My interview with the CEO of publisher/developer Phantom Efx is now available to read on the gaming site I am a writer for, TheGameReviews.com. You may visit it below.
Press the back button on your browser to return to the blog when you’re done.
http://thegamereviews.com/article-472-Interview-with-Aaron-Schurman-CEO-of-Phantom-Efx.html
Apparently Xbox Live is taking a stand against cheaters on Live. It was announced that cheaters will have their gamerscores reset to zero, and their account will be permanently labelled as a cheater for everyone else to see. Some people are claiming this is too harsh a punishment, but I disagree. There is no excuse for cheating and these people ruin Live for everyone. Sure, they may have paid for their gold membership, but so did the rest of us and we shouldn’t have to put up with their crap. And as far as acheivement points – the whole point of these is for them to be EARNED. If they are not earned, they are not deserved, and do not belong on their account. I hope this will teach a lesson to these NOOBS who need cheating because they don’t have enough skill to play, and who are so arrogant that they think they deserve an unfair advantage over everyone else.
Funny thing, at least as of yet, the announcement is not posted on the Xbox.com website. So unless these people follow gaming news carefully they probably won’t be aware of the new policy until it’s too late. But I don’t feel the least bit sorry for them. They shouldn’t need threat of punishment to coerce them into doing the right thing and playing fair.
In this time of rampant takeovers and hostile takeovers in the gaming industry, Ubisoft has taken a more enlightened approach to expanding their company. This past Wednesday they announced that they have acquired all intellectual property rights to the Tom Clancy name. This will give them unrestricted access to use the Tom Clancy brand in all forms of entertainment, including books, movies, and television shows as well as games. They feel this move will make them a “major player” in the entertainment industry as a whole, and they expect a boost in their operating income of 7.7 million dollars each year after this deal. They also said we can expect other forms of entertainment such as books, movies, or television shows, from their other popular brands, such as Rayman.
What I wouldn’t give for a Rayman Raving Rabbids comic book or movie! Ubisoft has proven they can write a great Tom Clancy story with their games, and I can’t wait to see what they have in store for whole books and movies based on those books. And as always, of course, their amazing games.
Ubisoft shipped a million copies of Rainbow Six Vegas 2 to the US this week, and they expect half of those to sell within a week. This is not a surprise, and those half million people will not be disappointed. This is another great example of the high quality we have come to expect from Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy brand games. The controls are flawless, AI smart, levels and story compelling, and squad controls excellent. And I was really happy to see, when I loaded the game for the first time, that my rank from Rainbow Six Vegas (the original) was uploaded to the new game, with unlockable goodies. There’s customization here too, for story mode. Ubisoft frequently manages to set the bar for shooters, especially squad based shooters, and this installment is no exception.
But back to my original comments, I’m really glad to see Ubisoft “doing the right thing” and looking at a more creative approach to expanding their business than your garden variety hostile takeover. These takeovers lately are downright scary. The last thing we need is a monopoly in game publishing.
My review is up for Frontlines: Fuel of War (Xbox360) on TheGameReviews.com. I highly recommend it to any shooter fan. You can read the review here:
(Hit the back button on your browser to return to the blog when you’re done):
http://xbox360.thegamereviews.com/article-451-Frontlines-Fuel-of-War-review.html
As many of you know, Jeff Gerstmann was a senior editor at Gamespot.com up until a couple of months ago. He was fired, and there is a lot of circumstantial evidence to suggest it was because of his brutally honest review of a game that had ads plastered all over the site, and the advertiser complained. For the past couple of months, Jeff has had a blog going, but he’s kept secret his plans. Now I am thrilled to announce that Jeff, along with Ryan Davis (also from Gamespot.com) are launching their own gaming website. I have been wishing and hoping for this; Jeff is the best in the business in my opinion and the megasites better watch out.
Check out the new site here!:
Jeff also still has his personal blog going, although he warns he has less time for it now:
http://blog.jeffgerstmann.net/
BUT remember, don’t put all your eggs in one basket! Continue to also visit http://www.thegamereviews.com/ for a lot of awesome gaming content you won’t find anywhere else!
