The New Experience

So the New Xbox Experience, or NXE, has arrived... and I have to say I'm not exactly overwhelmed by it.

I wasn't expecting much out of it, so I can't really say I'm underwhelmed by it. I'm just not really whelmed at all.

The biggest feature is the avatars. First of all, why do these things not have names? Maybe I'll call them "Personal Avatars for the New Xbox Experience" or PANXEs (pansies). I guess that's my name for them since Microsoft didn't seem to bother naming them. How did they pass up a chance to trademark a new word? Someone's getting fired when Bill Gates eventually learns of this.

My biggest gripe with the Panxes is the limited options. No rearranging of features, no custom color options, and everybody stands in the exact same just-got-off-a-horse pose.

Microsoft, please let the Panxes have a chance to stand out; in the very least, take a page from Rock Band and let us select an "attitude."

I'm not sure letting a British company design the virtual likeness of American gamers was the best choice to begin with, but my experience has been that not a great deal of the gaming population is cutesy and adorably shy. We need some over-the-top moods to choose from, something not unheard of in this land of internet. Let me be nervous, angry, cheery, tipsy, confused, dopey, achy, or even rude.

Apart from that, the clothes could use much more of a selection. As my friend Ric inquired as he was dressing his Panxe, "Where are the grown up pants?" Not every gamer is a minor; we could use a lot more adult options. And that goes for the look of the panxes as well. Not only does everybody stand the same way, they all look the same age. Apparently they're preparing us for a euthanasia society.

And how about some layering options? Maybe I have seven moles on my face, why can't I speckle on more than one? Why can't I wear my xbox t-shirt over my long sleeve shirt? It is cold outside you know. But perhaps the long sleeve shirt would been fine... if I could change the color and add a logo!

Customization technology has been around quite a while, I don't know why they choose to ignore most of it. Perhaps Microsoft should have kept their Panxes to themselves until they were ready to give us an entire sandwich as opposed to just crumbs.

Return of the Thing

Weird thing about creating art as a continuous project... it can so easily be derailed.

Our house was robbed a few months back. They took my computer and my video game consoles, among other things. It's difficult to produce a comic strip about video games when you can't play games, nor can I digitize my artwork. Plus, all of the strips would have ended bitterly, either with violent bludgeoning of villains or sad depression of heroes. That doesn't exactly fit the mold of what my comic is about.

But, weeks have passed. Paranoia and resentment for the world have died down. Computing and gaming set-ups have been re-established. Scores of games await to be played. I just lack the motivation.

I still need to overcome the frustration of a steeper drive to creation. Over 500 hours of games saves are gone, so those games I never got around to finishing... yup, I'll have to trudge through the same levels once again. My scanner is not compatible with my new computer, so until I can afford a new one I will be dealing with an all-in-one printer-scanner with far less quality. And I am soooooo far behind on my comic I may just scrap old story plans and pick up where I would should have been today.

This blog post stands as a reminder to myself, a commitment to get back to work on something I love to do. I'll try not to delete it and pretend it didn't happen.

Save the Sluggy!

Sometimes I forget that this blog is about Games AND Comics. I usually have more to say about video games I'm playing than comics I'm reading. I don't really care to debate the gimmickiness of killing Batman. It'd be repetitive to continuously post about how Joe Quesada's running Marvel into the creative crapper. Should I make a weekly feature about how I should stop buying the massively disappointing Countdown series (and yet never do)?

I guess it wouldn't hurt to make some effort to discuss things. It will keep me writing...

So, I've figured out where Sluggy Freelance often goes wrong.

Sluggy has long been one of my favorite webcomics. It's been around for more than a decade, and I've been reading it for most of that time.

Sluggy is known for it's gigantic storylines, usually woven with threads from various previous story arcs. Occasionally, artist Pete Abrams will make a storyline that leads to fan outcry over its tediousness or loss of focus. While I'm more into the silent majority of quietly reading my free entertainment (though Unmoving Oceans made me zone out more than once), I do see the problems with some of the stories. And the problems are always the same.

The major characters become isolated from each other.

Unmoving Oceans, The Torg Potter Saga, Muffin the Vampire Baker (to name a few)... all these focused on one of the comic's main(ish) characters, and a bunch of glorified extras. Even if it is my favorite character in the strip, I still want them to see them interact with the other main characters. Because I like the main characters: that's why I read the strip.

