Archived News 11-11-03 – 11-21-04

Be sure to catch us today at 7:00 Central Standard Time on the The Game Show. Click HERE to start the broadcast. To write in questions, go to the IRC chat. Its easy =)

21 Nov 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

So I keep feeling like there’s just one more day until the next game that I’m waiting for. Two weeks ago it was one more day until Halo 2, last week it was one more day until Half-Life 2, and now, it’s just one more day until the Nintendo DS launches. I’ve played around with the demo units that we have at my EB, and they’re very cool. Even moreso than I thought at E3. Granted that I’ve only played the demo of Metroid Prime: Hunters, I still think that it’s going to be an awesome system. And while the launch lineup might be a little slim, it’s got some quality titles in there.

I just finished watching some movies of Yuji Naka’s (of Sonic Team fame) strange new game called Feel the Magic XY/XX, and I have to say, it looks like a sex-starved version of Warioware. Tons of little mini-games all revolving around trying to get a girlfriend. And the mini-games look like a ton of fun. There’s everything from shooting scorpions off of your girlfriend’s back, to chasing down a bully in his getaway car with a gigantic slingshot on the back of yours. The game looks insane, but I’m sure that aside from Mario 64 DS, this is going to be the game that most people pick up at launch.

So, with that being said, I’m just going to try to wait another day, playing some Metal Gear Solid 3 while I wait. Hopefully I won’t get too bogged down in cutscenes that I completely lose track of the world around me. Tomorrow should be a blast, and I can’t wait to get my hands on my very own DS.

-Jack

20 Nov 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

when I wrote my last post, but I’ve gone back to the dealer for a full refund.

Figuring, "Well, good video card or not, I’m gonna buy it sometime,
might as well how shitty it looks on my hardware." So I pulled out my
credit card and went for the Silver Pack over Steam. The download,
including CounterStrike: Source, was just over four gigabytes, and
didn’t get done ’till this morning.

I got my first taste of
Half-Life 2 this afternoon, and damn, what the FUCK was I thinking?
This shit runs at 1024×785, with mixed medium/high graphical settings,
and it looks beautiful. It only has frame rate issues when the physics engine goes into high gear, like when sets of flammable barrels detonate.

It’s at this time that I’d like to thank Beeks, who was the primary
inspiration for my purchase of Half-Life 2. He has a GeForce 4 Ti 4400,
and he said it ran great, hence my above reasoning.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, a certain crowbar is begging to be used…

18 Nov 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

Yes, something tore me away from Halo 2. Yes, it was Gordon Freeman.
Yes, I’m having a blast playing it. I can’t really say anything bad
about Half-Life 2 right now and I’m in chapter 7 of 15 right now. The
only minor complaint that I can even think that I have is the constant
loading that occurs every 5-10 minutes when bridging area to area.

What makes the game so good? Well, for one, it looks unbelievably good.
You know those videos you watched on the internet from E3? Yes, if your
video card is halfway decent, it WILL look like that on your PC, too.
At first I couldn’t believe it, but the more and more I play it, the
more and more I’m loving the visual style of the game, and the amazing
digital "actors" that populate the world.

Another thing about Half-Life 2 that makes it the great game that it is
so far is the physics that are used by the Source engine. Let’s say
you’ve got a pipe that you need to get up to, but you can’t quite get
there. Add in the fact that you have about 9 explosive barrels lying
all over the room. What do you do? Well, you can stack all of the
barrels on top of each other, creating a pyramid of barrels, and then
climb up it like a ladder, or all sorts of other things. The freedom
that Valve gives you in this game is simply dumbfounding, and I
absolutely love it. I wish I could say more at this point, but I feel
that I must finish the game before I more accurately pass judgement on
it.

If you take nothing else away from this post, though, please let it be
that you NEED to buy Half-Life 2. It’s an amazing achievement in
gaming, and well worth the 6-year wait.

-Jack

17 Nov 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

It’s official, ladies and gents. Supposedly, at 2:00 AM last night (and
I say supposedly, because I wasn’t there to see it), Valve unlocked all
those copies of Half-Life 2 that have been sitting on hard drives for
weeks now, just waiting for that little bit of code to make it
available. Half-Life 2, is now, upon us.

Well, the rest of y’all, not me. See, I’d love to buy it, but I know
it’d look like ass on my sub par hardware. Just like everyone else
looking forward to HL2, I’m also forced to upgrade my hardware. It goes
back to my belief that, games will always push hardware, and
(hopefully) not the other way around. So, now comes the time to plunk
down the cash. And fortunately, video card are very reasonable these
days. I can get a Radeon 9800 off Newegg.com for $175 w/o shipping.
Considering this card went for $400+ when it came out, I like to think
I’m getting a deal.

So, instead of despairing over the sad little Ti 4200 sitting in my AGP
port, I’ve decided to make better use of my day off from work. It
starts with making a fanboy whore of myself and blowing about $15 on
the Initial D Arcade Stage machine, then picking up the Bill Hicks DVD,
then showing up to the Rogue Agent release event tonight. May your day
be as glorious as mine.

16 Nov 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

Or… GamersBullshit as I was originally going to call it.. If you want
news.. stick to Sundays. This is is basically a parody of Crossfire..
overemphasising bias, and poking fun of that bias. Mostly humerous, but
add in a slight bit of information.

In other words.. don’t take it too seriously. We’re going to have a lot
more new programming.. all hopefully very different than this.

If you missed it here is the mp3 GameSavers 1st Episode

15 Nov 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

We are trying out our new show right now… live. Well, it will be soon. Prolly about 5:15. Click HERE to start the broadcast. To write in questions, go to the IRC chat. Its easy =)

Hopefully it will be very different from The Game Show.. The mp3 will also be up soon for your enjoyment.

15 Nov 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

First things first, be here at five central. Something will happen.

This week is going to be a crazy fucking week as we talked about on the
show. We mentioned many exciting things coming out this week, and you
are fully aware of most of them. One thing we did talk about was Bill Hick’s new DVD. Go there and read about it. Bill Hicks is the man, and he will bring you much joy.

Now besides that bundle of happyness we also see the DS, Metroid Prime
II, Snake Eater, and other things arriving at our door. This is
absolute insanity. The gaming gods have their forks in the fireplace
and are planning to stab my wallet with their creativity. And this only
a week after getting what may very well be one of the games of the
year; Halo 2. Please spread out the fucking games. As gamers we can’t
afford it both in terms of time and money.

In terms of this site we’ve got good things planned for you. More and
varied content is the name of the game. Version 4.0 of the site is in
production, and will again make it easy for us to bring you content on
the fly. With the new video production software that you witnessed with
the Halo Madness video
we will be able to deliver video content faster. So many improvements
towards what will be a better site. I would like to thank you all for
sticking with us as we’ve hit our road blocks (mainly the hacking) and
I really think all will be worth the wait. All that matters is the
ending.

15 Nov 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Be sure to catch us today at 7:00 Central Standard Time on the The Game Show. Click HERE to start the broadcast. To write in questions, go to the IRC chat. Its easy =)

The Show available for download here. The site went down at exactly 7.. how awesome is that.

Don’t forget the the new show will debut live tomorrrow at 5 Central. Be right here then, or be squarish.

14 Nov 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Well, it’s almost that time. The time when I must make a monumental
decision about what game I choose to let devour my free time for the
next week.

On the one hand, Half-Life 2 (barring any major retailer breaking
street date) comes out on Tuesday at midnight to all of us glorious
Steam users that have it pre-ordered, and those that do not can still
pick it up at retailers on Tuesday. Half-Life 2 will more than likely
put almost every PC and console game to shame when people play it.

On the other hand, I have Halo 2, and its brilliant multiplayer setup
on Xbox Live. I do want to keep playing it more and more as I
understand more and more just exactly how the online rankings work, and
my ambition to go up the ranks and prove myself as one of the Elite
Halo players in the world is almost unquenchable.

So you can surely see my dilemma. I will have two wonderful, nay, two
genre-defining games in my hands come this Tuesday barring famine,
flood, or fire. I think Half-Life 2 will get the better of me, just
because I’m a sucker for fighting zombies, and I love the story of the
original HL2. I just want to see what kinds of things Gordon is going
to do and see on his trek around City 17 and his fight against the
Combine. It truly should be amazing, and it’s probably going to be
something that people talk about and play for a long time, just like
the original Half-Life.

-Jack

13 Nov 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

You read this and you think, damn, another Halo 2 post. You’re fucking
right. I don’t know if you guys remember the last Halo, lord knows I
sure do. All I can remember from that game is the loathing and extreme
distaste I felt towards how slowly it played, plus the sheer number of
fanboyz that existed for it. Ladies and gentlemen, I am now one of
those fanboyz. I apologize that I too have sold out to the masses, but
it’s something I must do. I have given in to what might be the
revolutionary multiplayer game of our age. I have had an absolute blast
playing and subsequently poning newblers. Jack Burton seemed to express
that I was some kind of newbtastic newbmachine. Not so…I’m no where
near his prowess, but I am no newb. No newb I say.

World of Warcraft comes out quite soon, and I shall be creating my
dwarf rouge…and he’ll stab you in the back, as rogues are oft to do.
Excitment abounds.

In other news, I’m still playing a lot of Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War…and yes I’ll kick your ass.

12 Nov 2004 by Afrotect

comments (0)

I’m worried. On the one hand, I’m excited to see GoldenEye: Rogue
Agent, the sequel to one of my most beloved games, coming out on the
17th. The plot sounds interesting, which has you playing as a villain,
rather than the hero. On the other hand, it’s EA. And it’s
multiconsole, which means compromises on some level to ensure
compatibility. In short, it has real potential to suck.

One benefit of living within miles of a major college is the occasional
gaming events that take place on campus. Kyle Rohde, a representative
for EA, was kind enough to let us know about a launch event taking
place on the 15th in the Hawk’s Next of the Kansas Union, at 7:00 PM.
Apparently, they’ll have an Xbox there with a copy of the game
available for play, as well as a “making of” video, and a showing of
the original GoldenEye movie. Food and drinks are also provided.

What’s better is the post-Thanksgiving tourney they’re hosting, which
has a set of Logitech Z-2300’s and a Logitech Cordless Xbox controller
as prizes.

Outside of that, this week isn’t too bad about big releases. The only
other significant release was EverQuest 2, and I know some would debate
its significance. But I’m sure Shadow would kill them all.

11 Nov 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

Otherwise you wouldn’t get a post today. As some of you might have
heard, Halo 2 is out. And yes, I am playing a LOT of online games. The
Xbox Live play is simply stupendous, and I really can find only a few
faults with it. In the many numerous Team Skirmish games that I’ve
played, I’ve experienced very little to no lag, and I still can’t
believe that is the case. I have had two games that had a lot of lag,
but those all involved just some crazy gametypes that I made up to play
with 16 people, and it just happened to be too much for one of to host,
so we were left scurrying around for a bit. Besides that, I am enjoying
the game thoroughly.

Somehow I managed to convince Afro to come by and help me advance my
ranking on the team skirmish mode, as well as help him become less of a
n00b at Halo 2. Well, it went pretty well, if I might say so myself. We
ended up with a win percentage somewhere around 80-90%, and we each
ranked up a bit, myself up to 8, and Afro up to 5.

The stat-tracking on Halo 2 and bungie.net is simply amazing. I can’t
say enough about it. Those guys poured their hearts into this game to
make sure that it was going to change how we all view online gaming,
and they did a great job with it. From the onilne parties that you can
form, to the random playlists so no one can really cheat, the game is a
blast online. I know you can usually go without Xbox Live for some
games and be alright, but you’re really doing yourself a disservice if
you aren’t playing Halo 2 on Xbox Live, you’re just missing WAY too
much. Oh well, that’s all I’ve got now…I gotta get some sleep…but
first…just one more game….yes, that’s right….one more…..

-Jack

10 Nov 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

The Game is upon us. Richie and I went down to EB last night to capture all of the action: Halo 2 Madness Video

Also here is the show: November 7th, 2004

09 Nov 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Well, today’s that day, everyone. Halo 2 finally hit shelves, after
much drama and anticipation. And that crazy dude who got November 9th
tattooed on his arm can sleep well tonight.

Just like Star Wars fans, Halo fans lined up in front of Best Buys,
GameStops, and EB Games everywhere before midnight so they could get
Halo 2 ASAP. BreakmanX and myself hit the scene the streets, armed with
a video and digicam, to capture the lines of people freezing their
asses off in the November cold. To be honest, most of the people in
line were pretty boring: When we put the camera to them, they just went
blank, nothing to say. Luckily, we met up with our own LooseCannon, who
provided tons of entertainment. We also capped the EB Games crew in
action, with Jack working the counter, Shrek acting as bouncer, and
Phylo pushing the Halo 2 strategy guide to people waiting in line.

Break is currently editing out all the bullshit, and should have a
final video up in a couple days. Keep your eyes peeled for it. In the
meantime, try not to lose too much sleep.

09 Nov 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

I’ve got a huge test in my graduate level Christianity class today, and
aside from the show last night it’s been nothing but studying. Some
last minute cramming last night and today are delaying the show, but
once my brain has been melted by the inexcapable written test I am
about to embark on I will return with a post and the show from last
night. Until then I advise you to sit in your room, turn off the
lights, and get ready for Halo 2.

You sick fuck, not like that, get your clothes on. Yes, I can see you, and it burns my eyes.

08 Nov 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Be sure to catch us today at 7:00 Central Standard Time on the The Game Show. Click HERE to start the broadcast. To write in questions, go to the IRC chat. Its easy =)

07 Nov 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Yes, Halo 2 is almost upon us all. Perhaps the most hyped game of
all-time, it seems like it’s going to break records without a doubt. I
know I can’t wait to get my hands on it, and I’m sure that most of you
can’t, either. So here’s my question to all of you planning on picking
up the game:

Are you going to jump straight into multiplayer, or are you going to take time to play the single-player campaign first?

I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to jump right into the
campaign on normal. Why normal? Because I want to beat it first for the
story. As most of you know, I think that the story in the Halo Universe
is simply amazing, and I can’t wait to see where it leads, and what
surprises and twists that it takes. Of course, after I beat it, I’m
probably going to go through again on a harder difficulty level to see
the AI in REAL action, and see just smart those little alien bastards
can be.

Then I’ll just take my sweet, sweet time playing multiplayer for
god-knows-how-long. I’m pretty sure it’ll keep me busy for months, if
not years to come. Who knows. Anywho, my anticipation for this title is
at a fever-pitch, but let me offer one bit of advice before you all
head out to your local gamestore to pick it up:

Get in line early. Most places are going to have huge lines before
midnight, so if you want to get it at midnight madness events, get
there as early as you can on Monday to make sure that you won’t have to
wait for forever in line that night, you’ll get to wait for forever
during the day.

-Jack

06 Nov 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Here follows my futile attempt to compete with Break’s posting of the
Episode III trailer. I have no illusions: Nothing I could say here
would be anywhere near
as important as this trailer. Unless, of course, you’re a fanatical
Trekkie. Regardless, I ask all of you to watch the trailer before you
read on. It’s that cool.

The impatience and stupidity of some gamers continues to boggle me. Apparently, some retailers in the Midwest have been breaking the release date
and letting their copies of Halo 2 go early. Honestly, it doesn’t
surprise me. Breaking the retail date isn’t a new thing; it was done
with my beloved Project Gotham Racing 2. I still don’t see the
reasoning, though: I’m sure whatever retailer that did this could end
up in a serious legal shitstorm if caught. Meh, whatever, I’ll let
Darwin do his work.

In other news, I’ve recently found
something to tide me over till Gran Turismo 4, both off and online,
come out. It’s called Live for Speed,
and it’s currently available in a shareware demo, which is fully
unlockable once you buy a license. It really is Gran Turismo for the
PC. It doesn’t have near the selection of cars, but the range of car
tuning is greater, and the physics feel more advanced. It’s great for a
geek like me, who enjoys spending hours on end fiddling with suspension
and tire pressure. A warning, though, you cannot play LfS like an
arcade racer. It takes a lot of time playing with settings to get the
most out of a car, and even then, if you screw up a mundane detail
somewhere, it can make the driving experience a nightmare. I know: I
messed up one suspension setting on my “Honda” hatchback, ended up with
a very asshappy car under braking, and spent the next hour figuring out
where I went wrong. Sound like a massive headache? You’d be better off
going with OutRun 2 or NFSU2.

04 Nov 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

Some nice fellow ripped it from Access Hollywood. Seeing Vader again about made me die.

Episode III Trailer

Episode III Trailer Local Mirror

04 Nov 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

After clocking in about 5-6 hours on DOA Ultimate (hey, I’ve had a lot
of work to do lately), I’m just about ready to say that it might be the
best 3D fighting game ever. Soul Calibur 2 rocks, yes, as does Tekken,
and MK isn’t bad. However, the online play and the way the online play
is set up in DOA Ultimate just puts it head and shoulders above all of
the other contenders in the genre.

The play is smooth, the graphics are wonderful, and the online play is
just near flawless. Of the 3 hours I’ve spent playing online, I’ve only
experienced one game with some lag, and that was mainly because Richie
was acquiring some Initial D at the time, which I really can’t blame
him for doing.

But the bottom line is that DOA Ultimate rocks. Hardcore. If you’re a
fan of fighting games, you must get DOA Ultimate. It’s way too good to
pass up. What are you waiting for?!?!? Go buy it!

5 days….16 hours…. *drools*

-Jack

p.s. Funniest Thing Ever.

03 Nov 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Shit, I’m not even playing
San Andreas, and I already see it’s effects in my casual speech. Don’t
get me wrong; when I went in to get a drug screening for a job today, I
didn’t say to the nurse, “Yo bitch, I need to get my muthafuckin’ ass
piss tested!” I have more control than that. Speaking of control,
Wal-Mart did a little control of their own. I’ve heard on various
forums that the Wal-Mart version of San Andreas replaces the “N-word”
with homie. I’m sure it’s just so they can look good to parents and
politicians. I mean, really, even with out the “N-word” present in the
dialogue, there are still a bazillion things to warp your mind. If they
censor that, they might as well censor out the parts where your
girlfriend suggests doing a drive-by shooting on your date.

Oh, and since I know a bunch of people that visit the site are looking
forward to S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadows of Chernobyl, I thought I’d shit in
their cereal and let you know it’s been delayed.
I’m disappointed, but confident at the same time. The game looked
awesome from what we saw at E3, but it’d be sad to see S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
go down as another title that could have been extraordinary with a
little more work. Personally, I’m willing to wait ‘till May of ’05 to
see this game done right. If anything, look at it this way: At least
they delayed it for a good reason, unlike Shellshock: Nam ’67.

Beyond learning ebonics from San Andreas, I’ve been spending my time
playing the full version of Outrun 2, that crazy Sega game that centers
around drifting and Ferrari’s. The good news: There’s hours and hours
of potential game play for your $40. The bad news: Some of it is fairly
mindless and stupid. Like the Math Mode, which has you do simple
addition and subtraction as you race a given course. Or the Fruit Mode,
which has you memorize a series of fruit icons, then makes you repeat
the series at the end of the race. It’s like the developers were
desperate for ideas, and just ran with whatever they pulled out of
their ass. Others, though, like Heart Attack mode, are awesome. I find
it kind of sexy when my fine-ass co-driver tells me to drift more, but
I’m weird like that.

02 Nov 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

Did I scare you? No? Well shit, at least I tried to throw some All Hallows Eve spirit your way.

Well, here’s the deal, folks. Jack is off in Wichita, and we figured
all of you would have your own plans for tonight, and decided for a
no-show. If it offends you, I suggest you go pee on a PSP in your time
you normally give to us. We will be back at our normal time next week.

I’m so excited for Halo 2 at this point I can’t breathe, and I don’t
know why it’s taken this long. I mean, I’ve played the damn gamn at E3.
It is looking so hot an sexy that it could almost be ruled as
pornography. It scares me to think of the state of the world
post-November 9th. Everyone’s going to be playing Halo, everyone. It’s
going to be a worldwide orgy of bits, bytes, and frags. Wouldn’t it be
crazy if it crashed the internet? So many people online playing the
game at the same time. Well… some will play the single player all the
way through first, that may be our saving grace.

A Perfect Circle’s CD, eMOTIVe, comes out on Tuesday and I suggest you
all pick it up on your way home from the voting booths.

31 Oct 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Finally, an online fighting game has been released that got it right.
Dead or Alive Ultimate came out on Thursday, and I actually managed to
put down GTA for a while to play this wonderful fighting game. First
off, I dare you to find a console game that looks better than the
remake of DOA2. You simply can’t. The character models are even better
than they are in DOA: Beach Volleyball, and the environments are simply
spectacular. The animation, as always, is smooth as butter, and all of
the moves flow from one to the next, which is always aesthetically
pleasing.

But while the game looks unbelievably good, that’s not what they got
right that no one else has. DOA Ultimate has finally done online
fighting the way it should be done, like you’re at an Arcade. What does
that mean? Well, basically you can sign in to Xbox Live, find a room
that you want to join with up to 7 other people, and then you’re all
basically standing around a virtual arcade machine online. There’s a
queue on the machine, just like there would be in real life, and you
get to watch the matches that take place before yours, so you can pick
up strategies while you’re waiting and talking to all of the guys that
are "standing" around the machine as well. This detail is incredibly
significant. Up to the release of Dead or Alive Ultimate, online
fighting games consisted of basically finding an opponent, and then
fighting him until you were both tired of fighting each other, and then
dropping out of the room and finding another person to fight. This
change makes an incredible difference.

One last thing that I’ll say about DOA Ultimate, is that the remake of
DOA2 has some of the coolest stages that I’ve ever seen in a fighting
game. The safari level is awesome, you can hit your opponent into
various wildlife, such as lions, elephants, or hippos, and they all
react in one way or another when they get bothered. The suspension
bridge level is also one of my favorites, as is the snow level. The
fact of the matter is, if you enjoy fighting games, pick up DOA:
Ultimate, and even if you don’t, rent it just to see what online
fighting games can be like. It’s simply amazing. Expect a proper review
once BMX 4.0 is up.

-Jack

30 Oct 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Well I haven’t posted in a while, mainly because I’ve been so absorbed
in Final Fantasy XI that I actually called myself Afrotect at dinner,
and I keep trying to resurrect my sleeping room mates.

If you are short on a game to play right now, for the love of god go
play the Guild Wars world event, it’s absolutely BEAUTIFUL and it plays
a lot like a MMORPG Diablo.

A little bit of a run down: Make your character by picking main job and
subjob. I’ve made a Mesmer / Elementalist and a Warrior / Monk. Mesmers
deal with illusion magic and a few buffs. The Elementalist side of me
packed some heavy punching spells, my favorite being a biblical rain of
fire. My Warrior has a neat Adrenaline system, a little bit like rage
in WoW. The more you hit, the more your adrenaline raises, and at
certain levels you can pull of some sweet moves, breaking peoples legs
making them run slower or smacking them with your hammer and knocking
them on their back.

The monk is the healer of the group, so a typical combat goes like this
for my warrior ho: Throw on Healing Hands (For the next 10 seconds,
whenever I would take physical damage, I instead gain 5 life) hit
Sprint (speed buff) and pull out my enormous hammer, then charge in and
would the guy, hit him a couple times, break his leg, then knock him on
his ass.

Long story short, this preview only goes until the 31st, so do
yourselves a favor and get a taste of this game. My only fear about it
is that it might end up a bit like City of Heroes for me, all the same
stuff just at different levels. I’m definitely picking this game up
when it comes out, and hopefully I’ll be able to get in the beta.

One amazing thing about the game, I don’t know if this is going to be
in the full version of the game or not, but the initial client is only
a FEW KB to download. Then you log in, and it downloads and installs
the login client for the game. Once in the game, it downloads and
installs content as you go. When you’re in a zone, you see a little
lightning bolt at the top, that’s how fast things are downloading. I
think it downloads adjacent zones to the one you’re in. When you enter
a new zone, it downloads everything else it needs, then opens it up.
This is all cached on your drive, so the game grows and grows as you
visit more and more places. I think this is a great idea, streaming the
content to your computer as the game goes, and I hope it pans out like
I think it will.

Just click here to get to their site. Look me up: Onna no Hito

29 Oct 2004 by Afrotect

comments (0)

First off, some more interesting news about the PSP. Sony has
officially stated that their PSP will not only be released for less
than $200, but will have four to five hours worth of battery life for
gameplay, and three to four hours for movie playback. Are these numbers
for real, or are they getting their measurements by playing Tetris with
the screen set at the lowest brightness? Are they using that Sony gift
to developers that allows calculation of battery life with any given
game? I don’t know, but aside from the price, this was my only other
real concern about the PSP, Sony fanboys aside.

Secondly, I’m sure any respectable gamer is well aware of what a
wallet-thinning, time-consuming, productivity-owning month November is
shaping up to be. Some not-so-insignificant games, like Half Life 2,
Metal Gear Solid 3, and Halo 2, are all going to be released within
weeks of each other. Ubisoft saw this coming, and made a very smart
move, in my opinion: They pushed back the released of Prince of Persia
2 by two weeks, from Nov. 15th to the 30th. I’m sure some PoP fans will
piss and moan over this, and rightfully so. No fan likes to see his
anticipated game get moved further away from him. But Ubisoft has to
think about sales, or lack thereof, if they released PoP 2 during the
November avalanche of games. With such big name games being released so
close to each other, some are bound to fall off the gamer radar, it’d
be sad to see PoP 2 be one of them.

