Check that fucker out! 
  

Beat it a couple of days ago. Loved it. But I have always liked the Halo games, so I figured I would. It is more of the same old, but the few new things they throw in there makes this the best Halo experience to date. Something about the movement and everything seems to be subtly changed, making me feel more like an agile fast Spartan. The cutscenes and stuff also shows more what the SPARTANS are capable of. I'm glad they did that, because if you have only played the first ones you don't really see how the Spartans can be called super soldiers. Sure, they survive a lot of beating, but you seemed clunky, slow and fumbling. While in this game they are much more fluid, fast and even graceful. I'd say that the feel from the books got translated a bit to the game, which made it all the better when it comes to the Spartans. 
 
I am not a good Halo player however, so I will never beat it on Legendary. I don't have any friends who plays it, so I won't even be able to do so in Co-op. Which is fine really. I have barely played the other Halo's online as well, but this I tried a bit. And it is super fun. Having stuff to unlock also makes it more tempting to play just one more round, which then turns into such a fun game that unlocking things doesn't matter anymore. They did good with this. Now I only need more friends I can play funny game modes with. 
 
Let me recap what I liked about Halo: Reach, and what I didn't like. This is from me having played plenty of SP Halo 1, 2 and 3 and Halo Wars, not played ODST. I have read the five first books in the series as well. This recap serves as a kind of TL;DR as well I guess.  
 
The Good 

• The feel of the Spartans. They, and you, seemed stronger, heavier, faster and more super soldier like.
• The weapons where great.
• All the active abilities was fun to play with. Sending out a hologram to confuse your enemies worked great.
• The story, and the fact that we got a bit more of it this time around. But you being just another soldier means you are on a need to know basis. Thus it makes sense that you are just told to go there and blow up that thing. This goes for the other Halo games as well really.
• How the cutscenes worked. I like the whole theme of this being security footage from your helmet, cameras, satellites etc. That theme carried over to the limited Black Box edition as well.
• Graphics where great, the skyboxes are breathtaking as always.
• Music and sounds overall.
• The ending.

• Slowdown in FPS during some cut scenes. Not that big a deal, but it was very noticeable.
• Some checkpoints where placed oddly, making some sections extremely finicky to do even on normal. Especially towards the end.
• Driving vehicles with wheels are still as dangerous as useful due to the driving controls.
• Not enough squad mechanics. I wanted to really feel like a squad, not just having a few other Spartans running around trying to kill stuff. Which they usually didn't do anyway.
• Jumping still feels kinda floaty, which doesn't make sense on Reach since its gravity is a bit higher than on Earth. The Spartans weight is about a ton in the Mjolnir armor, so while they can jump high due to strength, they should not float down slowly.

• The Elites. What is wrong with your face? (Stupid Plinkett quote there, which I have had stuck in my head for days. Maybe this can drive it out)
  

1. Do you earn money playing Campaign missions? 
2.  Do you earn more if you put on scoring?               
3.  Do you earn money when playing local MP?  
4.  What about when playing custom matches with friends online? 
5.   Who would win, Duke Nukem or John-117 aka Master Chief?

A list of the games I have to beat at the time and games I have beaten but which I want to play more: 

• Borderlands - Still only level 44.
• Super Mario Galaxy 2 - Not even halfway.
• Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura - Barely even started.
• Halo Reach - Probably halfway in campaign.
• Dead Rising 2 - Need to reach level 50.
• Comic Jumper - Need to buy it.
• Civ V - Just need to play more.
• Minecraft - That Dwarven Fortress will not dig itself!
• Dwarf Fortress - Those dwarves will not dig without being told to do!
• Shores of Hazeron - Need to expand soon.

With all the Limited/Legendary/Banana/Special UFO Happy Editions that comes out these days, there are precious few of them that appeals to me. The few special Editions I got are special to me because I love the game. And in most of those instances the thing I love most about the games are the story. I got the Lunchbox edition of Fallout 3, being a major fan of the first two games. I got the Black Edition of AssCreed 2, because I loved the story the first game started. And I got the Halo 3 Helmet Edition because I loved the story in the.... no wait, Halo games have had precious little story in the games themselves. But the books on the other hand, are some of my favourite sci-fi books ever, only beaten by Hitchhikers Guide and most of Asimov's stories. The back story of Halo is actually very good, you just have very little of it in the games. This actually makes perfect sense though, but that is not what I am going to write about here, I am writing about the Limited Edition of Halo: Reach. 
 
I never bought ODST because of limited money to use on games. I want it, I just don't want it that much. It was the same with Reach really, seeing how I already knew how that was going to end. Then I saw what the Limited Edition was to contain. The book. Dr. Halsey's Journal. First of all, it looks cool. Second of all, it was to contain a lot of background info. I just had to have it. So I bought it, and I got a lot more than I thought I would get. 
 
The book in itself is brilliant. A few pages are even sloppily ripped out, making it seem like the real deal. All the information in it are either stuff I already knew from the books, or non-important things that are still fun to read. But then there are also a lot of other extras in this book. A map of Reach, a photo of NOBLE Team, an Elite and something big in space (most likely High Charity) the psych-files or something of three NOBLE members, some news printings etc. Three of the things you get are especially fancy though. Like the plastic ID-tag for Dr. Halsey herself, or the weird test result chips for John-117. 
 
