The 30 Year-Old Gamer

Guitar Hero: The Death of a Rock Star

2011-02-11T14:02:00.002-05:00

So who didn't see this one coming from a mile away? Or in my case, from all the way back in July of 2008 when I did my review of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith? If you haven't heard, this week during their annual earning's call, Activision announced the closing of their Guitar Hero facilities, cancelling the planned 2011 Guitar Hero and basically killing the franchise. The reason they gave was because of the over saturation of the music genre of video games.

...this is my surprised face...

Actually, as I thought about my time with Guitar Hero, it dawned on my that it's life cycle was exactly the same as a one-hit wonder, and this week that artist was just dropped from their label. So I guess this is the E! True Hollywood Story of Guitar Hero.

I first played the game way back in 2007 with Guitar Hero 2 on the XBox 360. I'll never forget how completely lost I felt as I tried to play the game the first time. Sitting there on my couch, alone, pressing the buttons like some drunk monkey and hearing "clang" after "clang" ring from my TV before I eventually failed at the song. Realizing I was doing something terribly wrong, I stood up, cleared away my coffee table, and got ready to rock. The next couple hours was one of the best video game experiences ever. By the time my roommate got home, I was exhausted, sweating, and having the time of my life.

Two years and approximately 27 versions of the game later, we reached the pinnacle of the genre. In the summer of 2009 at the opening of a new movie theater in Hoboken, NJ, they set up a Beatles Rock Band and were giving away free copies. The set up was a huge stage, with flat screen TVs, lights, amps, and a full Beatles Rock Band set and they were asking for volunteers to play the drums, which I was more than happy to do. As I sat up there, getting ready to play, with The30yoWife on the bass, and a crowd of about 20 people watching, I thought, we've certainly come a long way from my couch in my living room.

We rocked it out that night to "Eight Days a Week" and to this day, we still talk about how awesome an experience it was. I don't think I'll ever forget the smattering of applause our "tribute band" got when we finished and the smile on my wife's face when it was over. It was simply put the closest we will ever be to feeling like rock stars, and when you think about it, that was what the game was all about. It was awesome.

That was the peak of my Guitar Hero career. I guess it followed the same pattern of any one hit wonder. At first, not a lot of people heard about it. Then it became bigger than they could handle, faster than they could handle. Before you know it, it's being played in every bar across the nation. And just like that, when they can't produce enough of them, the audience turns and no one wants it anymore. From "Nobody", to "Superstar", to "Has Been" in a matter of a couple years.

And this is completely Activision's fault. They were producing on average 4 Guitar Hero games a year and each one of them had a ton of downloadable content. It was just way too much. I like playing Guitar Hero, but I don't need every single song I've ever heard to be in a Guitar Hero game. It kinda defeats the purpose. Then you combine that with all of the Rock Band and DJ Hero games and you've got a complete over saturation of the market and everyone is tired of it. The last game they released which was Guitar Hero 5 last year was a complete failure and it costs them too much to license all of the songs for no one buying the game.

That's the life of a rock star I guess. And the same can be said for a rock star video game. Years from now when I tell my kids about these games, the story will end like every E! True Hollywood Story: It was fun while it lasted.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year-old Gamer

Good, but not Great - Call of Duty Black Ops Review

2011-02-02T15:47:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I picked up a copy of Call of Duty Black Ops a couple weeks ago when Best Buy was running this fantastic deal on games. I beat the single player version of the game last night and have plenty to say on it, both good and bad. Let me just get this out of the way, technically the game is the best first person shooter out there. However, there are many frustrating aspects of the game that hold it back and I fear that it's days in my Xbox are numbered.

First let's talk about how this game is technically. The game is easily one of the two best first person shooters out there. The debate of whether you like Halo or Call of Duty better can go on forever, but you can't deny that Call of Duty is awesome in the area of shooting things. The controls are awesome. They are so tight and accurate that when you play other games like it, you have to compare it to the gold standard that is Call of Duty. There are also a ton of weapons that all fire differently with different accuracy. There is no one weapon that's better than other. In some scenarios you are inside and want a shotgun, while others you are in a field and need a rifle with a scope. All are different and all are a pure joy to use.

The graphics are insane. If you shoot a guy in the head, he drops instantly. Shoot him in the leg and he'll keep firing until you riddle him with bullets. The sounds that come from the game couldn't be more realistic. From explosions to gun fire to the great voice work by Ed Harris and Sam Worthington, the sound is top notch from beginning to end.

And the story is probably the best in the entire series. You play a black ops officer named Mason who is strapped to a chair and is being questioned from a shadowy voice about his adventures. At which point you relive all of his Cold War adventures starting with the Bay of Pigs and going through Vietnam. There were several moments throughout the game that I'll never forget, like sailing down a river blowing up everything that moves while Sympathy for the Devil is blaring. The ending was fantastic and for the first time in a long time the story seemed believable. I really liked it and for it alone it was worth the $60.

Now let me get to my gripes about the game. First of all, did Michael Bay direct this game? I don't think 30 seconds went by during the entire game where there wasn't a huge explosion or someone wasn't yelling at me for something. "Mason Get Down!" "Mason Grenade!" "Mason I Need A Beer!" Dear lord, just shut up. I was seriously questioning whether to turn the sound off because it was giving me a headache. Guys, I'm no history major, but I'm sure things didn't explode this much in Vietnam.

My second gripe is that I really feel like I've been there, done that. How many Call of Duty games have I played over the past few years? 7? 12? It's the same game over and over again. The game is good, there is no doubt, but I've really played this before with Modern Warfare 2 and before that with World at War and before that with Modern Warfare and so on. The "wow factor" of this game is completely gone for me. It was enjoyable, but sort of forgettable at the same time.

That leads me to my biggest gripe of this game which will get the biggest feedback I'm sure. The multiplayer is just not fun at all. In my mind, it's broken. It rewards people who live online too much and punishes people like me who play casually. Here's how. The more you play the game you earn these Call of Duty Points. You earn them from completing games, killing people, etc. You can then spend these points on better weapons, better rewards (I'll get to those in a sec), and being quieter so people can't see you on radar. So if you play more, you have an advantage going into an online match.

Then when you are in a match on line you get a reward for having getting a kill streak. So say you kill 3 people in a row, then you can get a radar scan which shows you where all the enemies are (not fair), which makes it easy to kill more. Then you get 5 kills in a row and you can call in an attack chopper which will just gun down more guys for a higher kill streak where then you can get a napalm strike or some other ludicrous weapon.

So let me get this straight. You start with better weapons and when you go on your inevitable kill streak they reward you with air support for more kills?! I, on the other hand, start off with the equivalent of a supersoaker and run around the map with a bell on my neck. Seriously, that's not far from the truth. Five minutes later, I've killed 4 people and have died 16 times when I hear "Enemy Napalm Attack Imminent". I actually spent one entire match just standing around. Didn't touch the controller. And you know what? I did better! I had zero kills and nine deaths which is a better ratio than actually playing the game. Sound broken to you, because it does to me. I feel like a nerd getting picked on by the entire football team when I'm out there. How is this supposed to be fun again? Oh yeah, it isn't. I have better ways to spend my time.

So while the game is good, it isn't great and I certainly don't consider it a masterpiece. Play it for the single player and if you don't want to spend a significant amount of time getting owned online, skip the multiplayer.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year-old Gamer

Now This is a Big Deal

2011-01-25T16:02:00.000-05:00

So this holiday season I pitched a shutout for the first time I can remember. It was the first year in almost forever that I didn't receive a single video game. Not one. Now granted I'm a new husband and new homeowner so there are other things that were a priority this holiday season. But still, when the calendar turned to 2011, I was sitting in my new home wondering what games should I play.

Last week, Best Buy came to my aid. They offered a not so public special where you can buy 2 games and get a 3rd game for free. I had to jump all over this offer. But then came the decision. If you could purchase any 3 games over any of the major systems, which 3 games would you choose? I had to create a list. It's a list of games that I've wanted to play but haven't for whatever reason over the past 6 months. There were single player games, multiplayer games, sports games, and role playing games. Here was my list:

* Call of Duty Black Ops - 360
* FIFA 11 - 360
* Mario Galaxy 2 - Wii
* Assassin's Creed Brotherhood - 360
* Final Fantasy 13 - 360
* Goldeneye - Wii
* Deadrising 2 - 360
* Fallout New Vegas - 360

I had to choose 3 out of 8. This was too much to do in the store, so I had to do some research ahead of time and eliminate some choices.

First, Call of Duty Black Ops was a definite. I've always been a Halo guy. I just like the game more. It suits my gameplaying style better. I do love the Call of Duty series and couldn't wait to play this one, so it definitely makes the list. Which leaves 2 out of 7.

FIFA 11 was a game I really wanted during the World Cup and would still love to play it. But I fear that I would play the game for a few hours and never touch it again once I've scratched that itch, sort of speak. So it was out. 2 out of 6

Mario Galaxy 2 I've heard great things about. However the first Mario Galaxy was also really good but lost my interest early in the game. While everything was good (graphics, controls, etc) it just seemed like it was aimed at a younger audience. Which was when I realized I had outgrown Mario. Sad but true. 2 out 5

Final Fantasy 13 has an awesome trailer. I couldn't wait to play the game. Then I read a review which said the game starts to get good about 25 hours into it. What? I don't have that kind of time. Pass 2 out of 4

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood was a game I was originally going to pass on. But I played and loved the first two games. I considered the AC2 to be one of the best games of all time. The trailer for this game looks great and the reviews have been awesome. OK, I'm sold. 1 out of 3 remaining.

So I went to Best Buy looking to choose one from Goldeneye, Deadrising 2, and Fallout New Vegas. I first picked up Fallout and was interested. I like dystopian stories and love Vegas, so it was an early front runner. Then a Best Buy associate came by and said that the game was full of glitches and he's heard customers complain a lot. He had played it and said the graphics also looked a little dated. Back to the shelf it went.

I walked around with both Goldeneye and Deadrising in my hand for about 15 minutes, switching back and forth between the two. I loved the original Deadrising and Goldeneye 64 was my 2nd favorite game of all time (before I played Mass Effect 2). I really wanted to play Goldeneye again, I love Daniel Craig as the new Bond, and miss my Wii. Goldeneye won out!

So I left Best Buy last week with Call of Duty Black Ops, Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, and Goldeneye Wii. Best Buy saved my winter and spring. Now the only question is, what game do I play first?

Until next time,

- The 30 Year-old Gamer

It's About Time! - Back to the Future Review

2011-01-05T14:01:00.000-05:00

I'm a product of the 80's. I grew up in the 80's and 90's and love all of the classic movies from those time periods. I loved Transformers, Ghostbusters, and more to the point Back to the Future. The Back to the Future Trilogy was one of the best in American Cinema history. Sure the story was formulaic and writing was pretty dry at times, but I loved the adventure. Even now, 25 years later I can still sit down and watch all three movies with as much love in my heart as I did when I was a kid. In fact, I did rewatch all three movies just a few weeks ago. So if any game developer is stupid enough to create a game about the Back to the Future movies, they have very high expectations they have to meet in my eyes. The good news is, that the people at Telltale met and exceeded those expectations with their new game Back to the Future the Game.

The game is for your PC or Mac and plays like a point and click adventure game. No first person shooting here. You control Marty by pointing and clicking your mouse on various objects and people and try to solve puzzles. The controls work well, even if the puzzles can be a little simple at times.

The story takes place about 3 months after the end of the third film. Doc is gone time travelling around the world and he's left Marty alone in 1986 Hill Valley. Now this has two affects. First, Marty misses his best friend, and the second is the town misses Doc's money, specifically when it comes to property taxes. They can be funny like that.

So the town has seized Doc's house and is about to sell off his stuff. Your first mission is to get over there and make sure no sensitive information (like how to build a time machine) falls into the wrong hands (like Biffs). When you get through that, it's a convenient plot twist and a few puzzles later and then it's off to prohibition era Hill Valley to spring Doc out of jail. To do this you need to enlist the help of 17 year old Doc and the fun really begins.

Here are the downsides to the game. This is just the first episode of a promised six and it's very short. You can get through the game in just a few hours. Right when I was really digging the game and the story, it's the famous "To Be Continued..." The second problem I have with the game is it's very easy. There really wasn't anything that was majorly challenging. Some puzzles were a little more difficult than others, but none were overly difficult and if any were, there is a hint system which basically tells you what to do.

Here are the positives. It's Back to the Future! They did a great job recreating Hill Valley and the adventure seems very authentic. I loved walking around the town and talking to people. The actor who does the voice over for Marty is completely spot on. You would think it was Michael J Fox. The animation is fantastic and the game is just very fun. I plan on going through the game again just to play different choices and to see if anything different happens.

Overall the game is great and it's perfect for Back to the Future fans of all ages. The next episode comes out next month and I can't wait to see where they go from here considering the cliff hanger they leave this episode off with. I hope the game gets a little bit harder and maybe throw in a different game play element from time to time. But overall, if you are a Back to the Future fan, this game is a must play at $25.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year-old Gamer

What a Year - 2010 Review

2010-12-29T14:38:00.000-05:00

2010 was a landmark year in my life for many reasons. Getting married and buying my first house top the list. And when I look at the year in video games there are a few things that really stand out. Let's take a look at the big themes for 2010 and how they affected the video game industry.

Economy

The lagging recession and subsequent struggling economy had a major impact on video games in 2010. First of all, there really are only two major developers left in the industry, Electronic Arts and Activision. Back in the day, there were several equally important video game developers, but as the cost of creating a video game has risen to Hollywood blockbuster levels (over $100M), the small development company has become extinct. In 2010, we saw that in full effect as Bungie (Halo series) was purchased by Microsoft and Infinity Ward (Call of Duty series) was purchased by Activision.

This is going to have two major effects on the industry over the next several years. The first effect is going to be the numerous iterations of very similar titles. There's too much money at stake for these companies to go out on a limb with new untested video games. Instead, they know they will make a fortune by repackaging an already successful series. This was very apparent in 2010 with titles like Halo 5, er Halo Reach. Call of Duty 7, er Call of Duty Black Ops, Fallout 3, Fable 3, Assassins Creed 2.5, er Assassins Creed Brotherhood, and Mass Effect 2. All very successful titles. All sequels. And all will have many other sequels in the upcoming years.

The second effect will be the increased production of these games. Have you ever felt that during the summer, there are just simply too many movies to see? The same thing is going to happen to the video game industry. It's easy to put a new coat of paint on a Call of Duty game and ship it out. So instead of having a new Halo game every three years, we will see a new game every single year. A huge blockbuster game will be released every single week leading up to Black Friday every year. The gamer will just have to decide what game they want and stick with it. You are either a Halo fan or Call of Duty fan. Either Fallout or Fable. There will be no room for in between which is a shame because all of the games are very good and I'd love to play them all. But being a 30 year-old married homeowner, I don't exactly have the time. And if you are a 17 year-old high school student, you don't exactly have the money. So make your choice and stick with it.

Death of the Console Casual Gamer

Casual gaming was all of the rage a couple years ago when the Wii was first introduced. But in 2010, with the struggling economy, the Casual gamer focused their funds elsewhere. No one was buying Wii games in 2010 and the developers took notice and took their games to other systems. The Wii for the first time ever was not the most popular console sold, and took a backseat to the Xbox 360. What does this mean? It means that the casual gamer bought their Wii for Wii Sports and now it's sitting in their living rooms collecting dust.

It also means that the big launches of Xbox Kinect and Sony Move fell flat. The devices are impressive, especially the Kinect, but the games aren't there. People who thought the technology was cool bought the systems during the initial launch and then the sales fell off a cliff. There just aren't any games that would get the hard core gamer to buy the equipment. And since there are no gamers, the developers can't afford to develop games. At the end of the day, Microsoft and Sony jumped into the game too late as the casual gamer has moved onto something else.

Welcome to the App Store

And where have those casual gamers gone? To their phones. There was a huge explosion of games for all of the Apple Iphones and Droid devices that have got those casual gamers flocking to. With wildly successful titles like Angry Birds, Bejeweled, and Plants vs Zombies, the wireless video game industry has arrived. Now casual gamers are simply turning on their phones and playing a game for a few minutes at a time. They don't need to spend hundreds of dollars on a system and then $60 a pop for a game. They can simply download a game in a minute which will entertain them for a few hours for .99c.

This wave has taken over the industry and has been a place where the independent developer can really shine. It doesn't cost much to create a game and a good game can make you millions. Something as simple as Angry Birds can be one of your most enjoyable gaming experiences of the year. It certainly was for me.

And this industry is just in its infancy. The possibilities are endless. Games are just starting to sync up with Facebook so you can casually play with your friends. It's truly a huge growth area for 2011.

