College life has caused faults in my budget so the site is temporarily downgraded to here while I get some funding for hosting.
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So I’ve decided to start a podcast with some of my friends. Come and listen to us talk about games we’ve played and games we want to play.
Note: I’m working on different things and so for right now the podcast is hosted on a free site that isn’t the best thing ever. It will get better though, trust me.
Also, please download the episode as it might not play correctly in the streaming player.
Enjoy!
I’m in a multimedia class this semester, and have decided that for a personal project that I am going to update the site. Looks are going to change, domains might change, and I have some new ideas that I want to throw in the mix. Don’t worry though, the content and focus will always remain the same. Even if it’s a day late. 
So the guys that used to make the 1UP Show are still at it. Now they have created their new show called, Co-Op. I can already tell that it’s going to be a hit, just like the 1UP Show was. Check it out at Area5.tv, go NOW!
Dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge
Mirror’s Edge is the new IP from EA and Dice. Released in fall of ’08, the story follows Faith who is a Runner, which is a person that transports sensitive information in an age where everything is being watched.
At first glance, one might think that this is probably another first person shooter. However, all one needs is a look at the trailer to know that it is anything but. (http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/19906 for anyone who hasn’t seen it) The big difference about Mirror’s Edge from every other first person game, is that it isn’t about running and gunning. It’s about running instead of gunning. At least, that’s what the developer’s wanted to do. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love the running aspect of the game. Especially the outdoor/rooftop levels, it’s just enthralling to be able to get from point A point B and take a numerous amount of routes to get there. Building up momentum and leaping from rooftop to rooftop, running up a wall making a quick turn and jumping to catch the ledge of another wall. It’s all great. But, for a game that wants to focus on running away instead of fighting, it sure puts you in a lot of situations where gunning everyone down is a lot easier than trying to run past them. Plus the fighting, which I’m told has potential for amazing combos, is very hard to pull off. There would be times when I would be running up to someone, try to slide down to kick them in the package, only to slide right past them and kick nothing but air. On top of that, the AI of the guards can sometimes be insanely difficult to deal with. Sometimes they can’t hit the broad side of a barn, and other times they have pin-point accuracy that could shoot wings off a gnat. I’m just gonna say that you will die, a lot.
The level design of the game can be breathtaking at times. Simple yet elegant, most of the levels will only have two or three colors, one of which will almost always be white. But something about it just works. It’s definitely not graphic powerhouse, but when you start playing, it doesn’t seem to matter. Watching everything start to blur as you run past, you are really only focused on what’s ahead of you and how you can get there. The outdoor levels are the best, in my opinion. They are more open, and seem to have more options available to you, while the indoor ones seem cramped and really only have one path available to you.
The story is cheesy to say the least. Very typical of an action drama movie. You can guess almost every twist and turn the plot will take. Still, I seemed to enjoy it, although the ending did seem to lack something.
Aside from the main game, there are two modes: speed run, and time trial. The speed run is self-explanatory, pick a level, and complete it as fast as you can. Kinda fun, but it loses something after you’ve already beaten the game. The time trials are also simple to explain, get from checkpoint to checkpoint as fast as you can. This is the best part of the game to me, unlike the main story and the speed runs, there is no one shooting at you! You have all the time in the world to figure out how to beat a level the quickest way possible. It’s not just a replay of the level with checkpoints either. There are multiple time trials for a single map, just with different checkpoints. Granted, it seems like the whole running a race track in reverse, but that isn’t the case here. It feels like each time trial is a different level completely. I noticed different paths that I could take, and I never got bored with any level.
All in all, I think that Mirror’s Edge is a decent game. It’s pretty short, I beat the main story in about eight hours or so, but the extra content can keep you playing for a long time. Especially with new DLC coming for the time trials, that look amazing. If you don’t like time trials and the like, this game at least warrants a rental.