And lastly, I wanted to give my thoughts on the Need For Speed
Underground 2 demo I just spent some time with. It’s what Max Payne 2
is to Max Payne: Some improvements, and addition here or there, but
basically more of the same. One thing that stood out, though, was the
drift courses, which aren’t the circuit type we’re used to from NFSU.
They’re more like mountain passes, which I can’t help but think is a
nod to Initial D fanboys like me. Aside from that, everything else felt
normal. The cars are still sport extravagant body kits, the physics are
still slightly dumbed down, and you can still hit a car at 100+ MPH and
come away with out a scratch on your ride. Returning NFSU veterans
should be pleased.

28 Oct 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

Once again, my original topic just doesn’t seem to cover what I really
want to talk about now, since the story just broke here in the last few
hours.

The PSP has just gotten a launch date and price for Japan earlier today, and you can see the press release here.

The PSP is officially going to launch in Japan on Dec. 12th for 19,800 Yen, or about $185 USD.

Color me officially shocked. I (as well as many industry analysts)
expected the PSP to cost upwards of $300-$500 dollars at launch. I
think that this will swing many people towards it, and away from the
DS, sadly. One thing that isn’t really mentioned in the press release
once again however, is the battery life of the handheld.

The unofficial word on the battery life on the PSP is about 1 & 1/2
hours on one charge when playing games and watching movies. Now, I
don’t know about you, but I like being able to play my handheld for
more than an hour when I’m out, so we’ll see if they get this taken
care of.

I guess overall, this just makes this upcoming handheld hardware battle
even more interesting. It should at the very least be very fun to watch
and see what happens once both handhelds are on the market. Personally,
I’m still getting a DS first, but if the PSP does come out at around
$150-$180 over here, I’m sold on it, as long as the games aren’t still
$50.

Oh yeah, and BTW, GTA: San Andreas is fun. Eating and working out is annoying, but the game is fun despite that.

-Jack

27 Oct 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

God Damn you for ending what was gonna be an awesome remake of an
already amazing game. God Damn you for feeling threatened by this group
of fans who wanted nothing more than to see their vision come to life. God Damn you.

What I’m talking about is Chrono Resurrection,
a project to turn my beloved Chrono Trigger into a true 3-D game, and
make it look damn good in the process. They were making real progress,
too: They made a trailer and screenshots
of their progress available. Then Squeenix came along and hit
Resurrection with a Cease and Desist order. And that was it; the
project was discontinued.

Yeah, I know, Squeenix has to
protect their copyright and shit. I know that, and the members of
Resurrection know that, but still, God Dammit! There was speculation
among other fans of the project that the only reason Squeenix would
pull something like this is because they have something along the same
lines already in the works. That’s a nice thought, but it’s still a
pisser for me, since I had such high hopes for the project.

Anyway, that’s all the ranting and raving I have for you today. And,
for Christ’s sake, comment, motherfuckers! BMX.com 3.0 will only be
around for a little while, so use it! Seeing comments lets me know my
time wasn’t fucking wasted here.

26 Oct 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

A massive orgy, Da Charts, Halo 2, and Nintendo getting gay with censorship.

October 24th, 2004

24 Oct 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Be sure to catch us today at 7:00 Central Standard Time on the The Game Show. Click HERE to start the broadcast. To write in questions, go to the IRC chat. Its easy =)

24 Oct 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Well, I had planned a really long and lengthy post about how good Men
of Valor is (and believe me, it’s easily the best Vietnam game out
now). The sounds and the voice-acting are top-notch, and the historical
accuracy with which the story is told, is simply unmatched (to my
knowledge).

However, I then stumbled across the Elder Scrolls Screenshots page.

For those of you that don’t know, Elder Scrolls is the series in which
Morrowind is set, and the new title, Oblivion is set for PC and Xbox 2
sometime late 2005 (or early 2006). Look at the pics, and just drool.
They are incredibly sexy.

-Jack

p.s. Quick shout out to the All-Stars! We’re 1-0, baby!

23 Oct 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

That’s right, chalk up another point for the piracy squad. GTA: San
Andreas, another one of this years much anticipated titles, was made
available online yesterday. Check here
if you don’t believe me. It’s quite a scary trend, with this being the
4th big name game to be pirated, including Halo 2, Doom 3 (twice), and
Half-Life 2. Though the pirates have been “merciful” recently: The two
most recent incidents had no effect on release dates, since both had
already gone gold. Still, it’s kinda disturbing. Pretty soon we’ll be
saying, “Hey, that game looks pretty cool, it been pirated yet?”

The thing I can’t get through my head, though, is why someone would
risk legal and financial disaster to get a hold of a game six days in
advance. Six fucking days.
Is it an ego booster, knowing you committed such a crime? Bragging
rights? Makes your e-wang bigger? Meh, whatever, I’m sure I can do with
out such people, ones that are willing to go to such stupid lengths.
All so you can play a game 20 days in advance, with out multiplayer, in
French. No thanks, I’ll repress the impatient asshole in me and wait for a legit copy.

And, if pre-movie advertisements weren’t bad enough, you might be seeing ad in your games, too.
Apparantly, the system they’re talking about is able to update ads
in-game in real time, and report on which ads are seen how many times.
It can also air specific ads during specific times, like Sundays and
“primetime”, which I’m guessing is some nighttime hour. On the one
hand, I really don’t worry. I’m the kind of person who isn’t effected
by advertisements at all. TV, radio, magazines, whatever.
Knowing it’s a ploy to get my money is enough to turn me away. So what
if there’s the occasional Sprite billboard in a game? I can’t see
myself looking at one and saying, “Oooooh, I’m thirsty”, and getting
killed over the distraction. On the other hand, look what spam did to
e-mail. I just can’t see such mass marketing not having a big effect on
the game.

21 Oct 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

The gaming gods have smiled once again upon all of us this monday, when
they allowed VU Games to finally announce that Half-Life 2 was indeed,
finally gold. Not only was this announced, but VU and Valve also
announced the release date for the game: November 16th.

Now imagine my state of conflicted-ness when I read that for the first
time. We have two of the biggest games ever being released within one
week of each other in Halo 2 and Half-Life 2. Why the hell would VU
even want to release AFTER Halo 2? Do they think it will sell better
while people are still playing Halo 2 multiplayer? Or do they think it
won’t affect their sales at all?

Nevertheless, since I do play both my Xbox and my PC, and I love both
franchises, I am left with quite the conundrum. On the one hand, I
could beat Halo 2 within a week, which is something that is very
possible, and then start playing through the single-player for
Half-Life 2, and then go back to Halo 2′s multiplayer. The other option
is to just not play Half-Life 2 until I’m all done with Halo 2
completely, which I know won’t happen for a loooooong time.

So you can see my tiny dilemma here, I’m sure. This is going to be a
difficult November between these two games, not to mention all of the
other amazing games being released in November, like Metroid Prime 2,
Prince of Persia 2, Ghost Recon 2, along with many others. Some games
that shouldn’t are going to bomb, simply because the market is just
going to be flooded with new games right around that time. Hopefully,
this will make a few companies think twice about releasing all of their
games within a 2-month period right towards the end of fall.

-Jack

20 Oct 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Not only is he a crazy ass musician, but he’s also a Platinum racer. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to spend a few rounds online with him.

It was quite a pisser for me that we didn’t have a show on Sunday. I
had all sorts of good shit to talk about, not the least of which was
the recent Halo 2 leak. I also wanted to talk about, among other things, the new Xbox holiday bundle,
and why it rocks so much harder than last years. Though I’ve never
played Top Spin, or NCAA Football 2005, I simply can’t see how either
one, much less both, could be any worse than the pitiful excuse
for a bundle that was the Tetris/Clone Wars disc. Ain’t got a ‘box yet?
Crawl out of that bomb shelter you’ve been living in since the Cold War
and take advantage of this deal. To quote the Borg, "Resistance is
futile."

These days, when I’m not suffering due to the
complete ignorance and total lack of skill that most PGR2 players
possess, I’m exploring the new Battlefield Vietnam maps, introduced
along with the v1.2 patch. The maps, Fall of Saigon, Saigon 1968, and
Operation Cedar Falls, add tunnels to the mix. It’s like adding a
basement floor to these maps. With the new tunnelified maps, the flags
are split between above and below ground, so each team must cover both
to win. And, letting my ego speak here, I completely own at tunnel
combat. I’m sure to get a flame from Afro for this, but I owe some of
my success to CS:Source. Though I invariably get owned whenever I go on
Source, it still teaches me a lot about close-quarters combat, like
crouching and grenade use. When you change between above and below
ground, your attitude and tactics have to change as well, and Source
helped me hone in my underground game.

So, since I’ve reached the end, I’m gonna make up for Sunday and say, "See ya in the game."

19 Oct 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

Yeah, I feel like total shit.

I went home this weekend for my dad’s birthday, and all seemed to go
well. The family events, the taking care of the niece, and the chilling
with the SheBreak. Yes, all seemed to be in order, or at least that is
what I was made to think.

I started to head back to Lawrence, and after about 45 minutes of being
in the car my stomach started doing some kind of dance. I wasn’t quite
sure what was up at first. I just kept driving and driving. All the
while my stomach got sicker and sicker, and my head got dizzier and
dizzier. The inevitable happened, and I stopped along side the road
to… give back to the Earth.

I called up Richie and gave him the news, and to inform him that unless
he wanted to wear a rain suit during the show that it couldn’t happen.
It sucks, and it pisses me off more than anyone to miss a show, but you
guys really don’t want me making gagging noises through the whole thing.

I thank you for your understanding, and give you the promise that we
shall return all ‘ass kicky’ upon our next arrival. I am now heading
back to bed.

18 Oct 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

We won’t be having a Show today. It seems that Break contracted the flu from his family, and Jack has gone MIA.

So, from everyone at BMX.com, have a fun Sunday night with out us.

17 Oct 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

Despite the ultra-crappiness of Halo 2 being leaked onto the ‘net on wednesday night, the all-new Halo2.com just relaunched yesterday, and it’s really friggin’ cool.

The entire site is now in Covenant language, so you’ll pretty much need
a decoder for it, which you can find at nearly any halo-related
website, such as HBO.
They’ve got some great pictures up on the site, and if you do manage to
take the time to decode all of the phrases on the site, you will catch
some great humor on there.

Also, I’ve been playing Paper
Mario 2 to keep my mind sharp and off of other things, and it’s been
working really well. I’m having a lot of fun with it so far. I’d have
to call it kind of a mix between the first Paper Mario (which I hated)
and Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga. The game is really fun, it’s also
simple but complex, and just a very good-looking game.

Midway Arcade Treasures 2 has also been occupying various Televisions
in my vicinity, and yes, it too is very fun. Finally, I have the chance
to beat Total Carnage without wasting god-knows-how-many quarters on
it. MK2 and MK3 are also the highlights of the disc, as is Hard Drivin’
and Rampage World Tour….ah, memories!

-Jack

16 Oct 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Halo 2 has been pirated, and released on the net.

Someone is gonna burn over this.

14 Oct 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

Yes. Katamari Damacy is owning my soul right now. Well, not
completely…I am still having a great time with the game, but I also
managed to pick up another little gem of a game that I’m having a blast
with as well, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. It’s the sequel to
N64′s Paper Mario, and it evolves on many of the gameplay elements that
were introduced in it, and also Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga for
GBA.

The game is very fun, and even though I’m only on Chapter 2, I think
it’s a lot of fun. Very inventive situations with the whole paper-thin
theme, and the graphics are also very well-done, in their own sort of
quirky style. The game also pokes fun at itself, and other Nintendo
games, so every gamer should simply love the humor that is found
throughout.

Back to Katamari though, I just finished a review for it, and it will
be debuting as soon as Mambo gets back up, along with my Star Wars:
Battlefront review which can be found over at Lawrence.com right now, thanks to Matt Cox over there.

And of course, what post from me would be complete without some sort of
Halo-related news? Here’s a track from the upcoming Halo 2 soundtrack
(note: this music is NOT in Halo 2. It’s simply on the soundtrack CD
that you can buy separately of the game. They’re putting a lot of
Halo-inspired music from mainstream bands on there in an attempt to
sell more copies.) You can check out the song from Breaking Benjamin,
called Blow Me Away, HERE.

-Jack

12 Oct 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

I thought, since we have both Star Trek, and Star Wars geeks here, I’d present this amazing comparison chart.
I found this in a ST > SW thread elsewhere. The ST defenders had a
bitch of a time proving their point after this picture was posted, the
Executor-class Star Destroyer being, by far, the largest ship presented. Still, I’d put my money on a Borg Cube any day.

Anyway, I got around to playing Tribes: Vengeance multiplayer today, at
Mecha’s suggestion. But before that, I spent a good 12 hours getting my
computer back the way I like it after I formatted my hard drive. The
lack of a good firewall had left me naked to the whim of spyware, and
instability had led me to believe something was seriously wrong in
Windows. So, after taking some canned air to my rigs innards, and
literally cleaning out the cobwebs, I started from scratch. Doing this
routine always does wonders for any computer that’s had the same
Windows install on it for over a year. I think I get a few more FPS out
of Battlefield, but it’s probably just my imagination.

Back to Tribes. Some other, more hardcore Tribes fans may disagree, but
I think this new multiplayer is better than that of the original
Tribes. Maybe I’m just partial to the Unreal engine, though, who knows.
Anyway, the demo is somewhat hefty, a 472 MB download,
but it comes complete with four excellent maps, and two of the cooler
vehicles. PA fans: It takes just as much concentration to fly the
fighters as it does those scouts. True dat.

12 Oct 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

For your listening pleasure

10 Oct 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Be sure to catch us today at 7:00 Central Standard Time on the The Game Show. Click HERE to start the broadcast. To write in questions, go to the IRC chat. Its easy =)

And in my own personal news yesterday was a very good day. As you might
know, I go to KU and have been a huge Jayhawk fan since I was 2 years
old. Although the record between our biggest rival, K-State, has been
61 wins for us, to 31 wins for them since 1911, they have beaten us the
last 12 times. It’s hard to explain the overall record to K-State fans,
as to them 12 years ago was the start of their program. We hired a new
coach a few years ago, and have been steadily improving to what finally
happened last night. We beat them. To anyone reading this, it prolly
doesn’t mean a thing, but to any lifelong Jayhawk fan it is a huge
deal. We now have the present AND the past. Cheers for number 62, baby.

10 Oct 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

So I decided to give SVC: Chaos (the 3rd Capcom vs. SNK game) a try
since it just came out for xbox, and also because I’m a huge fan of the
CvS series thus far. Boy oh boy…what a mistake that was.

Unlike the first two games in the series, this one was made with SNK’s
NeoGeo hardware, which really shows its age here. Games like Metal Slug
are able to hide the hardware’s shortcomings in a variety of different
ways, but for some reason, SVC Chaos just makes those shortcomings
stand out like a sore thumb.

The online play isn’t even worth mentioning because it’s just as
bare-bones as CVS2 was, which is pretty much inexcusable on Capcom’s
part. The fact that they also want to charge $50 for the game is also
ludicrous, considering that there aren’t even half of the characters
available in this game when compared to CVS2, and I don’t think there
are even as many characters that were in the first CVS game. The
graphics are pretty blocky, and the sound is almost worse than super
nintendo-quality. This is definitely a huge step backwards in the CVS
series, and I hope it is one that gets rectified as soon as possible,
because I really do love the series.

Anyways, Counter-Strike Source is quite amazing, if you’re going to buy
Half-life 2, just go ahead and purchase it on steam. You’ll get to play
CS: Source now, and you won’t give any of your money to Vivendi
Universal. Everyone wins. Now, back to cs_office…my new favorite CS:
Source map. (But they’re all beautiful)

-Jack

09 Oct 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Short post today, mainly because I’m overwhelmed with excitement,
nervousness, and a ton of stuff for my film classes. However, wish me
luck…in absence of a long tirade though, here is what I DO have:

Half-life 2 information!!!!!

Taken directly from Half-Life2.net

Half-Life 2 Steam Offers Ready Thursday

Tomorrow at 11 am PST, the Half-Life 2 Steam offers will be ready for
purchase. Details and pricing for these offers are pasted below. Those
who purchase via Steam, will receive the final version of
Counter-Strike: Source immediately. Half-Life 2 and other games in the
Steam offerings will be made available to purchasers upon their release.

ATI/Half-Life 2 bundle owners may redeem their product key for the
Bronze offer or apply their key toward the purchase of either the
Silver or Gold offers, receiving a credit equal to the price of the
Bronze offer.

Also tomorrow, the Counter-Strike: Source beta will close. Valve would
like to thank the thousands of gamers who participated in the beta and
helped make it a success.

For more detailed information, please visit www.steampowered.com

Half-Life 2 Steam Offers

STEAM OFFERINGS

1. "Bronze" — $49.95
– Half-Life 2*
– Counter-Strike: Source
*(To be made available upon product’s release.)

2. "Silver" — $59.95
– Half-Life 2*
– Counter-Strike: Source
– Half-Life 1: Source*
– Day of Defeat: Source*
– Valve’s back catalog currently available on Steam *(To be made available upon products’ release.)

3. "Gold" — $89.95
– Half-Life 2*
– Counter-Strike: Source
– Half-Life 1: Source*
– Day of Defeat: Source*
– Valve’s back catalog currently available on Steam
– Complete Half-Life 2 Strategy Guide from Prima Games
– 3 different Half-Life 2 posters
– Half-Life Collector’s box
– Half-Life 2 hat
– Half-Life 2 postcard
– Half-Life 2 stickers
– Half-Life 2 Soundtrack CD
– Chance to win a trip to Valve! (1 trip offered for every 5000 Gold packages purchased).
*(To be made available upon products’ release.)

Commence with the jigglin’!

-Jack

06 Oct 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

 

I mentioned the release of the Tribes: Vengeance demo on Sunday, and
since the retail version has his shelves. It’s already got a v. 1.01
patch out for it, which is necessary for online play, but that doesn’t
shock me like it used to. Anyway, it’s…different. It uses the new
Unreal engine, so Unreal II and UT2K4 fans will recognize the graphics
style. Needless to say, thing’s look great, even on a sub-par machine
such as mine. What’s so different is how the game starts. Within 30
seconds, you’re knee deep into a kidnapping plot that has ended with
you in the middle of a Roman-type gladiator arena. You start the action
fighting off baddies as they come, with a few teammates to help.
Staples of Tribes weaponry, like the Chain Gun and Spinfusor are back,
along with some newbies, like the Rocket Pack. There’s a lot more I
could tell you, but I’ll let the demo do its job. Check it here.

Also got a chance to try the OutRun 2 demo for Xbox, and I’m happy to
say it’s as much fun on the ‘box as it is in the arcade. Drifting isn’t
an exact science like it is in Gran Turismo 3, but it’s simple enough
that anyone can give the brakes a tap, do a few slides, and have the
general idea down in no time. Give it another 20 minutes of practice,
and you’ll be drifting the racing line and putting the computer to
shame. I hear that Sega wasn’t gonna release OutRun 2 in the US, so
Microsoft offered to instead. Good God, Sega, just because most of us
drive Ford’s doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy getting sideways. Ever heard
of the drifting craze sweeping the nation? Yeah, your game caters
beautifully to those crazed drifters, and you let MS get in on your
profits. As if MS doesn’t have enough money already.

06 Oct 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

Since we here at BreakmanX.com are apparently a bunch of Sony-bashers, I’m gonna do my part for the crew and bring up this Gamespot article
which mentions two game industry analysts that believe the PSP will be
pushed back as far as November 2005. Perhaps they’re working out a new
battery system? One that lasts longer than 90 minutes?

Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.

In other news, North Korea is apparently gearing up for an information war. According to this FT.com article,
that particular axis of evil has trained 600 hackers via a college
program for use against their much-loved neighbors to the south, and
the US. And, according to the South Koreans, they’ve already gone to
work, attacking atomic energy computers, stealing passwords and other
“sensitive information”. Seriously, I’d expect to see this in one of
Mr. Clancy’s NetForce novels, if it hasn’t been done already. Scary.

Lastly, to avoid death at the cross by Jack and Break, I watched
Rounders on DVD last night. If you were in on the Show, you’ll know Mr.
ManneX and Mr. Burton both nearly exploded when they learned I hadn’t
see it. I’m not big into the “Cadillac of Poker”, so most of the
technical terms used flew over my head, but it was enjoyable
nonetheless. Besides, it’s got Tyler Durden…er…I mean Edward Norton
from Fight Club in it. That must mean it’s good.

/fightclubfanboy

05 Oct 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

The Show be up.

03 Oct 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Be sure to catch us today at 7:00 Central Standard Time on the The Game Show. Click HERE to start the broadcast. To write in questions, go to the IRC chat. Its easy =)

03 Oct 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Ok, so it’s not that much, but if you head out now and pick up the
latest XBN magazine (the one with the big silver MC on the front), you
will get the first tiny nuggets of Halo 2 single player information
that’s been released by Bungie for quite some time.

The biggest revelation that has come out of this article is probably
the introduction of a new Covenant race, the Drones. What are the
Drones? Well, from what I read, I gather that if you imagine the
Geonosians from Star Wars: Episode II, and make them bigger, meaner,
and give them sniper rifles and fuel rod cannons, you’re on the right
track. Just what we needed…Covenant snipers.

There was also an article in Wired on Halo 2 as well, and while it
didn’t have the huge bombshell of a new Covenant race in it, it did
give some pretty cool details involving the Chief’s interaction with
other UNSC forces. Now apparently, you can walk right up to any UNSC
marine and switch your gun out for theirs. This can cause a lot of
hilarity, so now you can just walk up to Sgt. Johnson, give him your
needler for his battle rifle and he’ll say something like, "That hurts,
Chief. That really hurts."

But oh well…the game was sent off for final check yesterday, so
pretty much everyone at Bungie is done making the game. With less than
40 days to go until the game is released, I, on behalf of all BMX.com
staffers would like to wish all of the programmers at Bungie to have
great vacations until they go back to see their game smash every single
game record known to man. Please, think of us, try to come out to the
middle of nowhere if you can’t figure out anywhere to go…we’ll be
nice…promise.

-Jack

02 Oct 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Check it out yo.

Radio Ad

01 Oct 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Since I know it upset so many listeners two weeks ago when I announced
my job as a telemarketer, I’ll get this out of the way first. Yeah, I
quit that job. Somewhere between the agony of repeating the same six
paragraphs over and over for hours on end, and the necessary ammount of
bullshit that must be put into those paragraphs to make them sound
decent, I got sick of it. Besides, my heart just wasn’t in selling
country-western concert tickets for the Iowa State Troopers
Association. Not that I have something against Iowa’s finest, but I
just can’t bring myself to get excited over Joe Diffie and his greatest
hits. Those of you who know me probably understood this before I
started the job.

On a lighter note, the Donkey Konga theme won’t get out of my damn
head. Don-key, kon-ga! Despite absolutely sucking at it, I still manage
to have fun playing. Nintendo has done a good job of adapting such
oldies as “Whip It” and “We Will Rock You”, as well as some newer ones,
like “All The Small Things”. You’ll probably hear more from Jack and
Afro on this, since they’re bigger fans than I am, so I’ll leave it at
this.

And here’s some good news, Mel Brooks has stated that he’s currently
working on a sequel to his awesome parody film Spaceballs. If you don’t
believe me, check here. May the schwarts be with you.

30 Sep 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

This comes from the great Half-Life 2 community site, HalfLife2.net, and it’s some pretty big news for those of you waiting for the approaching release of Half-Life 2.

They’ve been informed of the different versions of the game that you
can buy, whether it be on Steam or Retail. So, without further ado,
here are the different packages:

Retail Boxes

Standard Edition — includes HL2 and CS:Source. Ships on six CDs, in one
of three box-art packages (Gordon, Alyx or the G-Man),

Collector’s Edition — includes Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike: Source,
Half-Life 1: Source, a Half-Life 2 T-shirtand a Prima book sampler.
Ships on a single DVD.

Steam Packages

Bronze — HL2* and CS:Source.

Silver — HL2*, Counter-Strike: Source, Half-Life 1: Source*, Day of
Defeat: Source*, Valve’s back catalog currently available on Steam.

Gold — HL2*, Counter-Strike: Source, Half-Life 1: Source*, Day of
Defeat: Source*, Valve’s back catalog currently available on Steam,
Complete Strategy Guide from Prima Games, 3 different Half-Life 2
posters, Half-Life 2 hat, Half-Life 2 postcard, Half-Life 2 stickers,
Half-Life 2 Soundtrack CD, Chance to win a trip to Valve! (1 trip
offered for every 5000 Gold packages purchased).

*To be made available upon product’s release.

If that’s not enough, Valve has also said that they are making the full
version of Counter-Strike: Source available for purchase on Steam
starting next week!

