Red Dead Redemption Preview

I waited at the counter of my local retailer for the midnight release of Red Dead Redemption (and Alan Wake, but on a students budget...one purchase is my limit). I picked up the copy and promptly drove home to kick my friends off the TV and put the disc into the drive. The single player is glorious. The story is a combination of Grand Theft Auto's startlingly realistic, cinematic and slow paced style with old west action and mannerisms. It feels like the wild west is the perfect environment for the world the Rockstar has been trying to make with their Grand Theft Auto series. Now when you break out the pistol and go on a rampage through town, you don't feel like a homicidal maniac gunning through New York, but instead the worst you can be is a crazy outlaw with an itchy trigger finger. The mood is just far more appropriate and really makes the single player stand out as a perfect sandbox world for the player.

Aside from the story though, the graphics look amazing, and the multiplayer sounds amazing from listening to my friends hooting and hollering. Unfortunately I'm restricted by the @#$%tiest internet that a college could provide. I actually think I heard the modem connect one night, like an old dial up connection. So terrible connection aside, the game is great, and the single player will save me while I wait to move to a better connection back home.

Steam was released on the Macintosh computers last week, which is kind of a big deal to some people. Steam, the premiere computer platform that competes with home consoles, is the greatest stride that Apple has made in gaming since the release of Tetris. Or maybe Super Collider.

Finally, today is the final day of the Halo Reach Beta. After two weeks of grueling "testing", which has resulted in hours of "work" put into fine testing the game, I have finished my contribution to this piece of technology, solidifying that I helped someone do something one time. Don't say I didn't do you no favors now, Bungie.

Red Dead Redonculous

I have recently been besieged by a friend to consider investing in a copy of Red Dead Redemption. Under his constant recommendation every time I get on Xbox Live to talk with him, I looked into the game and it's videos. One video in particular really took my interest and made me take a second glance at the game. The video stresses the idea of a free roam multiplayer experience that seeks to combine the best parts of an action game with the addictive and social environment of an MMO. They have created an environment in which players from around the world can get together and form raids and work together in the same vein as an World of Warcraft, but instead of the massive amounts of gameplay jargon that is associated with MMOs like that, you can simply turn to a friend and yell at him to put a bullet into the crotch of that bandit up there. No need to silly the experience with words that only a tenth of the gamer population understand (while I made this statistic up, I believe it fits). It really looks like it could revolutionize multiplayer, and if it works well enough, it may be copied for years to come.

Halo Reach is still a large part of my gaming experience though, and until they shut it down, I'm afraid it will be for the longest time. I can't get enough of it. It feels like even the pregame lobby is better under the new game, though this may be because of the localization of all your friends under one roof again. I'm always in a party of six guys playing around and jumping from game to game. When we get into a lobby, everyone on both sides had mics and it the lobby turns into a verbal battleground of poorly worded phrases and repetition of the words "your mother" and "balls". It feels like I'm in a gang of sorts, trolling other peoples turfs looking for fights. Not a real gang mind you, more like the Jets from West Side Story, but with an NSFW rating

...and Iron Man Too

Saw Iron Man 2 at it's midnight release at the local venue, and I must say I as genuinely impressed. What I expected was a quick cash in on the popularity that the first Iron Man garnered, but in a tradition that Marvel and it's movies are quickly evolving into, they built on it and made the same thing but with more garnish. There are so many references and in jokes in the movie that a nerd would be hard pressed to not squeal in some form of excitement every thirty seconds. The movie was good, though the plot may not be the greatest thing in history, all the twists and surprises come in the form of cameos and reveals of universe characters. Enjoy, go see, and be excited for what Marvel has in store in the future.

The Reach beta has been kicked into full gear this weekend with the release of the "Invasion" playlist. This new gametype is so far the best multiplayer experience that I have encountered in any shooter. This is because it combines the new innovations that Bungie has quality tested for Halo games with the Rush gametype of Battlefield Bad Company 2. While the gametype is a straight up rip, Bungie expertly walks the line of stealing and borrowing. They have a lot of experience with this line, and they are constantly successful not at innovating but at taking the molten ideas already out there and then compacting and polishing it to the point that it becomes super refined diamond.

Servers Are Down

I played a solid seven games of Halo Reach last night before finally convincing myself it wasn't worth the effort. Let me add this is seven games in about four hours. The servers went down so many times, it was almost expected that more often than not you would return to the game menu to find that once again, they were unavailable. I must say I didn't expect anything different. The same thing happened to Battlefield 1943 and that wasn't a multimillion dollar title that has thousands of stark raving mad fans that jump at the sight of their game. But despite the tragic downfall of the servers, I did find solace in following all the twitter posts that spammed rage for the critical load failure.

But speaking of future Halo, well, Halo at least, There are still people going out with a bang in Halo 2. One long, drawn out bang, but still noteworthy. While the gamertags of these players remained unreleased, Microsoft has issued a statement of encouragement for the last players. The most exciting part of this news story is that the company spokesman is actually encouraging some harmless fun and enjoyment at the cost of some old servers. The so-called "Halo 12" are quickly becoming minor celebrities, and I for one will be glued to my screen looking for news of the final log off whenever it happens.

The Split/Second demo is genuinely a fun experience. From the fifteen minutes I garnered from it I found that as a racing game it lies in the middle of the pack, but as an awesome, explosive, holy-shit-there-is-a-bridge-falling-on-me, action packed, festival extravaganza, it lies up there with Burnout and Mario Kart. The simple thrill of detonating the environment ahead right when your friends are pulling in front is just shear fun, especially since your detonating stuff that you are going to drive through as well. The sheer magnitude of it's explosions are just fun to watch, and were I not in the middle of putting other drivers through a wall, I'm sure it is worth the free download.

Oh and today is a special anniversary. It is the official first post on this blog, and hopefully in a year when I come back I can say this is where it all started. Yay.