ShadowReality

For the 2nd time, my Xbox 360 has broken…

Having been through the repair process once already last year (I even blogged about it) I know what to expect this time, and didn’t freak out as much at all. I was enjoying some great Call of Duty 4 with some friends when all of a sudden the textures had a wierd matrix effect on them, it looked pretty cool. Then upon rebooting I got an E 74 error which I hear is often referred to as “The black screen of death”, how original.

So it’s queued up for it’s repair already and since theres not many big games out for the Xbox360 at the moment I think I’m quite lucky and should have it back soon enough. I think i might even blog about my Xbox’s second adventure to the magical repair shop.

As discussed on the recent Noobtoob Community Podcast I have picked up a copy of Condemned and have contributed to Jam and Locke’s fantastic videos. Seeing as Jam started in the shopping mall I decided to flesh out the beginning of the story, and after this who knows which part I shall cover next (suggestions welcome). So turn down the lights, turn up the volume and enjoy.

Part 1:

Part 2:

I’ve been wanting a capture device for quite some time to allow me to record some some games, and so I have laid my hands on this, a USB Dazzle DVC170. There are a few USB capture devices on the market, but very few can actually record 60Hz PAL properly, and even the ones that can sometimes need to be tricked into thinking thier NTSC.

So I’ve had a bit of fun recording CoD4 and GH3 from my Xbox360, I can now get a little bit more creative and might even to some video reviews like my friend James.

For the past few weeks now I’ve been co-hosting on the Noobtoob community podcast, myself and Shane (Gameshark) have been inviting guest speakers on and I’ve really been enjoying it. The past few days I’ve been working on getting the feed sorted out and today I finally got around to submitting it to iTunes, hurrah!

You can subscribe by clicking here

Next episode is due out at the weekend, until then here’s the last ep.

What else do you use a blog for other than to rant about stuff? Well I haven’t ranted in a while so let me tell you something that has been bugging me lately, and that is people expecting GTA4 to be the perfect game.

First of all, I’ll let you in on my feelings about the game, I like it, a lot. And just recently I feel people have been holding up this games flaws rather than looking at the amazing game that it is, almost akin to a small child at Christmas getting the bike that he wanted but it’s in a slightly different RED than he expected. I went into this game expecting it to be a better GTA game than I had played previously, and knowing that the graphics were going to be better on this next/current generation of consoles, and that is exactly what I got, and a bit more to boot.

It seems so very strange to me that some people I know are complaining about this game, or state that they are trying really hard to like it. What’s not to like? It’s an absolutely gorgeous city, rich in detail, the general population all have their different lives going on and (thanks to the euphoria engine) so very realistic. And all this goes for the city itself, the level of detail that Rockstar have squeezed in here really impresses me, and has really brought the city alive, and I haven’t even opened it all up yet.

I think the main reasons for this is the sheer size of the hype surrounding this release coupled with the recent scores that GTA4 received just prior to it’s launch, one site IGN rated it a 10/10 before most of the other sites were allowed (due to an embargo) and this has set a trend for the game to score perfect 10s across most sites. Does this game deserve a 10? At the moment I myself rate this game 9.5 and I see myself definatly giving this a 10 once I have finished the game and tried the multiplayer more, but I think there is nothing wrong with giving this game a 10 across the board. At this point GTA4 is apparently averaging out at 98.8%, some other high scoring games include Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64), which up until this point led all games with an average GameRankings score of 97.7% , and that is closely followed by Super Mario Galaxy (Wii), which has an average of 97.3 percent. Yea thats right 97.3% for SMG, that 98.8% looks a bit better now huh, I certainly think think SMG is a fabulous game, but I also know that I am enjoying GTA4 much more than I did Super Mario Galaxy so far.

I personally am loving my vacation in Liberty city, and i really hope their working on a GTA4: Insert new city here, because I could play these games forever, their always fun, and their always just the right mix of what I like from a game. Sure I could wish they added a bunch more things, but who says they won’t with Downloadable content. Well that’s it rant over, time to get back to playing.

I thought I’d put together a fun video.

It’s the 28th today and in less than 24 hours GTA IV will be hitting the shelves all around the world. Anticipation for this title has been extremely high with the first all handful of reviews all giving this game the rare 10/10 rating and stating that it not only lives up to the hype, but exceeds it.

Well this morning I found something fantastic in my Inbox, I’ll give you a clue, the subject was “Your Amazon.co.uk order has dispatched”. That’s right, not only has Amazon managed to process my order properly this time, but they are actually sending the game ahead of time so it reaches me on the day of release, happy days are here again.

Ok, so maybe Tremulous didn’t get your attention but this one might as well. And i know what you’re thinking. Oooooo, I have css and cod4, why the hell do i need this! Well, to tell you the truth, i really have no idea but here it goes.

Urban Terror is yet another mod gone standalone game built with the Quake 3 arena engine. The basic idea of the game is much similar to any other FPS. Game modes are literally just TD and CTF. What’s really cool is that at the beginning of the round(of course you can select your guns)you get to get a lot of cool equipment for yourself such as a silencer for your weapons, tactical goggles to see in the dark as well as spot enemies, a laser sight, or simply just some extra ammunition. The gameplay is really fun too. There are a lot of neat tricks you can do in the game. You can slide across the floor, walljump, and you can climb up a ledge thats higher than where you are standing.

Some negative points about the game is the actual fps gameplay. It is extremely easy to get kills in this game. There is extremely low recoil so every shot is going to be spot-on and shooting while moving is accurate also. Now this might sound cool because, “Ooh now i can pwn some noobzors” but “pwning some noobzors” isn’t really all that fun when you do it every darn game.

Other than that, Urban Terror is a pretty fun game, and if you’ve been bored with your other FPS’s recently, this is definetly the #1 pick.

Download Link: http://www.urbanterror.net/

As of right now my Gamerscore is 9988, and I’m pretty psyched about passing the 10,000 barrier. But there’s just one stain on my record, no not king king.. it goes my the name of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3.

Most games generally give achievements ending in a zero or five, however UKM3 gives it in 11s , or 12s, and since I havn’t beaten the game yet I am 12 points off my target, well no more I say! Next month i’m going to work on getting that stain off my record, i’m going to train like Rocky and kick ass like the Karate Kid, and then I will win.. CUE THE MUSIC!!

So I have not yet decided on what achievement will push me over the barrier, but I won’t make it something cheap like undertow, I’m stil plowing through Call Of Duty 4 on veteran, and just past one of the hardest parts (”One Shot, One Kill” at the ferris wheel) so it might be that.

Already 2008 seems to be blistering past, and I’m really enjoying playing all the games from last year still, however I feel Easter and the months after are going to bring some great games so I am trying my hardest to get some of the older ones out of the way. The main one being Mass Effect, I still haven’t played more than 8 hours into it and with CoD4 distracting me it has been tough (on my 4th Prestige now).

Too make things worse I have been getting rather excited about the new variety map pack coming out for it this spring featuring 4 new multilayer maps Creek Hill, Killhouse, Chinatown and Broadcast. So i have decided to cancel my rental service next month and get my older games completed, another incentive is that I’m really close to getting past the 10,000 gamerscore which is going to be a nice feeling.

Anyway, I am off to have a quick game of Call of Duty 4..