Looks like the wait is almost finally over…hopefully we’ll all have
Half-Life 2 in our grubby little hands in just a few short weeks.
Otherwise, I know it’s not getting any playtime until January at the
earliest.

-Jack

29 Sep 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

First of all, here’s the show September 26th, 2004

You all know about ‘the hacking’ by now. Well, the very next day,
someone decided to attack my computer as well. Somehow knowing my
motherboard inside and out, they completely fucked up my ROM, which
enabled them to fuck up some other things too. And fuck up they did,
completely ravaging my computer and rendering it worthless.

I was faced with the quandry that I knew I must get a computer, and
fast, or the site would be at a serious poopified state. Luckily I was
able to borrow the funds to secure this new computer, but what route
would I go? I’ve always built my own computers, so that seemed like the
first option. But, then I remembered how easily my computer was
overtaken. I started to think about other options I could do. Linux
seemed like a good bet, but then I remembered I’d already done that. I
then came across an article about how Apple had basically stolen OS X
from Linux, and then improved upon it. Linus Torvalds had even tried to
sue them. I started considering an Apple. I researched the G5 and found
out that with OS X it could do absolutely everything my PC could do
faster, except in the gaming dapartment. I started wondering if playing
all my PC games on my Xbox would really bother me that much.. and I
decided it wouldn’t. So, fair enough, I got a G5.

OS 10.3 is absolutely wonderful, and I’m completely happy with my
decision. And, I don’t have to worry about all the fucking viruses
shitting on my computer! What’s even better is that Richie came over
tonight to test out doing the show from this new machine. Absolutely
wonderful. It’s actually quite a bit easier than when I did it on the
PC. It has a built in recording option so I don’t even have to use a
separate program. The hardware and software of a Mac have finally
gotten to the point where I could get it. And I am absolutely loving it.

I don’t really think that either is better, a Mac or a PC. But, a Mac
is definately the better choice for me. I’m going to be working a lot
with video in the near future, and it is definately the best for that.
Here’s a pic of it side by side with the new mixer that is going to let
us all talk with NO mic switching!! YAY!!!

29 Sep 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Be sure to catch us today at 7:00 Central Standard Time on the The Game Show. Click HERE to start the broadcast. To write in questions, go to the IRC chat. Its easy =)

26 Sep 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Well, I guess since the site has been hacked and we’re using the old
version of the site, I figured I might as well do a post that has
something to do with the old version of the site (a little).

Well, if you haven’t heard it yet, Infinium Labs has officially bumped
the Phantom’s launch back to 2005. That’s right, after remaining silent
for so many months they found out that they’re millions in debt, and
they also got rejected by EA, Ubisoft, and THQ (wow…I just realized
that THQ has finally made a halfway-decent name for themselves) who all
won’t develop for the Phantom.

So they’ve pushed the release date to 2005…when in 2005? They didn’t
say. However, I’ve got an insider on the whole deal, and I can tell you
right now, I HAVE THE RELEASE DATE FOR THE PHANTOM! That’s right! Wanna
know what it is?

Phantom Launch Date: Smarch 15, 2005.

That’s no typo, either. The Phantom will come out in Smarch. Along with
the lousy Smarch weather, the Phantom launch should be guaranteed to
make it the worst month ever. Remember those shirts they gave out at E3
that said "I believe" on them? I’m getting the blowtorch soon…Afro
will probably do the same, or he’ll break down crying when he finds out
that he will have nothing to specifically write on for another year.

Anyways, hope you all enjoyed this Phantom fun moment, I know I sure
did. And by the way, to whoever completely fucked up our server with
the virus, just want you to know that you’ve got an angry Halo
pistol-whore on your tail, too. So after Break gets done with his
lightsaber, I get to have fun putting holes in the rest of what’s left.

-Jack

25 Sep 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

***UPDATE*** I FIXED THE FORUMS

Someone has delibrately planted a virus on our server that has fucked
almost everything up. You’ll notice the forums aren’t working, that is
because they are fucked as well. This current design will have to stay
until we get the other one working again.

Basically someone broke our database where all the info for 3.0 is held
(reviews, posts, news, and everything) and also into where all the
forum stuff is. I have it all backed up, but whatever they did won’t
allow the processing software on the server to see it. I can create new
databases, and they read fine, it’s just the old one. So, if anyone
knows anything about, or knows someone who does know anything about,
mysql and/or php let us know. Until then, it’s just the old stuff

I apologize for the incovenience, and I am working my damndest to get
this fixed. Oh, and when I find out who did this, their wang is going
to meet my lightsaber.

25 Sep 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Well…3.0 was fun while it lasted It’s going to be down
indefinitely for repairs, but we’ll keep you in the know as far as
progress goes, so prepare for some wicked mad business on my part.

If you have any questions or suggestions, drop me a line some time…

21 Jun 2004 by Afrotect

comments (0)

Ladies and gentlemen, the day is upon us. In less than 48 hours you
shall have a new improved website. This website will show you joys
you’ve never imagined. It slices, it dices, it can headshot a n00b from
500 yards. Soon we shall present to you, BreakmanX.com 3.0.

Is it bad that 3.1 is already in the works? I think not.

Well people, with the wonders of the internet, I have signed my own doom. Courtesy of the FFXI website I have explored and delved through the deepest of information stores on the new upcoming Chains of Promathia
expansion, and it is good. Good in that "oh my god I have to waste all
of my social life away while playing this game" kind of way. So yes, I
have re-installed the game, patched it, and even renewed my old
character. So if you’re on…wait I forgot what server I’m on.
Well…anyways, if you play FFXI, drop me a pm or e-mail and we’ll do some partying. Hardcore.

Pieces

19 Jun 2004 by Afrotect

comments (0)

Funniest movie of the year so far. Cameos galore and Ben Stiller and
Vince Vaughn are hilarious. There are so many gags in this film, not
just involving guys getting hit with dodgeballs, that this film is way
too damn funny. I nearly fell over I was laughing so hard at some
points.

If you have time this weekend, go check it out! And if you don’t have
time, make it, it’s definitely worth it! I know that if I get asked
again to go see it, I’m saying yes, if only to catch all of the gags
that I missed when I was laughing too hard. Yes, it’s that good.

-Jack

18 Jun 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Recently, our good friend Realm came to me asking for technical
assistance. His homebrew rig, cooked up by that enigmatic being and
myself, was experiencing intermittent freezing problems when playing
certain games. After much thought, speculation, and a video card swap
between his machine and my own, the problem was traced to an
underpowered CPU, caused by a certain electron-hungry device called a
GeForce FX5900. A few keystrokes in the BIOS fixed that, and all seems
to be running well.

The entire experience, which I found to be very educational, served to
fortify my thoughts on the issue of homebrew rigs. Before you pull out
that credit card to buy parts off Newegg, before you pick your case,
before you even start planning your 1337 LAN rig with the neon light
and fanbus, take a look at yourself. You must have two qualities:
patience, and a desire to learn. Must
have both. If you don’t, then you’ll either find yourself sitting in a
sea of PCB boards, and no clue how to get it to work together, or
spending ludicrous ammounts of money getting people with those
qualities to do the work for you.

Simply having hopes,
dreams, and a line of credit won’t get the job done. You’ve gotta know
the difference between single and dual channel memory. Gotta be able to
read comparisons between video cards to find which one is for you.
Gotta learn the design of ATX cases, their air flow patterns, and why
you keep all those unused PCI slots covered. And when you press that
power button for the first time, yielding only a jumble of CMOS error
codes, you have to be willing to rip apart all of your work to figure
out what went wrong. Just putting the parts in the right slots is only
half the job. The other half is getting them to talk to each other.

Do not be discouraged, however. For when the average Joe get’s a look
at your Antec case with dual cold cathodes and water cooling, and they
ask what brand it is, you say, "None, I built it." That’s when you
cross your arms, close your eyes, smile, and listen for the sound of
their jaws on the floor.

17 Jun 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

***UPDATE from Break***
Sorry to break into your post, Jack. Just thought I’d let everyone know that the show is available here.
***

…Picking enemies up with telekinesis, throwing them into boxes, off
cliffs, into other enemies, into flammable objects, and throwing other
objects onto them never gets old. Yes, it is with this premise that
Psi-Ops for Xbox and PS2 is based on, and man, is it addictive.

The game plays like any other third-person-shooter, except for that
little thing with the psychic powers. You can mind-control, use
telekinesis, remote view (think like an out-of-body experience), and
use pyrokinesis in this game. The endless combinations are just way too
damn fun and funny to use throughout.

I’m only on the 4th mission right now, but the game is an absolute
riot. I’m finding myself going through trying to sneak around as much
as I can so I sneak up behind someone to perform a mind drain, which
recharges all of my Psi abilities, and also performs a very satisfying
explosive head of whomever you’re mind-draining. The telekinetic power
has to be my favorite one though, simply because you can pick guys up,
throw them at their enemies and all kinds of fun stuff like that. It’s
really fun to mind control an enemy, have them run up a ladder, then
jump off, only to splatter when they hit the ground. Oh man, the stuff
you can do with this game, it’s just great.

Expect a full review when I get through with it, although I suspect
that I might be taking a few weeks with this one, only because I want
to see how many enemies I can light on fire by throwing the burning
corpse of their buddy at them.

If you get a chance this week, go pick the game up, or at least rent it from Gamefly!

-Jack

16 Jun 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Be sure to catch us today at 7:00 Central Standard Time on the The Game Show. Click HERE to start the broadcast. To write in questions, go to the IRC chat. Its easy =)

13 Jun 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

So yesterday I journeyed to my local theatre and saw the much
anticipated Chronicles of Riddick. The movie was different then what I
think I was expecting. I can not honestly tell you right now whether I
think I liked or disliked Riddick. There were some very undeniably
corny lines thrown in there by Vin Diesel. Then again some of the moves
he busts out during the movie are very impressive. The ending also
makes wonder what the hell is going on really. Regardless I think
people should go see it so they can get their own feel, as I will
address it more in depth tomorrow.

I have wandered back to the wonderful world of Super Smash Bros. Melee
as of late and I am having a hard time remembering why I left. This
game is crazy fast awesome fighting that I love. This also reminded me
that there was no showing of a new Smash game at E3. After realizing
this, I became a sad panda and wished that Nintendo would make a new
one and throw in some awesome new characters. But we don’t all get what
we want. Anyways go see Riddick but I’m not promising you will like it.

-Shadow out

12 Jun 2004 by ShadowmanX

comments (0)

All I have to say is it feels good to kick ass. Under the duress of
Silviar I went to my local gaming habitation to pick up the new mmo
City of Heroes. With my obviously witty sense of humor, I created my
new identity, The Flaming Falcon
, now you might say, sure, he uses fire. Nope. Anyways, I can not
recommend this game more. It’s lighthearted, fast paced, and unique.
The more you play, the more plot you reveal, and the more fun powers
you get (I recently acquired the ability to stun multiple enemies at
once, very handy when you’re as fragile as I). So if you’re sick of the
typical mmo
grind/tradeskill/mustplayeverywakingmomenttokeepupwithmypeers gaming
experience, try this one out.

I also have dabbled in a
couple overseas games, due mainly to my recent return from Japan. I
picked up Final Fantasy X-2 International + Last Mission (what a title)
and Bujingai. FFX-2i sure has a lot of Japanese in it, but as long as
you can read katakana, you should be able to get around fine. The audio
is all in english, it just has menus and subtitles in english. The new
arena system looks promising. Basically you use traps to capture
different sized (small, medium, large) monsters around Spira, and then
you set them against each other and against your party in
mini-tournaments. I read that Auron, Tidus, and even a new boss are
contained within, but have not reached them yet. Also, you can replace
some of these monsters with party members, allowing you to play Yuna,
Rikku and a Chocobo as your party, or even scrap the party alltogether
for a Behemoth. I say play this game if you have a basic understanding
of katakana, and can fight through the cheesy j-pop.

The other game, Bujingai, looks on the surface to be an Onimusha or
Devil May Cry clone, but I move that it is much more. It features a
pretty slick dueling system when you come up against an enemy with more
than a rudimentary handle on swordplay. My favorite feature is how when
you are locked in fisticuffs with your enemy, gravity does not affect
you. Pop him into the air and you could be slashing at each other up
there indefinitely, or at least until he kicks your ass (the game is a
little more on the difficult side than not). I also recommend this
game, even if you don’t know shit about Japanese, you can figure things
out by doing quite easily.

Secret projects abound, the whole group is worn to the bone, and Shadow is MIA. Stay tuned.

6/21/04

12 Jun 2004 by Afrotect

comments (0)

I’m having a hard time deciding if this lady’s name is real or a hoax. I can only imagine the saucer-eyed looks she gets when she introduces herself to Americans.

The Xbox controller finally worked it’s way out of my hands yesterday,
replaced by that home-sweet-home feeling of the WASD/mouse. Painkiller
was my game of choice, which only get’s better and better as the game
progresses. The levels are particularly fun in Chapter 3, one of which
is an air base. It features, among other things, moving tanks and
UFO’s. And waves of World War 1-era soldiers. And Uzi-wielding, six
foot tall minions. Only with a plot as thin as Painkiller’s (or a bad
porno) can the developers get away with such things.

Holy shit. I just remembered something: Rally. How…how could I have
forgotten of my love so easily? My God, it must have been a week since
I’ve played RalliSport! Oh RalliSport, can you forgive me?

/me gets on his knees and begs forgiveness

10 Jun 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

Ok, so I’ve been playing the new Zelda game: Four Swords for GameCube.
Yeah, not exactly Earth Shattering news. I haven’t gotten to play
multiplayer yet, but I must say that I absolutely love the single
player game so far. I just completed the first area. So many things in
this game work well. I like how when you go off screen you watch your
GBA. I like how the gameplay is the best a 2d Zelda has ever been. I
like the way the formations work. I like the redone classic themes. I
love just about everything about it. So yeah, its great.

Here’s the thing though, this could open up to a whole new line of
games. As much as I love this game, I can’t help but wonder if they
made an entire ‘real’ Zelda game like this. Four Swords is a
multiplayer game for start to finish, and while it delivers an
incredible unique experience.. it is a mere sidequest from the main
Zelda Series. It is like Chrystal Chronicles was to Final Fantasy. A
great game… but not a ‘real’ Final Fantasy. Besides a game well worth
picking up, I see so much more that could happen. For starters, I love
the graphics. At first glance, it would look like a high level SNES
game, but then the magic happens. They take full advantage of the
GameCube’s effect processing system, to render spectacular effects on
screen that the SNES could never have dreamed of rendering. In short,
it is absolutely dead sexy. The way they incorporate old school with
cutting edge is something that brought a tear to my eye.

Ask just about anyone who enjoys the Zelda series which Zelda game is
their favorite and they will tell you one of two games. Either Link to
the Past or Ocarina of Time. Link to the Past seems to come up more
than the other… Imagine, or dream if you will, Nintendo sitting in
Japan and realizing how wonderful it would be for us Zelda fans to make
an epic single player Zelda using a similar engine. All the beautiful
3d tornados, black holes, fire, and everything else that makes me want
to hug my TV on this. Use many of the same songs, and hell how about we
get some new Zelda songs that are on par with Ocarina of Time? As much
as I liked Wind Waker it seemed like Kondo-san took a bit of a vacation
from making good things. I mean look at Link to the Past, all the great
themes we got. The fairy theme, dark world theme, dungeon theme.. I
mean I could go on, but I won’t. Ocarina of Time had some great themes
as well.. Majora’s Mask… no. Wind Waker..not really.

Now, Nintendo has already attacked my inner-fanboy with things like an
epic Zelda for GameCube and an awesome looking 2.5D Super Mario Bros.
for the DS. But, if they could fill my stocking with a 2D(+Spectacular
crazy ass Miyamoto on shrooms effects) Epic Zelda for the GameCube I
would feel that Nintendo is back to their former glory.

In fact, if that took place you could take my other two consoles, and
leave me with my GameCube and PC. Get all my Nintendoin done, and then
my shooting done and I’d be happy as Link will be when Nintendo makes a
worthy psuedo 2d successor to Link to the Past. It almost gives me
happy tears just thinking about it.

I mean, since Xbox Live is supposed to jump over to PC eventually
anyway.. I think I’d be safe. I could always play Halo2 with Jack…

Ah, who am I kidding, I still would need all the consoles. I’m just
weak. Anyway, Nintendo please fulfill my dreams. If you do I assure you
every true Nintendo fan (and there are a couple of them around the
world) would buy it.

10 Jun 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Check out this website really quick: EB Games.

Now try and tell me that ESPN NFL Football 2K5 will not sell more copies than Madden 2005.

Yeah, that’s right…you probably can’t.

Superior football game at a budget price > Inferior football game at steep price.

-Jack

09 Jun 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Secret Projects are both fun and very difficult at the same time. I
must say that I’ve worked about 18 hours today on getting stuff in line
and planning for this secret project, but I can’t exactly say what it
is yet.

At any rate, FSW just got a hell of a lot cooler when I decided to
start playing with a friend over xbox live. The co-op is really easy to
get into, and it plays a lot faster, mainly because you don’t have to
worry about both squads, just your own.

But anyways, I’m up to my eyeballs in work to do for some future
projects, and hopefully you’ll all be able to reap the benefits of
those soon. Until then, take it easy, and get MSN Alerts for Xbox Live
and MSN messenger if you have them, the service is very cool, and
allows for you to see which of your friends are playing what whenever
on xbox live and tells you when they sign on and such.

-Jack

09 Jun 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Every time I play Red Dead Revolver, I’m amazed again and again how good
it is. Don’t get me wrong, it’s most certainly not Game of the Year
material, but something about the somewhat cheesy title, combined with
the third-person perspective, had me convinced from minute one that RDR
was gonna completely blow. I guess I’d just seen so many bad
third-person shooters, I’d lost faith in the perspective.

I also held the belief that weapons of the Old West period would not work at all
in a shooter. Example: The first Colt revolver, your first weapon in
the game. Back before they had cartridge ammo, you had the good old
pour-powder-down-the-barrel-then-add-a-ball-then-pack-it-all-together
method of reloading. Now, multiply that ammount of time by a factor of
six, and that’s how long it took to reload a Colt revolver. Remember,
too, this is combat, where seconds are life or death. Your enemy isn’t
gonna put the fight on hold while you put that last percussion cap on,
he’s gonna kill you. RDR hacks this process down to about four seconds.
At first, I wanted to cry, "That’s not historically accurate!" Then I
remembered; during World War II, not every rifleman carried a BAR, as
they do in Battlefield 1942. Not every infantryman in Vietnam had
access to an M60. Games can warp history, because they’re games. It’s
all for the sake of good fun.

The moral? Historical accuracy has it’s place, just not in games.

08 Jun 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

June 6th’s Show is up.

Early this week, perhaps as early as today my next thing from Logitech
will come for me to review. I must say that I’m probobly most excited
for these, and I can’t wait to hear how my music, movies, and games
sound on them. That said, I should have all the reviews of the Logitech
stuff up Monday or Tuesday.

I just got done with a
healthy dose of Knights of the Old Republic, and I’m really loving it.
If only my Xbox didn’t choke on it so much before.. Talk about a
fucking deep game, with an incredible plot.. Jesus, George Lucas should
take note.

Besides KOTOR, I’ve been in a sports game mood lately.. Yeah I know,
crazy eh? I have a big hankering to play some ESPN NBA Basketball, and
am thinking I will have to find a copy of it tomorrow to insert into my
X-Box. I also really want to play Ikaruga, but as luck would have it..
it is not where it should be. It is hiding from me, and I can’t play
it. Yeah, I’m pissed.

With that said I think I’m going to go to sleep to wake up to some cool stuff to review.

Not all martyrs see divinity, but at least you tried.

07 Jun 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Be sure to catch us today at 7:00 Central Standard Time on the The Game Show. Click HERE to start the broadcast. To write in questions, go to the IRC chat. Its easy =)

How’s everyone doing? Good? Awesome, glad to hear it. Well, I’ve been trying out the nice new stuff
that Logitech sent me for my review. And I must say that both of them
are great, and highly recommendable. The mouse is everything I could
ever want in a mouse, plus quite a bit more. Besides that the camera is
very similar to the guard at Jabba’s palace, and I swear it says,
"Echuta," when I’m not looking. The image quality is great (1.3
MegaPixels) and besides that it follows my head around automatically..
It’s crazy.. If you’re into the business of finding the best webcam
and/or mouse, these babies are definately the shit.

The LAN party was a success, and we are going to do one once a month.
The cover charge will be five bucks, and there will be plenty of Bawls
involved to keep you charged up for the entire night. July 1st is when
I’m thinking of having the next one.. so mark your calander. Go ahead..
I’ll wait. Ok.

Although I was born and raised in Wichita (biggest city in Kansas for
those of you taking notes,) I lived in Lindsborg for the latter part of
my K-12 life. One thing that I have learned is that city people tend to
try to put the small town people in a box and vice-versa. Calling one
or the other closed-minded, and all sorts of names. I mean look at
Richie, he was raised in Lindsborg, and doesn’t have a lick of the
small mind mentality I hear so much about. I think it depends much more
on the person then as to where they were actually brought up. Then
after going to L.A., where most of these ‘labelers’ have never dared to
tread, I have found that people are people everywhere. As to say, some
people in L.A. are no different from the ones in Seattle, Lindsborg, or
Lawrence. The thing is that in L.A. there are so many people that
people don’t take the time to label others, and there are mane more
people so the chances of people with the same interest are much higher.
I used to think that different places in the U.S. had certain ‘brands’
of people, but I’ve come to realize that it’s not where they are from
necessarily that shapes them, but what kinds of things they take part
in. Being a gamer I have much more a chance of hanging out with Richie
and buying clothes at GameSkins.. If I was an athlete I would frequent
FootLocker. Oddly enough, there are both kinds of people every where,
and the percentage is almost always the same. Now that you have read
the most inane paragraph ever realize that I do have a point directed
at a selected few I know frequent this site. Hopefully they can see
what I am talking about. To the others, sorry for the rambling.

Lastly, I’d like to give a shoutout to a buddy of mine who’s in some troubling times. eXistence, you da man. And a big fuck you
to both of you that fucked him over. You know who you are. Oh and don’t
mind the scary looking ninja in your window. He only wants to make a
sandwhich out of your organs.

06 Jun 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

http://www.breakmanx.com/LANonline Wanted to go to the LAN party, but couldn’t? Check this out.

05 Jun 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

I just finished the new Riddick game, and yes, everything you’ve heard
about it is pretty much correct. It’s not entirely lengthy, but what it
does give you during its short run is absolutely stunning. From the
graphics, to the story, to the voice-acting, everything is a real
treat. I already started up another game, ready to go through again,
mainly because of the hidden cigarette packs scattered throughout the
game which unlock little special items, like concept art, videos of the
Riddick game prototype, and all sorts of cool little things in the
Riddick universe.

So now I guess I get to put my full attention towards Full Spectrum
Warrior now, and that’s not an entirely bad thing at all, believe me.
The game is fun, and it’s incredibly detailed. There are tons of
subtleties in the animations of all of the soldiers, and the dialogue
between them is sometimes hilarious. It really makes you feel like
you’re in the middle of Black Hawk Down. I can’t wait to keep playing
it, it’s quite fun as well.

Well, I’m off to work now, so everyone take it easy, and please, go pick up at least one of these great games!

-Jack

04 Jun 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

And its done.

03 Jun 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

So both Full Spectrum Warrior and Riddick came out today on the Xbox, and man, are they amazing.

I will go into much more in-depth in my reviews once I beat both of these games, but suffice to say, they are incredible.

Riddick is such a visual achievement on the Xbox, and the gameplay
matches it. Not to mention that the presentation is top-notch, as well.
Vin Diesel and Cole Hauser both do great voice work, and the intro gets
you hooked into the game world almost immediately.

Full Spectrum Warrior is a weird collage of a few different genres.
It’s both an action game, as well as a strategy game. The mix of the
two makes it incredibly fun and incredibly unique. I really can’t think
of any way to describe the game right now, as I just got through the
Training levels, which took me about an hour to complete. Yes, that’s
right….the training takes an hour to beat. But after that, I think
it’s supposed to get really cool. The training does a very good job of
teaching you the little subtleties to the gameplay, and how not to get
killed, which is good.

Anyways, if you’re coming to the LAN party tomorrow, hopefully I’ll
have both games there, as well as some old skool Metal Slug 3 action
there too! See everyone there!

-Jack

02 Jun 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Sorry, that’s not really the topic of my post, I just wanted to make
use of the large, bold, underlined text to get my point across.

For those of you who frequent the IRC channel, it’s no surprise to see
“Rally” follow “RichieBMX”, especially lately. Rally, of course,
implying RalliSport Challenge 2. No more will this be so. That’s right;
RalliSport has been dethroned, to be replaced by the sleeper hit
Painkiller. This is as close to a “no bullshit” game as you can get.
The story is just barely there. No stealth. No silent kills. No
hostages. No special keycard you need to progress, the one you forgot
to pick up about half an hour ago. It’s just you, your weapon, the
level, and a horde of bloodthirsty demons.

