Gaming Addict

Tony Hawk is growing increasingly desperate given the failure of his newest game Tony Hawk: Ride.  The failed skateboard peripheral that caused the downfall is still being defended vehemently by Tony Hawk himself  In an effort to reignite the game’s sales Hawk has promised that any gamer who invites him to an Xbox Live Ride session will be added to his friends list.  

The statement itself via Twitter:  “On XboxLive right now playing @thride. Gamertag: tonyinegypt Who wants some?”

Seems like a last gasp to try and force a game series that’s dead back into the spotlight.  But sorry Tony, you’ve done all you can with the franchise.  Don’t get me wrong, I loved the Tony Hawk Games, especially Underground.  But sometimes you just have to know when your time has come.  No series lasts forever, and Skate has revolutionized the game in a way the Hawk series can’t hope to pull off.  The board peripheral was just a bad idea, because it’s never going to control well.  Plus, if you want to have to actually do the tricks that will be replicated on screen, why not just go skate at a real park?

Woo woo! Good day today, and I’m ridiculously excited, because BioWare officially announced the first full fledged expansion for Dragon Age: Origins.  Titled Awakening, through this expansion you’ll explore a brand new area of Ferelden called Amaranthine.  Here you’ll unravel some of the deepest secrets of the origins of the darkspawn.  Awakening will also feature badass new enemies including more advanced and intelligent darkspawn, inferno golems and a Spectral Dragon.

Personally I’m most excited about the dragon battle, as few action oriented RPG’s have had a long intense boss battle as DAO’s dragons offer.  

You’ll also encounter new items and weapons/armor.  You’ll get an increased level cap, and the ability to re-spec your attributes to completely change around your character into a new style of warrior.  With re-spec, BioWare is adding new spells, specializations, abilities, and five new party members to aide you on your quest.  

Awakening has a planned price point of $39.99 for PC, Xbox and PS3.  At that price it better be a full fledged expansion game that can stand on it’s own.

This comes with the news that Return to Ostagar has been postponed, with no reason given.  I’m guessing some final bugs to work out.  But now, considering the price of the DLC and the price of the new expansion, I don’t think Return to Ostagar is going to be long or exciting enough to justify the price tag.  

The news that many Mass Effect fans had been hoping for is out.  That being Mass Effect 2 will officially feature New Game +.  That means just like in ME 1 you’ll be able to play through the campaign again with the same character as your first play through, retaining the level you achieved in your previous playthrough.  According to BioWare community coordinator Chris Priestly, Mass Effect 2’s New Game + will work essentially the same way as in the first Mass Effect. 

I’m extremely happy with this, considering the fact that BioWare revealed some time ago that Commander Shepard is not expected to survive Mass Effect 2.  I like the idea of being able to go back and make a few different decisions, so that the plot of Mass Effect 3 will start out the way I want.  After all, every decision you make in Mass Effect 2 will have a great impact on how Mass Effect 3 plays out.  

Priestly also revealed that transferring a save game from ME 1 will give perks to higher level players returning to the series.  Transporting your Mass Effect 1 character will give you bonuses to your amount of  money and what resources are available to you straight away.  Your previous decisions will also have a bearing on Mass Effect 2’s plotline, anything from how you managed and finished ME 1’s campaign, to whether you were a Paragon or Renegade.

So if you were really good, you’ll start out good, and the converse is true if you were evil.  

The next Dragon Age: Origins DLC, Return to Ostagar, is out next week.  I am dying to play this, mostly because of the obvious reason that I’m a huge Dragon Age and BioWare fan.  I don’t know what you would consider to be a spoiler concerning Dragon Age, but if you haven’t played the game, consider yourself warned.

Return to Ostagar will see you and your party return to the first battle you encounter in the game.  The tragic defeat at Ostagar, in which King Cailan and Duncan were killed in battle.  Revenge is the name of the game in Return to Ostagar, and you’ll be tasked with retaking the famous fortress, and defeating the darkspawn horde that remains there.  

