The initial shock and awe of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots has come and gone, and it's now time to reflect on Hideo Kojima's recently released opus. Though MGS4 is no doubt a stunning game and many would argue evidence for videogames being treated as art, it's by no means perfect. Having just completed the game and spent some time in Metal Gear Online, I'm here to share my gripes about the game. Being a long-time fan of the MGS series, it's frustrating to see MGS4 turn out the way that it did, but I suppose it is what it is. Be warned, I don't have any criticisms of the story, but I do discuss the gameplay in each Act of the game, so if you don't want anything spoiled, best to just move on.
1. No reason to be on the Playstation 3
Why is this game on the PS3 again, besides Sony likely throwing a ton of money at Konami to keep it exclusive? It doesn't utilize the Playstation 3's strengths at all. The previously shown SIXAXIS support is nonexistent in the final product, with only one small sequence that uses it, to poor effect at that. And don't tell me they needed the storage space for Blu-Ray. We all know it was merely an excuse for Kojima to use uncompressed audio throughout the game. Throw some lossy compression at the audio (that 99% of users will never notice) and this game could fit on a single dual-layer DVD.
First of all, why does anyone give a shit which athlete will be selected for the cover of a game? Are you hanging game boxes on your wall and kneeling before it on a daily basis? I don't know about you, but my game boxes go on a shelf, spine facing outward, so I rarely see the cover at all. When it comes time to open the box, my left hand is usually obscuring the cover as I pry it open, so once again, I don't really see the athlete.
Have you ever not purchased a game because of the athlete on the cover? Of course not. Has the appearance of a particular athlete on a cover swayed you into purchasing said game when you otherwise may have passed? No. Therefore, cover athlete announcements are ridiculous and useless, unless you happen to be the athlete involved and need a little extra spending money.
Like every self-respecting geek, I went and saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull this past week, and while I had prepared myself for a disappointing outcome, I left the theater more confused and conflicted than anything else. It isn't bad, but at the same it isn't very good. It's Indiana Jones, but at the same time it isn't. That's not to say the movie doesn't do some things well, but every time the movie takes one step in the right direction, it takes two steps back. So what did the movie do wrong? See for yourself:
Just a quick note: There are obviously spoilers in this list, so if you haven't seen the film, consider yourself warned.
1. The gopher
I have to get this one out of the way first, because it's the first thing that will likely piss people off about the film. When the movie opened with a shot of a CG gopher, I actually heard someone in the theater say "God damn you George Lucas!" It wasn't Jar-Jar, but it was bad. It's a sign of how little faith I have in Lucas anymore when I almost expected the gopher to start dancing to Kenny Loggins music a la Caddyshack, marking my cue to exit and give up on the film altogether. Little did I know that the CG rodent was only the beginning of Indy 4's problems.
If you've followed my posting at all, you've figured out by now that I'm a big fan of Batman. The Dark Knight is easily my most anticipated movie of the year, and I'm trying to spread my love for all things Batman. As a challenge to myself and a service to you all, I set out to compile a list of the best Batman stories of all time, across all media. That includes movies, television, and of course, comics. I don't want to spoil the list, but suffice to say my choices will likely ruffle a few feathers, especially for some of the older Batman fans out there.
A lot of players are filling up GTA IV servers but very few appear to know what the hell they're doing, something this guide will attempt to rectify. Using these tactics and understanding how to play well with others will find you making more money in ranked matches, as well as racking up kills and dominating the game with your uncanny abilities.
This guide is focused on general strategies that can be used on most of the available game types. I'll be posting a game-mode specific guide in the coming days, followed by a helpful hosting guide that should make multiplayer games more enjoyable for all involved.
With game reviewers still mopping up their collective ejaculate, you'd think GTA IV was the greatest game of all time. The amount of hyperbole showered on Rockstar's game was unparalleled, with nearly every critic unleashing a string of adjectives that cast GTA IV as the second coming of video gaming Christ. Once the initial euphoria of the graphics wears off, you soon realize that GTA IV doesn't evolve its inherent gameplay beyond that which has come before, and in a lot of respects, significantly less.