Final Grade: B (Very fun, but can be horrifically aggravating sometimes)
Images from 1UP.com
So I finally got a chance to try out the latest class in the World of Warcraft lineup, the Death Knight. I had a level 70 warlock on another server that a friend of mine used when I wasn’t using the account, so I signed up for the 10-day trial of Wrath of the Lich King. Up to this point, I’ve heard mixed reviews about the death knight class. Some people don’t like how it plays, others love how powerful it can be. Personally, I thought it was great. Not just the class, but the beginning quest line that sets up your character with all of the talent points. You see, you start off as any other character, base equipment, base moves, no talent points, but you are level 55, which is a big upside on the other guys. As you play through the starting quest line in the Eastern Plaugelands, you gain the 46 talent points that you rightfully should have. I have to say, the starting quests for the death knight class, are the best quests I have played yet. I actually read the quest text while being completely engaged in the gameplay. You start off as a fresh death knight under control of the Lich King. From there you destroy a village that is occupied by the scarlet crusade. I finally got to see the changing environment that I’ve heard so much about, and it is amazing. It eventually builds up to a huge battle between the Lich King’s armies and the Light Hope armies, which ends in you switching sides and the Lich King retreating to Northrend. I had so much fun with these quests, and I imagine that they are like the end game quests that I haven’t been able to play yet.
I like the power that the death knight has. Their power comes from using six runes separated into three classes: blood, frost, and unholy. I have Denand (my night elf DK), set up so that when he uses his Raise Dead spell, a spell that usually raises a corpse zombie to help you for two minutes, to stay around as a permanent pet. I’m doing this following a tree that I picked after researching what tree would be the best, it’s called the Ghoul Knight. http://tinyurl.com/6ryylr I’ve heard through the grapevine that in the next patch, someone can create a death knight on any server, as long as they have a level 55 character on their account. If that’s true, I’ll be starting a death knight on a server I like… once I get the expansion that is.
In other WoW related news, I’ve been slowly grinding my other characters. My hunter has now reached level 40, and has received the ability to use mail armor. I didn’t know about this enhancement, so it came as bit nice surprise to me since now my hunter is nice and tank like. My mage is 16, and I’m having a better go at it than before. I’ve realized that I need to spam my frostbolt spell in order to keep enemies away from me while I kill them. I still don’t work well in groups though. I’ll keep you updated on these two in future sessions.
Look for my review on Shin Megami Tensei Online: Imagine, and keep an eye out for it as an addition into Grind Session.
Last night I tried to talk about what had happened at the offices of 1UP. I scrambled to get a few words written down, but they were more emotion than something thought out and coherent. If you haven’t heard the news by now, UGO entertainment has “acquired” 1UP.com and it’s affiliate websites. In doing so many of the talent that kept 1UP way above the bar have been let go, EGM is no more, and the same goes for the podcasts, including the 1UP Show. Now I have been a long time fan of 1UP and EGM as are plenty of gamers around the world. In my opinion, no other website could produce the same caliber material that 1UP did. You never looked at a score for a game review, because you knew that they could never sum up how they felt about a game in a 1-10 scale, something they defended over and over. I remember reading countless articles and blog posts saying things like, “just because I gave it a 5 doesn’t mean I didn’t like the game.” The podcasts were highly entertaining, never have I listened to a podcast that could be as much on-topic as it was off, and step away from it still knowing the important topics after the silly nonsense. The 1UP show is the best video program I have ever seen. It is the only show that I have watched every episode I could as soon as it was released. Still the best thing I loved about this community, was that it was about video games. Other websites, like IGN, have embraced other forms of media: film, tv, hot chicks, etc. That’s fine for them, they still have their fans and their community, but I like to go to a video game website and read about video games. Those that left 1UP have left huge holes, holes that are going to be incredibly hard for everyone that is still there to fill. I hope that they do their best to keep 1UP as great a website that it was, but I know that it will be hard, and it never will be the same. I also hope that I will still see some great content from those that left.
