Lord of the Rings: Conquest

Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Pandemic Studios

Release Date: January 13, 2009

Any fan of Star Wars: Battlefront and Lord of the Rings should be excited about this one. It seems like it should be called Lord of the Rings: Battlefront. Instead of going out as a Stormtrooper equipped with a blaster rifle you'll be an Orc equipped with a huge sword or a bow. From what I have heard it plays similarly to Battlefront as well. There are different missions and in each mission there are four different characters to choose from: A warrior, an archer, a scout, and a mage. If LotR: Conquest is anywhere near good as the Battlefront games then it should be a definite must buy for any fan of the Battlefront series..

All pictures from http://www.ign.com/

The Elder Scrolls V

OK, so now that Bethesda Softworks is done with Fallout 3 I can't help but wonder if they have already started on the next Elder Scrolls game. I'm sure they have. I did here some rumours that they might abandon the series but I doubt that after how well Oblivion sold. Actually I have heard rumours that they are and that they may not do it, so I'm going to wait until it is officially announced before I believe anything. So I suppose the fact that most people liked Oblivion was a good and a bad thing, for me at least. The good thing is because of its success there will most likely be a fifth installment. The bad thing is that they might take some of the stuff i don't like from Oblivion and carry it over to the next game. One good thing is that Bethesda always makes their games from the ground up. The don't use anything from other games, except ideas of course. They take the ideas and build a completely new and unique game, which I give them a lot of credit for. Most video game companies settle for the quick, cheap, one year later sequel. Let's see... Halo, Gears of War, Call of Duty, to name a few. All these series have installments that just feel like an update rather than a whole new game.

Well, back to my point. I always seem to get sidetracked on something. I just hope Bethesda builds more off of Fallout 3's success, minus the gore and dismemberment of course, rather than Oblivion's. Yeah, I would love to be able to chop peoples arms off with an ebony longsword but I think The Elder Scrolls series is meant for a younger audience. And by younger I mean like 13 and up or so. One thing I would like to see is more of a destructible environment. Like being able to destroy houses and trees and stuff. And I would love to be able to shoot a bolt of lightening at someone and see them burst into flames. Also, the cut-and-paste dungeon structure has to go. I want to be able to go into a dungeon and know I have not been there before.

Oh yeah, on the subject of Oblivion, I hold to the fact that I was the first person to discover the "Secret Door" inside of the Temple of the One in Imperial City. I got bored and started to wonder what would happen if I jumped outside of the town walls. Well all there was was a weird, barren landscape that was all glitchy and strange. For those who don't know, you're not actually supposed to jump outside the town walls. You're supposed to leave by the gate. Well my roof hopping led me to Imperial City and eventually I tried to get to the top of the temple. I just fell through and there was a door there that brought me to the final stage of the last mission of the main quest. I didn't hear anything about it online for a couple more weeks. I also got to the top of the big tower thingy, which I can't remember the name of, using the paint brush trick. (The paint brush trick is a glitch that caused all the paint brushed in the game to float in the air when dropped, so you could build a kind of "staircase" with them). It took me about two hours. I even have a saved game of it. I'll try to get a picture of it and post it.

Miracle hair restoration treatments

Has anyone else noticed these hair restoration treatments advertised on TV? I mean the one's that not only restore hair but make you taller, skinnier, well-built, and also somehow give you a permanent tan. It doesn't stop there though, you also have an increases sex drive and become instantly irresistible to the opposite sex. They usually come with a complimentary ski-mobile too. It almost makes me wish I was balding.

Star Wars: Episode 3 Parody

Anyone who did not like episodes 1-3 of Star Wars has to watch this. Actually, anyone should at least be mildly amused by it, it's hilarious. Just type "Star Wars episode 3 parody" into the YouTube search bar and click on the first video that comes up.

Fallout Movie

I've been hearing rumours online that there is a movie in production based on the Fallout series of video games. I really have absolutely no idea if it is true, but if I found out it was I don't think I would be able to contain my excitement. If it ends up being true I have to remember to not keep my hopes up, video game based movies are rarely good. If they could actually pull this off though, that would mean sticking with the series' quirky dark humour, it would be one of the most amazing movies of this decade, in my opinion at least.

