Entry to Shawn Eliott's Symposium: Review Scores

My entry to Shawn Eliott's Symposium: Review Scores

What does one of the "normal" people (as Dan Hsu describes us) feel about review scores? From someone who has read reviews since 1989 for purchasing decisions to now, my attitude has changed

At first, review scores have become the litmus test of a game that I am on the fence about or now nothing of. I want a review to answer the questions of a cynic, a skeptic or just a confused gamer if the game is worth one's time. It is especially true for sequels, sports games and now, all those Activision games that get once a year treatment.

Reviews are no longer the only source that influences my purchasing decision, I often listen to podcasts, the vidcasts, demos and/or follow the "buzz." Even previews have time to time influenced a decision, just recently, Shawn Elliott's Far Cry 2 preview spark an enough interest to buy the game. Stephen Totilo's daily dairies have become like a book club, as I play similar games, for example, I experience the same frustrations that Stephen faced in Dead Space.

Reviews will never go away, as Dan Hsu points out, "It’s ingrained in society and it’s pointless and stubborn to fight it. People don’t always have time to read a 2000-word, well-crafted review to get inside the brain of the reviewer. For most folks in this short-attention-span world, that “4 out of 10” usually says more than enough." The problem with Review Scores are not the scores themselves, but the fact that one person can never review the bulk of weekly game, as Roger Ebert does with the movies he watches for the Chicago Tribune. The last point is better reserve for the next topics.

Burnout Paradise Ultimate Box PC February 09 Release

"Just when I thought I was out, THEY PULL ME BACK IN!"

EA and Criterion have announced the release date of Burnout Paradise for the PC arriving in February 09.  EA has a checkered past with DRM issues, Crysis Warhead, Dead Space, Red Alert 3 and Spore.  Criterion's Alex Ward once claimed they will never do PC games and its overclockign shenanigans.  With Burnout PC, they seem to be moving away from DRM.

With Burnout Paradise, EA and Criterion will be distributing the a trial version for free, with a limited time demo all of Paradise City has to offer (download and dvd disc).  To purchase the full content, EA and Criterion have attached an ingame store, with a few clicks the trial version unlocks to the full retail game.  Details are limited, as the ingame store will be fully revealed in an upcoming CrashTV Episode. 

Are PC gamers going to be pulled into Burnout Paradise, a year after its console release?  Has EA learn its on how to properly handle consumers and DRM? 

Call of Duty: World at War

Treyarch's Call of Duty: World at War is the next installment of the successful first person series and sequel to last year mutli-million seller COD 4 Modern Warfare. WaW returns to the battlefields of World War 2 with two new theaters of war, the American invasion of the outlying islands of the Japanese Empire and the Soviet Union invasion and defeat of Nazi forces in Germany. As much as the publisher, Activision, leads us to believe, WaW remains to be the same 'war' with only updated visuals, an uninspired world war two atmosphere and tired gameplay.

More of the same

In WaW there are two campaigns, the American invasion of the Japanese islands and the Soviet Union march to Berlin with each portraying war as a necessary method to eradicate evil. The portrayal of the Japanese soldiers are one of the changes in WaW. In previous COD games knife and melee attacks only occurred in close combat scenarios or when the player would rush to positioned enemies' stationary positions. Now, the Japanese soldiers are trained to do suicidal 'bonzai' bayonet attacks. After a successful knock down, the player has one to two seconds to execute a counter by pressing down on the right analog stick. The 'bonzai attacks' become so frequent it play as cheap gimmick rather than innovate design.

Another new wrinkle is powered by the amazing rendered foliage as seen in Modern Warfare, however, WaW allows only the enemy A.I. to take advantage of the environmental cover. Japanese fighters will cover in trees, hide as dead soldiers, and lay in grass. Never do they flank, advance to better cover or show any other type of A.I. behavior.

The Soviet Union campaign is more of the same as previous COD games. A sniper mission. Check. Street fighting. Check. A tank mission. Check. The tank episode actually was enjoyable and captured the 'total war' atmosphere games strive to reach. There was multiple infantry, other enemy tanks, and a continuous battle, the level was a breath of freshness. Unfortunately, there are multiple levels tread the same areas tried and done from the COD franchise.

