Chatsquatch

I recently visited a GameStop with just a few bucks to spend. I wanted to find some older games for cheap. I found Viewtiful Joe, used for $6.00. I played it at a friends house a long time ago, but never purchased it. The price was right so I decided to get it. Since I had a few dollars left, I decided to look around.

I found XIII, used for $4.00. I never played it, but I saw that it had multiplayer. Since my brother-in-law was going to be visiting that week, I thought it would be fun to play some multiplayer CTF or deathmatch against him (since he kicks my rump all over the place in Halo).

I started playing the single player missions to get a feel for the game. I quickly forgot I purchased Viewtiful Joe. This game has all the elements I enjoy in an FPS; sneaking around, sniper modes, missions, puzzles, and more. It is great! I have been playing about a chapter a night. You can take hostages, use items in the interactive environment to fight, use grapple hooks, pick locks, etc.

I read some reviews online to see what others thought. Most sites give it an average review. I think I am going to give it an above-average review. The gameplay is fun, multiplayer is cool (it has bots), and it was well worth the $4.00 I paid for it.

If you have a chance to pick up this game for cheap, DO IT! If you have already played this game, I would like to hear your thoughts.

As with most gamers, I am a Resident Evil fan. I played the original on the Playstation when it was released as The Director’s Cut (and again on the Gamecube, which was much better), played Resident Evil 2 four hundred time, then proceeded to play it another twenty on the Dreamcast before playing Code Veronica. Resident Evil 3 was my last Dreamcast purchase in the franchise, and we are blessed with Resident Evil 4. I even fought throw the terrible Resident Evil Escort, I mean Zero. So I am well vested in Resident Evil history.

With that said, I am still excited about Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles. On-rails shooters are another genre that seem to be fading out, much like verticle or side-scrolling shooters (Ikaruga I think was the last in the US, though correct me if I’m wrong.) This isn’t an entirely new concept for Resident Evil, but it does look like Capcom is giving it all it can.

The revamped graphics and atmosphere effects look great, and using the analog stick, you can look around and truly catch all the detail. The game will also include action sequences a la Resident Evil 4, having to press specific buttons or perform Wii remote actions in sticky situations. Nintendo Power mentioned that the environments will be interactive, so instead of walking up to a door and putting in the Spade Key, you can blow it off its hinges with the shotgun. The game is still “TBA 2007″, so I don’t have a release date, so until then, enjoy these videos.

BONUS: Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 on the DS!? Wi-Fi play!?!? TOASTY!!!

Knowing that I am the guy who keeps playing all the WWII games that come out, it’s no surprise that I love the Call of Duty series. The intensity Infinity Ward has put into these titles is bar none the best in the WWII shooter franchise. Call of Duty 3, developed by Treyarch mind you, was merely and expansion pack for Call of Duty 2, but is still as solid game in its own right (enough so that I own both.) Now Infinity Ward has moved up the timeline, inventing a war to place their latest development, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

When I first watch footage from this game, I was an immediate fan. I’ll admit I like war games, so when a group as prestigious in the genre as Infinity Ward shows me this, I can’t expect many people to not immediately start clamoring and marking their calendars.

Sounds like CoD4 will have a full package. I especially like the Playlists feature he mentions, as multiplayer server hopping can be quite annoying. The customization feature adds good replay to the game, as difficulty modes generally don’t cut it these days. I like the focus on infantry combat; keep the game from turning into Battlefield 2 (though Battlefield 2 is a great game.) Fans of Red Orchestra (told you I play a lot of WWII) may like to “Hardcore” gamemode mentioned in the video. All in all, I have to say my only regret is they didn’t do this with a WWII title first *smirk*.

When I decided to start another blog, I decided to look around the internet for another hosting service. Not that I am unhappy with my current web hosting company; I am just always on the lookout for a better deal. Then I found Yahoo domain name registration and web site hosting.

You can register domains at Yahoo for only $9.95 per year. That’s an average price, but then I saw the Yahoo web hosting options.

For only $8.96 per month you can get:

• 5GB Disk Space
• 200GB Data Transfer
• 200 email addresses
• FREE domain name
• …and much more!

You can read more about getting your Yahoo domain name registered or your web site hosted at Yahoo at the following addresses:

Yahoo domain name registration: http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/domains/

Yahoo web site hosting: http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/webhosting/

If you have any domains registered with Yahoo or have a web site hosted with Yahoo, please drop a comment and let me know how you like it.

Recently I was part of… let’s see, how did Josh put it… an adventure from HELL! It was supposed to be a fun afternoon of hiking down stream to do some climbing in a cave we discovered on the internet. The site stated that cave was easily accessible by stream, but you could hike to it. We got the map, grabbed our gear, and headed toward the river. The plan was simple; my wife was going to drop us off and then meet us at another drop off point further down the river.

