Scottish Samurai

I appear again to update my world of gaming news. First the biggest, well at least for a PC gamer like me is I have bought a Xbox 360. Yes, maybe not the largest leap to console but god damn it, for pc enthusiast like myself, to do this seems big. But I have to say it has been damn sweet, I mean I still know pc gaming is far superior but xboxing it has had some benefits. I must admit that the need of that my computer is not giving me the speed, or power I want is no more, and any game I have is blistering with graphics and almost never have a frame rate slowdown. Its a good machine but I still crave pc no matter what I've also moved my blogging site over to a new site called www.talkthegeek.blogspot.com, who is started by my brother and a few friend. It is full of informative information on not just games but comics, tv, move and anything at all. It also features a podcast which hopefully I will be guesting on so you can hear the voice behind words. I will again try to start to ...

I write today about an old game but one I saw for 9.99 and was just compelled to buy it. If you have never heard of the medal of honor series, its of world war 2 and has been known for some of the best world war 2 fps games out there. They had decided to branch out to the wildly unused pacific part of the word war 2 setting which was nice, since Europe has been used so much. When I first started the game, the first thing I noticed was a long load time, enough to do a few little chores, maybe catch a minute or two, but I never let load times bother me to much because it allows me to do things. I walked into the jungle islands not knowing what I was in for, I went around blasting the enemy away, and just had myself some straight shooter fun cause that is what this is , a plain old shooter. They don't do anything new, or try to amp up a style in it, and I like it that way, its nice to have a game that you walk into and you don't have to learn a new way to fight or play you can...

Its not often one gets a chance to peek into brilliance and I just got that look and man was it damn cool. Now Half Life 2 is one of the greatest games ever and also one of my fav's, its a game that has shaken and tore up what we knew as fps. I needed to say that because I want to to get the full meaning of what I am saying, stalker is on my list just below half life. You can see that just me comparing those to is an honor and if it didn't have its problems I would say at the same level as the game. I'll get the things that bring down the game first to get them out of the way. Glitches, we all hate them and lately have been a trend in games, well unfortunately stalker is no exception. The game has some crash to desktop or freeze hard boot glitches which can really frustrate you, and also numerous in game glitches that are simple oversights or just need to patched. The good stuff, there is list but I will hit the big ones that are enough to make you buy the game. First is...

I had done something I always wanted to do , I got some new speakers. In my life as a gamer my speakers had been passed down to me, granted the latest pair were some nice ones but when someone hooked up a new pair for a bit, I quickly saw that I was outdated more than usual. So in complete shock, I wandered into best buy and bought a nice 5.1 surround sound set for a nice price of around 80 bucks. In total excitement I quickly set up the speakers, head spinning with ideas of me thinking something was behind me in fear, or being flooded with the sound of a nuke going off in supreme commander. Having set up everything, I started reading the manual, because I had three chords and only one hole for them to go in. Having read through and found what I wanted I got it working, I put on some music and started to notice that nothing was coming out of two speakers behind me, I got a bit worried. My brother than stated that you need a sound card to do 5.1 surround sound but you can make it l...

You sit there seeing a body of water slowly come closer and closer, you start to make barrier but it comes so fast that you can't stop it and have to pull your army back. This is what makes Maelstrom a really cool idea of a game, it lets you control water and earth to bring some really cool rts elements in the game. The game has three races Remnants, Ascension, and Aliens (not original but to the point), each fighting in their very own way but not in units. All the units in the game fight the same way and they make look totally different, they are just blasting each other, the way the play differently is that the aliens can flood a map polluted water, which heals your guys but damages other guys. This is really cool idea because it bring a new way of fighting by just slowly flooding the map and making it so the other guy can't go anywhere. The remnants cool trick is two use the earth as its barrier you can make gully's or small hills to divert the water into some place else...

Today Oblivion showed me that some games even after the main campaigns are done, can offer more than you ever really knew. You see my brother got home and said he wanted to play some oblivion, he had played through it about 2 times but had some stuff he hadn't wrapped up in his seconded character. While I was peeking in to see what he had done and where he was, I kept saying cool and ideas were popping up in my head. I didn't know at the time but oblivion had done its spell on me. Myself I have played through it twice too but my main character had also done almost everything in guilds and quests so you can see how bad and addicting this game is. If you are an rpg fan, or just want a game that you will not get bored of in long time and you have no life then please by all means get this game because it is a great rpg, has about limitless hours of fun even without mods so you need a no life to play it. The main quest will get you for about 20 hours but I think longer and about a p...