Overall, 2010 gave us some great games and while some areas of the industry are taking off others are cruising right along. There were more people playing video games in 2010 then in any other year ever. I can only hope the industry and people in it really take another step forward in 2011.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year-old Gamer

You're Simply The Best! - Review of Mass Effect 2

2010-12-21T11:09:00.000-05:00

The first Mass Effect was released a couple years ago at the exact same time as the first Assassin's Creed. I was lucky enough to receive both of them for the holidays and so I had the very difficult decision of choosing which one to play first. So I decided to play Assassin's Creed while the 30YO Roommate played Mass Effect. In the original Mass Effect, you had several choices throughout the game to do a heroic action or to be a bad guy. The story for the most part played out the same way. My roommate played the hero in his playthrough of the game so when it was my turn to play I decided to be the biggest asshole in the universe. It was hysterical. At least until Mass Effect 2 was released earlier this year.

For the first time ever the sequel to a video game remembered all of the individual actions you chose in the first game and carried those actions into the sequel. So if you killed a character off in the first game, they would still be dead in the second. So guess who was remembered for being the universe's biggest asshole? That's right, The 30 Year-old Gamer.

Well, I'm happy to report that by the end of Mass Effect 2, I had successfully changed my image back to the true hero that I really am, saved the universe once again, and had one of the most memorable video game experiences in a long time. Simply put, Mass Effect 2 was the best video game of the year.

You play as Commander Shepard, and the impending doom of the entire universe is once again your responsibility to avoid. To do this you must recruit a team of the baddest, smartest, strongest mercenaries in the galaxy for a suicide mission to the other end of the galaxy. The game plays like a great episodic show on TV. Each mission takes about an hour to an hour and a half to complete. There's a mission to recruit each member and another loyalty mission for each member to become loyal to you. This is important later.

Once you feel it's time for the suicide mission, off you go. But be warned, if your team is not fully prepared, or if you made some bad decisions along the way, not all of your team will survive the mission. I've talked to many people who have played this game and everyone of us has a different experience. Some people of my crew who died, lived in their story and vice-versa making the story of Mass Effect truly unique to everyone who plays it.

Each mission is action packed and the voice over work is the best I've ever seen. The graphics are stunningly beautiful as you fly across the galaxy from industrial planets to rural planets. The universe that the developers have created feels real and massive. And finally, the story is just captivating. I simply did not want this game to end.

You don't need to play the first Mass Effect to play the sequel, but I don't know why you wouldn't want to. If the promised third Mass Effect is anywhere near as good as the first two games have been then we will be talking about this trilogy for decades to come. Mass Effect 2, you are simply the best.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year-old Gamer

The Old Arcade, Blew Every Dollar We Ever Made

2010-12-16T23:21:00.000-05:00

One of the harsh realities of growing older is that some of the things you remember so fondly when you were younger may not be as great as you remember. Some things just don't age well. For example, have you ever seen an episode of the original GI Joe cartoon recently? Man is that animation choppy and the plot is just stupid and physics just don't exist. Someone can fire a missile at an airplane sitting on the ground and the pilot has enough time to open the canopy, climb out of the airplane, and run to a safe distance before the plane explodes. Riiiiight. Unfortunately, the same concept holds true for video games. I found out this harsh reality recently when I downloaded X-Men: The Arcade Game on Xbox Live.

To say that this game was my favorite arcade game is an understatement. When I was a teenager my best friend and I would pour over $20 in quarters into this game and play it until we beat it every single summer. It was the video game that got me into comic books and I've been an X-Men fan ever since. Arcades have basically disappeared and this game disappeared along with them. I literally haven't played this game in over 15 years. That is until, it was finally released this week on Xbox Live.

The game is simple enough. You play as one of six X-Men characters and you have to battle the forces of Magneto through various levels beating up an army of bad guys and various boss villains until you defeat Magneto himself and save the day. The cool part of the arcade game was that you could play along side 5 other people at once. The game was huge and was the original widescreen game. They pulled off the widescreen the old school way of putting two tv screens beside each other.

In the 15 years since I played this game, my fondness of it grew and grew. I remember thinking this game was an epic adventure that took dedication to finish. It was the game of ultimate teamwork where you played along side 5 strangers and only together could you defeat Magneto. I thought it was a genre defining video game and couldn't figure out why they never released it to a console before today.

Then I downloaded the game...

My first sign of concern was during the download process. I downloaded a pinball game earlier this week and it took over 300 megs of memory. X-Men took only 42 megs. Uh oh.

The graphics couldn't look worse. Every character looks like they had too much fiber for breakfast. And the story doesn't make any sense. In today's comic books, Magneto and Prof X have buried the hatchet and are best friends. The White Queen (Magneto's woman in the game) is now sleeping with Cyclops and is the X-Men's #2 in command. And half of the other bad guys died in the comics over 5 years ago. So why are we all fighting again?

Oh and this epic game of teamwork couldn't be more repetitive. Press the X button to attack, repeat. That's the game. It gets pretty old very quickly. And speaking of quickly, this epic adventure of dedication was beaten this afternoon in 27 minutes.

It was a nice walk down memory lane, but sometimes some things should stay fond memories. I'll probably go back and play it again and just laugh at how silly the whole game has become. Just because I was brought up in the old school, doesn't mean I don't appreciate how good the new school is. I truly believe that we are in the golden age of video games and I challenge anyone to tell me that the games that they played 10 years ago are any way better than the ones out now. Its ok to appreciate the memories of the old games, but lets play the new games instead and leave the old games in the past.

Until next time,

-The 30 Year-old Gamer

Blinded By the Light - Review of Alan Wake

2010-12-15T16:03:00.001-05:00

Everyone has heard of the game Red Dead Redemption. It's basically Grand Theft Auto on horses in the Wild West. The game sold huge numbers the week it was released. Which is why for the life of me I don't understand why the good people at Remedy decided to release their game Alan Wake on the exact same day. That week I walked into a Gamestop looking to buy a game and was torn between which of the two to buy. The teenage kid working behind the counter was giving me this hard sell or Red Dead, at which point he said something like, "I'm sure who ever your are buying this game for will love Red Dead Redemption." At which point I looked right at him and said, "In that case, I'll get a copy of Alan Wake." What a great decision, because Alan Wake is simply one of the best games of the year that no one is talking about.

Alan Wake is the story of a writer named (you guessed it) Alan Wake, who goes on a vacation with his wife Alice to the town of Bright Falls located in the Pacific Northwest. Think the town of Twin Peaks crossed with the town from Twilight. It's cold and dreary and everyone in the town is really nice but all very odd. Shortly after arriving at your rented lake house, Alice goes missing and Alan blacks out. When he wakes up, he's in the middle of the forest at night with the only his flashlight and gun to protect him. Here's where things get all higgledy piggledy. Alan gets attacked by all kinds of locals who are possessed by some kind of darkness and the only way to kill them is to shine the flashlight on them until the darkness disappears and then shoot them dead.

The story is absolutely great. It's engaging and you truely want to know what is going on in this town and what happend to Alice. The atmosphere is awesome. The use of shadows in this game are amazing. Light is your only safe haven and you find yourself frantically looking for it at all times. The idea of using batteries for your flashlight like ammo for a gun is ingenius. When you are running through the woods and the flashlight starts to flicker out because your battery is dying, you start to feel real terror.

Now I'm past the point of gory things scaring me. I don't get scared by the Resident Evil games or anything like that. But this game, with it's use of darkness, had me on the edge of my seat and jumpy the entire time playing it. One time, in the middle of the night, I'm playing Alan Wake and The 30YO Wife sneaks up behind me and says hello at which point I screamed which made her scream which made me scream louder. That's the sign of an engrossing game.

Overall, I had a lot of fun with Alan Wake and beat the game in about 10 hours. There's two extra downloadable contents that are about an hour each, so overall your adventure with Alan is about 10-12 hours. The game ends with a cliffhanger leading us into a sequel. My only concern is because these guys got killed at retail by Red Dead Redemption, I'm not sure if a sequel will be greenlit. I certainly hope it does because Alan Wake was a great example of great story telling and engrossing game play. If you are looking for an intense thriller for a video game, look no further.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year-old Gamer

The Return of The 30 Year-Old Gamer

2010-12-14T15:31:00.000-05:00

It's March of 2010 and The 30 Year-old Gamer is living in a one bedroom apartment with his Fiancee, The 30YO Fiancee, in Hoboken New Jersey. We are two months away from from our wedding day and everything is going great. I'm sitting in my "man cave" which can best be described as a "man corner" because our apartment is so small. I'm playing online when a kid sees my gamertag and asks, "Hey 30YoGamer, what are you going to do when you get older? Are you going to change your gamertag or will you always be The30YoGamer?" I thought about it for a second when I replied, "No, I will always be The 30 Year-old Gamer."

It's now December and as I look back at the past ten months a lot of things have changed. For starters, The 30YO Fiancee is now The 30YO Wife. We no longer live in a one bedroom apartment in Hoboken. We bought a townhouse in Morristown New Jersey. My "Man Cave" has been disassembled, but is in the process of being rebuilt bigger and better than ever. My Blog was put on hold, because, well I simply just didn't have any time to get to it. But as I turn toward the New Year and look toward the future, I will get back into my blog and talk more about video games and the things I notice.

Because even though my life has had some major changes this past year, there are some constants that haven't changed. I'm still playing games whenever I can. I still think that video games are for everyone, hardcore and casual gamers alike. And I still believe that I can provide a unique perspective, the thoughts of a 30 Year-old Gamer.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year-old Gamer

Too Many Good Games

2010-02-09T12:06:00.008-05:00

I never thought I would complain about this. In fact, don't even call it a complaint. Call it a very good frustration. But seriously, aren't there just way too many good games out there right now?

This past weekend I had some time to play some games and I sat down in my "Man Cave" and looked at the pile of games I had to choose from to play and seriously had no idea what game to play. Going into the holidays I was playing and finished

* Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2

* Halo 3 ODST

* Batman Arkham Asylum

I'll give you my reviews on two of those games in upcoming blogs. Right after the holidays I played and finished (because it's seriously very short) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. So that just leaves for me to play:

* Assassin's Creed 2

* Left 4 Dead 2

* Fallout 3

* Dragon Age Origins

That's 4 games that I want to play and beat, but don't have time to. And it doesn't even take into consideration that I still want to play COD multiplayer and am in the middle of my second season of NHL 09.

A very good friend of mine has been raving about Mass Effect 2 and how I absolutely have to pick that game up. I figured I would have some time maybe this summer after I get through these games, but oh no. Also on the horizon of games to be released that I want to play include Red Dead Revolver and Final Fantasy 13.

I'll tell you all about my reviews on these games but here's a hint, they are all good. I mean holy crap. I could lose my entire social life playing all of these games and am not too sure if I would regret it.

We truly are in a golden age of video games. I love it. Not sure how my fiancee feels about it though.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year-old Gamer

Avengers Assemble!

2009-12-08T11:12:00.004-05:00

The past couple of months have been tough on my gaming career. Getting married and all of the extracurricular activities associated with it have taken a major chunk out of my free time. As we speak there are a pile of video games at home that I'm partially the way through and would love to finish if I could just find the time. I guess that's the major challenge of a 30 Year-old Gamer, finding the time to play. You have to prioritze your games and the one game out of all of them that I put ahead of the rest was Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2.I picked up a copy of MUA2 (as I'll call it for short) back in September and although it's a relatively short game it took me to November to finish it. The game is set in the Marvel universe and consists of all of the major Marvel characters that you are well familiar with thanks to the movies, such as Wolverine, Iron Man, Spiderman, the Fantastic Four, etc. If you read the comics (which I admittedly do regularly), then you will be familiar with the story line. The Marvel heroes have been messing up lately. In the process of defeating the bad guys, they've caused a lot of collateral damage. In one major incident a few hundred people died which caused the US Government to create the Superhero Registration Act. It forces all superheros to register with the government and give up their secret identities, if they don't they become outlaws. This causes a split right down the middle between heroes for the act and those against it. This causes a Civil War between the forces of Iron Man (Pro-act) and Captian America (Anti-act).

I love this story and the game does a great job following along with the story. You actually get to choose if you are going to side with Iron Man or Captain America, and your choices have a huge affect on the outcome of the game. Potential allies will become enemies and missions will change considerably. In this regard the game is a lot of fun.

MUA2 isn't without it's flaws however. If you've played the original Marvel Ultimate Alliance from a couple years ago you are going to have a major feeling of deja vu. It's basically the same game. If I was in another room and told a friend to put either game in my Xbox and go to a random stage, I would have a hard time figuring out which game I was playing. It seems like this could be a straight copy and paste from the prior version. Also, the game is repetitive. You are going to be doing the same thing over and over for 6-8 hours. It's a good thing what you are doing is a lot of fun, or the repetitiveness would be brutal.

Finally, every character from the Marvel universe is in this game. I read a Marvel comic every night and I've never even heard of half of these characters, nevermind know their backstory. At times it feels like you need a PHD in Marvel history to get all of the nuances of this game.

Despite all of that, the game is a lot of fun and it's family friendly. You can let your little 30yo Gamers out there play the game without any worries. It's about as violent as Lego Star Wars. You can team up with multiple people and cooperative destroy bad guys. It's a lot of fun.

Overall, I enjoyed playing MUA2 a lot and will probably play through it again making different choices. That is if I can find the time after the next 4 games I have to play.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year-old Gamer

I Ain't Afraid of No Ghost

2009-09-30T11:16:00.003-04:00

This past summer was the slowest summer of gaming that I can remember. It was brutal. Absolutely nothing came out that was worth playing. I haven't posted anything to the blog, because frankly there was nothing to talk about. There was however one game that I took a chance on, and I really enjoyed it, Ghostbusters: The Video Game.

Ghostbusters didn't receive a lot of press. It was released, and people generally liked it, and then no one talked about it ever again. I played Ghostbusters for about 4 - 6 weeks. I didn't play it relentlessly. It was just a casual gaming experience and it was great.

You play as the 5th Ghostbuster. You are a rookie and your job is to use the new experimental equipment that Ray and Egon have invented. Right when you join the team, the whole city goes to hell. Apparently the worshipers of Gozer are back and they brought reinforcements. You spend the game fighting ghosts along side the original team and revisit all of the famous movie landmarks, like the Sedwick Hotel, and fight some of the famous movie ghosts, such as Slimer and the Stay Puff Marshmellow Man.

Overall, the game is great fun. What really adds to the fun of the game is the writing and the voice acting. All of the major movie stars from the original are back to lend their voices to the game. Bill Murray is classically brilliant as is Harold Ramis as Egon. At one point in the game you are travelling through a hell version of Central Park where Winston says, "This isn't like any Central Park I remember." And Egon comes right back and says, "What? You still have your wallet?" Classic. These lines were used throughout the game.

The gameplay is nothing you haven't seen before. It's a classic run and gun type game from the Gears of War / Resident Evil genre. It starts to get a little repetitive and during the more intense scenes is a little crazy. When you have 5 people firing proton packs at a dozen ghosts flying around the screen, it's a little hard to not "cross the streams". The boss fights are kinda cool, but it's a little cheesy when the bosses have big glowing "hit me here" spots on their bodies.

Overall, the game was a lot of fun and was a great way to pass the time through a very boring summer. I'm sure the game will get lost during the holidays with all of the other new releases, which is sad, because it was a good fun game. And at the end of the day, that's all we really want out of our games.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year-old Gamer

What a Slow Summer of Gaming

2009-07-17T11:16:00.004-04:00

Wow has it been a slow summer of gaming. Here we are in the middle of July and there is nothing really to talk about. There are no new games out there and it doesn't look like anything interesting is going to be released for at least another month. So here are just some quick notes about some things that are going on in the industry.

Bioshock 2 Delayed Until 2010

It was announced earlier this week, that the sequel to one of the best video games I've played in the past 5 years has been delayed. Bioshock was a huge hit two years ago for the Xbox and the much anticipated sequel was originally scheduled to be released this holiday season. Apparently due to quality issues, they have decided to delay the game until the 1st half of 2010.

I personally think this is a good thing. There will be plenty of game to play this holiday season and this fantastic game could get lost in the mix. And it would be very disappointing if they released this game and it was buggy and sucked. What a let down that would be considering how fantastic the first game was. If it means that they need another 6 months to get the game right, I can wait. I think more publishers should care more about the quality of their games and do this. Besides the first Bioshock was released during the spring and it did fantastically well. There is no reason this game can't do the same.

Marvel vs Capcom 2 to be Released July 28th

I don't usually play Xbox Arcade games. They are usually throw back games and when I do play them, I realize how dated the games are and after 20 minutes I usually don't play the game ever again. That won't be the case with Marvel vs Capcom 2. This was an arcade game that I played til my fingers hurt in college. It pit the best Marvel characters vs the best Capcom characters from their games. You wanna know who would win in a fight between Iron Man and Mega Man? Now you can find out.

