Final Fantasy 13 coming to the XBOX 360

Oh my god
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Iker Casillas the next Lev Yashin

It is that time of year, where le creme de la creme of footballers are being penned to be the next winner of the Ballon d'Or award. The highly coveted award, rivaled only by FIFA Player of the Year, is being pursued by Cristiano Ronaldo, Iker Casillas, Leonel Messi and Fernando Torres.

If I was to vote, which one day may occur (probably not) I would cast ny ballot as Casillas to be first followed by Ronaldo, Torres and Messi.

It was the play and marvelous goaltending of Casillas that ended a long drought of under performing at the major football men events. Always being sent home early in the past World Cups, after dominating the opening round, Spain were vexed long enough by winning Euro Cup 2008.

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Olympics 2008: Messi is a go

Messi and AFA, can now breathe a sigh of relief, as FIFA assured, that all players under 23 years (Messi is 20) are obliged to play if they are selected. La Pulga has been has won one youth World Cup, and is eager to add the Olympic gold to his growing trophy case.
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Eriksson address Mexican Press and Fans; World Cup or bust, presents his assistants

Sven Goran Eriksson presented his group of assistant coach and medical staff in a conference addressing the media and ultimately the fans of the Mexican National Team. The Swede and former England coach has his first match on August 20th against Honduras, a team known for upsetting Brazil in Copa America 2001, believes Mexico is the better team. Eriksson explains, "I think that qualifying for the World Cup is an obligation for Mexico, without doubt," but with only three days for prep, "It's not ideal, but it's reality, we have to do it that way and that's the end of it."

There was no answer in regards to using Mexican nationalized foreigners for the national team, the Swede is not even sure what format they will take field with, or with what style, until he has spoken to the players.

"I feel that Mexico have a strong team and we won't have trouble adapting." There may be Big Trouble in Mexico City if the Mexican National team continues to play poorly. Only time will tell if the European direction via Eriksson will influence the Mexican players.

FIFA World Cup 2010 in the USA?

How awesome would that be? Suck of the hundred thousands of South Africans who may have attended the games, but as an American I would love to have the finals here.
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Ronaldinho says Si Si, Barca No No, Messi ok ok

The Brazilian olympic turmoil turn to a expected area, Ronaldinho wants to go to China and play for the selecao. Ronnie is quoted by the spanish Marca, " I only imagine playing at Olympic games, playing well and winning the gold medal.". As Barca has asked all of their players to report to training camp ready for the 2008/2009 season.

Leonel Messi, star player for Barca and Argentina is expected to be in Pekin and will miss the first weeks of August. Messi wants to play, and believes there will be no issue with the club.

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Too Human, Denis Dyack, Bringing it Home E3

With only a few weeks for the release of the highly anticipated Action RPG Shooter, Too Human, today was the announcement of a demo to be on XBL. Microsoft's Bringing it Home E3, in the past has conisted of videos, vidocs, demos, and trailers for all the software shown at E3 available with a simple download interface via Xbox Live.



The demo of Too Human completes Denis Dyack's goal of world domination, err, to reach out to gamers without the Neogaf snark filter. Xbox live users love their demos, and is arguably a great way to get the game out to gamers who do not get all of game info from the Gaming Press or Gaming Forums. Bioshock is prime example, of how a demo, increased awareness before its release.

Is Too Human this year's Bioshock? Besides being released in August, offering replayability and offering a story besides "the bald space marine", action RPG's can be hit or miss. Action games this year have been lacking in sales as well, Devil May Cry 4 and Ninja Gaiden 2 have been critically thrashed for its unchanging and unevolving gameplay.

During the week of Denis laying out his, For or Agaisnt NeoGaf Post, I sent a few words of encouragement to Denis, that I would play Too Human before jumping on the hate or love bandwagon. He replied,

Denis Dyack
still figuring it out
(06-27-2008, 06:52 AM)
Reply | Quote
Fwd Re: Your "Pepsi Challenge" #
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Originally Posted by dasupremeone:
Hi Denis,

Your "Pepsi Challenge" while foolish to some, is an admirable one under the circumstances of how the internet may fuel the fire of a "bad word of mouth." I will take your "Pepsi Challenge," but the issue is, I do not own a 360. I can be your "guinea pig" and play the game without any fanboy influences, and I also can vouch that I do not have a predetermine "for" or "agaisnt" vote on Too Human. I can also post on my blog, "latinogamer.blogspot.com" my impressions of the game. Let me know what you think? I can probably borrow a friend's console, all I would need from you would be a copy of the game. Heck, send me a 360 and two copies, I can verify the co-op as well.

Ciao

Juan


Hi Juan,

Thanks for writing. The fact that you want to wait to play before making a call is the right thing to do and is actually one of the points of the thread. It is a fools challenge otherwise. :) Please try the game when you get a chance and write me with your impressions. I would love to hear them.

Best regards,
Denis




It is odd that a major head game developer would respond to the fans. Does Speilberg, Del Toro, respond to fans before a movie is released? Or even listen to critiques before the movie is edited? It just shows that Denis is a gamer at heart, and is making games for the end gamer in mind, and not just for the "dollar dollar bill yall."

Team Fortress 2; Heavy Weapons Pack

At the Team Fortress 2 blog, Valve has opened their pandoras box when it comes to creating the new weapon class packs. The Medic and Pyro both received boosts, which makes them more viable in offesnsive and defensive situations. Next up, is the Heavy Class, which is a considered a defensive class, with Valve asking what one can add to the class without unbalancing the game. What can the heavy use, without entroaching on other class abilities?

I came up with three weapons.
1. Brass knuckles, critical hits when hit from behind or side.
2. Saw Off Shotgun, bullets have a spray shot effect.
3. Minigun with nuclear bullets, have an effect of bouncing incoming enemies back, no crits.



An added weapon to included the already upgraded ones, would be a riot shield. This will enable the heavy to push forward and give cover to teammates. The riot shield witll asorb damage buil can detoriate over time. So a charge field can be implemented or can only be used once during a life.

National Endowment of Arts "Big Read"

There has a been string of posts in regards to NEA Big Read program. In a nutshell, they believe that the american adult reader will read on an average of 6 books in their lifetime from the list of 100 books provided.

Many of these books were read during my high school years, and with only a few from college. In college, it seems I read more essays on literature rather literature itself. I also majored in History…trying to minor in Film Appreciation.

The bold only selections are books that I have read, italicized selections are movie/cartoon adaptations I have seen, and bold/italicized means that I have done both. There are some of the selections that I have played them on a gaming console/pc. Coming up soon, will be the list of the top 100 films of North America. How well did you do, with your summer required reading

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Favorite Games of Mid 2008

In no particular order;

Patapon


Pon Pon Pata Pon
Metal Gear Solid 4


BROTHER! LIQUID!

Grand Theft Auto 4


I kill people, I smuggle people
UEFA Euro 2008


GOAAAAAAAAAAL
Mario Kart Wii


Aww Crap, blue shell!

All of the games chosen were played to completion or enjoyed hours of co-op play with friends and family

Omitted games were either briefly demoed or never finish the game to completion, for example, Super Smash Bros and Devil May Cry 4. I played a bit of Super Smash Bros and Wii Fit at GDC San Francisco, and I never completed Devil May Cry 4.

I am a hobbyist, do not have access to all the games.