I was amped up enough for this release, just because of the title and the implications of returning to Ostagar and battling the army there.  But I’m really excited after seeing the teaser trailer.  I can’t wait for next week, and I really can’t wait to play this.  Anything that supplements my Dragon Age experience is a very good thing, I just hope this DLC is fleshed out enough to justify the price tag.  

The last thing I want is something reminiscent of Mass Effect’s DLC packs which only featured repetitive gameplay, and relatively small new environments that didn’t really justify the price of entry.

But as long as Return to Ostagar offers more than a few hours of gameplay, I have no problem paying for the right to reclaim King Cailen’s armor…although I’d rather have Duncan’s.  

Well, if you’re bored of Borderlands, and find yourself running short on new action despite The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned’s release, you’re in luck.  Gearbox already has a nice new shiny piece of DLC already available for Borderlands, titled Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot.  This DLC is more about supplementing the online co-op experience, opposed to single player leveling and item searching.  Underdome essentially borrows from the concept of the third Mad Max movie, Beyond Thunderdome.

Underdome refers to three new Riot mode arenas, which will feature co-op play akin to Halo 3: ODST’s Firefight.  You’ll punch a hole through hordes of enemies that swarm you in one of three new arenas, where you’ll have to fight to survive the onslaughts.  Should you get through all three arena’s, you will be rewarded with two skill points, even if your character’s level is maxed out.  

Underdome will also offer plenty of new game modes, such as Vampire and Low Gravity, so really this is a multiplayer pack.  Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot is more about supplementing Borderlands’ already fantastic online options, to keep you and your friends hooked for a long time to come.

The pack is priced $9.99, or 800 MS points.  Out now on 360, January 7th for PS3, and who knows when on PC.  

Microsoft has taken out a patent on an idea that I deem to be a little weird.  Apparently Microsoft doesn’t like the idea of you being able to make your avatar appear how you want.  The company has started work on a new policy which would cause your avatar to reflect your real life appearance.  Mainly for the purpose of stopping fat people from making thin avatars.

I guess Microsoft is jumping on the guilt bandwagon, trying to guilt overweight gamers into exercise.  I guess the logic is by taking away an avatar that doesn’t represent your realistic body shape, you’ll be faced with your obesity every time you try to escape and play a game.  I guess that seems a little harsh?  

I don’t know how Microsoft would enforce this, or even how they plan to do so.  All Xbox have said is that they plan to go through a third party to collect information and change avatar appearance based on the data.  Short of spying on every Xbox Live user, I don’t really see how this will ever work.  I understand the idea, but playing Xbox isn’t an activity where you need to be faced with your real life physical issues.  Most of gaming is an escape from the stresses of real life, so a fat avatar could just be an unwelcome reminder that would lead to more than one PS3 defector.

All this sounds like to me is a gargantuan bad idea, with good intentions.  Those are the worst kind. 

There’s a new Transformers game coming, and it’s not based on one of the horrible movies.  Well, sort of…the new Transformers game takes place before the events of the Michael Bay films, back on the alien planet of Cybertron, where the Transformers are from.  Which is where the title comes in, Transformers: War For Cybertron.

War for Cybertron will tell the story of the Transformer’s origin.  The game will tell the story of the civil war on Cybertron, in which players take part in a living metallic world, as Transformers, most likely choosing a side and wreaking some havoc.  I’m intrigued at the game’s potential to tell a different sort of story, and maybe invent a more interesting and plot driven narrative.  Because, let’s face it, the Transformers movies can’t be renowned for their dialogue or plotlines.  

Every Michael Bay movie just feels like a crappy script thrown together at the last minute to accommodate his overuse of chase sequences.

But Transformers: War for Cybertron has a chance to avoid all that, and become a really good story arc, with plenty of material for future games.  Which is no doubt the plan.  I’m intrigued to see a new take on Cybertron though, and what sorts of robots are unleashed throughout the game. 