As usual, there are already a couple patches out, which were necessary
for me to run the game, a process that is sadly a standard for PC games
these days. That aside, the game runs perfectly on my less-than-perfect
PC. Even with my aging Ti4200, the framerate rarely takes a dive,
keeping the scenes of carnage smooth. The demons are simply beautiful,
if you can believe in demons being beautiful. The combat is dizzying
and scary at times, but, if you’re a man with a plan (and a stash of
ammo), a well-executed strategy can save you all sorts of footwork and
health, not to mention giving your ego a huge boost.

Alas, I must be off to work, else I would continue my praise of
Painkiller. But, heed my warning: For those of you who require an
integral story to your games, something to guide the action, Painkiller
is not for you. Painkillers story is a piece of floss, trying to tie
together a dozen encyclopedias: It just barely holds.

02 Jun 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

Be sure to catch us today at 7:00 Central Standard Time on the The Game
Show. Click HERE to start the broadcast. To write in questions, go to the IRC chat. Its easy =)

LAN
PARTY — MY PLACE — THURSDAY JUNE 3rd, 2004. Not going to be anything
too spectacular. Just a lot of caffiene and games. PLEASE PM ME ON THE
FORUMS TO RSVP. I only have so much room, so please RSVP if you are
coming. Also, I can then give you directions.

I’ve
moved into the new Breakdom, but thanks to some striking and other such
shit I have not had internet for over a week. I’ve actually had to
drive back to Lindsborg just to use the internet for the show and other
BreakmanX.com things.

That’s just the first of what I call the "shitties." My laptop stopped
working. You may expect a more elaborate explanation as to why,
exactly, it ceased functioning. I almost wish their was.. You know like
Magneto came to visit, Kansas flooded, or I had to beat someone with it
to survive; but no it just stopped working. Thank God that I had a
service plan on it, as Best Buy is getting me a new one as we speak.

All seemingly is worked out, except for the fact that I have not been
able to work on the DVD, Secret Project, or another secret project that
even the BreakmanX.com staff don’t know about. There must be some
alignment of planets or specials at IHOP that must be for shit to get
done. I have all this stuff I need to, but can’t get done… I guess
this means that when I get these things back I will be working like
Data from TNG. I can only hope.

As Shadow told y’all, he will be graduating tomorrow. SheBreak and I
are going to load up the Breakmobile and watch him get his diploma,
then drive back to do the show.

As I write this tornados are flying around Kansas doing all sorts of
mischief. Where I am located at this moment actually has a tornado
watch untill 4:00 AM tomorrow morning. So, if I happen to land in your
house after getting an unwelcomed ride on a tornado, please excuse my
uninvitedness.

On the gaming front, I’ve been playing a lot of Red Dead Revolver,
which is quite enjoyable. Mario Vs. Donkey Kong is also up there on my
play list, and is a welcomed throw back to the earlier days of gaming.
Any of you old schoolers, or anyone welcomed to the idea of ‘pure
gaming’ please check it out. I also played Sonic 3.. it’s ok.

Although luck and other forces seem to be against me, rest assured,
that once I have the ability I WILL MAKE SURE ALL WHO WANT ONE GET A
DVD AND SHIRT, and that you will fucking love the secret project(s.)
Both of them are things you won’t expect and will rock you like a
fucking hurricane. Love you all, but I must now travel to Wichita to
see Shadow get his diploma… quite an interesting ceremony to be sure.
I’m still anticipating what hijinx he has up his sleeve. That is if
this 70+ mph wind doesn’t blow us all to Hyrule. Like I’d mind.

I am the hero of time

30 May 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

It’s been a while guys and I apologize for it. I have been on my senior
trip and I returned Thursday, but was too tired to make a post then.
Unfortunately the other days were busy and I honestly couldn’t tell you
where I have been for the last couple days. Tomorrow is the big day, I
graduate High School and from then on I will be among the ranks of the
old crowd such as Break, Jack, and Afro. So I apologize for my lack of
physical presence for tomorrows show but I swear this will be the last
one I miss for a while.

Battlefield finally received a patch as I’m sure most of you who play
it have noticed. Personally I love the patch simply because it took a
lot of the things that I was good at and made everyone else have to try
and learn to do them. Things like not using the M60, which sucks now.
So now everyone must use the assault class guns which I would like to
think I am good with. While good things happened with Battlefield, I
must sadly say that my willpower faltered.

When I returned from senior trip Dr. Thud had already reinstalled and
signed up for Galaxies again. I tried to stay away from it, I really
did. My fate was sealed though and I made a character. I know I said I
would try to stay away, and I did. But the space expansion….it just
looks so good, and I want a B-wing so very badly. Well now that my
dirty deed is out I must go play it since I have succumbed to the
darkness.
-Shadow out

29 May 2004 by ShadowmanX

comments (0)

Yes, that’s right. I just got done watching a preview of Jade Empire
online…and found out that it has shooter elements in it now too. Oh
man! As if the game couldn’t get any cooler. I spent about 30 minutes
with it at E3, and the game felt like it was going to be kickass back
then, but now! Now it has a Raiden-esque shooter mini-game in it
too!!!! And it’s fun, according to those who have played it!

Please, if you get the chance, bone up on Jade Empire. It’s going to be insane. Too bad the wait is still quite long…

Q1 2005.

-Jack

27 May 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

I’m proud to tell you all today that, after nearly a week worth of
prolonged oversteer antics in RalliSport Challenge 2; I actually played
a different
game. That game was Far Cry, practically an orphan till I put it back
in my CD tray today. It’s a lengthy game, I’ll give it that. If we were
to compare length to books, then Far Cry would be War and Peace, while Call of Duty would be issue #17 of The Punisher.
Though, anyone who has played that comic book worth of Call of Duty
will tell you it’s length has nothing to do with it’s fun factor.

Seeing that I’m somewhat of a amateur car enthusiast, I’m going to use
my powers as a poster here and encourage all of you to print out
several copies of this
image, keep them on you anytime you leave the house, and use them
whenever you see extreme cases of rice. Don’t know what rice is? Sure
you do, you just don’t have a name for it. It’s when someone mounts
blinking windshield wiper nozzles on their ’89 Civic. Or when someone
uses a chromed-out, fart-can muffler on his or her Sunfire. Basically,
rice is classified as any mod done to a car that has no performance
value, is tacky, is in bad taste, or all of the above. I have no
problem with enhancing a cars looks, none at all. Body kits, lights,
and exhaust are fine with me, as long as they’re done right, aren’t
excessive, and aren’t done to a car that’s older than the driver. And I
define excessive as a two-foot tall wing bolted to the trunk of a bone
stock Cavalier. It’s just making you slower.

After having
said all that, I feel it’s only right to mention that I myself own a
car that has a wing on it. Had I been the cars original owner, however,
I would not have mounted that wing, as I believe that cars are just
fine without spoilers, unless you plan on reaching 200+ MPH daily. I
don’t feel it’s in excess, however. It isn’t higher than the roof of
the car, and isn’t faux carbon fiber. And even if I’m just trying to
make excuses, I like to think my UT emblem makes up for it. At least I
don’t use those blinking air valve caps.

27 May 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

So, Metal Slug 3 supposedly shipped for the Xbox yesterday, according
to the Press Release that I got from SNK. However, as I went to EB this
morning to pick it up, I got the VERY unpleasant surprise that it did
not, in fact, come in today, as promised.

So instead I’ve decided to waste away the rest of the day playing
Thief: Deadly Shadows…somehow I think I’ll manage, but I REALLY
wanted to spend my day with some good ol’ 2d gaming action…guess I’ll
just have to wait until tomorrow. *sigh*

-Jack

26 May 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Yeah, since I have little to report to you guys at this time, short of telling you I’m still
hooked on RalliSport Challenge 2, I feel I should take this opportunity
to do a little self-promotion. Don’t like it? Too fucking bad.

We mentioned BreakmanX.com 3.0 on the show, and on here, and it’s fast
on its way. I’ve been doing my part to speed it’s arrival along,
learning my way around it’s new features which promise to make life
simpler for all of the staff, Afro most of all. I’m sure that any
effort we put into getting this new layout to work will be paid back in
full once we get it online. It’s that cool.

T-Shirts and the DVD are also in the works. I got a glimpse of the
video editing Break has been doing with the DVD, and he’s done a great
job of turning our hastily shot, shakycam footage into disc-worthy
material. I’m on there a few times, looking like a fucking idiot, like
I always do when on camera. If you can get past those few parts, then
the DVD should be worth your while.

And, lastly, the "secret project" Break and I alluded to during the
Show. I can personally guarantee your jaw will thump to the floor when
you learn what exactly the project is. After which, with your jaw still
on the floor, you’ll try to mumble out, "What the fuck?" We think
you’ll like it, though. If not, we’ll just stick to doing Gamebreakers.

25 May 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

I am in the process of moving into the new BreakDomain where the LAN
party will be held. Because of this, this post will be a little bit
shorter than normal.

Once I am completely moved in I’ll take some pictures for y’all. It it
still a bit bare, and won’t even have furniture till tomorrow, but
today the important things are being moved.. Important like VideoGames.

24 May 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Be sure to catch us today at 7:00 Central Standard Time on the The Game
Show. Click HERE to start the broadcast. To write in questions, go to
the IRC chat. Its easy =)

E3 is kind of like getting drunk; you giggle a lot, have a lot of fun,
see a lot of stuff you never expected to see, begin to get tired, pass
out, and finally get a hangover. It is really quite amazing how long my
E3 hangover has lasted, but staying up late editing video really tends
to bite you in the ass.. like a fucking hurricane.

I’m even more excited for next year where we will have a larger staff,
and can actually cover it well. A lot of things are in the process of
happening here.. the site is actually going through a MAJOR overhaul
that is going to allow us to post a lot more content, a lot quicker.
Which will be spiffy to you. The E3 video is coming as well.. I swear
God does not want the video to be uploaded. First of all.. my PC’s
configuration is incompatible, allergic if you will, to Adobe Premiere.
The only computer that will run it is my laptop.. which mysteriously
stopped working. Thank God for Product Replacement plans, which I hope
Best Buy will fucking honor. If they don’t, I’m going to teach them a
thing or two about honor.. Ryu style.

Besides that, I’m working four projects for the site. The first is a
print style magazine that will be distributed all over Kansas, and in
downloadable form for all you people. Basically a monthly update of the
site. The second are BreakmanX.com T-Shirts, which will be available
VERY soon… The third, and possibly the quickest to actually finish,
is the E3 DVD. People have asked me why they would want the DVD, and
basically, the reason is that it is done in our style. We show you what
we, ourselves, would want to see at E3. We try to present things in a
unique and funny (at least to us) kind of way. Anyway, as with
everything from E3 this year, it is more of a test than anything. What
I can promise you with it is that it will have all the video you want
to see; Microsoft and Nintendo Press Conference, Halo2, Half-Life 2,
Unreal 3, Final Fantasy XII, Resident Evil 4.. I could go on forever..
but it is all here. An interview with the publisher of Bujingai.. and
us acting crazy.. Yeah, its a big party. We’ve got some exclusive shit
too. I’m pretty sure the FFXII stuff is exclusive, us playing the
Galaxies space expansion, Bungie fanfest, interview with Gus from Red
Vs. Blue, and some other stuff. We’ve got it going on, and it will be
well worth your $10.

The last project is something that I am not going to say anything
about, but the one I am most excited about. I’m hoping to be able to
show you it in the first or second week of June, and I think it is
entirely possible. So keep your fingers crossed. Like everything we do
here, it is done as something we, ourselves, would want to see. Gamers
will like it.

23 May 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Hey everyone, I’m just sitting here back at my parents’ house in
Wichita for the weekend, and I ran across this VERY cool flash game
available on Valve’s Steam system, Codename: Gordon.
It’s a really cool 2d shooter that’s based around Halflife 1 and 2!
It’s really fun, and it will make the wait for Halflife 2 a little
easier.

On another note, my window got fixed, so now I can
drive and see in my blind spot again, so I’m incredibly thankful.
Hoewver, I’m still mad as hell at whoever did that in the first place.
Oh well….Hope everyone has a great weekend, I know that I will!

-Jack

21 May 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Nintendo Press Conference

Here it is in it’s entirety. Praise the DS and the new Zelda.

20 May 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

During all the mayhem and fuss of E3, the release of RalliSport
Challenge 2 somehow got muted, and fell off my gaming radar screen. But
now, with E3 all taken care of, I finally got a chance to pick it up.

If I may, I’d like to compare it to Halo 2. The gameplay is refined,
and there are some great additions, but it’s not like they dramatically
changed how the game works. Max Payne 2 could also be used as another
good example. Does the lack of a major revision make the game bad? Hell
no. The original RalliSport was an obscene amount of fun to play, and 2
does nothing to dull that fun factor.

I’m so impressed by this game overall, that you can expect a full
review from me in the next few days. If that thought makes you want to
groan aloud, you may do so now.

20 May 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

 

As I sit here and write this post, I have just finished my high
schooling for the rest of my life. It feels pretty good to be honest so
of course I plan on going out and getting superbly drunk as a
celebrational act. It should prove to be a blast.

After school my good friend trout and I went to his house, did some
stuff I’m not sure if we can say on here, and then hooked up his
Dreamcast and played Guilty Gear XX all day. This proved to be an
unbeleivable amount of fun and we sat there and played for a few hours.
After this we drove around talking about how awesome it was for an
hour.

My E3 thoughts were excited ones, I got to see almost everything I
wanted to see except for Squares movie. Half-Life owned, as did Halo2
and almost everything from Nintendo. Zelda……soooo coo. Anyway I’ve
been playing Red Dead Revolver, its really good. Thats all that needs
to be said about it go get it. I’ve got my Senior Trip on Sunday so if
you all will excuse my abscense again I am sorry. I must depart now
though, I have a 8 dollar late fee at BlockBuster for Xenosaga…..god
damn conformist assholes.
-Shadow out

19 May 2004 by ShadowmanX

comments (0)

Hey guys, I’m going to keep this pretty short, mainly because I just woke up to find that my car had been broken into.

Anyways, I just beat Onimusha 3 last night, and if you’re a fan of the
series, definitely check it out, it’s really good, and it has Jean
Reno…..JEAN RENO!!!

Well, I’m off to talk to the insurance company some more…god I wish I
knew who the fuck did that, because it makes me really angry. What
really bothers me is that whoever did it got both my car, and my
roommate’s, but they didn’t take anything from either of us. They just
did it and left. What assholes! Anyways, if you have any clues that
could help me out, please let me know, and if not, thanks
anyways…this really sucks so far…hopefully the rest of the day will
get better.

-Jack

19 May 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

To every one who was in the IRC channel during the last Show: That was
probably the most insane IRC chat I’ve ever taken part in, or seen, for
that matter. Thanks for putting that channel to good use; the Show is
defiantly better because of it. If anyone is clueless about this whole
IRC thing, just give that "Live Chat" link at the left a tap, and
you’ll be in business.

There were a few games I got a chance to experience at E3 that didn’t
fit in to our Show schedule, so I thought I’d make the most of my
posting powers and talk about them here. First off, Time Crisis: Crisis
Zone. How do you make the greatest arcade shooter of all time even
greater? Add another gun, of course. During most of the time I spent
playing Time Crisis and the original Crisis Zone, I kept thinking how
awesome it would be to have some double-fisted action. Namco answered
my prayers, and damn, is it a lot of fun. The idea of taking that money
I have set aside for a new video card, buying Crisis Zone, and the
necessary hardware, has crossed my mind more than once.

Next, Republic Commando. For the record, I’ll say that there have been
some bad uses of the Star Wars license. Battlefront is kinda looking to
be one of those bad ones, but I could be wrong. But I find it hard to
visualize Republic Commando falling into that shameful fate. I had a
chance to play it at the Xbox booth, and was impressed by the gameplay.
Think Star Wars + Rainbow Six 3. It also looks to be very atmospheric,
frequently using dark, close-quarters environments to keep you on your
toes.

I’ll make a brief comment about Street Racing Syndicate, and that
comment is NFSU. While toying with one of the playable demos, I
couldn’t decide if I was playing a new game, or if some one had slipped
a NFSU disc into the tray by mistake. If you liked NFSU, you’ll like
SRS, no doubt. If you didn’t like NFSU, then your conclusion should
have been reached before you even started reading this paragraph.

Just about every other game I felt worthy of mention was covered on the
Show, like my gross error about Forza Motorsports, and Half-Life 2.
Though we did get to see a shitload of great games at E3, there was
still a fair amount of ground that we didn’t get to cover due to time
constraints and our simple inexperience. Now that we’ve seen what it
takes to do E3 coverage right, we fully intend to go back next year and
do things right. Just gotta kill some time until next year…

18 May 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

Without delay I would like to present you with yesterday’s show, which went off without a hitch. We basically talked about E3 for a few hours, which I think was what was expected of us.

In other news, the shirts
should be ready to buy soon as well as our spiffy E3 DVD that will have
video from EVERYTHING E3. If you would like to pre-order one of these
wonderful discs, go ahead and send us $10 via Pay Pal; which you can do
by clicking the wonderful paypal button on your right. Put DVD and your
address in the special fields box, and you’ll be set. ETA on the DVD is
about a week or two, so it’ll be here with the quickness.

You might have also noticed that our google ads are acting a bit
funny.. well we are in a bit of a transitional phaze with these ads,
and are going with other forms of advertising. Starting with something
I can whole-heartedly support, unlike the breast ads from google…
Above you will see a sponsored link from GameSkins, which provide a
hefty percentage of my wardrobe, and should yours too. Kiko is da man.

Video is still coming on the site, and I appreciate your patience. Next
year we are going to have someone who only does the uploading,
rendering, and other such things that takes us away from the stuff we
do best.. talking about games. Basically translates into faster updates
for you. This year’s E3 was a learning experience, and a way for us to
make contacts. Basically a future builder for the site. I hope you have
all appreciated the ride (which is still not over I might add,) and
hope to see you all throughout the coming weeks.

17 May 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Be sure to catch us today at 7:00 Central Standard Time on the The Game Show. Click HERE to start the broadcast. To write in questions, go to the IRC chat. Its easy =)

16 May 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Hey guys, I just got back into Lawrence with Richie and Break, and
we’re pooped. They had to drive to Hell in order for Richie to
graduate, and I’m basically just going to crash as soon as I get the
chance. There’s still a lot more stuff coming up in the next few days,
especially since we now have a reliable internet connection, something
that evaded us the entire trip.

Anyways, yes, there will be Halo 2 demo impressions, as well as video
of the Bungie FanFest as soon as we get the chance to get all of the
video edited and uploaded.

I’ll just leave you with this: Halo 2 really is Halo 1, but being
chased by ninjas on fire through a hospital at 100 mph and wrapped in
bacon. It really is that good.

-Jack

15 May 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Found a reliable internet connection… VIDEO IS ON ITS WAY. This list will be updated as it finishes.

***NEW***Before I head of to our appointment with Square-Enix, I’d like to show you what we did yesterday. <— PICTURES!!

VIDEO

Halo2 Demo
Microsoft Press Briefing and Party
Nintendo Games trailer from Press Briefing

14 May 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

A fuckton of pictures from our first day at E3 are available here.

13 May 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Hey kids, I’m going to have a live chat set up for 12am central, 10pm
pacific. Click the live chat on the left and I’ll show up and field any
damn questions y’all have. We’ll do another one of these on Friday.

Talk to you tonight.

12 May 2004 by Afrotect

comments (0)

E3, LOS ANGELES  May 12, 2004—
Capcom®, a powerhouse in the multi-billion dollar video game industry,
today announced the return of the world’s toughest demon slayer with
Devil May Cry®3, for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system.
Devil May Cry 3 reintroduces the mysterious hero Dante in a riveting
new game marked by complex storylines, striking graphics and
unadulterated stylistic action. Capcom plans to release Devil May Cry 3
throughout North America this winter.

12 May 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist
Read More …
comments (0)

E3 DVD to be made after E3 is complete, stay tuned for details.

400 pictures and several hours of video later (which is on its way to
the server, and internet willing should be up tonight) has left me with
a pretty good impression of what is up with E3 so far.

Microsoft has established a good plan for gaining market share in the
business, and is basically expanding upon that. Doing what they have
done good, and making it better. Xbox live with voice chat — why not
add video? Halo was great, how about Halo2? Doom3 coop on live, a good
looking MechAssault game, Sony-bashing, XNA (further bringing the Xbox
and PC closer together,) Conker, and adding EA Sports to Xbox live.

Nintendo has really had the strongest showing so far at this year’s E3.
The biggest thing is their new handheld, codenamed the DS. This
multiprocessor system with Wireless internet, and LAN multiplayer,
chat, and other ‘no-line’ capabilities has completely over-shadowed the
PSP and been one of the strongest attractions at E3. I played some
multiplayer Metroid on one with some Gamespot guys, and it plays like a
dream. If the N64 was at one endzone and the GameCube at the other
endzone of a football field in terms of graphics, the DS would be at
the 75-85 yard line. Better than N64 graphics, but not quite Gamecube.
Software support is great with a myriad of first party titles, and also
some great third party apps; including a Sonic game from SEGA. It is
hard to explain just why this thing is so cool, but when I upload
footage of them unveiling, plus Richie and I playing one for
ourselvers.. you will understand why this thing is so fucking great.
Besides that, they unveiled a new Zelda game which is a return to the
darker style prevelant in the first few Zelda games. Yes.. realistic
looking Link. Except.. he looks MUCH better than he did on the N64 or
in Soul Calibur. Not just because of more power, a better design too.
You will see that on this site soon as well. The GBA Zelda, and The
Four Swords for GameCube also surprised me with their quality. Advanced
Wars for GCN is an absolute blast to play, Donkey Konga, DK Jungle
Beat, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Viewtiful Joe 2, Mega Man RPG, Resident
Evil 4… the list goes on an on. A power packed line up of exlcusive
titles that you are going to want to play. I was a bit worried about
Nintendo’s showing, but now it is the best so far.

That said, I am leaving at this very moment to go see a closed door
personal screening of Half-Life 2 with Richie and Shadow. More on that,
plus video and stills to come later today. Stay Tuned..

12 May 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

We are releasing a E3 DVD after E3… stay tuned for details.

I’m in E3 right now. So far we’ve seen Nintendo DS, Zelda, both Donkey
Kongs… everything at Nintendo. Also ventured to Sony to see Killzone,
Final Fantasy, and MGS3. Stills and pictures of everything, plus an
interview with the producer of Shenmue and Panzer Dragoon on his new
game with BAM! entertainment.

We’ve had problems with the hotel’s internet… so Im uploading the
video here. Be up within two hours. Keep checking here and our E3 page for updates.

12 May 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

I’m busy editing the Nintendo Press Conference, and uploading the
Microsoft one. The MS one will be up in about five hours, and the
Nintendo one should be up sometime tomorrow morning.

For updates please visit our E3 page.

12 May 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Hey Guys, just a short update before we head to breakfast and then the
Nintendo Press Briefing. Check out the new E3 page, where we’ve got
some pictures, and we’ll have some video of the entire Microsoft press
briefing later today. There’s a little game on there which is just a
little impressive, Halo 2. So yeah, check it out. It’s awesome. I can’t
wait to play it on the show floor on Wednesday. Greg, you’re the man,
keep up the great work, and I can’t wait for Halo 2! There’s a release
date now too! Check out the pictures!

-Jack

11 May 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

First off, I’d like to say that Bondurant, Evolution Performance, Skip
Barber, all those high performance driving schools, they’re all
overrated. And they way overcharge. Just work as a shuttle driver in LA
for a week, and you’ll get the equivalent education. Seriously, out
shuttle driver had some real skills. The guy was weaving in and out of
four-lane interstate traffic, with water in one hand, and a radio in
the other. Hell, the guy probably could have rolled a joint at the same
time, and still kept us on the road. PrimeTime shuttle driver, wherever
you are, I hope that $5 I tipped you goes a long way.

Other than the driving, the trip has been uneventful so far. We kill
time by making calls, working with our equipment, and ask each other
questions like, "When we get to E3, who are you going to make fun of
first?" The answer is obvious: Infinium.

Lastly, as a justification for me bringing a digital camera along, I’m
making available to you several pictures of Break as he tried to work
out technical difficulties with Quicktime and Premier, which seems to
have a real problem with Break. I’ll be providing more meaningful
pictures tomorrow, after we get to see E3 and all. Comments? Requests?
Post ‘em here.

Break eating a napkin.
Break doing some force lightning.
Break hugging Jack.
Break screaming.
Break screaming at Jack.

10 May 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

Yes, that’s Hollywood behind us.

10 May 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Final Pre-E3 Content is now in your face. We are going to board a plane
tomorrow and fly to Los Angeles, where we will promptly attend the MS
press briefing. Stay tuned, a lot of content will be here tomorrow.

High Quality Video

Not so high quality

10 May 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

There will be no show tonight due to E thrizzle, and stuff. But, look
for a very special edition of the Game Show EVERY FUCKING NIGHT NEXT
WEEK!

