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AirstrikeRhino

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I Gots Pins

I recently decided to jump back into the warm welcoming arms of XBLA.  This time that sweet embrace was from A World of Keflings.  I spent a lot of time with its predecessor, A Kingdom for Keflings, so this one was pretty much a no-brainer purchase for me.  Ninja Bee made some very nice improvements over the first game including the ability to move buildings without destroying and re-building.  Players are also given a small team of personal builders to help carry building pieces from their point of fabrication to the player.  Those two things alone made building, your primary task, a whole hell of a lot easier.  And don’t worry, you can still kick Keflings all you’d like.

I think this was just another situation where I needed a super casual experience.  There’s not really even much “game” to A World of Keflings… there’s no way to “lose” or to even face adversity.  You literally just build stuff… which lets you build other stuff… and that lets you build more stuff.  Then you make a castle.  It’s all very complicated.

None of you here at Giant Bomb really have any idea who I am, and that's understandable.  It's been a while since I've posted anything HERE, though I have

 Every Button Works Inside The Pods
 Every Button Works Inside The Pods

done some stuff elsewhere.  So, I'll let you know that I'm a huge fan of the BattleTech/MechWarrior universe -- specifically the MechWarrior series of PC games.  So, when I found out something like MechCorps existed I was excited to say the least.  MechCorps places players into pods that simulate the inside of a Mech cockpit.  It runs on the MechWarrior 4 engine, which holds up surprisingly well.  The amount of fun we all have probably helps out with that a tad.

So now, with that all being said, I've been part of this since the end of October.  I've been attending their Regular's Night almost every weekend since then. After each mission we do at MechCorps, we receive printouts containing highlights from the battle.  Keeping these printouts allows pilots to earn mission pins… real pins… no some kind of in game thing.  At 25 missions MechWarriors earn their “guild pin”.  Then from that point on, we get pins for incrementally larger mission milestones.  I received both my guild pin and my 50 mission pin last Friday. 
 

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NERD!!  I know, but I don't care.  Also, here's a picture of me getting the pins from the MechCorps CO, Muerte.  As far as I know, that's just a callsign.  Also, that's one of the simulator pods behind us. 
 

 I know, I know... so handsome!
 I know, I know... so handsome!
 
So, with that, hi Giant Bomb.  I'm hoping to shift more of my writing over here.  I'll be talking to you all soon.
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Inverted Y Axis: We General Knoxx It Up!

 ORIGINALLY POSTED AT INVERTED Y AXIS

 

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Last night we (Barry, Chuck, Ben, and I) took our first dive into the latest Borderlands DLC, The Secret Armory of General Knoxx. So far it's delivering more of that same feeling that made the main game so awesome, and it's definitely offering a more genuine Borderlands experience than the last DLC, Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot.

We're still waiting to see some of the new loot drops that were promised in a lot of the previews, but I have a feeling that will come with time. I think part of the problem is that we're using our Playthrough 1 games. This was not our original intent, but starting off with Playthrough 2 proved a brutal and foolhardy endeavor. One of the initial mission starts off with enemies IN the main city, T-Bone Junction, and on Playthrough 2 these enemies are Level 51 and clearly very upset with our adventurers. From there it seemed to just get worse as we ran into nothing but Level 51 and above characters on our way to the first mission outside of the "safety" of T-Bone Junction.

However, once we moved over to our Playthrough 1 games things started to move along a lot smoother. Our hope is that we can spend some time leveling up and then move over to Playthrough 2... perhaps on a second playthrough of the DLC, which is not at all a foreign concept to us. As I said before, this feels like Borderlands again, and is quickly washing away the bad memories of Mad Moxxi. We've already spent a lot of time dead at the expense of bad driving or the occasional land mine. We're still getting a feel for the lay of the land. It appears that there aren't many fast travel stations, and it's forced us to use the expansive highway system Gearbox has built for General Knoxx. I can't tell if this will ultimately add or detract form the experience. So far it's been fun to blast enemy drones along the way and to explore the Crimson Lance facilities that initially impede your progress.