This game will get an update in graphics and controls and be released for the Xbox Live Arcade on July 28th. I can't wait. I'll be there the day of with my arcade fighting stick and taking Ryu apart with Wolverine. It's going to be awesome!

My Nintendo Wii is a Paperweight

What seemed to be just a no-brainer when I first bought the system, the Nintendo Wii has done nothing but disappoint. Have they even released a game in the past 6 months? My Nintendo Wii sits there underneath my TV begging for me to play with it. But every time I get an hour or two to play games, I always turn on my Xbox. This is very disappointing, because the Nintendo Wii had so much potential. But I feel that the games are just not that deep and get boring after 30 minutes of playing. Maybe my feeling will change as I fight through the dog days of summer, but right now, my Nintendo Wii is a lonely lonely system.

Those are just some of the things going on right now. Have a great weekend and I'll see you next week.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year-old Gamer

Everybody Was Kung Fu (Street) Fighting!

2009-06-23T16:04:00.004-04:00

For those of you around my age, I don't have to tell you how much of a phenomenon Street Fighter 2 was for the arcade. It was simply the last hurrah of the now defunct video game arcade. Back in the mid-90's, Capcom released a game that was so simple to play, but hard to master, that it was incredibly addicting young teenage gamers around the nation. Every arcade or mall had one and for each game there was always that one kid who was awesome at it. Kids would line up for their chance to beat him. I was not that kid. I was the kid who waited 25 minutes to put two quarters in the machine just so "Street Fighter Scotty" could embarrass me in front of everyone. The game was simple. You would choose a fighter and then fight against one other fighter. If you beat the fighter you would move onto the next round and play a harder fighter. After 8 rounds, you fought the big boss and then you beat the game. Controls were easy. There were three buttons for punch, and another three buttons for kick (light, medium, and strong). Each character had different moves and a different combination of the buttons would make each character perform a different move. Here's the rub though. Anyone in the arcade could walk up to the machine and challenge you by putting in 50 cents. If they beat you, you were bounced from the machine and the winner would take over your progress in the game. The game became so popular, the actual single player game never finished. It was just a line of challengers.

It's been over ten years since those glory days, but last month Capcom brought them all back with the release of Street Fighter 4 for Xbox and PS3.

This game is a great advancement for the series. And while the basics remain the same, the game is much deeper. For starters, each character now has "Special" and "Ultra" attacks. These are meters that fill up at the bottom of the screen throughout the fight. If you fill your meter and can hit your opponent with one of these attacks, look out. That guy is screwed. The graphics have the full high-def treatment which make the game look outstanding.

What really makes this game standout is the online features. You can completely recreate that old arcade feeling by opening up your game to challengers. You just start your game like you normally would and then randomly "A New Challenger has Entered the Arena". Your game stops as a random player from Xbox Live now challenges your game, just like the old days. Awesome!!!

There is one major drawback to this game and I have to mention it. If you want to play this game somewhat seriously, you need to buy a new controller. The game was originally designed to be played in an arcade. That means an arcade stick with 6 buttons. Some of the major moves require you to hit three buttons at the same time. While that's easy as pie in an arcade, you practically have to break your thumb to do it with the Xbox controller. These arcade fighting sticks are $60 extra on the cheap end and as much as $140 if you want a professional stick that they use in tournaments. So that means this game could cost anywhere between $120 to $200 to get the full experience from. I'm not sure about you, but that's a lot of dough to drop on a single game regardless of how good it is.

I ended up buying the lower end arcade stick and I love it. Maybe I'm just a sucker for a good video game. Perhaps I just wanted to recapture some of my youth. Or perhaps I just wanted to kick the crap out of complete strangers on line like Street Fighter Scotty used to kick the crap out of me over 10 years ago. Either way, I can see this game staying in my active rotation for a long time to come.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year-old Gamer

I Chose The Wrong Game

2009-06-10T13:53:00.003-04:00

I've always enjoyed Christmas. And I think that getting presents for me is a pretty easy deal. I usually give everyone a suggested list of the games that I'm interested in and they go out and get them. Last Christmas, there were a lot of video games on the market that I was interested in and I couldn't give the entire list to everyone, so I had to eliminate a few. In particular, there were two role playing games that seemed very similar, Fable 2 and Fallout 3. I had to choose one over the other. I had heard some pretty good things about both games and so I made a tough decision. Unfortunately, I chose the wrong game. I chose Fable 2.Now don't get me wrong. Fable 2 is not a bad game. I just don't like it. It's a simple as that. I could give you many specific reasons and break down the graphics, the game play, etc. But at the end of the day, I found this game incredibly boring.

Here's a quick background on the game. You play as a small boy (or girl) in this medieval land. You get called up to the castle and meet the prince where he unexpected murders your sister and tries to murder you. You escape but it takes like 10 years to recover from your wounds. Now you are set free on a path of revenge and redemption. You go out into the land and are faced with choices on your quest where you can be either good or bad. Depending on your decision, your appearance will change as will the environment around you.

Now I like video games and I try to give every game I own every chance to win my affections. Fable 2 I gave two chances, there won't be a third. In both chances I came across the same problem. The story forces you to stop playing the storyline and forces you to do other things in the world. It will say things like "you aren't renown enough to continue." Basically, you have to do more side quests to become more famous before some priest will entrust you to continue on with the main story line.

Here lies the problem. I don't want to do the side quests. They are stupid and a waste of time. And you don't know where the side quests take place. So you have to roam through the open land following some yellow trail like Dorothy fighting off birds, beetles, robbers, and every thing else in the land to play the stupid quest. Two weeks ago, I had a little time before dinner to play the game. When I sat down, the 30 Year-old Fiancee asked me how the game was. With my head in my hands, "I played for over an hour and I've done nothing. I'm literally nowhere farther in this game than I was 90 minutes ago."

That, to put it bluntly, sucks. This game is trying to be bigger than it is. It tries to show you that this world is full of life. You can get a job as a blacksmith to earn money. Or you can get married, buy a house, and have some kids. But who cares? If none of that gets you any closer to revenging your sister's death, why do it. What a waste of time. And those "moral decisions" that the game markets? Pointless as well. It doesn't matter if you slaughter half a village in cold blood. The moment you make a joke in public the remaining villagers forget what you've done and think you're a swell guy.

No, I'm done with this game. I don't have much time to play video games in my life, and I'm not wasting another minute of that time doing nothing within the land of Fable 2. This game was awarded "Game of the Year". In my opinion, it was the most disappointing game to see my Xbox console in 2 years.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year-old Gamer

The Return of E3

2009-06-05T12:02:00.004-04:00

Well folks, this is a very exciting week in the world of gaming. It's the week where all the major players in the gaming industry meet the press and the gamers. They introduce and show off all of the new toys and games that we will be killing each other for this holiday season. They show us the stuff that is almost done and the stuff that is just in development and still a year or so away. It's a time where we can all get together to celebrate everything that is gaming. It's the week of the Electronic Entertainment Expo. It's E3!

E3 started on Monday with the big keynote speech from Microsoft. Then on Tuesday it was Nintendo and Sony's turn. There are also presentations from the big game developers such as Electronic Arts. Then it's time to hit the floor to check out all of the booths and play a level or two from some of the games that won't be released for months to come. I've been following along all week long and I have one word to describe this year's E3...."yawn".

I'll get into what the big announcements were from the different companies in a bit, but first let me touch upon something I mentioned a few months back...the recession. I felt that this was going to be a bad year for gaming. Discretionary income is way down, and that means so is discretionary spending. The cost of creating a video game is astronomical and game developers aren't going to spend that kind of money this year on a game that doesn't have an installed fanbase already. So that means we are going to see more sequels than ever before. And sure enough, that's what the big announcements were for this year.

Microsoft

Microsoft's big announcement was the development of a new kind of controller where you can play with your arms and use the motion of your arms to control the character's on the screen. Sound familiar? It should, because it's a blatant rip off of the Nintendo Wiimote. Sure Microsoft says theirs takes that technology to another level by introducing a camera that will recognize you and your actions. But seriously, this won't be released for at least 12-18 months, so really who cares?

As for games that Microsoft will be rolling out this holiday season. They announced sequels to some very successful games including Left 4 Dead 2, Mass Effect 2, and Assassin's Creed 2. All three were great games and I'm sure the sequels will be good as well, but there's really nothing new here. On the shooter side of life, they introduced Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Halo 3: ODST, which is Halo 3: the sequel. All of which will be good, but again, nothing new. It's a safe secure holiday for Microsoft.

Nintendo

Nintendo is really going to push their Wii Fit franchise this year with Wii Fit Plus. They really think they have something here and are going to really push some programming for it as well. It could be pretty successful, but again, the Wii Fit was introduced last year, so nothing new.

Mario is back. They introduced a new Mario game with Co-op gameplay. It looks like a basic Mario game, and I'm sure it will sell like hotcakes.

They also introduced a new advanced Wii Motion Plus, which when attached to the Wii-mote makes it more sensitive to your actions. So when you play Tiger Woods Golf, it really takes into account every mistake in your swing. Sounds pretty cool, but we'll see if it makes games to hard. Sometimes forgiving gameplay is ok. I'm pretty sure that I can't beat Tiger Woods in real life, so there's no need to make me face that humiliation in my living room.

Sony

Sony is still playing catch up. And guess what they introduced? Yup, it's a Wii-mote like device that will "revolutionize" gameplay. Again, like Microsoft, this is a blatant rip-off of the Wii-mote and is at least 12-18 months away from release, so who cares?

To Sony's credit however, they have introduced some original gaming with the game Heavy Rain. The game looks beautiful and has a very artsy "Blade Runner" look to it. I think it could be one hell of a good game, and I hope it gets the commercial success it deserves. Otherwise it's just going to me more sequels with higher and higher numbers at the end of the titles.

Overall

Overall, I'm happy that the gaming industry is moving forward and fighting the recessions with everything it can. I really liked some of the original games these sequels are based on, so I'm happy to sit down and have another Assassin's Creed adventure. I just hope that this isn't a long-term trend. Without new "real" innovation and new games with new themes, the gaming industry will hurt itself more than any recession ever could.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year-old Gamer

Everybody Was IPhone Gaming!

2009-05-27T11:45:00.007-04:00

About a year ago, I wrote a blog about how I thought if done correctly the IPhone could become the killer of the PSP. Well here we are about a year later and that has truly come full circle. As I write this blog, millions of people are currently downloading all kinds of games from ITunes to play on their IPhone and IPod Touch. Games generally cost anywhere between Free and $10, and here is the real secret...they're good!

Apple has done mobile gaming right. Each game is relatively easy to play, and all can be played in very short periods of time. This is key. For the most part when you are playing games on the go, you really have less than 15 minutes of where you can play the game. Maybe you are on the subway or you are waiting in line somewhere and you want to kill time. You can't pull out your PSP and start getting into a very involved stage of something. It will take you 5 minutes alone just to get to the start screen. With the Iphone, you're gaming in seconds.

The biggest problem with the PSP was what I described last year. There is no way to play your PSP without making it look completely obvious that you are playing your PSP. Last year I carried my PSP around with me for two weeks trying to find opportunities to play it. Say I'm out at a restaurant with the 30 Year-old Fiancee, and she steps away to go to the bathroom, I can't pull out my PSP and start playing a game of Madden. She would be furious. She's understanding when it comes to my gaming, but that's pushing it. However now, I can pull out my Iphone and start playing Tiger Woods Golf, and it looks to everyone in the restaurant that I'm texting someone. This is completely socially acceptable. No one has any idea that I'm on hole 17 at Pebble Beach putting for par. Awesome!

It didn't take too long before I figured out the greatness of this and started playing games like a madman. I've got Monopoly, Tiger Woods Golf, Metal Gear Solid, and the Price is Right. True story...a few weeks back I'm in Washington DC with a buddy of mine and we're having a few beers before we have to meet his parents for dinner. I slide over to him my phone and he starts playing the Price is Right. He's loving the game. Gets to spin the wheel and makes it to the showcase showdown. Needless to say we ended up running late to dinner. The cost of that game was half of the cost of one pint of beer.

Apple is really onto something here and the more 3rd party developers get on board the greater it's going to be. This fall Iphone Madden comes out. I can't wait to take my Patriots to the Superbowl...all while sitting at my desk at work.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year-old Gamer

Delightfully Evil

2009-05-20T14:44:00.004-04:00

The 30 Year-old Girlfriend who has recently become The 30 Year-old Fiancee and who will soon become The 30 Year-old Wife is excellent indeed. She knows that I'm a geek. I don't even hide it. She thinks it's cute and embraces it. About a month ago she comes home from work with a surprise for me. It came in a nice small Gamestop bag and she simply said, "I hope you like it." I was pleasantly surprised when I opened it to see a new copy of Resident Evil 5. This past Saturday, I stayed up to 3am and finally beat the game saving the world again from the evil Umbrella Corporation. Today, I can confidently say to you and The 30 Year-old Fiancee that no only did I like it, I loved it.

Here's a very quick background on the story of this game. There is a viral weapon that turns normal people into Zombie like monsters which is going to be sold to terrorists. You play a steroided up Arnold Swartz...er...Chris Redfield who is charged with stopping this from happening. You team up with local partner Sheva and the two of you go off shooting Zombies in the face and stop the evil corporation behind this from destroying all of humanity while finding your humanity in the process.

If it sounds like a stupid summer Hollywood blockbuster, it's because it is. If they made this into a movie instead and released it in June, it would be directed by Michael Bay and make $70 million the first weekend. The story is definitely interesting enough with plenty of twists to keep you engaged throughout the game. And by the time you fight the final bad guy, you just can't wait to kick his ass. When I finally beat him at 3am this past Saturday I happily stood up in my living room and gave him the double middle-finger salute.

If you've read reviews of this game on line, people really picked this game apart. Let me address those issues briefly. First, the inventory system is frustrating but you get used to it. You and your partner get 9 slots each to carry items. If you carry two guns, ammo for the two guns, an armor vest, and two health items, then you only have one spot left. Not good. In the second half of the game, items are everywhere and you just walk right past them, because as nice as it would be to have a rocket launcher, I would rather have ammo for my shotgun.

Second, your partner Sheva is an idiot. She can't be trusted with anything that is scarce (like health) because she'll use it. Again, this is a bigger issue in the beginning of the game than the end. You will walk into a courtyard and she'll see a guy 300 yards away and she'll start opening fire with her handgun. The guy will be no threat to us but that won't stop her from using all of her ammo to prove a point. And if you give her any health at all, she'll use it on you the moment you stub your toe. You get punched in the face once and she comes running over and sprays you in the face like an overly protective mother. Thanks, but how about I hold on to these from now on.

Despite those flaws, the game is a lot of fun to play. You don't need to know anything about the other 4 games in the series to play this one. The story is completely self contained. If you are interested in the back story, they tell it to you in the form of a timeline, but it's not important. The game is touted as this horror masterpiece, but it was never scary. Sure it was gory at times, but never scary. It was summer action popcorn flick.

If you've played Gears of War 2 or Army of Two, then you've got a feel for this game. Scenes in this game seem straight out of Gears of War 2 including a boss fight against a gigantic squid like monster that can only be hurt by using an orbital laser which is conveniently left behind for you to use. If you like those games, then give Resident Evil a try.

There doesn't seem to be many games coming out this summer, so if you missed this in your travels, pick it up and give it try. Or if you are lucky like me, you can have someone give it to you as a gift.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year-old Gamer

Now This Looks Promising

2009-05-14T15:54:00.002-04:00

You have to give Xbox a little credit when it comes to one thing, and that's their online gaming. Almost every game that you buy today has some sort of multiplayer component of the game. In fact, a lot of gamers will buy a game because of it's multiplayer than it's solo game. Take the game Left 4 Dead for example. This game is played with 4 people working together to survive the zombie apocalypse. Now while you can play this game with three computer partners, they don't quite react the same way as a live person when your screaming for help because some huge monster is ripping your nipples off.

Over the past few years, Microsoft has done a great job at perfecting the online experience and while I'll be the first to admit that there is still a long way to go, I think they are making great strides. And one shining example of this, is a game that they are bringing to Xbox Live Arcade later this summer, 1 vs 100.

If you've never seen the live game show here's a quick summary of how the game is played. There is one person who is the main contestant and they have to answer trivia questions. The more they answer correctly, the more money they earn. There is also 100 other people, known as The Mob, who are also answering the questions. The members of The Mob that get the question wrong are eliminated. The contestant can quit at any time and walk with the money they have, or they can go up against The Mob. If the contestant answers a question wrong, then the remaining members of The Mob split the money and the contestant gets nothing.

Later this summer, this game show will be played live via Xbox Live. Gamers can sign up at a scheduled time and play the show for real prizes. You can be either "The One" or "The Mob". You use your Xbox Live Avatar to represent yourself and you can win Xbox Live Microsoft Points or even video games.

