Well, frankly, I do. I don’t think I can remember a time when I wasn’t fascinated with castles, dragons, unicorns, fairies, elves, and ilk of that sort…my favorite stories were always fairy tales when I was younger, I think I watched the cartoon film of The Last Unicorn about fifty-eleven billion times when it came out, I probably had one of every item sold at a Roses (ha! Remember THAT?), K Mart or other 1980s outlet store that either was in the shape of or featured a unicorn on it, my favorite book series were the Prydain Chronicles (Lloyd Alexander, based off of the medieval Welsh Mabinogion – The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, Taran Wanderer, The Castle of Llyr and the High King), the Lord of the Rings and Narnia series, and the Wizard of Oz books. As far as I was concerned, you could keep your stupid Little House on the Prairie series, and I never even picked up a Nancy Drew, not once – although I did love Anne of Green Gables, because – well, she was a kindred spirit who harbored the same romantic ideals I clung to, and got into more trouble than I did. But no – it was the medieval that inspired me from a very young age – knights, quests, magic. (OK, maybe it was the 19th century Romantics’ bastardized version of the Middle Ages that originally held me in thrall…but trust me, the real medieval deal is SO much more exciting and interesting than Tennyson et al ever imagined it as being!

I think it is a logical extension for anyone as imaginative and into fairies and unicorns and elves and such as I was to wish to live in that world growing up. And, naturally, everybody informed me from an early age (and by everybody I mean my parents and sister) that that was unrealistic and I should get a real job, because you can’t make a living off of medieval studies and whatnot. In fact, I was told (and I’m paraphrasing here, but not by much): “Unless you get a job as an editor, nobody is going to pay you to sit around and read books all day.” This was, ostensibly, to encourage me to focus more on Math and Science and less on fantasy novels – but Dragonlance was way more interesting and engaging than Pi or the Pythagorean theorem, and even as a high school student I knew damned good and well I never wanted a desk job, even if it was as an editor who got paid to read books. So, I got a degree in the equally – romantic and impractical French language, and disguised it as practical with a teaching license because – well, Mom and Dad were paying half the bill, and they seemed to expect a return on their investment. But – it turns out, “everybody” was wrong. Here is a little-known secret academics are sitting on: you can get paid to read books and talk about them! Swear! This is my professional job! (I know, I know, what a racket – but nobody seems to have wised up to the fact that I’m getting paid fairly well to do what I love, and even when I crow about it, nobody believes me. I really am getting away with a lot.)

After about five years of teaching French to high school students on a 4 by 4 block schedule – meaning they took French one semester and then didn’t have it again for a year, thus relegating all language students to the fate of never, ever actually learning and retaining anything past the first half of Book One no matter how many years of French were listed on their transcript – I got heartily sick and tired of teaching irregular and “er” verb conjugations. I decided that if I had to coax one more French II class to remember the passe compose after nine months of English, Math, History and gym class I would have to check into Betty Ford(which on a public schoolteacher’s salary I obviously couldn’t afford) because I would surely develop a major drinking problem in light of the utter boredom and despair I felt. It was time to go back to school for the Master’s degree. So I enrolled in a French program with an emphasis on interdisciplinary medieval and Renaissance studies (hey, it’s not like my parents had any say in the matter, they weren’t footing this bill at all). Just my luck, the French professor who taught medieval French literature was on sabbatical that year, so I wound up taking classes in the English and Art History department and in the History department of an affiliate institution to fill the (major) gaps in my schedule. And I LOVED it. Every minute of it. But, alas, circumstances well beyond my control conspired against me and I had to quit before I finished (what, you want me to tell you my entire life story tonight? Not happening, you’ll have to wait until I have more time or inclination or whatever).