Songs for Rock Band

This is a list of the top 50 songs I would like to see in Rock Band:

1. Hotel California, by The Eagles
2. Life in the Fast Lane, by The Eagles
3. Victim Of Love, by The Eagles
4. Take It Easy, by The Eagles
5. Already Gone, by The Eagles
6. One Of These Nights, by The Eagles
7. Peaceful Easy Feeling, by The Eagles
8. I Feel Free, by Cream
9. Sunshine Of Your Love, by Cream
10. White Room, by Cream
11. Crossroads, by Cream
12. Takin' Care of Business, by Bachman-Turner Overdrive
13. You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet, by Bachman-Turner Overdrive
14. Roll On Down the Highway, by Bachman-Turner Overdrive
15. Shotgun Rider, by Bachman-Turner Overdrive
16. I Want You To Want Me, by Cheap Trick
17. Listen To the Music, by The Doobie Brothers
18. Black Water, by The Doobie Brothers
19. Don't Bring Me Down, by Electric Light Orchestra
20. Lucky Man, by Emerson, Lake & Palmer
21. Cocaine, by Eric Clapton
22. I Shot the Sheriff, By Eric Clapton
23. Blues Power, by Eric Clapton
24. Rhiannon, by Fleetwood Mac
25. Hot Blooded, by Foreigner
26. Sundown, by Gordon Lightfoot
27. We're An American Band, by Grand Funk Railroad
28. Time Machine, by Grand Funk Railroad
29. Walk Like A Man, by Grand Funk Railroad
30. Shinin' On, by Grand Funk Railroad
31. Rock & Roll Soul, by Grand Funk Railroad
32. I'm Your Captain, by Grand Funk Railroad
33. Inside Looking Out, by Grand Funk Railroad
34. No Time, The Guess Who
35. W*O*L*D*, by Harry Chapin
36. Born On The Bayou, by John Fogerty
37. Proud Mary, by Creedence Clearwater Revival
38. Down On the Corner, by Creedence Clearwater Revival
39. Sweet Hitch-Hiker, by Creedence Clearwater Revival
40. Green River, by Creedence Clearwater Revival
41. Sunshine (Go Away Today), by Jonathan Edwards
42. Only the Young, by Journey
43. Wheel In the Sky, by Journey
44. Be Good To Yourself, by Journey
45. I Am A Rock, by Simon & Garfunkel
46. A Hazy Shade Of Winter, by Simon & Garfunkel
47. Renegade, by Styx
48. Wild Thing, by The Troggs
49. Still Of the Night, by Whitesnake
50. Get Together, by The Youngbloods

I realize there's not much of a chance that most of these will make it into Rock Band, but I can hope. The Eagles and some of Cream and Eric Clapton's stuff is what I would like to see most. You can't beat Clapton for guitar solos. Some of these may also be impossible to do because of the lack of bass or something but I think most of them are good.

New Red Faction

Hearing the name Red Faction brings back some good memories. Four player deathmatches with plenty of ridiculously accurate bots to hunt you down. Blowing people into little chunks with a rocket launcher and also blowing holes in the wall, which was a pretty new thing back then. Killing people through walls half way across the map with the rail gun. I remember feeling like an idiot when one of the bots actually won the match. Ahh... good memories. So you can imagine my excitement when I turned to page 28 in my copy of OXM (Official Xbox Magazine) and saw the heading "Red Faction: Guerrilla". It is supposedly set 50 years after Red Faction 2. It is no longer first person but has switched to third person (hey, it worked for Gears of War). It also promises plenty of explosive fun, this time meaning almost everything is destructible. It says it will be released some time in early 2009.