09 May 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Looks like we’ll get to see the Unreal 3 engine with all of it’s
special Direct X 9 usageness. New engines always have a way of exciting
me with all their wonderful possibilities. I hope they are handing out
GeForce 3′s like mini burritos at a supermarket. Because if they
don’t.. well Shadow, you can take care of the details.

08 May 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist
Read More …
comments (20)

Activision will be showing ten new games at E3 including games based on
such highly anticipated movies as "Spider-Man 2(TM)," "DreamWorks’
Shark Tale(TM)" and "Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate
Events(TM)," as well as id Software’s(TM) gripping 3D action game DOOM 3(TM);
The Creative Assembly’s award-winning RTS game Rome: Total War(TM),
Peter Molyneux’s innovative new simulation, The Movies(TM) and Call of Duty(TM): Finest Hour(TM), an original console game in the award-winning Call of Duty(TM) series.

Thank you Activision, Realm you may now change your pants.

But.. is Doom3 Xbox only? Activision says, "DOOM 3(TM) — id Software’s
terrifying battle with the forces of Hell is invading the Xbox(R). A
massive demonic invasion has overwhelmed the UAC’s Mars research
facility, leaving only chaos and horror in its wake. As one of only a
few survivors, you struggle with shock and fear as you fight your way
to Hell and back in an epic clash against pure evil. DOOM 3 has not yet
been rated by the ESRB."

07 May 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

It’s hard to beleive that in just a few short days we will all be in
L.A. at E3. It seems like just yesterday I was wishing I could go their
and see everything before everyone else and come home and give my
friends shit. There are so many things I want to see there, all the
things from Square, not to mention KINGDOM FUCKINGS HEARTS FUCKING
2……..FUCKING. I don’t know if I will even be able to take it.

The other game that I am truly looking forward to would have to be
Everquest II. I can not wait to see the sequal to my absolute favorite
MMORPG of all time. I think they are going to be doing some truly
magical things with this game. I think that Gurai will make a galant
return to the world of Norrath and be ready to continue his quests. Wow
I kinda want to reinstall it now. But I shall resist….or will I.
-Shadow out

07 May 2004 by ShadowmanX

comments (0)

Imagine for a minute, if you can, my typically bland face molding into
something resembling a grin, while at the same time exclaiming words of
excitement, all while doing a Homer Simpson-style breakdance. If you
got that far, then you’ve got a perfect image of me right after I found
out that Ubisoft will be giving out printed copies of Penny Arcade’s
Ubisoft comics at the Ubisoft’s E3 booth.

The specifics can be found at Penny Arcade,
under one of Gabe’s later posts. Basically, on Thursday and Friday, 1-2
PM, 100 books a day will be handed out to whoever wants one. I intend
on being one of those few. In fact, I don’t think anything could stop
me from being one of those few, short of Valve handing out copies of
Half-Life 2 at the same time, and I’d still have to weigh that
a few times in my mind before deciding. I’ll use any amount of
threatening, riot control, or Force to get at least one copy.

If anyone is saying "fanboy" to themselves right now, you’re God damn right.

06 May 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

***Didn’t want to bump his post, but this is Break with some special
news. BreakmanX.com t-shirts are going to be ready for your purchasing
pleasure soon. If you’d like to see the design please peek here.***

Hey guys, not much I’m going to talk about today, mainly because we’re
in such a rush trying to get everything done for E3 this week, and
because I’m trying to balance in my personal life and school along with
the website stuff. Fun, indeed, let me tell you.

Anyways, I got a chance to check out Red Dead Revolver on Xbox
yesterday, and man, it’s really pretty cool. The controls are pretty
simple, it kinda controls like Max Payne. The duel mode is extremely
cool, you basically have to draw your gun and shoot your opponent in
the chest or put 6 bullets in him before he has a chance to shoot you.
It’s very cool, and I like the game a lot in the little bit that I
played.

Later today Rallisport Challenge 2 comes out, and I’m pretty sure that
I’ll just be holding off on it until I can get it from Microsoft
directly, since it’ll be about 1/50th of the price of the game in
retail. The game looks sweet, and everything that IGN and Gamespot have
said about the game looks to be amazing. I can’t wait to get my hands
on it.

Well, that’s all from me, I’m going to basically work from sun-up to
sun-down and then some on all of this fun preparation stuff for E3.

p.s. I hear the TalkXbox forums might have some scans of the newest OXM that just happens to focus on a game made by Bungie.

-Jack

05 May 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Between talk of the Olsen Twins and Sega’s rumored new console, some of
the Show listeners may remember us covering the upcoming UT2K4 patch,
and the lack of a very necessary Battlefield Vietnam patch. Also,
somewhere along the line, I seem to remember us talking about how Halo
PC needs a good patching. I dunno, maybe it’s just my imagination.
Anyway, Slashdot reported today
that Gearbox is about to release a Halo PC patch, fixing two of the big
problems that players have been bitching about since day one:
insufferable frame rate and character “warping” during multiplayer. The
were also kind enough to include a HEK (Halo Editing Kit), which kinda
explains itself.

Battlefield Vietnam, as always, goes
unpatched. I’ll keep checking web sites, players will still say, “Hey,
I hear they’re releasing a patch this weekend!”, and hope will remain
in the hearts of dedicated Battlefielders. But it’s never happening.
Ever. EA just has too much fun laughing at helpless VC as they get cut
down by the omnipotent M-60. With realization comes acceptance.

And remember everyone, if there’s a game you want covered at E3, let us
know. There’s a lot of shit to cover at E3, and we want to make sure
the shit you care about appears on our to-do-list.

04 May 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

We had our big Pre-E3 meeting yesterday after the show
and I must say it was a hoot and a holler. All the E3 coverage we have
planned for ya was all finalized, and preheated just enough to be ready
for the 10th. Make sure you check us out on the tenth. If you don’t, I
will send Shadow to your house to shit in your toilet. Its cheaper than
an A-Bomb and has the same effect.

We’re going to have LAN
party sometime late May or early June, so make sure you’re all ready
for that. Not sure where it’s going to be at yet, although I think the
danger room would make an excellent location. I’ll have to talk to
Professor X to see what I can arrange.

You guys rock. With the clicking you’re been doing we have enough green
to do sufficient advertising for this year’s E3. Besides that my
brother, Mark Nyquist, who is head of the business stuff for the site
has also donated a rather heft sum. Should be a few new faces around
here… Next time you’ll see my face it’ll be on the way to E thrizzle.

04 May 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Be sure to catch us today at 7:00 Central Standard Time on the The Game Show. Click HERE to start the broadcast. To write in questions, go to the IRC chat. Its easy =)


02 May 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Before I get into my pre-E3 ramblings I would like to bring your attention to a rather beautiful recording. This mp3
is what I would call a Symphony of Fuck. If you are in the catacombs of
work, school, or wherever free-speech is discouraged; I’d advice you
wait till you get home or plug in the old headphones. A listener by the
name of Tenchi Jeff emailed me about this recording, and I immediately
wanted to share it with y’all. It is a remix made out of a recording of
a LAN party… You must listen to it… it is your destiny.

All right, so, something is happening in a week. The biggest fucking
event in the entire industry is happening, and we are going to be there
covering for you. Armed with Cameras, both still and video, as well as
out laptops and wits, and all sorts of equipment… *sigh*. What can
you expect from all this shit? The best, most interactive coverage of
E3 imaginable. You want to see something at E3? No problem, Email my ass.
I can’t promise to show you everything you want. But, I do promise that
I will try my damndest. Im assuming we will have wireless internet at
E3, and I will bring my laptop and webcam around. I’m hoping to concoct
some way of having the Webcam on my shirt or head or something so you
guys can basically follow me around E3. Be pretty sweet.

Besides that we’re going to do evening news every night around 10:30
Pacific. I won’t know the exact time till we get there, because I don’t
know how this stuff works. But yeah, it’ll be great. We’re going to do
one the day we fly up for a test, so be sure to check that out. Also,
Im working on getting some bit torrent shit going, so if you have any
experience with that please hit me up with some info, hardcore style.

30 Apr 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

I know what you’re all thinking: What the hell happened to the ad’s?
They used to be game related, with things about cheap rentals and
Unreal Tournament. But now, we’ve got shit like Arava counseling, Dow
Corning settlements, and breast implant lawsuits. Now, if ad’s about
breast implant lawsuits interest you, that’s fine, but I myself was
kinda disappointed that we’re advertising things that aren’t even remotely
related to gaming. I don’t know why exactly the ad’s took a turn like
they did; maybe that’s just how the system works, I don’t know.

But, regardless, I’ll ask you on behalf of the staff at BreakmanX.com
to give those ad’s a click once in awhile. C’mon, it’s only just a few
extra mouse clicks, and it makes a big difference to us here at the
site. Thanks.

/shameless site promotion

Edit: Since I feel guilty for not contributing anthing in my post, and
since I just found it on Gamespot, there is now a demo available for
Hitman: Contracts. Check it out here.

28 Apr 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

26 Apr 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Holy fucking shit, when did this
happen? Midwest LAN Group? 300 attendees? Valve and ATI sponsoring?
Clearly, I didn’t give the gaming community in central Kansas enough
credit.

Sadly, because of work, and a certain high school
popularity contest called Prom, I won’t be able to attend. Besides,
they’re playing CounterStrike, Halo, and UT2K4, all of which I’m less
than spectacular at. If they were doing BF:V, it’d be a completely
different story, but packing up my PC and hauling it 20 miles just to
get my ass handed to me, so I can then pack it all up again, seems
pointless, at best. I do, however, intend to show up Sunday, perhaps
with a digital camera, if I can get my hands on one. If I snap any good
shots of the event, you’ll be the first ones to see them.

Speaking of LAN parties, Realm somehow found a Kansas State University LAN group
that routinely holds LAN parties in Salina. They seem to have their
shit in order, from what I can tell. The next one is May 7th, a date
Realm and I have set aside on our calendars in case we decide to attend.

So, um, ya, BreakmanX.com LAN party anyone?

23 Apr 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

What would a day be like without your standard Infinium Labs lawsuit
you ask? Well, it wouldn’t be today, that’s for sure. Check out this article.

Apparently they’re getting sued again, this time by the guys that help
"set up" their always-on content distribution system. The funny thing
is, if Infinium loses the lawsuit, we’re really never going to see the
Phantom (not that I think we will anyways), since the lawsuit seeks to
stop Infinium from using any of the technology or expertise that the
company that is sueing gave to Infinium.

I also found it quite funny that this was the only lawsuit that didn’t
get put up on Gamespot.com. Kinda funny…but it just shows you just
how much Infinium can’t allow word of this to get out. When they lose
the lawsuit, they’re going to be all the way back at square one, and
they’ll be completely screwed (even moreso).

Anyways, Live 3.0 is up, and now you can send voice invites to buddies
from the dashboard, which is really pretty cool. It also seems as
though the voice quality has gotten a bit better, although it might
just be me. At any rate, I can’t wait to see what the future holds for
the rest of the Tsunami updates, as they won’t be used until the
developers start to use them in all of their games.

-Jack

22 Apr 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Join us by clicking here. Or check out the stats of the channel here.

19 Apr 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Be sure to catch us today at 7:00 Central Standard Time on the The Game Show. Click HERE to start the broadcast. To write in questions, go to the IRC chat. Its easy =)


18 Apr 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

I know there are some Tribes fans among you, so I thought I’d bring up this bitchin’ deal
from Vivendi, who is offering the original Tribes and Tribes 2 for free
via FilePlanet. Your level or poverty and/or if your cheapskate switch
is set to on will directly effect your degree of interest.

Can’t say too much is happening with me gaming wise. Still ain’t bought
Painkiller, since I still have several great games right here. I’ve
decided not to buy it till I finish Far Cry, in the hopes that enough
motivation will collect within me to finish it. And I need all the
motivation I can get, too. Not that Far Cry is a bad game, but I always
subconsciously choose BF:V or UT2K4 over it, so Far Cry is always
relegated to just looking good in my CD tower.

So, with that, I’m off to work on the five two-page papers I have to
have done by Thursday for English, and a PowerPoint presentation on
some third-world country I couldn’t give a fuck less about. Such a
pain, after just talking myself into playing Far Cry, too.

13 Apr 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

 

That’s all I can really say… check this out.

13 Apr 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Hey everyone, just wanted to inform all of you about this pretty cool
thing that SpikeTV is doing with EB Games and Xbox across the country.
It’s called Gameriot, and you can check out their website here to see if they’re coming to your town.

"What is it," you ask? Well, it’s a pretty cool little travelling show
complete with a DJ, host, lots of widescreen plasma HDTVs, and a whole
bunch of PCs and Xboxes all with some of the coolest new games. I got
to play stuff like Ninja Gaiden, Project Gotham Racing 2, and even some games that weren’t out yet, like Rallisport Challenge 2 for the Xbox!

The PCs they had there were also top-notch. They were all Alienwares
with GeForceFX 5950s in them and completely pimped out. They were quite
sweet. They were running everything on them including Battlefield
Vietnam, Unreal Tournament 2K4, and Far Cry. Man, this place was pretty
amazing from a gamer’s point of view.

However, the show’s main attractions weren’t just the games. They
actually had competitions going on throughout the shows for a number of
different games. First up came the Soul Calibur 2 tourney, which I
figured, "Eh. What the hell, I don’t suck at it, so I might as well
have some fun." Well, I guess I’m not quite as bad as I think I am. I
ended up losing once, but I made my way back through the challengers
and I ended up being crowned the Gameriot KC Soul Calibur 2 champion!
I got to hold a pretty cool-looking replica of the Soul Calibur, got my
picture taken with the gameriot girls, and a free copy of ESPN NBA
Basketball, which promptly got traded in for Painkiller when I made it
home.

Up next was a Tony Hawk’s Underground tourney, which unfortunately, due
to my natural pull towards Halo, made me gravitate over to the Xbox
with Halo in it and proceed to beat Shrek into the ground in order to
practice for the upcoming Halo tourney…and besides….I suck at Tony
Hawk.

After that, they had an America’s Army tourney, and since I haven’t
even played that, I pretty much ignored it and had fun playing
Rallisport Challenge 2 against one of the gameriot girls.

Once that tournament was finished however, Jack came in and took over.
When the halo tournament started, there were 12 of us for the first
round, 6 in each game. I had to be Mopey, mainly because we weren’t
allowed to customize our controls for the first round (BS), but I dealt
with it, took control of the slayer match on Battle Creek, and I
dominated.

Then came the final round (yes, there were only 2 rounds). It was me
against a few other opponents, in a static King of the Hill game on
Battle Creek (‘nade city!). I was down early at about 10 seconds to the
leader’s 14, but after realizing quickly that the game did indeed have
a static hill, I completely changed my gameplan and decided to ‘nade
the hell out of the hill. This strategy worked quite well, inciting
confusion and mass hysteria among the other players, and also allowing
myself to simply duck down in the creek bed and rack up a ton of time.
It wasn’t all easy, but it was much more so after that.

So, yes, I won the Gameriot KC Halo tournament as well, and got a free
copy of Call of Duty for it! Keep watching SpikeTV, and you may
actually see me on there if they ever do show some of the video that
they took at the event!

I would like to apologize for the quality of some of the pics that I
took. It was quite dark in there, and I still haven’t completely gotten
the hang of this new camera that I have. Think of this as a pre-E3
test.

Anyways, I hope you guys liked hearing about how I kicked ass and took names…if you have any input, please, let us know!

-Jack

12 Apr 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Hey guys, I’m in between classes right now, but I promise as soon as I
get home today, there will be a big update with some pretty cool
pictures from an event I got to go to last Wednesday. The story should
be up by 7 PM CST, but I’m not going to guarantee anything…just stay
tuned.

-Jack

12 Apr 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

As I post this, I am going on my 9th Red Bull and Vodka or 10th…who knows. The Drakengard review is up
, you can find it under the PS2 section of course. My final opinion of
the game was a pretty good one. Of course at the state I am currently
in everything sounds pretty good, even going another drink.

It didn’t hit me until about 8 tonight that I am actually going to E3.
It is probably going to be one of the defining moments of my life.
World of Warcraft shall be there, along with Metriod Prime2, EQII, and
many other wonderful wonderful things that will make me ever so happy.
What I have to decide though is who shall be my E3 buddy. As I have
heard, the buddy is the absolute key. First of course I considered my
childhood friend Break. Now I have known Break long enough to know that
he will spend half his time looking for Miyamoto so that he can talk to
him and I’m sure try to speak some kind of Japanese to him. Also I
don’t see Break spending much time at the World of Warcraft booth so
that takes him out. Then there’s Ritchie, he likes WoW, he likes Half
Life 2, he might put up with my RPG needs. Actually I already decided
probably on Ritchie, mainly because I see Jack and Break kind of like
Tycho, wanting to know how you could toss the Salad master and what
kinds of lettuce were in use. I love both of em, but for E3 I think
Ritchie is the smartest way.

I have been playing Vietnam a lot and I must say that I have come to 2
conclusions. One, I can’t fly at all. I am no good at it. I leave the
helicopter business to others. Two, I hate everyone who uses the M60,
including myself. This thing is out of control. It is the ultimate in
cheapness and they need to patch that bitch fast style. Well I believe
I should sign off before I start getting angry from my excessive
drunkenness. Catch u guys later.
-Shadow out style

10 Apr 2004 by ShadowmanX

comments (0)

I was going to take pleasure in bringing the Classic NES Series
to your attention, but then found that it had been covered two weeks
ago by Break on the Radio Show. Blast. Still, I think the whole concept
is pretty damn sweet. If nothing else, it’s sure to earn massive
nostalgia points with the people of Break’s generation, whom I’m sure
reminisce about those days when graphics were 8-bit and the controller
edges dug into your hands at the sight of the NES-styled GBA. It would
not shock, nor surprise me in the least if Break picked up one
of these puppies and tried to pass the old one off to me. In fact,
that’d work out rather nicely. I mean, we’ve covered countless good
reasons to get one on the Show, it’s about time I put my money where my
mouth is.

Every once in awhile, the thought of buying
Resident Evil Outbreak, and the necessary hardware, passes through my
head. I weigh the pros and cons. Is killing zombies cool? Yes. Is
killing zombies online with friends cool? Defiantly. Is improvising
weapons out of iron pipes and batteries cool? Sure as hell is. Do you
have a PS2 broadband adapter? Um, well, no. Do you have a PS2 hard
drive? Eh, no, do I have
to have one? Are you already up to your eyebrows in excellent PC games?
Ya, and I still don’t have enough time to play them all. The truth
hurts.

Realm just called. Gamestop just called him.
Gamestop says they have Painkiller in, and they’ll go on sale tomorrow.
Tomorrow, you ask? Yeah, tomorrow. What about the release date
Gamespot had? I have no fucking idea, but I intend on giving Realm a
call back tomorrow and learn if they truly did go on sale. Since he
preordered it, he also gets a special t-shirt, too, which makes me mad.
I had time, dammit, time to preorder it, to get that shirt, but
now it’s gone. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an armed robbery of
Gamestop to plan. I’ll post a picture of the shirt and me should I
successfully steal one and elude the fuzz for long enough to take one.

07 Apr 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

Hey guys, while I can’t really say that there’s a lot going on in the
videogame world right now, since everyone is getting ready for the
euphoria that is E3 in May; I can say that there are plenty of great
games out there to play.

Right now I’m actually stuck between a rock and a hard place. As you
know (if you listened to the show or checked the forums), I recently
picked up Resident Evil Outbreak for PS2. There are so many great
things about this game, such as the switch from classic "tank" controls
to a more "Devil May Cry-esque" control scheme. It works much better
than Resident Evil games in the past, and it’s a welcome change.
Another one of the other great things about it are the characters,
they’re all unique. You’ve got people like Mark, the Ving Rhames
lookalike, who gets a gun at the start, and has the ability to block
some zombies. Then you’ve got people like Alyssa, the reporter, who
starts off with lockpicks, and can also take pot-shots with a gun if
she’s able to get her hands on one. The player balance is really nice,
and it really opens up some pretty cool partnerships. My favorite
player so far is MacGuyve…I mean David, the plumber. He can put all
kinds of wacky weapons together to create even cooler weapons. Like he
can combine an iron pole, a battery, and a knife to create a stun prod,
or a butcher knife and a wooden pole to create a spear. Stuff like that
is what makes Resident Evil Outbreak great, along with the zombies.

However, the great stuff is severely marred by the bad. First of all,
if you’re playing offline, the other characters are controlled by AI,
and the AI is atrocious. They won’t do anything you say, and they
barely do anything that’s worthwhile, except get killed. It really
sucks too, because many of the situations in the game demand a "safety
in numbers" type of play, where the more people you have shooting the
oncoming horde of zombies, the better, not to mention you get more
points for completing one of the game’s 5 scenarios for beating them
with everyone alive.

Another complaint I have is with the online system. Dear god, this game
doth sucketh on ps2. Capcom’s horrendous server setup is the worst that
I’ve ever seen. First of all, they had a beta test so they could test
server stress and latency. Now the game is out and they can’t even keep
their servers up for more than 4 or 5 hours at a time?!? What the
hell?! Secondly, the online chat is a joke. There is no online chat in
scenario mode, which is where you’re randomly placed within a scenario
(or placed in the first one) with a character you choose, and then get
randomly paired up with other people. The chat is relegated to the
right analog stick, which is basically good for just telling people
"Go", "Come here", "yes", and "no". It’s really frustrating to play
online, because you want to have so much fun and use teamwork, but when
you can’t, there’s just no excuse for it. Did I mention that the game
separates people that have the HDD and people that don’t? Man, that’s
annoying, too.

I want to love Resident Evil Outbreak so much, but due to its technical
shortcomings, I really can’t get into it…I’ll probably give it
another week or so for the servers to stabilize, but if they don’t, I’m
going to be one pissed-off Resident Evil fan.

Right now I’m just praying that Capcom puts this game on Xbox Live.
Imagine how great the game would be on Xbox Live! Voice chat! Friends
list! Oh my god! That’s
what this game should have been. Until they announce it, I’m just going
to cling to my wishful thinking, but I hope that it does happen.

On a brighter note, I was checking around the web last night, and I
happened upon a very cool new Xbox shooter in the vein of R-Type for
those of you that are beginning to foam at the mouth for one. It’s
called Xyanide and it’s being made just for Xbox. Looks pretty sweet to me. Can’t wait to see it in motion, hopefully at E3.

One final note too, just wanted to let everyone know that there is now a trailer for the new game, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
that looks friggin’ amazing. Very Doom 3-ish lighting and graphics. Che
from XBN magazine just got his first playable copy, and he said that
the gameplay backs up the graphics! Amazing! Do keep a watch on this
game, I think it’s going to be a sleeper hit.

-Jack

07 Apr 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

I am sick, and was sick yesterday on the show and the drugs are making
me a bit… goofy. If you want to hear me be… goofy you can by clicking here

Far Cry, BF: Vietnam, UT 2004, and Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow are all reasons that by themselves
could limit time for other activities such as eating and sleeping. But,
all of them are out right now. You could go to your local store and
they would all be sitting on the shelf, just looking at you. Attacking
you with all sorts of promises of gameplay, graphics, and sound. Your
wallet whimpers as you approach the sales counter, you are almost a
prisoner of war, and you do it; you get all of them. You prolly won’t
get them all at once, but sooner or later you will. You fucking have
to, there is no other choice.

All of the above games have
been displayed recently on either my TV or computer screen with quite a
bit of frequency. Time is spread rather thin across them, and I feel
like I haven’t made any progress on any of them. One thing I will tell
you, though, is that all these titles are must plays for anyone that is
reading these words. At least go download the fucking demo, it will
give you all sorts of wants that you will later have to fulfill.

Besides the massive amount of gameage that I need to be doing, I also
have a little trip to plan. E3 is a little over a month away, and I’m
busy getting ready to head off there with the rest of the BreakmanX.com
crew. Getting all sorts of cameras and shit lined up to provide as much
video, photo, and audio content as is possible. Figuring out ways to
update multiple times a day. A lot of fucking times a day. I can’t
wait, I mean E3′s always been this kind of holy land. I’ve always seen
pictures of it, heard Gabe and Tycho talk about it, and all that, but
I’m actually going there. It’s crazy. First E3 ever for us, but
definately not our last.

Richie and Realm came up yesterday, and we had a rip-roaring good time.
Realm got to meet Afro, Jack, Phylo, and Shrek. I also made him laugh
so hard I made him sick. I’ve never seen someone laugh TOO much, but
apparently when it makes your head feel like it’ll explode you have
crossed the line. Become intoxicated, if you will.

When the Doctor looks in your throat and says, "Oh my God," you know
you are pretty sick. I have a really bad case of strep throat, and it
feels like someone took a fucking lawnmower to my throat. When that
lost its fun they picked up a flame thrower. Oddly enough.. Maynard
James Keenan of Tool and A Perfect Circle got sick
at the same time. Which initially upset me since he’s supposed to be
coming down to Kansas City a week from Thursday to play a few tunes for
us. As of now, he’s still coming, which makes for a very happy Break.
Anyway, I’m going to go to Applebees with a certain Cannon that needs tightening so I shall catch you all later.

