.the gpb kids. » Video Games

7 Games Over 4 Weeks

Mike — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:28:54 +0000

Next Tuesday begins four weeks of gaming madness for me. Seven titles are coming out in that time frame that I want to play. That’s over $300! (Don’t tell my lady.) Let’s run down the list.

Napoleon: Total War (Feb 23)

Despite its flaws, I loved Empire: Total War. It’s surprising to see a full sized release within a year of the previous game, but who am I to complain. I’m hoping they’ve cleared up some of the weird AI issues but I think I’d be pretty satisfied if was just an expansion.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (March 2)

I’ve purchased all of the Battlefield titles starting with Battlefield 2. The large maps, squad tactics and vehicle battles have improved with each iteration. And I think 2008′s Bad Company took everyone by surprise by adding a solid single player campaign to go along with the established multi-player experience that the Battlefield franchise is known for. From what I’ve played in the beta and demo, Bad Company 2 looks to be another great Battlefield title.

Supreme Commander 2 (March 2)

When I first played Supreme Commander in 2007 I thought it was going to change the genre. I remember seeing Company of Heroes at E3 that year and asking the attendant “Is that as far as you can zoom out?” The guy looked at me with contempt before his truncated “yes.” Three years later and it’s hard to believe that every RTS game has not adopted the ability to zoom out enough to see the entire map. I’m ready for more large scale warfare with looping factory queues, complicated patrol routes and synchronized, multi-faceted attacks.

Final Fantasy XIII (March 9)

The last final fantasy game that I played was Final Fantasy IX. The last one that I beat was Final Fantasy VI. This is the first time I’ve been interested in the Final Fantasy series in a long time. This isn’t a definite purchase for me yet but I’m feeling pretty optimistic about riding chocobos in the near future.

Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising (March 12)

I bought Dawn of War and all of its expansions and when I first played the second game I was disappointed to only play with four units instead of the army that I had previously commanded. But that disappointed quickly evaporated as I got deeper into the game. The RPG elements took over and I became engrossed enough to play through the campaign once on normal and again on the most difficult setting of primarch. I still harass snider and try to get him to play co-op with me. So I’m excited to play through another campaign and renew my co-op harassment.

Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight (March 16)

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed playing Command & Conquer 3. Previously I wasn’t much of a fan to the series, but the latest installment felt so polished that I quickly played through each of the campaigns. This is another game that I’m not positive I’ll buy, but I’m eager to find out how the addition of classes (offense, defense, support) changes the game. I’m more of a defensive RTS player myself.

God of War III (March 16)

Back in 2007, God of War II marked the end of the PlayStation 2 for me. It was the last game that I played on that console and even though I have a PS3 with backwards compatibility, I haven’t played a PS2 title since then. I was impressed with the GoW visuals in 2007 and from what I’ve seen of God of War III, I will not be disappointed.

So there it is, my next four weeks, all planned out.

There’s a Zombie on your Lawn

Mike — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 21:28:12 +0000

In the event of a zombie apocalypse, perhaps we can use our garden plants to protect us.

MAG

Mike — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:27:30 +0000

Another game that looks good if they get it right. Looks like Battlefield 2 but on a much larger scale.

Dawn of War II

Mike — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:52:41 +0000

Can’t wait!!

More Halo 3 Fun

Mike — Tue, 20 May 2008 21:28:24 +0000

Team Gay vs Team Flaming Day 2 from Mike Horn on Vimeo.

Videos sure do take a long time to edit.

A little Halo 3 fun

Mike — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:47:53 +0000

Team Gay vs Flaming Ninjas from Mike Horn on Vimeo.

Go it alone

Mike — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 22:53:06 +0000

I’ve never liked that phrase. It doesn’t make any sense and just makes the English language more confusing than it already is. But apparently people use it in this situation. Friday was my last day working for Yahoo!. I’ve decided to do my own thing for a little while. I have some money saved up to last a while on my own and I want to start a non profit that I’ve been thinking about for the last year or so. Also it’s a good time to re-evaluate what I’m doing and where I’m going with my life. Melodramatic isn’t it?

In other news, Jules has been playing the same level in PixelJunk Monsters for several hours now. As you can see by the picture below, she is very determined to beat it.

CAL Marching Band

Mike — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 01:25:38 +0000

Almost makes me want to go to a football game… almost.

Best Halo 3 Review Ever

Mike — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 18:31:25 +0000

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this review are not necessarily mine.

Team Fortress 2, World in Conflict and more Medieval 2

Mike — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 01:03:34 +0000

I’ve been staying up playing a lot of video games this week. The Team Fortress 2 Beta came out this week after an initial delay for those who pre-purchased the Half-Life 2 Orange Box. Artistically it is excellent and it seems to have stuck to the core game play of the original Team Fortress faithfully. It’s integrated really well into the new Steam community features as well. So while you’re playing you can shift+tab to get the Steam Community overlay where you can chat with your friends online. It makes it really easy to join a game that your friend is already playing in. And the stat tracking is nice as well.

Since the engineer is my favorite class, I thought I’d share this little introduction with you.

I also picked up World in Conflict, the game I’ve been raving about for months now. Unfortunately it kept freezing on high graphical settings. It would run with a decent framerate and then suddenly freeze. I downloaded all of the new drivers (one of which came out yesterday) and some hotfixes for Vista. I went through four or five tries of changing graphical settings. And then I changed everything to medium quality. At that setting you switch from DX10 to DX9, and it worked. So that sucked. I mean, great that it stopped freezing in the middle of the game, but sucks that I can’t play it at a higher setting. Hopefully a patch or something will come out that fixes it.

And of course there’s the ever present Medieval 2 which I’ve been avoiding for the past couple days. My ally attacked my practically undefended castle and I don’t want to fight that battle. Not only does my castle have a small garrison, but the attacking army is probably the biggest I’ve ever seen. They have all kinds of catapults and trebuchets and things. I must think on how I’m going to retaliate and crush them!