To start, if you want a good review then Ars has a good one. I finished the game a couple of days ago and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. SPOILERS FOLLOW.
Instead of heading south, I headed north. It took me about 20 tries but I took down 3 super mutants with a baseball bat (I learned to save early and often at this point). I went exploring a lot, found The Family, found a nonfunctional radio station, lots of raiders, and I found a crashed UFO with an alien blaster (just like in the first games). I found Old Olney, Deathclaw capitol of the Capitol Wastes. Lots of stuff. Needless to say, when I finally returned to the main questline I was overleveled and overgeared and I breezed right though it. Any time a combat shotgun or my Lincoln repeater wasn’t up to snuff, I’d whip out my alien blaster and vaporize them. So basically I have a lot of side quests undone. The thing is with Fallout is one can’t just sit down and play it for an hour. I tried. Can’t be done. It sucks you in like a really good book. So, after I beat the game instead of going back and doing the sidequests I promptly lent it to my brother-in-law. Those quests really suck you in. Since I’m really focused on the remodel, I can’t really afford a couple more nights of, “Oh, I’ll take a short break. Oh my look at the time!”, so I made a point of it to get the game out of the house for the next few weeks or months.
My character is in a really good place though. Plenty of plasma rifles and Enclave Tesla armor. Snip snap I’m on the attack.
Posted in: gamesFallout 3 is indeed quite awesome.
Posted in: gamesHere’s a teaser about the latest in the series:
Posted in: games
I thought the demo was for Penny Arcade’s game was pretty decent. I think I’m going to get it when I can. The combat system was a tad too heavy on the “Final Fantasy” side for me to consider it optimal but that’s really a matter of preference. There was enough positives to outweigh of the negatives. Some props are in order for putting themselves out there. They’ve really put the wood to sites like IGN in the past and I’m sure they made sure PA is feeling some heat for it. I don’t read review sites but I’m sure there’s plenty of reviewers skewering the game. Is there even an honest review site still left? It’s not a question I feel is worth answering.
I thought this cover of Daniel Lanois’ “Sonho Dourado” from the Friday Night Lights soundtrack is pretty good:
Posted in: gamesThere’s a class of games I like to call “starters,” games that are light-hearted, take an hour or less to finish, and are warm-ups for longer, more “serious” games. They are also easy to explain, so if there’s a newbie or two in the crowd they can jump right in without too much explanation.
Such a game is the infamous Ticket to Ride, which is one of Board Game Geek’s Top 50 games. Like any good starter game, the premise and rules are simple: win by earning points for completing railroad routes across the United States. Earn bonus points for completing “ticket” routes to and from certain cities. You claim routes by playing collections of same-colored railcar cards. Most routes only allow for one train, but some routes allow for two in the event of a game with more than three players.
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I buy a lot of stuff, and sometimes my highest hopes turn out to be the biggest disappointments. I’ve evaluated the things I’ve purchased last year, with an eye to what I use on a regular basis that Gibberish readers may use often as well. Sure, I “use” my Keltec PF-9 every day when I carry it, but most of you don’t have carry permits and its appeal is not as universal as this year’s winner. Here’s a look back at the best and worst gadgets covered on Gibberish in 2007.
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When I was still in high school, my very odd cousin Damien (real name) asked me if I wanted to play a game. I stepped back slightly and eyed my clad-in-black cousin carefully. “What kind of game?” I asked.
“It’s a new card game, called Magic the Gathering.”
I was reluctant, but nodded yes anyway. Little did I know that I would fall in love with the game and continue to play throughout college, right until the Ice Age expansion came out. I remember playing game after game in the basement of the service fraternity while my friends waited for people to ask for an escort home. I pretty much stopped playing immediately after graduation. Most of my friends who played moved away, and I never considered venturing out to a game store to find new players.
Fast forward ten years. My friend Stilts had been playing again and kept bringing his cards up when he would visit me. We stated by playing a few casual games, then we’d play all day, and the next thing I knew I was going to “booster draft” style events sanctioned by the DCI.
I wanted to buy some cards of my own, and possibly introduce some of my friends to the game. The problem with that plan was that I had been out of the game for a decade, and even when I was playing the game I was pretty casual. I wasn’t sure if anyone else would want to learn how to play, either. As such, I was reluctant to spend a ton of money on something I might never play outside of my time with Stilts or sanctioned events.
Under Stilts’ recommendation, I checked out the Wholesale section at Star City Games. I plunked down $20 for 2000 cards — 1000 basic lands, and 1000 common and uncommon cards from various sets over time. Star City Games didn’t make any promises about receiving unique cards, but they did assert that there would be some variety. For $20, who cares? And like I’ve said before, at least it would make for an interesting Gibberish entry.
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I posted about my Rock Band drum troubles earlier in the week. The good news is that EA was super quick about sending me a new drum kit: second day air at their expense. The bad news is that the new drum set still has the same problems as my old one. I guess I could have gotten another “bad rev,” but I am not going to bother with returning this set. I still have all of the original packaging and will take the whole game back to Target at some point this weekend for a refund.
Oh well … that really sucks, but I have plenty of other 360 games to play.
Posted in: games , hardware , xboxI was super excited when I opened my Rock Band: Special Edition box. The box was huge — weighing in at almost thirty pounds — and jammed to the gills with fun stuff like a drum kit, microphone, and a wired guitar. I put everything together and played a few songs on the guitar before settling down at the drums.
I was stoked at first, but the longer I played Rock Band, the more disappointed I became.
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From today until Friday, you can download the Xbox 360 version of Carcassonne for FREE. I think most of my friends already have this, but if you don’t, please please download it! It’s fun, and I could always use some more folks to play with online.
Posted in: games , link and run , xboxOne of the best things about the Xbox 360 is the Live! service. The free “Silver” level allows you to do a lot, like send and receive voice/text messages, buy and play games via the Xbox Live Arcade, and try out demo versions of games before you buy. One thing the Silver level does not allow you to do is play games online with other people. For that, you need the “Gold” level of service, and that runs you $50USD a year. I spent almost $500 when I got my Elite and one game, and the last thing I wanted to do was shell out another $50 for online play.
There had to be a cheaper way to get access to Live!, wasn’t there? I started snooping around on the Internet, and here are two easy ways to get a year’s worth of Live! Gold for less than retail. You can upgrade online immediately via your 360 for $50.00 a year with a credit card. You can also buy subscription cards (think pre-paid mobile phones) from various vendors, including Best Buy, Target, and so on.
However, not all vendors are charging the same amount, and there are a few deals to be had.
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