I have to say this is the best RTS I've ever played.  That's not saying a lot considering I've only played one other game of this genera.  Still I really enjoyed Halo Wars and think it only adds to the Halo story. 

The game has 15 levels and honestly I think the early levels were more difficult than the later missions.  This is probably because I finally figured out how to play the game towards the end of the game.  It's worth waiting and building up your base before you charge into any situation.  Having a large force can allow you to push though most enemies.

I'm going to keep this game a while and play a little online.  Play though the skirmish modes and maybe push the difficulty up in the campaign.  Like Halo, there are several skulls hidden inside each level.  It'll be fun to track those down.

  

I realize that the content for this blog has significantly dropped off and as a result I'm also not getting as many hits.  Part of this has been the lack of any real interesting news coming out of the games world.  I've been left to blogging more about my gaming habits, golf and politics.  I'm not sure how that mix has affected my readership.  I can say that it seems all the foreign readership has disappeared.

I use a couple sites to monitor articles read and the locations of my readers.  I can also see which articles get the most reads and if people are coming from search engines or referring sites.  I mostly check this to see if people are liking a topic vs ignoring a topic.  If no one cares about my love of Afro Samurai I'll stop writing about that topic.  There are some topics that are funny so see how popular they become. 

My article about the Halo Armour generator site is my best read post by far.  I had heard magazines would place Halo on the cover and see sales skyrocket so it's funny to see how it affect traffic to this site.  I am also pleasantly surprised that my Too Human classes post has also gotten a good number of reads.  Considering that game was deemed a commercial failure it's fun to see it be in my top five articles read.

I'm currently in a transition period at work which should allow me to have more time away from work.  Instead of being in the front lines, I'm moving back to provide direction for multiple projects and hopefully affect the development efforts in a positive fashion.  I expect I'll be blogging a little more about technology I'm checking out and events I'm attending.  Hopefully this means I'll have more time to read, write and play.

  

There were some people scratching their heads when Microsoft announced a Halo Real Time Strategy (RTS) game.  Very few people in the press thought fans of the Halo games would transition to an RTS.  Then people heard Microsoft had Ensemble Studios building the game and people felt maybe it would be alright.  From the initial sales clearly Halo Wars is a success and the game got good reviews as well.

I'm not a RTS buff but so far I'm enjoying the game.  I'm a little bit past the second act in the game and feel I'm still learning how to play.  Now RTS games are all about build bases and armies to capture points on a map.  I think Halo Wars has some good maps to play in the campaign with a wide variety of environments.  The clips of the game I saw mainly focused on an icy planet but so far I've been on two other planets as well.

The game has a nice story mix of everything you'd expect from a Halo game.  You have covenant forces looking for Forerunner technology and fighting between Human, Covenant and the Flood.  The story doesn't get int he way but has some really nice cut scenes.

Controlling a RTS with a game controller is not an easy task.  The game's two tutorials do a nice job of teaching a player how to build bases and units but kind of misses out on controlling individual units.  I never saw how to "paint" units and control just that group.  You can easily select all units or just local units which is how I tend to control groups of units. 

The campaign in Halo Wars feels a bit short but there is an offline AI mode and online mode as well.  This will expand the game's play time for most people that enjoy these games.  I happen to be impressed with this game and hope to spend a lot of time learning how to improve at this game.

  

Right now my cup is running over with games to play.  On Father's Day I got a copy of Ghostbusters for the DS and so far have played through the first mission.  It's a nice DS game that feels like a real game but with DS controls.  Unfortunately I don't think that makes the game a good fit.  The driving sequences are hard to control and the aiming of the proton packs is not easy.  Even though this game is rated E for Everyone I don't think anyone can pick this up and have fun.

I'm also playing Blue Dragon Plus for the DS.  I picked this up two weeks ago when I was looking to replace my DS.  I like the game and feel it's a nice simple RPG for the DS.  The game is just right for me since I'm not a hard core RPG fan.  The battle system is real time but feels more like a strategy game than an action game.

On the PS3 I'm still playing through Infamous.  I've unlocked the second island in the game but there is still plenty to do on the first island.  I think I've figured out the game's pattern for progression: reestablish power grids and perform side quests to clean up the town.  Repeat this three times per island then fight some boss.  Kinda like how Crackdown did it.  Still I think this is a fun game on the PS3.  Probably the best one I've played this year.