There’s a new trailer out for the upcoming kid/family friendly LOTR game, Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest.  I have to say, from the early screenshots, and the concept of the game, I was very skeptical.  But now seeing Aragorn’s Quest in action, I’m definitely excited.  The only thing that makes me still skeptical, is the fact that Aragorn’s Quest will only be available on PS2, PSP, Nintendo DS, and Wii.  None of which known for their graphical capabilities, or the processing power to display a crap load of enemies on screen.

But I’m still willing to give this a shot, for a few reasons. 

One of those being that this game looks like an amalgamation of many other great games.  The most obvious being Zelda.  Aragorn has clearly been remade into a character reminiscent of Link.  Especially given the plot line that Aragorn’s Quest follows.

The Aragorn specific parts come in via tales from Samwise about his great exploits.  As Frodo, after you accomplish your Hobbit goals, you’ll find Sam and he’ll tell you about Aragorn’s legend.  Through the stories you take control of Aragorn and fight through his biggest battles, with a few fairytale embellishments, to make the battles more out of control and awesome.  This also accounts for any inaccuracies with LOTR lore, as many fan boys have called out Aragorn’s Quest as being sacrilegious to the original text.  

However, as a fan, I see it as exploring the same content in a different way.  Aragorn’s Quest could be a new way for more people to enjoy Tolkien’s world, and why is that ever a bad thing?  There’s nothing awful about making a fun game from the LOTR backdrop.  Zelda is goofy and kiddy at times, I’m not opposed to a Lord of the Rings entity that looks to be more fairytale, and less ridiculously dark.

After all, sometimes it’s nice to step out of the darkness to have some lighthearted fun once in a while.  Plus who can argue with the Zelda rip off combat?  The sword, horse, and bow mechanics look exactly like you’re controlling an adult Link.  To me, that looks fun.  I like Zelda, but I like Lord of the Rings more…so what’s wrong with Lord of the Rings: Zelda edition?  

The only problem I would have is with the awful voice actors, and cheesy music.  Please, keep the feel intact and use Howard Shore’s brilliant movie score if you need some music for the setting.  You can’t get any better.  And can please find voice actors that understand how to simplify to achieve a sound like the characters…overacting just makes you sound ridiculous. 

Left 4 Dead 2’s first DLC has been announced, and will see an early 2010 release.  Titled “The Passing”, this add on will bring the survivors from the first Left 4 Dead game, into L4D2.  Taking place directly after L4D2’s Dead Center campaign, players will assume the roles of the L4D2 characters as they meet up with the original survivors.

The Passing will also include new arenas for Survival, Scavenge and Versus modes, as well as a yet to be revealed co-op challenge mode.  In addition to new arenas, we’ll also get a new zombie class, new firearms, and new melee weapons.  All in all pretty exciting. 

I’m excited to see where the story is going, and what sort of environment The Passing will offer.  Seems pretty amazing to me, for all the survivors to meet and work together.  This also might be a great excuse to have some fantastic character deaths, seeing as you can’t really sacrifice any of the four in the current game.  Anything that makes a story twist and turn, and surprise you, is a good thing in my book.  

I especially like the fact that Valve is offering so much support for Left 4 Dead 2 so quickly.  In a game that’s pretty much only multiplayer, you really need to offer new content constantly, to keep things interesting.  So thanks Valve, this should keep me playing Left 4 Dead 2 for quite a while longer.  

Following the obvious success of The Beatles: Rock Band, Harmonix has announced the next featured band in their version of Guitar Hero’s artist specific games.  The next game to be released in 2010 will be Green Day: Rock Band.  The game will feature the likenesses of all three band members, Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool. 

 Green Day: Rock Band will span Green Day’s entire career, from their most prolific songs and albums, to some of the band’s defining moments.  As a big Green Day fan (but then who isn’t?) I’m definitely excited for this.  The Beatles was fun, and I know they’re the ultimate classic band and everything, but Green Day seems as though it would provide a much more fun party experience.  I absolutely cannot wait for this one.

Invite some friends over, buy the whole big Green Day: Rock Band set, some beer, and let the ridiculous fun commence.