Oblivion

I picked up my Oblivion: Collector's Edition last night from my local Gamestop. Now THIS is what a "Collector's Edition" should be. I felt completely ripped off by the Perfect Dark: Collector's Edition, which aside from a cool metallic case, had absolutely nothing of value. $10 extra bucks for a tin case. Joy.

Now, Oblivion's on the other hand, is quite the treat. First of all, the packaging is extremely similar to the Extended Cuts of the LotR movies. Very, very nice. We get an extra disc which uses its 4 gigs of storage space for more than a few gamer pics, themes and concept art *cough* Perfect Dark *cough*. We get a behind the scenes look at the development of the game. We also get a nice, large, map of Tamriel. We get a 100+ page, very nicely illustrated, handbook that talks about the different races and history of this land, and we get a replica coin of the currency of Oblivion. That is some cool extras if you ask me.

I only played for two hours last night, so I can't give much of an opinion yet, but I am very pleased so far. The physics are fantastic and one of my favorite features. Practically any object can be picked up and manipulated by the player and having fun with the game's physics is very enjoyable. Combat is far and away more entertaining than in Morrowind, since there isn't any hidden "rolling dice" in the background to determine if you make contact with an enemy. In fact, I've noticed that the game is far more forgiving and easier to get into for new players than Morrowind. If ever you tried Morrowind and gave up after an hour because you felt the game was too intimidating, I say give Oblivion a try, you might be pleasantly surprised.

The character creation system is pretty deep as well. At first I thought it was going to be something like in Fight Night, but actually, you have even more control than that. You can shape your character's face however you want. It is pretty impressive. But, I do have to admit, all the characters are a bit on the ugly side, no matter how much you tweak them.

The menu system was a bit confusing at first, but I didn’t read the instructions before playing, so it’s really my fault for being desperate to play.

Graphically, the game is overall very, very solid, but it does have a few snags here and there. The character and enemy models tend to look a bit strange. Ugly if you will. They have great textures and lighting, they're just, I don't know, ugly. In large outdoor environments you do notice the game struggling a bit. There is some pop-up and frame-rate hits. Not to point where it is unplayable, but you definitely notice.

In the end though, all is forgiven because of the sheer scope of the game (same as Morrowind). I didn't want to stop playing and that's what counts. I'll give further impressions as I get more play time.

Oh, I hope to do a write up on my final thoughts on GRAW soon as well. I say that alot don't I?

Better late than never . . . ?

Activision FINALLY released a path for CoD2's terrible LIVE perfomance.

Here's the link.

Is it too little too late? Now that GRAW is out, do I really feel like dusting off CoD2 again?

Actually, I just might. GRAW and CoD2 play two very different type of multiplayer matches. I always found CoD2 extremely entertaining - whenever it wasn't a lag fest - so I can see myself playing it in the near future. Hell, I still have to beat the game on Veteran. Which I WILL do!!!

But who has the time? I'm finishing up GRAW on Hard, playing GRAW on LIVE, I just picked up Oblivion last night (so far the game is great) and I still throw in FNR3 for a match here and there. Do you mean I have to find time for CoD2 again now too? D'oh!!!!

Possible Halo movie director . . .?

I'm hearing that Guillermo Del Toro is in talks to direct the movie version of Halo.

LINK

To that I say . . . YES PLEASE!!!!!

If Peter won't be directing (which unfortunately he is not . . . although I still can hope), then Guillermo is a FANTASTIC choice. Hellboy and Blade II kicked all kinds of ass (Hellboy more than Blade) and Del Toro brings serious passion to his projects (much like Mr. Jackson).

It's like having a fanboy directing . . .only they know what makes a good movie and won't go all fanboy-crazy on us and stink it up.

PS3 delayed

C'mon now. Who didn't see this coming?

Here's an interesting excerpt from the article.

Sony has about 70% of the game-console market and says it is striving for a simultaneous launch in Japan, North America and Japan on Nov. 2.

First of all, whoever wrote that needs to start proof reading his work. Unless there are two places named Japan that I am not aware of. Second, Sony, what are you doing? Did you learn nothing from the 360 launch? A worldwide launch that is weeks apart does not work. How do you expect to launch in Japan and the U.S. simultaneously? That's just crazy talk.

Fight Night Round 3

After countless hours playing through Fight Night, I am completely torn on the game. It looks fantastic and plays a mean game of boxing, but the career-mode is so shallow, half-assed and flat out un-involving that it practically kills the experience.

This series has so much potential to be spectacular, but idiotic omissions keep it back. There is nothing in career-mode to make it seem like anything you do even matters. It just feels like random fights that have nothing to do with a much bigger picture. There is no ranking system, it has lackluster ring entrances, no championship belts (you can "win" them, but don't expect the championship fight to be any different from any other fight and you never see any boxers wearing a belt. EVER!), if you're champion you aren't acknowledged as champion, you still always enter the ring first, you cannot see your own boxer's career stats other than win/loss record, you cannot see opponents stats as well other than win/loss record, and since there are no rankings, you have no idea who your opponent is, where they rank, etc. Like I said, career-mode is complete garbage.

Once you get in the ring, the game shines. It is the only thing that kept me playing. I finally retired my boxer with a record of about 50-7. I had won the middleweight belt, light-heavyweight belt and the heavyweight belt. I still needed to win another championship I think to get the pound-for-pound title, but my boxer was 38 years old and his stats were going down incredibly fast and every opponent I faced was just manhandling me. So instead of ruining what was a great career, I decided to hang up the gloves.

I was going to do another career (as torturous as it is) but I am now in the possession o GRAW . . . and really, that game is going to taking up all my time. Until oblivion comes out that is. :)