Recently in Games Category

I’m a long time Sims addict. It started innocently enough with the original Sims and all of its expansions and it has gotten worse with the Sims2. Well at least I can admit my problem, right? Anyway, the Sims2 is very open ended, at least on the PC, and so normally I’ll play a lot for a month or so after a new expansion and then after I’ve played through all the new content put it on the back burner for a while. Over the holidays I discovered two new things that have renewed my addiction to this game:

• Challenges – Basically a set of goals to try and complete. Something along the lines of creating a family that spans ten generations for example.
• Storytelling – This has been a part of the Sims2 from the beginning and I kept meaning to try it and I’ve just now gotten around to it. The game has a built-in screencapping ability and photo organizer so you can create a scrapbook of your Sims2 family.

The players who enjoy the challenges also encourage the writing/sharing of the stories behind them and in keeping with the spirit of posting more to my web site, I’ve created a new area for the Sims2 stuff (this way those that don’t play or don’t care to view it can skip it) and called it  From the Neighborhood (which probably makes more sense to Sims players). The photoalbums are hosted from picasa (at least for now) because it was convenient for adding the captions etc. If you click on the embedded image, it will take you to my album on picasa, where you can view them as a slideshow (the way I’d go) or however you like.

Lots of exciting new things and a few old things that I never got around to posting about.  Let’s start with a few upcoming Patrick Stewart DVDs. First up is the dvd release of the short lived British TV show, the Eleventh Hour due out on September 26. Living in Maui, I’ve not seen any of the episodes, but from what British members of the PSN have told me, some episodes were interesting, and some were not very believable. Perhaps a safer bet is the DVD release of X-Men 3: The Last Stand scheduled for an October 3rd release. My husband and I saw this movie in the theater and we really enjoyed it. Be sure to watch all the way through the credits for extra footage. The bonus edition includes a new comic by Stan Lee. I’ve never been a comic book collector, but I’m a little tempted to get the special edition just out of curiosity.

On the gaming front, there is a “stuff” pack for the Sims2 called Glamour Life due for release on August 31st. The stuff packs are collections of new objects, clothing, wallpapers etc. for the Sims2. Depending on how much you like to customize, you may or may not find it worth the $20. It includes 60 odd items or so. More exciting for Sims2 fans is the upcoming release Sims2: Pets on Oct 17th. The Pets expansion was my favorite of all the Original Sims expansions so I have high expectations for this one. And of course,Star Trek Legacy, which now has all five Star Trek Captains providing the voice acting, is due out this fall. I read recently that the release date has been pushed back to November 7th.

I’ve only bought a few new cds recently, but they’ve been good ones. KT Tunstall’s song “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” has gotten a lot of radio play from one of the local Maui stations. I have a suspicion it has been played a lot everywhere. But if that song is bordering on overplayed, the rest of the album is definitely worth a listen. She reminds me a lot of Sheryl Crow and Bonnie Raitt, so if you like either of those artists, chances are you might like KT Tunstall’s Eye to the Telescope. Another recent purchase, was the new Bob Dylan Album – Modern Times. This album is in the same style as Time Out of Mind and Love and Theft. Dylan’s voice is a bit rough, but that just works all the better for this style of music and few can match Dylan in the lyric department. Also, if you are into classic rock, I recommend a compilation of some of Bon Jovi’s live performances, One Wild Night.

Now playing: Bob Dylan - Beyond the Horizon

I am hopelessly hooked on the PC game, Oblivion. I’ve played lots of RPGs in my day, but never has one been so immersive. For those that enjoy playing stealthy types, one of the main programmers from the Thief series designed the stealth components of this game. The stealth ability has greatly improved since Bethesda+'s previous game, Morrowind. For once, thief missions involve sneaking in and out of places like a cat burglar, rather than just assassin missions. In fact, it is a bit of a challenge to even find the thieves guild.

Patrick Stewart, Sean Bean, Terrence Stamp and Lynda Carter provide extra flavor to the game via voice acting. Patrick Stewart starts off the game providing the voice of the Emperor. In the hands of someone else, the dialog might have come across as cheesy. In Stewart’s hands, it gets the game off to a fantastic start.

I went through the opening scenario a few times, not just to hear Patrick Stewart (although that was an added bonus), but to test the new character creation model. Rather than  picking stats, skills, professions and a whole bunch of options, you pick a race, name, and gender and then start playing the game. At the end of the first scenario, the game will suggest (via a character in game) a possible profession. During your escape with the Emperor you come across many weapons and armor types and depending on what you choose and how you handle certain situations, the game will suggest a class. If you don’t like the class suggested, you can choose another or make one that is entirely unique. I really loved this feature. I can remember spending quite some time in other games choosing stats and skills and then after spending more than a hour preparing to play, find out I hated the mechanics of the game or whatever, and never play the game again. This is a very clever solution.

I haven’t read the book yet, (I am such a slacker) but if you’re a fan of the book The Davinci Code or just a person who loves puzzles, Google has a 24 day DaVinci code challenge going. (Link)

Now playing: U2 - Staring At The Sun