Its time to talk about everyones favorite thing in the world, the saving system. I won't even talk about checkpoint systems they shouldn't even exist but I have some gripes with auto saves in our games. I was playing Knights of the Old Republic 2(kotorII) and I had gotten pretty far into a level but then in a little bit of a not enough attention I was killed, thinking that the game must have autosaved at least somewhere behind me I wasn't to worried. Oh but the game had not saved, I had to play through the whole level again. Granted I could save on the way but when you're in a game and just not a care in the world, you forget to save, I think they should rethink the way autosaves are done. My favorite autosave in the world is empire earth's a rts for that matter which is a bit sad but this game instead of autosaving at a big moment or level, it would save every few minutes. That way you could have just died or computer goes off by accident but you know you have...

come on army when I click on that hill I don't mean get there by going to backwards through the enemy army, oh fine this time to take this matter into my own hands. Anyone who has played this game at least once has felt like this while playing. Rice & fall was supposed to be the next rts game that would take you time, or at least bring the end to normal rts. Well I can say that to an extent they were able to do this but it seemed to be packaged wrong. It is a fun game with its fps mode and amazing naval battles but the one problem,its A.I. that seems to struggle to get to point b at all. If you have played this game and just shrugged it off, try it again but go for the skirmish's it can be quite enjoyable to play and the multiplayer has so much potential. Its got some problems that need to adjusted or updated but trust me its just so much fun. If you are looking for a game, that keeps with rts but also does some radically new things, then go for this game, it will surprise ...

I am going to start a small segment of stories for the front line of battlefield 2. The reason why is because I have been really getting into the game so there won't be much more to talk about, that and how I want to tell you some amazing stores that will get you hooked on this game. The one thing about being a sniper that sucks is that you some times get to wrapped up you forget about the world outside of your scope and boom, you are surrounded by guys. I had this experience today when I was holding off a flag post that was the border to all other flag post. Lying there I was taking down guys left and right, then there seemed to be a moment when no one was there and peace was around. Soon enemies were coming back in but no allies, I then at this moment looked at the map and noticed the lines had shifted and I was on the wrong side of them. Being cut off from my allies I decided to take as many guys out as I can. I was able to get a few down and had a funny moment where a guy di...

it seems that the call for a new Homeworld 2 game has been heard, as you know in a earlier post I was saying how we needed a new Homeworld 2 game out and it seems that a company has got the right idea. Sins of the a Solar Empire from the screen shot I have seen looks like homeworld 2 with better graphics and lasers. From what I read this seems to be the only things that is like the old game, I'm not saying thats bad but it means that were not exactly getting our game we want. The one thing that sounds awesome is that instead of you just being in one battle that it supposed to feel epic but you never feel it because there is no real idea of what it really is useful for, well now thats changed in this game you can create a great empire to rule the cosmos and its all shown to you on a galactic map. Apparently you get a kinda turn based feel to a game but in a real time strategy pace. You get to see you empire move, trade and expand and move you armada around. Lets say you have a campa...

A while back in a time where there was no school I had bought a game called Battlefield 2, from what I had heard the best fps (first person shooter) out there. For those of you who don't know what Battlefield 2 is here is a quick briefing. Battlefield is a fps shooter modern warfare game, it allows for gamers to select a class i.e. Medic, assault, sniper and etc. It allows for a the closet thing to warfare that you can get out of a game expect for America's Army but this also allows for some fun. Now when I bought this game I had just been playing the demo and thought damn this is fun and so went ahead to buy it. I played it a little, had some fun with the singleplayer but multiplayer was not for me because when I looked for servers the ping was way to high (at the time I didn't know the interface sucked so if you clicked on the server the real ping showed), so the game never landed on my play hardcore list for awhile until a little while ago. For some reason I want...

a two post day today best star wars rts but from there it goes down This game seems to have made a stir in star wars fan's hearts and even alot of rts buffs, but I just don't get why? It really brought not alot new ideas to the rts world, maybe a few tricks that are neat but only smoke and mirrors. Now I must say its the best star wars rts out there, it has some awesome action and pretty graphics, it also has the cinematic view which is always fun to play with. I may just have beef with its extremely low unit cap which I can't just seem to get over, but even dawn of war which had low unit caps at least had more vehicles and units on screen. The gameplay to me seems stale of what a rts game should be. The star wars universe has such great ideas for rts, but it seems that to date for me the rts game has yet to be made. The galactic map which I was just trying out was a really cool idea and could easily be really addicting but I found its setup quiet buggish and there were thi...