We quickly realized that it was more than we bargained for. A short adventure turned out to be an overnight disaster. Most of the area was too overgrown to hike through so we had to swim through the river; we encountered poisonous snakes, coyotes, and lots of other critters (including crazy hillbilly campers); we only had our climbing shoes, a couple flashlights, a knife, a 2-way radio (that did not work for sh__), a small bit of rope, and a dry sack to put it all in. At one point (we estimated that it was 3:00AM), it was so dark that we could not go on. We had to just find the nearest rock bed and sleep. We were too tired to start a fire using the “Castaway” method, so we just laid on the rocks to sleep.

We only got 30 minutes of sleep because we were in wet clothes, by the cold river, and coyotes decided to meet up and howl in the woods next to us. Luckily it started getting light enough to travel onward at 5:30AM. We were able to hike most of the way and only get into deep waters once. When we reached the drop-off point, we began hiking to the highway.

The hike was long, dehydration was setting in, and we were tired. Then I saw the greatest thing ever coming up over the hill; my father’s Jeep. We quickly loaded into the Jeep and met up with the others involved in the search team. After showers, food, water, and lots of sleep in my warm bed, I thought it would be a good idea to share my experience with the website.

Here are the top 10 things I really recommend you take with you on your next adventure. I hope you don’t need them, but you will thank me if you find yourself in a survival situation.

Well, that’s my list. If you have some suggestions or additions, I would love to hear them!

Well I hope everyone enjoyed Erik Mongrain. This next artist, much like Mongrain, has to be seen to be believed. At the ripe age of 16 I was introduced to the man who would become my guitar hero. And, unless you play guitar it’s kind of hard to understand his brilliance by just listening to him. Luckily he is one of the most visually amazing guitarists I’ve ever seen. If only I could have seen him live… I guess it’s true what they say about the flames that burn the brightest. Without further ado…

Stevie Ray Vaughn.

You remember Windwaker right? Not a bad game, but it was difficult to get into the graphics. Still, I’m game for Zelda anytime. After seeing the announcements for Phantom Hourglass, I wondered how the cel-shading would look on the DS…

I have to say, it looks good. On the big TV, cel shading can appear low-tech or “kiddish”, but they fit the DS’s portable lcds very well. The “point and click” stylus interface could open some interesting design space. As far as dungeon crawling and weapon use go…

YES! Now THAT is a Magic Boomerang! Hopefully, each different tool will have its own, unique use with the stylus. Gamespot has a good hands-on article talking about how easy the controls were to get used to, so expect to get plenty of stylus practice in. Slated for October 2007, the DS will finally be crowned with its own Zelda title.

If you have ever searched YouTube or Google Video of speedruns, demos, or other awesome video game footage, then hopefully you will appreciate GeeVee.com. Can they compete?

See more of this here.

Game Informer’s June edition had an article called “The Big Questions.” Reading through, there are some great questions and GI does a great job with their answers. A few choice portions:

Is PC gaming dead?

I certainly don’t think so, but I have seen a steady decline. GI was more optimistic, citing that World of Warcraft has 8.5 million subscribers. There are also several exclusives for PC gamers, Crysis and Spore being the most anticipated.

My problem with PC market is twofold. One, PC’s requiring a decent investment to maintain a cutting edge system. Ultimately, you could build a decent machine for the price of a PS3, but gamers already complain about that price. It’s such a headache to research each and every part that goes into your box and keep up with warranty information as well KNOWING I could just drop the same money on a Wii60 and have an epic gaming experience.

Two, for those with families, PC gaming is anti-social. It’s usually done in the corner of some room or in your basement, and is very hard to play while watching the kids.

Are console exclusives always bad for gamers?

I am not a fan of exclusives, but I do see a need for them. I think the biggest thing that bothers me is third-party exclusives. When you buy a system, particularly a Nintendo system, you know you are guaranteed certain pillars of the franchise, like Mario and Zelda. That is a price I can expect to pay, but when companies decide to team up with hardware developers, I feel like I’m being abused for being a gamer.

Can anyone make good Wii games other than Nintendo?

This is what happens when an experiment gets popular way too fast. I bought a Wii and Twilight Princess at launch, and I have to say, I kind of wish I’d just bought the GameCube version. Many of the motion controls felt underdeveloped. I also tried to play Call of Duty 3, and it took about five times having the camera spin out on me before I dropped it…out the window! Wii Sports, on the other hand, I did play and enjoy.

There are titles on the way that I think will start to see better developed controls. Elebits was developed for the Wii from the ground up, and that tradition will continue with Dewy’s Adventure. Metroid Prime 3 will hopefully show other developers how to do FPS and FPA controls right, and Capcom’s Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles looks promising. That is what this will come down to for me; did they get the controls right?

Bonus section: Virtual console and Xbox live marketplace, are you getting ripped off?

In one word: yes. It seems Xbox live as done everything in its power to nickel and dime its subscribers to death of added content. Why are themes and picture packs so expensive? How come Epic couldn’t release its map packs for free? It’s starting to get ridiculous. The real problem is people are paying. If you have bought a game, and bought the subscription, it seems they could give you the content.

On the Virtual Console side, Nintendo is definitely milking these games for all their worth. Without any added features, paying for these games is outright criminal. It is actually cheaper in most cases to find a used system and buy the games. If I were getting something like, say, online play, I would feel more justified.

Anyway, let me know what you think.