I recently got Halo Wars from GameFly for the Xbox 360.  I'm not huge into real time strategy games but it's kinda fun.  It's fun building the base, upgrading the base then rolling out my army to capture points on a map.  The knock on these games has always been that they are easier to play on the PC so don't bother on a game console.  I really think Halo Wars does a great job of making the game easy to control.  I just need to have a better understanding of how to play the game.  I'm half way through the game and I think I'm just beginning to understand how to build and upgrade a base.

I bought myself the Harry Potter years 1 through 5 BluRay box on Friday.  I've been feeling compelled to read the sixth book again and possibly the fifth as well since the next movie is coming out soon.  When I read book five I was not as impressed.  It's a hard book to enjoy because Harry is a prat for the entire book.  His stupid actions also end up getting a key character killed.  So on Friday I watched the 5th movie and I was a bit shocked.  Now that I've finished the books I picked up on a few side items I never figured out before.  Really book five is the beginning of the darker side of the Potter books.  I'm going to re-read the book 5 and 6 in preperation for the next movie.

  

In Sunday's Washington Post there is an op-ed by George F. Will about the Democrat's health care reform plan and the president's agenda of equality through dependency.  The article goes on to point out some interesting facts like the fact that most uninsured people in the US are illegal immigrants or people in transition between jobs.  Those people in a job transition are never uninsured for very long.

The article goes on to question the president's statement that his health care plan will bring competition to the market.  The idea that government will bring completion is an absolute joke.  The government's health care doesn't need to run at a profit so it will under cut the private market which will lead to people opting out of their employer's plan for the government plan.

What I think will happen is once the majority of Americans are dependent on government health care, it will be used against anyone who proposes tax cuts.  The ad campaign will be something like this: a tax cut is a cut in your health care benefits.  This will put health care on par with social security as an untouchable items in politics. 

The real solution to the health care situation is to allow Americans to shop for private insurance.   Health insurance should not be an job related benefit for multiple reasons.  First off if you bought your own insurance, you would not have to worry about loss of coverage by switch jobs.  This will resolve the issue with rejected claims because of pre -existing conditions.  This will also cover the problems with people not having insurance between jobs because your coverage is no longer linked to your work.

The largest benefit of cutting the link between job and health insurance will be your ability to get the best coverage for you.  Most companies offer two plans: high deductible or low deductible.  The company negotiates for a plan that will meet the needs of the majority of it's employees.  I believe that if people got to shop for the best health care coverage, like they do for car insurance, they would be able to cut their individual cost for health care.

I think there is a significant movement in this country to punish the successful.  The health insurance companies all do very well so the government has chosen to attack them.  The fact that government run hospitals are inefficient and life saving drugs are over prices in the US are the real problems.  I do believe health care needs reform but not for the reasons liberals and democrats believe.  I think we need to embrace a free market solution for health care instead of the quasi entitlement approach we currently have in place.

President Obama believes that government should take care of all of it's citizens needs.  I find this concept against what the founding fathers wanted when they created this country.  I believe it to be anti-capitalism, anti-free markets and anti-American.  The constitution says "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" not Life, Liberty and the ENTITLEMENT of Happiness.

Source: Washington Post

  

At 6:15 am Saturday morning I awoke to play Brookview GC on what turned out to be a beautiful day.  Now I enjoy playing early and I enjoy playing close to home.  This means I tend to play as a single filling out a foursome.  Now I think as a single you have an added pressure when ever you tee it up.  If you suck and slow everyone down you're a scourge to the golfing community, but if you play well and are social your a welcome companion.  People that know me might be surprised how social I can be with perfect strangers.

Back to golf, The last couple times I've played I've been fighting mu driver and tee ball in general.  If you can't put the ball in play your never going to score well.  It's kind of like continually giving yourself six foot puts for par, you'll make a few but you eventually miss a few too.  Today I decided to only hit my driver on the long par fives and use my 3 wood (not metal, Johnny Miller) on most holes.  I ended up driving the ball great hitting 10 of 14 fairways and hit two good shots with my driver (one over 300 yards....with roll). 

Since putting the ball in play was my major problem I must have scored great right?  Well surprisingly enough this wasn't the case.  In fact I shot two stokes worse than the last time I played Brookview a month back.  How could this be?  I hit 10 of 14 fairways right?  Well late any statistic, some times they don't tell the whole truth.  Of those 10 fairways, two I hit out of dumb luck on miss hits.  Both times I was well over 200 yards from the hole and being in the fairway didn't allow me an easy path to the green. 

Still I ended up pushing two tee shots into hazards costing me yardage and strokes.  I also missed the green five times from the fairway and four times from the tee box.  Part of that was not getting the correct distances because I went long on four of those holes, twice leading to big numbers.  I felt I hit my irons crisply, just not accurately.  I'm not sure if this is just me getting used to my new grips or me just not being good enough for my irons. 