I am a better reviewer and a better gamer because of Jeff. If I had to choose someone I look up to, an idol, it would be him. I know he will suceed, and this site will have integrity, unlike the one that fired him.
As you may be aware, there will be no new season of the show “24″ this year. Fox opted to just skip a year rather than give us a shortened season, and they blame the writers’ strike. As far as I know, all of the other shows affected are running shortened seasons, now that the strike is over.
Personally, I feel this is a big mistake, waiting a year. People are going to lose interest, especially after last season was not as good as the previous couple seasons. They really needed to get a season on this year, and back to their old standards rather than the sub-par series of shows they gave us last year, if they wanted to hang on to their loyal audience. The show certainly wasn’t “bad” last year, but we were so spoiled by the former two seasons that last year really paled in comparison. Thankfully Jack’s love interest, Audrey is gone. That subplot really dragged the show down and distracted from the action, and caused Jack to seem unfocused and sappy, completely inconsistent with other seasons. Audrey’s helplessness last year also was disappointing, after previous seasons when she’d been portrayed as a strong woman.
Hardcore fans will patiently wait until next year. I am certainly looking forward to next years’ new season. But I think a lot of the more casual viewers will lose interest and find other shows to get hooked on during 24’s usual time slot at this time of year. A shortened season would have been disappointing, but definitely better than nothing.
First off, I just want to say that there are a lot of incredible shooters available right now like Call of Duty 4, Company of Heroes, and Frontlines: Fuel of War. And by saying what I have to say I am not necessarily suggesting any game is good or bad, just what I’d like to see out of new titles…
How many games are we going to have that are either about Nazis or take place in Russia? Every time I turn around, there’s another shooter that is either about one of these elements or both. Even games that seem from previews like they’re going to be different, more relevant to modern conflicts, and take place in NEW locations for a change, often don’t. Call of Duty 4 and Frontlines: Fuel of War, for example, both seemed like they might take the battle to the Middle East for a change but ended up having most of their missions take place on Russian soil. It has been confirmed that Call of Duty 5 will be another (ugggghh…) World War II shooter. Turning Point: Fall of Liberty is an “alternate scenario” game that involves the Nazis. I’m getting really tired of these regurgated locations and players involved. Is there some reason developers are not tapping into the enormous scope of history, or the enormous geography of the world, to give us something new?
There are developers giving us something different. Rainbow Six Vegas, Halo 3, Age of Empires, and Mass Effect are some examples. But there are still a lot of developers whose vision is really myopic. Enough is enough with fighting the Nazis and fighting in Russia. Been there, done that, over and over and over again, and I am OVER it. Please!!!
Microsoft Flight Simulator X has been out on shelves for a while now. With so much of the world to explore and so many scenarios to complete, this game has monster replay value. But one of the really great things about this game is the constant stream of software add-ons and special hardware, that add even more replay value. Microsoft’s official expansion pack, Flight Simulator X Acceleration, is an obvious first start for someone looking to expand their Flight Sim X experience. With this expansion, you get over 30 new missions, 3 new planes, new detailed locations, and racing online or offline against the A.I. Of particular interest are the carrier missions, where you can learn to take off and land on a moving air carrier in the ocean with your new Boeing FA-18 in your choice of skins including US Navy, US Marine Corps, and NASA. This expansion is loaded with enough content to qualify as a full game, yet it’s available at an expansion price. Every flight sim enthusiast should have this.
Have you upgraded your flight sim experience with a real throttle and joystick yet? I recommend the Saitek X52 throttle and joystick set. With these realistic instruments you can feel more like you’re flying a plane and less like you’re playing a game about flying a plane. This thrill is well worth the expense, especially when you consider you’ll get a lot of replay value out of your flight sim games, and be able to use them a lot. There are numerous buttons you can program with your own choice of function, they feel solid and comfortable to use, and control is absolutely perfect. If you are still playing with a controller or mouse and keyboard, you are simply not flying.
