Tag: halo 2

GamerSushi Asks: Teamwork Triumphs?

Starcraft 2

Last night, in the spirit of true camaraderie, Nick, Mitch and I teamed up for some 3 v 3 matches of StarCraft 2. Big surprise, right? If you’ve been listening to the podcast, you’ll know that these outings have increased in their frequency, and I’m starting to experience something while gaming that I haven’t in a long time – defining a good team strategy.

Basically, we hit a point in the game where we had to change what we were doing, and really zero in on a particular plan. Our new builds last night really opened up some new possibilities for us, and we were able to defend our platinum rank in 3 v 3 with gusto.

Weirdly enough, the last time I remember obsessing this much over strategy has been with previous Halo games. I did the same kind of tactical research for Halo Wars, and before that, lots of practice flag runs on Halo 2. The practice/teamwork dynamic is something that I don’t experience too often in games, so it’s always interesting when it strikes again.

What’s your last big experience with teamwork triumphs in a multiplayer game? What games in recent past have forced you and a team to really work together? Go!

GamerSushi Poll: Favorite Halo Game

Well, we’ve finally reached (get it?) September, the month where Bungie will bid adieu to the Halo franchise with the highly anticipated, even by me, Halo: Reach. In honor of this momentous and bittersweet occasion, I thought I would ask you guys which game in the Halo series stands out to you as the best.

I never played Halo: Combat Evolved until 2007, when I finally bought a used Xbox for fifty bucks from a friend. Even years after its release, it was still a blast to play and all the whining about the Library level was way overblown. The backtracking did suck, though. Honestly, I think that one is still my favorite to this day, although I haven’t played ODST yet, but a certain Canadian speaks very highly of it. And the less said about Halo 2’s ending, or lack thereof, the better.

So what do you guys think? What game is your favorite and why? Is there a particular one that you don’t think stands up the high quality of the others? Let your opinions Flood (ha ha) over this post…now!

What's Your Favorite Halo Game?

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Today’s WTF: 14 People Still Playing Halo 2

Halo 2 XBLThis is one for the history books, folks. On April 15, Microsoft said bon voyage to the old XBox Live, sending it away into that soft, tranquil night. Or on a boat in a waterfall, like Boromir’s arrow-riddled corpse in Lord of the Rings (spoiler alert). Anyway, they said bye to the old XBL, discontinuing support for original XBox games, including Halo 2.

However, there are some refusing to let this die. You see, there are 14 diligent fans that are continuing to play Halo 2, leaving their consoles up and running, connected to the old XBL. That’s right. 14 people in the entire world, and they say they are not stopping any time soon. There are actually several livestreams broadcasting a few of these last games, flickers of a game that won’t go quietly into that good night.

Here are the gamertags:
Agent Windex
APACHE N4SIR
sherlok 1
SieferSword
Rob2D
Detenn
z0mbie stench
Lord Odysseus11
xxMAKDADYxx
H2o Shoagie
xxBooker Dxx
DirtyCajun
AForeignObject
HiredN00bs

While I think the idea of playing a game that old for that long is ridiculous, you have to admire these guys’ commitment to this game. So what do you guys think? Worthy of salute, or mockery? Go!

Source- Bungie Forums

GamerSushi Asks: Anticipation?

lostAfter waiting for the season finale of Lost all week (don’t worry, no spoilers here), I started thinking about the idea of anticipation. You see, I was so pumped for this episode of one of my favorite shows that I literally could not stop thinking of it in the days leading up to it. It consumed every waking moment practically, and I couldn’t wait.

I think the last time I got like that over a game might have been Gears of War 2, but I think the time that I had the most anticipation for a game ever would have to be Halo 2. After a nearly 4 year gap between the two Bungie titles, the excitement had gone to a fever pitch amongst me and my friends. We waited in line for a couple of hours (with hundreds of others) in order to get our copy, and then proceeded to play it like mad over the next few weeks and months.

What about you guys? What was the most excited you’ve ever been over the release of a video game? What was the most recent time?

Gaming Obsessions

warcraft3I think I need an intervention. I have this problem, you see. Sometimes, I get stuck playing a game for months on end, not because it’s ridiculously fun or anything, but because I become obsessed with getting good at it. I don’t know why, but I have this fixation with certain games where I need to become better at them, even after the game isn’t nearly as fun as it once was when I started playing.

I suppose this is an obsession. Right now for me, I’ve been doing this with Halo Wars. It’s a good game, and I still have fun, but I spend more energy on trying to come up with the right build order than really enjoying what’s there. I think this happened for me with Halo 2 as well, and Warcraft 3 before that. Games like Halo 3 and Counter-Strike have never been bogged down like that, but for some reason, those other titles were.

So what about you guys? Has a game’s fun ever been obscured by a want to be better at it? Or have you been obsessed with a game in general?

Cliches I Never Want To See In Game Reviews Again

idol_lVideo game reviews have a difficult existence. Some people use them to decide whether or not to buy games, others use them as ammunition in the Console Wars. Usually, very strong emotions are attached to these reviews. But one thing we seem to be missing that we should get mad about is the lazy and irritating cliches that constantly pop up in reviews, even from such esteemed sources as EGM.
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Generation Gap: Video Game Stories

51hz0r4pdnlA while back, I asked what video games you fell in love with  in terms of story. Not surprisingly, most of your responses centered on games in the more recent era. This is an obvious trend because in the old days, games did not need a story to exist. But now, we need motivation, cut-scenes, back-story and lots and lots of twists. Too many, some would say. Like me. I think that people’s love for game stories depends on when they started playing.

See, when I was younger, stories in games were very basic. Some games didn’t even try to have one! Endings were short, usually text based. Hell, people were stunned by Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past’s FIVE minute ending. Minds were blown, heads exploded, etc…Since I have been playing games since about 1986 or so, I have a different perspective than someone who started in 1996. I play the game for the GAMEPLAY. If a game has a great story, awesome, but it’s only a bonus. If a game has poor gameplay, I don’t care how good the story might be, I am not playing it.
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Myth of the “Killer” Game

dark-cloudFanboys and the media just love to start trouble. Fanboys we can understand, they just want to see their console succeed and all others fail. Why, I have no idea, but thats their moronic role and I have to live with it. The gaming media, which I am beginning to think is pretty juvenile sometimes, should know better than to manufacture a story. But they do all the time, with their unrelenting hype.

Dark Cloud was widely called a “Zelda-killer”. First, I don’t know what that even means, since it won’t stop Zelda games from being made. Trust me, as good as Dark Cloud could be, Nintendo will still make more Zeldas. I loved Dark Cloud, but I bought a GameCube just to play The Wind Waker. So it didn’t really kill anything, did it? Second, the two games are really nothing alike, apart from the green hat the heroes both wear and that it is an action-rpg. Dark Cloud was a dungeon crawler with a focus on stamina and weapon maintence. You only explored one dungeon at a time and rebuilt a town using items found in the caves. Zelda is much more open and epic, with the focus on exploring and puzzles.
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