes out? Well I shall tell you my faithful and loving friends. First up is trying to finishing up Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Yes that’s right, contrary to my about page, I may have 2 games finished under a month! So far Marvel is tons of fun, Especially for a old comic geek like me. So many Characters to play. Every one having its good/bad sides. Getting added bonuses for certain teams being together is another added bonus. And Oh the gear you amass along the way that you can put on. TONS of different choices. The biggest downfall is that its mostly a button mashing game, not much strategy to it.

The other thing I’ll be doing is playing with the newest addition to my family. The Nintendo Wii. This will be the number one contributing factor of me possibly not finishing Marvel before Bioshock is released. I have only had a short time on i, playing Wii sports, and Oh the fun it has in store! who knew actually interacting would be so fun. I will be the first to admit, when i heard of this I was like, “Ummmmm, I don’t think that sounds to fun.” Boy was I wrong! we will see how it is with other games but at least with sports its a hit with me! Ended up with 3 games for it also. Super Paper Mario, Ratatouille , and Trauma Center. As soon as I try any of them out Ill let you guys know what I think.

(announcer voice) “Well that does it for THIS weeks episode. What will our hero do? Will he continue pressing on in Marvel? Will the Wii be to much distraction for him? Tune in next week for another fun filled, zany episode of What we are playing now!”

Shadouwolfs WWaP August 9th

In preparation for Bioshock, I decided to Jump back into Gears of War and finish it. Telling myself that I can not buy Bioshock without finishing it. I know what some of you are saying…”What??? You still have not finished it???” To tell the truth, I’m a little…ok, alot A.D.D. when it comes to video games. I start a game and am totally stoked on it. I play for a few weeks. Then something shinier comes out. So there is my excuse. Anywho…back to the game.

Oh the beauty of Gears of War. What can be said about this game. Graphics are amazing. Story line(thus far) is very good. I think the most impressive thing for me is how the game is very linear. I mean, they only give you one way to go, yet it does not feel that way. the game is so immersive and intense that you do not feel like you are being herded like a bunch of cattle. The setting is set up so well that when you see a pile of debris or a burning car and have to go around it you give it no second thought. I can not think of another game that has done this so well. That does not mean its not out there, cause my memory is not the best. This to me , outside of the phenomenal graphics, is the crowning achievement of the game.

I shall return with an edit when I have finished and tell you all what I thought of the ending. Hopefully avoiding any spoilers!

Until we meet again

Shadouwolf

Hailin’s WWaP August 9 2007

This is my first post in What We Are Playing.

So this week I got sucked back into COH hardcore. Spent to many hours on this long weekend playing it. I finally got off my ass and leveled a Fire/Fire Blaster to lvl 24. Thanks to all the cool peeps that helped Dr. Flambe to get there on the Virtue server. Now I am hoping to pull a group together to do the Respec Taskforce which is basically a long mission, not sure how long.

I was also grabbed to play some Graw2 last night which was a blast. No matter what the screen said we finished that MAP. Was an absolute blast we fought hard for our side and died a ton.

Anyways that is it for this week for me.

Hailin signing out, peace and game hard.