I for one am a huge trivia nut and this is right up my alley. I posted the trailer of the game on the left and if the game is half as good as the trailer, then this will be a huge success. I know I'm looking forward to it and hope this is just the beginning of games like this. It's a great way to help unite the Xbox Live community and something that the Nintendo Wii will never have.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year-old Gamer

The Best Sports Game I've Ever Played

2009-05-05T15:48:00.007-04:00

For all two of you who are still reading this blog, welcome back. If you are wondering where I've been, the answer is simple. I've been on the ice of the Boston Garden for the past 4 months. Let me explain.

Over the holidays I was given a nice gift card to Best Buy, where on a whim I picked up a copy of NHL 09. I know there aren't a lot of hockey fans out there, but I"m one of them. And let me tell you, this game is the best sports game I've ever played.

Let's start with the basics. The graphics are great, the game play is innovative, easy to learn and hard to master. Basically, everything you would expect from a top quality sports game is here, but it goes way beyond that.

They have a game mode called "Be a Pro" mode. I started in this mode by creating myself as a left winger and joining the Bruins organization. They start by putting me as a rookie in the Providence Bruins on their 3rd line. When you play in this mode, you can only play as yourself. You can't change players and when your shift on the ice is over, then you sit (not playing the game) waiting for your turn again. It's a very compelling way to play hockey, and you learn a lot about how to play the game when you don't have the puck. Hint, positioning is key.

I start playing on the P-Bruins struggling at first, but then finding some success. I work my way up to their 1st scoring line and about 33 games into the season I get the call up to the Boston Bruins. My first game with the Bruins is at home against the rival Montreal Canadians where half way through the third period I score the winning goal. (by the way, scoring is really hard so this is a big deal) I have so much fun playing through the season helping the Bruins make their way up the standings that before I know it, i've played 82 games and the playoffs are here.

In the opening round, I get the Atlanta Thrashers. They jump out to a quick 2-1 series lead before I come roaring back and win the series 4-2. In the 2nd round I play the rival Montreal Canadians again. This series isn't nearly as close and I beat them 4 games to 1. Then it's off to the Eastern Conference finals against the Pittsburg Penguins, and boy are they good. Three of our games go to overtime and the phenom Sidney Crosby is just unstoppable. He scores 7 goals in the series and I painfully get eliminated 4-2 by the eventual Stanley Cup Champs, Pittsburg Penguins.

At the end of the last game, after I punched the couch for 15 minutes, I walked to the local bar and had a couple beers to one hell of a great season. I personally can't believe how into this game I got. I would drive home at night from work looking forward to playing whoever my match up was that night. I would travel home to Boston and watch a Bruins game on TV and tell my brother, "Oh, I easily beat these guys 4-1 when I played them last week."

I tip my hat to Electronic Arts. This is the best sports game I've ever played and is probably on my top 5 games of all time. It's a must play for any sports fan, whether you like hockey or not. The game is just that awesome.

Now it's time to look to the offseason to see if the Bruins will offer me a 2 year $3 million deal.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year-old Gamer

Red Ring of Death...again

2009-02-25T14:01:00.003-05:00

This image is the single scariest sight for all gamers today. It is a picture of the Xbox 360 power button and yes, it is not supposed to look like that. When you see this appear on the front of your Xbox, it means a critical error has occurred and your video game system has just turned into a very expensive paperweight. It is more commonly known as the "Red Ring of Death" and last week ago was the third time I've experienced it.As I currently write this blog, I'm patiently waiting for my fourth Xbox to be sent to me from Microsoft. My first three all found the same fate, the Red Ring of Death. If you think this sounds ridiculous, it's because it is. My Xbox broke because I had the sheer audacity to use it. Microsoft should be ashamed, because they could have prevented it.

This all started three years ago. The Xbox 360 was released a full year before it's competitors, PS3 and Wii. In Microsoft's rush to production they obviously made some major mistakes in the design of the Xbox 360, specifically in regards to cooling the system down. Inside the Xbox is a very critical chip that needs to remain cool at all times. Any any owner of the 360 will tell you that keeping an Xbox cool is easier said than done. And sure enough, after a long enough time that critical chip will overheat and just stop working. When that happens you will see the image above.

Now Microsoft quickly realized this problem and could have called for a complete recall. But in the high profile, highly competitive market of video games this could have killed the system. So they decided to extend the warranty of the product for this issue throughout the life of the system. So if, and more like when, this happens to your Xbox, all you have to do is call Xbox customer service and they will provide you with a UPS shipping label. Go to your local Mail Boxes Etc or UPS Store and send your piece of junk to Microsoft and they will take care of the rest. Last week when I went to the UPS store the guy behind the counter laughed and said, "Oh yeah, we get like three of these a week." Nice Microsoft. Nice.

So far, everyone that I know who has a Xbox 360 has had this error happen to them at one point or another. That includes my little 12 year old nephew. It's heart breaking to look at him in the eye and tell him that his most prize possession is broken and he won't be able to play it again for another 4-6 weeks.

In a week or so, I'll receive my Xbox and I'll be back shooting zombies in the face or scoring overtime goals for the Boston Bruins and I'll long forget about this heartache. In the meantime I'll be reuniting with my Nintendo Wii so in the grand scheme of things there are bigger crimes. But shame on you Microsoft for such shoddy workmanship. It's no wonder to me why your operating systems suck so much. You are one of the biggest companies in the world and you are run by the richest man in the world. People trust your company and your products. You have a fiduciary responsibility to your customers to make your products as reliable as possible.

Simply put, you are better than this Microsoft, start acting like it.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year-old Gamer

Apparently I Was Good This Year

2009-01-05T20:52:00.006-05:00

As a complete shock to me, as I'm sure it is to you, I did not recieve a lump of coal for Christmas this year. On the contrary I recieved some very nice gifts from the Video Game Santa. Now all I need is the time to play all of them. Here is a quick list of the games and their descriptions and why I'm am so looking forward to playing them in the upcoming weeks.

Left 4 Dead (Xbox 360) It's the zombie apocolypse, bring friends! I've played this game for just a short time since I've been back from New Year's and it's just awesome. You are running around a destroyed city with three buddies and shooting everything that moves. And let me tell you when I mean you are shooting, I mean you are shooting every single thing that moves with every single bullet you can find. After playing the game for 30 minutes, the 30YOFiance came out of the bedroom and said, "All I hear in that game is gunfire and screaming." Awesome!

Guitar Hero World Tour (Wii)

As you may already know, The 30 Year-old Gamer's 30 Year-old Girlfriend has now become the 30 Year-old Fiance. The game we love to play the most, is Guitar Hero World Tour. We love to rock out and our band that we started "The New Hotness" is all about the rock. This game has 81 originally recorded tracks from the original artisits. It has plenty to offer with plenty variety. If you loved the original, you will love this one.

Fable 2 (Xbox 360)

Here's a game that I think may steal the show. It's a role playing game that has gotten rave reviews including Game of the Year from G4TV, but I'm not really one that relies on other's opinions. It starts like a typical Disney movie. You know, young kid, terrible tragedy that will define his whole life. Normally it will scar a kid for life, but since you are controlling the kid your actions will define if it does or not. If only real life were so easy.

Super Monkey Ball (Wii)

This is just a fun happy game that is relaxing and fun to play with others. That is until the stupid monkey doesn't go where you want it to. Then the game become an excercise in restraint, as in restraining yourself from throwing the Wiimote into the center of your very large TV. However when everything is going smoothly, the game is a lot of fun to play, and I can't wait to have a few beers and having at it.

As the weeks go by, I'll give you more in depth stories with these games. I do love playing them and look forward to getting to play them in depth as the weather gets colder and colder.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year-old Gamer

Nintendo has got to be pissed!

2008-12-12T11:46:00.005-05:00

Have you checked out my gamertag at the top of this blog lately? That is my Xbox 360 gamertag which is basically like a gamer business card. It tells you my name, what games I've played recently, and my achievement points, which is like a running score of achievements from each game I've played (hint: over 10 thousand is a lot for a casual gamer, but is nothing compared to a real hard core gamer). Now the real question is how did I get my Nintendo Wii Avatar as my picture for my Xbox 360 gamertag? I didn't. That's my new Xbox 360 Avatar.

A couple weeks ago the Xbox 360 gave every single customer a free gift. They gave us the "New Xbox Experience", also known as NXE. The NXE is nothing more than a polished up version of the Xbox operating system. When you turn on the Xbox, the menu system that you see before you start off in a game has been completely overhauled. Instead of a sterile menu system full of tabs, it's now a smooth scrolling exciting list of choices. But there is more to it than just polish, there is some serious muscle behind this as well.

One of the biggest new options available to Xbox users is the availability to stream NetFlix movies right to your Xbox with your NetFlix account. It's crazy easy to use and the movies come out great, the only downside is the choice of movies available to you. Don't expect to stream the new IronMan movie, because it isn't there. But if you want to see the 5 year old Pursuit of Happiness, then you are in luck. The other main feature, as you can see above, is Xbox new inclusion of Avatars, and Nintendo has to be pretty pissed off.

This is just a complete and blatent rip off of the Nintendo Mii's. You create these avatars the exact same way you created the Nintendo Mii's and they look identical as well. But what is really going to piss off Nintendo is the Microsoft will implement these avatars much better than Nintendo ever will. From the very beginning they already put the avatars into existing video games that you can play against other avatars across the globe. You wanna jump into a game of Uno with you avatar? No problem, I'll meet you there with my avatar and drop a "draw four" card right on your head. I've even heard that they are coming out with an Xbox version of the game show "1 vs 100" where your avatar goes up against 100 other avatars from around the globe. Just awesome! Also, when Microsoft has special events, they will release customizable attaire for your avatar. Want your avatar to wear a special Gears of War 2 shirt? No problem, it's available for a limited time.

You know what the best part of the New Xbox Experience is? It was completely free and no one asked for it. Microsoft just rewarded it's loyal customers with this new functionality because they felt like keeping ahead of the curve. Playstation 3 is coming out with it's version of the NXE called "Home". We'll see if it holds up, because right now Xbox has set the bar pretty high by ripping off Nintendo completely. They took Nintendo's innovation and improved upon it and implemented it better than Nintendo ever could hope for.

I for one, love it.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year-old Gamer

'Tis the Season Shopping Guide

2008-12-03T15:36:00.015-05:00

Last week was Thanksgiving and I hope you all had a great one. However, that holiday is behind us and we now have to start looking toward the upcoming holidays. It may seem surprising, but we don't have much time to go and grab our gifts for our loved ones. There are only three weeks before Christmas. So, I'm sure that you are already getting gift ideas for all of those gamers out there in your lives. If you are very unfamiliar with what is out there, then let the 30 Year-old Gamer help you out a bit with this very quick holiday gaming guide.

Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 has a great amount of games available to it this year. This list can go on and on, and you really can't go wrong with any of the new releases. This season has some of the best games I can ever remember. But let me just hit some of the big hitters here.

Gears of War 2 - I've talked about this game at length in my last blog. The game is excellent, but it's very violent, graphic, and has major adult language. Keep this in mind for the person you are getting it for. If they aren't of age, then pass on this game. Trust me, it's violent.

Left 4 Dead - Talking about violent, and you're probably talking about Left 4 Dead. The game starts in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. The world is over taken by the undead and you and three buddies are all that are left. Your only job in this game is to survive. The game plays like a bad B Horror movie, but that is this game's charm. The game play is excellent and there is nothing quite like playing with three friends and screaming at them to come back and help you as a horde of zombies pin you down to eat you alive. And if your friends are anything like mine...they'll leave you there to die. Thanks buddies!

Fable 2 - This is an excellent Role Playing Game that is for all ages. It plays out like a Disney game where the main character has tragedy strike him at an early age and the rest of the game is just a challenge and adventure. But what separates this game from the rest is that your decisions in this game really affect your character and the outcome. If you are a dick, you become a dick in the game. You want to go evil, go evil my friend. You want to play the hero, then play the hero. It's all up to you, and it's all good.

Fallout 3 - This is another Role Playing Game but it's definitely more adult than Fable 2. This game takes place in a post-nuclear holocaust Washington DC. The visuals of running around the DC wasteland is fantastic. The game is created by same people who created Oblivion: The Elder Scrolls, which is by far my favorite RPG of all time. And I don't usually play RPGs. They just aren't my type of game. However, Oblivion was so good, that I could definitely saddle up for one more adventure in a DC wasteland. Sign me up.

Nintendo Wii

Wii Fit - Nintendo didn't really release many games this year, but the ones they did are all family friendly and most are pretty good. The biggest one they released was easily Wii Fit. Here is a game that comes with a balance board and has you go through some major exercises in an effort to actually get the gamer in you into the best shape you've ever been in. From everything I've heard, this game really kicks your ass too. So if you like the exercise tapes in the living room kind of workout then this is definitely for you.

Mario Kart Wii - It strikes me as kind of funny that there are still Wii owners out there who don't own this game. What are you kidding me? This is the best game on the Nintendo Wii. It's simply the most fun you can have on the Wii without playing Wii Sports. It plays like all of the other Mario Kart games, it's simple for everyone to learn, and is a blast for all ages and all gamers out there. Without a doubt, it's a must buy.

Playstation 3

Little Big Planet - PS3 had sort of a tough year. It never really met its full expectations and only have a few console specific titles that are must buys. Little Big Planet is definitely one of them. It's the unique game of the year. You control mini sock puppets that you create and with the help of friends try to get through a map that is created by real life gamers as well. As they come up with more devilish and sadistic ways to have your sock puppets stumble as they get to their goal, the game get funner and funner. Great for everyone and a must own PS3 title.

Resistance 2 - This is PS3's version of Gears of War 2. If the game is half as good as GOW2 then it is an absolute must own. But again, like GOW2, this game is adult and meant for adults only. If you have little kiddies out there, have them play Little Big Planet instead.

Multi-Console

Madden 09 - Simply the greatest football game ever created. But have no doubt, this game is realistic and realistically hard. You will need to know a lot about football, offensive schemes, defensive packages, and strategy if you hope to have any success during the season in this game. Madden features great graphics and commentary and if you are a football fan, then this game is like crack it's so addictive. John Madden brought his A Game to this game.

Rock Band 2 - How can we talk about the holidays without the biggest games of the season, Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero? Rock Band 2 is the sequel to last year's monster smash. The good news is that if you bought last year's huge game with the drums and guitars, you won't have to repurchase the instruments. All you need this time around is the video game which features an incredible play list and downloadable content (for extra money of course) that will keep the entire family happy until next Christmas.

Guitar Hero World Tour - Guitar Hero realized it got it's ass kicked last year and didn't want to go that route again, so they came up with their own instrument package with a drum set (where did they get that idea from?). If you just want to play with the guitar that you got from last year's game, no worries, you can. You don't need the whole instrument package to play the game. However you will be missing out, because who doesn't want to do a drum solo? Either way, regardless which game you decide on, both Guitar Hero and Rock Band are can't misses and I'm sure both companies will be raking in the dough this Christmas.

Regardless of what games you choose from the above list, I'm sure the gamer in your life will love it. And they will think that you are a very knowledgeable and informed gamer, when in reality all you did was just do a little web blogging. Happy Holidays!

Until next time,

- The 30 Year-old Gamer

All Geared Up!

2008-11-13T12:48:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow will mark the one week anniversary of the release of Gears of War 2. It's a hallmark event. I'm so in love with this freaking game I think I might pick up flowers on the way home tomorrow and give them to it. But before I get into the game and my ridiculous obsession with it, let me first back up by telling you about it.

Gears of War plays like a modified first person shooter. You spend most of the time running around in a third person perspective (camera behind the main character), but when you get into combat you can zoom into a first person perspective (camera inside the main character's head) for more accurate shooting. This whole process works very smoothly. This of this game like a brother to Halo 3. And if Halo 3 is the honor student of the family going to an Ivy League college, then Gears of War is the older badder brother who joined a motorcycle gang that runs guns to Mexico.

Make no mistake, this game is not for the kiddies. It's for all of the 30 year old kids out there who still get a kick out of ridiculous violence.

The story is basic, but it works well. There are a bunch of monsters called Locust that come from underground and are wiping out humanity. You play a bad ass named Marcus Fenix who is a cross between John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and The Rock. He fights in the army and is a one man wrecking crew. The story is about the humans taking the fight to the Locust and there are cool plot twists and enough story to keep you interested throughout the game.

But the true joy of the game is the combat itself. It plays almost exactly like the first game where you have to hide "in cover" behind walls and debris to protect yourself from enemy fire. And there will be plenty of enemy fire. There are a lot of enemies and they are all tougher and smarter than the first game. The weapons you get to defeat them vary from flamethrowers to grenades, and from bow and arrows to sniper rifles. Of course the star of the show is the main weapon which is called the Lancer. It's a heavy machine gun with a chainsaw for a bayonet. If an enemy gets too close then just rev that baby up and cut the guy in half.

