New Alma Sighting

I'm a bit of an Alma and F.E.A.R. series fan. The Tattoo usually give that away.

However, despite having played Origins several times, I came across and captured an image that I had never seen before today, thanks to my new PC "Inanna's Dirk".





This image is from the swimming pool at the beginning when you are attempting to secure Genevieve Aristide

                                                                                                                                                                               
It makes sense that its here, especially given the text, and Alma's interest in your character. It's just neat / appalling to me that I've never seen it before and it took a high power PC to bring it out for me. I'm reasonably sure you can see it on the X Box version, provided you have the settings right. But I have always enjoyed the game on darker settings and I'm pretty sure I have my TV set too dark to catch this very quick image.

Can any F.E.A.R. / X Box 360 players confirm?

A Special Thank You to the Raptr Community

I'm doing a few of these and hoping I remember everyone.

I wanted to say a special thank you to the Raptr Community for all the care and support we have received while my mom has battled for her life against Lung Cancer.

Tuesday is her last Chemo (Thank God Chemo is a #$%^!!!) and after she goes on maintenance drugs.o be






Also, thanks to the people who have checked on me to be sure I was not dead from my own condition lol.

I am still staying with her, but as reported I have a new Gaming PC and despite the crappy DSL here in the boondocks, I should be getting back up to speed with my snarky screenshots and all in short order.

New PC

My New PC Came! At least the i6 processor, Sniper RAM, power supply and Video card. Now waiting on the case and Motherboard.

Retro Gaming PSX

My hours have been down in Raptr lately, been having to stay close to mom while she goes through her chemo. But that doesn't mean I've not been gaming.

I've been retro-gaming using my trusty, beloved PSX with screen. My wife gave it to me a few years ago, before Amazon and the internet. She called every place in 50 miles, and when she found a TRU that had one last unit, she drove 40 miles each way at night in the blinding rain to get it for me. It was so touching I have revered the unit, much less the giver, ever since.


My games of choice are the good old original Diablo and for me the King of video games, Doom. Well, Final Doom this occasion. They told me at the game store that both those disks are pretty rare, so here is a testament to keeping, and taking care of your disks, young gamers.


Can you see my Raptr keeping watch while I game?

Why do Star Wars games SUCK?

It's a very significant "tell" about my personality. But I really want to play Force Unleashed 2 right now. I played the into of it and had an absolute joygasm. But I couldn't play any farther. I didn't know the story and it looks so good I had to know it from the beginning.

So I started the first Force Unleashed. From the beginning

I HATE IT!

Well I hate the gameplay. I love the story I love the graphics, I love the music, I love the sound,  I love the saber battles. But the rest of it is just platform jumping trash. If I wanted to play Mario Brothers style jumping around, I'd play fracking Mario Brothers, not Star Wars.

Why is it every Star Wars game since the AMAZING Original Dark Forces, and TIE Fighter, Insists on being an elaborate version of Contra or Mario?

Now don't be offended if you love platform games. If it is your cup of tea, then more power to you. By all means enjoy...

But ALL the Star Wars games in this genre? Seriously?

Someone might want to mention the racing games about here, but don't bother. Trying to pander to the NASCAR crowd with racing games and Episode one racing is like inviting Jed Clampett to a $40,000 a plate banquet.

At any rate I've held my nose and played the game... and learning to like it despite.

After this I have to do the same thing to get to Mass Effect 2. Endure 1 for the story.

11 Ways I Am NOT Like Dan Halen!

 

11 Ways I Am Not Like Dan Halen!

1.   I never hid facts about my possessions:  No one ever asked me if my bone chess set was made of HUMAN bone or not.

2.   I have always been extremely generous. The fact its with other people’s money is irrelevant,

3.   I have never tried to cover up or conceal my age -  I do however find it offensive that no one ever considers is might be ANOTHER Maalac that signed Dan’s Yearbook.

4.   I do not constantly run around nude – Those charges were dismissed.

5.   Unlike Dan I have a large amount of  “junk”. My endowment is…O.K. you got me! On that one we are just alike in this one way.

6.   I do not belittle or mock my fellow man. That I do not feel completely deserve it

7.   I do not attempt to play God or pervert the laws of nature for profit. It is strictly for entertainment purposes with me.

8.   Unlike Dan I have never harmed an animal. I am SURE there is an animal I have not harmed out there (just waiting to be discovered).