Suffice it to say, after years of hell teaching Spanish and English in an inner city school system that kicked me around to four different schools in two years as an itinerant teacher, I had a nervous breakdown and quit…and then got the job of my dreams: a brand-new private school needed a teacher, and I could create whatever curriculum I wanted, teach whatever books I wanted, and do it my way. Hell, YEAH I took that job! It took me about 1.8 seconds to say “yes”! And, after a few years of teaching French and Art History, I shifted over to literature. I started out teaching American and minority literature courses, but (thank God! Although I miss him) the other English teacher moved to California to be a writer and a college profesor, and I shifted over to British Lit,  where I have been happily engaged in reading and teaching subject courses as diverse as Lewis and Tolkien, Monsters in British Lit, Women in British Lit, 19th Century British Romanticism, Victorians and Moderns, Arthuriana, and especially medieval and Renaissance texts – Beowulf, Chaucer, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Robin Hood, the Mabinogion, the tales of Cu Chulainn, Spenser’s Faerie Queene, Marie de France’s Lais, Christine de Pisan’s Book of the City of Ladies, and various and sundry texts in various and sundry topics ever since- anything I want. Which at this point means – 1 or 2 classes of more modern materials, 3-4 classes dealing with medieval subjects, and an Art History course.

With such a broad and varied background, I swear to you as God is my witness, the Middle Ages are totally relevant to everything that came after them. The Great Gatsby is as 20th-century American as you can get, but it’s still medieval at its core – the Bildungsroman, or coming-of-age story, the Black Knight on an impossible quest, the Warrior-King (OK, OK, bootlegging swindler) cut down in his prime, the feudal state of American society in the Roaring 20s. And let’s not forget Monty Python and the Holy Grail. And Arthur – ahhhh, King Arthur…I’m sorry, I’ve lost count, how many movies have come out about Arthur or Arthurian topics in the past ten years…? Books…? And video games! Anyone play…oh, I don’t know, Everquest, or the Age of Kings…? Oh! And graffiti! Especially dirty, pornographic graffiti…OK, so the Pompeiians totally had it (look at the recovered frescoes if you don’t believe me) but those Christian scribes copying out Latin texts by hand got bored…a lot…and the artwork they doodled in the margins is definitely precursory to modern graffiti tagging the world over. Did you know Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett are wrapping up filing the newest Robin Hood flick? (I don’t even want to get into what I suspect Hollywood executives are sniffing behind closed doors when they make their casting decisions…I mean, when I read “Maer Mearcstapa” – the hell dam from the fens -  I don’t really get “You know what we want for this character? We want Angelina Jolie, painted gold, wearing three inch high heels with a tail – and while we’re at it, let’s change it up a bit and have her seducing Beowulf and bearing his love child, the Golden Dragon…”but that’s me, being picky with my source materials…Denmark. Is. Flat.) Moving on…

Right. the point is, the Middle ages are still totally relevant to modern society. Mead, anyone?

xLDzh>en GoogleC

Castles, Dragons, Unicorns, Fairies, Elves, The Last Unicorn, Lloyd Alexander, The Black Cauldron, The Lord of the Rings, Narnia, Wizard of Oz, Little House on the Prairie, Anne of Green Gables, Nancy Drew, Knights, Quests , Magic, Middle Ages, Tennyson, Dragonlance, French, teaching, Master’s Degree medieval studies, Renaissance studies, Monsters, Women, Romanticism, Victorian, Modern, Arthuriana, King Arthur, Beowulf, Chaucer, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Robin Hood, Mabinogion, Cu Chulainn, Faerie Queene, Spenser, Marie de France, lai , Christine de Pisan, The Great Gatsby, Black Knight Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Everquest, Age of Kings, Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Angelina Jolie

É como um grande tabuleiro dinâmico. Move-se constantemente, caoticamente organizado, soldados marchando e arqueiros lançando. Armas de cerco derrubando muros e construções, desconstruindo cidades inteiras, sem nada deixar para o futuro. Alguns milênios de suor e sangue não são o suficiente para conter o avanço, é necessário. As perdas são, infortunadamente, inevitáveis.

