Of Sackboys, Dragon Ages, And A Bulletstorm

Well, I hope everyone had a happy holiday season. Ours was quite nice. Now, it's time to get back into the swing of things, so we'll start off with a few of the games that I'm excited about playing in the new year. First up, is Little Big Planet 2. I loved the first game, and love it still. With a great musical soundtrack and levels that are actually fun to play through a second time or more, Little Big Planet has a lot going for it. I also loved the designs and artwork for each world. There's never a dull moment in the game, and there's so many things you can do such as designing your own challenging stage, trying on different costumes on your sackboy or sackgirl,  or even trying out stages that other players have designed online. The possibilities are endless.
 While I was a little disappointed that the developers for Little Big Planet 2 pushed back the release date to January 18th, I do understand that they want the sequel game to be even more fun than the first and they want to do it right. However, I am glad that the wait for this game will be over soon.
 Bulletstorm is intriguing to me. After reading up on it, I have to admit I was a bit dismayed to see it evolved into a first person shooter. The reason for that reaction is I tend to get incredibly bad vertigo playing in a first person point of view. Borderlands camera angles that bobbed like a yo-yo were so bad that I actually thought I was going to be physically ill. Unfortunately, I had gotten the game for the 360 so there was no way to turn that bobbing motion off, but I found you could turn off for the PC version. I still do not understand why they didn't have that feature for the 360 version. It would have been nice! So, I was a little hesitant when I was reading up on how the developers for Bulletstorm had decided it worked better as a first person shooter. I mean, the concept art for the game was amazing and  I have to say I was a sucker for the artwork for the giant monster plants. It had potential to me from all the articles I read, so I found myself being excited about it.

 Then I hear about the first person shooter deal and I'm torn. I've been waiting for this game for months and genuinely excited ever since I first heard about it. I decided to try and keep an open mind and check out their website. I'm glad I did. The sample trailer they had blew me away. Yes, it's a first person shooter, but it made me hopeful. It looked great and I think I could actually play this without getting raging bouts of vertigo. The camera was spot on and didn't do odd angles, and just the few minutes they showed looked great. I got excited about Bulletstorm all over again. I was pleasantly surprised and now I can't wait for this game to be released. 

 Next of course is Dragon Age 2. I loved Dragon Age and played through all the story lines, did all the side quests, and played through all the downloadable content, (I'm a nerd people, this is what I do) loving every minute of it. I even played all the angles of every possible romance. Yes, all of them. The story was brilliant and wonderfully written, making you care about each and every character. It even made me really hate the super villains and the ambiguous ones. I did love the aspect of good and evil was not black and white here, there were shades of gray and your decisions affected each part of the story in some way.
 As soon as I heard about Dragon Age 2, I began reading all the articles voraciously, writing down dates, notes, and reminders to myself that I absolutely wanted this game. My good friend Gary informed me of the preorder deal they had for fans of the game, which I checked out. It was a limited edition preorder where you could get downloadable content titled The Exiled Prince as well as a downloadable soundtrack and exclusive in-game weapons. The cutoff date was January 11th. I made it in time thanks to my wonderful husband Ron, who ordered it for me.  For those who missed the limited edition boat, you can get The Exiled Prince on XBOX Live after the March launch, but it will cost you 560 MS Points. A bit steep, but at least it will be available to others who wish to play it.
 Release dates for the games listed are: Little Big Planet 2 Januray 18, 2011
                                                           Bulletstorm February 22, 2011
                                                           Dragon Age 2 March 8, 2011
                                                          
 There are so many more games coming out this year that I am looking forward to, but these are the games that will be out in the first three months of 2011, and I'm ecstatic that they're finally going to be here. It looks like 2011 is going to be a promising gaming year.

Happy Holidays!

 I'm on a bit of a hiatus due to the holiday season. I'll be back after Christmas or the new year. In the meantime, I hope everyone has a happy holiday season!