As a now veteran of five call of duties, WaW is not the best, MW is, nor the worst tour, COD3 is. World at War at its best, becomes the frankenstein monster experience, made from the best and worse gameplay pieces of previous entries searching for a soul.

Two out of Five stars.

Watchmen Trailer...I am still on the fence

Alan Moore's Watchmen is perfect as graphic novel, and the movie seems to be just a rip off.

Well here is the trailer...

River y Chivas: Simeone is fired

The River defeat against the mexican club Chivas, the loss to Boca Juniors and at the bottom del Apertura, Simeone is fired during its worse tour in years.
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Diego "Hand of God" Maradona to head the Argentine National Football Team ***NO JOKE***

I am in utter disbelief...not sure to laugh manically or call the token "che" to ask for his opinion. Carlos Bilardo is to be included on the coaching staff, but still this reeks of desperation.



UPDATE

Just talked to my token "che" friend, he dropped the phone...and cut his wrists....

From Reuters Soccer Blog

Little Big Planet Beta Code; I have one to share for one lucky poster

Just describe in the comments on why you deserve to be in the Little Big Planet Beta before the game hits retail.

Best response gets the LBP beta code courtesy of LGs.

Update. The contest ends 10PM PST Time. The one code will be sent to the winner at 9AM PST on Thursday Oct 2.

Thank you.

kanYe West : Blog##

kanYe West : Blog##

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Messi fullfills his dream; Maradona in tears...

Not only has Messi, arguably one of the best players of the world, joined his Olympic teamates in Peking. Today he was announced as the cover athlete for Konami's highest selling sports title, PES 2009. Instead of shelling out for the best player of each region, as EA does for their FIFA series, signing the Messi is the way to go.

Maradona is in tears, he was never a cover boy athlete...
Press realase

PES 2009 gets Messi

Argentinean forward announced as the pan-European face of PES 2009

Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH has announced that Argentinean forward Lionel Messi is to be the face of its forthcoming PES 2009 title for PLAYSTATION®3, Xbox 360, PC-DVD, PlayStation®2, and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable), Wii and mobile phones across Europe.

Messi is one of the most exciting and paciest forwards in the modern game, and is an ever-present in both the Argentinean national side and for his club side, FC Barcelona. Having played for Argentinean sides since he was five, Messi moved to Barcelona when he was just 13,13 working his way through the CatalanFC Barcelona side’s youth and reserve teams, before making his full debut in October 2004 as the youngest player ever to play in the Spanish top flight. He made his debut for Argentina against Hungary in 2005, and has been a permanent member of the squad ever since.

As part of the new agreement, Lionel Messi will grace the box of all versions of PES 2009 when it is released later this year, and will also feature in promotional materials for the game. PES 2009 is the latest installment of the award-winning Pro Evolution Soccer Series, and will boast a wealth of extensive new additions to enhance the series’ reputation as the most realistic football game available. The new game enjoys a stunning graphical update wherein its players look and identically to their real-life counterparts, while new moves, innovative control elements and key online enhancements will further the realism of the new game.

“Most modern players are aware of the realism and skill of the PES series,” commented Messi on the deal. “It is a game that truly mirrors the pace and control of real football, and as a die-hard fan of the series, I am delighted to be working with Konami on the latest version.”

“Lionel Messi is an incredibly exciting player, and one who enjoys a world-wide reputation for skill, pace and all-round ability,” commented Jon Murphy, PES European Team Leader for Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH. “As such, he is the ideal player to front PES 2009, and his enthusiasm for the new game is certain to shine as we work closely together in the promotion of what will be the most advanced PES title to date.”

Konami will be announcing further enhancements and player contributions to PES 2009 in the coming weeks.

PES 2009 will be released for PLAYSTATION®3, Xbox 360, PC-DVD, PlayStation 2, and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) and mobile phones in Autumn, and for Wii in Spring 2009. For more information, please contact…

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© 2008 Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd.

EA announces Madden NFL 09 for the spanish speaking audience

If you want the collectors edition, you may want to learn how to read english...
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