Mass Effect 2 - 3 hours in

The change sin Mass Effect 2 are not subtle. If you've played the original Mass Effect a number of times, there are some nuances in fire fights that may feel a bit simplified.

Before it starts sounding like I'm knocking the changes outright, I'll note that some of the changes are very welcome. The Inventory management was a bear to deal with in the first game. You could easily end up with ridiculous counts of the same items. There was no multiple select so purges had to be done one at a time which chewed up allot of time.  

Inventory Scrap

In ME2 the inventory is scrapped altogether. This is somewhat welcome but the changes in ammo load outs, weapons types, and armor types are now dealt with entirely differently.

Armor and Weapon changes are done at the appropriate Station bays on the Normandy or while in mission. Weapons types are now upgraded through investment of materials found during missions and ammo types are limited to character class. Your ammo type is tied to your class type and its capacity for damage is raised by applying experience points to it.

The good part about this approach is that you don't need to open your cluttered inventory to make weapons, ammo type, and armor changes, but at least in ME1 it could be done on the fly. Now that level of customization and control feels a bit more minimized. In a way it frees the player up to concentrate on the mission. As mentioned earlier you'll be putting hard earned experience points into the different ammo types to make them more effective. Although this approach does take the guess work out of which ammo type to use against which enemy, it's a notable change when deciding how to disperse your points.

Ammo types are now selected via the visual selection wheel that once only displayed Biotic/Tech powers. Depending on your class you'll see the ammo attributes there as well. This added ease is welcome as it keeps the player in the fight without long pauses going through the old inventory list.

For right the game feels balanced. For every change that simplifies choice, there are welcome game play additions that add depth. 

More on the differences between ME1 and ME2 later

Mass Effect 2 Collector's Edition  |  Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect 2 - Character Animation

In Mass Effect 2, it's clear that Bioware has really made better use of the Unreal engine, but there are a few details that stand out in the various videos  released to date.

One is the facial animation. I know that there is allot being talked about the improved eye and facial animation, but to be frank, some of the very examples they show remind me of the original. Where intense dialogue is spoke and the jawline & mouth barely notes it. Yes a bit of a nit pick, but it's not looking leaps and bounds over the original. For a game that plays allot on character, that is something that has stood out (for me) in many of the videos released.

Second is a bit bigger concern. In virtually all of the videos released showing combat, the enemies are practically static targets. Few if any appear to be able to or willing to take cover, instead firing from the open as player characters pick them to pieces from behind cover.

I'm left wondering if this is something Bioware has rigged for video demo purposes. Meaning that in order to show weapon and character class traits - it's better to have the enemies out in the open instead of hunkered down behind obstacles. In the original game enemies did run in the open, but they did a fair job of being moving targets that could use the environment for cover to some degree. Whatever the case, I hope the game balances out well giving the enemy realistic options for preservation in combat.  

Bioshock 2 BioShock 2 Special Edition Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction Limited Edition

Games Left Undone

Games that were started but for reasons explained, are left undone

Console games


GTA IV
Simple - Even though I liked the game and was over 60% through with it, the game save mechanics ruined it for me. Fail a mission repeat every sequence from the beginning and try again.
Maybe it's my PC gaming background that dictates "Save and Save often". Come think of it I do the same thing in applications.

Crackdown
Excellent game but I'm dealing with the Asian mobs and the vertical (literally) challenges are way hard. I have my character pretty maxed out but I get gunned down in the number of scenarios I found myself in. The game is great I was hooked for quite a while but the level of difficulty put it on the back burner.
If there's a game I think about firing up often to finish it, Crackdown is #1 on the list.

PC games 

Crysis Warhead

The game looks awesome even today but the game as a whole lacks the story line to merit the finish. Dull story + Repetitive action + increased difficulty curve = no interest to finish
I must say the Multiplayer component is very capable but the number of online players dropped too much to continue looking for servers.

FarCry 2
Two words - Console Port. There is no excuse to take the engine that looks so good on the PC and filter them down to Console use; only to port that downgrade to the PC version. Bad, just bad.


