Spore Creature - Balsac

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The King of Kong

Friend, listener, and all around great guy Africansk8er has written a review for the documentary The King of Kong. It's a great write up. I really want to see this flick.

Flatout Ultimate Carnage

The demo for Flatout Ultimate Carnage was released yesterday to our friends over in Europe. I heart my European gamertag. I logged in and downloaded the demo. I haven't used it since the Chromehounds demo came out. Hehe.

The demo gives you 3 types of racing with 1 track available per race type. There is one car you can choose on each type of race. The race types are Carnage Race, Destruction Derby, and Race.

Carnage racing drops you into a checkpoint race and rewards you points for crashing into your opponents. It felt a lot like Burnout to me at first, except the controls weren't as tight and the cars didn't feel as glued to the road.

You get a decent sense of speed, especially when using your NOS. This brings up my major gripe with the game. In most racing games the A button is your handbreak. Not so in Flatout. The A button fires off your NOS. This can really cause you to screw up some turns. I would be going into a turn and expect to drift once I hit the A button, but instead I would accelerate into some houses. Not cool. And there was no option available to change the button layout. Hopefully it will be in the retail release.

The Destruction Derby races are fun. They drop you into a parking lot with 5 lives and you smash the other cars into oblivion. You get points for each hit, which in turn equate to either a bronze, silver, or gold trophy. You can also get multipliers during the game. All I got was a 2x, but I imagine there are more.

The last type in the demo are races. 3 laps around the track. The one included in the demo is a dirt road track with trees and a few buildings. The car they give you does not have much grip. Needless to say I saw some of the trees up close. This is the race type that I actually saw my driver get shot out of the windshield.

Speaking of that, it seems odd to me that at least one of the mini-games weren't included in the demo. The mini-games are what sets Flatout apart from other racing games, so I don't understand why they didn't include it.

Based on the racing alone, I wouldn't buy this game when it comes out. Burnout does a much better job with both the racing and the crashes. Of course, if you really need to do some driving and crashing before the holiday season, then it's not a bad option. Especially if you're like me and not into the Forza 2.

Conspiracy Theory

I've been having it out with the people over at Gamertag Radio today. For more info, go check out the forum where I am right and they are wrong.

I have a theory. One that involves Aaron Greenberg from Microsoft and Godfree from GTR. I see it going down like this.

AG: The Pac-Man championships are tomorrow and we're announcing a new Pac-Man game.
G: That's tight, yo. Big pimpin' FTW!
AG: This announcement isn't huge, but we're excited about it. The man who created the original mazes for Pac-Man is creating new ones. It's a historic event.
G: Yea, I feel you, dogg. GTR represent!
AG: Why don't you just put this out there as a major announcement. Don't give any details.
G: My peeps ain't gonna like dat, dogg.
AG: Well, you know, I can give this story to Joystiq...
G: Damn, dogg! You don't have to go there, dogg.
AG: Just say all you heard was a major announcement. Then, when we tell everyone the new Pac-Man is coming, they'll all be disapointed. lol!
G: Our peeps gonna be mad at us, dogg.
AG: There's no such thing as bad publicity. Remember that. Everyone will blame you at first, but you will set the record straight in your forums.
G: Alright, I'm down with it. It's a tight plan.
AG: Don't forget our deal. I give you exclusive tips and you tell the community how great we are.
G: I haven't forgot.
AG: Good. Now get out there and sell!
G: Yes sir, dogg!

Of course, this isn't verbatim, but just my theory on what happened. Once you get in bed with the Man, you're not getting out.

Now don't get me wrong, I love my 360 and I like Microsoft. But you have to admit that things worked out in their favor. GTR may be feeling a backlash, but that will subside (since I'm tired of fucking with it). Otherwise it's win/win because Microsoft got the word out about Pac-Man through GTR and GTR got a lot of hits to their site.

The whole crux of the argument is that community members shouldn't be on the take. When I say they are profiting from the situation, it could be with free games, exposure, or even a job. IMO, this is wrong. If you want to work for Microsoft, then go fill out an application. Simple as that. Don't think that because you have a site and a RSS feed you have a shot at a job.

People will accuse me of being jealous, but that's not the case. I'm not trying to get a job or get hits or anything like that. I'm just a subscriber to the Xbox Live service. I've met some awesome people because of my involvement in different communities and podcasts, but not once have I tried to profit from any of these relationships.

The long and short is that if you're a subscriber to the XBL service, don't just listen to one podcast. Listen to several and make you're own judgments. If you're just listening to GTR, you aren't getting the whole picture. Educate yourself.

The love of gaming should be what brought us to the community. Don't let anyone change that.

The Saga Continues...

As everyone knows, I got the red ring of death on my Xbox 360 a couple weeks ago. The night before the Halo 3 beta launched to be exact. I called Microsoft and $140 later they sent me a box and I shipped them my console. Nothing crazy yet...

I got my console back on Thursday, the 31st. Getting it back did not go without incident, however. But, when does anything go off without a hitch? Anyway, I was supposed to get my 360 back on Wednesday. I was watching UPS.com all day. It showed out for delivery and I was excited. I refreshed the page around 2:30 and it showed that a delivery attempt had been made but no one was there to sign for it. Will attempt again tomorrow. I was livid. I knew the apartments could sign for the package.

I called UPS immediately and they were of little help. Basically I was able to put a hold on the package so I could pick it up later that evening when the driver made it back to the distribution center. They would call me and let me know when I could come get it. An hour later they called and told me that I would not be able to pick it up until the next day. My attempts to have them re-route the driver didn't work. I told them that he didn't stop by the apartment office, which he should have. The UPS guy I talked to actually called the driver and asked him about this. He lied and said he did try to drop it by the office, but they were closed for lunch. I verified with the office that they were never closed at any point during the day. The driver was just a lazy bastard and didn't want to do his job.

All this led up to me having to pick up my Xbox on Thursday after work. I got it home and plugged it up, recovered my gamertag, and then went to put in a disc. That's when I realized the disc drive was fucked up. It wouldn't open when I hit the button. It was stuck on something. I was finally able to get it open, but it's still not right. I put my Crackdown disc in and downloaded the H3 beta and played a bunch of Rumble Pit.

The long and short of it is that Microsoft should be sending out new systems instead of refurbs and UPS sucks major ass.

The end...?

GameTalk Is Back!

The new episode of GameTalk is out now. It's been a while since we did one of these, and it was fun. Evil Kon Karne wasn't on with us, but hopefully he will be on the next episode. Stay tuned for the GameTalk myspace page and check out controllerfreaks.com.

Xbox 360 And Crackdown

I am hosting all the sounds Major Nelson has been posting for Crackdown, plus the Xbox 360 boot up sound for anyone who wants it.
360 Boot
Achievement Unlocked
Agility Orb
Hidden Orb