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Last week, I ordered Mass Effect and Assassin’s Creed because they were cheap. I had already beaten them and don’t think I would play them more, but I just wanted to have them because they were good. Sadly, Assassin’s Creed came out to be the Platinum Hits version. They shrink the cover art and put it on this ugly grey background with PLATINUM HITS on top. I hate it. Even worse is the spine has the same background and makes it difficult to read the title on it.

This week I got Bioshock because it was cheap on Amazon. I did not know it was even a Platinum Hits because I have seen it in stores as not. Well it turns up today with the ugly ass PH cover. And on the spine the title is in some generic white font! I guess it’s to make it readable on the terrible background but it looks so cheesy.

So now I’m contemplating returning these games and try to hunt down a regular cover version. I’m sad I know.

Every year around October/November many top grade video games are released in time for the holiday shopping rush. This year is no exception. I find myself almost overwhelmed by the number of games I really want to play. I was already pretty satisfied playing Rock Band 2 and getting in a game of NBA 2K9 or NHL 09 against my brother. Then all these games start coming out the floodgates.

First, I tried out Fable 2. It’s not a super amazing game, but it was enough to keep me interested. I played through it in a few days. It’s fun but it lacks a certain polish to it. I also bought LittleBigPlanet. This game is fantastic. I usually don’t like platformers, but this one is great. There’s a style and charm to it. The graphics are superb and the flexibility of the level creator is impressive. I haven’t even tried creating a level yet, but I tried some user made ones and some are pretty impressive. So I’m still playing that.

I also bought the collector’s edition of Fallout 3 which I plan to play soon. Considering it’s a super long game, I may play Dead Space first before getting to that.

On the horizon: a bunch of games. Gears of War 2, Mirror’s Edge (really liked the demo), Resistance 2, Left 4 Dead, and who knows what else. And there are still games I still haven’t finished like Ratchet & Clank, Uncharted, Resistance 1, hell.. Twilight Princess, Mario Galaxy, the list is endless.

Teaser trailer for Beyond Good and Evil 2 was unveiled at an Ubisoft event. Doesn’t show much but it confirms a sequel to a great game that nobody played. Originally intended to be a trilogy, BG&E’s poor commercial success had many doubt there would be any more games in the series. Trailer

Serves me right I guess, it was a good run. I should get another anyway, I’ve already had red rings of death 3 times on this one.

So I finally got over one roadblock in Guitar Hero III that was Slayer on expert. Now I’m at the final battle to beat the game on expert, guitar battle against Lou the devil. Of course I always fail and decided this is where I stop, because the guitar boss battles are the most retarded thing they ever added in Guitar Hero.

So I tried a bit of The Simpsons the Game. I love the Simpsons and the the humor of it all. It’s great to see those cut scenes that look even better than the TV show in HD, but it’s a bit strange to look at them in 3D. They just look a bit odd. The game itself is pretty basic. Typical platforming and beat em up in various themed locales. I love all the references the game makes about other games. To name a few of many they take stabs at: Madden, Shadow of the Colossus, Medal of Honor, Mega Man, Metal Gear Solid, Mario, Sonic, Frogger, Grand Theft Auto. They range from a video game poster to a full blown level.

Now Mass Effect. I got it early from my usual unethical ways. I wasn’t excited about it or anything, but I had a slight interest. I’ve played Bioware type games like KotOR and Jade Empire before and I enjoyed them. First impression is the game looks great. The production values are top notch. Music, voice acting, art design, are all fantastic. However the game by default has a grainy film type of filter applied to it which I noticed right away and then got used to. It’s not distracting after awhile, and in some cases make things look more realistic and other cases not. I decided to turn it off later. If you can imagine KotOR but the battles changed into a 3rd person shooter, that’s pretty much what Mass Effect is. You have force powers, or in this case “biotics” that enable you or your squad members to throw, freeze, or levitate enemies. This is done by holding the R bumper and the action pauses for you to plan your attack. The L bumper will bring up your weapon selection screen where you can change yours and your squads weapon. These are the only times the action completely stops so you can make decisions, otherwise it’s an all out real time shooter. There’s the usual Bioware fare of multiple dialog trees, good and evil ways of communication, quests a plenty, and get your own love interest. What was a slight interest has become an obsession. I’m hooked to the game. I love all the different alien species and how they communicate. They all have unique characteristics that are charming in their own ways. I’m only 10 hours so I have a bit more to go. And I suspect to uncover a few plot twists that will make my jaw drop.

