Gearheads of War

Missing the Gearheads

Hey Gearheads. Sorry I wound up getting on so late last night. It turns out that we went over to my wife's uncle's house and had some carne asada, guac and tequila. It was good times. So I got home a little late and when I signed on it originally looked like there were no Gearheads on. So I went to playing FIFA 09 and trying to get my Be a Pro to become a Manchester City regular. Thankfully I did have a chance to chat with a few Gearheads before I had to jump off for the night.

Any way, feel free to recap any of the shenanigans that I missed last night. I am going to play some co-op Left4Dead with some Gearheads before I turn 40. Sheesh.

Friday Night FragFest: January 2, 2009 - Happy New Year Edition

I'm looking for a few good men. I'm looking for a few good men who have a lot of patience and are willing to put up with a NOOB playing Left4Dead tomorrow night. I'm finally taking the plunge into Left4Dead tomorrow and I want to play co-op before I ever touch the multiplayer.

I'm back and I'm prepared to try some of my games that I haven't even cracked open yet. Games like Left4Dead, FIFA 09, Prince of Persia and even other ones that were part of my Christmas like Tomb Raider and Quantum of Solace. But I think it's safe to say that the only game left that I really have to delve heavily into is L4D before I make the declaration for my game of the year.

So sign up below if you want to be in my team of four. I'll probably be on a little later around like 9 p.m. Happy New Year, Gearheads! It's a great one so far as I've had a nice relaxing day with my family after being up until 2 a.m. last night with my daughter and wife (we were dancing and having a blast over an aunt's house - I also drank a good bit of quality tequila). I also found out that I'm lucky enough to be a Microsoft MVP for 2009 which is great. I loved the program last year and I'm looking forward to being a part of it again this year.

Game of 2009?

I figured this would be an interesting discussion on New Year's Eve. We're on the cusp of the New Year and that means that the excellence of the gaming year 08 is officially history and we can start looking forward to 2009.

Course I just got my 360 back yesterday so I still have a lot of catching up with 2008 to do. Hell, I haven't even firmly decided on my game of the year and won't until I get to play Left4Dead. I'm hoping to get some Gearheads to play co-op with me during FFF this week. That's my big aim.

As for 2009, it's an interesting year to be a Gearhead gamer. Or even just a 360 gamer in general. There doesn't seem to be that nuclear bomb of a release as there have been the last three years. Yes, it has Halo Wars and a new Halo campaign in Halo: ODST, but I'm not sold on those yet. It also has Resident Evil 5 coming. I'm just not sure it has that killer exclusive unless maybe we see Alan Wake finally release. I am excited about Halo Wars because I'm hoping that it will do for the RTS genre what the original Halo did for FPS on console and that is make it accessible and popular.

I'm wondering if some of the predictions about 2008 being the year of the PS3 was off by a year. Yes, LittleBigPlanet is probably my most played game of 2008 right now (running neck and neck with NHL 09 for that honor), but there wasn't much else for the PS3 at least that I didn't play or want to play on the 360. GTA 4 had exclusive content for the 360. Fallout 3 DLC appears right now to be 360 exclusive. L4D is a 360 exclusive and obviously Gears 2. There is no doubt in my mind that 2008 was owned by the 360.

2009 is shaping up to look like a year where I'm going to be very glad that I own a PS3. Killzone 2 is coming in February and by all accounts, it looks like it's going to be something pretty great. inFamous and Heavy Rain are intriguing to me and my second favorite PS3 exclusive so far, Uncharted (the first being LBP), will be getting a sequel. That doesn't even take into account God of War 3 which was largely the reason I bought a PS3 in the first place.

All that being said, I think my most anticipated game of 2009 is the next installment of Call of Duty. No first person shooter, IMO, has perfected the controls on that genre better than Infinity Ward's control scheme. Call of Duty 4 was my GOTY in 2007 and I don't doubt that the next COD from IW will blow me away and I guarantee I will be buying it on my 360 as shooters just play better on the Xbox controller. You know it will be released in November and it will be the best selling game of the year. I still want to try the multiplayer for World at War, but there's just something intangible about what Infinity Ward does with that franchise that makes the developer special.

So let's hear it folks. What is your most anticipated title for 2009? Prototype? Resident Evil 5? Something else I haven't even mentioned?

New Year's Resolutions?

Since 08 is almost done and 09 is around the corner, what is your gaming or non-gaming New Year resolutions?

Friday Night FragFest: December 26, 2008 - Happy Holidays Edition

OK, so I'm putting this up while most of you are probably already playing Gears 2 together or even Left4Dead. I'm sorry I'm a neglectful blogger. I was out and about for so long yesterday that I completely forgot to put up the sign-up sheet.

That and the fact that I don't have a 360 right now makes me quite frustrated. I actually keep checking the status of the shipment every morning first thing. And then I refresh it throughout the day. Apparently my 360 has been on the way to Vernon, CA for like three days now. WTF?

I'm hoping that I'll possibly get it early next week, either Monday or Tuesday if I'm lucky. Otherwise with the holiday, I might not be seeing it for another week.

Regardless, I hope you guys were able to gather and share some laughs and fun tonight. I'm feeling quite disconnected from my fellow Gearheads right now. What did you guys get for the holiday? My family really knows me because I got A LOT of Best Buy gift cards, which is awesome. I also have a lot of unplayed 360 games that were on my list of games to tackle. The 360 crash couldn't have come at a worse time.

Back to refreshing the status page and then playing more LittleBigPlanet. Seriously, folks, if you own a PS3, LBP is the kind of game that can justify the purchase of that hardware all on its own. You owe it to yourself to buy this game. I'll shut up now. It's all I have right now.