Early on, Scooter shows up to assist by helping you assemble a new vehicle, The Monster. He's also there to add the same humor he did in the main game (you also get an update on his "friendship" with Lucky!). We had many laughs last night thanks to ol' Scooter. The Monster boasts a machine gun that thumps along with a more authoritative sound than the original and a cannon that shoots a cluster of heat-seeking rockets. We've also come across another vehicle called the Racer that is very similar to the main game's vehicle only faster.

We'll be getting back into it tonight, and hopefully there will be more good news to report. Barry has devised a graphical representation of wicked levels for our merry band (you'll have to click on it to get a clear look at it). As you can see, we're sitting in a good place right now. I hope that trend continues.
 

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Inverted Y Axis - DJ Whoo Kid: An Interview

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON MAY 30, 2009 AT INVERTED Y AXIS    
 
 
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DJ Whoo Kid, one of the stars of 50 Cent: Blood On The Sand has agreed to give Inverted Y Axis and exclusive interview about his experiences during the creation of the game. We join him today at his estate...
 

IYA: Well DJ Whoo Kid, thanks for talking to us today.

DJ Whoo Kid: YEEEEEAAAHHHH!

IYA: So, where did you guys get the idea for the story in 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand?

DJWK: These buildings have been here for like, hundreds of years.

IYA: Really? This house actually looks quite new.

DJWK: I don't think they like us being here Fiddy!

IYA: Excuse me? We can leave if we need to...

DJWK: It's all clear fiddy!

IYA: So we can stay?

DJWK: YEEEEEAAAAAAHHHH!

IYA: Thanks, let's continue...

DJWK: Get that skrilla!

IYA: I don't even know what that means.

DJWK: That's Whoo Kid Power, baby! YEEEAAAAAHHHH!

IYA: Ok, I'm leaving.

DJWK: Die you muh-fuggin bitch! [draws gun]

[Interviewer runs out of room . Fiddy enters.]

Fiddy: Hey, Whoo Kid... was somebody just here?

DJWK: Let's get that shine Fiddy, YEEEEAAAAHHHH!

Fiddy: You're a fucking idiot... 
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Inverted Y Axis - The Return of Online Social Time

 

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Gaming has, over the past several years, become more and more of a social experience for me. Trying to pinpoint exactly where it really jumped to this level of a shared experience isn't easy. I can look back to the days of the Nintendo 64, when games started offering 4-player split screen and multiplayer modes that mattered. There were, of course, good multiplayer experiences available on the PC, but most of my PC days were spent on flight sims, combat flight sims, and Mechwarrior games. I've never played Counterstrike. We didn't even have the internet at my parents' house until I was in 11th grade. So, you can maybe see how I didn't really catch on to the online gaming craze with the PC.

When I moved off to college, multiplayer gaming was more abundant because everybody was around you all the time everywhere. Always. Always there. Everybody. Anyway, we played a lot of 4-player NFL Blitz and Mario Tennis. I bought a Sega Dreamcast that came with a limited time trial of SegaNet. We spent hours switching off the controller playing Unreal Tournament over a dial-up connection. We had a high speed connection in the dorm, but the high speed adapter for the Dreamcast was something I never invested in.

Beyond that I played a lot of Halo with friends, both online via xbconnect (remember xbconnect!?), and in large groups with the Xbox LAN connection. We surprisingly never had much trouble finding 8 guys to meet up, hook up 2 TVs, set two couches back to back, and play Halo for hours. I think this may be where the tide started to turn for me... we were on the cusp of Xbox Live. Actually, through a lot of this I think it was already a real thing, but Halo wasn't supported by it, and xbconnect was free. Xbox Live was very much a luxury I could live without. 
 

 WHERE DO I PUT ALL THE LAG?
 WHERE DO I PUT ALL THE LAG?



Then it got ugly... remember all those flight sims I mentioned playing above? Well, thanks a fucking lot Microsoft and Xbox for doing THIS:


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I bought this game and a subscription to Xbox Live on the same day. I remember being skeptical. I didn't know that the game was going to be any good. It had airplanes, and I could shoot at other real player over the internet. Sounds good to me! I took those first few timid steps into the world of Xbox Live and it sucked me in full force. I would spend hours every night playing this fucking game. I got good... like REAL good. I was in the top 10% in the leaderboards for most of my tenure in the game.

