Busy Gamer News

When Valve promises a surprise, they deliver. A new multiplayer deathmatch game based on the Half-Life 2 engine is available for download on Steam - if you have the game, go get it! Then there's the Half-Life 2/Source SDK, which means top mod-makers are already hard at work creating new worlds for you to explore. If you're one of them, there's a $5,000 prize for the top deathmatch map...

EA released a Sims 2 patch that fixes many annoyances. For instance, random visitors will no longer walk off with your kid, and you can use a changing table to make your toddler into a fashion template. Maids will now clear pizza boxes and baby bottles, and you'll keep all of your clothes when you move. But, will it make The Strangerhood funny? Get the fix at thesims2.ea.com/update...

If you've played Halo 2 on Xbox Live, you probably know you can view all sorts of cool stats about your games on Bungie.net. You may have even noticed that there's an RSS feature. Well, someone figured out a way to import that RSS feed into Microsoft Excel so you can do some in-depth analysis on your gameplay strengths and weaknesses - to help you see where you rock and where you, well, suck. Get it from isamrad.com/Halo2RSS...

In the running for the most unusual Xbox title is Yourself!Fitness, a tailored workout program that might just be a crossover hit for sedentary gamers. The $35 'game' lets you control the workout, varies the exercises and includes a meal planner and unlockable rewards. Alas, no custom soundtracks, though there is a selection of built-in tunes. The program demonstrates any exercises you don't know and offers yoga and Pilates for more advanced workouts. You may have heard about Pulp Fiction screenwriter Roger Avary's $30 million lawsuit, claiming it's based on a virtual yoga idea he pitched to Microsoft. Developer responDESIGN denies the Redmond giant's involvement and says PC and PS2 versions are on the way...

You might want to think twice before cheating in World of Warcraft. After years of quietly watching hackers overrun their games, Blizzard unceremoniously banned and closed accounts on a number of WoW players caught using a speed hack to gain an unfair advantage. Specifically, the cheaters use the hack to run away very quickly if the battle turns on them or skip past daunting foes...

Looks like THQ is cutting its losses with its downloadable content for Full Spectrum Warrior. If you passed when the first bonus mission was released in October for $5, you can get both epilogues now for free...

Did your memory card get wiped by the demo of Viewtiful Joe 2 on Sony's PlayStation Underground Holiday 2004 Demo Disc? You're in luck. No, Sony can't recover your saves, but they'll give you a replacement disc and a free game for your trouble if you call 1-800-345-7669. You'll need your PS2 serial number and the faulty disc for exchange. Freebies include Athens 2004, ATV Offroad Fury 3, Gran Turismo 3, Hot Shots Golf Fore!, MLB 2004, Parappa the Rapper 2, Sly 2 and Wild Arms 3...

If you skipped the Shrouded Isles expansion for Dark Age of Camelot, you're in luck. It's now available for free to active subscribers. The reason for the generous download (available at darkageofcamelot.com) is that the newly released Catacombs expansion requires the modifications Shrouded Isles provided to the game engine, and someone apparently forgot to put it in the box...

Blizzard's definitely turned over a new leaf. In addition to the speed hack, you'll also get banned for using bots in World of Warcraft to let your character continue in the game while you turn in for some shuteye. Here's a good rule of thumb: If you can't do it without modifying the game, you can expect to get banned for it...

Halo 2 fans nostalgic for some of the missing multiplayer maps from the original Halo on Xbox and PC can vote for the one they'd most like to see ported by the Bungie team. Take your pick at nikon.bungie.org/poll.html. Wondering what happened to Blood Gulch and Battle Creek? They're already in Halo 2 as Coagulation and Beaver Creek, respectively. You really should get online more...

If you've never played a game as a cockroach, well, you've missed out. The Kafka-esque 1996 point-and-click adventure Bad Mojo has been updated for modern PCs and Macs with improved graphics and extras including a making-of documenary, in-game hints and more. Best of all, it's priced to skitter at $20. Great stocking stuffer potential...

A gala night for gamer geeks

Grrl Got Game and I attended the Penny Arcade first annual Child's Play charity and auction last night. If you went to PAX, it was on the top floor of the Meydenbauer Center; dinner was where the big console game room had been. Outside there's this long stretch of tables littered with silent auction items and people dressed to the nines squeezing by each other awkwardly balancing hors d'oeuvres and champagne flutes, trying to surreptitiously camp on the items they've bid on. Dinner was not your standard rubber chicken - there was quite good steak, wine and dessert.

Overall, the event generated some $17,000, mostly from the live auction. The big ticket items were appearances in the Penny Arcade strip (which went for $1,000 a pop), signed art and the lifetime subscription to Steam.

