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447 days ago
I’ve been home from PAX for a few days now, and finally convinced myself to make a write-up much like last year. It’s a tad long, with a somewhat absurd level of detail, but I wanted it to be as encompassing as possible so I’ll never forget the awesome time that I had. Anyway, read on if you dare... ______________________________ I started my PAX journey Wednesday morning, when I caught my shuttle bus that took me on the two and a half hour drive from Flagstaff to Phoenix. I actually arrived in the airport early, and was absolutely shocked to see how empty it was. There was no line whatsoever to get through security, and after only about two minutes I was good to go. That’s slightly better than the last time I went to Seattle, which was over Easter and required about an hour to get through. Upon reaching the gate I turned on my laptop and realized via the sidebar weather gadget that it was raining in Flag. It then hit me that I forgot to close one of my windows before I ...455 days ago
In about an hour I’m heading up beautiful Washington to attend the 2008 Penny Arcade Expo and visit a bunch of really close friends that I don’t get the chance to see often enough. Although PAX isn’t the biggest event in terms of gaming news and announcements, I’d be willing to bet that it’s by far the most fun for the people who attend. The games, the events, and most importantly, the community, make it an event that all gamers should have a chance to enjoy. If it’s even half as good as last year’s PAX I know I’m going to have one hell of a time. Like always, I’ll probably spend a good portion of the flight to Seattle focused on my DS. I still need to finish up New Super Mario Bros (those damn coins will be the death of me) and Geometry Wars, and Mercedes is going to be seated a few rows behind me so I’ll probably break out pictochat as well (as I'm posting this we're sitting on the floor by the gate, mooching power from one of the rare airport outlets, much to the irritation ...498 days ago
Ahh, E3. Once again it is that magical time of year when fanboys take to the internet tubes in record numbers and proceed to fling shit and criticize each and every piece of gaming news. It’s a lot of fun, but how about a serious look at things? Arguably the biggest announcements to come out of Microsoft’s press briefing were the completely redesigned dashboard and the inclusion of Avatars. Both have been rumored for quite some time, and assets related to the Avatars actually leaked last month, but it’s always nice to finally get the official word on such subjects. However, like all major announcements, they were by no means universally accepted by the community. Immediately after the conference the forums began to explode, with users either praising or disowning Microsoft for the changes. I’ll admit, at first glance I felt quite uneasy about the redesigned dashboard. The current dash is often slow to load and has its share of issues, but it’s still by a wide margin the best ...514 days ago
V ideo games being associated with the military and combat training are nothing new. Combat pilots constantly use flight simulators to prepare for aerial warfare. Full Spectrum Warrior, a popular shooter by Pandemic was originally developed for the Army as an infantry and squad tactics training aid. Hell, a few years back the Army developed its own video game, America’s Army, as a public relations tool. The use of video games to help train soldiers is a contentious issue, and using government-funded and developed games as recruiting tools is even more controversial. But what about when games, or gaming hardware, is actually used on the battlefield in genuine combat? Future Combat Systems (FCS) is the U.S. Army’s ongoing modernization project, consisting of everything from new armored vehicles and unmanned air and land drones to new body armor and individual equipment. Some of the systems in development will inevitably be cut due to failures in testing or budget cuts, ...575 days ago
If you don’t already have the game, I’m sure you’ve seen about a billion reviews or news items focusing on Grand Theft Auto IV at this point, so I’ll try and keep myself from reiterating the same old stuff. Nevertheless, as someone who has never owned a GTA title (but has played them), I wanted to give my take on a few things, and show that the game does actually deserve the praise that it is getting. As recently as a week ago I had absolutely no intention of even buying the game. I have nothing against Grand Theft Auto; on the contrary, I played Vice City quite a bit and never stopped enjoying it. However, I was never able to immerse myself into the missions or plots of past GTA games. When I played (using the completed saved games of my friends), I just ran around wreaking havoc, more often than not with cheats enabled so I would never run out of guns or ammo. It was the kind of game that I liked to play when I wasn’t in the mood for anything serious or very engrossing and ...