After Crimson Skies I started in on MechAssault, Halo 2, MechAssault 2, and the like. I even made about a 6 month stop in Azeroth... Go Horde! Late in the life of the original Xbox there were times where some friends and I would use a Halo 2 lobby to chat during different sporting events on TV. This was key to the way things are now.

Fast forward to the Xbox 360 and the introduction of party chat. Now it's rare that my friends and I don't have a chat party open when we're playing games. There are even a lot of times I have it open while I'm eating between games or on a gaming break.

The only time this become a problem during cut-scene-heavy titles. We typically just have a system worked out in which somebody just yells out "cut scene!" and silence is granted. However, even this wouldn't do for Mass Effect 2. We invoked an unofficial party chat ban. It didn't even have to be spoken... we just didn't invite each other into a party.

That being said, it's been awful quiet around the Xbox Live lately. With Barry out of commission and everybody else diving heavily into the Mass Effects 2 there has been no chatting. But now, Chuck and I have finished the first play through, Barry gets his Xbox back tomorrow assuming his neighbor hears the doorbell this time, and Josh's first run won't be far behind.

So with that, I want to say to everybody... welcome back fellas, it's been too fucking long. 
2 Comments

Inverted Y Axis - Game Night: Turok 2 Edition

 
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON FEBRUARY 4, 2010 AT INVERTED Y AXIS  
 
Another Wednesday has come and gone, and that means we've blown through another Game Night... though that's hardly what you could call it. Barry is still without an Xbox, Chuck was out in the bustling metropolis that is Santa Fe, TX for work, and Josh was out of town for work as well. So, that pretty much left game night in my capable hands. I managed to play some more Mass Effect 2. I'm over 35 hours now, and I'm wondering how I got there. It's one of those games where you just kind of lose track of time.

Since we didn't have an actual Game Night, I thought I'd just take a trip in the way-back machine. I listened to the latest episode of IGN's Nintendo Voice Chat Podcast this afternoon. They spent much of the podcast talking about the days of the Nintendo 64. One game that is near and dear to my heart came up: Turok 2.


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Many hours were wasted on Friday and Saturday nights playing this amazing piece of 4-player hotness. I never even finished the single player mode. This game was relegated to heave multiplayer action... in a time when split-screen was king.

Typically my buddies and I would gather at my friend Keith's house. Mostly because his parents didn't care how loud we got, how late we stayed up, or what we did. We were actually pretty good kids. The most trouble we got in was getting the occasional evil eye from the security guard at the local Kroger on one of our late night junk food runs. Speaking of which, Planter's PB Crisps and Promised Land Chocolate Milk are a deadly combination. Not just for the consumer, but for all those in the vicinity.

Our multiplayer mode of choice was Frag Tag. This made one player a small monkey. Points were scored by killing the primate, though I doubt we ever really focused on that specifically. If you were the monkey you were pretty defenseless, but you were FAST and could jump really far and really high. This often resulted in a hilarious flying, screaming monkey shooting across your screen in the heat of battle. The monkey's goal was to walk through a glowing area on the map which handed your predicament to one of your opponents and changed you back into a combatant. We often played on a map that had a sort of pit in the middle of the map. This was not a friendly place for the monkey to be. If somehow our little furry friend ended up in the pit, there were scream of "MONKEY'S IN THE PIT" followed by a barrage of grenades. So. Fucking. Fun.

The fact that this game was split-screen also heated things up a bit. If you say you never screen watched, then you're either a fool or a liar. Especially when this bad boy broke out:

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That there is the Cerebral motherfucking Bore. There was nothing more terrifying than seeing that reticule pop up in a neighboring screen. It was very distinct, as was the sound the bore made when fired.
 
 
                                                                                                                     TAKE THAT DINOSAUR!!!
 
 Even if you were trying to not watch other peoples' screens, that reticule drew everybody's attention to that corner of the television to make sure they weren't about to be on the receiving end of a brain splattering skull drilling. Getting hit was, obviously, a one shot kill. It was awesome!