9.   I have never owned a slave. All of mine are temps.

10.  I do not have a sinister laugh. Mine is more a laugh of malevolence.

11.  I do not have a field of sheriff clones. I think the common man’s vernacular for mine is “kitty” or something like that I don’t keep up with the utterances considered to be words that come out of those chitlin-smeared armpits that you call mouths.

Old Dog New Trick, Lost Game, Lost Planet

3 questions:

Do You like 3rd person shooters?

Do you like Mech Games?

Have you played Lost Planet?

I have lamented on Raptr how there has not been a good Mech game this generation of gaming.

As for 3rd person shooters.....

I was vehemently opposed to playing 3rd person shooters for a long time. With only an occasional exception that would come along like Dynamite Duke, Buck Rodgers Zoom, and Heavy Metal F.A.K.K.

But I have been in love with First Person Shooters since 1987 and Operation Wolf. Even before that, Star Wars the Arcade games was very much like an FPS.

I used to hurt that I wanted so bad for games to come out like Op Wolf. I was so very tired of space alien vehicles and the like from the arcade era. "Gotcha" came out in '87. It promised much, but it was lame.   It got better in 89 when Mechanized Attack, and  Rambo 3 set the stage and the mold for Arcade games like Terminator 2 and NES games like Laser Invasion, and ultimately gave birth in '92 to Wolfenstien 3D

The most I did in 3rd person during that time was the Die Hard Trilogy in '96 on the PS1.

Before I digress...

I've played so much that I've run out of games to play...interesting games anyway. It's not been until the last year or so that I've developed any skills in TPS. I've dabbled in Gears, I'm invested in the Saints Row
series, Loved Space Marine, and so on.

It started when I was retrogaming on the PS2 and got into "Path of Neo" and just carried on from there with a life of its own. As I said, I've lamented and rued the lack of a good Mech game.

Then a couple of days ago I rediscovered Lost Planet.

I got it when I got my first 360 a couple of years ago, when my god son dragged me kicking and screaming back into the world of platform gaming. But I immediately dismissed it because it was an TPS and I didn't have the skills back then.

Now that this old dog has learned a new trick I'm having a blast, and have the best mech game I've found this generation so far to boot.

A rage momemnt

Playing Section 8 I had a rage moment. Not just about this game, this rage has been coming to a head from playing several games where I play in a squad of bots:

 Call of Duty,  Timeshift,  Now on the Section 8.

My rage is about this: Games often penalize the player for "friendly fire", yet the A.I. is so idiotic that the bots step out in front of my line of fire all the time.

If I wanted to play a game with stupids constantly stepping into my line of fire...

I'd play my games on multi-player.

Vanquish

I just finished Vanquish. Best Ending game credits EVER!

Leave Duke Alone!

 

I just played Duke Nukem Forever again. Being in Retro mode, it just seemed to fit to give a nod to Duke once more.

Back in the day, not only did I play the registered Duke, I had !DUKE Zone, and another on I can't remember the name that had all kinds of levels and mods on it. My best guest is I must have played 500 levels of Duke on top of the original game.

 I think my extensive experience with Duke qualifies me to comment on this matter and speak well of this game despite the enormous preponderance of hating out there there is for the new Duke from both the public and the so called professional reviewers.

Personally, I am of the opinion that the only people who should review Duke Nukem Forever are those that played the original Duke games, at the time that they were new. Playing them now doesn't count.
Those of us that played the original games, in the original times have a very different and unique perspective that is lost on the young and inexperienced alike. Now, if you played a decent amount of the original back in the day, and you still don't like the new one, I might listen to your reasoning, if not then your opinion is not based on any reasoning and is unworthy of respect.

These 18-25 year old copping attitudes and reviewing games like they have seen anything, and worse, like they know anything about gaming or  the industry are about "...as useful as a football bat" (faction points if you know what game that quote was used in WITHOUT GOOGLE!)

Now, anyone that knows me knows I  have the typical curmudgeon's opinion of both the public and "professional reviewers". But in this case, I don't think public education or rampant malfeasance is completely to blame for all the hating on poor Duke. I think in this case it's just good old fashioned wet-behind-the-ears youth and inexperience.

You know I didn't get to blow out candles on my early birthdays....

Fire hadn't been invented yet. Har har.

Those of us that come from when Dinosaurs roamed the earth and video game characters consisted of white squares or red dashes, have a different perspective. For those few of us left that played both then and now, playing Duke Nukem Forever is a little bit like going home. In fact, I noticed several additions and scenes in the new game were attempted on mods and wads back in the day.

