I'm changing. I can feel the forces of nature deep within my core, marching like the clattering Skeleton army of a level 20 Undead Dark Usher. Riding like a Slayer on the scaly back of an epic Dragon, the Guilds within me attack and defend on the battlegrounds as Castellans drain their resources, only to be plundered by the unquenchable army known as - nerd games.
You see? That's where I'm headed, people, and it's not my fault. First, my new job starts in a week, and it requires that I am highly familiar with an unexpectedly addicting MMORPG called Heroes of Gaia, which I've really come to enjoy. On top that, because it's free and played in the browser on Kongregate, it's far too easy to jump in and play whenever I have a few minutes in the morning, while I'm at work (don't tell the boss), and when I get home at night. It's getting bad.
Next, because I wasn't able to play Battlefield: Bad Company 2 tonight (hit the jump for the fun story why), I instead played the demo of a game called Divinity 2: Eco Draconis; a fantasy RPG that puts you in the shoes of a budding Dragon Slayer in an open-world, dare I say Oblivion-esque, setting on a mission to kill dragons. Now, anyone that has ever seen a dragon slaying movie can pretty much guess where the plot is going, but even then...I liked it. I don't know why. I shouldn't like it, it's not even that good, but I did, and I might play more.
This is the end, everybody. LL Cool Mark as you know him has been taken over by a powerful, and nerdy fantasy force, and I don't know if he'll ever be back.
If you're one of our lucky readers that have followed my album reviews over the years, you might think that this album is a strange pick for me. First and foremost, this is a Portland band, and everyone knows that Oregonians are the sworn enemies of Washingtonians. Secondly, this is an electro-pop band, or new wave band, whatever you want to call it. And I'm not usually a fan of electronic-heavy rock bands, personally.
So what is it about this band that keeps me coming back? For serious. These guys almost sound like a top 40 band, and there's even times when it sounds like white boy rap, one of my most hated music genres. It's up there with rap rock.
I guess when it comes down to it, the ambiguously-named band Hockey just writes some damn catchy songs that are interesting enough to keep me from turning my iPod's click wheel. Take track one, "Too Fake". That little ditty is a mini masterpiece of aggression, indifference, and style. It sounds like The Strokes and LCD Soundsystem had a little baby and named it Phoenix.
These songs may not last me all year long, but for now, this is a light, hypnotic album that's got more hooks than a fishing store. Yeah, I made that previous line up all by myself. You can have it if you want it.
By now, you may have heard comments being made about how Blur is like Mario Kart with real cars – even the game's executive producer has been quoted as saying as much. After playing the Blur multiplayer beta, that sounds like a fair approximation of the game, though not in the way that you'd expect.
Given that the game is developed by Bizarre, the devs behind the PGR series – a realistic racer that couldn't be further removed from Mario Kart if it tried – you'd be forgiven for thinking that the game has something of an identity crisis. You'd also be forgiven for not knowing exactly what to expect from the game. The truth is, though, that Blur manages to play like both games without ever becoming confused. That is to say, it plays like a real racing game, but one that isn't afraid to be a little silly at times. Thankfully, for the most part, it's a pretty entertaining experience.
The handling of the cars successfully manages to be both realistic and arcadey at the same; the handling is realistic enough to require you to invest some time into getting to grips with the controls, but arcadey enough as to not alienate beginners. The result is a game that is accessible to all, but one with hidden depths for the high-level racers to enjoy.
Despite the fact that it already sounds like quite a fragile balance, the power-ups fit seamlessly into the mix, and it's when the power-ups start flying that the game feels most like Mario Kart. However, as well as being genuinely quite fun to use, the power-ups also add an extra layer of strategy to the proceedings; whilst some power-ups clearly serve a single purpose, others can be used to counteract the effects of your rivals' power-ups, and even the ones which initially seem useless can end up being an invaluable addition to your inventory. The only gripe with the power-ups, though, is that in larger games (Blur supports up to twenty players at any one time) the tracks become a veritable minefield, and make navigating the course nearly impossible.