As estratégias, enquanto estudadas, fazem sentido. Cada nação teve seu poderio, seus fortes, e todas, pouco a pouco, salvo raríssimas exceções, foram se esvairindo pelos ralos da evolução. Algumas ainda sustentaram o alicerce por tempo mais longo, é verdade. Mas o tempo de glórias jaz enterrado em algum outro rio de Yucatán…  Talvez do Canal da Mancha.

Pisei num caco de vidro, e por baixo dos outros restos achei algo amassado, queimado, não sei ao certo em que estado estava, algumas palavras eram legíveis, ainda em sua língua-mãe, outras, confesso, tive de inventar.

Se é assim? Se é assim que quis o Senhor? Quis o Senhor minha labuta a troco da lágrima nos olhos de minha filha, dos gritos de desespero de minha mulher, perdendo as graças defronte a mim? De todas as minhas preces, de todas as privações, ver, com o Livro em mãos, minha casa sendo reduzida a cinzas em teu nome, monstruosidades atemporais grunhindo, brandindo espadas, estuprando minha mulher, imolando minha filha!

Do alto daquelas colinas, uma vez que olhei para cima, cri na tosca mortal esperança do nada, do vazio, vi anjos descendo à Terra, pisoteando plantações, despertando terror. Vi bocas abertas, mas meu coração era mais alto que os gritos da vila. As paredes olhavam com pessoas por dentro, tentando como vermes entrar na pedra. Ouvi velhos amigos urrando de dor ao atear fogo em si próprios. Pecadores todos, acreditando na última das desgraças, o último dos juízos. Mas eu pagava os tributos Divinos da Misericórdia, eu seguia as tábuas, que agora parecem mais pedaços ocos de pedra, ocos para leve permanecer o fardo dos que vestem o amarelo que escorreu por minhas mãos para alimentar a Tua boca.

Há para onde ir? Procuro dentro de minhas mãos a fé, e não a vejo, não vejo nada. Em breve talvez deva agradecer por ter sido dilacerado junto à minha tenda, à minha casa, que fiz questão de levantar palha por palha, madeiro por madeiro. Pedra por pedra.

Creio que o Senhor lembre aquele dia chuvoso. Estava eu repousando sob o moinho, olhando para o movimento dos grãos, e eis que vi a sombra mexer-se. Ora, vi a sombra. Desconfio agora, que já não me adianta, de que escondido em algum lugar da sombra alguém me alertava sobre tudo o que viria, mas era só a noite cair, eu acendia outro pedaço de carvalho para não cegar completamente. No escuro eu sentia medo, porque algum estranho sussurrava, entre florestas, as palavras que tanto quis ignorar.

Desgrace-me, mande-me ao sétimo dos infernos, foi uma toda vida de ferros forjados, palavras mal-escritas, crenças lastimáveis, o ouro que colhi derretido foi em minha garganta. Minha família toda acabou como acabavam as ovelhas que sacrifiquei. De todos os monumentos colossais, escondi em minha ingenuidade o maior dos castelos.

E, nesses últimos segundos, não irei culpá-lo. Entreguei cada grão e cada quilo e cada suor por minha vontade. Eu quis a salvação. Como o Sol se põe no horizonte flamejante, agora vejo: não há nada para ver.

Last night EVE Online went down with database problems (and looks to have just come up as I am writing this… no… wait… it just went down again, never mind) so Potshot and I weren’t able to do anything in New Eden, like try out his shiny new covert ops ship.

So it was suggested we forgo outer space and return to the Age of Kings.

And on the subject of suggestions, it was suggested in a comment on my last post that we try GameSpy’s game matching service which is called Comrade.  We’re all for retro Soviet chic, which Comrade seems to have in abundance, so we thought we would give it a chance.

Unfortunately Comrade seemed much more interested in overthrowing those capitalist running dog lackeys over at X-Fire than helping a couple of techno-kulaks like us play our little imperialist games.  After another round of configuration, adjustments, and failure we consigned Comrade to the dustbin of history.  The high point of Comrade was that it let me make a “Microsoft .Nyet” joke.