I've played the game about half way through the story mode, and it's very well done. The game does a great job of pulling you in and out of the game and into cinematics very well. You feel from the very beginning that you are in for one hell of a highly produced ride, and it doesn't disappoint. The characters and voice acting is great. And the visuals of the game are of course some of the best on the system. But the bottom line is the game is just a ton of fun to play.

Oh and there's the online multiplayer, which is just as much fun if not more so than the story line. Playing online actually takes some real strategy. You just can't run around and shoot everything that moves or you will die a quick gruesome death. They've added plenty of new modes and each of them is excellent.

I actually picked up the Limited Edition version of the game. It's $10 more and comes with some fun features like a behind the scenes disk and picture book. But to be honest, I spent the extra ten bucks for the bigger box. This game is excellent and deserves the extra recognition on my shelf with my other games. Don't get me wrong, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is a great game, but it's no Gears of War 2, and no one walking into my house should ever confuse the two, and thanks to this box, no one ever will.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year-old Gamer

Politics and Video Games

2008-11-04T10:44:00.005-05:00

Today is Election Day for this great country of ours and it's a day that I've always enjoyed. It's a day where as Americans we put our voices to work and we show the entire world it is possible for us to elect a leader without bloodshed. It's truly a time where we can be proud to be an American and I hope all of you out there do go out and vote today. Now, I'm not here to talk about politics, and that's a good thing. There are enough of those people out there. I'm here to talk about video games. However, it is possible to talk about both.

Now video games are not a major political issue, nor should they be. There are plenty of other issues that are facing the world that are just a bit more important. However, the major issues that are facing the world do affect the world of video game directly. Specifically, the economic crisis that is facing the nation.

Right now it can be said that we are in the middle of a recession. The only question is whether it will be a minor or major one. Regardless of the answer, the impacts will directly affect the video game world. It can be said that independent smaller companies have created some of the best original video games ever. Whether it was Goldeneye created by Rare, Half-Life created by Valve, or Grand Theft Auto created by Take Two, it is the independent creative smaller developers that have led to some of the most break through video games we enjoy.

However, in this current economic crisis, it's these companies that are most at risk. It costs a lot of money to develop a video game. There development and production costs, as well as marketing and distribution costs. If a game is not completely proven with an embedded customer fan base, it may have a hard time securing financing for development. That leaves these smaller companies out in the cold.

Looking toward next year specifically, I feel that we will see more and more big company video games. It will be more Electronic Arts and Activision. It will be more Guitar Hero and Rock Band titles and spin offs. It will be more Madden and NFL Head Coach. And if it doesn't turn around quickly expect to see titles like Halo: The Early Master Chief Years and Gears of War: The Cole Train Chronicles. It will be more retread of old games than anything you've ever seen.

So whoever gets elected today, listen closely to their policies to help the smaller and mid-size companies. If these companies don't receive some relief, the next 18 months could be some real bad times in the video game industry.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year Old Gamer

Gameflying Through the Summer

2008-10-29T16:02:00.006-04:00

So I kept my word and I joined the rank and file of the Gamefly customers a few months back. If you are unfamiliar with how Gamefly works, it's simple; think Netflix with video games. For just $25 a month you can rent up to two video games at a time and hold them for as long as you like. To Gamefly's credit, the service works great. There is a wide selection of games and they get them to your door really quickly. Here's the problem I've had with Gamefly. All of the games I've rented (except for Call of Duty 4) all have been between mediocre and down right shitty. I guess the reason is because if the game is great, I would buy it anyway.

So for the last 3 months, I've spent almost $80 to have the joy of playing some crappy games. Here is a quick review of them ranked from crappiest to not so crappy.

SoulCaliber 4 (Xbox 360)

This is seriously one of the worst video games I've ever played. To be fair I'm not a real fighting game kind of gamer. But this game is just awful. You can play as one of a bunch of generic fighters that wield just huge ridiculous weapons. You fight through a a bunch of other generic fighters and then for some reason, you fight a boss and the game ends. It takes all of ten minutes and all you had to do was hit the Y button over and over again to win. What a waste of time. And look, I'm not searching for incredible realism or anything, but when a monster of a man hits a 4 ft 10 inch woman over the head with a sword the size of a Jeep, I'm expecting a little more than her to jump back up with only 10% of her health depleted.

I've also heard that this game is great to play against someone else. But these battles just turn out to be who can hit the Y button the fastest. It just plain sucks, and adding a Star Wars character to the game doesn't help it at all. Avoid this game at all possible costs.

The Simpson's Game (Xbox 360)

I'm a huge fan of the Simpsons which is why this game isn't completely awful. The game puts you in control of all of the Simpsons family. The game plays like an episode of the show where Bart finds a copy of the Simpson's game and by reading the manual he and his family get video game powers. From that point forward they find themselves in funny situations where they have to use their powers to save Springfield. Throughout each story they constantly make fun of the video game industry. I was laughing hysterically each time I stumbled across a "video game cliche" and would unlock an achievement. "ooh, an exploding barrel. How original." You even get an achievement for pressing the start button. Classic.

But that is pretty much as far as the game goes. The actual game play is pretty boring and repetitive. It's just a standard platforming game, with basic puzzles and boss battles. And the story itself is so splintered that there really is nothing that keeps you pressing forward in the game. After playing the game for a few hours, I felt like I had seen everything this game had to offer and I sent it back to Gamefly. Too bad too, because there were some pretty funny scenes, like a stage where Mr. Burns wanted to cut down an entire red wood forest to make one extremely expensive toothpick.

Lego Indiana Jones (Xbox 360)

I think you pretty much know what to expect out of this one. It's Legos and it's Indiana Jones. It's really a can't miss, except it kinda does. First of all, this is a great family game. It's a great game to play with kids and parents alike. Kids will get a kick out of the Legos and parents will love the Indiana Jones nostalgia. They pay a great amount of fan service to Indy fans as well. You'll play all the classic scenes including the fight with the big bruiser from Raiders of the Lost Ark who got a little too close to an airplane.

The only real issue I have with this game really isn't with this game at all. I guess it's with the Lego games in general. I feel like I've been there and done that. It seems like I've done all of these puzzles before with the Lego Star Wars games. It's the same push this block here, dig up these blocks here, put these pieces together there and a door opens which you get to go to another room then repeat as necessary.

Also, Indy's whip is completely useless and feels very tacked on. I mean you'll walk onto a screen with just your whip and 7 Nazis with guns will come running from the other side and kill you before you can even get to them to hit them. It's like bringing a knife to a gunfight.

I beat the Raiders of the Lost Ark stage and I might go onto The Temple of Doom, and again I might not. The game is fun, but I always seem to decide to do something else than continue playing it.

Resident Evil 4 (Wii)

Besides Call of Duty 4 this was by far the best game I've rented from Gamefly. Although the graphics are definitely last generation, it's still genuinely horrifying to play this game. I haven't played this game long, only like 4-5 hours, but the story is deep and involving. It's a game that at only $30, I could easily see myself picking up to own.

Basically, you play as a cop who is in search of the missing President's daughter. You get a lead that she is being held in this eastern European village in the middle of nowhere. So when you go to investigate, you realize the villagers are completely homicidal and there are degrees of horror everywhere. The atmosphere they create is excellent, and there are scenes that are so exciting that when they finish you really want to take a break and relax.

The only downside is the controls. Using both the Wiimote and nunchuk controllers to move and aim and fire is very awkward and I've found myself dying many times because I just can't seem to get the controls right. In fact, after a few hours of playing the first time, I found my arms hurting because of the awkward position I had them in to use the weapons I had.

But it's a good game for the Wii which is rare, and it's the only game out of the bunch I have any desire to actually own which is even rarer.

I'm not sure if I'll continue my Gamefly membership. There are a lot of good games coming out over the next couple of weeks and if my schedule remains as busy as it has been there won't be much time to play. If my time is limited in playing, then I would rather play a good game then rent another crappy one from Gamefly.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year-old Gamer

The Gamer is Back...sort of

2008-10-29T15:37:00.002-04:00

Hello devoted readers (all three of you). The 30 Year-old Gamer is back for a quick stop over into his blog. It's been over two and a half months since I stopped back here and I would like to say that a lot has happend over that time the but the honest truth is it really hasn't. At least nothing has happend in my video game life anyway.

Over the past two months my video game life has consisted of renting games from Gamefly and playing them pretty irregularly. In fact, a few days ago I was able to play for about four hours and it was the most I had played in at least four weeks. So it really hasn't been that I've neglected my blog (although I have), it really has more to do with the fact that I haven't played any real games.

However, there are quite a few topics that are on my mind as of this moment about video games, so I decided to stop back by my blog and jot a few of them down.

Now, I promise you the reader (all 3 of you) that I will stop by here at least once a week for a quick or long note to let you know what's up in the video game world, or at least give you my perspective on it.

So, I apologize for being away, but I'm back...for now anyway.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year-old Gamer

30YOGamer Top 5: Favorite Video Games

2008-08-05T15:33:00.007-04:00

We really truly are in the middle of the dog days of summer. There really is nothing to talk about in the video game world except rumors and opinions on video games that aren't going to be released for months. And since I don't really feel like doing that at all, I think I'll start a new type of entry into the 30 Year Old Gamer blog called "The 30YOGamer Top 5". It's exactly what you think it is. Every so often, I'll just give you my opinion of a top 5 list of something. This week, why not start out with the biggest list of them all. The 30 Year Old Gamer's Top 5 Favorite Video Games.

Now I've played a lot of video games in my life. My video game life started before the original Nintendo was released. The first system I ever owned was a Commodore Vic 20. I wanted the Commodore 64, but my parents wanted me to learn, so they got me a keyboard the size of a Buick that could play Frogger and it was called the Commodore Vic 20. So, I've played a lot of games and I think that these 5 games have probably had the biggest impacts on my video game life, and thus make the Top 5.

#5: Outrun (Arcade)This was the first land mark, mind blowing game I've ever played. I was probably 8 years old and my parents would take me to this restaurant in a neighboring town where they could kick back a few bottles of wine. (yes, you read that right.."a few") So, while they were "relaxing", they would give me $10 in quarters and I would go over to the Outrun video game and waste the night away.

This game was revolutionary at the time. It was a stand-up machine with a steering wheel where you drove a convertible cherry red Ferrari Testarosa (still one of my dream cars to this day) and with a blond riding shotgun, you raced through 6 very hard timed levels and tried to go from one side of the coast to the next. There were two cool twists. The first was that if you drove off of the road, the steering wheel shook violently. Now I know every game does that now, but back in 1986, this was the coolest thing I had ever seen. And the other very cool thing was that at the end of each stage there was a fork in the road where you could go left or right and depending on which road you took, the next stage was either harder or easier.

It was on this game that I fell in love with video games and when my parents asked me a year or so later if I wanted a Nintendo Entertainment System or a Sega Master System, I chose Sega because they had Outrun and I played it for years, and that's why this game is easily a Top 5.

#4: John Madden Football (any system, any year)Its about 4 years later and I've now graduated from a Sega Master System (8 bit) to Sega Genesis (16 bit) and I feel like the coolest kid in the school. It was around this time that a small company (at the time) called Electronic Arts made the best sports game of all time, John Madden Football. Before this game, the benchmark in football games was Tecmo Bowl. That game used real players names and real teams, but it was nothing like this. Instead of moving side to side on the screen you went from the bottom to the top of the screen allowing yourself to see up field and pass to open receivers. The game had a full roster of players on and off the field. It was the most realistic sports game I had ever seen.

After the success of Madden, Electronic Arts quickly went into every other sport creating the very awesome NHL Hockey, PGA Golf, and Celtics vs Lakers Basketball. They went through probably the best marketing campaign I've ever seen. They would show you clips from various sports. They would show the football hitting an upright of a goal post, or a hockey puck hitting the post. They would show a three pointer and a dunk. And then they would show you everything again, but this time in their various video games. They would end the commercial by simply saying "EA Sports. If it's in the game, it's in the game."

I bought every single one of them.

Since then I've played probably 10 seasons of Madden, two seasons of baseball, three full hockey seasons, and one entire PGA season. I've probably owned 5 versions of Madden between then and now and it looks like I'm about to own another one in a couple weeks. Any game that's so good that you have to buy over and over again year in and year out has to make my Top 5.

#3: Metal Gear Solid (Playstation)

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, this game was just revolutionary when I first played it. I'm in college and when I'm not drinking at the bar, I'm studying or playing cards. My game playing time was limited to only the best video games. So when I tell you that this game was so good that I played it all the way through three times, it's saying something.

I won't go into the details about this game here, as I already did in an earlier blog. But let me just say this. I went to my local GameStop a couple weeks ago and asked them if they had a copy of this game in a used bin somewhere. I figured I could pick up a cheap copy and play it on my PS2. The guy looked at me with a very strange look, like I just asked him where his Commodore Vic 20 games are. He basically said that I should look on Ebay for that game. The next day I did just that and the only copy of the original game I saw had a current bid of $18. Here's a game that over 10 years old and I've played and beaten it three times being sold for about $20, and I seriously considered placing a bid. Yeah it's that good and a definite Top 5.

#2: Goldeneye 007 (Nintendo 64)Oh my God what a great game! I know what you are thinking. "Didn't you just tell us that all video games based on movies suck?" Yes I did. However, this is the one huge glaring exception. This game is considered the father of first person shooters on a console system. Up until Goldeneye a first person shooter was only on a computer. You would use your mouse to aim your weapon. However the Nintendo 64 was unique in that it had the first analog joystick for a console. This made the whole experience much better.

Now the single player game was identical to the movie. Scene for scene you basically ran through the movie. Normally, since you've seen the movie this would suck. But since this is a James Bond movie the whole experience was pretty cool. It was very cinematic and just a joy to play through. But where this game really shined was in multiplayer.

Multiplayer games weren't really all that popular around this time. The only competitive multiplayer experience was really if you were playing a game like Madden. However, this game allowed 4 people to run around an environment and shoot the crap out of each other for like 5 minutes or 25 kills, which ever came first. In college, this game was like crack. People would line up around someone's room and wait for their turn to play. We had entire nights revolved around Goldeneye tournaments. The top two players could stay on the game and the bottom two would have to give up their controllers. Whoever could play the game the longest would win. It was fantastic. We would break the controllers long before we ever got tired of this game.

It would easily be my favorite video game of all time except for...

#1: Halo 2 (Xbox)

This is a true story. About three years ago I visited a friends house to play some poker. Before we started to play, my friend decided to show off his Xbox and this game called Halo 2. I had only heard of the game and I heard some good things. We played the game for a couple hours and I immediately fell in love with it. That weekend I went straight to my local GameStop and bought a refurbished Xbox and Halo 2 with the Halo 2 strategy guide. Over $250 invested for one video game. Looking back....still an excellent decision.

This game is that good. You've probably heard a lot about Halo and the Halo franchise. For gamers, this game represented everything that was great about games. You could play the game yourself, or you could play the game cooperatively with a buddy. Myself and the 30YORoomie beat the game in a weekend. When we finished, we just started right over again. And then there's the online multiplayer. We called up my buddy who first showed me the game, and started playing him online. His time with the game and experience showed from the very beginning as he would run around and hunt me and my roomie. It was ugly how bad he would beat us, and it didn't matter. That's the true sign of an excellent video game. It's kicking your ass and you are having so much fun you don't care.

When Halo 3 was released last year, I was one of the first in line with my preorder. Just ask the 30YOGF. I don't think she's ever seen me as happy as I was skipping out of my local Best Buy with my game in hand. I know that both Halo 2 and 3 were very hyped, but I don't care. I love them both and am happy to call Halo 2 my favorite game of all time.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year Old Gamer

What's Up With Wall-E?

2008-07-30T10:09:00.004-04:00

Yesterday during my daily visits to gaming websites and blogs, I came across this little piece of news. Apparently the video game "Wall-E" based on the hugely successful movie, is not nearly as successful. After one month of release, the video game has only sold 114,000 copies. That's not a good number. For comparison purposes, Guitar Hero Aerosmith which has been out just as long, has sold about 500,000 copies. And if you remember from one of my earlier blogs, GH Aerosmith is not very good. So the question is "What's Up With Wall-E?"Well, it's not the character. Wall-E is awesome. The movie is fantastic. It is one of Pixar's best. It's right up there with Finding Nemo and the Incredibles. Wall-E was very successful in the theaters making over $200 million since it's release. And it can't be the marketing. Wall-E is backed by Disney, which is just the biggest marketing juggernaut in the history of corporate America.