As well as power-ups, Blur also features a “mods” system. While the name suggests that this is just a way to tune up your cars, it is actually a level-based perk system, which gives you a passive boost to your abilities and can be tweaked to fit your racing style as you see fit. My only complaint with the mods system is that it's perhaps a little too simplistic, though this is a minor concern.
Whilst the racing and the power-ups are generally good fun, the online portion of the game is only as good as its game modes. The four modes available in the beta (two initially, with two being unlocked as you level up) are somewhat standard, but still fun nevertheless. However, it's the modes which weren't available which looked to be the most fun: a one-on-one mode, a hardcore racing mode (presumably this disables the power-ups), and a community event mode (presumably to allow you to take part in massive group events organised by Bizarre), which sounds like it could have some real potential.
All told, the Blur beta showcases a game which is a lot of fun, and has a lot of potential. Though it's not quite as fast or arcadey as some might hope, it still does a fine job in balancing the two play styles together in a way that is fun. Whilst it remains to be seen as to how long the various multiplayer modes will keep players enthralled, if Bizarre can create a good community around the game and sustain it with interesting and fun community events, not to mention regular DLC, then there's no reason that Blur can't be a brilliant racing game.
Apparently Sony's UK Playstation store has nothing better to do with its time, than play early April Fool's pranks on me.
You may remember that just yesterday I put up a post saying that After Burner Climax would be releasing on PSN today. I got this information from the UK Playstation store (see the above screen grab), though apparently it's wrong, as I've just checked the store and there is nothing there. After that, I did a little digging on Sega's official site, and noticed that the games release date is down as being "Spring 2010", and that the game will also be coming to Xbox Live.
Due to this, I'd like to appologise for posting bad information, and for getting peoples hopes up. Oh well, I guess you really can't be right all the time!
I forced my wife to watch me play the first hour of Heavy Rain. She doesn't normally like video games (except for the occasional puzzle game or Rock Band session), but I thought the cinematic aspect of this game would interest her. I did the same thing for Final Fantasy XIII. These were her initial impressions:
"It was so slow."
"The graphics were okay, but the water looked really good."
"Yelling the boy's name over and over at the mall was annoying." (my fault!)
"There should be more options to do things."
I forced my wife to watch me play the first hour of Final Fantasy XIII. She doesn't normally like video games (except for the occasional puzzle game or Rock Band session), but I thought the cinematic aspect of this game would interest her. These were her initial impressions:
"All I remember was some guy with a bird in his hair."
"I guess the graphics were good."
"I wasn't really paying attention."
"It looked like a cartoon movie."
This album chugs. In a good way. Aloha is a post-rock band that's been around since the late 1990s, and I've followed them for quite some time now. They used to be "that post-rock band with a vibraphone", but they stopped using it in earnest a few albums back; now, they're just a plain old post-rock band. But the best part of this band is that they still rock like it's 2002. In other words, they've continued that layered, drifty, and unconventional post-rock sound capitalized by bands like Minus the Bear, American Football, and to a lesser extent Cursive, well after these bands disbanded or altered their sound.
It's refreshing to hear a band further refine a sound that's been relatively abandoned. Second track "Moonless March" is the perfect example of Aloha sticking to their guns to dramatic effect. The song starts out fast and continues the pace throughout, while changing melodies often and with a deft precision. For a band whose members live in different cities scattered throughout the East Coast, this is a concerted and carefully orchestrated effort, and it's my favorite album by them in several years. Every track has something worth paying attention to, be it an interesting vocal hook or their always-excellent instrumentation. If you're looking for something a little off the beaten path, but rewarding nonetheless, you'll probably like Home Acres.
The character you see above you, is Capcom's latest addition to Super Street Fighter IV, Hakan. Hakan is an "Arabian grappler" who douses himself in oil before each fight starts. However, the real question is: Why, Capcom? Why?