Which brought us back to GameRanger.

I can say nothing but good things about the people who designed GameRanger.  They get it.  You install it.  You create an account.  You log in.  It works.

Seriously.  This is important.  If you’re running a game matching service and part of your configuration includes something like, “Now open up ports 2300-2400 on your firewall,” you’ve lost a good chunk of your potential audience right there.  And don’t say, “But you have to open those ports for us to work.”  (And when I do open all those ports as recommended and your service still doesn’t work….)

Go look at GameRanger.  That is how it is done.

In case it is still not clear who I am now recommending for Age of Empires II: Age of Kings internet game play, let me make it clear:

Endorsed by The Ancient Gaming Noob

So we opened up GameRanger and started a game.

And now we had to remember how to play!

We set up a game on a small coastal map, I drew the Vikings and Potshot drew the Turks.  I used to know what strategy worked best for all of the empires, but all I could remember about the Vikings was… um… nothing.

While completely lost on combat, I at least remembered how to get my economy going.  Potshot beat me to the feudal age, getting there before I even started training it, but once my gathering was in gear I hit both castle and imperial ages first.  He began to harass me in the castle age, but at imperial I build a castle on his doorstep and started burning and pillaging.

And, in the grand tradition of the game, I had to hunt down his last unit before victory was mine.  I am so glad you can train a skill that lets you see enemy units in the castle.  I remember games of the original Age of Empires where we spent long stretches of time trying to find somebody’s lone peon hidden away somewhere.

So we had our first successful over-the-internet game of Age of Kings!  Go us!

Now I have to get out on the net and see if there is a nice guide to the strengths and weaknesses of each of the empires.

After getting StarCraft out the other week and giving it a run, Potshot and I started discussing one of our more favored RTS games, Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings.

Not to diminish StarCraft, which is an incredibly polished and well balanced game, but to me there was always a greater sense of depth and immersion when playing Age of Kings. And the variety of different empires represented lent themselves to different strategies.

So after a bit of searching on Friday evening, I came up with the CDs for both Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings and the expansion, Age of Empires II: The Conquerors. They installed smoothly.  Getting them patched to the latest version was not hard either.  Looking a the Microsoft sites for Age of Kings and The Conquerors, you can tell that they have not done much with the games over the last seven years of so. You especially have to love the banner ads on the Age of Kings site.

Both the game and the expansion installed and ran fine, neither taking up too much space or resources. System requirements have come a long way since the game shipped.

• Multimedia PC with Pentium 166MHz or higher processor.
• Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 5 operating system.
• 32 MB of RAM
• 200 MB of hard disk space; additional 100 MB of hard disk space for swap file.
• Super VGA monitor supporting 800×600 resolution.
• Local bus video card that supports 800×600, 256 color resolution and 2 MB of VRAM
• Quad-speed CD-ROM drive.
• Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device.
• 28.8Kbps modem (or higher recommended) for internet or head-to-head play.
• Audio board with speakers or headphones.
• To access the MSN Gaming Zone you need Internet Explorer 3.02 or later software or Netscape Communicator 4.0 or later.

 

 

I like that they felt the need to specify a mouse in the system requirements. It reminds me of a Windows 95 class taught at one of the local Community Colleges back in the day. The class was to be taught on machines with no mouse attached. The instructor was a bit old school and was not convinced of the long term viability of the mouse as a computer input device, so he wanted to make sure his class was prepared for the day when we got over this mouse thing and got back to the only input device that really mattered; the keyboard.  But I digress.

A test run against the AI showed that the game itself ran very well on my current machine.  And, unlike StarCraft or Diablo II, Age of Kings actually supports a game resolution of 1280×1024.  I actually have an LCD monitor in a closet with a native resolution of 1280×1024.  So the graphics are less pixellated that the other two games.