Keep it in the real world

Video games are a source of enjoyment. I play games for entertainment and don't want to have any kind of political propaganda shoved down my throat. There has been a recent trend in video games having real world advertisement in them. I don't have a problem with this if it fits into a game, such as being seen on a billboard in a racing game. I just learned that Barack Obama purchased advertisements in certain Xbox 360 video games this past year, one being Madden NFL 09. The ads were apparently only seen in 10 states and were downloaded from Xbox live when gamers signed in. It is disgusting that EA accepted his offer. Political ads have no place in a video game. At no point should a person be forced to view a political ad on something that person owns. This is disturbing news and I hope it does not open the door for future abuse.

Rock Band 2

Publisher: MTV Games

Developer: Harmonix

I haven't posted anything in 4 days. And Rock Band 2 is the reason why. I loved the idea of the first one but the songs on it were terrible. There were some good ones but most of them I couldn't stand. In Rock Band 2 there are songs from all genres and from the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, and 00's. There are over 100 songs available when you buy the game, although 20 of them must be downloaded via a code printed on the back of the manual. As of December 2 there are over 500 songs available, either on the disk or for purchase online. That includes songs for Rock Band and Rock Band 2. All the songs that are downloaded can be played on either game and I'm pretty sure there is a way to import your Rock Band songs onto Rock Band 2. Visit rockband.com for more information on songs.

There are some cool features in Rock Band 2. You can create your own characters and form a band (by yourself or with friends). Just be careful what you name your band, if you use a naughty word it won't let you use it online. I named my band Sex on a Sundae (don't ask) and I had to change it to Cex on a Sundae. I don't know what's so bad about sex. I would think anything that can't be said on TV would be censored, but whatever. Back to Rock Band 2. You unlock songs by playing in the worldwide tour with your band, but you can also use a code to unlock them if your lazy or just don't feel like playing through it. The character creator is pretty cool. It isn't really detailed but it does the job. There are four difficulty settings and each person playing can choose their own. That means if your playing with your little nephew or your mother you can make it challenging for both of you. Just be aware that difficulties that make the music faster for you, make it faster for everyone, so if you're playing with someone who is really bad you may want to take it down a notch yourself. The game itself costs $60, but the bundle that comes with a guitar, microphone, and a drum set, is $190. It is definitely worth the money if you can afford it. It will provide endless hours of entertainment for you and your friends or family. Just be sure to pick up an extra guitar for bass.

Jimbo McCarthy: My Character (I know, the coolness is too much to handle)

By the way, this picture is from www.rockband.com . You can make a profile there and make pictures of your characters and stuff.

Picture from http://www.ign.com/

Call of Duty: World at War

Publisher: Activision
Developer: Treyarch

Call of Duty is a series published by Activision. Each installment is handed off to a different developer. It switches between Infinity Ward and Treyarch. Infinity Ward's versions have been much better. Call of Duty 2 and Call of Duty 4 (both by Infinity Ward) remain as 2 of my favorite shooters. This fifth installment, by Treyarch is a lot better than their last attempt, Call of Duty 3, which was, let's just say, not one of my favorite's. Call of Duty: World at War proves that they have learned from past mistakes and from Infinity Ward's accomplishments. While it is not quite as good as Call of Duty 4, World at War is a big step forward for Treyarch. One of the things lacking was good characters. In COD4 I actually knew my squad mates. They felt real and it was sad when they died. In World at War I never felt like I knew anybody in the squads. They all kind of blended together and none of them stood out. COD4 had great maps for multiplayer and for online matches. They had smaller maps you could play 4 or even 3 players on. World at War has less maps and all of them seem to be geared towards online play. While there are a couple that are fun for 4 players it is almost impossible to play 3 players on any of them. They are simply too big. The single player campaign is good but it is shorter than I would have liked.




For the most part, COD: World at War is a good game. Far more intense and action packed than COD4. It features more realism, such as improved AI and even dismemberment. Online matches feel much like COD4 and some of the maps are much better. It features similar perks to COD4, while adding some of its own. It is definitely a good game, but I would recommend anyone who doesn't mind waiting to hold of on it until the price drops. There are better games out there, such as Fallout 3 or even Rock Band 2, that deserve more attention and are worth the money.