No, the issue with Wall-E is a lot more fundamental. It's a video game based on a movie, and these games just aren't very good. You can look back at prior video games based on movies and see they also weren't very successful. Last year we had a lot of video games based on successful movies and all of them failed. Games such as Transformers, Spiderman 3, and Pirates of the Caribbean all were gigantic failures.

There are a few reasons for this. The first is because the game developers are basically handcuffed when it comes to the content of the game. The movie studios have very strict guidelines when it comes to licensing their content. The video game has to stay very true to the movie. Take Wall-E as an example. The first 20-30 minutes of the movie, Wall-E is stuck on a completely deserted Earth collecting trash and trying to clean up the planet. Now in the movie it's very entertaining due to Wall-E's reactions to everything. Now try playing a video game where you just move around an empty wasteland picking up trash. Sound even remotely interesting?

The second main reason for the issue, is the game is too closely related to the movie. You just spent $8 dollars to go see the movie which you just enjoyed. Do you really feel like shelling out another $50 to play through the entire movie scene by scene? I mean you just saw the freaking thing, you know what's going to happen next. There's no suspense and no reason to play the game. Without having ever played the game, I'm betting Wall-E falls in love and finds his way into space. I know, because I've seen the movie.

The final reason why video games based on movies aren't very good is because the game play is not very good. The games aren't very innovative and they are very glitchy. There's nothing worse than moving Wall-E around Earth and he accidentally gets stuck on a pile of garbage he can't get out of, because the developers didn't beta test the game thoughougly. Now, it's not their fault. The game developers don't have a lot of time to create the game. They are given their instructions from the movie studio maybe 6 months before the game has to be released. And in that 6 months, they have to create the game and then test out all of the glitches before the game is released the same time the movie is. Remember, the game has to be released at the same time as the movie. I mean there would be no market for the game if it was released 6 months after the movie.

And I feel bad for Wall-E. He's a great guy and deserves to be treated better than this. I would have no problem playing a completely original Wall-E adventure. But that would take too long and too much money to create and publish. So unfortunately Wall-E is stuck in a very mediocre game that is being marketed to idiots who don't know any better. But now you are not one of those idiots. You are a more informed gamer, just like the 30 Year Old Gamer.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year Old Gamer

Monday Morning Review: Army of Two

2008-07-28T10:17:00.004-04:00

I picked up Army of Two a little reluctantly a couple months back when it was first released. I had won an online poker game where I won a $25 Amazon gift card and decided that I would use my new found money to purchase a new video game. My decision was between Army of Two for my Xbox 360 or God of War for my PSP. With a little encouragement from my roommate I decided to go for Army of Two, and I have never regretted it.

Army of Two is made by Electronic Arts in an effort by the company to get away from everything sports. It's about these two guys who work for the Army and decide that it's stupid to go where the are told for a reason they don't understand. So, they quickly realize that it's much more rewarding to work for a private security company and go around the world and fight for apparently the most honorable thing in the world...money. That's right, you play two guys who are hired mercenaries and travel to the biggest war zones in the world and basically kill bad guys.

Let's first start with the bad things about this game. The story, while enjoyable, is really stupid. The story revolves around the trend of privatizing our military. Where apparently our army fails, these two guys can come in and clean up with very little problems. uh...right. The enemies that you fight in this game couldn't be more stereotypical, and that just goes to show how stupid some people really are. There is literally a scene where you are on the ground in Iraq or Afghanistan and you are being attacked by suicide bombers. These "suicide bombers" are men with beards and turbans on their heads running straight at you with explosives on their chests and their arms in the air screaming something in Arabic. Shoot one in the chest, and they explode long before they get to you. It's embarrassing how stupid this looks. Especially since the cut scene just before this shows footage of September 11th. To think that our military is facing anything this stupid on the ground in the Middle East is insulting to them and us.

Ok, now that's out of the way, onto the good...the gameplay. You play as either one of these two mercenaries and either the computer or another buddy plays as the other guy. The first time through this game, I played with the 30yoRoomie and it was a great experience. I personally love playing games cooperatively. It's a great feeling where you two have to work together to overcome an obstacle. And in this game, it's absolutely imperative that you work together.

First, there is a system in the game in place called Aggro. What Aggro basically means is that the computer enemies will focus their fire on the guy who's firing the most. So say for example, you are playing with a friend and while you are taking cover, your friend decides to run straight out in the open firing at anything that moves. Well the computer enemies will then focus their fire on your friend cutting him to ribbons, and leave you completely alone. Sometimes in the game that's a strategically important option. If for example you need to flank around a machine gun nest, then your friend can run around like an idiot. While everyone is focused on him, you can easily sneak around behind everyone and shoot the machine gunner in the back of the head. It's pretty cool.

The second time through the game I played with the computer as my buddy. In most games like this my biggest complaint is that your computer buddies look like they are doing a lot, but in truth they are hitting nothing, and it's up to you to kill all 562 enemies while your computer buddies are just hanging back. Not in this game. If the computer is your AI buddy, you can bet he's kicking just as much ass as you. Don't feel like going into a room first? No problem, send the computer guy to do it. You control all of his actions. Tell him to charge, hang back, regroup, kick ass, or stay low. It's all up to you, and for the most part he's very responsive. It's very innovative game play and it's a joy to play.

The game moves along at a very quick exciting pace. Just when you start to really get into the game and enjoy it, it's over. Army of Two will take about 20 hours to beat. The game and cut scenes look brilliant and the story is enjoying, except for the times where it's stupid to the point of insulting. Either way, for those of you who liked Gears of War and other hardcore shooters, this game is very enjoyable and worth a look.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year Old Gamer

Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3)

2008-07-16T15:10:00.008-04:00

For us gamers, this week is a very exciting one. It's the week of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, also known as E3. It's this week where every major company in the video game industry presents it's upcoming software and hardware to the press to create an initial buzz before those items are released. Way way back in the day, it was E3 that gave the world it's first look at the original Nintendo Entertainment System. In the past few years it was E3 that showed us our first look at the Xbox 360, PS3, and the Nintendo Wii. It was never even called the "Wii" until E3.

On the software side, E3 has not only introduced us to the games that we now know and love, such as Halo, Metal Gear Solid, and Grand Theft Auto, it has also allowed us to play those games very briefly. It was two years ago that we first saw someone step on stage and swing a wii-mote to hit a virtual tennis ball. Today, it's the ultimate craze.

So this week is this year's E3, and there really isn't a lot of hardware to talk about. There are no new consoles or crazy gadgets. This year is all about software. New games to play on your PS3, 360, and Wii. I've been following the coverage and here are a few games that have really impressed me so far that look to be released in time for this holiday season. For your viewing pleasure, I've put the E3 trailers for each of these games on the right.

Ghostbusters (PS3, 360, Wii, PS2)

This game looks like a ton of fun and will definitely be on my buy list. The game is a brand new story line for the Ghostbusters where you play a new recruit on the team, hired by Egon and Ray to try out all of their new equipment that they feel is just too dangerous for them to test out. The story has some familiar scenes and enemies but also has a lot of new content as well. What I am really impressed with is that the story was completely written by Dan Akroyd and Harold Ramis and the game has the full cast back for voice work including Bill Murray. I loved Ghostbusters growing up and if this game is half as decent as the trailer looks, the I will love the game as well.

Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360) Oh hell yeah! When the first Gears of War was released two years ago, I said that this was the reason why we play video games. The sequel looks like it is going to take that game and put it on Red Bull. There are a lot more enemies, and the battles look a lot more epic than the first, and that's saying something. They mention that this game will have a much more detailed storyline than the first, which is awesome, since the first game I thought the story was pretty lacking. The trailer looks incredible, definitely check it out.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Xbox 360, PS3)

Ok, so I'm a big Star Wars fan. You caught me. I grew up watching the movies and I love all things Star Wars. Having said that, this game looks great. The game takes place between Episode 3 (the last movie) and Episode 4 (the first movie). You play as Darth Vader's apprentice and you are learning all the ways of the dark side. You start off as just the baddest bad ass in all of the galaxy, and then you start to get tempted by the ways of the Jedi. This is a complete reversal of the movies where you start good and get tempted by the dark side. I think the game looks awesome and I can't wait to play it.

Fallout 3 (Xbox 360)
This is a role-playing game that was created by Bethesda. This is the same company which created the game Oblivion a couple years back which took about 100 hours of my life. With the same quality as that game, they've created a post-apocalyptic US. The bombs have dropped and you are stuck in the wasteland of what is left. The game looks awesome and if it's as in depth as Oblivion was, then this will be a sure winner.

Left 4 Dead (Xbox 360)

Here's another that is just freaking awesome and definitely on my buy list. In this game you are in a team of four and you are stuck in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Those zombie apocalypses seem to be happening a lot lately. But in this game, you have to work together with 3 buddies to get your whole team out of the horror. You can't leave anyone behind. Only together will you survive. I personally love co-op gameplay. It's just a ton of fun for me to play with buddies and get through games together, and I love the fact that this game is completely revolved around that idea.

Nintendo Wii

One of the things that I'm definitely disappointed in so far at this year's E3 is the Nintendo Wii. Now I love my Wii, but the biggest issue I have with it is the fact that there are no real good games for it. I think it's very innovative, but the game developers are having the hardest time releasing it's full potential, and this year's E3 is just more of the same. They have announced no good games at all for the Wii. The Nintendo press conference sounded like an analyst meeting. They did nothing but talk about pie charts and bar graphs of how sales are through the roof. And while every other developer is coming out with a ton of new games, Nintendo sits there with nothing. Very disappointing.

PS3

There are some really good looking games for the PS3 coming out, including Resistance 2, which looks to be just a huge title and the debut trailer for God of War 3. I played the original God of War on the PS2 and it was very well done. The way that you fought through old Greek mythology was just fantastic. This God of War is the first on the PS3, so hopefully it will be fantastic, but I don't think it will be released this year.

Also, I'm very happy that the PS3 has decided to lower their prices. This is great news. As the PS3 becomes more affordable, then it will become more popular. That means better games. Although I'm an Xbox guy, I definitely don't want to see the PS3 fail, and with this E3, it looks like they are really starting to hit their stride.

Now I'm sure I'm missing some games, but these are the ones that I'm keeping a close eye on as we move toward Christmas. Maybe if I'm a good 30yoGamer for the rest of the year, Santa may stick one or two of the titles above in my stocking on Christmas. I guess I'll just have to wait and see, I just hope the wait isn't too bad

Until next time,

- The 30 Year-old Gamer

Monday Morning Review: Guitar Hero Aerosmith

2008-07-14T11:14:00.004-04:00

If you've been counting, Guitar Hero Aerosmith is the 37th Guitar Hero game released this year. They squeezed it in nicely between Guitar Hero Elton John and Guitar Hero Abba. And let me tell you, if you pass on this Guitar Hero, you aren't really missing anything.

As you read from a previous blog, The 30yoGF and I are huge fans of the Guitar Hero series. We play at least a few songs just about every weekend. And with me being from Boston and all, the 30yoGF thought it would be just a perfect decision to pick up the latest in the Guitar Hero franchise, Guitar Hero Aerosmith.Now to be fair, the game isn't awful. It is Guitar Hero after all, so even on it's worst days it's still better than playing Wii Play. The way the game plays is pretty cool. You are basically going to play through the entire Aerosmith career, starting at their very first gig at their high school. Each segment starts with interviews from the band about what each gig meant to them and their career, which is pretty cool. It sort of puts the whole thing into perspective. Then the segment starts with you using the standard Guitar Hero characters as the opening band for Aerosmith. You play a couple cover songs, and then it's Aerosmith's turn. You then play as the famous band itself and play their songs. It's here where the game falls off the rails.

The biggest problem with the game is that the songs just aren't that good. Each segment has about 3-4 Aerosmith songs. Some of them are very good, like the Run DMC version of Walk this Way. However, there is just way too much filler. Sure, there are some bad songs in GH3 and GH2, but they are few and far in between. There is a segment in GH Aerosmith where you are playing internationally, and 3 of the 4 songs are just flat awful. They make you want to just sit on your couch and get through them as fast as possible.

Also, there really aren't a lot of songs. There are about half as many songs in this game as in GH3, and when half of those songs suck, you really feel like you kind of got ripped off. Remember, this game costs just as much as GH3. Let's also not forget that all of the graphics are identical to GH3. Except for the Aerosmith characters, there is absolutely no difference at all. If you are playing one of the non-Aerosmith songs, you would have no idea if this is GH3 or GH Aerosmith, except for the fact that this song sucks.

And if you don't like Aerosmith? Forget about it. There would be no reason at all to ever play this game. If you do like Aerosmith, then it's entertaining but not much more. So if you have beaten Rock Band, Guitar Hero 3, and all of the downloadable content and are still looking for more, then go out and rent this one. It's not worth your money to buy it at full price. And this advice is coming from a guy from Boston who grew up listening to Aerosmith.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year Old Gamer

This Space For Rent

2008-07-09T16:28:00.006-04:00

Now that I'm done with Grand Theft Auto 4 and have left Liberty City in my rear view mirror, I find myself asking the question, "now what do I play?" Since we are in the Dog Days of Summer, I've decided that now is the time that I will go back and play some of the games that I may have missed along the way. Now the list of games that I would like to play is long indeed. So this past weekend I went with the 30yoGF to the mall to grab some lunch, which was just a ruse so I could stop by my local GameStop and pick up a used video game. Hopefully, one of the ones on my list. What I found was disappointing indeed.

Now I'm seeing commercials all over the place from GameStop for people to trade in their used video games to GameStop for $15. So I'm thinking to myself, "if they are buying these games for $15, then they must be selling them at a very nice discount." Like many other times in my life, I'm dead wrong. Below is just a short list of video games that I interested in playing and their GameStop new and used prices.

Call of Duty 4: New $60, Used $56 ($4 off)

The Simpsons Game: New $30, Used $27 ($3 off)

The Orange Box: New $40, Used $35 ($5 off)

So let me get this straight, a video game that they purchase from a 16 year old kid for $15 they then resell for $56, for a profit of $41. Nice. And from a customer perspective I the opportunity to purchase a game that is over 1 year old for $56 or I can pony up the extra $4 and buy it new. That's awesome. What a deal.

Needless to say I walked out of GameStop empty handed and disappointed. Because while I would really like to play The Simpsons Game, I don't really feel like spending $30 on a game that I'm probably going to play for a week and then never touch again. So I find myself seriously considering an avenue that I haven't walked down since I was in high school, renting.

That afternoon I took a short drive to my local Hollywood Video to rent a couple video games and spend the rest of that afternoon playing. As I'm driving to the store I'm thinking how awesome it will be to play Call of Duty 4 or Orange Box. I'm imagining how great the feeling will be as I pick up Battlefield Bad Company and tear up the online multiplayer.

As you can imagine, this trip also ended in severe disappointment. They had absolutely nothing to rent. I mean nothing! The 30yoRoomie and I were debating whether we should rent Nascar 08 (they've already released Nascar 09 which was out of stock), Ghost Recon 2, or Splinter Cell Double Agent. All of these games were originally released 1 or even 2 years ago. Games released within the past 6 months? Forget about it.

We ended up renting Nascar and Splinter Cell and to be fair, we are having a lot of fun with both. Nascar is a surprisingly good game, with some very difficult driving mechanics and races that are very rewarding. Splinter Cell is a very intelligent spy game with some serious difficulty issues if you've never played a Splinter Cell game before.

This is a new found joy of renting for me. Now I get to play games I wouldn't have even touched before, and I don't have to shell out the money that GameStop is asking. So what I plan on doing over the next day or two is go online to a game renting website called GameFly. GameFly works just like NetFlix. For a monthly fee, you can rent any game you want and keep it as long as you like. When you are done, just send it back and they give you another to rent. I'm having a hard time debating if the amount per month ($16 for one game at a time, $22 for two games at a time) is worth it. For right now, it definitely seems like it is, however when Christmas rolls around and I've got a pile of new games to play, maybe not. But I think I'll give it a shot and I'll let you know how I feel about it in a later blog.

So in the immediate future I'm going to start knocking some of those games off of my list. And don't judge me because of the games I play. They all can't be first person shooters. Sometimes you need to play a Lost: Via Domus or a Boom Blox. Sometimes it's ok to rent a crappy game. This way I'll appreciate the better games that much more.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year Old Gamer

Now Leaving Liberty City

2008-07-03T14:17:00.006-04:00

This past Sunday was a landmark event for me. At around 9:30pm, I defeated Grand Theft Auto 4. It was a long ride that started the day GTA4 was released and now has officially come to an end 8 weeks and 40 gaming hours later. So this week, I wanted to just take a quick minute and look back at the city that I'm now leaving in my rear view mirror and give you my final thoughts on Grand Theft Auto 4.