Later in the evening, Potshot caught me online and we started trying to coordinate a game, and then the fun began.

Blizzard has run Battle.net for the last 12 years to facilitate the connectivity of their games over the internet despite the fact that they haven’t shipped a game that has required that service for the last six years.  So when the retro urge hits, you can get out Diablo, Diablo II, StarCraft, etc. and get connect with your friends in an environment that simulates all the lag and issues you remember from the good old days.  But at least the option exists.

By comparison, Microsoft has been less resolute.  The so-called MSN Gaming Zone referred to in the requirements, and which has had a variety of names, ceased supporting connectivity for games like Age of Kings about three years ago.  So unless you are on the same LAN as the person you are playing, getting connected for a match can be a challenge.

Still, there are a couple of services that have attempted to pick up the ball dropped by Microsoft.  The first one we tried was International Gaming Zones.

That did not go so well.  Their client didn’t seem to like that I installed the game somewhere other than the default directory.  There was a good deal of tinkering with routers required.  And when that was done, there was some sort of problem with the Age of Kings client application.  To their credit IGZones had a write up and a patch regarding that last problem, but even with the patch applied and verified we could not get a game going.  After an hour of that we moved on.

We then spent some time trying to establish a direct connection between our machines.  That involved a lot more fruitless tinkering with routers and putting machines into the DMZ and generally not getting anywhere.  After enough of that I grabbed the next site that promised to support multiplayer Age of Kings game play, GameRanger.

GameRanger seems to have focused on simplicity of function because we were able to download it, create accounts, and get it to work in about five minutes.  We were actually playing.

Again, I almost remember my build order...

Then, after about 10 minutes of play, when we were poised to get stuck into each other, we got disconnected.

Overall, an uncanny recreation of the original Age of Kings “over the internet” play experience.

At that point it was after midnight.  We declared limited success and vowed that our empires would clash again at some future date.

So now I have had out, on successive weekends, two of my three favorite RTS games of all time.  The only one that remains is Total Annihilation.

But even getting Total Annihilation installed is a challenge in and of itself, assuming you can get your hands on the various patches and updates.  A task for another weekend I think.

Seguem abaixo 3 record games de Age of Empires 2 The Conquerors, random map:

Michi

Participantes: SK_Leo, SK_Anderson, GeneralAlvaroII vs. [PlaN]Cesarx, [FriendZ]Aninha
Link para download: http://www.sendspace.com/file/u5e2xg

Arabia

Participantes: SK_CSmatador vs. SK_Colares
Link para download: http://rapidshare.com/files/121098207/Sk_CSMatador_detonando_-__01-mai-2008_19_18_44.rar.html

Green Arabia

Participantes: Arx_Gadelha vs. SK_Krater
Link para download: http://rapidshare.com/files/121098494/SK_Krater_flush.rar.html

É possível usar o parâmetro de linha de comando para personalizar a inicialização do processo para o Age of Empires 2 TC e solucionar alguns problemas que podem ocorrer ao iniciar o jogo, ou durante o jogo.

O Atendimento Microsoft criou um número de atalhos que incluem os parâmetros de linha de comando que podem ser usados ao iniciar o jogo Age of Empires 2 TC.

A seguinte tabela lista os parâmetros de linha de comando que podem ser usados para iniciar o Age of Empires 2 TC.

Para adicionar manualmente parâmetros à linha de comando no atalho do Age of Empires II:

1. Clique com o botão direito no ícone do atalho Age Of Empires II e clique em Propriedades.

2. Clique na guia Atalho.

3. Na caixa Alvo, pressione END, pressione a BARRA DE ESPAÇOS e digite o seguinte parâmetro a ser usado: Caso tenha de ser usado um parâmetro adicional, pressione a BARRA DE ESPAÇOS e digite o próximo parâmetro.

Por exemplo, a seguinte linha de comando de amostra inclui diversos parâmetros:

OBSERVAÇÃO: Os parâmetros não diferenciam maiúsculas de minúsculas.

