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Flawie Blog

Doom: first impressions

Read my previous blogpost if you for some reason have missed the big news that DOOM is now a Live Arcade title. When i got home from work this morning i instantly downloaded the game to try out Act 1 and I can tell you this is one GOOD version of Doom. Maybe the best. First off it runs perfecly and looks perfect. The graphics are intact but the square can be upsized a bit. I do however miss a widescreenmode. I dont know how well Doom would look in Widescreen tho but it would be a cool option, like in Street Fighter 2 HF. The sound has been converted into 5.1 and it sounds great. I can safely say i jumped out of my seat a bit when a pinkydemon jumped me from behind for the first time a couple of levels into the game. I have now finished Act 1 but has yet to try out multiplayer. I plan to do that before going to work tho so i might update this post with some impressions of the multiplayer.

Actually this version of Doom reminds me of the version I got when I bought the Collectors Edition of Doom 3 for the Xbox. I might have to boot that up just to compare. It might even be the same version. I either case I can safely say that at least the Single Player portion of this game on the 360 is stable and Doom is still as heavy metal as ever. Its also a pretty lenghty game for an Arcade title. Im going to try ou the multiplayer and then rate this seemingly nice version of the fantastic work of Carmack and Romero love that is Doom! I have a feeling its going to outscore all of the previous XBLA titles I have rated so far.

[UPDATE]: Tried out 3 quick deathmatches and judging from those matches the online experience is incredibly smooth. And i mean really smooth. It might have been me being lucky finding good hosts but the games i played, all 4 player DM, felt almost like LAN games. Doom deathmatch is also alof of fun even to this date. Its a really relaxing kind of deathmatch since you cant look up and down and cant jump. So its all about strafing and aiming. Great fun. I will have the 100 Xbox Live kills achievement in notime. Feel free to invite me to a Doomgame if you see me online. Gamertag is to your right -->

Final Score on Doom (X360) 8.6 - A GREAT update of one of the best shooters of all time, sitting nicely in your X360 arcade folder. Perfect!

Doom on XBLA

Great news indeed. It was just announced that Doom, THE Doom from ID Software will be released later today on XBLA. This is by faaar the best game that has been announced for XBLA so far. I cant even begin to explain my love for ID software titles so ill just post the newsitem instead:

Before X06, Microsoft had been telling us that we were going to be treated during the conference to a previously unnanounced IP, which was set to be released as an XBLA title. Several names were thrown into the mix, from several different publishers, but no one was particularly sure.
Well, we're pleased to announce, the waiting is over, and the title is none other than....
Doom!
The original Doom is rumoured to be seeing a release later today, with a much higher resolution, 5.1 sound, 4 player split-screen co-op, and on and offline multiplayer, all for the comparitvely low price of 800mp. Whilst this may seem a bit disappointing to some who were expecting a new IP, I'm sure the multiplayer and achievements will be enough to sway a lot of people into buying it.
Get Fragging.

Doom with 5.1 sound,, 4 player co-op, on and offline multiplayer and achievments for like 4 bucks. This is a joyful day indeed. Give me Doom 2, Quake and Quake 2 and i´ll be dancing with joy.

This is news from X06 that officially starts today and it can already be noticed on the Live Marketplace. Alot of videos and nice demos are popping up. Over the last day Ive been trying out FEAR, Lego SW2 and the new Sonic. Alot of trailers are also starting to appear. This will be some nice days for us 360 lovers. But i doubt anything will top the great news of Doom. Yaaaay!

Tokyo Game Show 2006 - The Wrap Up !

Ok. So the show is over. And if im going to spontanoisly comment on it i would say something like: "Finally, now we can move on to x06". I think TGS is a bit to Japanese and a bit to much Playstation to REALLY catch my interest. You dont really know wich titles that are actually going to be release outside of Japan and if so you have no idea of when. The most interesting thing about the show is really the show itself. The booths, the cosplayers and the boothbabes. The Atmosphere of the show so to speak. So. Lets list what games impressed me the most during these days of sitting in front of the computer and downloading TGS stuff 24/7 of crazy Japanese games. Both from my friend in Tokyo and from GameSpot.