I can't help but feel that this guy not only looks stupid, but that he also seems very similar to E. Honda, both in the way he looks, and in the way he plays. To see this for yourself, check out the video below:
I'm sorry Capcom, but this guy looks like he would be absolutely no fun to play as, and he just looks really uninspired. Personally, I don't think I'll be getting Super Street Fighter IV when it comes out, because the new additions don't really inspire me, and I'm really nervous about T. Hawk being in the game -- I'm convinced that he'll break the balance of the game, just like he has in every other Street Fighter game he's ever been in.
Is anyone else thinking about getting it? Leave us a comment and let us know what you think.
A 10 hour head start isn't much when playing a Final Fantasy game. The introduction of characters, the slow and steady primer on battle mechanics and levelling up; the ins-and-outs of what makes a Final Fantasy needs time to develop and settle-in. While I expected the traditional slow start of any Final Fantasy, XIII seems especially sluggish and unnecessarily drawn-out. It seems especially contradictory to the faster pacing of the story and out-of-sync with the streamlined battle system. While I can see its disparate elements eventually coming together to become a focused experience, it's coming at a very slow rate.
In rich contrast to standard JRPGs today, Final Fantasy isn't afraid to make risks in evolving its recipe for success. In a lot of ways, XIII feels like the complete opposite of XII. Gone are free-roaming exploration, micromanaging turn-based combat systems and the traditional town and country design. What you have left is a game that is very streamlined. And because XIII is so stripped down, its success is highly contingent on the quality of story and combat, i.e. what Final Fantasy does best. While I still have a long way to go story wise, the battle system is refreshingly efficient while maintaining the strong tactical element.
While a majority of the changes serve as a way to make this iteration more accessible and action-oriented, the unnecessary glacial pacing and strict linearity inflicts XIII with an identity issue. Its struggle in momentum can be infuriating, but I'm willing to stick with it.
It's a little-known fact that four-fifths of theeasymode.com staff (or 80%….MATH!) uses Apple products as our primary computers. It's also a little-known fact that all five-fiths of us like to play these things called video games. Personally, I've loaded Windows onto my beautiful, shiny 27" iMac just so I can play PC games from time to time. But when it comes down to it, I'd much rather play games on my iMac natively rather than boot up Windows. This is why Valve's announcement yesterday that Steam is coming to Macs is so exciting to me. And it should be exciting to you too (if you own a Mac), and here's why:
1. Backwards compatibility: Valve has already announced that they're bringing their Source engine to the Mac Steam. They mentioned that these specific games will be available in April: Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike, Portal, and the Half-Life series. That's a great start.
2. "Steam Play": Basically, this feature means that if you bought a game on Steam for Windows, you can play it on Steam for Mac, for free. Not only that, but they touted a feature called "Steam Cloud" which would allow you to play a game on one PC and jump to that same spot on a Mac.
3. Future investment: Steam has promised that all future Valve games will launch simultaneously on Mac, Windows, and the Xbox 360 from here on out. I hope a lot of developers follow suit, now that Steam will give them a wide exposure to Mac gamers.
4. Valve's first Mac-friendly release will be Portal 2. Oh yes.
The Easy Mode Podcast #5: This week is all about Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Heroes of Gaia, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, FEAR 2, and Prince of Persia.
Russ Crandall Senior Editor Mark Hill Associate Editor, Podcast Host Tyler Miller Associate Editor, Artistic Director Steve McKay Contributor, United Kingdom Giang Cao Contributor, Australia
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Bloguin is the revolutionary blog network specifically focused on helping bloggers get the most out of their websites. We're currently working on building a large network of online communities and hope to expand our blogging coverage to include a wide range of topics. 
The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.
The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. We're specifically looking for blogs in the sports, entertainment, and video games field, but are open to adding any type of quality site. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
The Bloguin Login gives you full access to everything our network has to offer. Your name and password will work for each and every one of our sites. Signing up is simple, and will allow you to post in all our forums, create member blogs, and access other cool features! What are you waiting for? Create an Account!