A couple of things from Valve

Thing one is that there will be a Portal 2 coming out this holiday season. Valve added some new content to the original Portal hinting that this announcement would be coming. There were radios you could carry around to unlock a hidden message. The ending scene of the game was also changed which is a very unique thing for a company to do. Valve isn’t afraid to change an existing product. They have been doing it with TF2 and the Portal changes shouldn’t be that big of a shocker. Hopefully Portal 2 will lead up to Half-Life 2 episode 3 being released. Hey I can dream can’t I?

Thing two is Steam is coming to the Mac. Now you can all 3 Mac games in existence without leaving your home. I kid, they have more than 3 games. Valve will be porting all of their games to the Mac for starters. Maybe this will open up other developers to make games for the Mac. One thing is for sure, we’ll be seeing some awesome Indie titles over the next year.

Keep on gaming people!

Rapid Fire: Dragon Age Expansion, Half Life 2, and Spider Man 4

Dragon Age: Origins will be getting an expansion in March. It pleases me to hear this even though I think it’s a little soon. I am on my second play through of the game and I don’t feel any where near being done with all the content available. This expansion is akin to offering me desert while I’m sleeping on the couch after eating 3 plates of turkey on thanksgiving. It looks good, and I will eat it, but I wouldn’t mind some time to digest.

I finished playing Half-Life 2: Episode 2 the other day. I’m slowly making progress on my pile of shame. The last level was brilliant. It was short and you didn’t expect it to end. I was ready to jump on that helicopter and do some butt-kicking.  The ending scene where Alyx’s dad dies is one of the most heart wrenching scenes in a game. It would make me cry if I wasn’t a callused jerk.

Spider man 4 got canned because Sam Raimi didn’t feel he could hit the dead line Sony Pictures wanted and still make a good movie. Sony wants to reboot the franchise in 2012 with a new set of actors.

Keep on gaming people!

I’m back!

Hey all! Just Letting you know things are about to get rolling again. I have gained a decent level of response and hits on the site and I learned a lot about doing this type of work.

Since my last update I have gamed avidly (of course). I finished Dragon Age, and I’ve played Braid, Dawn of Discovery, Risen, Half-Life 2: Episode 2 and various other titles. I bought a wii for my own Christmas gift and have played small doses of the new Super Mario Brothers.

I will leave you fine folks with a list about 2009 just because I’m different from everyone else.

The best things of 2009 we’re:

The series finale of Battlestar Galactica

Dragon Age: Origins

Watchmen

Avatar

Playing Half-Life 2 in one sitting

Playing Resident Evil 5 in one sitting

Reading the Vampire Lestat

The worst things in 2009 we’re:

Seeing the first 40 minutes of Interview With a Vampire

Assassin’s Creed 2 being delayed for PC

New Moon making too much money

Happy new year people!

The Witcher: The game that keeps growing

Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

The Witcher has sold over 1.2 million copies as a PC only game, which isn’t the best I know, but it’s not bad either. It’s one of the best games out there that has been severely overlooked. If any of you people out there are RPG fans you owe it to yourself to go pick this one up. It’s only 20 bucks on steam right now.

Some game footage has been leaked for the game’s sequel Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. Witcher 2 has a chance to be like Half-Life 2. Half-life was a good game. Half-Life 2 was an awesome, genre changing game. The Witcher was a good game. Can it’s sequel be ground breaking?

The current generation of RPGs was birthed with Morrowind, Dungeon Siege, and Knights of the Old Republic, among other titles and perfected in Oblivion, Fallout 3, and Mass Effect. I think it’s time for some fresh ideas on the genre.

Witcher 2 has some interesting concepts from what we’ve seen of it so far. Dynamic NPCs that have things to do, innovative combat with finishing moves, a high end graphics engine, and a unique dark world for the story to develop in. None of this means “earth-shattering”, but it’s a good step towards something great.

Keep on gaming people!

Half-Life 2 in one sitting

Saturday I had the privilege to join 1,800 other people from around the world play in playing video games for 24 hours. We did this to raise over $140,000 to help fight pediatric cancer in an event called Extra Life. It was an amazing experience. I played a smorgasbord of different games including Batman: Arkham Asylum, Left 4 Dead, Company of Heroes, and even some Peggle.

The bulk of my time and the highlight of my gaming marathon was playing Half-Life 2 in one continuous stretch. It took me about 14 hours and I soaked up every minute of it. After that experience I respond to the name Gordon as much as I would to my own name. I fell asleep dreaming about head crabs. Alex is my best friend. I fully understand why this game is so popular. It sucks you in. It is truly a first person experience.

I don’t generally like first person games because I enjoy watching my character in a cinematic way. I mean if you could drop 20 armed guys with a magnum wouldn’t you want to watch yourself do it? Half-Life 2 allows to become Gordon Freeman and makes other FPS titles allow you to be a camera attached to a gun. And that’s all I have to say about that right now.

Keep gaming people!