We came home with the Nintendo DS (with four games), a lifetime subscription to Puzzle Pirates (I secretly love casual games, and I'd been meaning to get this for a year!), a Halo giftset (ours was the only one that didn't have the books - drat!), a billiards and videogame party and a massage for my sweetie. A pretty nice haul - and even though we overpaid for some of the items, it's all for the kids.

The fact is, I just couldn't justify buying a Nintendo DS at retail. I mean, it looks cool and all - but most of the time my GBA gathers dust on my bedside table while I focus every spare moment - the ones not spent at work or keeping our 22-month out of trouble - on console games. So the DS is an extravagence. The nice thing is that I'll have a bunch of games already and I can get more from Gamefly - so I'll be stocked. I plan to try the Metroid Hunters demo and Super Mario tonight between rounds of Outlaw Golf 2 and catching up on Survivor.

I've got to congratulate the guys at Penny Arcade, and urge you to make a donation to Child's Play. It's a great cause - one of the best, in fact. Many of the kids benefiting got a raw deal - if you've experienced or can even imagine cancer treatments as an adult, what if you had to do it when you were five?

Please give generously.

-=Gamewatcher

The first annual Child's Play charity auction and dinner raised $17,000 in one night for Children's Hospital...

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Talk about reinventing yourself. Blizzard's now threating to ban anyone who sells World of Warcraft items outside the game. They call these folks "farmers" because all they do is play the game, win stuff and sell their crop to people who have more money than time. Diablo II singlehandedly fostered a new economy in aftermarket upgrades on eBay, but Blizzard's making it clear the party is over. Better move your stock into EverQuest II futures...

Word is out that GMR and XBN are being killed by Ziff Davis Media Group. In the case of GMR, the magazine was apparently profitable but cut when gamestore EB dropped its commitment to offer it as a game card premium - itself a copycat move to match Gamestop's Game Informer deal. GMR subscribers will get the February 2005 edition and then roll over any remaining issues to another ZD mag. Alas, it seems XBN won't be on the table...

EA has locked up exclusive 5-year contracts for all NFL videogame licenses, including teams, stadiums and players. While this doesn't mean Madden will be the only game in town, competitors will not be able to use real-life NFL elements - leaving NCAA and 'fantasy' sports titles. Hey, how about a football game set in the Warcraft universe?! There is a chance EA will introduce a new NFL franchise game that competes with itself - but why bother when Madden wins out year after year? It's a dark day for Sega and its ESPN NFL 2K series....

An update to the Steam client boosts Half-Life 2 load times at launch and during level transitions, among other things. Simply restart Steam to get the patches...

Are you a cheap bastard? Here's a gift you could give everyone on your holiday list without denting your bank balance: a year's subscription to the massively multiplayer sci-fi game Anarchy Online. Best of all, it's totally free if you sign up by Jan. 15 at www.anarchy-online.com - you don't even need the usual credit card! The fine print: None of the expansion packs are included; if you get one, you'll pay normal monthly fees...

Just in time to piss on Sony's last-minute Christmas sales, Rockstar announced it will release Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for PC and Xbox. They won't be on store shelves until June 7, so if you really want to play the game during the holidays you'll still have to get the PS2 version...

Word has trickled out that Microsoft sold off its Utah development arm, the folks who made the great but underselling Amped and Links series and the promising Top Spin tennis game - officially divesting the Xbox maker from all sports titles (except racing). The deal with Take-Two Interactive actually took place in September but didn't emerge until a quarterly earnings statement was filed...

Want to try Half-Life 2 for free? Now you can download the demo and sample various levels from the game. You will need some serious patience or a very fast Internet connection: the file is a bandwidth-choking 751MB. Get it from the graphics card maker that whored itself the most for this game at ati.com...

There's a new Halo 2 game variant called Dawn of the Dead that's gaining popularity on Xbox Live. No, it's not a zombified download. It's just a set of alternative gameplay rules. First, you'll need a lot of players to make it work: at least 10. Everyone joins the red team (humans) and wields shotguns except for one sword-toting green player (zombie). Whenever a zombie takes out a human, that player presses the Start button and changes teams. Some will let humans use pistols too, but you should skip the shields and grenades and turn off motion trackers to boost suspense. Last human standing wins...

Those stuttering problems in Half-Life 2? Fixed. Simply restart Steam...

A lawsuit has been filed against The Guy Game. No, it's not a class action suit by the dozen or so people who actually bought it. Apparently one of the girls who strips in the game was only 17 when her, ahem, contributions were taped. It's not clear if The Guy Game will be recalled or blocked from sale - but we can hope...