Drags you down like a stone
To consume you till you choose to let this go.

05 Apr 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

So here’s what we’re doing. We’re going to start a revolution, and
begin a video game training college. This college will explore the
different types of games: RTS, Fighter, RPG, Platform, FPS, you know,
basically all the different types of games you can play. You will wake
up, play UT with breakfast, Age of Empires over lunch, and end your day
with a little Soul Caliber 2 training. This college will produce the
most 1337 g4m3rs in the country, and these gamers will form a new army
of men and women incapable of losing at their specialty. After all this
training, the military will take interest and form a special space
college to destroy the invading buggers. Basically, I haven’t had time
to play video games because of effing class. Rar.

Apparently people think I’m some kind of GBA deity and makes offerings
to me on the day of my birth celebration. For my twenty first, I
received not alcohol nor naked women, as was hoped, but what seemed to
be the entire selection of games available for the GBA, of which I
realized most had no appeal to me. But I did end up not trading in
Boktai and Onimusha Tactics. I’m excited to play Onimusha because,
frankly, ninjas and samurai are fucking sweet. Enough said.

Boktai, if you don’t know, happens to have the subtitle "The Sun is in
Your Hand," which seems painful, or at least more warm than normal. The
gimmick of this clever Hideo Kojima title, is that the undead are at a
certain difficulty when you and your GBA are in direct sunlight, but
once you leave the sun, they beef up to Vlad the Impaler or Count
Dracula strength, and that’s just the normal enemies. I’m about two
seconds from actually starting to play this title, but I’ve got an
issue: I don’t have any particular attachment to the outdoors.
Kojima-san seemed to forget that some of the GBA holders, myself
included, are computer people, we work and thrive in the darkness, in
fact, my office is called “The Cage,” and not because it’s filled with
dancing women. But alas, I must venture to the sun to vanquish my
nocturnal brethren, and I think it might be good for me. It’ll be a
unique experience; I don’t think I’ve ever been out in the open for
that long. I might get some color.

Eep.

02 Apr 2004 by Afrotect

comments (0)

Bungie Studios has officially shed even more light on their upcoming
title, which they are working on as soon as Halo 2 is done!

Check it out here.

And also, Bungie released the first sponsorship pics of Halo 2!

You can see those here.

-Jack

01 Apr 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Oh fuck. I’m 21.

31 Mar 2004 by Afrotect

comments (0)

I uploaded a shit-ton of shows, so please go to the Game Show page and download them.

29 Mar 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Alright guys, here it is: The Xbox is officially $149.99 in the US starting tomorrow, March 30th. Now all of you cheap bastards out there not picking one up because it was "too expensive" can shut up and go pick one up.

Along with the price drop, Microsoft dropped the price on a few killer games as well. Project Gotham Racing 2, Crimson Skies, and Counter-Strike all dropped down to $29.99, so you HAVE to go pick those up as well.

And if that wasn’t even enough to get you to buy an Xbox, Microsoft
added even more games to their platinum hits lineup: Voodoo Vince, Xbox
Music Mixer, Finding Nemo, and one of my favorite guilty pleasures: Grabbed by the Ghoulies. All of those titles will be available for $19.99 as of tomorrow.

So what are you waiting for?!?! Go pick up an Xbox if you don’t have
one already! And pick up Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow while you’re
at it too! The game is a truly unique experience online!

P.S. There’s also a limited edition Halo Xbox package coming soon
too…and it’s $169.99, is green, just like the debug Xboxes, and it
comes with a free copy of Halo!

-Jack

29 Mar 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Be sure to catch us today at 7:00 Central Standard Time on the The Game Show. Click HERE
to start the broadcast. To write in questions, IM me: AIM: (NEW NAME)
kuBreakmanX, Yahoo: BreakmanX, MSN: BreakmanX@hotmail.com, and ICQ:
14009569. Voice call ins can be done through Yahoo messenger, simply
messege me through Yahoo for instructions. Its easy =)


28 Mar 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Hey guys and girls…just wanted to make sure that EVERYONE here is
going to pick up two great games that are coming out tomorrow. Splinter
Cell: Pandora Tomorrow and Far Cry both come out tomorrow, and I hope
to see a whole bunch of you loyal BMX.com readers on Xbox Live so I can
play some SC multiplayer against you. This game is going to kick all
kinds of ass, and I just can’t wait…oh well…one more day….

BTW, for those of you who have forgotten, my gamertag = Jack Burt0n.

-Jack

23 Mar 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

 

w00t!

K, here’s the story:
UT2k4 and BF:V servers are up. The address is:

maelstromsoftware.gotdns.com

For more info check the forums, they have a list of game types and the like.

BreakmanX Server Info

22 Mar 2004 by Afrotect

comments (0)

Aight kids, I’ll make this brief.

In a stint of whimsy, I decided (with the help of my room mate
eChicken) to host a dedicated server for Unreal Tournament 2004 and
Battlefield: Vietnam. I posted more info in the forums so go there, read up on it, and let me know what you think.

Gaming with you soon – Afro

22 Mar 2004 by Afrotect

comments (0)

Be sure to catch us today at 7:00 Central Standard Time on the The Game Show. Click HERE
to start the broadcast. To write in questions, IM me: AIM: (NEW NAME)
kuBreakmanX, Yahoo: BreakmanX, MSN: BreakmanX@hotmail.com, and ICQ:
14009569. Voice call ins can be done through Yahoo messenger, simply
messege me through Yahoo for instructions. Its easy =)


21 Mar 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Ok, I just got back from seeing the remake of Dawn of the Dead (yes,
I’ve seen the original, along with the other Romero Dead movies). This
movie is simply awesome. It’s got everything you need from a great
zombie movie:

1. Blood–There’s boatloads of blood in DotD, and all of it is great.
2. Bad-ass Motherfuckers–Ving Rhames is a cop with a shotgun. Need I say more?
3. Convincing backstory/setup–Oh yeah. The first 10 minutes will certainly get you hooked on this one.
4. Chainsaws–If only more movies used this oft-overlooked device of
dismemberment, the world would be a much better place. Fortunately,
this one uses it very well.

There are a bunch of other reasons that I could recommend Dawn of the
Dead for, but that’s just the starters. If you get the time to see a
movie this weekend, or this week, go see it! It’s incredibly cool, and
I know Afro will back me up on most of this too, as well as Loose
Cannon.

Gotta go back to waiting for the zombies to come….

-Jack

21 Mar 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Hey guys, sorry to post above Richie so quick, but I just wanted to let
everyone know that there are two new reviews up on the site! We’ve got MVP Baseball 2004 for all platforms, as well as one I know you’ve all been waiting for, my Ninja Gaiden Review. What did I think of these two titles when all the dust settled? Click the links and find out!

Oh yeah, and read Richie’s post. It’s really cool, and I agree
completely…except for the UT2K4 running like ass. Although I do have
God’s video card, so I think I’m the exception. Though I don’t really
like the netcode in UT2K4 as much as BF:V. Every game I get into, no
matter what the ping is on the server browser, seems to have lag
anytime more than 6 people are firing weapons or driving
vehicles…hopefully this issue will get hammered out quickly, because
it’s driving me up the wall right now, and allowing me to play BF more
and more.

-Jack

19 Mar 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Ok, so that’s not exactly
what Edwin Starr said, but sometimes, lying under the cover of a bush,
carefully aiming my RPG at the vulnerable rear-end of an unsuspecting
American APC, I really wish he would have.

I promised you
more thoughts on BF Vietnam on Tuesday, and dammit, you’re gonna get
em’. But first, let me apologize for not having any more thoughts on
UT2004. There’s a number of very good reasons, but the biggest one is
my unwillingness to put up with a putrid frame rate when more than
three other players are on screen. It hurts to admit it, but my PC just
isn’t up to spec for a game like this. It does BF:V just fine, but in
the bullet whizzing, barrel blazing fury of a UT firefight, it falls
straight to its knees and begs for mercy. The reason for such begging
is the unbalance that exists in my PC, having a solid
processor/mobo/RAM combination, but lacking in the video card section.
Realm recommended a GeForce FX5900 256MB, which looks like a good buy,
but any recommendations other PC gamers have would be appreciated. I
figure, I was gonna get a new card for Half Life 2 anyway, why wait?

And now, Battlefield Vietnam. And nothing says Vietnam better than the
image of a napalm canister spewing its contents across the very
unfortunate area in front of it, then turning it into an ugly,
blackened strip of a scar. That said, the napalm effect in BF:V is
almost mesmerizing to watch from a distance, and awe inspiring when
seen on the receiving end. Speaking of awe inspiring, so are the maps.
So expansive and detailed are they that you’ll sometimes take a break
from the action to just look off in the distance. Part of that detail
is in the foliage that Vietnam is known for, which must be used to your
advantage if you hope to get anywhere in the game. Simply following a
line of grass, or staying out of a sandy area, which would contrast
with your black VC pajamas, are often the factors that decide if you’re
spotted by that passing Huey or not. The weapons are well balanced,
with both sides having their ups and downs. Though, the American heavy
weapons class is a bit too powerful, packing an M-60 machine gun with
either an anti-tank rocket or a grenade launcher. One thing that stood
out was the semi-automatic weapons on both sides, and how effective
they can be. Often, I’ll pass up the heaver automatic weapons and
explosives for an M-14/Type-56, simply because they’re far more
accurate and powerful. In a situation where I’d have to waste 30 rounds
of M-60 ammo spraying a VC, I could kill him in three shots with an
M-14.

By far, one of the best features in the game is the addition of 70’s
era music, which plays during load times and in vehicles. With the
vehicles, the driver can choose from the tracks included in the game,
and play them as he wages war. While this is great for the driver, it
also comes at a disadvantage: while he can hear the music, so can
everyone in the general area, allowing an enemy to find the vehicle
easily. Another addition on the audio front is ‘Stars and Bars’ radio
and ‘Hanoi Hanna’, who you’d have to hear to understand. I swear,
sometimes I could just smack that Hanna sideways with the butt-end of
my M-16.

I could go on and on, but I’ll end it here by again mentioning the
immense value of a game that is Colin McRae Rally 04. From what I read
at Gamespot, the games producers felt that the US didn’t have the rally
fan base that Europe does, so felt that charging $50 would result in
lacking sales. I’d tend to agree, but another mans loss is my $30 gain.
Forum frequenter Atticus watched me play for a few minutes, and
commented, “This game was only 20 bucks? Damn.” If there is any love in
your heart for getting sideways in a moving vehicle, then Colin McRae
Rally 04 will be 20 of the best dollars you’ve ever spent for a racing
game.

19 Mar 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

Shinji Mikami has a thing for nightmares, and has been bringing his
moaning visions of the night to us in all their glory for several years
now. Besides the porn,
he is also the mastermind of a fairly popular Video Game series. The
Japanese know it as "Biohazard," but here in the States we call it
"Resident Evil." After many months of waiting, Capcom has finally
decided to release some info on the newest incarnation of the Resident
Evil game, currently and creatively titled Resident Evil 4. What really
peaked my interest in this game is that they are actually making a new
game, rather than changing a few things and changing the ending of the
opening Resident Evil growl. The enemies are actually smart now, and
will do things that will both surprise you, and as Shinji wishes,
possibly make you pee your pants. Hopefully this game will not incur
the involuntary wang drain, but if it does you may just want to keep
some spare pizants just in case. But, yeah, I digress, the enemies
apparently think on their feet, and have some really good A.I. even
though this game isn’t to be released until Winter 2004. Arrant shots
will only alert your foes, and cause them to take cover. Not only that,
but they actually whistle and alert their friends who sometimes bring
along such friends as Mr. Chainsaw, to come and chop you into more bits
than you even thought possible. Motherfucker.

Besides the
complete overhaul in the enemies, the graphics are also differently
themed. At first glance it looks almost monochromous, but it is
actually extremely deep and beautiful. Capcom is getting close to
achieving photorealism with their purple lunchbox they like to program
for so much.

The most exciting change, to me anyway, is that the gameplay is tweaked
as well. The Resident Evil series has always had it’s signature
gameplay with a few quirks here and there. While they serve well to
enhance the tension of battle, they also piss you the fuck off
sometimes. This new Resident Evil plays much more like an action game,
than a typical Resident Evil game. Adding in a nice new camera angle
when you are using your gun, that actually moves behind your shoulder
and works to make shooting your now smart as fuck
enemies that much easier. Also serves to bring you closer to the
action, as it represents almost a cross between a third person and
first person view.

The next game I’m looking forward to,
fuck you Shrek, is Mega Man Anniversary collection. Ten fucking MegaMan
games on one disc with a shit load of extra features, and for $29.99. I
mean come on, I wouldn’t be BreakmanX if I didn’t pick this shit up. I
mean come on, two of them are the arcade games from Japan. Still don’t
have you… umm, it has remixed music! Ok, you know what, fuck y’all if
you like Mega Man get it. If not go play Ninja Gaiden… which you
should be doing anyway…

Also, you may have noticed I haven’t been posting as much lately, and I
do apologize.. but the fruits of my recent efforts will be seen fairly
shortly. A secret project has been in the works, and will be launched
with, shall we say, the quickness. So, keep your eyes open for
something that should be quite a surprise to most of you.

Learn to Swim…

18 Mar 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Well, after many months of anxious waiting, March 16th finally came,
which roughly equates to the second coming for PC FPS fans, like
myself. With the near-simultaneous release of Battlefield Vietnam and
UT2004, not only are their wallets a few sheets of paper thinner, but
there also won’t be a single waking second in their existence that
isn’t fully consumed with one game or the other, perhaps both. And if
the release of both games on the same day wasn’t fortunate enough
timing, it also happens to be my last day of classes for another 11
days. If I had any doubts over the existence of an omnipotent being on
this plane of reality, they were blown away today. There has to be a God, and he must love me dearly.

First, UT2004. Game producers, take note: this is the way to package a
game. Of course, the game is there, but you also get a voice headset, courtesy of Logitech, a sweet-ass car emblem, and a set of Atari stickers, all of which comes in a slick metal-type-thingie.
Given, I got the Special Edition package, but it’s worth every damn
penny, and I can’t think of a reason not to get it, short of not having
a DVD-ROM drive. Then, obviously, there is the game. Sure, it’s about
five gigs worth of install, but, if you’re a UT fan, then not a single
megabyte will be wasted. Assault is back, and it’s back with a
vengeance. I’ve not had a chance to try all the maps, but the ones I
did try were of appropriate length, well designed, and everything that
an old school assaulter could want. Mutation is a brand new addition to
the game type list, but sounds interesting, and something I intend on
trying at least once online. I can’t say too much more, since I haven’t
had enough time one-on-one with it to formulate more thoughts, but you
can expect more details on Friday.

Next, Battlefield
Vietnam. It’s like nothing you’ve ever played before. Going into it, I
expected to see the good old main menu, with the ever-familar war theme
going in the background, but was greeted by a very different menu
entirely. Everything is 70’s style, from the hippie-print text to the
remixed version of the old background theme. Genuine oldies, like
‘Fortunate Son’ and ‘War’ play as levels load, which then drop you into
the jungle combat that is Vietnam. Everything from the health indicator
to the mini map has been recreated in the new BF Vietnam style, while
staying as functional as it needs to be. One very nice revision is the
command menu, which allowed players to issue voice orders without
actual voice communication, but was extremely clunky, slow, and
extremely prone to error. The new setup works out all the kinks and
makes issuing commands a breeze. Again, I haven’t had enough time with
this to go much further, but I can say that, while the overall feel and
style has changed, the fun factor hasn’t.

Oh yeah, while I was at Gamestop picking up BF Vietnam, I also bought
Colin McRae Rally 04. Ya, I know what you’re saying, “Damn, Richie, you
just bought two addictive games! Why another?” If it were any other day
of the year, I’d agree. But, with the mass of free time I’ll have in
the near future, I figure, fuck it, might as well go the full nine on
games. Besides, it was 20 bucks, a score for such an excellent rally
game.

17 Mar 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

In case you’re wondering, yes, we will have a show tonight. I guess
Break decided to jump through the Blood Gulch teleporter or something,
cause he’s about 10 mins away. Just stay tuned to the stream, and we’ll
be there shortly.

14 Mar 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

I won’t comment too much on Ninja Gaiden here, since everyone and their fucking hamster
is talking about it. I will say, however, that anyone who tries to tell
you that Ninja Gaiden is easy, or not hard, is a cheat and a liar. That
said, do not allow this fact to dissuade you from buying it if you have
not already. It’s tough, damn tough, and has a sharp learning curve,
one I didn’t fully pick up on till chapter three. If you find yourself
bogged down and frustrated in the beginning, grit your fucking teeth
and try like hell to stay with it. Use GameFAQs if need be. The game is
incredibly rewarding later on, when you obtain better attacks and
progress in the story. Before you know it, slaying white ninjas will be
as easy as unzipping your fly.

I bowed and scraped at
Rurouni’s feet on Sunday, but I feel it’s necessary to thank him once
more for his generous gift of the Chrono Trigger soundtrack. I don’t
think I can be a happier man.

Lastly, I thought I put this beauty
before the eyes of all the Zelda-loving readers we’ve got. I can’t say
I’m as hardcore Zelda as some of the others around here, but I wouldn’t
mind having one nonetheless.

10 Mar 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

Be sure to catch us today at 7:00 Central Standard Time on the The Game Show. Click HERE
to start the broadcast. To write in questions, IM me: AIM: (NEW NAME)
kaddawancinn, Yahoo: tylerichardson, MSN: tyler_richie@hotmail.com, and
. Voice call ins can be done through Yahoo messenger, simply messege me
through Yahoo for instructions. Its easy =)


07 Mar 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Ok, ok…so Ninja Gaiden has not been beaten….yet. It’s still
incredibly tough. But it’s also still incredibly gorgeous and hella fun
to play. More talk about this on the Show tonight. But even though this
is a gaming website, I figured that I should let everyone know this
stuff:

I know everyone always thinks that the Holidays are the best time of
the calendar year, but I beg to differ. You see, being the complete and
total sports nut that I am, I absolutely love college basketball. And
this weekend marks the start of what is traditionally called, "March
Madness".

That’s right, this week all kinds of wacky college basketball
happenings start to take place. For instance, last night Duke and North
Carolina played a really intense and close game that Duke ended up
winning (team-killing fucktards). And now today, there are even more
great college rivalry games on TV…Kansas vs. Missouri, and my
favorite, Kentucky vs. Florida.

Not only do these big rivalry games occur, but many of the mid-major
conferences are having their conference tourneys this weekend. There
are already 3 or 4 teams that have their ticket to the Big Dance
punched, but there are still about 60 that have yet to earn theirs.
This time of the year really gets me going, and I really have to like
Kentucky’s hopes of winning the NCAA tourney this year.

But anyways, I’ll be sure to keep everyone on BreakmanX.com up to date
on the NCAA tournament, if you want to be, just because it’s something
that I hold very dear to my heart…you’ll have to just remember, that
I was born and raised a UK fan, and I bleed blue. Go Wildcats! Go
Jayhawks!

-Jack

07 Mar 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

In what is surely a first for me and probably BreakmanX.com, I’m posting this from a Mac. An iBook G4, to be precise. Here’s a proof picture if you don’t believe me. What’s stranger is that the laptop in question is effectively mine
for the next few months. How many dicks did you suck to work that out,
you ask? Not one, I just gave my much loved Smoky Valley High School
$13 and a signature, and it was mine. I could elaborate on for many
paragraphs trying to explain the program to you, but this
page explains things just as well. And, to be perfectly honest, I’m
kinda growing to like this little white book. Call me a heathen if you
will, but the seamlessness of the entire interface, from Safari to
iTunes, is downright impressive. Now, please, don’t get me wrong, I
still know full well in my heart that 90% of the functions that I do on
this laptop can be done on a PC twice as fast and, largely, for free.
But, for $13 bucks, I figure I got a hell of a deal.

Has anyone else been looking at these Penny Arcade special feature comics?
I have, they fucking rule. The whole idea started with a Crouching
Tiger Hidden Dragon series, which was well received, then moved on to
Rainbow Six 3, another success, and now we have Painkiller and Far Cry
series in the works. It doesn’t get much better for me, personally. My
favorite comic artist depicting original stories from games that I care deeply about in his own unique style. How awesome is that? Pretty damn, if you ask me.

And, since I’m sure to catch hell from Jack if i don’t, I’ll be renting
Ninja Gaiden this weekend. I guess it’s some kind of moral obligation
as an Xbox owner do to so, and I might have a few thoughts for the
Show. Until then, try not to wear out the cartilage in your hands
slaughtering all those baddies.

05 Mar 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

Ok…you thought Devil May Cry was tough? Think again. You think you’re
a good gamer? It doesn’t matter. You think the Dead or Alive series is
one of the best-looking games out there? Not anymore.

Let me just say, that after 6 carpal-tunnel-syndrome-inducing hours of
playing the full version of Ninja Gaiden on Xbox…Man. Tomonobu
Itagaki wasn’t kidding when he said this game was going to be tough.
This game is incredibly tough, even on normal mode. The cool thing
about it is, it’s not really cheap tough, it’s just a skillful tough.
For example, usually whenever you die, it’s for a reason, like, "Oh
man, I should’ve blocked those attacks," or "I should have used the
Dragon Sword here." The game is tough, but you almost always know why
you died.

The game also looks amazing. I haven’t seen any game come to the
graphical level that Ninja Gaiden is at. The backgrounds, the
characters, the animations, everything looks incredible in this game.
The sound is top-notch too, I’m listening to the Japanese voices with
American subtitles…the American voices aren’t bad, I’d just rather
listen to Japanese

Anyways, this game is amazing. Expect a full review as soon as I finish
it. This game was well worth the wait. Right now I’m about 1/3 of the
way through the game, and I still have 11 more chapters to go!

If you’ve got an Xbox, go get Ninja Gaiden. If you don’t have an Xbox,
get Ninja Gaiden and take it over to your friends’ house. It’s too
great to go unnoticed.

-Jack

04 Mar 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Following up on a discussion the Game Show hosts had over Infinium Labs and their threat against HardOCP, this
Gamespot article reports that HardOCP has no intention of taking down
it’s profile of Tim Roberts, Infinium co-founder. The part that really
caught my attention was a quote from HardOCP editor Kyle Bennett, who
said, “The odd thing to me about the above letter is that it
continually refers to statements we never made and innuendos that are
nonexistent in our article…In fact, after reading the letter I had to
wonder if we were actually referencing the same document." This
statement, combined with Tim’s response post to Penny Arcade,
hasn’t done much for Infinium’s credibility in my eyes. And, until we
see the Phantom actually turned on a working in public, or loosecannon
gets his beta test Phantom, I can’t see that changing any time soon.

On a more positive note, the confirmation that Battlefield Vietnam has gone gold
just goes to reassure me that, with the sequential release of BFV and
UT2004 on the first two days of my spring break, that it will be my
happiest ever.

Lastly, for all the Far Cry players out there, a new demo map has been made available. Happy hunting.

03 Mar 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

Be sure to catch us today at 7:00 Central Standard Time on the The Game Show. Click HERE
to start the broadcast. To write in questions, IM me: AIM: (NEW NAME)
kuBreakmanX, Yahoo: BreakmanX, MSN: BreakmanX@hotmail.com, and ICQ:
14009569. Voice call ins can be done through Yahoo messenger, simply
messege me through Yahoo for instructions. Its easy =)


29 Feb 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Hey guys and gals, I got done playing 007: Everything or Nothing
earlier this week, and quite a good time with it. So, we finally have
the 007: Everything or Nothing Review up for everyone to see.

Check it out, it’s assuredly the best Bond game since Goldeneye.

-Jack

29 Feb 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Twenty-One years ago, last Tuesday to be exact, I entered this world.
Little did I know that twenty-one years later I would be fully content,
and happy. I guess my main point is that there is a certain balance to
life, that keeps us challenged, and makes things more interesting. And
also, when you overcome these sort of things it makes everything so
much better in the end. We’re all gamers here, and it completely makes
sense to compare it to any sort of game. Games usually have a sort of
level that is a kind of nail in your ass. One that makes you want to
break the controllers in half, and then procede to beat the fucker with
a bat as you scream, "Die Motherfucker, Die." Ok, so maybe that’s just
the BMX crew, but I think you get what I’m saying. Ultimate frustration
of the seemingly worthless exertion of brain power and eye strain
eventually leads to an almost unduplicable feeling of accomplishment.

Gaming has many of these moments; for example what is more thrilling
than walking into a game store with your pre-sale receipt to pick up
say the next Zelda, Halo, or Ninja Gaiden title? And then there’s the
rush home. I usually end up speeding, while also looking over my game,
trying to open my treasure as I avoid the other cars on the road that
think they should be there too. I usually rip open the game and throw
the discarded contents on the floor, and open the optical drive that
the game desires. The boot up screen you’ve seen millions
of times before flashes in front of your face, and you only want to
fast forward time. The next dilemma is usually if you want to watch the
pretty intro or if you want to go right into the game. Honestly, unless
the game developer has a shape in it’s name I usually hit the start
button like a wild ape.