It's basically the same problem with the Ferengi Episodes on Star Trek Deep Space Nine (anyone remember that show?). Star Trek is aways about culturally different people interacting. It's not interesting to see Quark go back to his homeworld, because he's aware of all the rules and culture. Even if he isn't as ruthless as the rest of his society, he still understands them and tries to fall in line. It would have made interesting viewing to send someone else... a Klingon, a human... with Quark when he visited home. Let's see a benevolent Federation doctor clash with the Ferengi's greedy health care system. But they never did. So those episodes were always unremarkable.

In Sluggy Freelance, it's the same way. If Pete's going to warp somebody away, they really need to go in pairs. And the more interesting the pairing, the better. How about Gwynn and Alyee? Let's see the two of them dimension hopping together.

I'd say the occasional solo-mission is acceptable, if it collides with the main cast later. Sluggy Freelance's history is rich with twisting old storylines into new directions.

Let's look at the current storyline: Torg Potter and the Giblets With Fiber. This is the fourth Harry Potter parody, with Torg being hijacked into their universe each time. Four times and he's always gone alone, with the exception of Kiki the Ferret tagging along in the previous chapter, but not really contributing much.

Why do we never see Riff trying to find Torg to rescue him? Does anyone ever notice he's gone? When he's (often) trapped in another dimension, his story is usually intercut with some rescue attempts back home. During the Torg Potter episodes... nada.

I personally really enjoy the Torg Potters. I'm a fan of Harry Potter, and think the parodies are great fun. But the way they continue to be written are in conflict with the core of Sluggy Freelance and should probably be changed up. Torg is comfortable in his place by now, so it is time to unhinge things. How about next time, instead of Torg, Zoe gets shanghaied by accident? Then there could be a rescue sequence (though not necessarily a successful one) with the rest of the cast.

I just hope there are things like this that can be done to keep The Sluggy train on the track for another decade.


I think that's enough blogging for now. I'm actually feeling a bit lightheaded. I just got back from Game Xchange on West Street, so obviously I'm high. I had to leave my purchase on the back porch to air out, so as not to stink up the house. Now I'm going to find something to eat.

The Red Light Spectacle, Part 2: The Conclusion?

As anti-climatic as it may seem, I received my Xbox 360 today.

Less than an hour after my last post, the UPS delivery guy rang the bell and pounded on the door (at the same time, too... is that protocol?). I signed for it and that was that.

It was not my original unit, but an identical replacement. Too bad, I was hoping for a version with a HDMI port.

I hooked it up... discovering the rechargeable batteries in my controllers had died while they laid in wait. I had to dig out the original AA battery cartridge and sync the controller to the new console. Then I had to reinput all my wireless internet connection information.

And then...

That was is it. It worked.

I was prepared for a big hassle with my downloadable content not working on the new system... but it did. My Puzzle Fighter theme was intact. Looking over my Arcade games, they seemed right. I plugged in Rock Band and tried one of the downloaded songs and it still worked (although I only got four stars, so maybe something was amiss...).

What else is there to do but shrug and start the stopwatch on the life of this new console? I never thought everything working would be so disappointing.

Spending Time On Gaming News Sites...

IGN has posted pictures of the peripheral to be used with the upcoming Guitar Hero game for the Nintendo DS. Seems workable, if you can get your other hand in a comfortable position to strum the touch screen. And as long as bumping the shoulder buttons with your gripping hand won't disturb the game.

But I wonder...

There's no mention of whether this will only work with the DS Lite or not. Do they presume everyone has moved on from the DS Fat which is why they just say "the DS"? Maybe it will work on the old models. But will it work on the future ones? Rumors have been flying for months about another redesign of the DS, one to be removing the GBA port, which is precicely where this Guitar Hero peripheral plug in. Sales figures for this game may well determine the future of the DS. And if sales are really strong, Nintendo may make their redesign in a whole new direction... using their work as a jumping-off point to creating a new system. I'm still waiting for an analog stick.