I’ve reached my limit so far in Guitar Hero 3. I’ve only beat 1 of the last 4 songs on the expert level and have not made a whole lot of progress on getting close to beating them. Slayer’s Raining Blood is seriously kicking my butt. I don’t play online anymore because 90% of the time it’s Dragonforce (hardest song) on expert and everyone is awesome at it. I did download the Foo Fighters pack of 3 songs, which are okay. I like the songs but they aren’t necessarily fun to play. Also, this week’s South Park was about Guitar Hero. The episode was basically a rock star rise to fame cliche story, with the band breakups, drug abuse, and reunion; except based on Guitar Hero rather than a real band. It was pretty good. I keep forgetting that South Park is really funny.

I also updated the newest PS3 firmware which added themes (yay?). Where’s my in-game menu access? Also I started the Uncharted demo download cause I’m really looking forward to it. So I started it as a background download and went to watch a Blu-ray movie. So I figured it would be done when the movie finishes. But apparently the download stops when a movie is playing. That was annoying as the 360 does not do that. So I guess I’ll play it later today. I still have no games for the PS3, but am considering getting Ratchet & Clank and Uncharted.

Back in July my Xbox 360 got the “red rings of death” error. Being that I had previous opened the console for firmware tinkering, I was not qualified for a warranty repair. So in my desperation I found a fix that cost me 8 cents. I followed this guide using a few pennies. What the problem seems to be is that when the console heats up there are RAM chips under the board that get heated and loosened, and that causes the error. By sticking some wrapped up pennies underneath them, it adds additional pressure to them to keep from coming loose. It worked until a few days ago. The red rings came back. So I opened it up again and added an additional penny on each stack for even more pressure, and lo and behold my Xbox is once again running normally. However, in my haste of opening the console I cracked one of the inner tabs that lock it together. It’s not a big deal as it’s not visible from the outside. I just want to play my games

I went and bought Guitar Hero III for Xbox 360 Saturday night at midnight. I really couldn’t wait. Went to the local Gamestop and there were like maybe 10 others there. Rocked out for a few hours and went to sleep because I had work the next day. That’s right. I worked on Sunday to make up for skipping Friday. It was a drag but at least I get paid. Helps pay for Guitar Hero. I also got a new video card on Saturday. I had this recurring problem of my Vista blanking out and coming back with an error. At first it seemed like a driver issue as I had looked it up. But later on I started getting blue screen errors. I even formatted my hard drive and reinstalled Vista and got a blue screen right away. I bought a new video card and all the problems seem to be gone now. So far… I had a Geforce 6800 GT before and it served me well for a while. I replaced it with a Geforce 8500 GT. It’s a pretty weak card by today’s standards (cost under $150), but it’s enough for me. I don’t play PC games much anymore and I don’t plan to overhaul to a monster system to play Crysis.

Oh, if you’re playing Guitar Hero III, join my tour group.

I got Orange Box today, which is a collection of games by Valve. It includes Half-Life 2 and the continuation episodes 1 and 2, Portal, and Team Fortress 2. I started right away with Portal. It’s like a puzzle game FPS with portals. Those that are unfamiliar, it’s best explained by this trailer:

The game was short, about 2 1/2 hours. But it’s design is so brilliant, and it’s very humorous the things the computer says as it guides you through these puzzles. If you played it you would know what I mean. The ending was the best. I got the mp3 of the end song, Still Alive, right here for those who love it as much as I do. Here is also a link to many of the humorous quotes throughout the game. Be sure to play the game first.