Category Archives: gaming

Gaming contains posts about gaming related topics. Game reviews, interesting articles and sites about gaming, or my gaming experiences will be found here.

gaming

Halo 3 ODST Audio Log Nightmare

Leave a comment


Last Friday Co-Optimus hosted a “Halo Collectible Night” as part of our monthly co-op night with Halo Waypoint. We planned on helping people find skulls, terminals, and audio logs from Halo 3 and Halo 3 ODST and hopefully pick up some achievements. I already have everything so I sat around waiting for someone to ask for help. I ended up hooking up with L1GHT3NSTRIKE to pick up all the audio logs in ODST. We hit all 29 from the streets in about an hour, but couldn’t find the entrance to Data Hive where the 30th is hidden. Google told me the entrance to Data Hive isn’t accessible until you play through all the flashback levels. What a pain! We both already finished the game and started the game with the Mombosa Streets, so why block us from Data Hive?

I was wary of exiting and starting up Data Hive because I had a suspicion that we’d lose the audio logs we collected. On the other hand, we weren’t about to play straight through the game just to get the last one, so we took the risk. Well, I was right. We fired up Data Hive and lost all our precious audio logs! Why Bungie? WHY?

Bungie is one of my favorite developers, and has rarely wronged me in the past, so this really surprised me. I know ODST was a small project but it seems like too many corners were cut. The one that really hurts is the lack of matchmaking in Firefight. The excuse was that Firefight was built on top of the campaign engine, which doesn’t have matchmaking capabilities. That’s such a shame. Firefight could have been huge with matchmaking. I also wish Bungie would crank out some new maps for Firefight. The existing ones are cool but some new maps would really spice it up. ODST could have used multiplayer as well. Just think of playing the current Halo 3 game types in ODST, and all the new game types that could have evolved from ODST. That would have been a blast.

In the end, ODST is a great game and I’m sure I’ll be firing it up for years to come. One thing is for sure, I’ll never try helping anyone with audio logs ever again! Do it solo. Here’s some help:


Audio Logs 1-29 video walk-through on YouTube
Audio Log 30 (in Data Hive) video walk-through on YouTube

gaming

Customize Your Lost Planet 2 Character to the Extreme

Leave a comment

Lost Planet 2 Custom CharacterIf you were worried that Lost Planet 2 wouldn’t offer the level of character customization you were hoping for, you can stop worrying now. Check out this blog post from someone who is apparently, in the know (I wasn’t able to figure out who “Snow” is but he definitely has a wealth of knowledge to share). Character appearance is extremely customizable:

The game is loaded with various factions, all with their own cultures. You’ll be getting parts to these characters as you play, and it’s all interchangeable. You’ll be able to swap out heads/helmets, torso/armor, backpacks/t-eng canisters, and their legs/boots. Not only that, but each of those pieces has various colors and patterns to choose from.

Plus, there will be abilities, weapons, emotes (the next level of T-bagging), and titles that can all be changed to make your character even more unique than your friends’ characters. Lost Planet 2 is sounding more and more like an RPG, which, in terms of customization, is a characteristic many of us here are particularly fond of.

Source

Cross-posted at Co-Optimus

gaming, IRL

We got a Wii!

Leave a comment

My wife surprised me yesterday with a Wii for our anniversary! We only have Super Mario Party 8 and Wii Sports but we’ll be adding more to our collection soon. We also had a GameCube way back when we started dating so we’ll dig those games out too.

So far the Wii is exactly what I’ve expected. Lots of fun, simple games that get you off of your chair/couch which is a nice change. I’m impressed with all the channels available but the community features are lacking. What the hell is with the Wii ID code thing? That’s just ridiculous.

Graphics, of course, could be better. Its hard to go from Xbox 360 to Wii but at least the graphics are very clean and pleasant to look at. I like the integrated WiFi (connection was a breeze) but I would have opted for an ethernet port since I already have a switch in my cabinet.

Overall, I’m really excited about having a Wii finally. I’m excited that Payton should be able to start playing some of these games. Of course, its every gamer dad’s dream of having kids that will game with them. My wife rocks!

If you have a Wii, feel free to add me. My code is: 4351-0219-0087-7428

gaming

Merry Christmas!

Leave a comment

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope everyone has a blast this Christmas season. I know I haven’t posted in a long time and that really sucks… a lot (sorry). We’ve been incredibly busy and frankly, have had some weird happenings going on keeping us from blogging among other things. But Christmas is turning out pretty well!

So lets catch up… A few months ago, Borderlands FINALLY made it to our doorstep and we couldn’t be happier. The game is an absolute blast! We’ve logged 45 hours in the game and we’ve still got a ways to go. We have a few minor complaints, but overall, its definitely one of our favorites.

The following month, Halo 3 ODST came out and we had a blast with that one as well! The campaign really surprised me, I was not expecting such a gripping story and incredible graphics. Its hard to believe its just a tweaked Halo 3 engine. We’ve also had a lot of fun with Firefight which is definitely way more exciting than survival/horde modes in other games. I really hope Bungie is working on some Firefight DLC, but it doesn’t sound like that will happen. Firefight could definitely use some more maps.

Earlier this month, my lovely wife gave me an early Christmas present. Just like last year, we were slaying zombies before Christmas, this time in Left4Dead2. The game definitely has a lot to offer despite all the controversy. Although, I must say, I wouldn’t pay full price for it. The survivor AI got dumber and the AI director got tougher. After the fourth time one of our AI buddies spooked a witch, I started getting really annoyed. We left them behind quite a bit because going back for them was usually more trouble than it was worth. Overall, it is a fun game, and I look forward to logging some more hours on it. I’m not sure I want to try the next difficulty without having a full crew of friends though. The AI was just too aggravating and I don’t think we stand a chance with them.

Achievements! Wow, I’ve had fun with achievements lately. I’ll just list my recent favorites…

From Left4Dead2: CL0WND, CLUB DEAD, and HEAD HONCHO were all a blast.
From Halo 3 ODST: Be Like Marty (drove my wife around on a ‘hog), Vidmaster Challenge: Déjà Vu, Vidmaster Challenge: Classic (way easier than I thought it would be), and Vidmaster Challenge: Endure.
From Borderlands: You’re on a boat! (ok, I confessed, I kind of cheated on this one), Facemelter (LOVE corrosive weapons… *sizzle*), and that’s it so far. I really want to figure out what the rest of those secret ones are but without cheating :).

I’m REALLY looking forward to Halo Reach. The trailer was fantastic. I’d link to it but I won’t because I strongly recommend you download it on your 360 and see it in HD with glorious sound. I’ve watched it several times now and I’m still all giddy.

Another one on my list is Brink. There are four videos on XBL for that as well. They show off the SMART system of movement which is pretty snazzy. Its Mirror’s Edge craziness but easier (or at least the dev made it look easy). The other videos show off a few different classes and the objective system. Brink is really shaping up and six player co-op has me extremely excited. If there’s no split screen, I’m going to be extremely bummed.

That’s about in on the game front and I don’t have a whole lot to add about anything else either. If you see me online this weekend or next week, send me an invite! Tuesday, we’re getting together with my brothers for some in-person gaming but other than that, we’re pretty free. So again, I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!