There's no reason this portable Guitar Hero version shouldn't be great. Perhaps a bit easier than it's big brother, due to the fact that there's only four fret buttons. Sound quality may be a bit compressed, sure. And there probably won't be any downloadable content. Oh, and with just the four buttons, it may actually feel like you're playing a trumpet. Which might not be a bad thing. It's not too late to change direction on this game. I could go for rocking out to some Herb Alpert's Lonely Bull on my portable Brass Hero DS.


During my websurfing, I made my way over to the gameblog on UGO.com, which is more of a compilation of news from other sites than one of its own. But that's what blogs are, I suppose. It's what I do, to a lesser extent. And Wombat is more entertaining than I.

***
Before I go on, I've been wondering about website names. UGO? IGN? Sure, it's convenient, but those initials don't really explain their content to me. UGO stands for UnderGroundOnline... which still doesn't explain anything to me.

UGO's "about us" page says their a site for people with "gamer DNA"... and I think GamerDNA.com would have been a better choice. But it would have been shortened to GDNA eventually, and that would have defeated the purpose.

IGN... I'm not sure what those letters stand for. I presume it's something along the lines of "Internet Gaming Network," although that sounds like a MMO hosting site or something. Whatever it means, they've moved past initial meaning and are now just IGN, and part of a big corporation. So IGN is just nonsense now, but at least it's short. Which I suppose is everything.
***

Anyhoo, Wombat's blog post links to a post on Destructoid about a fancy new storefront for Rock Band's downloadable content. It looks nice. I especially look forward to the "preview" feature so I can hear how bad the Monkee's cover singer is before I waste my money.

I hope they left room in their new store for things other than songs. The song selection from the last couple weeks has left me unimpressed, even if I had my 360, I probably wouldn't be getting any of those songs. With this new store layout, they're in prime position to toss some additional content our way. I'm talking new outfits, new faces/body options, new venues, new guitars and perhaps something totally new... like some sort of feature to make your own videos? Be able to go through a replay and choose all your camera angles and visual effects and then save it all! You can even do that on Boogie. There's no reason that Rock Band should be upstaged by Boogie. It's Boogie, after all.

Smash Bros Bobble

I've been playing a lot of Super Smash Bros Brawl the last two weeks. A lot of people have. And I enjoy it a lot, I just wish I could get more variety of enjoyment out of it.

I have to say I'm about 50% disappointed with the game. The best parts of the game are the parts that haven't changed. The new stuff, for the most part, fall flat. The new characters are great, the more the merrier, but the new Adventure mode... ugh.

There's no real story to The Subspace Emissary. No dialogue. Just running through short stages to get to short battles. There's just enough substance to it to make me really yearn for a full-on Kingdom Hearts-esque game with these characters (perhaps it's because the generic enemies resemble the Heartless). It could really be great. This game, however, is bland and repetitious. With some of the worst platforming ever. With speedy characters that were never meant to be platforming.

The horrible two-player co-op version of this mode is even worse because it is obviously tacked on. The second player can only ever choose on character (you'll usually have about 4 per stage), and that's the limit to their control. The camera will never follow them (and they'll be injured just by being offscreen); they can't open doors; and if player 1 dies it's game over, regardless of player 2's wellbeing.

And one of the biggest crimes of this sorry mode: all of the characters can be unlocked just by completing it. Sure, they can also be unlocked by playing hundreds of round of standard brawls, but this way is quicker and it takes the challenge away. Why fight for the same reward if you can just walk up and take it? They should have divided the rewards so you'd want to play both. Maybe unlock secondary costumes in one mode and characters in the other? Nintendo really dropped the ball here.

I only lash out about this, because I am truly disappointed in face of the awesome potential sitting here. There is a spectacular game waiting to break away from this great little fighting game. They both can co-exist, I just know it.

Waiting for Mass Effect 3-D

While reading about Mass Effect 2 presumably being a Xbox-exclusive "at least for a while," it got me thinking about a couple things.

First, while usually being swallowed up by a giant corporation usually results in being creatively kneecapped, I have high hopes that EA's acquisition will actually fix the supposedly-great RPG maker. Bioware's strength is in the writing (although not so much in proofreading for typos), but their technical skills are asleep at the wheel. EA should have plenty of knowledgeable people to handle that side of Bioware's projects so the excruciating loading time and stutterific framerate will not mar the sequels as it did the first Mass Effect.