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Best Trailer: Heroes (Wii)

If you havent seen this one yet, do so NOW. It IS the coolest trailer on the show. It tells you absolutely nothing about how the gameplay will be but the trailer has like Quentin Tarantino coolness factor. And thats a HIGH coolnessfactor. This is the same persons that made Killer 7. Although I havent played Killer 7 I have heard that its a really cool game. Maybe I should go buy me copy of Killer 7 for the Ps2. Anyway. Im hoping heroes will be as cool as this trailer. Yes, the voiceacting in it is horrible but just see past that and look at the extremely cool style of the graphics and the action. This is by far the trailer I have watched the most times during the show and just gone Wow every time. Dont miss it.

Best Graphics: Gears of War (x360)

I only count to ONE trailer for Gears of War on the TGS coverage page. And that is an old trailer that appearantly they decided to use again for TGS. I guess we will see much more of GoW at x06 but that old GoW trailer is enough to show that Gears of War was better looking than anything else on the show even tho they didnt really participate. Some other games that came close was Devil May Cry 4 and Ninja Gaiden Sigma. But its all really a whole division lower than the Unreal 4 engine. Please give us a really nice demonstration at x06 !

Coolest Gameplay: White Knight (Shirokishi) (ps3)

The Shirokishi trailer really showed of some cool and innovative RPG combat that really impressed me. The game looks stunning and seems to have incredibly fun gameplay even tho its appearantly only 10% complete. I dont know how that go together but Shirokishi seems to be incredibly fun to play even at this early stage and I have high hopes for the rest of the game as well. I think this game can turn out to be something really nice.

Biggest positive surpriseNinja Gaiden Sigma (ps3)

I have actually never played a Ninja Gaiden game but the trailer for Sigma really made me want to do that. Awesome trailer that could compete with Heroes for the coolest on the show and well IF i were to get a ps3 i think this game would have pretty high priority once i got one. That is if it wont get release on the 360. All the previous Ninja Gaiden titles have been released on the xbox so I see no reason why this shouldnt be released on the 360. But just like with Devil May Cry 4 i fear the difficulty might be to high for what i enjoy to play.

One game i will buy for sure: Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 (x360)

I love the DoA series and its characters and I have faith in Team Ninja. Its like Mario Party, but with hot chicks, a sunburn system and bouncier mammaries than ever before. I think im going to enjoy driving waterscooter and playing beach volley with my favorite gals this coming dark Sweden winter. Also i KNOW this  game is going to be released on the EU market sometime this winter so i KNOW i will be able to buy it. There were more games on the show that could have earned this but i dont really know when they will be released so. I know im getting this one for sure. Also DoAx2 had the best stage show. Go watch the stage show video in the coverage area. Boothbabes dressed in fruits and sexy skirts. This game gets unfairly looked upon as a joke since the sexuality is so strong. See past it.

Biggest negative surprise: Metal Gear Solid 4 (ps3)

I am by no means a MGS fan but somehow I was still impressed by the E3 show that MGS4 put up. I thought that maybe I was finally going to be able to enjoy a MGS game just because of the fantastic presentation. Now, at TGS, the game had walltextures straight out of a ps2 game and the "so called" gameplay some movies showed of didnt seem fun at all. Horray I can roll in a barrel and I can play dead and shoot people. Well, as I said I hate stealthgames and I have never given MGS a chance so I really shouldnt be surprised that I was dissapointed when they showed off some more of it. The game will surely be polished before release but I was actually just turned off by the graphics. It still looks good on video but I would say my expectations of the game is a bit more realistic now than before at least. But dont take my comment on this game to seriously. I might end up playing it next year anyway, who knows. Its not a killer app tho. Thats for sure.

Other games that i will keep my eye on:

Lost Oddysey (x360) , Blue Dragon (x360) , Devil May Cry 4 (ps3) , Elebits (Wii) , Heavenly Sword (ps3) , Resistance - Fall of Man (ps3) , Lost Planet (x360) , Super Swing Golf Pangya (Wii) , Sonic and the Secret Rings (Wii)

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Well. I guess when it all comes around there were alot of nice games on the show. But what i mean with what i wrote in the beginning was that It will never reach the same international interest that E3 had. I feels and will probably always feel aimed towards the Japanese market more than anything. I want to thank the whole Gamespot crew for putting up fantastic coverage and hosting an amazing liveshow every night. Good Job.  NOW. GIVE ME x06 !!!

New Game: Just Cause

Cant add it to my collection and now playing list yet since its not out in the US for another week or so. But its mine and im loving it ! Proud to be Swedish !

Just Cause, X360

Ready for Emergence Day. Nov 17th.