With a Metacritic score of 99%, one might think it impossible to find any faults with a game that has been equated with everything from Citizen Kane to The Godfather. Wrong.
If nothing else, Grand Theft Auto IV is a great media gateway for organizations to get free television time to spout their respective outrage towards the contents of the game. We've already had Mothers Against Drunk Driving issue a statement and some immigrant organization is bent out of shape, but I've come up with a list of 10 groups that have been suspiciously silent.
1. DMV
The Department of Motor Vehicles should condemn GTA IV for its horrible portrayal of licensed drivers. Apparently, the Liberty City branch of the DMV will give a license to anyone, evidenced by the total lack of Student Driver vehicles on city streets. In Liberty City, if you can afford the fee, you get a license. Simple as that.
Adam Kuban of Serious Eats has put together a visual guide that showcases real-life restaurants in New York that were the likely inspiration for several locations in Grand Theft Auto 4.
Apparently, Top 10 Lists have not lost the ability to generate readership in the future, as evidenced by my recent time-hopping adventures that found me securing a few lists from popular publications.
Top 10 Unintentional Consequences of Being Immortal
1. No one can figure out when Social Security begins.
2. Recent Gamma-Ray Burst has charred Earth, making life here unappealing.
3. “Till death do us part” needs some re-wording.
4. Ancient videogames that allowed your character to die are seeing a massive wave of nostalgia.
5. You've surfed every page on Universe-Net.
6. No easy answer for the question, “What's the worst that could happen?”
7. You're bored.
8. The word “procrastination” has lost all meaning.
9. Everything that annoys you will annoy you forever.
10. What hell is going to happen when the Universe collapses?
MMOCrunch has written an interesting feature that explores Microsoft's aborted attempts to bring MMOs to market, citing three canceled games in Vanguard: Saga of Heroes (luckily for them, good call), Mythica and Marvel Universe Online.
Announced back in 2002 Mythica was Microsoft’s first attempt at making an MMORPG. It was actually quite a neat sounding game at that. Based on the legends and lore of Norse mythology your character would actually be a “demi god” that was able to wipe out multiple enemies at once. Something that still hasn’t been done today. Unfortunately, just over a year in development, Microsoft was sued by Mythic Entertainment due to the name, Mythica, being to close to Mythics own name. Worries that the consumer would get confused were the primary reasons for the lawsuit. Then on May 25th of 2004, Microsoft officially canceled the title citing a competitive MMORPG environment as the main cause, although rumours still swirl today that the lawsuit was what actually cause Microsoft to call the game quits.
I was really looking forward to Marvel Universe Online, but I guess I'll content myself with Cryptic's in-development Champions, based on a pen-and-paper RPG I loved in the 80s.
With Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots a scant two months away, eager games are no doubt wondering how to best prepare themselves for the conclusion of the Metal Gear saga (or so Kojima says). MGS4 is primed to answer all of the lingering questions that have built up over the decades that his series has been around, but how will first-time players know what's going on? Big Boss, Revolver Ocelot, and Solid Snake (among others) all have story lines that span multiple games across multiple platforms, so catching up could be difficult. MGS4 Producer Ryan Payton has promised us that newcomers won't be lost, thanks to an innovative system that will allow players to receive additional information any time an unfamiliar reference is made to earlier games (for example: "Shadow Moses" or "Zanzibar Land"), but if you really want to enjoy Metal Gear Solid 4, you've got to play its predecessors. Thankfully not all of the games are necessary, so I've compiled all of the Metal Gear materials for you and I'll set the record straight on what should be experienced.