Secondly, Mass Effect is supposedly conceived as a trilogy. That causes my ears to bleed. Not that I don't wish to have a couple more games in the franchise (Now that they're past the generic exposition of the introduction to the universe, they can get on to more interesting things), I just dislike the notion that being a trilogy is something to strive for. It's just an overused buzzword. Whatever happened to creating something to stand on its own, or allowing this creation to make its own ongoing life to see where it leads. If you set out to make a trilogy, I believe you're either limited your project unnecessarily (what if a new character pops up in the 3rd act that could take the series farther?) or adding crappy filler in a desperate attempt to stretch it out. Either way, it becomes very obvious when you do such things. Games series should be given room to expand as they would naturally and end when they hit their apex. They don't need to be saddled with a Godfather 3 to taint the whole franchise. But I probably shouldn't worry about this. This is EA publishing the games now and they won't stop 'til the money runs out. Even if they have to change the title to Madden Effect.

Hurry Up, Sony

God of War Chains of Olympus came out this week for the PSP, but the special edition God of War PSP bundle doesn't come out until June. Who needs slapped upside the head for making this decision?

This game is a system-seller. The God of War franchise is huge on the PS2, and will be huge on the PS3 eventually. But informed consumers can easily see $170 for basic PSP system plus $40 for the game = more than the $200 price tag for the to-be-released bundle.

I can see the initial marketing thought behind the delayed bundle... get all those diehard fans who MUST HAVE THIS GAME NOW to pay extra, then swoop in with the bundle later to pick up any stragglers. But the delay is not a good thing, not for the PSP.

For one thing, Sony usual tracks sales for a game's first five months, to see if it will qualify for their Greatest Hits collection. So if you're an interested buyer and you're already waiting three months... what's a few more if the price is going to get chopped in half? And by then, you could just wait to see if a friend will get this for your for Christmas.

And even worse for PSP... their track record for good original PS2 spin-offs is that they are then ported to the PS2. The GTA Stories and Ratchet and Clank Size Matters are such examples. So if you're going to make GOW fans wait to invest in the handheld system, a lot of them would just go ahead and wait a bit more and get the version they can play on their already-owned console.

I have been down on Sony's marketing strategies for a long while, and things are not improving. Get in it to win it already!

The Red Light Spectacle, Part 1

As I mentioned before, my Xbox 360 suffered its inevitable hardware failure. It is still dead.

The Red Horseshoe of Death is an interesting thing to witness.

I had never seen one in person before. Of course, there have been an overwhelming number of stories about them in the past couple years. Two podcasts I listen to over on cheapassgamer.com (The CAGcast and CAG Foreplay) both have recently discussed their own dead-console sagas. But to see it in person is a bit unbelievable. There's not a lot of shock or anger or sadness. It just fills you with a state of disbelief.

And it fills your friends with joyous wonder, since they get to see the lights firsthand and know they won't be the one to deal with getting it fixed.

My surprise was that the Xbox's death had no real precursor. I thought the system would crash a few times, or start making funky noises, or have some sort of problem leading up to total hardware failure. But just a couple hours before I had downloaded the free Aerosmith song for Guitar Hero 3 and tried it out. Then I uncharacteristically decided to turn off the Xbox and play some board games with my friends. Apparently Microsoft doesn't build its hardware to withstand rejection. It never worked again.

A couple days later, I finally got around to calling the Xbox service line. (First I had to verify that Microsoft had extended the warranty coverage to three years, since I had just passed my second year.) I expected busy signals or long waits on hold, but I got through right away.

The phone call was mostly unremarkable. I couldn't tell what the guy said his name was, but his accent didn't affect the clarity of the rest of the conversation to much. The call was mostly marred by the overwhelming noise behind him. Was he providing customer support while tending bar at a cocktail party?

As he was going over details of the repair process, I kept thinking "It sounds like he's calling me Kevin." He had me spell my last name, but not my first. But I had registered my Xbox when I got it, so surely he had that information in front of him and either misspoke, or I was misunderstanding him. And since I didn't know his name, it might be awkward to inquire to see if he really knew mine.

So, a few days go by and a white box shows up on my front porch. One step closer to playing Rock Band again, or so I thought.

That's when I looked closely at the label. He was calling me Kevin. And that's the name he put on the work order. Unfortunately, that's not my name. And that could possibly cause a problem when I had to sign to receive my repaired/replacement console.