4. Clique em Aplicar ou OK.

1. Primeiramente clique aqui e faça download do Anti-Smurf.

2. Extraia os arquivos que você baixou para a pasta raíz do seu mIRC.

3. Digite no seu mirc: /load -rs smurf.mrc
Aparecerá a mensagem:
* Carregado script ‘C:\Arquivos de programas\CyberScript31\smurf.mrc’
Caso contrário os arquivos não estão na pasta correta!

5. Va até a janela do seu Stats (a primeira janela do seu mIRC).

6. Clique com o Botão direito no seu Stats e clique em “Smurfs”

Segue abaixo os links para Download do Age of Empires mais a expansão The Conquerors Completo…

O download está dividido em 2 partes, ele tem no total 175mb, e pode ser baixado ou no RapidShare ou no Easy-Share, você que escolhe:

Rapidshare

Parte 1: http://rapidshare.com/files/17861892/AOK_TC-COMPLETO_www.AgeBrasil.com.part1.rar.html

Parte 2: http://rapidshare.com/files/17863656/AOK_TC-COMPLETO_www.AgeBrasil.com.part2.rar.html

Easy-Share

Parte 1: http://w13.easy-share.com/1097099.html

Parte 2: http://w13.easy-share.com/1100765.html

Caso peça o arquivo AOE2CONQ.C31 por SK_Shinigami
http://rapidshare.com/files/179841708/AOE2CONQ.C31.html

Após o download…

• Caso peça alguma senha, pode ser www.agebrasil.com ou www.agemania.com
• Aprenda como instalar Age of Empires 2 + The Conquerors
• Faça download da tradução do Age of Empires 2 + The conquerors
• Faça download do Patch E, para jogar na internet
• Converse e jogue online com a galera do SK Clan no IRC

Não conseguiu fazer o download ou instalar?
Clique aqui e veja um super desconto sobre este game!

“These are the old days, the bad days, the all-or-nothing days; the sitting at your desk eating entire chocolate bars while trying to debug this bug from hell days.”

– Marv from Sin City

I’m on day 10 of “one of those weeks” so I haven’t had time to fully develop the usual cornucopia of rainbow-coloured blog post ideas. All of my time has been spent on work and family with a smidgen of video game playing to decompress my brain. This isn’t one of those “I’m sorry I haven’t been blogging!!” posts that means it’s time to hit ‘J’ in the feed reader – instead I’m going to talk a little bit about video games. Feel free to interject in the comments with what you’re playing. (It’s Halo 3, isn’t it?)

I currently have three game systems in my household: the PC, the Xbox 360 with the home theatre system and my handheld Nintendo DS. Surprisingly the Nintendo DS gets way more play and games bought for it because A) my girlfriend and I both have our own DS and B) no game company has realized that people might want to play Xbox 360 games sitting on a couch with another real human being. I don’t play online multiplayer games[1] as a rule of thumb because they’re too addictive, but I find it much easier to invite someone over to play a “couch multiplayer” game than to find free time to play with by myself.

This is probably for the best because it pushed me off my ass to get a new roleplaying campaign started with some good friends.

PC Games – Found Interesting

I don’t know what happened to me (oh wait, I’m 30 and have a career and a little bit of a social life) but I can never finish PC games anymore. I seem to always reach a halfway point where the game becomes too sluggish on my underperforming rig and I give up on it. This week marked the death of PC gaming for me when Electronic Arts (boo, hiss) bought out my favorite Canadian game company that I’ve always had a secret fetish for joining: BioWare.

The last two PC games I tried out were Thief 3 and Fallout: Tactics. Thief 3 was amazing to play in the middle of the night with all of the lights off, but kept crashing my computer. Fallout Tactics was a great return to my favorite post nuclear setting and made me realize how much I miss the Infinity game engine (from Baldur’s Gate series). I wish someone would do a Planescape Torment re-release using the latest version of the Infinity engine.