Let me start off first with saying that any game that lets me kills lots of robots with a sweeping laser blast has got to be great. Of coarse I am talking about Supreme Commander which my idle hands just got their fingers on the demo. This game brings alot of new things onto the table of rts, which I haven't seen in a long time. One of my favorite new innovations they brought with them is the ability to scroll in and out of the map to a satellite view or about 50 meters above ground level. The other main favorite of the new ideas is the shield emitters maybe not all that new but still wicked to use. It is good to see that in our world there are still new ideas out there in the world. One of my pet peeves in rts games is that so many out there are if I have a massive army and you just got a small ultimate troops, you are still screwed, supreme commander decides to change that by alot. I was playing my first battle, barely knowing what I was doing just building things that ...

I am here to give you a lesson on a game you may want to play if you are a strategy fan. Now this is the one game that hands down no questions asked you should get even if it means updating you machine, this game is Company of Heroes. This is the most strategy oriented game I have ever played. I mean if a tank comes rolling up on a platoon of soldiers, kill your guys gonners cause they do nothing to tanks unless they got some things up their sleeves. Every aspect of the game is thought out, If you send in a small army to take a certain position you will think before each click of the mouse. Let me give you an example of what has happened to me lately. I was hoping to get in some COH for fun, but about 10 minutes in I was enthralled with it, my fault forgetting how great the game was. I had sent some guys out to capture, they were sent out pretty far on the map but it was needed for the war machine. Then the enemy started to come rushing in and chaos was at mist across the battlefi...

Have you heard of it, have you played, if any of these you answered yes to then hopefully you see what I see. This was one of the big hype games, it was in PC Gamers rts revolution page's which is normally high praise but for some reason the second I saw this game, I thought it was going to be one of those small name games. Now don't get me wrong, its look like it could be fun and I have played the demo and it is but its nothing to go woohoo about, the units are fun to play with and the fps turret idea is cool but its nothing really new and exiting. My belief is it is going to be a game that lan party's will play all the time but thats because its a game style you play all the time. The one real beef I have with it, and this surprises me, is from what I saw and played there was almost no strategy in the game, it was literally the bigger machine and the more of them style, jesus there wasn't even a rock paper scissors system in place. Granted I played the demo so it cou...

Earlier this week, I was able to sit down with a friend and have a supposedly quick match of Rise of Legends. We set the map to a nice 6 player map with My Friend, Me, and two A.I. bots set of moderate. We start the game with a 20 min peace timer to allow a nice empire building phase. Right before the timer goes off both A.I.'s send their army's in to my territory, so for about 10 minutes I am fighting a battle of holding my territory. Then my friend gives the final push to one of the computers and it is destroyed. Now both humans are ready to tag team the last computer, which is easy enough, now before I go on let me tell you what the map looked like after the last computer went bye bye, My friend owns about 70% to 80% of the map and I have a small bit of land to myself, both armies are large in size and are battle hardned. Human player 2 (my friend) makes the first move and charges into my lines with tanks, a huge spider and support. Having about 2 or 3 small troops to defen...

I would like to bring you to a world where machines look like Da Vinci artworks, were army's were commanded by large scorpions and giant idol's roam the land. This is Rise of Legends, sounds kind awesome huh, well it is maybe its strategy is a little stale, and unit balance is a bit off but this is only a pinprick to the Mona Lisa. The art is this game will blow your mind, you might just have battles for the sheer beauty of what is happening on your very screen. Its parent game Rise of Nations, is also its opposite the graphics are still fun, but the beuaty has left and artwork. This is made up for in the sheer depth of the strategy, I have in that game bitching matches with the computer over land, we struggle back and forth until either one of us buckles at are forced to send army's running away. Now in my head and some other peoples I can assure you, we wonder which game is the best, which one can overcome its flaws. Well I believe their is no winner, both games are just ...