Another call to 1-800-4MYXBOX. I spoke with a woman this time. Same accent, same moment of non-clarity when she spoke her name. Do they train them not to be clear with their name, thus cutting down on personal complaints?

I told her about the problem with the incorrect name on the mailing label. She hunts down my information with my work order number, then I'm placed on hold while she confers with her supervisor.

She soon returns and tells me that I can still use the box and labels and that she's updated the information on my work order to reflect the correct information. She also calls me "Kevin" three times during all of this. I correct her each time, and she assures me that she has changed my name in her computer.

She asks if there's anything else she can help me with. I mention there's a two inch hole that has been ripped in the corner of the box, and wonder if I can simply use a different box, or should I patch this one? This leads to a much longer conference with her supervisor, and I spend a few minutes playing "Guess That Xbox Muzak."

Finally, my Customer Service Rep With No Name returns with a shiny new work order number for me to write down. She lets me know they'll be sending me a brand new box. One step closer just became one step back.

Five more days pass, and my new plain white box arrives. I inspect it for any gaping holes. Nothing looks chewed or soggy, that's good. There's a dent in the side, but it is UPS, there's always a dent in the side.

I finally proceed to package my Xbox in the plastic wrapper that was provided. I was careful not to suffocate any babies with the bag as it explicitly instructs me to do. I added the green foam diapers to both end of my console and took a final picture, in case I never see it again.

The Xbox then was placed securely in the box and sealed with Microsoft's own personal line of tape (Scotch be damned). I drove it to a nearby UPS Store where I was ready for witty banter with a clerk. But instead, she simply processed my box and dismissed me. Perhaps my casualness made it seem like perhaps there wasn't a beloved Xbox inside the package, or maybe UPS employees have been instructed not to mention anything after experiencing a heated encounter with a touchy fanboy or two. Either way, this part of the story was concluded. Now I wait. And hope I will be home when they try to return my system.

P.S. My Xbox went to Texas. Is this normal? Other stories I have heard had them going to Mexico. I guess it won't be coming back with a tan and Montezuma's Revenge. Mesquite, Texas doesn't sound as exotic as a foreign country. But it does sound tasty.

Nothing Else To Do...

It's been a lonely time for me since my last entry. My Xbox 360 has succumbed to the Red Ring... make that Horseshoe... of Death. This obviously derails my attempt to plow through the backlog of 360 games I never finished. I now instead sit around waiting for The Coffin to arrive.

This is the ideal time for me to get back into work on my various comic projects and fix up my Video Game Review site... but my mess of an office is in disarray, as it is the slow process of changing location. And the paint fumes aren't really helping productivity.

This time away from the 360 will result in some more updates to this blog, including the customary chronicling of my Repair Saga. I'll probably dig out my original Xbox and play some games on that. And there's some PS2 games I never even opened...

Boo on THQ!

First video game publisher THQ started off the year announcing they wouldn't be continuing the Stuntman or Juiced franchises... and now they're responsible for giving me 1000 embarrassingly easy achievement points.

I had heard that Avatar The Last Airbender: The Burning Earth had easy points... but I presumed that meant the game was short and easy, thus you'd get completion points quickly. I had never imagined someone would release a full retail game where you can get all the points available within the first two minutes of the game by just pressing the B button about fifty times.
But that's what happened.

Now, what's the point in continuing the game? It seems to be nothing more than a cheap, generic licensed game. The three minutes it took to complete Chapter One were quite dull. Even if I were to finish it, I wouldn't have anything to show for it. No one would be able to see that I beat it. I have no record to see when I beat it. As far as I know, I could have beat it and simply forgot.
Thanks a lot, THQ, for being a bunch of lazy jerks and catering to your kind. I'd like to put some effort into being rewarded.

This should not have happened so far into the life of the 360. At launch, sure. Achievement Points were a new concept and developers gave them out for basic tasks. But there's no excuse for that any more.

Points should be given out for completion of each game mode, as well as occassional level rewards to string players along. These points should total no more than 600. The rest should be for completing tasks above and beyond the requirements for completing the game.

Finding hidden items: sure.
Exceeding a certain amount of damage: yeah.
Dying an extraordinary amount of times: why not?