This game more would pretty much continue until the sun started to come up. We rarely switched it up because that monkey was just so damn hilarious and it added something to game that most others didn't have. Insults would be tossed, trash would be talked, frozen lasagna would be consumed, and good times would always be had by all.

So, that was a little taste of my old game nights. Hopefully we can get back to actual game nights soon. I guess it depends on how long Mass Effect 2 keeps us all occupied. In the mean time, I have plenty of other games to cover from back in the day. Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey anyone? 
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Inverted Y Axis - Awaiting Shepard Claus

  
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON MONDAY JANUARY 25, 2010 AT INVERTED Y AXIS
  
 

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So, Mass Effect 2 is almost here. Chuck has informed us that he will be attending a midnight release to "make sure he gets a copy." The idea behind this is both understandable and absurd. You see, he pre-ordered the game, but he did so from Gamestop. They have a habit of not having items you've already paid for when you come to pick them up. I can see a bleak future where the snarky 17-year-old behind the counter has abandoned "you should have pre-ordered it" and will resort to telling us we have to attend their midnight releases now.


  Coming soon to a storefront near you!
 Coming soon to a storefront near you!

Then he'll probably make a joke about me being old and staying up that late. Oh how the tables will turn when he tries to walk across my lawn. What a dick.

I pre-ordered my copy from Best Buy... where there are often *GASP* SURPLUS copies of new releases. Fear not late adopters (and by late, I mean release day), Best Buy will likely have more copies available than you care to buy. I don't even know for sure WHY I pre-ordered it... perhaps it was the promise of nifty armor. Maybe it was because I wanted to secure the collectors edition. Most likely it's just that I'm a sucker, and they're proving it one $5 deposit and shiny box at a time.

With Mass Effect 2 coming I tasked myself with completing Darksiders over the weekend. I wrapped it up last night around midnight. It was 15-20 hours of awesome (my exact finish time escapes me at the moment, but I think it was around 17 hours). You can find reviews of it all over the place, so I'll spare you another one. I will say that if you enjoy adventure games, Zelda, badassery, giant swords, and everything awesome, then you should play Darksiders.

So, everybody strap in and get ready. We're in the home stretch for the Mass Effect 2 launch. What's that Europe? Why yes, it is: 
 
 
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Inverted Y Axis - Game Night: Left 4 VICTORY Edition

 

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Last night, Barry, Chuck, and I dove back into Left 4 Dead 2... and we once again decided to give the Dark Carnival campaign a shot. This time we had our big boy pants on and made it all the way through... though we left that d-bag Nick behind. This isn't Miami Vice, take off the fucking white suit asshole.

 

 Calm down there Detective Crockett!
 Calm down there Detective Crockett!
                                                                                                      

Having played through the campaign once already helped us out a lot. We knew where to go, we had prior knowledge of the things ahead, and we were able to plan accordingly. Even though the conductor changes things up as you go, the toughest spots are still generally the same. For whatever reason we had a hell of a time finding the opening that led back to the "off" switch for the carousel... for the record, it's right by the "on" switch, and we're not that smart.

I supposed familiarity is one of the points of this game... you're not supposed to master things on your first shot. Having the conductor control the infected rather than everything being pre-programmed helps keep things fresh and makes every run different. Plus there are several achievements that require you to spend some real time with the game to unlock.

After we stood victorious over Nick's dead body in the Dark Carnival, we decided to make a run through Dead Center for Barry's sake since he hadn't unlocked the achievement yet. Apparently this was attempted without me one night, and success was beyond their grasp without their gaming Lord and Savior. Lucky for them I stepped in and led the team to the promise land (switching to easy probably had something to do with it too).

I'd say this was one of our more successful Game Nights in a while. Josh was left out of the mix because he hasn't purchased a copy of L4D2 yet... He should get on that.

Oh, and just to say again what Barry stated yesterday. If anybody is reading this who'd like to jump in and play with us, feel free to add us to your Xbox Live and PSN.
3 Comments