The 500 Pound Pink Gorilla

I was incredibly ticked off after I read this article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/07/komen-foundation-charities-cure_n_793176.html

 I'm sure the Susan G. Komen Foundation started out with the best of intentions, but now they have become the 500 pound pink gorilla smashing everyone in the room. I have lost so many people I loved and cared about to cancer so this really makes me sick to my stomach. Shouldn't we all be working together to find a cure for cancer of all types? I don't think it should focus on just breast cancer or just leukemia, but all of it geared towards cancer research and finding a cure for all.
 Instead, it seems the Komen Foundation are suing any and every of the smaller cancer charities using the words "cure" or "for the cure" and suing them for using the color pink. They claim it's their trademark and their brand, but honestly how do you own a color or a word? Frankly, I think this is completely ridiculous reasoning. One particular charity that they did this to that really stuck in my craw was Kites For A Cure, a family kite flying  charity event that donates to lung cancer research. This didn't threaten them in any way and it was a family oriented event for a different type of cancer, yet the pink gorilla sent a nasty letter anyway about ceasing said phrase of "for the cure" and usage of the color pink.
 It's as if the Komen Foundation is more concerned with protecting their brand and trademark rather than focusing on actual cancer research and that's appalling. It's blatantly clear that a lot of the donations they've received have been used for their lawyers and policing (see bullying) the smaller charities. They will never see one dime from me and many others feel the same. They have forgotten what it truly means to be a charity and instead have turned into 500 pound pink gorilla thugs and I can not and will not respect that. You can't hide behind your lawyers and your big corporate title bullying others while advocating how much good you've done. One does not cancel out the other. If you act like a big jerk long enough, people do notice and they do call you on it. The focus needs to be on researching preventing and curing cancer together, not stomping on the little guys because you're more concerned with making money. That's not okay.
 Personally for me, these are the following cancer research charities that understand what it means to be a charity and what it means to fund the donations to research ways to prevent and cure cancer:
American Cancer Society
Cancer Support Services Inc
National Breast Cancer Foundation
Cancer Sucks
American Institute Cancer

We need to work together, not fight each other and fall apart. Remember who you were before you became a 500 pound pink gorilla Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, Ezio Rides Again

I just got done playing Assassin's Creed Brotherhood and I'll level with you, the ending did cause me to have  a what the heck is going on moment. The ending is abrupt and leaves you with a cliffhanger, only drawing forth more questions, and leaves one feeling a bit disappointed and frustrated. However, it does open up many possibilities for the story and for another Assassin's Creed game.
 Cliffhanger ending aside, Brotherhood does not disappoint. You get to play as Ezio Auditore once again fighting against the Borgia clan. Ezio is now a leader and you can recruit assassins throughout the city of Rome and build up assassin signals to take out guards, enemies, and even send them out on contract missions. There are many great side quests, including one with Ezio's old friend Leonardo Da Vinci. Leonardo's Machines was one of my favorite side quests because not only was it fun to play, but it was interesting to see all the great designs spring to life for the various missions. The tank was my favorite by far! The rebuilding quest is back, only this time you rebuild Rome and there are many great rewards with it.
 Brotherhood isn't completely perfect as there are a few bugs that the developers seem to have missed. One frustrating bug was if you went through one of the hidden tunnels before you were formally introduced to it in the game, you would spawn in front of it and desynchronize repeatedly. There was nothing to do about it, except start a new game. Another bug was a design graphic error with the cinematic of when you recruit an assassin to your cause. The new recruit was just a floating head with a body following it, and their neck was missing. There is also a bug where the game will freeze during game play for no reason at all and the only thing you can do is reboot everything. I only had this happen to me once, but a couple of my friends had it freeze up on them two or three times during missions.
 Overall, the game was a blast to play and I did love that all you had to do was whistle or make a hand motion to call on several assassins to take out all your enemies. The historical notes are informative as well and the artwork and music enhance the experience of playing the main missions and the side ones. There's great downloadable content also to add to the fun.  I will definitely be playing through it again and have a great time doing it. If you haven't picked up Assassin's Creed Brotherhood yet, I suggest you do so because it is a game that definitely entertains.