But the only time any achievement should exceed 50 points is the completion of the game award, which should top out at 150. That means... game publishers & developers... it is your responsibility to the gaming public to be creative. Let us see at least a couple dozen of unique and interesting Achievements on every game from here on out, lest your name be mud.

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An Update on my Completion Quest:

Finished: Rock Band Jan 27, 2008
Actually, I probably should have listed this one before because my requirements were to beat one game mode... Being given the credits counts as the "end"... which happened after I got into the Hall of Fame in World Tour Mode. But I hadn't played the Endless Setlist yet... but now I have. So Achievement Achieved.
(Side Note: I was disappointed that the Endless Setlist did not include any downloaded content. I'm glad it didn't include ALL of the DL content, but I would have liked some to be in there... in place of the "bonus songs" anyway.)

Finished: Mass Effect Jan 30 2008

Total Xbox 360 Games Finished: 25
Total Xbox 360 Games Played: 114
Average Achievement Points per game: 188

Now Playing: Saint's Row (ironically, a THQ game), Tony Hawk Proving Ground & Burnout Paradise

Achievements Achieved!

With the completion of the third stage of Beautiful Katamari, I have completed my quest to have some achievement points for all of my played Xbox 360 games.

Next step: actually finishing the main story modes of these games (where applicable). That could take me a while. Especially while I try to keep up with all the new games. But it is the slow season, so the break is appreciated.

But in the future, I will be sure to make sure I get some points before I quit playing a new game.

Actually, the only two games I have full Achievement points for right now are two games I rented: Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, which is a terrible game, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which is less bad but still dull.

For the Record, these are the only games I've completed the main storyline or equivalent (with one character, in cases of games with multiple character storylines) on the Xbox 360, as of January 25, 2008:

Amped 3
Assassin's Creed
Bioshock
Bulletwitch
Dead or Alive 4
Dead or Alive Xtreme 2
Dead Rising
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Fuzion Frenzy 2
Gears of War
Guitar Hero 2
Gun
Halo 3
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Lego Star Wars 2
Marvel Ultimate Alliance
Ninety-Nine Nights
Perfect Dark Zero
Samurai Warriors 2
Spider-Man: Friend or Foe
Tony Hawk American Wasteland
Tony Hawk Project 8
Virtual Fighter 5

Total to Date: 23
Total Games played (including Live Arcade Games & them Burger King ones): 113
Average Achievement Points per game: 176

I didn't list any of the games with only 200 gamer points, or any sport games without definite stories or such to complete. I'll try to update the blog with a running total every couple weeks when I complete more games.

Oh, and this is the third time in four posts where I mention Dead or Alive Xtreme 2. Just thought I'd point that out.

More Money, Less Rocking

So, Guitar Hero III is still releasing more downloadable songs. It's quite sad that more people don't have the cash to upgrade to Rock Band so they can have four parts to play in each song, rather than two. Especially since they're more expensive on GH3. Five hundred Microsoft points will buy you a GH3 3-pack of songs. 3-packs on Rock Band = 440 points. Even individual songs for Rock Band mostly cost 160 points (three ala carte songs = 480 points), some are even listed for 80 points.

So is having "Peace of Mind" by Boston or Journey's "Any Way You Want It" worth it ("Juke Box Hero" is already available for Rock Band)? Not to have to sit there and watch Freaky McBigMouth sing it without me, or the animatronic drummer spaz-play yet another song.

If they want to continue overcharging for lesser content, they should begin including extras with the songs: New costumes, new arenas, maybe even new characters (or bring back Pandora, perhaps? She's already designed, just give her some new clothes.).

Convince your friends and neighbors to plunk down the cash for Rock Band, and leave the price-gouging Guitar Hero series behind. The only time they'll realize people won't pay for over-priced merchandise, is when people stop paying for over-priced merchandise.

The Second Impression

I am glad I went against my first impressions when it came to the new Burnout game. I had played the demo, and was quite unimpressed. There wasn't much road to roam or things to do in the truncated piece of the city they provided. I was thinking about actually not buying the game, a first since I got my first taste with Burnout 3. But I went ahead and picked it up, and I am not disappointed so far.