Happy holidays from Rockstar: The makers of the wildly popular mission-based GTA games are offering the first two in the series for free download. Get the topdown titles that started it all, the original Grand Theft Auto and Grand Theft Auto 2, at rockstargames.com/classics, ported for play on modern PCs. There's even Wild Metal, a 3D vehicular sci-fi shooter you'll no doubt download but leave untouched on some distant corner of your hard drive - although it really is worth a try if you can get past the dated graphics...

Recent rumors suggest that Microsoft will release several versions of the Xbox 2, including one without the hard drive to keep costs down for budget-conscious gamers. The problem with such an approach is that developers typically won't support a device if only a few people have it. To promote widespread adoption, the latest rumor has a developer's cut of Halo 2 (dubbed Halo 2.5) pre-installed on the hard drive. The expanded version of the game resolves most complaints gamers had with Halo 2 - at least in downtown Rumorville. Of course, those Halo 1.5 rumors never panned out...

[See related Blog entry]

Ho ho ho

So first thing's first - Santa was pretty good to the Gamewatcher family. Grrl Got Game got a Halo 2 art book, a Covenant Grunt action figure ("They're everywhere!") and an engagement ring. No, you read that one right - we've been married for more than a decade, but I finally found the ring.

You see, back when we got married, we were both small-town journalists in Texas. We didn't have much income between us so we just bought wedding bands for each other. For years, I've been scouring the earth (and numerous RPGs - at least that's my story) for an appropriate ring, and I finally found one. It's tri-gold with miniature leaves wrapped around the front and a diamond protruding from the center. Thankfully (and to our toddler son Xander's relief), she said yes!

Grrl Got Game also got Shaun of the Dead, a movie that appeals to both her love of British comedy and her taste for trashy drive-in style B-movies. In true Christmas spirit, a stranger not only made it possible - but paid for it too.

Here's what happened: I stopped into a Suncoast Video store on Dec. 23 to try to locate a copy. After three passes through the store, I gave up and asked - only to hear they were sold out. As I headed for the exit, I heard a shout: "Wait, we have one left!" Not sure if they meant me, I tentatively ducked my head back into the store and saw three Suncoast employees digging through the stacks of titles stashed behind the counter. Apparently, one of them had hidden the last copy for himself but decided, in the spirit of the season, to give it up. As the cashier rang it, he talked about how he'd selflessly bought a homeless man a sandwich the night before. The other clerk, perhaps touched by the story, reached into his pocket and laid down a twenty dollar bill - insisting that he pay for the gift to make up for hoarding it. Before I knew what had happened, the DVD was in a bag and in my hands. The clerk suggested I help someone else with a holiday favor, if I get the opportunity. So now it's up to me to "pay it forward," a concept I embrace - even if the movie was schmaltzy.

What did I get for Xmas? A Master Chief t-shirt and KOTOR 2, of course. I'm still on the first planet but starting to enjoy taking the dark path this time. Personally, I'm a reasonably nice guy - and I found it darn near impossible to pursue Dark Side points in the original KOTOR. I told myself that I was "saving the experience" for my second run through the game, but after taking some 60-plus hours to beat it the first time I was damned if I'd play it through all over again. (For the record, I tried and gave in after 8 hours.)

We spent Christmas evening enjoying cheap champagne and finishing Season 3 of Alias. After GrrlGotGame turned in, I stayed up with KOTOR 2 and a tall glass of eggnog.

--Gamewatcher

Halo 2 - Been there, done that, got the T-shirt

Minor spoilers below.

So I beat Halo 2 on the default setting recently. The ending was as disappointing as you've heard. Really, Bungie must be living in a bubble if they believed the story arc they devised would please fans. Of course, I expected the majority of the action to take place on Earth. I mean, c'mon: The Covenent is supposed to be this ruthless, bad-ass conglomeration of aliens that specialize in genocide by glassing over all of the planets containing races they don't like (which is all of 'em except their own). The humans devised these carefully followed protocols to prevent the Covenant from ever learning the location of Earth, because they knew Earth would be frosted flakes the moment the first Elite radioed its position to the Covenant fleet.

Instead of this epic battle to protect the Earth, we get… something else. Apart from a couple of semi-enjoyable missions, It's just not what I expected, and after the superb storytelling and rich characterizations of I Love Bees, it just felt hollow, empty, kinda blah. I'm telling you now: I want Janissary James to be a playable character in the next Halo release, or I'm just not interested.

Anyway, all that said, it's still quite playable - just nowhere near all of the hype. I've started on Heroic, and it's OK. I'll eventually go online too and see how I do against the legions of folks who really enjoy multiplayer - and practice a lot more than I do. Maybe after I beat KOTOR 2. And Leisure Suit Larry. And some of those many other games that I just bought at the huge Gamefly sale.