Playing Duke Forever is a little bit like going home again, but having the best of both worlds. Modern graphics, old school gaming, and familiar characters and game-play without a modded out, or special loaded  second computer with old parts and OS.

So hate on Duke if you want to, you young, inexperienced, crybabies. Maybe somebody will give you a binky and see if you need changing.

For me, I'll have another beer with the King.

Firing the Retros

Sitting with mom while she goes through her Chemo, I'm unable to play my usual. I barely have Internet, so XBLA is out of the question (Killing my Raptr.com life) and I certainly don't have a PC rig here.

What I do have, however I am enjoying immensely. I dug out my old PS One with screen and I picked up a couple of games for it for I thought I would enjoy.

So at bedtime, I am enjoying the original ARC the Lad that is like 5 disks large. And when I need more action I'm replaying good old Air Combat (known ace Ace Combat in sequels throughout).

Arc the Lad is great fun looking at it through the eyes of history. You can see just how many games that came after were influenced by this one game.

If Arc ever loses steam, I'll default back to my favorite PSX RPG: Diablo (of course).


Arc the Lad is surprising fun. It really was ahead of it's time.

During the day when I'm in the living room with mom, I'm on my 360, just in offline mode. I've managed to polish off Battlefield Bad Co. Gold, Duke Nukem Forever, The latest Medal of Honor, and I'm stuck in Cuba in Kane and Lynch Dead Men.

In between, its the PSP and things like GItS, Coded Arms, and, for good measure Air Combat Skies of Deception.

I Love to Drink and Drive

It's a terrible confession I know. I just can't help myself.

No matter how much I damage my vehicle,
No matter how much destruction I cause,
No matter how many people I run over,
No matter how much trouble I get into.

You see I make my own.drinks. I make Absinthe, beer, and ciders from kits.

I've made so much that I have it down to a science.

So after a hard day, I grab a bottle from the fridge, or the spoon and sugar cubes from the cabinet....

And I explore the world of inebriation. But soon I get bored of just sitting around. Bored and restless

And that's when I get behind the wheel and go for a drive.

Whether its one of the GTA's, or Saint's row. Perhaps one of the Wipeout, or Need for Speed series.

Sometimes I even pull out one of the Ace Combat games and I fly and drive.

Eventually after a hilarious escapade of calamities, mishaps and close calls, I get yawny and have to climb into bed and crash.

So ends another happy day of gaming.

What? You didn't think I meant driving in the real world did you? Silly Rabbit!

Retro Stall Out

 


I rose at 4 a.m. for the 1st time since I set up my old PS2 back in the living room so I could retro game when I was awake, and not keep the wife up gaming in bed with the 360.

I don't know if it was because it's a high pain day, or if it was my choice of games but it was a terrible fail that exacerbated by discomfort, and it's lead me to wonder if I've strayed so far out that there is truly no going home again.

It may well have been my choice of games. First off,  there are not many really good shooters on the PS2, and even good ones like Cold Winter and the SOCOM series show that the genre was still quite young when they were developed. Had they come out today, the control schemes would be very different than how they were set up then. The most intelligent setups can be found in the WWII shooters and of course Half Life.

I've never been a "team player" so the SOCOM games are not exactly home turf. Further, I had to give up on SOCOM 1 because the screen was much too dark to see, and there are no gamma options in game.

Cold Winter controls are not intuitive either, but I think it was my pain level that did me in for it. I just couldn't quite "get there".

The last game I tries was Armored Core 2. While I love mech games, I just can't get into that one. Again controls were at the heart of my struggle, but there is just something "off" about it as well that I hope will be shaken off as you get deeper into what is obviously a big game.

Since I'm making the decision to fully retro with the next generation of game systems coming out next year, I need to make an effort to see if I can get more acclimated to the ps2 controls and games. I hate to think I'll have to forsake such a large library because I have become so spoiled on tutorials, modern controls and other "bells and whistles" that are standard fare for modern gaming.

Of course I'll always have my true retro games of the arcade classics, and the well-worn hits of the PS2 I've played to death such a SotN, but I've invested in a lot of 'new' PS 2 games with all the sales of late with the plan of having lots to play that I have never done before, despite dedicating myself solely to retro systems.

As short as my life is expected to be, having a PSX, PS2, Xbox, an Xbox 360, and a  DS and  PSP to round them out, and, a moderate library for all of them. It should be more than enough to see me to my Endgame.

I just got to un-spoil myself.