Nintendo DS – My Favs

I’ve already written about Puzzle Quest before. It’s Bejewelled gem-matching meets 90s styled RPG and the game that got me to buy a Nintendo DS of my own. There were many enjoyable relaxing hours spent playing, until I learned an unbeatable combo of screen clearing spells. It’s out for Xbox Live Arcade now.

The next win for hours spent playing was Age of Empires: Age of Kings. It was surprisingly challenging as it has the most replayability of all my DS games because of the random maps feature. A definite keeper.

I’m currently schlocking my way through Rune Factory which is possibly the most accurate Japanese translation I’ve ever seen. I really feel like I’m a factory worker sometimes. The game captures all the nasty power-leveling aspects of roleplaying games: the crafting for no reason other than to see skill increases so you can craft better items, the fighting monsters in hopes of getting a rare drop, and almost literal gold farming with crops you have to maintain. It’s almost a perfect example of all the things I like least about RPGs.

Yet I can’t stop playing.

Nintendo DS – Her Favs

My lady friend who has the eternal patience to put up with my geekery prefers the new Super Mario Brothers, Brain Age, and Animal Crossing. Brain Age has never appealed to me as I’d rather be doing sudoku with a pen and paper. Super Mario Bros looks like button-mashing fun and Animal Crossing looks like the exact same kind of pointless (yet addictive) time wasting as Rune Factory.

Xbox 360 Games

The only real winners for Xbox 360 couch multiplayer have been Small Arms, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and Lego Star Wars 2 (honorable single player mentions for Amped 3, Gears of War and Crackdown). There’s been a few horrible buys as well because of bargain bin pricing (Kameo, Dead or Alive X2, Table Tennis) – enough that I’ve switched from buying Xbox 360 games to “rent only”.

Small Arms is a 2D death match style game that allows for four person couch multiplayer. It by far has the most hours racked of any game I’ve played on the 360. I wish they’d do an update with more characters and levels. There’s nothing quite like playing the bazaar with four chickens with flamethrowers.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance was a lot of fun because I got to show off my encyclopedic comic book knowledge to my girlfriend (which she finds dead sexy – at least that’s what I keep telling myself). The Xmen Legends game engine is really solid for couch multiplayer, and I’d love to see more games come out using it. Although there’s a strange bug where everyone who plays Wolverine has to steal all the power-ups…

Lego Star Wars 2 is the spiritual successor to the childhood fun I had with Star Wars that the Episodes I – III crapfest almost managed to ruin. It’s got some camera issues, but other than that it’s full of solidly fun gameplay. They’re releasing a combo pack of Lego Star Wars 1 & 2 in November.

Puzzle Fighter on Xbox Live Arcade will most likely be my next buy. I’ve already played the crap out of it using MAME and my laptop, but the Xbox Live version is much more convenient than hooking up the laptop.

Xbox 360 Demos

I think I’ve downloaded and played around two out of five of all of the demos available on the Xbox 360. I really love how the network/hard drive console environment has opened opportunities for try-before-you-buy and game demos are now freely available (and often easier to get running than PC game demos). It does amaze me sometimes that companies put crap demos up (Vampire Rain, Bladestorm). These demos are worth downloading:

• Amped 3 – snowboarding sim with great wackiness, worth buying
• Beautiful Katamari – Katamari for the Xbox! demo is too short
• BioShock – steampunk fps
• Burnout Revenge – driving smashup
• Crackdown – convinced me to buy it
• Conan – solid hack-n-slash action
• Eternal Sonata – surprisingly engaging turn-based RPG
• Lost Planet – sci-fi fps
• Overlord – evil overlord rpg sim, great sense of humor
• Shadowrun – this would be a strong buy if it was single player – very fun fps, I’ve probably put 40 hours into replaying the demo
• The Darkness – interesting concept, but poor mechanics
• Time Slip – fps with time manipulation
  

[1]: Other than blogging. Blogging truly is a MMORPG.