I can't blame my iron play for my score though.  I was not good chipping from 20-30 yards away.  I miss hit a few shots with my wedge that cost me dearly.  I also had 32 puts on the round I holes out from the fringe on 18.  I'm two putting too many times because I'm not hitting my chips tight.  Clearly I need to work on my short game if I want to break 90 again. 

I think I have a better feel for putting the ball in play, I just need to fix up the short game so I can score.  It's funny though.  I didn't bother adding up my score till the very end and I felt great about my round.  I was a bit shocked to see what I felt was a 87 or 89 turn into a 93 when I finally did the math.  I can't say if it was good or bad not knowing my score while I played but I think i'll go back to writing the plus/minus scores just to give myself a feel for how I'm playing.

  

This is a rumor first report on 1Up.com that is basically speculation based on a statement by a high up executive at Microsoft.  Last week while Shane Kim was talking to the gaming blog site Kotaku and he stated the launch of Project Natal will be as large as the original Xbox 360 launch.  This statement was then twisted to the point that 1Up is now suggesting next fall Microsoft will launch a new game console with the Project Natal camera bundled with the console. 

To justify their claim, 1Up dials back the new console theory to say it will be more like the DSi release instead of an entirely new game console.  What they are saying is the console packed with the Natal will be a slight upgrade to the existing Xbox 360 similar to the launch of the Xbox 360 Elite.  There will only be slight upgrades to the existing game console and the new console will be branded differently.  1Up does not provide any examples in their article of what these upgrades could be.

I don't think this rumor sounds as absurd as it originally did when I read the story's title.  It's clear that Microsoft would be best off to bundle the new camera with new consoles if they want to get developer support.   Microsoft will need to try to get as many Project Natal cameras in homes so that there will be a market for making games that use the technology.  A new console is probably the best way to drive this adoption.

I tend to think there will not be a new console in 2010 from Microsoft.  What I think you will see is something similar to how Microsoft launched the Xbox Live Arcade program.  Did you know that Xbox Live arcade was on the first Xbox?  It came out very late in the Xbox's life cycle and was not adopted by gamers or developers.  By the time the Xbox 360 came out it was integrated into the console and has been a huge success for Microsoft and now even Sony and Nintendo have an off shoot on their consoles.

I expect you will see is Microsoft start to bundle the camera with the Xbox 360 at no price increase and sell it with a game for $100.  Microsoft has been chopping $50 off the price of their consoles each of the past two years (and will do the same in the fall).  I could see a $150 Arcade model with the Natal camera in November of 2010.  The Pro and Elite models will also be bundled with the camera as well. Microsoft should be able to offset the cost of the camera with savings manufacturing improvements on the existing hardware.

I do not think we will see a new Xbox from Microsoft till possibly E3 of 2011 and I don't think it will launch till 2012.  Microsoft has a firm control of the hard core market and is selling the current console at a profit while Sony still sells theirs as a loss.  Microsoft very well may not need to release a new Xbox until digital distribution is fully integrated into the consoles.  I don't see Microsoft adopting BluRay as a games distribution format since the price is still too expensive.  In 2012 those prices might be more reasonable. By then more games will be ready for the Natal camera if it is a success.


Source: 1up

  

Well it seems I owe my readers an apology.  It seems that when I thought I was playing Infamous I was actually just playing the demo.  You see I had downloaded and installed the demo before I left for my trip to Milwaukee.  When I turned on the PS3 I ejected the game I had in there then walked away.  I thought I threw the Infamous game disk in but I did not.  When I returned the PS3 was running the Infamous demo screen, I just didn't realize it was the demo.

Anyways I've started playing Infamous which I am really enjoying.  The game does have that Crackdown feel were you can climb buildings and fight crime.  The best part of Crackdown for me was looking to climb buildings which I think Infamous does a better job with.   Infamous allows you to climb up pipes which adds another item to search for when scaling a building.

Infamous uses comic book stills to tell it's story which I think is a good mechanic.  So far the Infamous story is solid and I have a feeling there will be a major twist waiting for me.  The game starts with a large explosion taking place and the city being quarantined off.  In a very short period of time a gang takes over the city and runs the police out of town.  The game starts with you waking up in the middle of the creator left from the explosion and it's clear you are being blamed for the accident.  You end up walking away with super strength and the ability to harness electricity.

The game is an open world so I can explore the city but there really isn't anything worth exploring.  I can hunt down shards from the explosion around the world or I can try to find audio files that will help me learn about what happened before the explosion.  Like in Crackdown you can clean up the city by completing side quests.  As you complete those missions you will have more notoriety and the area will become safe.