The Hunger Games, Dystopia With Training Wheels

 I gave The Hunger Games trilogy a chance, I really did, but I found myself so frustrated with these books. I know all about the comparison to Battle Royale and here and there I do see where Suzanne Collins was influenced by it, but the books are different. For one thing Koushun Takami's book is better.
 The problem for me, mainly was with the heroine Katniss. I wanted to like her, but I found I could not care about her at all, even after she did the noble sacrifice of taking her sister's place in The Hunger Games. She seems very cold, apathetic, and just drifting along. For a main character there isn't any depth to her and that's sorely disappointing considering the theme of these books. Then we have this pointless love story that is completely unnecessary to the book and it just seems awkward and forced. The only character who seems real to me at all is Peeta while the other characters seem one dimensional. I also found myself frustrated with Katniss because at so many intervals in the story she just gives up so easily like it's as simple as changing her hair color. Are you kidding me with this nonsense?
 I had to keep reminding myself that these were books for young adults and while the writing wasn't bad, the story was not great. If the writing is so poor that you find you can not even care about the characters especially the main one, that's a serious problem. This didn't feel like a dystopian novel at all, sure it was dark and depressing, but that's pretty much it. I need more from something claiming to be a dystopian story. This was more like Dystopia with training wheels. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go read Fahrenheit 451 and Battle Royale again.

Fable 3 Revolution Made Fun

 I finished my first play through of Fable 3. I did pick the hero role my first time through. You can choose to play an evil tyrant also.  I loved hearing John Cleese as the voice of your trusty butler Jasper, along with other recognizable voices throughout  the game such as Simon Pegg and Ben Kingsley. The first half of the game follows the template of exploration, quests, and combat as you recruit followers and gather an army as either a prince or princess of Albion. While some of the quests are courier (package delivery) quests, there are quests that are creative with things like donning a chicken costume, performing in a play, or wearing a disguise.
 Once you have your army, the revolution can begin and Fable 3 becomes a tactician strategy game where the tough decisions you make actually have an impact in the story. Interaction with others is one on one now making it easier to recruit followers or woo a spouse. Another thing that I loved is the solution to the clunky menu system. That is gone and you now have the sanctuary where you can organize weapons, costumes, and your full magic arsenal. There is also an offline and online co-op feature that works really well so you can play with others and pool together treasure, resources, and rewards from adventuring together.
 That isn't to say that there aren't any problems. There are a few.  At times, there are loading time issues with the load screen as you enter a new area. There are also little graphic errors here and there where you're holding an npc's hand for a quest and as you are running, it looks like they're not holding hands with you, or they end up stopping and standing there so you have to come back to get them. Even with the world map and fast travel, there still seems to be a loading issue.
 However, you forget all that as you play Fable 3 immersed in fun quests, planning a revolution, and deciding if you will be a hero or a villain.  Who knew revolution could be so much fun?

The Walking Dead Comic Done Right By Frank Darabont On AMC

 On Halloween Ron and I sat down to watch the premiere of The Walking Dead on AMC. I was quite hopeful when I saw that Frank Darabont the director of Shawshank Redemption was directing The Walking Dead. I was not disappointed. It stayed true to the first volume, Days Gone Bye right down to the scene with Rick Grimes showing mercy to a zombie with no lower torso dragging itself along and the scene with the tank in the city. I was delighted to see that Frank Darabont not only read Robert Kirkman's comic, but that he loved it and wanted to do it right the first time when it was presented on television.
 Kirkman's brilliant writing and character development shined through in this first episode especially with Andrew Lincoln playing the role of Rick Grimes, the father (Lennie James) and son (Adrian Kali Turner) that Rick meets who are in emotional torment due to the father's now zombie wife roams the street in front of the house they're hiding in. You come to care about these characters so much and your heart goes out to them when you see their emotional struggle with a family member, a friend, or a loved one becoming a zombie.
 Two things are certain. Frank Darabont got it exactly right and Ron and I will definitely be watching it and loving every minute of it.
 The Walking Dead is on AMC Sunday nights at 10:00 p.m. and you can watch full episodes on the AMC website.