This is the first ever Grand Theft Auto game that I've beaten. Every other GTA game I've played, I felt got very repetitive and thus I got bored with the game and eventually, I put the game down and never touched it again. This game from the very beginning was different. I know a lot has been said about the graphics and the city, but it definitely bears repeating. This game is one of the best looking games I've ever seen. Liberty City is an incredible reflection of New York City. The streets are alive and all of the key landmarks in New York City are in the game. You truly feel like you are interacting with a real life city. And this is important because when the missions in GTA4 become repetitive (and they do), it's the city that keeps you going. It's so much fun travelling from one point to the other that you completely forget that this is your 72nd time going over the Brooklyn Bridge to kill someone.

Another huge praise to this game has to go to the supporting characters. Each one is very different and your relationship with each character is some of the deepest that you will find in a video game. Each character has one major flaw. Whether it's your cousin Roman's lack of a spine and gambling problem, or it's Derek's huge drug problem, it's as if each character is in search of some redemption and it's up to you to help them get there.

The story itself I found to be great, although it definitely has flaws. The beginning of the game is very slow. You start the game right off the boat and spend the first hour basically driving people from one place to the next. You might as well call the game Grand Theft Chauffeur It's pretty boring at first, but then picks up quickly. The game then slows down a lot just before the end. The last dozen missions are basically the same and you start to get the feeling that the designers just put these relatively useless missions in there just to extend the game. But it's all made up for in the end with a terrific ending with a major decision that's needed to be made that will drastically affect the outcome of the game. My major flaw with the game is the main character himself, Nico Bellic. Just so we're clear here, Nico is a sociopathic killer and should be shot in the head as soon as possible. He basically goes throughout the game really disgruntled and when a random person he just meets suggests he goes kill someone, he just goes right out to do it. There have to be at least 40 missions that start like this...

"Nico, I need you to travel to X and kill Y. Take care of him for me."
"Oh I don't know. Why should I?"
"Because I'm asking you to. Do it for me!"
"Ok."

Throughout the game I had to rack up a body count in the hundreds, including many cops. By the end of the game I was a walking armory and anyone that so much as looked at me wrong would get a bullet to the head without a second thought. Say I was trying to steal a car and the driver was stupid enough to yell at me...BANG! Or I'm driving down the sidewalk to avoid police and someone was walking on that sidewalk...BANG! Or say I crash land a helicopter in mid-town Manhattan and the police have the audacity to try to arrest me...BANG!

Nico Bellic is easily the worst main character in the history of gaming. His motivation is either money or revenge and the path to both is death.

But the monotony of those missions were really outshined by the few that were very memorable. There is one in the middle of the game where you rob a Bank of America and you have to shoot your way out of the bank in Manhattan against a sea of police. The only way to escape with your buddies is by jumping into a subway station and running down the tracks in the tunnel. Awesome! In another mission, you have to interrupt a prison transfer by stealing a truck and blocking off the Lincoln Tunnel and then hijack the truck and escape the cops. Awesome!

Overall, the single player campaign was an absolute joy to play and the game will be remembered for a long time after I leave Liberty City. If violent crime games is your sort of cup of tea, then this game is a must buy. However be warned, this game is much too graphic and adult for the younger gamers. Leave this kind of mature game for 30 Year Old Gamers out there.

Have a happy and safe 4th of July!

Until next time,

- The 30 Year Old Gamer

Living Room Hero

2008-06-25T15:22:00.007-04:00

So it's about a week ago and the 30yoRoomie and I are just finishing up a four hour tour on Rock Band. He was playing lead guitar and I was lead vocals. Our band name appropriately titled "Gin & Juice". And as I'm standing there in my living room, sweating, barely able to speak, and swigging down a beer, two thoughts came to my mind.

1. Jon Bon Jovi has to be a woman
2. I am a Rock God!!!!

Rock Band is now my third dive into the world of rock. The whole thing started over a year ago when Guitar Hero 2 came out for the Xbox 360, and with knowing no one who had ever played the game before, I bought the game because I thought it looked cool. Man, I had no idea. Now just like every other Living Room Hero who first picked up the guitar, I had no idea how to play. The idea of using all four of my fingers on Medium difficulty while still strumming in time seemed just impossible at first. But after making a complete fool of myself for a good long while, I finally got the hang of it and started rocking out like a God.
Then came this past holiday season with the famous Rock Band vs Guitar Hero 3 battle. Just so you know where I stood on that battle, I basically gave everyone I've ever met Guitar Hero 3 for Christmas. I had nothing personal against Rock Band. But it just seemed ridiculous to me to spend $170 on a single video game, regardless of the cool toys that came with it.

And for the next five months, the 30yoGF and 30yoRoomie and I have had a great time rocking out to both Guitar Hero 2 & 3. In fact, the final battle at the end of Guitar Hero 3 against the devil playing "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" is still one of the greatest video game final bosses ever!

So now we are in the Dog Days of Summer, and my friend "The Paperboy" agreed to lend me Rock Band. I've heard great things about this game and so I had to give it a shot. Sadly, he doesn't have the drum set, which I'm still dying to play. But let me tell you, even with just the guitar and the mic, the game is intense.

Here I am thinking that the hardest part of this game is going to be the guitar, but in fact, singing is really, really hard. Now, I'm absolutely no vocalist. I have a hard time carrying a tune in the shower, let alone belt out some of the notes in some of these songs. But damn, if it isn't fun trying. And for those of you out there like me, who can't hit a note with a sledgehammer, the only way to play this game is to give it everything you got. If you sing half-assed, you'll quickly find yourself booed off stage and your guitarist pissed off that he has to save you yet again.

So now I sit here reflecting on all of those three games and my overall thoughts on them. First, the Guitar Hero games are much harder. There are many songs that are shared on both GH3 and Rock Band, such as "Mississippi Queen" and the guitar part on Rock Band is stupid easy compared to GH3. Also, I'm not a huge fan of the way that on the World Tour part of Rock Band, you keep playing the same songs over and over again. I've pretty much had my fill of "Blitzkrieg Bop." But all of that is outweighed by the sheer fun of playing together in a band in Rock Band. I can't even imagine the joy of playing with four buddies in the same room together. Also, talk about a family game night. Dad on the drums, Mom on the bass, and the kids on lead guitar and vocals. That's what I'm talking about.

But looking toward the horizon, not all is roses for the Guitar Hero / Rock Band series. They are quickly going to burn themselves out. If this isn't a fad, I don't know what is. First let's look at the sheer volume of games.
1. Guitar Hero (PS2)
2. Guitar Hero 2 (PS2, Xbox 360)
3. Guitar Hero: Rock the 80s (PS2)
4. Guitar Hero 3 (PS2, PS3, 360, Wii)
5. Guitar Hero: On Tour (DS)
6. Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (PS3, 360, Wii)
7. Guitar Hero: World Tour (PS3, 360, Wii)
8. Rock Band (PS2, PS3, 360, Wii)
9. Rock Band: Rock Revolution (PS3, 360)

On top of that is all of the constant downloadable content, that's available for all games, and you can see that the market could get tired of this real fast. It may quickly get to the point where people will have spent more money on these franchises then they did for their systems. I mean if this keeps up then they will run out of quality songs, won't they?

But in the meantime, I'm going to take my guitar and my mic. I'm going to move the tables in my living room and set up my mini stage. And then I'm going to rock out like I've never rocked out before. Because nothing says badass quite like a 30 year old gamer with a plastic toy covered in stickers playing a cover song from Weezer! Oh Yeah!

Until next time,

- The 30 Year Old Gamer

Portable Potential

2008-06-18T10:40:00.005-04:00

So I was just checking through some of my video game blogs the other day when I came across this quick little statistic. Here are the video game console sales for the month of April, according to NPD Research group:

1. Nintendo Wii - 714,000 units
2. Nintendo DS - 414,000 units
3. Sony PSP - 192,000 units
4. XBox 360 - 188,000 units
5. Sony PS3 - 187,100 units

I found this statistic amazing. Not only did the Sony PSP outsell both the Xbox 360 and Sony PS3, but the Nintendo DS sold more units in April than both the 360 and PS3 combined! Wow! That's an amazing statistic. Now I know that there are a lot of kids out there with a Nintendo DS. In fact, I believe that every single kid in the US has one, if not two. But I had no idea it was this large! And how about the Sony PSP? I would never in my wild imagination think that they would outsell either the 360 or the PS3, let alone both of them.This made me think a little bit about my own PSP and how much I use it. Now, I've owned my PSP for what seems like forever. I have probably 15 games for it, ranging from the original Lumines to brand new Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core. And for most of the games I have, I love each and every one of them. I even have a bunch of movies that I can watch on my PSP and when it comes to travelling, there really isn't a better portable entertainment system. I absolutely love it!

And I've seen how many kids play their Nintendo DS's, and its obvious that they love them as well. so here is my question. Why isn't portable gaming getting the press that it deserves?

Seriously. It looks to me as if this is truly where the money is being made in the video game industry. The systems are selling like hotcakes and the users seem to love the systems that they use, so what gives? I think the answer is the stigma of portable gaming. Think about where you have seen people playing video games in public. Is there any situation where that is looked at favorably?

For the Nintendo DS, the only times I've seen that played in public is with kids under the age of 13. Despite what Nintendo is trying to tell us in the commercials, I don't know anyone who owns a Nintendo DS and is over the age of 15. For the PSP, I've seen definitely older gamers, but no one over the age of 25, and it's always either on a bus or on a train. Have you ever seen anyone pull out a PSP in a restaurant or waiting for an oil change? Uh no.

Personally, I only play my PSP in my bedroom behind a closed locked door. A couple months ago I actually started carrying my PSP with me to work and out on the town to see if I could actually find times to play. The result was that I could actually find a time to play, but it would look ridiculous. Can you just imagine the scene? I'm sitting at a bar having a few drinks with the 30yoGF and she goes up to go to the bathroom. While she's gone I turn on my PSP and when she returns I'm half way through the 1st quarter of a game of Madden. Uh, I don't think so. The 30yoGF is very understanding when it comes to my video game playing, but she isn't that forgiving.

Recently, Apple has announced downloadable software for their Iphone, which includes games. There really hasn't been a lot of talk about this, but I believe that this is going to be huge. If the games are comparable to the PSP or DS and you can actually play the games without actually looking like you are playing the games, I think people will jump all over it. If I was Sony, I would be particularly worried, because they are going directly after the Sony PSP customers.

Will it be a Sony PSP killer? I don't think so. But if the games are good enough, you will definitely see those console sales numbers fall dramatically. And then maybe I might be able to get in a couple snaps with Tom Brady while the 30yoGF is in the restroom. "Oh sorry Sweetie. I was just checking my email."

Until next time,

- The 30 Year Old Gamer

The Dog Days of Summer

2008-06-10T17:05:00.010-04:00

I've never truly been a summer person. I have very fair Irish skin, so believe me when I tell you that the sun and I have never been the closest of friends. But a crazy thing happened to me about two years ago. I found myself outside playing softball two days a week, and then golf two days a week, and then going to a BBQ every other week, and before I knew it, I was really enjoying summer. I was having a blast playing softball for a couple hours and then gulping down draft beers for a couple hours after that. It was just the time of my life.

I was trying to remind myself of this fact yesterday afternoon during the third inning of a 28-15 drubbing, as I was burning from the inside out in a balmy 103 degree humid afternoon. As I was sitting there slowly getting skin cancer, all I could think about was going home and sitting in my air conditioned apartment, drinking a very cold alcoholic beverage, and continuing my adventure through Liberty City, in Grand Theft Auto 4. At this point I'm about 2/3rds of the way through the game when it occurred to me...

What am I going to play when I beat this game? Oh that's right...nothing.

That's right folks, we are in the dreaded Dog Days of Summer. In the video game world that means there is going to be absolutely nothing coming out for months. There will be nothing to play, and even less to talk about. You think I'm kidding? I just took a quick browse through GameStop.com and here is what is coming up on their hit list.June 23rd: Battlefield: Bad Company

"Battlefield: Bad Company drops gamers behind enemy lines with a squad of renegade soldiers who risk it all on a personal quest for gold and revenge!"

Nice, I sure haven't played this game ever before. I'm sure this isn't like any other standard war game. You might as well have called it, Clone of Duty 4. June 24th: Alone in the Dark

"Players control Edward Carnby, the main character from the original Alone in the Dark, on a thrilling journey through a dark and terrifying re-creation of New York’s Central Park where Carnby must discover the truth behind a dark conspiracy."

This game looks a little cool with the idea of each stage being it's own 30 minute TV show-like horror episode. But this is more of a rental than anything else. I mean when you tear through this game in like 6-10 hours, what are you going to do with it? Play it again? You know where all of the scares are. June 29th: Guitar Hero - Aerosmith

"Gamers will experience Aerosmith’s GRAMMY winning career, from their first gig to becoming rock royalty, in a way that no other entertainment vehicle offers. "

I love Guitar Hero, and I'll get into more detail on that in another blog, and I was initially really excited about this title. However I took a look at it again and this is a little ridiculous. The graphics are the exact same as Guitar Hero 3. And for $60, you get 12 Aerosmith songs and 8 other songs. You get classic Aerosmith songs such as, "Mr Salty", "Moving Out", "Make It", and "Draw the Line." I'm from Boston and I don't even recognize these songs. I'm starting to think the Guitar Hero franchise is starting to be whored out just like Nintendo whores out Mario. July 29th: Soul Caliber 4

"Swords and Lightsabers will be drawn as NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. and LucasArts today announced that iconic Star Wars characters will appear in Soulcalibur® IV."

Speaking whored out, here comes Yoda and Darth Vader in a middle ages type fighting game. The original Soul Caliber was released over 10 years ago for the original Playstation and it was ground breaking. Now, this is a game that is released during the Dog Days of Summer and will be soon forgotten.

This doesn't even mention all of the other Summer Movie Video Games including Wall-E, Hellboy 2, and The Incredible Hulk which will all suck, as all movie video games do. And don't even get me started on the Nintendo Wii, which has literally NOTHING coming out for it. I mean if all you own is a Nintendo Wii, I would jump all over the opportunity to buy Rock Band or GH: Aerosmith. Seriously, what else is there? With the huge sales in video game consoles over the past 12 months, and everyone's interest at an all-time high, this could be the most disappointing season ever for video games.

And to be honest, I don't know why. The gamers now who are mostly playing these games are older than they have ever been, and they don't need the seasons to judge when they can and can't play games. I understand that people like myself tend to spend more time outside during the summer, but on days like yesterday when I'm on fire, I really would like the opportunity to spend a few hours indoors enjoying the new hot video game release.

So instead of looking forward this summer, I plan on looking backward, and I suggest you do the same. I'm going to take these next couple of months and I'm going to catch up on some of the big video games that I just didn't get time to play over the winter. I'm looking forward to a little Rock Band, Call of Duty 4, and maybe the Orange Box. So you can go ahead and spend your $60 on rarely heard Aerosmith tracks, I'm going to use that money for a drum kit and rock out to Rock Band. That is if my sunburn goes away first.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year Old Gamer

All The Snakes I've Loved Before

2008-06-03T10:50:00.009-04:00

This past weekend The 30Yo GF and I went to the movies to see the new Indiana Jones film. I've heard from many people that they either loved it or hated it. And while I won't get into the details of why I liked the film, I can see both sides of this arguement. However, there was a scene early in the film where Indy is stuck in quick sand and the only way to help him out was to throw him a very large snake to grab onto. I basically freaked out in the theather to the delight of everyone around me.

See, I'm very afraid of snakes. If I see one in real life I basically shut down. I can't even see a snake on TV without getting crazy heebee jeebees. But that's not to say that I don't like all snakes. There is one snake that I have been in love with for ten years, and that snake's name is Solid Snake. He's the main character in the video game series Metal Gear Solid. Next week is the PS3 release of the next installment of this series, Metal Gear Solid 4. Next Thursday, for the first time in forever, I will not be in line to get my copy, and this is a very sad fact. You see, I used to be a die hard Sony lover. I had the original Playstation and then Playstation 2. But now because of the sub-par way that Sony handled the launch of the PS3, I was forced to change my colors and became a die-hard Microsoft Xbox lover. And for the most part this has been a fantastic decision. I've been able to enjoy great games like Halo 3, Gears of War, and Bioshock. Yes, I know that Bioshock is now coming to the PS3. Congrats PS3 fans. Get excited to play a game that I beat the shit out of over 6 months ago. Never has there been ever a slight bit of regret in my decision...until now.

I sort of feel like I just broke up with a good friend or a girlfriend. It's like they have decided to move on in their life and have left me behind. When something like that happens, I feel a little nostalgic. I like to look back at all of the good times that we had together, and I think I'll do that here.