Would games be as special if they
were all readily available? If I had every game that would ever come
out, and had no challenge to receive them.. No trips to EB, no
possibility of late shipments, no dumbass drivers… would it be as
good? I really don’t think so. Honestly gaming in itself is a sort of
game. There’s the culture wrought with all sorts of slang, it’s own
food (anything that’s fried or bad for you,) humor, clothes; fuck, we
should start our own country.

Games also have Game Shark’s and other such genies that rape your game
of challenge, and present you with a sort of watered down soup for you
to trudge through with your infinite lives and unlimited ammo. (Before
I move on, I’d like to throw out a little fuck you to all those nice
SOCOM players that cheat as if it was the only way to play. God forbid
hey gain some fucking skill..)

After completely being biased and opinionated, and all around one sided
I must say that there is another side to all this. Shadow’s brother,
who we affectionately call Dr. Thud, likes to beat games. It doesn’t
really matter to him how he beats them, as long as he does. Besides the
overcoming of challenge, there is also an element of power. Being
unstoppable against things
that would otherwise be harder than fuck is something that one can
certainly get a thrill from. There’s always more to everything than it
seems, regardless of what it is. Play as a cheap-ass motherfucker, and
elitist, or somewhere in between.

Life is a game like any
other, and there are multiple side-quests such as school and work. I
just find it interesting to look at it if people had the ability to use
cheat codes. The ability to create money, for example would be a nice
addition. You may see Richie driving around in a sort of X-Wing, in
which if your name is Brad and your last name is what you do with a gun
or bow and arrow, you may want to be wary. A real life matrix… It
would be sweet, but only if the right people had it. I don’t even want
to know what Q/Rurouni Trelane would have.. A female Master Chief for
Jack Burt0n, or possibly Cortana? The possibilities are endless. What
about for me? Honestly, as of right now I would not change one single
thing.

27 Feb 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Wow…thanks to Realm for having me check this…I got this from Gamespot.com. I’m sure richie is in heaven now

Apparently they said that EBgames.com and gamestop.com had pushed up
the release of Doom III for PC to April 15th, and Activision web site
people confirmed it.

UPDATE: Apparently Gamespot took down the article just as fast as it
was put up. I guess this is just a rumor that got picked up and ran
with…

-Jack

25 Feb 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Yay!

w00t!

That is all…back to the N-Gage sucking.

-Jack

25 Feb 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

First off, I’d like to bring to your attention this
Slashdot article regarding Nokia’s public admission that the N-Gage
sucks. Rather, the N-Gage “has not performed to expectations” according
to Jorma Ollila, Nokia’s chief executive, who also said, “…but the
company has now corroborated early evidence from game stores that sales
have been sluggish….” Well, shit, if they’re reading early evidence,
then what the hell was this? A prequel? Gee, maybe those sluggish sales have something to do with a little practice called piracy? I sure am glad Nokia has woken up and smelled the napalm, because they’re too late to see the N-Gage going down in flames.

And, wouldn’t you know it, there’s another PC demo out, Colin McRae Rally 4, which adds to my unusually long list of currently playing demos,
along with UT2004, Painkiller, and FarCry. Just when I thought my
addiction to racing games had been broken, the God of rally has to come
in and bestow his little sliver of heaven upon me. Heh, as if I would
ever have the will power to turn down a rally game. How silly of me.

And, damn, does it feel good to download shit this fast.

25 Feb 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

Well, after roughly three years in college, I thought some part of me
has moved on past my sordid Magic the Gathering past. How I recall the
hours and dollars spent on my lovely Elf-ball or Vindi-whump decks, and
even a memorable trip to origins.
Saturday, in a fanciful moment of financial intelligence, I traded in
what seemed to be the summation of every video game known to man in
some prehistoric bartering ritual. With this bartering credit I
purchaced (along with several others, which I shall name later) Magic:
the Gathering: Battlegrounds. This game, which I was quite pessimistic
of, (having played the original incarnation of a computerized Magic,
which flourished with the combined shock and awe of around three Fourth
of July snakes) actually turns out to be quite the involving real time
battle in the Magic universe. The mechanics are rather well thought
out, and the game guides you through some of the nuances quite well, I
suggest you get it if you have ever had any affiliation with
collectible card games or even dabblings in any fantasy world.

This massive purchace seemed to be a catching up of sorts, making up
for my college poverty. Also purchaces was R-Type Final, SSX3, NBA
Street Vol. 2, Gladius, Goblin Commander, and Marvel Vs. Capcom 2
(ps2). So now I spend my evenings deciding what to unlock, a new space
ship named Duckbill, or a new style of Dreds for my super-athlete
snowboarder.

Oh the joy.

23 Feb 2004 by Afrotect

comments (0)

Be sure to catch us today at 7:00 Central Standard Time on the The Game Show. Click HERE
to start the broadcast. To write in questions, IM me: AIM: (NEW NAME)
kuBreakmanX, Yahoo: BreakmanX, MSN: BreakmanX@hotmail.com, and ICQ:
14009569. Voice call ins can be done through Yahoo messenger, simply
messege me through Yahoo for instructions. Its easy =)


22 Feb 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

This world definitely needs more ninjas. I don’t care if they’re stupid
ninjas like in the movies American Ninja 1-6 *shudder* or if they’re
the blade-wielding, shuriken-chucking, all-around badasses like Ryu
Hayabusa of Ninja Gaiden. We just need more of ‘em. I would prefer the
later type of ninja, but any will do at this day and age. We need to
get ninjas back, and then we can start weeding out the bad ones.

Anyways, this conclusion was thrust upon me after I FINALLY (don’t make
me go in to detail…let’s just say it took me a good week to find it)
found a copy of the newest Official Xbox Magazine, which just so
happened to be chock full of ninja-goodness.

Now there was a really cool demo on there for the new Tenchu game
that’s coming to Xbox with 2-player co-op over Xbox Live, but there was
also a little demo of a game that’s sneaking under the radar.

Ninja Gaiden. Man, oh man! This game is going to be amazing! To try to
get a sense of how the game plays, imagine Devil May Cry 1 mixed with
Dead or Alive 3, and you’ve got Tecmo’s new Ninja Gaiden. Man, this
game is detailed. The game is beautiful from a graphical standpoint,
there are subtleties in every little thing that Ryu (and all of the
other ninjas) and the boss does. (in a demo that’s from September!) So
I can only imagine how much farther along the game has come since then.

Just let me say this to all of you: If you own an xbox, go get the
newest OXM with the demo disc and experience this amazing game for
yourself. If you don’t have an xbox, well, go pick up an OXM and play
the demo on your buddy’s xbox, and once you’ve done that, go pick an
xbox up yourself.

But seriously, and both Break and Phylo will back me up on this, Ninja Gaiden is looking incredibly freakin’ cool!

I’m going to start a thread on the demo in the forums, once you pick it
up, let me know what your best rating and your biggest combo is on the
demo. It’s going to be amazing.

-Jack

20 Feb 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

In what is yet another case of big fish eating little fish, Classic
Cable, my previous ISP, was bought out by Cox Communications (please,
no cock jokes). Normally, I would see the takeover as another step
towards this town’s inevitable doom, a fate where chains like Wal-Mart
and Home Depot call into question the very existence of the small
businesses that keep Lindsborg alive. But, in one of those rare
something-for-nothing deals, not only did Cox agree to keep my monthly
fee the same, but they also removed the bandwidth cap, allowing me
access to more bandwidth than I know what to do with. The change is
best explained visually. I performed a Cnet.com bandwidth test last week, and got a 358 Kbps. Now take a look at this.
Yeah, I said holy shit, too. That’s over seven times faster, if you’re
too lazy to do the math, and has download speeds to match. A week ago,
a steady 45 Kbps download speed surely meant that God was smiling upon
my download choice. Now, that speed is just an excuse to find another
mirror.

Had my ISP not popped the top on a can o’ whoop
ass, I’d probably be bitching and moaning over my UT2004 demo download
timing out at the worst possible moment,
forcing me to abort my third attempt. However, since my fourth attempt
was successful, I’ve hardly had a chance to reflect on my misfortune.
After beating Metal Gear Solid 2, getting back to the Unreal
run-and-gun world was quite a treat. Stealth shooters be damned,
nothing beats running into a room chock full of baddies with both
barrels blazing. Ideas like "silent movement" and "corpse disposal"
have a habit of melting away under a hail of flak shrapnel. The return
of Assault is a welcome addition, especially with the new possibilities
that turrets and vechicles allow for, and Onslaught is also another
great addition to an already good list of game modes. Note to Gamestop:
I will not be fucking cheated out of my preorder. Such an event will result in bloodshed at your expense.

My relationship with UT2004, which I had deemed as "infatuation",
turned to "obsession" when I was shocked to find that my free two month
Live subscription had run out without me knowing. I’d say it’s been a
good two weeks since I’ve played Project Gotham, and even longer since
I’ve been on Live. Fucking amazing, huh?

18 Feb 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

Be sure to catch us today at 7:00 Central Standard Time on the The Game Show. Click HERE
to start the broadcast. To write in questions, IM me: AIM: (NEW NAME)
KaddaWanCinn, Yahoo: tylerichardson, MSN: tyler_richie@hotmail.com, and
. Voice call ins can be done through Yahoo messenger, simply messege me
through Yahoo for instructions. Its easy =)


15 Feb 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

This
particular moment in Unreal II struck me as being a perfect visual
translation of my feelings as I look at my car door, about to spend
another day in high school. It also struck me as humorous, and evidence
that I am far too easily entertained.

And, though I
found it funny, I’m sure Realm sees it as a good sign. He sees my move
from Gotham Racing to Gran Turismo, not as a move from one good game to
another, but as a move to a harder substance, like going from weed to
crack. …turn away from the wheel…come back to the light…come back to shooters… Those words, combined with the pocket watch he waved in front of my half-shut eyes must have done something,
since I find myself thinking about shooters again. Nowadays, Unreal II
gets as much play time as GT3. And if that’s not a big enough step in
the right direction, then the new UT2004 demo will certainly be another.

Due to a large ammount of Novocane applied to me orally, and a bit of
dental work, I felt like a right-brain stroke victim all day, and not
really in the mood for games. When the headache wore off, and I could
put on a halfway crooked smile, I went and DLed the newest Red vs. Blue episode. Luckly enough for you all, it is not necessary to be as easily entertained as I to get a laugh out of this weeks episode.

12 Feb 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

Hello all, Jack here. Just wanted to let everyone know that Kyle Rohde,
the Kansas University campus EA (Electronic Arts) representative has
agreed to come on the Game Show this coming Sunday (Feb. 15th) and talk
about (and promote) the new James Bond game coming out on the 18th of
February for Xbox, PS2, and Gamecube; Everything or Nothing.

The discussion won’t just be limited to do just that specific game,
either. If you have some questions that you’d like Kyle to answer about
EA, Everything or Nothing, or anything related to gaming (but please,
keep it civilized), feel free to post them in our Game Show forum, I
will make a thread specifically for that purpose. We’ll pick the best
questions out of the thread and ask them on air on Sunday, and of
course, we’ll also take live questions as we usually do.

So I hope to see some good questions for Kyle, I know he’s looking
forward to doing the show on Sunday, and I wouldn’t want him to be
disappointed that we couldn’t think of any good questions to ask him.

-Jack

11 Feb 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

We contacted Nintendo about the hardware situation,

"Hello,

Thank you for contacting Nintendo. We appreciate this opportunity to
respond to your concerns.

We are aware of the article you referenced saying that Nintendo would
not
release a new home console over the next two to three years. This is not
the case. Nintendo is staying in the console hardware business and
still plans to launch our next home console in the same timeframe as
our
competitors. In addition, we are working on a number of complementary
technical advances that we believe may significantly enhance the gaming
experience. We also continue to look for exciting ways to extend the value
of the GCN, and will share those ideas with you in the coming months.

Specific details about other accessories or systems and their
functionalities haven’t yet been made public. However, we will make further
information about our next console available in the near future, and we
look forward to further demonstrating our record of breakthrough innovation
in video game play. Stay tuned to Nintendo’s official web site at
www.nintendo.com for the latest updates and product news!

Sincerely,
Nintendo of America Inc.
Misty Dalton"

11 Feb 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

So today I totally felt like pursuing my neverending quest of beating
FFVIII. When I went to play it, as mysteriously as the idea of me
attending KU, the game read a disc error. This created much anger
within me. I then tried another game to see if FFVIII was to blame.
Again it was a disc read error. I tried game after game with the same
result.

After jumping around in anger for a few minutes, I went outside and got
my old ps, hooked it up, then found it was broken too. This incident
was followed by a ritualistic beating of both systems. Im pretty sure
now my ps2 wont play anything. I called Sony and let them know how I
felt about it. They basically said we dont give a shit send it to us,
and we might fix it and send it back.

I fucking hate those corporate doushbags.
-Shadow out

10 Feb 2004 by ShadowmanX

comments (0)

Well, I got this update from cube.ign.com, so credit goes to them for
getting the info out of Beth Llewelyn of Nintendo…here’s some quotes
from their article:

IGN contacted Nintendo of America for clarification and the subsidiary flatly denied the report.

"First — much of the Nikkei article is speculation. Mr. Iwata’s
comments are from a prior interview and not in direct response to the
subjects raised in the article," said Nintendo of America’s director of
public relations Beth Llewlyn. "Second — We are staying in the
hardware business. We’re working on our next generation console system
and will launch it at the same time as our competitors."

Asked if Nintendo would pull out of the console race, Llewlyn stated:
"We’re in this business for the long term. We’re not getting out of the
hardware business."

On the subject of GameCube peripherals, Llewelyn was quiet, but did
offer: "Specific details about accessories and their functions haven’t
been made public yet. It’s far too early to make predictions about how
well an accessory will do in the marketplace, but we’re confident our
products will be compelling."

"Our focus remains entertainment and game play versus chasing after
technology that doesn’t truly enhance the game play experience. We’ll
incorporate new technology — whether its hardware, software or
accessories — if it improves the game play experience."

So maybe I was speaking too soon, or maybe Nintendo is just being their
weird selves, who knows? This E3 will definitely be interesting….

-Jack

09 Feb 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Ok, now before anyone gets bent out of shape over this, I would like to
point out that this was taken from the Japanese Dow Jones news
service…IGN and other news sites have not confirmed this at all, and
Nintendo has not released an official statement about this yet.

However, with that disclaimer out of the way…here we go…

Nintendo Won’t Release New Video Game Console -Nikkei (Dow Jones News Service)
Updated: Monday, February 09, 2004 12:11PM ET

OSAKA (Nikkei)–Nintendo Co. (7974.OK) has decided not to release a new
video game console to follow its current GameCube for the time being,
the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported in its Tuesday edition.

The home-use game machine and software developer will instead diversify
games and sell newly developed peripherals mainly for the GameCube. It
will make games for the current model more appealing, while rivals Sony
Corp. (6758.TO) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) plan to debut
high-performance next-generation consoles that can be also used for
non-game content such as movies and music.

Nintendo plans to release peripherals as early as 2005. Although
details aren’t yet known, these devices are expected to diversify
playing styles by improving the gaming experience and connections with
hand-held units rather than improve graphics and sound quality.

The decision to withhold the release of a new console was made because
while the game market is contracting and becoming more diverse,
"customers are fully satisfied with the performance of the current
model," President Satoru Iwata said.

Nintendo will continue in-house development of a new home-use game
machine for release in the future, but for the next two or three years
will add functions to the GameCube.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-09-04 1211ET

Wow. Just wow…for all the crap that I give Nintendo, I do love their
games, and this really makes me feel sad for them. This certainly hurts
from a historical point of view, and I hoped that they would have at
least tried to remain competitive with a new console….I’m not saying
that they aren’t, and neither is the article, but man….this is some
big news to say the least. I’ll keep you updated on the story as I hear
more about it since Break is off in lala land again.

-Jack

09 Feb 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Be sure to catch us today at 7:00 Central Standard Time on the The Game Show. Click HERE
to start the broadcast. To write in questions, IM me: AIM: (NEW NAME)
kuBreakmanX, Yahoo: BreakmanX, MSN: BreakmanX@hotmail.com, and ICQ:
14009569. Voice call ins can be done through Yahoo messenger, simply
messege me through Yahoo for instructions. Its easy =)


08 Feb 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

It seems like quite a while since I had anything relative to say on
here. I have been swamped with school work which for some odd reason I
have actually been doing. Im currently suppose to be building a
medeival trebuchet which must fire 20 ft and strike something. This is
impossible and I hate it.

As for gaming, nothing really new. A little bit of FFXI, a little
Planetside, and occasionally some Desert Combat. I fully plan on
picking up R-type final this week, it has gotten good reviews and looks
bad ass. I can not wait to go get it. I will report back to you all
when I have claimed it.
-Shadow out

07 Feb 2004 by ShadowmanX

comments (0)

A couple days ago, while in the middle of another long cutscene in
Metal Gear Solid 2, I can distantly remember warning myself not to
write a spoiler when it came time to talk about the game. Now that the
game has been packed up and returned to the friend I had borrowed it
from, I have no such worry. The ending left me so slackjawed,
infinitely confused, and utterly dumbfounded, I don’t think I could
spoil this game for you, even if I wanted to. It’s about 20
conspiracies wrapped inside one another, and about four
of them can be fully comprehended by themselves, the rest requiring
background from the previous games. Don’t get me wrong; the game itself
is a fucking blast. I particularly get a sense of satisfaction after
nailing a head shot on another helpless guard, then dragging his corpse
over to an empty locker, and sealing his body inside. But, if you
bought this game only for the gameplay, and not the story, then you
probably didn’t get your money’s worth out of it.

The other
game on PS2 that has had my attention is Gran Turismo 3, which finally
clicked for me this evening. In an event I can only describe as enlightenment,
all the various parts of the game snapped into place, and I was finally
able to enjoy the game, after about three days of suffering through
it’s learning curve. Part of that curve was tracking down and shutting
off about nine different player options that, if left on, would
cause any vehicle to excruciatingly understeer at any speed above 30
MPH. There were time that I could have sworn that my families Mercury Villager
could handle better than the $30,000+ sports cars featured in this
game. However, once all those options were dealt with, I was able to
effectively apply what I learned from the Drift Bible
to the cars, and, after about 20 minutes of tuning, finally got an S15
Silvia to drive the way I wanted. Now that I’ve had my necessary moment
of clarity, I believe that I can turn GT3 into the racing game to
displace PGR2 in my life. Hallelujah!

And, speaking of cars, weezerjedi mentioned quite a few interesting things in his latest Imports Post, one of which was this Transformers model,
in the form of a WRC outfitted WRX. For a rally fan like myself, it’s a
pure stroke of genius, the melding of two kickass worlds. What’s
better, I don’t even have to import them, since they’re now available
in the grand ol’ US of A. Expect to see webcam pictures of me, the
above Transformers toy, and a large grin the near future.

06 Feb 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

 

Well, it’s snowing like there’s no tomorrow now in Lawrence, and the retards that run KU decided to have classes today.

Anyways, I just wanted to bitch, because I nearly had not 1, but 4
accidents on my way to classes today, 2 of which were nearly caused by
KU buses. Morons.

Oh well…now I get to trudge through the snow to get to work…yay!

-Jack

05 Feb 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

First off, I would like to say, ph34r the kitty, motherfuckers.

Since I find it hard to visualize any members of the RIAA visiting this
site, I’m going to go ahead and say that it’s a rare event that I
actually go out and buy
music, but today was one of those events, with today marking the
release of Incubus’s new CD, A Crow Left of the Murder. Being that it
was a rare event, Atticus
and I chose to make the most of it, by popping Morning View in the CD
player and singing along with (yes, Break, singing) Brandon Boyd all
the way to Target. ‘Tis some good shit, in my opinion, rising to the
high standard of Incubus. If you’re a Radio Show listener, then you’ve
probably already heard the first track, Megalomaniac, as Break plays it
at least once a Show. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking
it up.

I’m also happy to report that I am now the proud
owner of a used-but-not-abused PlayStation 2, purchased from a coworker
at a very reasonable price. This is the same PS2 which I earlier
reported that was being borrowed, but I guess the guy found that the
PS2 wasn’t missed much, other than for playing DVDs, which it excels at
in stock form (unlike my Xbox, which would screw me out of 30 bucks
just to buy a damn DVD kit). Now, to my relief, and probably to yours
as well, I can stop talking about Project Gotham Racing 2 and go into
other games, like Metal Gear Solid 2 (nearing completion), and Gran
Turismo 3 (which I bought along with Incubus). FFX? Time Crisis? Butt
Ugly Martians? Well, perhaps not Martians, but there are still a lot of
possibilties.

And with that, I am off to bed, then getting up to another bright day
of icy roads, courtesy of Kansas weather. This time only comes once a
year, and I have to make the best of it by getting as sideways as
possible, as often as possible, on the above mentioned roads. ‘Tis soul
food for me, equaled only by Mountain Dew. Here’s hoping you all enjoy
the opportunity as much as I do.

04 Feb 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

Alright, I put this
in the forum in the morning, but wanna bring it to the front. Are any
of you Kansas/Missouri/"I really like to drive"-ers interested in
having a BreakmanXLAN, we could call it the ManLAN…or the
BManLan…or something even more cheesy. Like macaroni.

I
was thinking have the festivities at a local residence of one of the
BreakManX Crew, hook up some computers, some TVs with a cornucopia
systems and games. And maybe some lemonade…non-alcoholic, naturally.
Alcohol is bad.

Any interest in this? Yay? Nay? No Way?

Replay here or in the forum.

02 Feb 2004 by Afrotect

comments (0)

So, I was supposed to leave early this morning or late last night, but
the weather had other ideas. From weather.com, "ROADS… BRIDGES… AND
OVERPASSES IN THE WARNING AREA WILL BECOME SLICK AND HAZARDOUS.
ACCUMULATIONS OF SNOW WILL MAKE TRAVEL TREACHEROUS." Fucking
treacherous, yo! No way could I leave, even if I wanted to. (Nicole
writes this)The INTERSTATE is CLOSED!!!!!(/Nicole) Which is crazy,
because I never remember that happening. Yeah, she’s a geek too, which
rocks. And a fucking awesome artist.

Unfortunately, I must cancel the show tonight due to all this weather.
I know you’re all heartbroken, but this weekend is worth it and more. I
honestly have no idea when I’ll be back, because we’re supposed to get
even more snow. And if the roads are closed now… Yeah, you get the
picture. There is no place I’d rather be, though so it is much more of
a blessing than anything else. I’ve got my camera, so I’ll be able to
show you pictures of it all. And no, Phylo, no naked pictures. So, I’m
going to get back to the best weekend ever. Later.

01 Feb 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

I’m in Concorida right now, and I must say this trip is going well. The
girl spoken of below, Nicole, is now my girlfriend. I’m the happiest
guy in the world right now. I’m now going out with my dream girl! In
fact, she’s making me breakfast right now. Supposedly I’m about to get
snowed in here too. ROCK ON! I’m going to get back to her.. so see
everyone later.

31 Jan 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

After watching the epic movie Scarface, it is clear where the creators of Vice City got their inspiration. The two are identical,
like genetically copied twins. The neighborhoods, the cars used, the
mansion of Tony Montana, the chainsaw, The Malibu dance club,
everything is so similar, you’ll swear the Rockstar developers watched
Scarface scene by scene and did the game accordingly. The two should be
sold together in a fucking two-pack, so you can get the complete Miami
Vice experience.

So impressed was I with Scarface that I dug up this
image, printed it, and taped it up in my locker, so that I could find
strength in Tony’s wise words amid the bitching and gossip that
permeates my high school.

If anyone out there remembers the English-to-12-Year-Old-AOLer Translator, and liked it, then The Dialectizer
is right up your alley. Redneck, hacker, jive, even Swedish chef
dialects can be used for translation. It’s also got a nifty web page
translator, which did an awesome job of turning BreakmanX.com upside
down when I applied the translator with the Redneck dialogue. To quote
Break:

T’morry ah’s leavin’ th’ Bustcave an’ takin’
th’ Bustmobile (Ok, so ah ovahdid th’ Batman reference) fo’ a three
hour trip down t’Conco’dia, KS. Eff’n yo’ reckon of it as a weekend
retreat, yo’d haf it kind of close.

Looking for a good way to drive your spell checker fucking insane? Run a sentence or two of that by it.

Lastly, I want to thank Gamespot for showing me, and the world, what The Sims 2 is really going to be used for.

30 Jan 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

According to Bungie.net,
the official community site of Bungie Studios, the marvelous people
making Halo 2, have released this first bit of information regarding a
true, factual release date:

Fall 2004.

Yup,
that’s what it says. Fall 2004…while it’s a bit longer than I was
hoping, I’m sure the extra time that Bungie is putting in to the game
will be more than worth the wait. But, that’s not all folks, they also
released the first screenshot of multiplayer, which looks extremely
interesting and incredibly detailed….

Man, this game is gonna be SO sweet….

