Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (X360) Preview

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars has just recently been released for the Xbox 360 and the PS3. The PC version came out in October of 2007 and got good reviews overall, but sadly the console versions didn't work out so well.

My experience was mainly with the Xbox 360 version, but I can say that there really isn't much difference between the two. The first thing that you will likely notice is the bland, generic graphics. The game is very ugly with a boring color palette and uninspired design. There isn't one aspect graphically that I can praise. Some games look average, but manage to have really nice smoke effects or really nice water etc. Quake Wars, however, offers nothing but generic exterior after generic interior.

The sound design is nothing special either. You have your common grunt dialogue such as, "I need a medic" or "I've been hit". Stuff like that is both boring and repetitive, as well as being completely unoriginal. Though you shouldn't expect much from the joke that is single-player. The single-player mode is essentially multi-player with bots. So you can either hear repetitive bot chatter, or repetitive "You're a douchebag" chatter on XBL.

Quake Wars was obviously developed with the PC in mind. It is a very fast shooter and much faster than most consoles shooters out there. The controls do work rather well, but the low production values make the game-play less entertaining. Shooting has no weight. Hitting an enemy gives no satisfaction due to no sign of impact. The explosions are garbage; a theme that seems to be repeating itself in Quake Wars.

If you're a fan of shooters I would not recommend this game. If you're dying for some new multi-player action I would not recommend this game. I can recommend to this game to rich people and idiots because that's the only way I can see someone enjoying this game. So if you're rich or stupid(probably both) have fun, but if you would rather enjoy life then don't get this game. If you really want to try this game then just get it for the PC; what have you been waiting for anyways. I am disappointed that the game didn't turn out well, but I can't say I'm too surprised.

The PS3 and Installs

Linkage to Crap.

"SSDs are perfect for notebooks because they're light, they don't consume a lot of power, and they give off very little heat. The good news is that you can slide those same 2.5-inch solid state notebook drives right into a PlayStation 3. We got our hands on a 60GB SuperTalent Master Drive MX SSD to see how it performs in a PlayStation 3. The $400 60GB Master Drive MX specifications state that it has 120MB/s read speeds, but its write speeds cap off at 40MB/s. By comparison, we tested the stock PlayStation 3 hard drive and observed 32MB/s read and write speeds. The MX drive doesn't match up to the 120MB/s reads and the blistering 70MB/s writes of the more expensive $1,300 Super Talent 60GB Master Drive DX, but some upgrades get more difficult to justify when the PlayStation 3 itself costs only about $400."

The basic idea behind this particular article is about whether it's worth getting a new HD for your PS3 to quicken load times etc. I honestly don't care if there was some magic hard-drive that took out all load times and maybe baked me a nice cake at the same time. The PS3 is a console and if I wanted to spend the time upgrading a system and changing components to try and get better performance then I would go back to my PC gaming days. I must say that I do miss them.

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The Real Jason Bourne

First I want to let everyone know that I will not be making the Distributed Failure podcast due to some family matters, but I will still try to get time to at least give my readers(are there any...really?) some content. Hopefully Rob won't wuss out and not do the show, but I can't make any guarantees.

Anyways I saw this video and found it funny(I find all the Matt Damon/Jimmy Kimmel stuff funny). So sit back and enjoy it. I must say that if this video were true then I would have a hard time not picking up the Bourne Conspiracy.

The Best Part of an MMO

I just think this video is funny. It shows how you can have fun in an MMO and I know it makes me want to drop what I'm doing and play Age of Conan right now!

Ninja Gaiden 2 (X360) Preview

If you liked Ninja Gaiden(or the two remakes) then you will probably like Ninja Gaiden 2 as well. In the simplest of terms Ninja Gaiden 2 is basically a prettier version of the first game. You get the good(game-play) with the bad(camera) and not much has changed. The biggest change would probably be the regenerating life bar because it does make things easier and slightly opens the game up to a wider audience. Though the horrible camera may push all those people away because it is absolutely unchanged from the previous games. It gets in the way and forces you to try and control the camera while controlling Ryu at the same time. There is also the new feature of cutting off the body parts of your enemies which is not only a visual addition, but adds to the the game-play as well. If you do not quickly dispatch of a wounded foe then he will latch onto you and blow himself up which leads to quite the health loss.

With all that said I still found the game enjoyable and I think the combat is a lot of fun. The different weapons all have their specific style and play very differently so there should be a weapon that fits everyone's playing style. The game does look good and runs very smooth, which is good because it is one fast game. Ninja Gaiden 2 will likely please Ninja Gaiden fans, but it probably won't help attain many new players to the series.