To put it shortly, the Limited Edition is awesome. If you are a fan of the story. If you are mostly a fan of the shooting, or the MP, then I don't think this version is for you. I love it though. And the game itself is also loads of fun. Not even halfway yet (bought it two days ago, the same day I got Dead Rising 2 in the mail), but it is without doubt the best Halo game there is. Seeing how you can unlock things for use in SP with the armor pieces and such by playing MP, I might just do that this time around. 
 
What do you think of the Limited Edition? Was there things in the book you found especially awesome? Have you found out secrets to unlock by using a barcode scanner on the ID-tag? Or do you disagree completely?

Everyone who are customers on GOG.com probably know this already, but for those who do not: They have quit. Simply put.  
According to their site, which now is down, they will find a way for everyone to download their games next week. 
The story can easily be read over at The Escapist 
 
R.I.P. Good Old Games. We hardly knew ya.

That's right. I opt out of being called that, because I don't fit into that space anymore. Let us check what the criteria are for being called a gamer. 

• Like to play games, and do so almost every day.

• Know things about almost every platform of gaming.

•  Own at least one gaming platform.

• Bitch and moan about a variety of minor things having to do with gaming.

• Be extremely negative towards something you have never tried because it is new.

I just spent the last half hour writing a long blog post on this, then it got eaten up by the goddamn internet gnomes because I somehow got logged out of GiantBomb while writing it. Fuck that, I am only going to write the thing heavily condensed. 
 
Why I love Limbo: 

• The sounds and music are brilliantly used. Everything sounds as it should, and music only kicks in when appropriate. The sawblades sound frickin' scary, and I flinched now and then when you character got crushed or sawed in half. So I tip my hat to those who made the sounds in this game. They also knew exactly what they where doing, which they showed at the end. When you jump off the last crate, over the sawblade, everything gets muted. It is a simple, yet very effective thing to do right before you crash through the window.
• The graphics are not lazy. They are great. The depth of field makes everything look eerily real, at the same time as it looks unreal. The black, white and grey gives it all an atmosphere you just wouldn't get if it was all in color. The animations was also great. Nothing is sadder than seeing you character flailing his tiny arms while drowning.
• Yes, the gameplay doesn't bring anything new to the table in the same sense that Braid did. So what? All the elements in the game fits, and makes the experience enjoyable. It's hard enough to be a challenge, yet easy enough to be solvable. I also want to play it more, in order to find all the secrets, and maybe find easter eggs if there are any.
  
• It was well worth the price, stop crying about it.

I remember back when I was younger, how psyched I was to get home from school because maybe, just maybe I had gotten Caesar 3 in the mail. I remember getting it three days later, being just as psyched that day as the days before. Then not being able to play it for three days because I had to live with my Grandparents for the weekend. I remember that as it was yesterday. I should be able to say that, but I cannot.
 
If you thought this would be a blog about Caesar 3 you are mistaken. This is a blog about life. And how weird it is. 
I am not old seeing how I am only 23. But sometimes I feel that my life so far have been... wasted. Or rather, lost. That I am just living for the moments now and those who are to come. My memory is the reason for this feeling. I forget things way faster than what I think is normal. Sure, I can remember a crapload of stuff from games, where to go to meet Jesus in Fallout 2 for instance, but my life I forget. Things that have happened, things I have done, things I say. I vaguely remember that story about Caesar 3 up there, but it feels like a movie I saw ages ago. Not a part of my life. My life is gone. Forgotten. 
 
The thing is, I cannot remember if I was always like this. If I have been forgetting my life all my life. It might have happened when I fell and broke my back. I did hit my head that time, maybe that also jarred my memory. Worsened it. Or maybe I just forget things faster than normal people. And I find that to be sad. 
 
I cannot remember my first day at school. I cannot remember what I was as a person back then. I cannot remember my first game, not vividly. I think it was Doom. Might have been Super Mario Bros. And a year from now I won't remember this.  
 
What brought me to think about this was Blade Runner. Yes, I didn't see this movie until recently. A few days ago actually, but I honestly cannot remember the exact day... Batty's last words really got to me when I realized all my moments are already gone. No-one can remember these moments for me, and I have lost them forever. I haven't done anything special with my life, but still... it is my life. It is special for me. 
 
Maybe I am lucky. Maybe this is my secret to being happy. 'cause I usually am. I enjoy this ride that is life, I just wish I could remember the past turns. And my past experiences, lost as they may be, have still shaped me to be who I am. I know I have changed drastically the past five years, so it's not like it has all gone to waste. But still... 
 
" I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will  be lost in time... like tears in the rain... Time to die. " 
 
I toyed with the idea of cross-posting this on the forums or whatever you call it, even though it has little to do with gaming. Then I thought, "why not? If people ridicule me for doing such a thing, I'll forget about it pretty fast" 
So I have, and I did so solely to see if someone can relate. If someone has thoughts and opinions on this. Or if someone really wants me to write a blog about Caesar 3.

Yeah, I don't care if no-one replied to the last blog thingy I made. I have started a Let's Play style thing. If anyone is interested, I have the Introduction Chapter up right here. 
I think this might turn out to be fun, for me at least. Gives a bit more reason behind playing, and maybe I can give a handful of people some laughs.