I´m in a preordering mode right now. like 16 hours ago I preordered the Wii. Now I have officially preordered Gears of War. And its a sweet package I might add. Its a special offer that this Webstore had. Its Gears of War Collectors Edition but with a few additions and to a VERY nice price.The Gears Of War Collectors Edition package that I´m ordering includes:

  • Full version of the Game
  • Bonus DVD (Creation of GoW, GoW - The Race to E3)
  • The Art of Gears of War (some kind of trailer)
  • Gears of War Artbook
  • Gears of War Keyring
  • Gears of War T-Shirt

The Keyring and T-Shirt is the extra stuff for this particular package that I havent found anywhere else. I get this buge pack for the no higher than standard price of ~60 bucks. That means im not paying anything extra for all that extra stuff. I buy 360 games for around the 60 buck mark all the time. Thats just a sweet sweet deal. All of the other CE packs i find around the swedish gameshops dont have the shirt and keyring and they cost around 10-15 dollars more. So. Release Novemver 17th. Cliffy B, my main man, have gone out and said that the date is 110% sure and Cliff would never go out with that statement if it werent true. Plus, they made a game out of reveling the date earlier this summer and got everyone hyped up about a "big announcement". Lets face it, this game is going to be the game of the year for the 360 with no real opposition to come near it. I think its safe to say that even before trying it out and I think most of you out there nods along when i say that even if you dont really want to confess it or face it. This game cannot be anything less than BEST. Its not just possible. Theres been alot of quality titles released for the 360 this year like Tomb Raider Legend, Dead Rising, Oblivion, Saints Row, Dead or Alive 4, Prey, Table Tennis and soon Just Cause just to name a few. But when we are all honest i think we can safely say that none of those titles will come near the gargantual monster that is Gears of War.

57 Days to release....

In line for the Wii. 78 days left.....

Just 1 minute ago I Pre-Ordered the Wii. Bound for release the 8th of December in Sweden. I am now officially waiting for that day. I ordered the standard Wii-sports package and as of now I havent added any extra games for the release. Zelda is ofcourse very compelling to order for the release but on the other hand I think I´m going to have plenty of fun with Wiisports and just experimenting with the controller. I´ll see if I remove my order when its closing in on release but I thought I might as well get in line if it turns out i DO want one. The pricetag of ~250 dollars was a BIT over what i had hoped for. If it had been like 199 i would have keeped the order for sure. I´ll probably keep this booking to when all comes around since im a Nintendo-Fanboy more than anything and have bought all of their consoles since i was a little boy. Im also starting to really looking forward to spending the holidays with family and friends in front of the Wii with a pair of Wiimotes and kicking it back with some bowling or Golf. Golf should be extra interesting even tho im not a golfing fan at all normally. This also closes the deal for the "next-gen war" on my part. I came down to a 360 and a Wii instead of one Ps3. Pretty much as i planned from the beginning. One console for Power and standard gaming and one console for the creative new thinking and games that is the Wii. I put my faith in Nintendo as usual. I dont think I ever thought I would say this but, i think i could actually get my whole family to enjoy the Wii. I can actually imagine even my old father actually playing a couple of holes in Wii Golf. I actually think Nintendo will succeed to reach out to those not normally playing games. I didnt even realize this before but it should be great fun to engage the family in gaming!  Now I just need to buy my DS Lite...still carrying around that rock of a DS Standard.... grr

Bringing it home! Thanks Microsoft

As you might or might not know Microsoft are "bringing it home" during TGS, just as they did with E3. Trailers and eventually demos of the Xbox 360 scene will be added to the marketplace. The first few videos have started to pop-up on the european marketplace over here. Well actually its only 2 vids so far and im guessing their both from MS press conference they held earlier. The first trailer is for Tenhcu Senran and the 2nd is for Half-Life Ep.2. Im really looking forward to playing through HL2 again on the 360 and then go for the add-ons wich I havent played on the PC yet so. When the show kicks off everyone with a 360 should be able to enjoy a great load of trailers in HD. Sweet! I will ofcourse combine this with the GameSpot coverage wich should be flawless as usual. Anyway. Bringing it home is a great initiative from MS. I hope we dont miss out on to much over here on the EU marketplace.

Final Verdict: Test Drive Unlimited

+ Your very own 360 version of Oahu with so much road you´ll never feel you´ve driven the same road to many times. Its GIGANTIC and its yours to explore however you want.

+ Racing Reinvented. Races that rewards you for driving carefully and obeying traffic rules (and also traffic AI that makes obeying the rules possible). Also pretty creaive things like Hitchhikers, modelescorts and instant challenges out on the roads.

