Stories tagged as "Video Game"

I’ve been playing Battle for Middle Earth 2 lately

Posted by liquilife on 07/16 at 10:00 AM

I recently picked up Battle For Middle Earth 2 recently for the Xbox 360. I wasn’t sure what to expect from a Real Time Stragety game for a console. I was pleasantly surprised however.

Posted by liquilife on 07/16 at 10:00 AM | 0 comments | Permalink
Tagged under: review, video game, xbox 360

Halo Wars - The next big RTS for the Xbox 360

Posted by liquilife on 09/27 at 09:49 PM

Have you heard? Ensemble Studios is in the process of creating a RTS (real time strategy) game exclusively for the Xbox 360 based upon the Halo characters. The game is simple titled Halo Wars. It’s quite easy to figure out what the two races will be. In case you don’t know Esemble Studios are the ones responsible for the Age of Empires series which has been a smashing success for the PC. I’m quite hopeful that Halo Wars will offer intuitive controls given the limitations of using a controller. This, hopefully, will be that huge break the Xbox 360 needs to introduce RTS games full swings to it’s console which is the one sore spot. I know, there is Battle for Middle Earth which is a decent offering for the console. In my opinion there is a LOT of room for RTS games to grow still yet.

I am no Halo fanatic but this game is still yet very compelling. It should be interesting to see how the hype works out as well as how it coordinates with this game called Halo 3. I’ve stuck the trailer for Halo Wars right in front of your face here for easy viewing but you can also download a very high resolution trailer at the Halo Wars official site.

Posted by liquilife on 09/27 at 09:49 PM | 0 comments | Permalink
Tagged under: video, video game, xbox 360

Banjo and Kazooie coming for the Xbox 360

Posted by liquilife on 09/28 at 09:19 AM

I love X06. It was recently announced this morning that Banjo and Kazooie will be released for the Xbox360. That is about all the information we have at the moment. Oh, I also have a trailer for you to watch as well, enjoy!

Banjo and Kazooie has a special place in my video game heart. Being a late comer to the Nintendo64 console this was the first game I played. Having switched over from the PlayStation this was a huge breath of fresh air. The colors were stunning and the characters were, at the time, funny. A bear with a bird in his backpack was an easy character to relate with in the oddest of ways. Jinjos were fun to save or ignore and laugh at. Collecting a puzzle piece was like finding a dollar bill on the ground. Good times. Let’s see if Rare can bring that type of excitement once again.

Posted by liquilife on 09/28 at 09:19 AM | 0 comments | Permalink
Tagged under: video, video game, xbox 360

My Xbox360 Died

Posted by liquilife on 10/20 at 09:39 AM

Having just finally gotten my vision camera from Amazon I was excited to plug it in and try this tiny camera out. While I am fighting to open the hard plastic case thoughts run through my mind about what kind of crazy pictures I can now send all my friends or even what tyep of picture I’ll snap for use in my gamertile. 20 minutes later I finally get the hard plastic case ripped to shreds and squeeze out the contents of the vision camera and my new headset. Excitedly I turn on my Xbox to see what wondrous things will happen now that I’ve got the vision camera plugged in. Oops, 4 red lights shine through the big round power button. Well, let me double check the connections. This happened once before, the power supply had become partially unplugged. I test all the connections and boot up the bad boy again. Four red lights. Again, again and again. Four red lights.

Yes, my Xbox died. I have no idea what is wrong with it but I am now awaiting for my hospital box to arrive from Xbox. I knew this would happen sooner or later, after all it’s happened with 70% of my friends who also own an Xbox. Thankfully Xbox has extended their warranty so it will come at no cost to me. But I still have to ask, why me? Why at a time with SplinterCell is released and the new Rainbow game around the corner?

I guess I will look forward to the renovated piece of crap that Xbox will surely send me. Until then Anna and I will have to share her Xbox which will surely create a few arguments. :D

Posted by liquilife on 10/20 at 09:39 AM | 0 comments | Permalink
Tagged under: video game, xbox 360

Age of Mythology

Posted by liquilife on 12/01 at 02:05 AM

My brother and I recently each purchased Age of Mythology. Having been a big fan of Age of Empires this game looked promising. I wasn’t too worried that this game has been out for several years. Having still played Age of Empires, which is even older, there was still lots of competitive fun to be had.

Age of Mythology is your typical RTS game created by Ensemble Studios. Just as in Age of Empires it seems to require little computer resources. I have no issues maxing out resolution, game detail and other enhancement settings while all the while using Skype to keep the audio trash talking going while playing. A little history between my brother and I for RTS games…

My brother introduced me to Age of Empires back in 2000. The first handful of games he easily destroyed me. I was learning the game and he would just literally march into m town with a group of Knights, Archers, siege weapons and other army members. I was helpless. All I could do was try and defend myself. He gloated in his victories. I studied, studied and studied. After a week or so of random research on speed building and other Age of Empires tactics I challenged him to yet another game. It paid off. I suddenly was on the offensive and came marching into his town with a heard of fighting elephants, way too many siege weapons and a group of expert archers second to none. I could have performed a victory dance I was so proud of my achievement. It all went downhill for him after that. I went on to win the next several matches until it came a point where the game was no longer fun for him. Which I understood. So we took a long break from our competitive RTS matches.

My brother bravely started challenging me to online play of Age of Mythology. Maybe a new game would bring new results, I’m sure that is what he was thinking. First three games, sure enough, he stomped my ass. I was on the defensive and eventually my town was crushed to a smoldering pit of fire. However, as with AOE, I learned. The past few games I’ve managed to pull off a few lopsided victories. Here is to hoping my brother can pick up some serious strategies in the game so that the competition will remain equal and, more importantly, fun.