--Gamewatcher

A PC demo for Silent Hill 4: The Room is now available. Prepare to be creeped out - and give up about a gig of your hard drive. Get it at fileshack.com/file.x?fid=6054...

Taking a page from Bungie, Ubisoft will offer a limited edition of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. For $5 more, you get a ton of behind-the-scenes featurettes, the Penny Arcade training manual and more - all in an embossed metal case... EB is the first to reveal the existence of Doom 3 limited edition for Xbox that includes full versions of Ultimate Doom and Doom II plus the usual making-of fare - all for an extra $10... Place a pre-order for Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath at EB, GameCrazy or Gamestop and you'll get a bonus DVD with more than an hour of movies from the earlier games in the series...

DS impressions

I promised I'd give you my impressions of the Nintendo DS that I won at the Penny-Arcade Charity auction.

So far, I really like it - much more than the GBA. The second screen really adds another dimension. Most games offer, at minimum, some overhead maps of game levels or race tracks. A few games extend visuals or even gameplay vertically, from the lower screen to the top, creating a sort of way cool reverse letterbox. This effect borders on stunning at first glance and only becomes more compelling with games that take full advantage of it.

For instance, some of the Super Mario 64 DS minigames are very fun. The best I've seen so far is a Missile Command clone where you use a stylus to pull back a slingshot and shoot down falling parachutes as they descend from the top screen toward the targets you're protecting.

My one caveat is there aren't many games for the DS yet. Super Mario is a must have, and the Metroid Prime demo is short but promising. Avoid all racing games (for now) - the launch titles in this genre just aren't very good. If you must get another game, try Feel the Magic. It's an odd mini-game fest that makes great use of the hardware - except for the wireless networking. Maybe the sequel will have us all sitting around in a circle trying to outblow and outstroke each other (!) - with the DS microphone and stylus, that is.

There are only a handful of games, so it's easy to put off this purchase if you want to. If you're already a portable gaming junkie, you'll love the DS. It'll play all of your GBA games on one of the screens (minus any wired features; you'll want to hang onto your GBA if you play multiplayer). If you're a bit more casual about the handheld stuff, you could easily hold off - but it is hella cool.

--Gamewatcher

BLOG: DS impressions - I promised I'd give you my impressions of the Nintendo DS that I won at the Penny-Arcade Charity auction.

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The v1.5 patch for Call of Duty adds a multiplayer map called Tigertown, a war-ravaged farming community in France ideal for Search and Destroy games. There are many other improvements including enhanced voting in multiplayer. Get it from fileshack.com/file.x?fid=4497...

Think you've unlocked everything there is in Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal? Not if you haven't been online. There are two bonus skins you get only if you register to play online and then join the Web-based community at insomniacgames.com using the same name, Be sure to register for news updates and you'll get special codes tied to your username to unlock Dan and Nefarious skins. Now that's opt-in marketing at its finest...

yourself!fitness

Anticipating one of my New Year's resolutions, I picked up that fitness "game" for the Xbox. It's actually quite cool in concept: You have a personal trainer (named Maya) who keeps tabs on your workouts, mixes up your routines, plays mood music (sorry, no custom soundtracks) and tries to motivate you to continue on your fitness regimen by unlocking secret workout locations and, well, bending over a lot (if you're a guy, this might be a plus).

I actually went through the 20-minute assessment - and found I'm in worse shape than I thought. On a whim, I thought I'd try the yoga out. You know, for grins. I'd never actually done yoga before, but how hard could it be - it's just stretching and bending and stuff. Easy, right?.

Think again. Maya put me through the paces, with no foreplay, er, warm-up. Only halfway through a 15-minute routine, I collapsed in a sweaty pile on the floor. I was painfully sore for THREE FULL DAYS. I mean, seriously, I'm not overweight and I walk pretty much everyday. I'm hardly sedentary. It was like getting smoked by a videogame, only for real.

Next time I'll start with the regular workout and ask Maya to tone it down a bit, at least until I get my gym muscles back. It has been a couple years since I worked out. Having a baby will do that to you (even if I wasn't the one carrying him), and - frankly - I was never Joe Gymnasium. I'll report back on whether I'm able to stick with it, and how good the software is after a few workout sessions. Assuming Maya can get me motivated. Too bad there isn't a DOA Extreme Beach Fitness game - that would do the trick.

--Gamewatcher

BLOG: yourself!fitness - Anticipating one of my New Year's resolutions, I picked up that fitness "game" for the Xbox. It's actually quite cool in concept: You have a personal trainer (named Maya) who keeps tabs on your workouts, mixes up your routines, plays mood music (sorry, no custom soundtracks) and tries to motivate you to continue on your fitness regimen by unlocking secret workout locations and, well, bending over a lot (if you're a guy, this might be a plus).

[Read full Blog entry]