About ten years ago, I was in college and I had just graduated from a Nintendo 64 to my first Playstation. It was right around that time when a brand new game was released that had a lot of hype surrounding it. That game was Metal Gear Solid. Metal Gear Solid and I hit it off immediately. The main character of the game gets dropped off in a military base that's completely controlled by terrorists and the only weapon he has on him is a pack of cigarettes. Oh fuck yeah! You spend a majority of the beginning of the game sneaking around the enemies trying not to get noticed. It's like the movie Die Hard on crack. The game play was innovative and engaging and very smart. No run and gun here. You jump out from your hiding spot, and your dead. It's that simple. Quickly you start to see that this is just not some simple terrorist occupation. There is more to this than meets the eye, and the same is true with the game as well. It's more than just sneaking around and killing enemies quietly. Oh no. The head terrorists are American elite super soldiers and each one of them has a deep rich back story and special abilities. As Snake gets deeper into the game, he confronts each one of these bosses, and each battle could be a final battle of the game. They are that memorable.

Fast forward to the end of the game and Snake realizes that the terrorists are led by his engineered half brother, called Liquid Snake. They have taken this base to capture it's main prize, a bi-pedal walking tank with the ability to launch nuclear weapons. This monster, is called Metal Gear...hence the name of the game.

The ending was fantastic with a great battle and a great twist. I played and beat the game at least 4 times during my college years. And sitting here thinking about it, makes me want to go back and play the game again. It is definitely one of my favorite 5 games all time.

Then came the sequel...
This was a huge let down. There's really not much else to say. It was for the Playstation 2, so the graphics were much better. But this time instead of focusing on the main character, Solid Snake, you play this wimp of a character, Rayden, who just sucks in every way a main character could suck. It's like walking into Die Hard 4 thinking you get be Bruce Willis, but instead you play the wimpy kid from the Apple computer commercials. What a rip off.

Add on top of that there were so many plot twists and confusing story lines that when the game ends you are left sitting there wondering what the hell happend. "Did I just win? Is that it? That is how it ends?"At least the entire series was redeemed with Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater which came out about two years later. Now calling this Metal Gear Solid 3 is a little bit of a mistake. It actually should be called Metal Gear Solid Zero, because it actually takes place long before the events of the first game. It takes place during the Cold War around the Cuban Missle Crisis and the character you play is Solid Snake's dad, the original Snake. In this game he finds himself in an Asain jungle and he's has to stop Russain extremists from stealing the original prototype for Metal Gear and launching a nuclear strike against the United States and starting World War 3.

They reverted back to all of the great things about the original game here. You start in the jungle with no weapons and a pack of smokes. But they added a whole new element here. You need health, but also energy. What's the difference? Well, if you get shot, you lose health. If you run around the jungle for hours, you lose energy. Once all of your energy is depleted, you lose health. You can get medpacks to get your health back, but the only way to get energy is to hunt in the jungle. The most common prey...snakes. You kill a snake, you eat it, you get energy. Awesome. That's right my slimy evil friends, it's fucking pay back time!

The game ended with a fantastic battle between Snake and his mentor, Big Boss, who had switched sides to join the Russians. During the battle I remember her telling Snake about the roles of soldier. And how there are never really any allegances for a solider, just another battle. Politicians determine who is good and who is bad, but for a soldier it's always just the mission. It was a fantastic ending to a great journey...and it's the last Metal Gear Solid game I will ever play.

The upcoming release of Metal Gear Solid 4 is just another example of how Sony has really lost touch. First of all, this game should have been released over a year ago. This game should have been a launch title for the PS3. Give people a reason to buy the system. Instead, they have endlessly delayed the game to the point that it's now being released in the summer and the game is almost irrelevant, which is disappointing.

I've also been reading that Konami has been telling Video Game reviewers that in order to recieve an advanced copy of the game to review, they are not allowed to tell about how long cut scenes are (rumored to be over 90 mins), and how long the initial update download takes. That's rediculous! And lots of reviewers are refusing to review the game in response. Well done I say.

The game looks great though. I've put the trailer up on the left for you to take a look at. The game takes place well after the events of Metal Gear Solid 2. Snake looks much older, but he's the same old Solid Snake. I really hope this game is successful. In fact, I really hope the game gets ported over to the Xbox 360. Think of it as a thanks for us sending over Bioshock. I doubt it will happen, but if it does, you can bet I'll be first in line to buy it.

Until that day comes though, I'll still have my memories of one of the best video game franchises ever. Good luck Snake, hopefully you will grow old gracefully, much like the 30 Year Old Gamer.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year Old Gamer

Karting Through Life

2008-05-28T09:37:00.007-04:00

Growing older can be a very difficult proposition. Throughout my life, I've met and become friends with many people from all walks of life. And while each one of these people add something different to my journey, I've found that it is very true that "A friend of a friend, is not necessarily my friend." I like all of my friends very much, however in many situations some of my friends don't necessarily like some of my other friends.

I'm sure I'm not saying anything you don't know. I mean how many times have you seen someone's wife not exactly appreciate her husband's old college frat buddies? I can think of a few just off of the top of my head. But that's not to say that they can't get along, they just need to find some common ground. I've done my best throughout my life to bridge this gap and find this common ground.

I think the same can be said for video games. In this new generation, there are many different people playing video games and while they play them for the same reason (to have fun), they definitely play them very differently. Some may play them by themselves, while others play them with their entire family. My girlfriend (The 30YO GF) is relatively new to video games and plays them mostly with her little niece or with me. She uses video games to have fun and to better connect to the people close to her. Myself? I play video games with myself, my roommate (The 30Yo Roomie) and of course The 30Yo GF.

As you can imagine it's very difficult to find a bridge to bring all parties together. It's almost impossible to bring The 30Yo GF to play an online Halo 3 deathmatch, and it's equally impossible to get The 30Yo Roomie to sit down and play Super Paper Mario. But every so often there is a game that accomplishes this very difficult task, and that game is...

Mario Kart WiiIn case you are living under a rock, here is what the game is about. You can pick any famous Nintendo character and put them into either a Go-Kart or motorcycle and you race each other around various maps to see who wins. On the maps you can pick up various weapons to try either propel you faster (mushroom) or slow down the karts ahead of you (shells). The races are crazy, zaney, and lots of fun.

And that is really why I like this game so much. Its a ton of fun to play. First it's very easy to play. All you do is press the gas and steer using either the enclosed wheel or the nunchuk and wiimote. Anyone can do this. Also, the maps are easily laid out and very fair. It doesn't matter if you just picked up the controller or have been playing the game for years, anyone has a chance to take home the gold medal.

Since it's the Nintendo Wii, the graphics aren't the Hi-def monsters that we're used to with the Xbox 360, and the sound is your basic beeps and whirls. But you know what? It doesn't matter. Because when you are barely holding onto first place screaming through a mall on the final lap with your girlfriend and roomie right on your ass, screaming for you to fuck up, you don't really notice that the sound of your Kart could be a little more realistic.

One of the things that is frustrating with this game is that right from the outset at least half of everything is locked, and you need to play the single player modes to unlock them. And while it is still fun to play just against the computer, it's not really the way you want to play this game. I'm sitting on the couch by myself and my roomie walks in wanting to play. What am I supposed to say, "Actually, can you wait like 30 minutes? I'm trying to unlock the Star course." Riiiiiight.

Overall, Mario Kart Wii is a very fun game. And it's a fun game that everyone can play. You can easily turn off Grand Theft Auto 4 for an hour or so and play with your apartment full of buddies and have a good laugh. Or you can easily gather the family around the Nintendo Wii and have a game night to see who really is the King of the Kart. If you have a Wii, this game is an easy must buy. I would even say that you could get an extra wheel for $15. The game is more fun using it than the standard old controllers.

Life can be tough sometimes. It can be tough finding some common ground that brings everyone together. It's very rare when something like that comes along. Maybe it's someone's birthday or a wedding. Video games are no different. It's really nice to say that Mario Kart Wii is such an occasion. Play together and enjoy...just avoid the blue shell.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year Old Gamer

Can't We All Just Get Along?

2008-05-20T09:14:00.006-04:00

Being 30 years old has a lot of things going against it. First of all, you're 30. That's pretty much enough said on that topic. However, being 30 also has a lot of things going for it. Like for instance the fact that I'm a professional with a nice career and a very nice paycheck each month. That paycheck allows for me to splurge on some of the things in the world that I've always wanted. I can take trips to Las Vegas, get box seats to the Red Sox, or buy the 30 Year Old Gamer's ridiculously large TV.

It also allows me to be one of the lucky few to have more than one gaming console. I'm lucky enough to own both a Xbox 360 and a Nintendo Wii. This is very nice for me since it allows me to play a whole wide range of games depending on whatever I feel like at the time. One night I might be playing Gears of War and chainsawing people's heads in half and the next I could be playing Zelda and fishing in a pond for food for a hungry cat. However I find myself asking the question:

Am I a "Casual Gamer" or a "Hard-Core Gamer"?

Well since I really like playing Grand Theft Auto 4 and playing in huge multiplayer Halo 3 battles, I guess I must be a "Hard-Core Gamer". But on the other hand, I've been having a great time playing Mario Kart Wii and Wii Sports, so I must be a "Casual Gamer". Man I'm so confused. Who's side should I be on? What sort of "Gamer" am I? I must know!!! If I don't figure this out, how can I possible have any opinion on video games?

Are you fucking kidding me?

Who the hell came up with these terms anyway? My guess is it was some stupid fat kid who had been outcast his entire life and the only friends he had was his video games. And now he doesn't like that video games have become mainstream popular. So he comes up with a term that sort of puts him into some sort of stupid elite class of video game players called "Hard-core Gamers". Oh, and he's not alone. All of these social rejects have now rallied behind the "Hard-core" banner, and they can be seen everywhere.

Have you read or listened to any of the reviews for some of these new games that are out on the market? It reads more of a resume of the reviewer than an actual review of the game that is being reviewed. Take Mario Kart Wii for example. It seems the only person qualified to review such a game must have played every single iteration of the game dating all the way back to the original Super Nintendo.

"Though the fundamental Mario Kart experience has remained generally the same, there are several changes that can greatly impact gameplay. Drifting mechanics in particular have changed dramatically, both to make it easier to perform for beginners and as a countermeasure against the controversial technique known as snaking." - GameSpot

Nicely done guys, but is the game fun? You will have to read two and half pages of text before the reviewer finally relents and lets you know that indeed Mario Kart Wii is fun if you can get past the driving mechanics, graphical faults, and every other nit pick he can think of.

Look, video games are meant to be fun. They are meant to be enjoyed. Some people prefer to enjoy them with others, while other people prefer to play with themselves. Either way, I think that we should just eliminate the banners of "Casual" and "Hard-core". Why segregate a niche market that has finally become mainstream? We should all be playing as one nation, under one banner called "Gamers". Whether you are new to video games or have been playing games since the 80's, we are all in this together. And the more we are united, the better the industry and, most importantly, the games are going to be.
Here's to hoping for a new brighter future of video games led by the Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, and (I guess) the PS3. Welcome to the United Nation of Gamers. Now lets bring on the games!

Until next time,

- The 30 Year Old Gamer

Grand Theft Thoughts

2008-05-16T10:34:00.006-04:00

I had just stolen a police cruiser by pulling out the officer and shooting him in the face. I drove down the street and parked my new ride and looked up the name of a real bad guy (I guess I'm just a good bad guy) on the police computer. After finding out where he was, I drove the car to his apartment where he jumped out the back window into his car and fled. This led me into a high speed pursuit in my new cop car firing a semi-automatic weapon out the window trying to blow out one of his tires. When he turned into JFK airport, I knew I had him. I quickly caught up to him and sprayed his car full of bullet holes. He lost control of the car into a bunch of people entering one of the terminals. As he climbed out of his destroyed vehicle I was ready. I aimed closely and pulled the trigger and this drug dealer fell over in a bloody mess, and I earned a cool $2000 for my trouble.

This is just one of a hundred standard missions in the new game Grand Theft Auto 4.

This game has been debated hotly over the past couple of weeks. One side says that this game is the prime example of what's wrong with the video game industry and will corrupt the youth of America and will lead to the downfall of society. The other side says that this game is pure perfection and is simply the greatest game ever made will never be topped. The truth, as always, lies somewhere in between.

Obviously, this game is not for the kiddies. With the adult content of murder, drugs, sex, and everything else your 8 year-old son can wait a few years before hitting the streets of Liberty City. But this game is also not for the "casual gamer". If you are new to video games and just picked up your Nintendo Wii and love Wii Bowling, you can also pass on this. Because to do what I described in the story above you need to basically use each one of your fingers precisely and with purpose. I actually think I had to break my pinkie finger on my left hand so I could turn the annoying police siren off. And, if you forget just for a second what the B button does, then the drug dealer gets away and you have to start the mission all over again.

Now I have never been a big fan of the earlier titles in this series. I always found them very repetitive. Steal a car, drive here, pick something up, drive back. That is basically the game over and over again. But this game is different. It truly is a blast just to roll through the streets and have a great time. The detail in the game is incredible. The game takes place in the fictitious Liberty City. But Liberty City is just a mock up of New York City and rolling through Times Square in a thunder storm in a Hummer with Smashing Pumpkins playing is just a very memorable experience. Or stealing a helicopter and taking a flyby of the Statue of Liberty (er. The Statue of Happiness), is just a freaking great time.

Is this game the downfall of our society? I don't know, was Goodfellas? Because I would put the content in this game right up there with the content of that movie. Both were very graphic, but only one is based on a true story. Look, I'm not going to tell you whether your 14 year old should be playing this game or not. But I think that this is a great opportunity for people to do some real good parenting. Play the game with your kids and talk to them about it. Talk about how this game shouldn't be taken so seriously and should be taken for what it actually is....a game.

For the rest of us though, the ones who don't have to worry about such heavy social issues and are just looking for a good time, a good escape, and a good story, is this game fun? Absolutely! It's the most fun I've had on my Xbox 360 since Halo 3. My roommate and I argue over who gets to play next. You don't see that happening with games like Army of Two.

So is the game for everyone? No, not by a long shot. Is it the greatest game ever made? No even close. If everyone can't play the game, then it can't be perfect. But it is very very good, and is well worth a purchase.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to hijack a helicopter and fly it underneath the Brooklyn Bridge.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year Old Gamer

Let's Try This Again

2008-05-16T10:03:00.002-04:00

My drive to work in the morning is long. I mean it's crazy long. So long in fact that if you ever pass me on the road and look into my Jeep Liberty you are going to see a very nice treat. You are going to see me in the middle of a very intense conversation with....myself. That's right, every morning I engage myself in a very intense debate over what ever topic is on my mind at that very moment. I'm using hand gestures, I'm swearing, and I'm completely content.

The topics in the morning range from the important (like if I ever see anyone texting while driving I'm going to kill them) to the non-sensical (popcorn should always be the preferred movie watching snack over candy). They are debates that I've had with my friends, debates I plan to have with my friends, and debates no one in their right mind should ever have with anyone. This is how I spend my over hour commute in heavy traffic every morning.

I'm telling you this because it was a few days ago, I was driving to work really tired because the night before I didn't go to bed until after 1am. The reason? I was up playing Mario Kart Wii by myself. I had just gotten the game that day and played it until I lost track of time. That morning my debate was against anyone who would argue that I have no right playing a game made for a child past 1am. I was defending myself against the "hard-core gamer". My argument ended with two realizations. The first, is that I played the game because I like playing video games. If the game is fun, then it doesn't matter that the graphics aren't as strong, or the maps are just pulled from older versions of the same game. All that matters is the game is fun. That's why we play.

The second realization that morning was that I needed to start my blog back up again. This is actually my second version of this blog. The first on MySpace, I abandoned months ago. And for my loyal readers (all 3 of you), I'm sorry. MySpace is surfblocked at work and I don't really feel like blogging when I get home. I never truly understood that. Why would someone waste time blogging about playing video games when they could actually be playing video games. But I've always had many opinions on video games and they are from a different perspective than most you would read about.

First, I'm not a critic and I'm not being paid. I'm a fan of video games. I'm always looking for the good things about them. I'm not looking to pick them apart. I'm not looking for what small minute thing is wrong or could be improved. No, I'm simply looking to have a good time and to escape from reality for a little bit. If the game is fun, then I like it.

Second, I'm a 30 year old gamer. I live in one of the busiest places on the planet, New York City. I have plenty of friends and there is always plenty to do. On the weekends you won't find me in front of my ridiculously large TV playing against 14 year-olds online. No, I'm in some of the hottest bars in either Hoboken or the Village having the time of my life. During the week, when I'm not working my ass off, I'm usually shooting pool or playing softball. It's between all of this when I find times for video games. It is this perspective that I bring to the table.

So sit back and relax and I hope you enjoy the ride. I'll try to update this at least once a week with whatever video game thoughts are running through my head at that moment. And if for some reason I can't think of a good topic today...there is always tomorrow morning's commute.

Until next time,

- The 30 Year Old Gamer