Just by looking at the first screenshot. Seems like it could be cool but since it's using the engine it seems like it's gonna be the same dark, futuristic, run down steel hallways with creepy monsters popping out around corners. If this is the approach Raven Software is taking, I can easily wait for Quake 5.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/04/15/news_6122391.html

I thought this was pretty funny. During the second mission of the game (unsure if it's in other missions) all computers have screen savers which scroll over and over saying "War of the Worlds: June 29". Oh those sneaky marketing executives. Here's the screenie from my game.

And by the way, the game is really fun so far. Pretty much the same as the previous games but with improved graphics, if you enjoyed them, you'll enjoy this.

I'm installing it now, after playing both versus and single player demos I am ready for it and hoping it's great all the way through. I'll give my impressions and a review later on after I've played it for a while.

I really want to try Co-op.

4 out of 5!

I just went to Level 13 and all of a sudden I lost my Top 100 Reviewer badge and I think another one. WTF?!

Also I'm gonna buy a new game before I upgrade my computer but what to buy?

Splinter Cell 3 (PC) - Loved the demo. Love the game, multiplayer is sweet.

God of War (PS2) - Renting it first but if it's as sweet as I hear it is and if it's like an adult Zelda, it's probably a shoe-in.

Yoshis Island (GBA) - The SNES version made my life complete as a kid and now its on GBA?! I need a new GBA game especially for when I travel.

Brothers In Arms (PC) - Looks awesome. I hear it's awesome. Should I buy it? Or Full Spectrum Warrior?

I'm a hippie! I've been posting like mad on this! Read this to see what it's all about:

Yahoo Inc. filed a lawsuit against Xfire on January 28, 2005 claiming patent infringement over US Patent No. 6,699,125. The first we heard of Yahoo’s patent infringement claims was a call made the night before Yahoo filed its lawsuit. Yahoo never attempted to contact us beforehand nor did it send a cease & desist letter.

If you don't know what Xfire is it's a chat program where you can also join your friends games they are playing and chat with them in game and so on. Yahoo has a similiar but *cough*crappier*cough* program. As you can see in the above statement, Yahoo didn't even attempt contacting Xfire before hand. It seems like they are running scared, thinking the underdog might beat them in something since Xfire is much more popular than Yahoo's program.

Help keep Xfire alive by visiting this link: http://www.xfire.com/xf/modules.php?name=XFire&file=cmspage&body=xf_lawsuit which has a numerous amount of things you can do to help keep Xfire alive and well and escape the evil hands of big corporation Yahoo.

To contact a few people at Yahoo to give them a piece of your mind their emails are here:

Investor Relations Contacts:

Also SIGN THE PETITION "Yahoo Lawsuit on Xfire - Stop It" here:

http://www.petitiononline.com/Xfire/petition.html

It takes a few seconds to fill out and the more there is the better.

Also Sign up for Xfire here to help support it:

I wrote hardware reviews that I'm sure some will disagree with and some agree with.

http://hardware.gamespot.com/User-Review-UR-9398-3379465-4-5 Ps2

http://hardware.gamespot.com/User-Review-UR-9399-3379577-4-4 Xbox

http://hardware.gamespot.com/User-Review-UR-9400-3379726-4-4 Gamecube

They are long but I tried to go into somewhat detail :D

Recommend them and add me as a trusted reviewer :) if you like em...

I downloaded the EEII demo to great delight since I was such a great fan of the first game. To my dismay I got some decent but not great gameplay and graphics.

Gameplay: To be fair it's not that bad. There is a super easy to use citizen manager where you can get your workers to do jobs easy by using a map to see things like gold mines and other such things rather than having to search the entire map for them which got difficult in other games. The new "battle plans" seem neat although I haven't much used them. They seem like a better, more organized way of battle which is good. Although at least on the demo there was a very small amount of units and buildings avaliable. Also there is some new system with "crowns" and researching this and that which I haven't found all that interesting. It still uses basically the same gameplay as EEI but improved so as far as playing the game I don't have any problems even if it does feel similiar to pretty much every other RTS.

Graphics: I was a bit disappointed. I set everything to max but I got a result that looked like a smoother version of EEI. After playing lots of Battle for Middle Earth I expected a superior graphics engine. While the graphics certainly aren't BAD they won't stand up long against the likes of Age of Empires III. The weather effects aren't as neat as they could be, rain is thick and cheap looking and the mist, fog and blizzard effects make the battlefield almost invisible. Although the winter look is really neat yet simple. I like it. Also the status bar that shows the progression through each month is a nifty feature.

I also noticed some bad fire effects on buildings and the characters move at the speed of light, atleast the calvery do. The dirt spraying up from fast moving units is a decent effect but I noticed some sketchy animations of units dying leaving tacky looking blood. The structures have decent animations of them crumbling so I have no problem there. Although, the scaling was a bit iffy and doesn't hold up against games like Rome: Total War but that's such a small problem and who really cares?

Sound: There is decent music in the game but nothing really memorable. The sound effects sound pretty generic and some sound like they were just brought over from the first game. I might be wrong but they just sound like I've heard them many times before.

Value: The demo is very limited, it allows you to try 3 countries: America, Korea, and Russia or something? Not sure about the last one. There are 3 ages or "epochs" as the game calls them. And I am unsure of how many maps. There isn't much selection available in the options and the game didn't entertain me enough for me to even complete one match. It's a decent demo if you want to see what the game is like but it's really just bones, it has no meat to keep you playing.