It might sound odd but so far this is probably the best game I've played on the PS3.  I'm enjoying this game way more than I did Uncharted, Killzone 2 or Metal Gear Solid 4.  Unless something crazy happens to totally ruin the game, I'd say this is a buy for anyone that loved scaling buildings in Crackdown.  The game is very approachable with easy to use combat and no complex boss battles.  It's just a fun, easy game to play with very quick missions so you can play fourteen to fifteen minutes and feel like you've accomplished something.

  

Well as I mentioned in a previous post I finally broke down and bought some new games.  On the PS3 I'm playing Infamous which is a super hero open world style game.  The game has the option to play it as evil or good depending on your choices in the game. Your main power seems to the ability to shoot lightning from your hands.  So far the mechanic feels like a gun where you hold the left bumper to aim and right bumper to shoot.  I need to play more and see were it takes me.

On the DS I bought Blue Dragon Plus which is a sequel to the Xbox 360 Blue Dragon game.  I never played the first game and this one doesn't seem to care if you did.  So far the game is fairly easy to play and has been good.  Blue Dragon Plus is a JRPG with real time combat.  The combat engine seems really simple so far where all you do is point to the person you want your party member to attack.  Feels real simple and easy so anyone can play.

I started playing Forza Motorsport 2 again on my Xbox 360.  I have completed the career mode and am in way or shape good enough to go online.  What I had ignored through was the Arcade model's time trials.  I had gotten through about eight races before I was stuck the last time I tried the time trials.   Well I decided to skip that one and try some of the others.  Seems that one is my nemeses because I've gone on to close out all but two of the time trials now. 

The one race I was stuck on I've improved my time but I'm 0.08 seconds off the time I need to beat.  I think I've raced that course 100 times so far which is crazy since most of the tracks I needed only one lap to beat the trial time.  The other race is the last one in the series which is a very long lap around the German track.  The problem with this track is it's not hard to make a small mistake but the track takes over eight minutes to race so a small mistake is death and there are lots of small turns to make mistakes on.

Played some Gears of War 2 last night with some friends.  I was murdering them fairly easily in 2v2 with a bot playing Execution.  It was getting really ugly as even matches I was trying to throw I was easily beating them.  We ended up playing some Wingman which is a mode I hate online but was actually crazy fun with my friends.  The three of us all got a bot and it was insane battles after that.  The quality of the matches instantly improved and we ended up probably finding the mode we will play from now on.

  

Now there are a couple blogs I read which I actually trust their opinions on games.  One of those blogs raved about the recently released PS3 exclusive Infamous stating the game was Crackdown for the PS3.  Now I enjoyed playing Crackdown and hunting down orbs so much it was in my top ten on 360voice.com  for a long time.  The idea of playing another Crackdown type game was very appealing so I bought Infamous today.

I had received a $25 gift card for GameStop for filling out about a billion online surveys.  I tend to not like to buy games from that store unless I'm offloading a game but since I had the gift card I made the purchase there.  The people that work there think they know their shit but often don't.  Now I had heard some buzz about Infamous on a couple pod casts and read some good stuff on a couple blogs.  Just imagine my surprise when I found out I got a left over pre-order bonus for a game released two weeks ago.  That's normally not a good sign for sales of a game.

Funny thing happened when I got back to the office today after buying the game.  One of the other blogs I respect put out a post bashing Infamous saying "Infamous isn't even worthy of washing Crackdown's balls."   Those are some harsh words of criticism and may have affect my choice to buy the game. 

I tend to think that there are two scales for reviewing a game this generation.  There is the scale for how you would judge any game like usual and then there is the scale used to judge PS3 exclusives.  It seems that the games reviewers tend to treat PS3 exclusives like orphans from Somalia or something.  You can never say harsh things about the poor PS3 exclusive because he never had a real chance to succeed.  Games like Killzone 2, Resistance and Uncharted are solid at best but are held up at the crown jewels by game media.

One might think by now I had all but given up on Infamous.  Well I still decided to play the game and I played the first mission.  I even started a side mission I think.  Needless to say I think the game's story so far is janked and am annoyed that the developer decided to use a three minute cut scene to fill in the character's entire back story.  Come on people WTF!!!  One minute I'm watching some town go FUBAR , the next I'm standing on a train and supposed to be motivated to find some guy the cut scene said was my friend?  Somewhere in between I gained super powers?  Well, it's not like I'm going to trade it in for anything else so I'll play it some more and see where it goes.