I must that I am a big geek to any rts(real time strategy) games, I love the whole idea about making your army then waging war. The major appeal of these games is the strategy aspect, for instance if I should split my forces into two armies and pincer the guy or make a hammer out of my one army. Its this stuff that makes me want to play over and over again. Now to this date, I have really yet to find a game that brings me this feel over and over again. I have found games which I would play a battle and have that feeling but it didn't reproduce it. I've had battles in rome:total war wear my forces were almost gone but using cunning and counter units I was able to push back their army. Company of Heroes is another game in which is just all kinds of strategy in it, but again, when my force is massive and theirs is not so big I can win the game, sure their are moment when I split my forces or send them on some amazing tactical move but that happens once in blue moon. I am not sayin...

Today, I have some wise advice that I would like to share with you, never show a friend a good game, because trust me you will love the game all over again and yes this happened to me. I showed a friend of mine, what Garry's mod was and once I got to playing it I noticed how awesome it was again. Garry's mod is a half life 2 modification of sorts, really its a sandbox to do what ever you want. example: I built a hot air balloon, out of a container that you see on those huge boats. I recently got Garry's mod 10, to stubborn to update, and was enjoying the hell out of it. The main new update is its interface and I love because it's got that shiny polish all over it. Everything is sleek and smooth running, it shows a real professionalism about which the update was well worth. This is the game that if you want something new, or just something dare I say never gets boring, then I suggest you get this, it now cost about 10$ for Garry's mod 10 but you can still find the 9...

You hate it, you love it these seem to be what people are feeling about this tv show controversy. To be honest I love the show to death, it is well written, and just so damn amazing. Now I was over at www.imdb.com and noticed that on the message board that alot of people have beef with Ronald D. Moore, I have not known of him until well about a few weeks before. The main debate about him is mostly looking at his past work which just pisses me off. You want to know what his past work was, it was fuckin Star Trek and Mission Impossible 2. Now maybe Mission Impossible 2 could have been better (by alot) but never look at Star Trek as an example for bad writing, I mean come on its Star Trek, it has bad writing no matter what it does (well for alot of its episodes). For those of you who say, well you have never watched it or given it a try, I used to be a very big Star Trek geek (trekker for those of you) and even then I found TNG kinda bad which was suppose to be the best Star Trek. I mean...

Lets start off with if you don't know this game then you are unworthy of games, this is the game to play if you are a gamer, even if you like rts you will like this game. Now that I am done bumming out those who have not played, and you know who you are. I must talk about the best level in the game...Ravenholm. This level is also my hated partly because it is so good. Here is the setting, a small town taken over by zombies, some are fast (they kinda act like werewolf's), some are slow, and some are just pumped up. You first walk in this town, with creepy music and lots of spinny blades. After you go through it for a bit, you start to notices your weapons getting less and less ammo, and are more cautious about corners and things you don't see. There is half point where you are almost out of ammo and health but your friend the crazy church guy throws you a shotgun, here you go hells ya, but wait those werewolf things start coming like crazy and you are just blasting away. We...

Time to talk about the game that was all hype and now seems to have left Homeworld. For those of you who dont know what Im talking about, this is a game which let you fight space battles in a total 3d world. There was always impending attack from above or below, you didn't really know. It allowed for some epic large scale battle and brought strategy to a new scale. Now that you are up to date, there has been talk about this franchise bieng picked up by Relic again, which sounds amazing for this was one of the great games of our time. If this rumor is real then God has blessed us becasue Homeworld with a updated graphics and some of the new innovative ideas out in the rts world these days it would become another great classic. I think one of the great things that would be good to have on this new Homeworld would be real time damge, so lets say a Ion cannon hits the turret of you ship in the right barrel then that barrel would become obsolete or if you spliced their ship in half...

Let there be another blog on the internet, but hey humor me. I guess welcome to those who have either jumped on or found my blog through the many that exist out there. This blog is going to deal with alot of gaming issues (yes I know the names got nothing to do with it). I may have other intresting triklets but I hope to focus on gaming and its games. If you happen to find a post intresting then please by all means comment or If you have something that you would like to be talked about then again post in comments in the post, I will try to find it , and hopefully either answer or talk about it.