My Usual E3 Wrap-Up Post
It's been pretty quiet here. Excuse me while I clear out some of the cobwebs.
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Ah, much better. Now, onto the business of content!
I've been pretty busy for the last couple weeks. Following a pre-E3 camping trip up to Wellsboro, PA, I had to deal with the hell that is the Electronic Entertainment Expo and a subsequent weekend vaykay in the wonderful San Francisco. The before- and after-show were fun, but I kinda have a love/hate relationship with E3 -- it's incredibly exhausting but, uh, helps keep the bills paid.
My Trip to Chicago
A little over a week ago, I went to Chicago to visit my sister and see the city. She lives in one of the close outlying burbs, so it was easy to get into the city and sample its unique flavors of fun. I ate tasty food, saw some cool sights and enjoyed many of the town's watering holes. Suffice to say, I had a blast. Here's a rundown of the fun (and a gallery of images at the bottom of the post).
I’ll Be A Guest On The Incredible Podcast Of Amazing Awesomeness This Sunday
I'm pretty new to this whole podcasting thing, but I think I've been very clear about my love for it. Even though it's a fresh medium for me to express myself, others have been rocking the mic and doing a great job at it. One such duo consists of Mike Schramm and The Turpster -- I was told that trying to find out the legal name of the latter would only result in physical pain, so I let sleeping dogs lie -- who produce The Incredible Podcast of Amazing Awesomeness.
It's a great show and I'm really pumped to go all Chatty Cathy on it. I'll be on their show this Sunday, 1pm PST (4pm ET) for the live chatting -- a first for me in podcasting. I'm pretty scared about that part, but I'm doing it anyway!
For all of the pertinent details (get down on this, guys!), you only need hit up this convenient link right here.
PAX East 2010: The Link Dump
So I went to Boston for PAX East as part of my gig at Joystiq and, man, it was super fun. Getting to meet some fans of the site (I'm floored anytime somebody knows who the hell I am) and, even better, fans of the X3F podcast and JPAG-ers (all super nice dudes, believe me) -- it's just crazy to me. Hugging strangers after the live Joystiq Podcast panel was one of the most pleasant experiences of my life. It's an affirmation that humanity may not be so doomed after all.
Of course, I can't neglect my Joystiq coworkers. To give you an idea of how close we all are, you can't escape seeing anyone from staff without a hug. This is the first job I've ever had like that, where I was not some number on a piece of paper but an actual person. God bless those dudes!
Anyway, I just wanted to put up this post as a thanks and also use it to dump links to Joystiq stuff I wrote and participated in over the last week. That's pretty much the underlying tone of this site 'O mine, after all.
- Breach expected to launch this summer on XBLA for $15
- Hands-on: Battleblock Theater (XBLA)
- Hands-on: Raskulls (XBLA)
- Hands-on: Skate 3 and its new difficulty levels
- Hands-on: Breach (XBLA)
- Skate 3 demo on Xbox Live and PSN April 15
- Panel: Podcasting (f)or PR
- Interview: Skate 3's Chris "Cuz" Perry
My Skate 2 highlight reel
With the dearth of gaming news going on this week, I took an hour to slap together this quick highlight reel of my Skate 2 replays. Nothing amazing, but I'm pretty proud of that sick manual line across the lily pads, thank you very much!
Oh, and sorry for the crummy quality, but that's how EA's site spits 'em out. Oh, and stay tuned for my Halo 3 replays, if you care about that kind of thing. Oh!
Technical Difficulties – Please Stand By
Sorry for the lack of updates, but I've been having issues with the site recently. I'm trying to sort it out, so please bear with me!
Thoughts: Quantum of Solace
I was chatting with Ludwig this weekend about the latest exploits of James Bond in Quantum of Solace and while he wasn't too thrilled with the film, I enjoyed it overall. Now, it's not the easiest movie to follow and Mr. Bond can certainly be robotic, but what thrilled me most was the possibilities of where Bond can go from here.
He's wreckless, impulsive, and less of a drink connoisseur than the Bond I grew up with, which is a big part of what gets me so pumped for where Bond is going to go. He's more dangerous, albeit less stylish, than the Bonds of years past, but he has the ability to be the most unique. It may not be to everyone's liking, but I enjoy the change from the generic catch phrase-spewing Brosnan.
As for Quantum itself, the plot is kind of hard to pick up on until about halfway through the movie. There's a lot of tying up the loose ends from the first movie, but it's also an action spectacle through and through. Some of the quick cuts in filming are hard to keep up with, but I found the chase scenes benefit from this style. It makes them more tense and frenzied, especially in the foot chase early on in the movie.
It's not perfect, but I thought it was better than Casino Royale, which was a bit of a snoozer. Consider me interested in seeing where Bond goes from here.
Fallout 3 not the gaming hotness it was hyped to be
I've been playing Fallout 3 a lot lately, much like everyone else I know and converse with on a daily basis. While I was smitten with the game during the outset, a few annoying problems have stacked up to make me, well ... kind of mad. In no particular order, they are:
- Why can't I hit the B button to back out of conversation? How could you forget that?
- Stop trying to make me take the subway! I want to see the world and these stupid blocked paths really piss me off.
- Why would you make the main storyline quest about 7 hours long? Then, after that, why would you END THE GAME?
- Once I hotkey a weapon, why can't I know what is in that slot until I either replace it, or actually pull it out? This makes hotkeying things useless.
- Level cap at 20? Come on, you created an open-ended game that encourages free choice and moral consequences, yet you make it so that I have to pre-plan my character's perk route and level-by-level trait points allocation? This is Bush League, Bethesda!
- No more getting your health back while you wait? Eh ...
I'm sure there are others that aren't springing to mind as I stare at my computer screen, but it's very much not Oblivion. The prospect of DLC excites me and I'm sure I'll get all of the achievements I possibly can, but, overall, I'm just killing time until Gears of War 2 now. It's such a shame, too, because I was sure Fallout 3 was going to be my Game of the Year. I guess that will just have to go to Metal Gear Solid 4.
Quick bio:Hi! I'm David Hinkle, Contributing Editor for Joystiq, former Lead of DS Fanboy and Wii Fanboy (now known as Joystiq [Nintendo]) and co-host on the Xbox 360 Fancast. Basically, I write about games, talk about games and play games -- all of the time.
This place is mainly a dumping ground for random thoughts, but you can also find links to all of my reviews and my contact info. Email me by clicking on this link.
Paying the Bills
twitter.com/DaveHinkle
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