Yes, there are a lot of things taken out of the game, when compared to the previous entry, Burnout Revenge. I miss the revenge rivals, and the aftertouch, and the crash mode, and especially the local multiplayer. And I still am a bit put off about the more realistic physics.... the cars actually feel weightier and you don't pinball the cars around like before. It does lose a bit of what made Burnout unique, and there are already plenty of Racing sims.

But Burnout Paradise offers enjoyment by allowing you to drive at very high speed around all over the city, free from any forced objective. Couple that with the lack of loading times, and it's fantastic driving mayhem.

I am only an hour into the game, and have attempted very few actual events so far, so my thoughts on the game haven't been finalized, of course. I'll see how long the new things will keep me from missing the changes they have made. Or how long I can stand the radio DJ announcer. (He was fine on SSX3, when he'd mention your character by name and talk about how you're doing... but here he gets on my nerves. Perhaps because he keeps popping in with new tips. Grr.)

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Side Note:
Why have games abandoned true custom soundtracks? I have a hard drive full of songs I'd like to hear while playing the game, not whatever random rock anthems they want me to be impressed by their acquisition of. Sure, I can shut off their songs and play mine through the 360's music player, but then they play over potentially important tips and cutscenes. The old Tony Hawk and Burnout games would incorporate my songs... why not anymore? Now all I have working for me is DOA Xtreme 2.
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But this whole episode with the off-putting demo makes me wonder if demos really help sell games? I suppose if they include an entire unabridged level or more, they would give a full sense of the game. But the ones I've played were truncated or missing important sounds or such. I've never played a demo that sold me on a game. Most either persuaded me against it or just didn't affect me at all. They sure don't work with these open-world type games.

Whore of a Different Color

When it comes to multi-platform release games, I will go with the Xbox 360 version 95% of the time. Why? For the Achievements, of course. It's just satisfying for the system to keep track of how I'm doing and let me know when I've accomplished something with the familiar little pop-up. And that makes me an official Achievement Whore.

Generally, AWs are classified by their desire to get every single point they can. While I'm not opposed to that, and I will look through the list and see what extra points I can get along the way, I actually have a different standard to my point hording. In fact, the only two games I have yet to achieve maximum points are two rental games, neither of which I really liked.

I feel the need to have some points at all my games. Having that embarrassing 0 point total on my gamercard brings dishonor to my family. So instead, I have a bunch of games with only one achievement, but I still feel satisfaction. In the past I even bought crappy Xbox Live Arcade games because I had played the demo and got saddled with a permanent Zero for the game until I upgraded. Now, presumably, you can erase demos from your gamercard... but I still just avoid demos, because I would still know how I did not get any achievements.

***
Hey, Microsoft: How about giving 10 points for completing a demo? Sounds like a marketing plan that could generate a few extra sales, presuming the game is fun enough to buy... which is the point of having a demo, right?
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I'm happy to say I finally went back and got at least one achievement at all the games I own. Which is a lot. I still have three games I rented which I failed to get points on: Lost Planet (I got from Gamefly, popped the disc in to see if there was local co-op, then took it out and returned it without playing), Virtual Fighter 5 (I got my butt handed to me so many times, I have an attic full of butt now.), and Beautiful Katamari (I'm a terrible stickyball roller). I will have to get those back and find a way to get some points.

Easiest Game to get initial Achievement Points: Tiger Woods 07. All you have to do is create a custom character. While the options for tweaking your golfer is immense, you could just click through it and get the 5 points.

Most Difficult Game to get initial points: Dead Or Alive Xtreme 2. After about 4 or 5 playthroughs with a single character, I finally collected all of her swimsuits. It took me nearly that long to get the timing of the volleyball down, which probably wouldn't have been that hard if there were options for positioning the camera.

Back To The Drawing Surface

I finally put up thosegamesweplay.com for my webcomic. It has a link to this blog, so if you followed that, welcome. But before you scour this blog for information about the webcomic... let me tell you right now that you won't find much.

This blog is about video games I'm playing, my thoughts about gaming news, and my input on the comic book industry.

There are hints about what I'm working on. Video games I will be reviewing and making strips about will often get talked about here first. But generally, the gap between playing a new game and the time it takes to write that game into the comic is quite large since the comic only updates twice a week. Perhaps that gap will lessen some time in the future, but for now it is as it is.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoy stuff I have to offer, and happy new year to you.