We'll go through the overall story arc games first, then dive into the supplemental materials like re-releases and spin-offs. Depending on the game, there may be a better way to experience it than the original version, so I'll be sure to note that. I should warn you that the plot sections of each entry contain spoilers, so if you still haven't played them, you'll want to skip ahead to the verdict.
Hit the jump for details on almost two dozen entires in the Metal Gear saga!
Ikaruga was released in Japanese arcades back in 2001, followed by ports to Dreamcast and Gamecube. As such, it hasn't enjoyed a wide audience, always appearing at the tail-end of a consoles lifespan, which is terribly unfortunate, as Ikaruga stands tall as a shooter-fan's shooter. Fortunately, it has reappeared on Xbox Arcade, retaining everything that made it one of the best shoot 'em ups of all time, with some great new features that lift it to new heights of glorious punishment.
Setting aside the fact that today should be a national holiday in honor of Battlestar Galactica's fourth-season premier and yet we're all stuck at work on this holiest of days, Salon has whipped up an excellent guide to all things Galactica that may tide you over.
It's geared towards people who may not know much about the show, its characters, or relentless plot twists and serves as primer for entering the fourth season. While it will get you up to speed, this is not how I recommend you tackle Galactica for the first time. I urge you to start from the beginning by watching the original mini-series, followed by the first three seasons. DVR season 4 and watch it when you've seen everything else. Thank me later.
Three seasons later, "Battlestar Galactica" has become one of TV's smartest series. It has won a Peabody Award, made the Sci Fi Channel a semireputable cable outlet and revolutionized science fiction on television. It has proved that the genre, when liberated from the body-hugging Lycra jumpsuits and staid dialogue that have plagued most post-"Trek" science fiction series, can be a vehicle for both scathing political commentary and genuine pathos. The network recently greenlighted a prequel spinoff series called "Caprica," and on Friday, April 4, "Battlestar" returns to Sci Fi after a yearlong hiatus for its fourth and final season.
The good folks over at Tech Report have spent some time with the recently released first service pack for Windows Vista, and as you would expect, performance was the main topic of scrutiny. Armed with WorldBench and Team Fortress 2, they set out to determine if Vista SP1's performance gains really live up to Microsoft's claims. I'll go ahead and spoil it for you right now though.
Somewhat fittingly, Service Pack 1 very much mirrors Windows Vista itself in the way it delivers (or fails to deliver) on users' expectations. If you were looking for across-the-board system performance improvements or major new features, prepare to be disappointed. Our benchmarks suggest SP1 does significantly speed file manipulations, and we confirmed those results with our seat-of-the-pants tests while copying and deleting local files during everyday usage. However, like Vista, most of the service pack's improvements are under the hood and probably won't be immediately obvious to the average user.
Be sure to head over to the full article for all of the performance graphs and in-depth benchmarking details.
First, a disclaimer: I haven't played a better multiplayer first-person shooter since Counter-Strike. I love Call of Duty 4 and play every single night on the Xbox 360. But my love for the game doesn't mean I'm blind to a ton of problems that I think suck. Not all of these problems are the blame of the game, as several involve the people who play it, but it still counts!
Beg to differ? Did I miss additional suckiness? Let us know by posting in the comments.
Weapons Poke Through Walls
I think I'm hidden behind a wall. Suddenly, I'm under fire and, eventually, dead. How did the enemy know where I am when their UAV isn't activated? The answer comes when watching the Kill-Cam, as you suddenly witness your weapon somehow poking through solid matter, inadvertently exposing your whereabouts. For a game that allows people to shoot through walls, this is a pretty nasty bug.
With Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots a scant two months away, eager games are no doubt wondering how to best prepare themselves for the conclusion of the Metal Gear saga (or so Kojima says). MGS4 is primed to answer all of the lingering questions that have built up over the decades that his series has been around, but how will first-time players know what's going on? Big Boss, Revolver Ocelot, and Solid Snake (among others) all have story lines that span multiple games across multiple platforms, so catching up could be difficult. MGS4 Producer Ryan Payton has 
