Nintendo Wii Price Drop

Nintendo's already extremely successful system, the Wii, has just got a price drop to $199.99. Now Nintendo can finally compet...I mean make a ton of more money with no discretion. Earlier, Nintendo said that they were not going to drop the price of the console, but look at it now. Still, if you are going out to the store with $200 and looking for a video game system, you could either get the gimmicky Wii that only plays party games, or you can get the Xbox 360 that has a HUGE install base and a great online experience. Not sure why they dropped the price, it's not like they are having a hard time selling the thing. Oh well, less money the soccer moms have to spend.

Halo 3: ODST Review

Halo 3 ODST was not as hyped as Halo 3, it did not have a huge luanch event or a helmet packed in with the special edition. Most of all, some people didn’t even think the game was going to be any good, boy were they wrong.

When you first drop into ODST you experience a little prelude text movie, I have to admit it was not all that great, it made me feel like I was 5, because of all the simple words. But as you get into the main menu screen, you see It is very similar to Halo 3, well of course. The other menus are a lot sleeker, and the games load a heck of a lot faster. There is not much customization that you can do with your character, other than taking their helmet off, and that looks pretty dumb. OK, so into the game. You are introduced with a cutscene where the ODSTs are about to drop into New Mombasa to take over a covenant ship. This game takes place in the events of Halo 2, by the way. As they drop, regret jumps into slipspace, causing an explosion that makes the drop pods go off course, but does not kill everyone. Your drop pod gets stuck in some debris and the tutorial begins, when you finish you jump don into the street, and, you take fall damage! Yes, that is new, so you can’t just jump from 200 yards and not have your legs cave in from under you. Your health is also extremely low, so, when your main health bar gets low, you better run for cover and wait for your “stamina” to recharge. Back to the game; Your first impression is, “Wow, it’s really dark,” until you turn on your VISR. Your VISR is basically your night vision, it puts orange lines around geometry, red lines around enemies, green around frindlies, and lights up objects of interest which you have to find to find out what happened to your squad. The new weapons are extremely effective, and you are never going to want to put them down, but they do run out of ammo pretty quickly. As you first encounter the super intendent you receive uplinks to the city’s navigation (that means you get a fancy world map) where you can place markers to follow. So as you find the objects of interests, or beacons, you trigger a cutscene and then a mission; where you play as one of your squad mates to find out what happened to them. When you get into the mission, it is light outside, which means the game takes place all in one day. The graphics are a bit more refined than Halo 3, and the AI has definitely been improved. The one new enemy is the engineer which is a pain in the but. You don’t get to see Elites (well there are some dead ones, but still). The story is pretty interesting and the characters are funny and you will love them till the end. Firefight is the big purple gorilla in this bundle. Sure it also comes with the Halo 3 multiplayer, and that’s cool at the very least. But firefight is a huge step forward. It basically works like this: There are 5 waves in a round and 3 rounds in a set, if you finish the set, you continue on a different map. Between waves, sets and rounds, there are weapon drops and bonus rounds. The bonus rounds are just tons of grunts pouring in and you have to kill every one that you can (did I mention all the skulls are on). Speaking of skulls, as you progress there are different skulls that turn on to make everything harder. Bottom line; firefight is the new horde.

With everything ODST has to offer I say it’s defiantly worth the sixty dollar price point. And with the new features, modes, and campaign, ODST gets a…9.5 out of 10

ODST: First Ten Minutes

No this is not a Live Play, I will do one of those for firefight. This is just my impression of the first ten minutes of the game.

The first thing you realize is that you walk slower and you jump slightly less high. This is obvious because you are not a super awesome spartan. When you first enter the "Hub World", everything is dark, therefore you have to use your visor. The visor is pretty cool and very useful. The visor puts orange lines around geometry, green lines around friendlies, and red line around enemies, it also lights things up a bit so it isn't so dark. You start out with the silenced SMG and the silenced mag. The SMG is alot more powerful than th older versions, and the pistol is back to it's Halo 1 days where it's basically a cannon in your hand. All the weapons have kickback, so you will have to fire in short accurate bursts, well, you should be doing that anyway. Then finnally, at the last part of the first ten minutes there is the Super Intendent. The SI helps you through your merry way along the huge mege city, he goves you hints to where things are, and every now and then you wll see signs that say: Go This Way or have an arow pointing to the side. Another cool thing it the squad system. The squad system is basicallly this: the enemies are program into squads, which patrol the area every now and then, so you wont be fighting covenant in the same area twice, or, at least, in that same exeact area.

Overall the first ten minutes are a great introduction to the game, the cutscene is awesome and the training part is helpful and well integrated. I cannot give a score based on just this segment, but expect a review up soon, as well as the firefight Live Play.

Halo 3: ODST

Midnight tonight (well the night that I am posting this) ODST will be released. I will only be getting it Tuesday night, so expect an ACTUAL Live Play, and a review up soon for it. This game is going to be great. BTW: Bungie, if you are reading, you know, you can always hook me up with the gae early next time, wink wink.

Fat Princess for the PSP

Yes Sony has announced Fat Princess:Fist Full of Cake for the PSP. Sony says there will be "50 percent more content", I would like to see that. There will be a mode where instead of stealing a princess, you plant a bomb. Sony is calling this one Fat Princess 1.5 (that's more like it). It will feature an extended single player, 1 new mode, and 1 new map. Rejoice all you PSP fans another addition to the great lineup of fall PSP titles.

Halo 3 ODST: Just Goes To Show

Here is a review that I found on Gamestop.com for Halo 3 ODST. This shows that people are pretty uninformed on whats going on,

it is about time that they leave master cheif to fight somewhere else and let the real soldiers in on the field. i love that the next 2 halo games ( odst and recon) are being taken from the halo series which was amazing, shows another part of the covenant war through the eyes of a group of soldiers most of us can relate too. -SavageHornet

HA HA, Fanboys, oh you make me laugh. Next 2 halo game ODST and Recon, no, no, they are the same games, the one game got a name change. And, soldiers most of us can relate to; yup, because most of us drop from a huge flying ship and fight off a bunch off aliens after work. I'm not trying to sound like a jerk, but lease, when you review stuff, think about it and get some facts straight before you submit it.

How To Find Good Gaming Deals. 5 Easy Rules

For all of you who are a little tight on money right now, which I know all of you are, here is a couple of easy ways to get more game for your buck.

1. Find places that have games, but usually would not sell games. For instance, I went to H.E.B the other day and they had Prince of Persia for the DS all by itself for 10 dollars, that's half the price of the original.

2. Use clients like Steam. Steam is pretty much the best when it comes to deals on pc, they always have good packs, price cuts, and deals of the week.

3. Try to compare. If you have a Walmart right next to a Gamestop, then compare prices of the two, sometimes Gamestop has good deals, but every now and then Walmart puts out their bargain bin.

4. Use resources. Websites sometimes have a little section where you can find deals of the week, but the best website for tracking that sort of thing has to be; Cheap Ass Gamer.

5. Ask friends. Usually you friend or family may just have bough a game because it was on sale, ask them where they got t and how much was it, you may be completely oblivious, but other people may not be.

Word to the wise: Recommended game price is $20 and under.