Graphics & Art:

From the first few minutes in you can tell that Diablo 3 is a Blizzard game. It's beautiful and well blended as you have come to expect from their games. I really enjoy the color palette and ambiance that has been created. I read initial complaints that it "isn't dark enough for the Diablo IP", but I am quite happy with it. Graphics are really only a small part of the game but I doubt anyone will be disappointed with the look and feel of the world.

One thing that I can't get past is the environment depth. It screams of Titan Quest - the altitude of cliffs, the depth of chasms. I really enjoyed the effect in Titan Quest and I'm glad to see it again.


http://cdn.playwire.com/503/thumb-20110124-3006_0000.png
I don't know what happened, maybe Battlestar Galactica happened, but I stopped playing this game before I finished it. I picked it back up over the weekend and realized just how much I missed it. The charm runs thick in LBP2, though not as much as its predecessor, probably because it's stuff we've all seen before. The polish is amazing, though, and the new mechanics and toys are fantastic.

The only thing I don't quite like is the community levels. Some of them are amazing, don't get me wrong, and this extends the replay value infinitely. The problem for me comes from the new tools. You can now make full-on games, not just levels in a platforming game. RPG's, space... Read All


Here it comes. Borderlands 2. I fully intend to get this day 1, and this time maybe I'll go PS3 since, surprisingly, everyone I know who plays the first one played it on PS3.


I was wondering what people had to say about the possible insinuation in Portal 2 that Chell is Caroline/Glados's kid by Cave Johnson.

It seems possible, but the game only references it in a few ways. Quoting off the Half-Life wiki http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Chell

"...information revealed in Portal 2 implies that Chell was the child of an Aperture scientist and was touring the facility on Bring Your Daughter To Work Day when GLaDOS took over."

Caroline and Cave Johnson had a relationship, which is implied in the game. It seems Caroline has a connection to Chell, possibly before she was transferred into the computer.

Anyways, wondering your thoughts about it.


Here are a few game soundtracks I have wanted to talk about:

Starcraft 2 Wings of Liberty: Got this soundtrack from the collectors edition bundle of Starcraft 2. I am not sure I love all the ways they mesh typical orchestral faire that moves to guitar that then moves to synth though. They do this in a few songs and I think they should just pick on motif and stick with it. Moving around that much in one song is jarring.

That said, its a great score and a few times I can hear people breathing in the orchestra so the mics at Skywalker Sound really hot that day.

The Binding of Issac: The score came with the steam game if I gave them like $2 extra. The score is really... Read All


I just finished this game today. I started it months ago, much later than everyone else under the sun, and had a nice chunk of time over the past couple days to finish it.

Overall, I'd have to say I'm disappointed. I was level 16 when I finished-- I had no real problems with it except for a few *major* frustrating sections. In 8-4, if I hadn't been in the last level I would have turned it off and never finished it. After the credits roll, you can go back and do some sidequests. I checked into them online to see whether I wanted to bother and found that some of them aren't recommended unless you are level 40.

And there's the part that I hate. This game is a platformer.... Read All


I recently had Portal 2 on PS3 returned to me as a friend had been borrowing it for a few months. I started up a new game today as ive wanted to replay it for some time. Taking my time this playthrough as I missed a few things in my first playthrough.

I took a few pictures on my iPhone of stuff I thought was awesome:

http://imgur.com/U36kq (history of evil)
http://imgur.com/t4AGw (she is dead)
http://imgur.com/xx6Pr (so many choices)

I found a rat den where a radio plays The Nationals Exile Vilify. I missed that in my haste on the first playthough. I really like games where you can explore and find cool stuff. Playing through Portal 2 again is still really fun. The puzzles... Read All




I just found out that Ground Kontrol Arcade now serves booze. This is not bad news, but if you are under 21 you can't enter after 5 PM. Maybe someday they will have a separate yet adjacent bar like so many restaurants do, but until then, if you are a teen, plan accordingly.


How many bunnies have you killed?

I'm really not sure why, but the game does track this! I've killed 3 or 4 so far. They're not that common, and they're quick... I just realized I've killed more dragons than bunnies.

Today I chased a snow fox, trying to kill it with an arrow (that thing is hard to aim at a moving target!), killed a widow in her secluded tower (I didn't realize she was just a widow by herself. In my defense she started throwing fireballs at me...well, I don't remember who shot first actually...) and was attacked by fish. Totally just wandered around Skyrim. Practiced dual wielding weapons and spells and totally just killed time. A fun night in Skyrim!