A company called Megascenery X has released several photorealistic scenery software add-ons that look far more realistic than the default scenery. Southern California, Phoenix, Honolulu and Oahu, and Dallas/Fort Worth are currently available for FSX. The software installs itself into the correct folders to run on the game properly so it’s a breeze to use, and the quality is amazing. The detail is so astonishing, you may even be able to see your own house! This is, in my opinion, the very best scenery software for FSX.
Venice X and Monaco X from Aerosoft are two more highly detailed scenery packages, this time of breathtaking European cities. Monaco has no airport so to speak, but there are helipads, including one on a yacht, and you can land your sea planes here also. The Venice package includes 2 airports. Your favorite landmarks are all here in amazing photo realism. This is the next best thing if you can’t fly there in person.
FS Global 2008 offers over 12GB of new terrian data providing 63 times more detail for the entire world than the default scenery offers. It doesn’t offer the detail that software like Megascenery offers, but it covers the whole world and makes those areas for which you don’t have more detailed scenery look a lot better. If you’re an armchair traveller like I am, you want to see the whole world with your FSX, and as realistically as possible.
With Mega Airport Brussels X, you may not want to leave the airport! With high resolution day and night textures, dynamic, animated objects, highly detailed buildings that are completely accurate, accurate runways and taxiways that show wear, a cargo area and a military area… everything you could possibly want in a big, bustling airport is here. If you think you don’t like driving around on taxiways you might just change your mind! Those yearning for a truly realistic airport will love this software.
With Flight Tales 1 Mission Pack, you will get 10 extra missions of varying difficulty. Some involve emergency situations, racing, stunt flying, and other interesting tasks with a variety of different aircraft and in a variety of interesting locations around the world. If you’ve completed the many missions available on FSX and Acceleration, or if you just want more variety, this is a great package.
If you are looking for a magazine to enhance your FSX experience and keep you updated about new software and hardware, look no further than Computer Pilot Magazine. This is a high quality publication with thick pages, a glossy cover, and lots of great product reviews and other articles.
Finally, by all means go to aerosoft.com and download Alcatraz and VIP Shuttle Service for FREE. Alcatraz is a detailed scenery download of Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay, and VIP Shuttle Service is an extra mission. Aerosoft makes high quality flight sim software that usually costs a lot of money (and is worth it!) so do not miss this free content!
That’s just a sample of the many, many software and hardware add-ons available for FSX. More and more airports and areas of scenery become available all the time, and virtually any type of aircraft you would want to fly are available. There are also a number of mission packs out there to keep you busy for a long time. All this great stuff can eat up your hard drive space in no time, but it’s worth it!
I know, I’ve been slacking. I need to get back on track with my posts. Unfortunately I wasn’t feeling well most of last week and I couldn’t bring myself to do much other than sleep, but I’m feeling much better now.
I am extremely excited today because the CEO of Phantom Efx has agreed to give me an interview for TheGameReviews.com. This is HUGE and I could not be more pleased. I’ll post a link when I have one available.
I’m on disc two of Lost Odyssey now, and the more I play the better it gets. There are a lot of people moaning about the fact that it’s a traditional turn based RPG and the fact that they think it’s outdated. There’s a reason these type of RPGs are turn based. You have a huge variety of magic spells and other actions available to you – so many that you need to scroll through lists and choose them. If this game were real time, it would have to ditch a lot of your options. The wide variety of spells and actions not only are fun to choose from, but make strategy important for your battles since some approaches will be more effective than others. I do NOT think having real time with fewer actions available would be an improvement. I happen to like my traditional turn based RPGs and there really is a purpose to the way that they are. Besides, anyone who thinks the combat is the main point when it comes to RPGs is way off base. The epic storylines, spectacular environments, and characters you can really get attached to… THESE are the elements of a great RPG. So if anyone happened to see a review of this game that whined about the turn based gameplay and didn’t seem to notice the positive elements of the game I mentioned then ignore them – they just don’t get it and they probably ought to stick to reviewing shooters. This is one of the best games I have ever played, and if Jansen does not win the “best supporting character” awards this year then something is seriously wrong.
I promise to post more often now that I’m feeling better, and I have some game reviews coming soon. Thanks for visiting; I really appreciate each and every person who takes the time to visit and see what I have to say.