+ M.O.O.R. Massivly Open Online Racing. Seamless Multiplayer and Singleplayer challenges on the same roads. Your choice.

+ The Graphics looks stunning as long as youre driving at relatively high speeds. Truly a paradise island to be driving cars on. You can feel the warm sun through the palmtrees. Cars looks sharp and are insanely detailed down to the knob on the shiftingstick !

+ A Pesonal racing experience. Your own houses that you buy, your own avatar that you create and buy your own clothes for and quite a few cutscenes here and there together with your character makes it "more than just a racing game".

+ With motionblur and screenshaking maxed out the sense of speed is excellent!

+ Cars control well at all speeds and every car is unique in its handling.

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- The Island is huge but it also has very little variation. I have no doubt Oahu looks like this but you can drive around for hours not really noticing anything worth noticing along the roads. Except if you accidently run into a small shrubbery and notice that it is as hard as the rock next to it.

- No pedestrians what so ever and very little AI traffic where it should be loads gives you a very post-apocalyptic feeling when driving in cities and towns that SHOULD be brewing with activity. This also contributes to a pretty "lonely" feel when cruising around what you thought would be a live and twitching Oahu.

- The system to handle players is very poor. You can never have more than 8 (or 9) players near you. It filters out the rest. And those 9 players are seldom REALLY "near" you but more like on a different mountainroad 1.5km away. So the player to player interaction is not as vivid as you may expect or want. This adds further to the postapocalyptic and lonely feel of the game in general.

- No ranked onlineplay. There IS Ranked onlineplay and i want to play it. But noone else wants to. Theres is next to NO players playing ranked games. Even tho the achievments are tied into them.

- When you finally FIND a ranked match the free nature of the game tends to make it very unfair. A Rank 3 tuned Enzo Ferrari vs a Nissan 350Z. Yea good luck with that to the Japanese Car lover. Same with the instant challenges out on the roads. If you dont have the BEST the island has to offer you will find that the race will be over FAST.

- NO weathereffects. Why? It dosent rain very often on The Hawaii islands but still. Give me a rainshower now and then for some slippery racing. Also no noticeable Day / Night cycle. Although there is a cycle you dont notice it.

- The Character creation system is seriously crippled. No matter how you tweak your characters eyebrows, nose, lips, jaw and ears it all dosent really make any difference. Everyone still looks about the same. Especially on the female side where there is no Beardoptions. Also only like 3 or 4 hairstyles. The characterdesign is also horribly bad and ugly looking.

- Really poor Radiostations with like 2 songs per station. You´ll find yourself turning it off and listening to the cars instead.

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Final Score: 7.9

A unique driving experience that challenges the standard boundries of racingames and lets you "live the automotive dream". It does NOT however, use its full potential. Recommended to fans of racing with a big interest in cars.

Tested on: HDTV 720p, 26"

My personal wishlist for Guitar Hero 2

Ok. So if i were to decide completely wich songs would be in GH2 the following list would be pretty much how the songlist would look (with the exception that the full game might include MORE songs). The following are the songs I think would be a real BLAST to play on a plastic guitar. Get your coffee, im gonna make this a pretty long list. Feel free to check out these songs and decide for yourself if they should be in GH2. Songs are not in any particular order. So the last song is equally good to the first.

* Sum 41 - Still Waiting

* Soilwork - Song of the Damned

* Helloween - Hell Was Made In Heaven

* Queen - Headlong

* Unwritten Law - Seeing Red

* Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magic

* The Shadows - Going Home

* Muse - New Born

* The Offspring - Americana

* Metallica - Fade To Black

* Stevie Ray Vaughan - Wham

* Avenged Sevenfold  - Beast and the Harlot (this one is actually on the official songlist. Great choice!!)

* Blue Öyster Cult - Dont Fear The Reaper

* Van Halen - Eruption

* Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit

* Pantera - Walk

* Metallica - Master of Puppets

* Iron Maiden - The Wickerman

* Impellitteri - The Writings On The Wall

* Bullet For My Valentine - Tears Dont Fall

* Soilwork - No More Angels

* Bullet For My Valentine - Hand of Blood

* Eric Johnson - Cliffs of Dover

* Metallica - One

* Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears

* Fall Out Boy - Dance Dance

* Blur - Song 2

This was ofcourse only a tiny tiny part of all the songs I could make a GH2 songlist of. But im going to make this my "official" one.