Gearheads of War

Sequels!  That seems to be the trend in today's entertainment industry, and video games are certainly no exception.  I know you all have written some well-voiced opinions on these two games, but it's 2:30 in the morning (hence the poor writing), I can't sleep, and I haven't really written anything on my favorite (albeit, only) online community in a while.  Here goes...

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?

I'll admit flat out that I'm a graphics whore.  If things don't look beautiful and make my mouth drop on the floor, I'm not as interested in playing it as I once was.  It's one of the reasons I sold my Wii.  The thing looked like crap on my HDTV.

Gearheads, I got an email tonight from SixOkay, the Gears of War community manager and it basically said that he wants to do Gears of War "Community Nights" in 2009.  What this means is basically that Gearheads of War will host a "community night" for the larger Gears of War community.  Basically we could work it into our weekly Friday Night FragFest once and a while per the direction from SixOkay.

I think it could be good because we could possibly find other members of the community that love Gears as much as we do and maybe add some guys who could bring more community to this community.  

But, as usual with everything in Gearheads, I don't make a decision based on my opinion alone. So I'm opening it up to the community.  I don't want to wind up subjecting Gearheads to an unsavory new element and judging from the Gears of War boards, it can get pretty nasty in there.

So go ahead and vote and let me know what you think in the comments below.  I probably won't be able to respond until early next week as I'm traveling on business starting tomorrow afternoon, but I'll be eager to hear what everyone has to say.  I'll also forward to SixOkay so he can check in.  

UPDATE:  PLEASE POST A RESPONSE AND AN EXPLANATION FOR YOUR VOTE YEA OR NAY (even if it is just one or two lines - especially those who vote no).  The end result will not be determined on poll numbers alone!

How much complaining is enough? How much effort do some people want to put into being miserable? You get a game like Gears of War 2 that improves on the original in pretty much every conceivable way. And yet 90% of what you hear are complaints about the bits that need to be fixed...

The three "new" maps included in the new Map pack are a bit of a switch from the current Gears 2 Maps due to the fact that they are actually very small maps and make for much more intense battles.

I'm putting this up tonight after a long day for me.  My daughter got violently ill multiple times today.  She's really not vomited in her life other than spitting up as a baby.  So I'm not really used to handling a puking child.

Regardless, it would be nice to be playing Gears 2 tonight.  I've now officially had a chance to play almost all of the big releases in 2008.  I've dug into Fallout 3 on PlayStation 3 over the past few days.  That leads me to a discussion of the Game of the Year for 2008.  

This is meant to be an open discussion for who the five finalists would be. Here are my top five in no particular order:

• Gears of War 2:  Well, duh.  The thing is I think my love of Gears 2 is different than my love of Gears 1. So far my favorite moments have been in campaign and horde.  This might change as I get to know the game more and play more MP.  But it might not.  Still, Horde might be my favorite gametype in any game in 2008.

• LittleBigPlanet:  Gearheads are probably getting tired of hearing me talk about how much I love LBP and its awesome little protagonist, sackboy/girl.  It's been an incredible experience for me because my daughter has adored every moment we've played.  There is so much character and creativity in this game that I can't express to you how much I've enjoyed it.  The levels are so creative and they're based on remarkable physics.  My one big issue remaining with it is that the controls aren't nearly as tight as they should be for a game that is based on precise landings.  That and having to go all the way back to the beginning of really long levels when you die multiple times can be painful.

•  Fallout 3: Yes folks, an RPG has officially sucked me in.  And you want to know why?  It's because the combat is actually good.  Not necessarily the shooting itself, but the VATS system of pausing the game while you pick out a body part to shoot.  I've barely scratched the surface on this one, but I think I'm going to enjoy it literally for all of 2009 and possibly even beyond.  My favorite part so far?  I chose to kill the Overseer of Vault 101 and my final shot literally blew his head off in slow motion.  Then later on, I slow motion grenade killed a raider.  I don't see how this can't be endlessly entertaining.

•  NHL 09:  No one who knows me here will be surprised by this one.  They keep making such a remarkable game better on an annual basis.  It's amazing.  And it's not like they have real competition in the NHL2K series.  If Horde is my favorite gametype of any game this year, Be A Pro mode in NHL 09 is definitely number two...or possibly even 1B.

•  Prince of Persia:  A lot of people have complained that the game is too easy.  I don't ever buy that in games because if the narrative is entertaining, the gameplay is fun and makes you feel ridiculously powerful, well, that's what I look for in games.  Prince of Persia narrowly beats out Left4Dead which I recently played over a friend's house.  Now L4D might be up there had I had a chance to play with Gearheads.  But my 360 isn't in service now.  The art style of the new Prince is also amazing and while the Prince initially struck me as an a-hole, I suddenly realized why I liked this a-hole so much as the game went on.  It was the same voice as the guy who voiced Drake in Uncharted.

So two games you would expect to be on there.  Gears 2 and NHL 09.  And one that had a good chance given my love for the Prince of Persia series.  And two total surprises.  I've NEVER liked an RPG.  EVER.  I've always thought they were plodding and uninteresting and too much work for something that was supposed to be leisure time for me.  And I never thought I'd like LBP.  But that game just dares you to not love it from the minute you start playing it.

So what are your top five candidates for the title?

Well, I figure now that we have had some time to play Gears of War 2, I would post my wishlist for things that I would love to see added to the game. This will be a summary list. I will do a more in-depth list on my blog soon. Here we go:

Yes, folks, I was all psyched up to play this week, but such is life when the red rings strike.

I did want to make sure that I said something about the general tone and tenor of the site and gaming lately. Remember Gearheads, we play these games to have fun.  We're all here because we're looking for a better place to game and gather. And during this special time of year, I just want to really emphasize the Gearheads coming together and singing "Little Drummer Boy" in harmony is my wish this year. Zoso, Blank, and Suns can be the wisemen, and I'll be the little drummer boy with no 360 with which to present the newborn king.

Regardless, even though I'm not there, I would encourage some cooperative gaming this week. Some Horde sounds good. Nothing brings Gearheads together like some co-op efforts.  

That being said, I won't be there probably this week or next week. BUT there's hope for a Festivus miracle and I might be back by the holiday week.

Sign up and let's everyone take a deep breath, drink some well-spiked egg nog and settle down now. This is the most wonderful time of the year, people. I will miss you.

[CrossPosted From my BLOG]
Gears of War 2 - Weekly Stats

Yes, Gearheads, N'Gai Croal will be here for FFF tomorrow night. I don't know if I'll be there yet or not.  I might be on for a little while, but SweetTea will be taking my place in the 'Game with Fame.' He will also be announcing the winners later on this evening.

So, sign up below and play some Gears 2 tomorrow.  Maybe I'll catch a game or two with you!  And thanks to N'Gai in advance for agreeing to this and to SweetTea for organizing it.

I've been so obsessed with finishing Gears 2 single player and playing Horde that I'd honestly hardly touched any MP.  That all changed on Friday night.  I got on around 8:15 and folks were already playing Horde so I killed time until folks switched over.  We played some Execution and the MP of Gears 2 feels like an entirely new game.  It really doesn't feel like Gears 1 at all outside of the cover element.  

And you know what, I'm not 100 percent sure that I like all of the changes.  There are things I love about it.  For example, I was able to kill someone from the grave with a planted grenade.  That's pretty freaking cool.  Oddly enough one of my bigger complaints with Gears 2 is the overpowered nature of the nades.  I HATED nade spam in COD4 and it was one of the reasons why I think that I gave up on that game.  I was tired of the folks with the three nade perk who would just spam an entire area.