Quick shipment from The Valve Store! Great, simple mugs.

Work has been good and I’ve been doing a bit here and there. I signed up for an Orange Savings Account as well as started to invest in a Roth IRA. Additionally I enrolled at my company’s retirement plan (finally). From a spontaneous standpoint this is the worst thing to do right before the launch of Metal Gear Solid 4 and the reported PlayStation 3 bundle. But let’s get serious: that stuff isn’t going anywhere and I have a few friends with PS3s. Right now there are a lot more important things to worry about.

The “Survival Edition” of Fallout 3 (an Amazon.com exclusive) includes the Collector’s Edition goodies plus a Pip Boy 3000… which essentially looks like an alarm clock:

Will the game actualy ship in October ‘08 though? For $129.99, money is better spent on, oh, an entire Rock Band set. It’s a $50 alarm clock! Are you kidding me?

I ran across two decent films on my Netflix run.

Hot Fuzz (Dir. Edgar Wright / Simon Pegg). When Clay asked me to go see this (long ago) I was very hesitant - I just don’t watch enough comedies. Turns out that this film was really entertaining and just silly-funny. Recommended. I’ll have to rent “Shaun of the Dead” next.

One Hour Photo (Dir. Mark Romanek / Robin Williams) was an interesting and cold film. Sy the photo guy is calm, creepy and sometimes pathetic. But I can’t help but feel sympathetic. What also stood out for me was the films soundtrack. I ended up picking it up in the iTunes store. Haunting, sad, but very compelling. Music for the darker corners of your mind.

I’ve been jogging every other morning at work. We have a fitness room that has two treadmills. One of them is helping me meditatively jog for 2 miles a few mornings of the week.

I’ve been in a very big creative lull for obvious reasons - but I am keeping myself busy.

Considering how well Gears of War sold, it came as no surprise that Gears of War 2 was announced at the Game Developers’ Conference a few weeks ago. That’s lead designer Cliff Bleszinski as he tore a paper wall to make the announcement.

Gears was more than just a game for me. It was a gathering of friends and a social experience. This was a dinner in Koreatown, Los Angeles organized by Jennie and Tom.

Granted, Gears 2 will come out in November. It’s a ways off and I will definitely be quite busy then, but I’ll be sure to have a copy and join them again… if everyone’s playing it :)

I’ve been playing N+ on Xbox Live Arcade. I wasn’t aware of the PC/Mac versions at all, and even though they are free I opted to play the console version.

N+ is an addictive platformer. It’s simple presentation is the draw- a stick-figured Ninja, shades of grey and bits of gold strewn throughout each level.

The game has 50 single-player episodes, each one comprising of five stages. It starts off easy enough to familiarize players with controls, jumping, wall-sliding and so on.

All is not fun though, I will admit. Maybe I should say the game gets pretty challenging, enough to have me cuss quite a few times. Oops.

If you guys are wondering what the secret Achievement is in N+, die 1000 times and get 15 gamerscore points. This is an awesome achievement, simply because it popped up as I was naturally progressing (and dying) during play. It’s nice to know that even when sucking at the game so badly, the developers still had the persistent in mind…

Katrina taught me how to shoot arrows today.

Rez HD was released on Xbox Live Arcade a few Wednesdays ago. Although I own the PlayStation2 version, I was still excited to try (then buy) the latest

I’ve tried Lumines a little on PSP and own Every Extend Extra Extreme/E4, also from XBLA. I think that Rez still is Mizuguchi’s opus… it’s visceral… You just wanna push the button even if you aren’t targeting or shooting an enemy down. You just want to hear those sounds you’re making as the beat moves along.

I used to contribute some writing at GameCritics and I wrote a review for Rez on PS2. Warning: It’s very wordy.

Rez is still as fun as it was back then. You can play one area if you feel like running through a session for ten minutes, or spend a few hours playing the entire game. It’s a short but enjoyable shooter that anyone can enjoy for ten minutes or two hours. If you’ve never played Rez and you own an Xbox360, get online and download the trial. You’ll enjoy the ride.

Unfortunately, no Achievements for this one: I finished the single player campaign on Call of Duty 4, for PS3.