Anyways, I doubt any of you all care about my video game habits.

Posted by liquilife on 12/01 at 02:05 AM | 0 comments | Permalink
Tagged under: video game, brother, age of mythology

Viva Pinata and a bag o’ crack

Posted by liquilife on 12/13 at 10:09 AM

Recently a friend was nice enough to swap Xbox360 games with me for a while. This is all good because I simply don’t have the money to buy every damned new game I want to play. So we swapped Splinter Cell and Viva Pinata. “This game is addicting” he warns me as we hand over games. I brushed off the comment as just small talk.

I opened up the game and my wife started playing. Now my wife is a busy person. She doesn’t sit at a game for 6 hours at a time usually. She is ok with an hour here and an hour later in the week. That is her tendencies. I should have known something was wrong when the next day she was glued to the game for 8+ hours. But honestly all I was thinking about was “Ooooh, pretty colors, when is it my turn to play??”.

Well, that night I had my chance to play. Viva Pinata is an endless game that can pull you in for many hours at a time in the blink of an eye. The goal is simple: You build a garden with the many tools and processes the game gives you. Pinata animals wander into your garden and you do certain things to your garden to convince that Pinata to live in your garden. That’s it. Sounds very simple. It’s not. The possibilities of what you can do with your garden is endless. Making money, romancing your Pinatas and doing what you can to attract new Pinatas.

So last night I was up til 2am growing my “Gem trees” and taking the gems that drop to the ground and converting them to “Rainbow Gems” from which at that point I would sell them. Before that I was growing and harvesting Chili Peppers. The point is that there are hundreds and hundreds of ways to make money in your garden which in turn allows you to keep adding or adjusting the garden.

If there was one goal in this game it would be to have your Garden value be the highest possible. This seems to be the only benchmark you can compare with other friends on Xbox-live. So, my goal at this point is to sell off all my cheap pinatas and continue to breed and attract only the most exotic and expensive Pinatas. Wish me luck!

Posted by liquilife on 12/13 at 10:09 AM | 0 comments | Permalink
Tagged under: video game, xbox 360, viva pinata

The Nintendo Wii - Wow

Posted by liquilife on 01/27 at 09:05 AM

Not to long ago I found out that Nintendo had a big shipment of the Nintendo Wii going out to all the major retailers. Having missed out on getting one this far I figured it was a great opportunity to get my hands on this thing. But how could I convince my wife that it was high time to get a Nintendo Wii? While she wanted one she was certainly in no hurry - until she learned that the Nintendo Wii could be used as a fitness tool to lose weight. That was all we needed to hear and we were prepared to camp at BestBuy for a few hours before opening!

We showed up to BestBuy at 8am and were #2 in line. Target, which was right next door, opened their doors at 8am but only had 12 consoles which were all numbered off already. BestBuy had 30 and we were very safely at #2. Right about opening time there were probably 50 or more people in line. The picture 2nd below was at about 9am right when they started handing out tickets with numbers. When the doors were opened me and another gentlemen bought up almost every accessory available on a little table stand before anyone else even had a shot to see there were extra numchucks, etc.

So now I am one of 4+million people to own a Nintendo Wii. My wife plays daily engaging in the fitness aspect of the console. I have to admit - after a few days of playing I was very, very, very sore! People warned me but it’s just one of them phenomenons you have to experience yourself.  With having purchased the extra Wii-mote, Nunchuck, 1GB SD card and the Virtual Console controller I decided that we’ll just have to suffer with Wii-Sports for now and wait on purchasing Zelda. Anyways, I have my Wii and I’m happy, Anna is happy and my cat hates us as usual.

Posted by liquilife on 01/27 at 09:05 AM | 0 comments | Permalink
Tagged under: video game, zelda, wii

Xbox360 number 4 and counting

Posted by liquilife on 03/26 at 09:04 PM

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I received my 3rd replacement via UPS today. Being that the last replacement was dead on arrival I thought luck would have to be in my favor this time. Boy was I wrong. The first Xbox360 I ordered through Amazon. It worked for about 6 months before I experienced the red lights of death. I dealt with this for a few months and finally got off my lazy ass and contacted support. They agreed to replace it at no charge. Unfortunately the one they sent did not work at all. So I called and had that one replaced. Well, the one that just arrived does not work as well! Once this one is replaced I will be on my 4th Xbox360. I used to heavily favor the Xbox, but not anymore. Not having been able to play for well over 2 months kinda makes it difficult to retain any respect for the console. At this point I deem the Xbox360 officially a brick of shit.

Posted by liquilife on 03/26 at 09:04 PM | 0 comments | Permalink
Tagged under: video game, xbox 360, microsoft

My Xbox360 works - sort of

Posted by liquilife on 03/30 at 05:28 AM

In an update to my previous post about the Xbox 360 fiasco with dead replacements, I was contacted by an Xbox 360 specialist, Yolanda. I know this is going to sound racist, but I don’t care. It was nice to finally receive some support for my Xbox 360 from someone who lived in the same country as me! I don’t know what it is, but when you talk to a support specialist and they have the heavy, thick foreign accent, I immediately feel discouraged. Sure, they apologize profusely for your problems, but what do they care in the end? Afterall, it’s hard to care about someone you don’t know who is across the Ocean from you.

Back on track. Yolanda put in a request for my next replacement to be a brand new Xbox 360. That request was approved. Three cheers for getting out of refurbish hell!

For now, I will just have to deal with the one I currently have which works one night and not the next.

Posted by liquilife on 03/30 at 05:28 AM | 0 comments | Permalink
Tagged under: video game, xbox 360, microsoft