It’s really depressing, I feel like I know all these people really well. I read what they write, I listen to their podcasts, I follow a lot of them on twitter. Seeing them go and seeing what happened to the website, tears at me a bit. I read someone’s comment that said, “1UP, the best friends I never met,” and it’s true. These guys helped to make me who I am today, and what I hope to become in the future. So as I sit here trying to think of the words I want to say, I remember the good times, and hope that there are more to come. Good luck with everything you guys do, I hope that it is as great as what you had at 1UP.com.
1UP aquired by UGO: http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3172156
List of all those let go: http://kotaku.com/5125034/mass-firings-at-1up-after-sale
The twitter feeds of some of those that left and some that stayed(From Matt Chandronait’s facebook update):
http://twitter.com/shanewatch (Shane Bettenhausen)
http://twitter.com/Chufmoney (Anthony Gallegos)
http://twitter.com/demian_linn (Demian Linn)
http://twitter.com/nsuttner (Nick Suttner)
http://twitter.com/pkollar (Phillip Kollar)
http://twitter.com/talkingorange (Matt Chandronait)
http://twitter.com/milkychan (James Mielke)
http://twitter.com/ryanodonnell (Ryan O’Donnell)
http://twitter.com/GarnettLee (Garnett Lee)
http://twitter.com/prettytony (Mike Nelson)
http://twitter.com/DavidEllis (David Ellis)
http://twitter.com/jasonbertrand (Jasn Bertrand)
http://twitter.com/ThierryNguyen (Scooter)
http://twitter.com/JayFrechette (JayFresh)
http://twitter.com/GVRob (Rob Bowen)
http://twitter.com/teanah (Tina Sanchez)
UGO Acquires 1UP.com: http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3172156
I’ve been reading EGM since I was in middle school, in high school I discovered 1UP.com and was overjoyed. Lately, I’ve been listening to all the podcasts and watching the 1UP Show every week just waiting for what I knew was quality game journalism. This place was the entire reason on why I wanted to become a game journalist. I wish all those that lost their jobs at 1up the best in their futures, and hope that somehow they can continue to do what they were great at. I hope that 1UP.com can remain the shining beacon of gaming with all that has happened, but I know that it won’t ever be the same.
This is a big grind session today, plenty of things have happened in the World of Warcraft universe, as well as in other areas as well. First things first, I finally reached level 30 and was able to get a mount, so now my movement speed is increased by 60%, awesome. Right now I am at level 36 and bouncing between Stranglethorn Vale, Arathi Highlands, and Dustwollow Marsh. I’m beginning to use some of the abilities that my hunter has available as well. Feign Death came in handy when I was stuck in a pack of cats. I just activated that and faked my own demise. The mob started to attack my pet, and I was able to get up and run away. My poor pet had to take the fall, but at least I didn’t die. I’ve started to use traps when I was in the battlegrounds. The frost trap comes in handy to slow a flagholder in Warsong Gultch, and the explosion trap comes in handy at Arathi Basin by placing it by a flag for some extra damage. Other than that it seems that I have gone into a routine with my attacks: Hunter’s Mark, Concussion Shot, Serpent Sting, and Arcane Shot, a good combination that works well for me.
I have been having problems with my pet lately, and I don’t know why. When I hit 30 I noticed that whenever my pet was summoned, my cat always has it’s prowl ability activated for auto-cast. I have always had it deactivated since I don’t have a need for it yet. I submitted an issue report to blizzard, we will see if they do anything about it. I suppose it doesn’t matter that much, since I want to get a core hound as a pet when I hit 51.
In kinda lighter news, I have been experimenting with other characters in different realms. I have started a human mage in Gurubashi, a PvP server. I haven’t played it that much, he’s only level 7, since he is just a alternate character for when I get bored. I like the ranged attacks, and the ability to create food and drink means that I am always ready to go, really cool. Since Gurubashi is a PvP server it will probably offer a different perspective on leveling a character. I will probably be writing about his upbringing as well as my hunter, so keep watching for that.