Some background: I’ve not finished any previous Call of Duty games and I got into just two hours of Call of Duty 2 when it debuted for the 360. Having to jump into the shoes of different characters didn’t stick well with me, and I lost interest fast. With COD4, however, I was compelled to keep playing. After three visits to my friend’s PS3, I completed the single player mode.

The decision to depart from the saturated WWII genre was definitely needed, and the blockbuster, Hollywood moments throughout the campaign are fantastic (the title theme is composed by Harry Gregson-Williams for that ultimate cinematic touch).

I didn’t get a chance to try multiplayer on the PS3 version but did participate in the multiplayer beta over Xbox Live. I do recall an excellent ranking and challenge system which I’d like to revisit if I get my hands on the 360 version.

COD has always been about frantic firefights and COD4 just raises the chaos bar even higher. I’m used to shooters that happened to be “quieter” or central to the player. It’s jarring at first then much more immersive after the initial shock. Ridiculous amounts of gunfire, explosions and yelling in deserts, marshes, forests and mountains. The game just takes you everwhere.

It’s definitely worth checking out, especially if you love multiplayer - all of my friends are on it while I sit around with DiRT, Halo 3 and Mass Effect. It’s an amazing month for gamers.

It’s time has definitely come and I’m selling the laptop on eBay.

You’d be surprised to see lots of broken electronics being sold on eBay, but it makes sense: tech savvy individuals who can repair the stuff can either use it or simply resell it on eBay or elsewhere. It’s a win-win situation really.

No, I’m not related to Kratos.

I don’t own a PS3, but Kevin does. A few weekends ago I finally finished Heavenly Sword. Also considered “God of War 2.5″ to me, Heavenly Sword builds upon the combat system that God of War brought to PS2 gamers. Once you get it, kicking ass with Nariko (the game’s protagonist) is rather fun.

The game is short… well, for those with a lot of time. It can be finished in about 6 hours or so. But what a great 6 hours… It’s got a fairly decent story, fun gameplay and excellent, poignant cinematics. I would like to wager that the cutscenes in the game rival that of Metal Gear Solid’s - the execution is solid. The soundtrack to the game is also catchy - as I played the game, I told Kevin, “this sounds a lot like… oh it is by him!” (maestro Nitin Sawhney). I’d really like to know if they will release a soundtrack on iTunes or elsewhere… I’d certainly pick it up.

Jade Raymond. Producer, Assassin’s Creed.

Quite a few people at work are on the hypewagon known as “Assassin’s Creed“. I’m not sure what all the business is about, but Jade Raymond might have something to do with male gamers on a subconscious level. I only tried a good ten minutes of the game (i.e. a tutorial), so I can’t speak about the game just yet.

Instead, I’m waiting for Mass Effect next week. I like shooter/hybrid RPGS (see Deus Ex) and science fiction. It might be a decent fit…

The “e for all” expo took place at the L.A. Convention Center last Thursday through Sunday. I didn’t spend a lot of time playing any games as I was with an exhibitor. On my off time I did get a chance to try out EA’s “Rock Band” and roam the floor a little bit before heading home each day.

Rock Band is nothing particularly “new”, but the execution is well done. I personally had a blast trying out the drums on two songs.

Gears of War PC was demo’d over at HP’s booth (they were showcasing their new gaming systems). I should have grabbed the controls since I play Gears often with a group of friends…

Nintendo was the first thing that any attendee saw when entering the South Hall. Super Smash Bros. Brawl was highly anticipated and playable.

Nintendo also had booth babes. Who knew?

Compared to the monster E3 from several years ago or Tokyo Game Show, the first year of the “E for All” expo was small, less crowded and considered unimpressive. For gamers who have never had the chance to attend a game expo, this was a fun romp for them. I, on the other hand, think that there’s a lot of work to be done to make this expo a big event in the convention space. I’ve heard good things about PAX, the Penny Arcade Expo (in Seattle). We’ll see what E for All has in store next year, when it opens doors to gamers in August instead of October.

http://hitotoki.org/tokyo/021

I submitted a piece to the moderators at Hitotoki.org, a site about moments in Japan. It was recently published online :)