Graphics: 7

Gameplay: 8

Sound: 6

Value: 5

Overall: 6.5

My brothers bought 2 new games today. Riddick for PC and Resident Evil 4 for the Cube. Even though they bought them I still play em for a bunch of reasons.

They allow me to play RE4 because it's my cube. I went out and bought it since they are too damn lazy and I just want to.

I can play Riddick because my bros CD drive isnt working at the moment so I said he could play it on my comp as long as I got to play.

But I also play because they are to afraid to say no to me.

Now onto the good stuff. Which is better?!

There's no doubt about it. Both are totally awesome games. The graphics in both are mind blowing and the engines are staggering but if you ask me I'd have to say Resident Evil 4 is far and above Chronicles of Riddick.

At first you may think RE is just another action game. It is pretty linear. You just shoot lots of weird spanish folk then collect items and use them to unlock stuff and repeat. But being in the Resident Evil universe it's just so much cooler. All the classic elements of the game are there like combining stuff and the herbs and everything you love but now we have FINALLY good controls, good camera. The two problems that Capcom never addressed because it defined the games as original has been addressed and its the best RE ever! The enemies are fun to kill. You shoot them in the leg and they will limp or fall, the will spin if shot in the side and drop their weapon if shot in the arm. Not to mention the graphcis are amazing, environments and level design is superb. It really is a classic on GCN.

Riddick is good in it's own right. Crystal clear textures and characters are amazing to look at and the hand to hand combat is just brilliant. The stealth stuff is pretty good but you can't get your hands on enemy weapons because of the identification thing. It's original and cool but if I could choose between RE and Riddick, RE would win. But both are amazing single player games.

It's been a good day for gaming. I've got the flu, but atleast I can entertain myself now.

Ok so for about a week during the holidays the net was down because dad tried to get his laptop hooked up wirelessly causing plenty of problems for the rest of us. But we managed now and it's back up!

Also my christmas stuff!

Starting with games:

Sims 2 - Great game. Funnier than the first because there is a sense of meaning to what you do. You have objectives, more options and your Sim's die making the game take new turns rather than just never ending or having a purpose like the first game. You can have kids and just keep going through one family forever. It's really neat. Not to mention great graphics.

Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth - Click for review. The skirmishing sucks. And the building and resource collecting just plain sucks. But the battles are sweet. Great heroes and one of the best RTS campaigns I've played. So it really is fun.

Metal Slug Advance - Hard as HELL. This game really puts you to the test and getting through an entire mission without dying is a talent. But it's got some great graphics and side scroller shooting and is just as much fun as the original. More or less. Plus it beats the hell out of Mario Kart Advance.

I got a DVD player, a nice enough one that plays my movies. And I got TONS of movies.

Return of King Extended - 4 hours is to much for one sitting but the extended scenes are awesome. Saruman's bit was great even though it's odd how they can talk and hear each other when Gandalf is on the ground and Saruman is WAY WAY WAY up on the top of his tower. But you have a totally different interpretation of what Treebeard says afterwards. Also the bit at the Black Gates where that gross guy with the huge mouth with the big teeth show the Fellowship Frodo's armor was totally sweet just because that thing looked so cool. Completes my extended edtion collection nicely.

Sleepers - Kevin Bacon, Brad Pitt, Dustin Hoffman, Robert Deniro. I haven't seen it yet and never heard of it. But could someone post something on it cuz I dunno if its good or bad but this cast is awesome.

The Shining - Stanley Kubrick is one weird guy. But his movie The Shining is creepy as hell and Jack Nicholson is brilliant as the lunatic Jack. Those twins still scare me though. Same with the guy who says "would you like some ice cream?" through "the shining". I still don't full understand the ending.

Ace Venture Pet Detective - Stupid is funny. Ace is stupid. Ace is funny. The comedy is as childish as Jim Carrey but unlike anyone else that old Canadian boy can make anything funny. I love when he's in the giant water tank and Cox is saying "get out of there Ace" and with that Scottish accent he replies "I CAN'T DOOO IT CAPN! I DONT HAVE THE POWER!"

Ocean's Eleven - Not talking about the original. I mean the recent one with Clooney and his gang of People magazine cover boys. Although it's quick, sharp and cool. A satisfying and fun ride. Let's your stressed old brain take a holiday. I soothed my mind with this when I was about to explode because the net was down.

Training Day - I bought this because it was 10 bucks. Never seen it but Denzel is good and he got an Oscar for it right? Must be good.

Blade Runner - Got it because it was cheap and parents thought it would be good to add since it's a classic. I never liked it as much as Minority Report but it's still good. Not a classic in my mind but it is a nice addition.

Dances With Wolves - Again, cheap so I got it because it's a quality movie. It's long so I'm hesistant to watch it but Best Picture 1990 means it's gotta be good right?

The Shawshank Redemption - Yep, I got the new two disk one. Simply put, an amazing picture.

Spider-Man 1 and 2 - My favorite super hero and my favorite super hero movies. End of story.

Shrek 2 - It's pretty funny and charming. Puss...IN BOOTS is definitely an awesome character. He makes my day. Yet I hate Bandaras. Maybe it's just the face?

So post your comments on my stuff. My wrist hurts so Im gonna stop now...