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A Game you can be sure will get played through to the end

Mass Effect 2 or Mass Effect 2 Collector's Edition

Mass Effect 2: Soldier Class

Christine Norman Lead game designer for Mass Effect 2 talks about the Soldier Class

PC Games - E3 2010 - Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect 2 - and Cerberus

I'm in the process of finishing my 2nd play through as an Infiltrator and Cerberus is a pretty shady operation. As shady as any of the other companies/corporation/organizations in the game. Seeing how the side quest missions add up.

There is an interesting point in the game where you are asked to hand over the files on Cerberus. You have the option to decline or hand them over for a significant pay day. It will be interesting to see how this decision is handled in ME2. If you sold the info, is the organization compromised? And if so, what are the ramifications in game.

Since it appears you'll be playing a part with Cerberus this time out, I wonder how the whole good vs. evil scale will be achieved. There appears to be an emphasis on a dim and dark underscore and since Cerberus isn't a moral guided operation, will it be a measure of lesser of two, three, four evils to make decisions on?


Mass Effect 2 - What a way to start (Spoiler Alert)

The link here will explain how the game deals with transition of players from the original Mass Effect

Hands On: Mass Effect 2, The Ultimate Do-Over

Dr. Pepper DLC Promotion Detailed

Here's the details provided for the Dr. Pepper DLC promotions
 

• In Mass Effect 2, there are three unique pieces of armor: two helmets and a visor.
• In Battlefield: Bad Company 2 four kit upgrades allow you to become a unique Special Activities soldier, with new camouflage and a modified weapon. Kit upgrades also contain new awards and an additional achievement.
• In Battlefield Heroes, there are four sets of unique character clothing, and consumers get a pair of outfits per download, one for each side.
• In Spore, a dozen Cyborg-themed body parts - such as eyes, heads and arms - can be redeemed and used in the Spore Creature Creator. These parts allow players to mix robot and organic creature body parts to design their own Cyborg creatures. The exclusive Cyborg parts will be usable by all owners of the Spore PC game and anyone who downloads the free Spore Creature Creator Trial Edition

Half Life 2 Gets a Reworked with Engine Update

Half Life 2 gets an engine Upgrade to the Orange Box Standards
See the side by side video Old vs. New - Very Nice

Most Underrated Game of 2009

Shadow Complex - Digital Download available on XBox live

The side scrolling game play not the game play style I'm fond of these days, Shadow Complex delivers. If you've never heard of it or forgot about - you should look into it. A very immersive game at a very nice price.

Borderlands Patch - PC update

Patch 1.20 released
Borderlands PC 1.20 PATCH here

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Latest Trailer

One of 2010's most awaited games. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 looks to give Modern Warfare 2 a run for its money. Destructible environments ala Frostbite engine in teh first game was amazing. Should be over the top in BFBC 2

Using Steam - 1st Simple Tip - Transfer files

At some point you may for some reason or another want/need to move your gigabytes of Steam games from one PC to lets say, maybe a New faster PC. The last thing you should consider is to re-download all those games again.

Fortunately for you, your Steam folders are self contained. Meaning, you can literally copy and paste from one PC to another. The program and games will all transfer over.

Now there are a number of ways to transfer files between two or more PC’s. Your best bet would be to utilize a home network or wireless network. Being that just a few Steam games add up to allot of gigabytes, multiple flash drives or DVD’s could be a long arduous process.

Before we get too far into this - make sure you know your Steam account username and password. Without those, you really won’t get too far.

Once you get a complete transfer, you’ll need to follow these easy steps.

1. Click to access your Steam directory. You should see a variety of folders and files.
2. Find the Clientregistry.blob
3. delete it
4. in that same directory is your Steam.exe . Double Click on it to launch it.
5. This will create a new Clientregistry.blob file that will acknowledge your files new location and games on the drive.
6. Once the Clientregistry.blob is finished, you should get the username and password prompt. Fill them in.
7. You should get all the titles you own listed.
8. You’ll note that if you had games listed as Favorites, they will need to be assigned again.
9. You’ll also notice that most of the games will be listed as Download Paused. By Right clicking on them you can change them to Resume Updating.

You should be up and running.

On occasion Steam may request that it be reinstalled. It will update itself and relaunch.

Also there is the rare occasion where after you log in you get errors. Or even if you do log in, games are not listed that you own.

To remedy most of these issues, deleting your ClientRegistry.blob should get things up and running again.