-Jack

30 Jan 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Tomorrow I am leaving the Breakcave and taking the Breakmobile (Ok, so
I overdid the Batman reference) for a three hour trip down to
Concordia, KS. If you think of it as a weekend retreat, you’d have it
kind of close. I recently met a girl who lives there that shares many
of my same interests, and is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.
She’s also beautiful.. Anyway, we talked on the phone for a good 3
hours and 15 minutes last night, and after talking again today decided
it would be fun to go down there and hang out. So, I leave all of you
now, to return most likely on Sunday. Although, there is apparently
supposed to be a horrible winter ice storm this Sunday, so if my car
becomes encased in a block of ice I might not be able to make it down for the show.

This drive will not be bad at all, and will give me the opportunity to
explore XM more deeply than I have so far. I feel like I’ve just
scratched the surface, but I already need it. It is funny because I
never used to listen to radio, only my own mixes. But, with XM it is
like radio injected with the best tasting candy ever produced. It is so
sweet, and so wonderful, you almost cry when its magnanimous light
luminates the car as it joyfully proclaims that it has been turned on.
XM loves me, and I certainly love XM.

My new receiver also allows me to put mp3z, and even WMA’s if I get the
drunken urge, on cds. Each CD is so weighed down with my favorite songs
that I’m surprised it doesn’t add some kind of physical weight to them.
I have one CD, for example, that holds every song Tool ever recorded in
320 kbps high quality MP3. I had some left over space, so I took the
liberty of sprinkling in all of the A Perfect Circle tracks as well. I
did this with Incubus and all the other bands I like. This thing is
awesome. Oh yeah, it is also very sexy looking. And, on occasion, it does get its freak on.

Well, I’m off, and I shall so everyone when I get back. Have a nice weekend, yo.

30 Jan 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

I decided to put up two more reviews for your reading pleasure. The reviews are for Maximo vs. The Army of Zin and Links 2004.
Hope you enjoy my insights into these two games, and feel free to
e-mail me with comments or post them in the Forums. It’s what they’re
there for.

Oh well. In other news, I would like to pimp out a Halo tourney really quick. AdrenaLAN
is hosting a 2 vs. 2 Halo Xbox tournament this Saturday at 4 PM.
Entrance is $30 per team, and the entrants get free play for the rest
of the day once they’ve paid. I’m going to be there with my buddy Cryo,
and there should be some very good competition there too. So, if you’re
looking for some good Halo competition, come check out AdrenaLAN this
Saturday at 4, it should be a blast….

-Jack

28 Jan 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Hello everyone, today is January 28, 2004, and it is motherfucking cold outside. Count yourself among the fortunate if this is not so in your geographic region.

And, due to the same cold, we weren’t able to put on the Show last
Sunday. Certain items that I had ready for discussion, like the NPD sales chart,
would have only served to frustrate me during airtime, but two items
stuck out as pretty darn interesting, and worthy of mention in a post.

One was the announcement that Bill Gates is going to be knighted.
Ya, I couldn’t figure out what the fuck is wrong with the Queen,
either, but from what my father tells me, giving away a lot of money,
especially to your own charity foundation, is the popular way to become a knight these days. The other was the news that Sherman Networks intends to sue movie and record companies for invading user privacy. Hell fuckin’ ya.

That’s all I have for y’all today. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m
going to watch Scarface, which is said to be one of the better crime
movies around. I’m taking Break’s word for it, and he has yet to let me
down in terms of movie choice.

28 Jan 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

Hey, how’s everyone doing? That’s good, it is nice to finally see you all again. My internet… excuse me… my fucking
internet, has had the reliability of Windows ME. Sure, it works
sometimes, just never when it matters. Which is fine for your average
Joe, but when you are trying to run an online radio show it is teh
suck. Unfortunately it is a problem that they don’t even know the cause
of, so I am completely at their mercy till they find it. What’s even
worse is that there is absolutely no alternative in this town. When
there is, I wil switch so fast it will make their heads spin. Like the
Exorcist.

So yeah, I’m typing this simply hoping that my
connection will still be here when I upload it. Or, maybe it will
malicously run away from me, taunting me as it transfers packets for
everyone else. You think I’m joking, don’t you. What is funny is that I am actually serious about this shit.

Where Jack lives is luckily unaffected by this Internet Shit-Fit so we
can start doing the show from there. Which brings me back to last
night. If you’ve ever played Mega Man 2, then you know Flash Man’s
stage. That is what Lawrence was yesterday, Flash Man’s stage.
Completely caked in ice. Really, imagine any ice level from any game
ever made, and you’ve got an accurate discription of my town. I
entertained ideas of trying to ice skate over there, or perhaps getting
together a team of dogs to pull a sled. But, in the end I decided the
show would simply have to be postponed. Which pisses me the fuck off.

The only other show I missed was when I was in the hospital, physically
unable to. I guess last night’s show was simply not meant to be. I’d
like to do a make up show this week, but it might just be better to
wait till Sunday. We’ll see how things play out.

In the realm of good things, I got a new gadget. A CD/MP3/WMA player in
my car with XM radio capability. I can’t actually pick up the stuff
till tomorrow, but I’m pretty excitied. Maybe one day we’ll be on XM.
Who knows?

I saw The Butterfly Effect recently, and I actually enjoyed it. Liked
it a lot actually. Which is weird, beacause I thought it was going to
be an Ashton Kutcher MTV fest with Justin Timberlakey type things.
I’m interested in Psychology and alternate timelines and all the stuff
this movie is about. It also brought an interesting revelation to my
personal life, but you prolly don’t want to hear about that. So, go see
the movie, you just might like it.

On the gaming front,
I’ve been playing a shitload of Rainbow Six 3 and Tetris. An
interesting combination, but an enjoyable one none the less. I’m going
to keep trying to download the FFXI updates until the internet stays up
long enough for it to happen.

I’m going to go finish watching Once Upon a Time in Mexico, so I’ll
talk to you guys later. Oddly enough IM is one of the few things that
consistantly works..

26 Jan 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

In a brief moment, while my internet is actually working, I regret to
inform you that The Game Show will not happen tonight as scheduled.
We’ve had an ice storm, and we cannot possibly put the show on. I’m
incredibly sorry.

25 Jan 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

My friend Greg Snook at Bungie is racing in their Winter Mario Kart
Pentathalon. From all of us here at BreakmanX.com, KICK SOME ASS GREG!

23 Jan 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

As of last Sunday, it was my belief that I had finally broken my total
addiction to Project Gotham Racing 2, and was ready to move on to other
games. Now having a week to look back since I first stated that belief
on The Show, I realize that the statement in question can and should be
written off as complete bullshit. How could I possibly
believe that any earthly force, much less my own will, could break my
dependence on this game? My addiction is more powerful than ever, so
Shadow, I’m sorry I got your hopes up about joining you on FFXI. It’ll
happen, just not as soon as I thought.

However, in the
interest of adding variety to my gaming diet, I sometimes force myself
to sit down and play a race or two on Gran Turismo 3, with a PS2 which
was loaned to me by a coworker. It has a somewhat steep learning curve,
and has some extremely frustrating parts, like the difficulty of
getting cash early on, and the excruciating understeer caused by a
nifty little device called the ACM, but I’m sure it’s something I’ll
warm up to. But, now that I have a PS2 readily available, I now have
the opportunity to explore some of the great games the PS2 has to
offer, like FFX and MGS2.

Renting games is also a new idea that I’m still warming up to, since
such an idea is non-existent in the PC world I came from. And, if
Blockbuster didn’t have a foolish rule about no one under 18 being able
to get a membership, you’d probably be reading about my thoughts on
some PS2 games instead of this. I might cover MGS2 on the next Show,
but until then, I’ll be sucking up to Dad so we can get a membership at
Blockbuster.

Any recommendations on good games to rent for PS2 would be greatly appricated .

23 Jan 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

Tomorrow brings both good and bad with it…the good being that it is
the day of the Bungie Winter Pentathalon, and our good friend Greg will
be representing his team in Mario Kart: Double Dash, in which, I have
high hopes that he will win.

But, it also means the beginning of the new semester here at KU. This means two things: less time for me to devote gaming
and more homework and crap to keep me busy

Oh well…it had to happen sooner or later, I guess. Anyways, after
class tomorrow, I’m going to AdrenaLAN’s weekend LAN party, at which
I’m sure to have a blast. I think they’re all full right now, but if
you really want to go, you might give them a call, or go to their
website to see. It’s going to be really kickass, so I hope to see you
all there.

That’s it from me, I have some crazy Japanese class to go to at 8:30
tomorrow morning, so I need to get some sleep. See everyone later, and
have a great weekend!

-Jack

22 Jan 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Okay, so this is important. This demo was released today, but the need
for working to pay rent keeps me from downloading it. Although, at 500
mb, I could have started it before I left and it MIGHT have been
finished when I returned to the pit of gaming.

The game is FarCry, and if you like pretty things, and killing things,
this just might be the game for you. Check the video. Check it. Fo’
Sheezie.

http://www.farcry-thegame.com/uk/downloads/FC_trailer_Dec03.wmv

21 Jan 2004 by Afrotect

comments (0)

I don’t know how many of our readers attend public high schools, but if
you had Monday off due to Martin Luther King Day, I fucking hate you.
My school didn’t recognize the national holiday, and I asked one of my
teachers why. What I got was a very complicated story about how the
school board scheduled its days off, and how Martin Luther King Day
didn’t fit in to that schedule. My first response was to call the
school board members a bunch of fucking racists. Then the same teacher
asked me, "Ok, so if you got the day off, would you use it to remember
Martin Luther King?" Of course not, I say, I’ve got forums to check and
games to play, but that’s not the point. The man was a fucking pimp,
and if the government feels that he’s worthy of a national holiday,
then I don’t understand why we shouldn’t celebrate it.

Then I remembered, I’m in USD 400. The school district that was more
than happy to dismiss school on Mayday (local holiday), so that less
than a quarter of the student body can take part in a 30-minute parade in a town 20 miles away. Makes about as much sense as most things.

In an effort to improve my Project Gotham Racing 2 experience, I decided to try out a steering wheel, and picked up a Mad Catz MC2
universal wheel from Gamestop. Well, as cool as the idea sounded, the
wheel was absolutely worthless. I can roughly equate the driving
experience given by this wheel to driving a motorized Little Tikes
car while drunk. It sounds good on paper: A steering wheel, complete
with shift knob and pedals, that is compatible with a large number of
games on several systems, including GC, Xbox, PSX, and PS2. But the
combination of a far too small wheel, pedals that don’t stick to the
floor, and lack of a good way to keep the wheel planted on your lap
while using the pedals, make this wheel a bad $60 investment. Even the
multi-console compatibility doesn’t compensate. I know, I tried it on
PGR2, NFSU, and GT3, and all were equally painful to play with this
wheel. Maybe such steering wheels and I don’t work together. But I’m
glad I asked how long I had to return this thing (90 days) before I
bought it, cause I sure as hell ain’t keeping it.

Now that the bitching is done with, I thought I’d share this with our hetero male readers, for their enjoyment:

Full size image available upon request.

21 Jan 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2217589333&category=1340#ebayphotohosting

There ya go.

18 Jan 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (180)

Be sure to catch us today at 7:00 Central Standard Time on the The Game Show. Click HERE
to start the broadcast. To write in questions, IM Richie: AIM: (NEW
NAME) KaddaWanCinn, Yahoo: tylerichardson, and MSN:
tyler_richie@hotmail.com. Voice call ins can be done through Yahoo
messenger, simply messege me through Yahoo for instructions. Its easy
=)


18 Jan 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

A funny thing keeps happening to me. Every time I swear that I’m going
to stop playing FFXI, I keep getting back into it…yet even more funny
than that is that Break has had the game for 2 months, and he still
hasn’t even gotten his character to reach level 2, and he’s still
paying for the game

Anyways, I’m still having a blast with this game, my lvl. 16 warrior is
moving up the ranks steadily and become quite well-known as a good
puller/tank. I just can’t wait for my subjob, because then it’s going
to be even more fun to play around with everything.

So here’s the question: when I get my subjob, do I subjob out white
mage or black mage? Please, give me the input. Let me know what you
think, and you better decide by saturday night, because I might already
be level 18 by then

Oh yeah, looks like the bastards at Sunflower are completely insane
after all. Break has to go to Lindsborg (Hell) to do the show this
weekend, with me chiming in over the internet. Sucks. You know what
else sucks? They blocked one of the ports that I need to participate in
a beta test for a certain game set on an island. And I REALLY want to
play it. But thanks to the cocksuckers at Sunflower, I can’t. THANKS A
BUNCH, SUNFLOWER BROADBAND!!!

-Jack

16 Jan 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

 

Due to my current sickness, and my inability to look at any strong
light source for more than five minutes without vomiting, I’m gonna
keep todays post short.

Between naps and puking sessions, I keep myself entertained with two things:

1.) DVD’s, the highlights being the X-Men series, Initial D 2nd and 3rd
stage, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Ronin, and the extended version
of Fellowship of the Ring.

2.) The knowledge that Break is, at this moment, loading his clips,
checking them twice, and otherwise arming himself in preparation for
the very bloody war he intends to make on Sunflower over their failure
to provide reliable internet service during our time of need.

The thought of Break walking into Sunflower’s corporate offices, both barrels blazing, is good for hours of entertainment .

14 Jan 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

I came to a startling conclusion the other day, I havent played my PS2
in about a month or so. My brother has been messing with FFX-2 and hes
always playing NCAA 2004, but I myself havent touched the damn thing in
a long time. Maybe this is my fault and I am just not being a
responsible PS2 gamer, but nothing has really been coming out for it
that I really look forward to. All I’ve really played is FFXI
and…..um somthin else, i just cant think of it. But there isnt much
to look forward to that I can think of either. Sequels to Suikoden and
Kingdom Hearts maybe but other then that I’m not seeing anything to
look ahead for. And this makes me a saadddd panda.
-Shadow out
13 Jan 2004 by ShadowmanX

comments (0)

Be sure to catch us today at 7:00 Central Standard Time on the The Game Show. Click HERE
to start the broadcast. To write in questions, IM me: AIM: (NEW NAME)
kuBreakmanX, Yahoo: BreakmanX, MSN: BreakmanX@hotmail.com, and ICQ:
14009569. Voice call ins can be done through Yahoo messenger, simply
messege me through Yahoo for instructions. Its easy =)


11 Jan 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Hey everyone, just wanted to pimp out some of my new reviews…it’s a huge sports update this time, with reviews for ESPN NFL Football, ESPN NHL Hockey, and NFL Fever 2004.

I’ve got some time off every now and then this week, so look for
reviews of the other ESPN sports games this week, including ESPN NBA
Basketball and ESPN College Hoops….and if you’re really lucky, you’ll
get to see what I thought/think of Top Spin Tennis.

-Jack

11 Jan 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Sorry Richie, I don’t really mean to bump your post down, but I felt that this was (kinda) important….

1) Please, if you like the site, click on the PayPal link to the right
of here, and donate some money. We’re not asking for much, just a
little something to help us out. If you can only spare $5, that’s cool.
That’s all we’re really asking for. Trust us, the money you invest in
the site now will DEFINITELY pay off in the long run.

2) Silent Hill 4
was just confirmed and revealed by Konami at the CES earlier this
evening (I guess stuff does happen there, huh?) And it’s coming to both
Xbox and PS2 this time. It looks uber-creepy as always, and this time
it’s back with a subtitle: The Room…….

Ok…so the subtitle isn’t that scary, but the screenshots sure look like it.

-Jack

09 Jan 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

After thoroughly searching my usual news sources, and not finding a
single article that I gave two squirts of piss about, I was left with
absolutely nothing to cover in my post. But you, the reader, were kind
enough to burn those 2 1/2 calories of effort in typing BreakmanX.com,
I am obligated to deliver something
to you for your troubles. That said, I’ve dug around in my Favorites
list and produced a few of the funniest items and features that I felt
were worthy of sharing with you all. Enjoy.

Botched Operation Leaves Man ‘Gay’ – And before anyone asks, no, I am not a frequenter of 365gay.com.

Profane Pumpkin Creates A Stir – I wish I had thought of this earlier…

Theme Paper: He vs. She – Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus be damned, this perfectly demonstrates the differences between men and women.

Amazing Honda Advertisement
– Some of you have probably seen it, but it never fails to leave me
slackjawed within the first minute, no matter how many times I watch
it. And if the video itself doesn’t amaze you, then maybe the patience
of the director will, who did 606 takes to get it right.

And on a final note, I highly encourage you all to keep an eye on Red vs. Blue, since Season 2 is due to start any day now.

09 Jan 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

The number of people who spend their time on Live figuring out how to
do other things besides race in Project Gotham Racing 2 never ceases to
amaze me. Like the people I found the other night that had set up a Saleen S7
to act as a ramp for other cars to fly off of at a certain jump in St.
Basil’s Circle, with the winner being the driver who could get the most
air. Or like the guy who figured out that, if you crossed the starting
line, then drove backwards around the course, you could double the
number of laps, and therefore the number of kudos earned.

But the most famous, and fun, by far,
is a certain game called Cat and Mouse. It goes something like this:
Take eight players, and split them into four teams of two. One member
of the team drives a Saleen S7, while the other drives a Mini Cooper.
I know what you’re thinking: What kind of fucked up team is this? This
is where the rules are changed. Instead of the winner being the first
car to cross the finish line, the only way a team can win is if their
Mini is the first one to cross the finish line. So what are the
Saleen’s for then, you ask? To run every other Mini into the fucking wall
to make way for their teams Mini, of course. What if your Mini is
winning? Then get behind him, bumper to bumper, and push the little
Mini along towards the finish. Using this game type on closed courses
turns the race into a frantic automotive melee of Saleen’s sideswiping
Minis in an effort to pave the way for their own. Screams of terror and
panic originate from the Mini drivers as they try desperately to stay
on the road, while the Saleen drivers laugh hysterically at the sight
of another spun out Mini smashing sideways into a cement wall. On
longer, more open courses, it becomes a race of skill, with the team
that can coordinate the Saleen-push effect between corners the best
coming out on top.

Of course, due to the violent nature of
the game, most everyone smashes into the wall frequently, and therefore
walks away with almost no kudos at the end of the race. But the fun
involved usually more than makes up for the loss.

And, just incase you fear that you just wasted the last five minutes
reading that, and you are like me and haven’t bought Prince of Persia
yet, then this
bundle might be the right incentive to do so. I’m not a huge fan of
Splinter Cell myself, but a free copy can’t hurt, and could probably be
sold should you be so unsatisfied with it.

07 Jan 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

Honestly, I thought it was dead…but….then this
happens. Well, I’m pretty sure that CES won’t be cancelled, so perhaps
the world may finally see the Phantom, and whatnot, or it’ll FINALLY be
exposed as a sham. Oh well, either way, I got a great chuckle out of
the whole story…I think this is the only reason I’m looking forward
to the CES now!

-Jack

06 Jan 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Well I have been in an extatic mood as of late, minus of course the
asshole fest on Breaks part on last weeks show. I received a few days
ago an amazing new truck that is everything I have ever wanted in my
life. Break was able to see it in all its glory and he was very
impressed.

Today my brother installed Planetside on the old comp today. I havent
played it yet, too much desire for FFXI of course, but I will get
around to it eventually. I hope it will fill a gap in my life that
Tribes has left for quite a while. I will talk more once i have played
it and have an opinion of it.
-Shadow out

05 Jan 2004 by ShadowmanX

comments (0)

I’m iced here in Lindsborg, but we’re going to try and broadcast from Richie’s house.

Be sure to catch us today at 7:00 Central Standard Time on the The Game Show. Click HERE
to start the broadcast. To write in questions, IM me: AIM: (NEW NAME)
kuBreakmanX, Yahoo: BreakmanX, MSN: BreakmanX@hotmail.com, and ICQ:
14009569. Voice call ins can be done through Yahoo messenger, simply
messege me through Yahoo for instructions. Its easy =)

04 Jan 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

So, I decided to lighten the mood around here by posting something
right now. It’s no longer my birthday, it ended about 1 hour ago. But
last call only occured about 30 minutes ago….anyway….

I’m quite drunk, and I thought it would be pretty funny to look at this
tomorrow morning after I wake up in a haze just to see how pissed I
actually was. So anyways, catch you all on the show later today, just
don’t shout any questions that loud Otherwise, I’ll be forced to
use my special hangover powers on you all.

-Jack

04 Jan 2004 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

I can’t help it. I’ve been tainted. The once pure and sanctimonious
Windows XP mind has been attacked by a sleek, white, iPod. My room mate
has also obtained a stigma named PowerBook. My Microsoft owned
apartment is now at war with itself. A veritable civil war ensues with
my XP box sitting abreast my iPod joy.

I can’t say it’s an unwelcome guest either. The elation I felt opening
beautiful, shiny container and beholding what is to be the epitome of
audio enjoyment stretched beyond my wildest imagination. Worlds of
apples with small bites taken out of them now expand before me, and I
am a changed person.

Yet reinforcements capable of fending off even the strongest of the
Apple soldiers arrives via FedEx on Monday by 7pm. My new GeForce FX
5900 (256 MB, mind you) will bolster my PC’s defenses against framerate
issues, pixelation, and worst of all: the dreaded 800×600 gaming
resolution. One could say that I am a traitor, of course that person
would be shot. Others who value their lives could say that I had a good
gift-acquisition period (remaining as PC as possible). Any who wish to
see my lovely new rig are welcome.

As DDR plays in my mind, I see arrows in front of me to anything with a
rather upbeat tempo. Now I must part with you to feed my urges. I bid
you adieu.

03 Jan 2004 by Afrotect

comments (0)

Or should I say, Shadow and I made it hot and fresh. Our resident Jack
Burton’s birthday happens to be today, and his friend of the girl
persuasion got the novel idea to surprise the living fuck out of him
and have a party. Getting there was an adventure in itself, as I have
never been to his original habitat before. Shadow claimed later that by
saying, "I have no idea where the fuck
we are," what he actually meant was, "I know exactly where we are."
Jacko had no idea that we were coming up, and we actually hid behind
the pool table and jumped out. Well… I kinda fell out.. We were going
to have Shadow run up and bear hug him, but Jack fears the (even
strictly plutonic) touch of another man like they were cursed with the
plague. The effect remained the same; a priceless look of surprise on
the now 22 year old Burton de Jack. The festivities started out right
by me getting a view of what should be the 8th, 9th, and 10th wonders
of the world… Lets just call it a fridge, although any name,
especially that one, is such an understatement it is almost sickening.
Imagine all of the different kinds of drinks in the world; Yoohoo,
Kool-Aid, soda, anything. Ok, now imagine a limitless supply of all
these drinks chilled to the perfect temperature for your drinking
pleasure. This would accurately describe Jack’s fridge at home. Words
are inaccurate to describe how happy this made me. I went to it a few
times just to feast my eyes on the sheer amount of choices I had. I
have never used the word sexy to describe a fridge, but I have to admit
that his drink-coolery got me slightly hot. Good thing there was Yoohoo
to cool me down.

I never quite recovered from the shock of the
one true fridge, but I did have another great thing happen. I grew up
in Lindsborg, where everone loves the Kansas State Wildcats, who happen
to be good at football at the moment. Having these people brag about
their team all the time is enough to make one puke. Last night,
however, they lost. There are few joys in life better than watching
them lose, Jack’s fridge being one, and it happened last night. The
combination of these two was more deadly than any combo pulled off in
Capcom Vs. SNK or even Soul Calibur.

The party was great,
and concluded with a game of 16 man Halo. I don’t know if Jack had ever
played this game before, but he seemed to know what he was doing. It
was great.

I don’t know how much you know about Shadow and I, but we have been
best friends since Kindergarten. Some thngs have changed, such as
facial hair. His beard is longer than it was back then. But, by the
same token, some things never change. Last night, we watched The
Transformers movie. This movie still brings a tear to my eye.
It is a tradition going back many years. Days before anyone made bad
puns about my nickname and its correlation to things like breakfast or take a break.
We used to rent it with a frequency that is certainly parallel to the
amount of times we use the word wang. Watching this movie with Shadow
was like a trip to the past, and a very pleasant one. Long live the motherfucking Transformers. That is a capital T, recognize bitch.

Shadow also got a surprise of rather momentous proportions today. But,
I will let him describe that once he returns from signing the papers
for it. I was the first to ride in it, just so you know.

We also went to Spangles. I have had a fondness with saying Spangles at
complete random for several months, but never actually ate there. We’ve
now eaten there… twice.
And it did hit the spot. Not only was the food good, but the people
were quite possibly the nicest ever to work in a fast food joint. It is
like that is what they were trying to recruit.. nice people. They even
promised to make my food "hot and fresh" when I ordered. You just don’t get that kind of service anymore.

To close on another positive note, my voice visited me last night. It
had taken a brief vacation, but has seemingly returned. (it said fuck
you when I got the flu) Hopefully it will still be around tomorrow for
the show. I’ve got my fingers crossed.

My name is mud.

03 Jan 2004 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Though I’m sure it’s old news to the other 99.9% of the world, Return
of the King was absofuckinglutley awesome. Unlike Revolutions, which
admittedly had some flaws, RotK had no such deficiencies, and was a
triumph in every sense of the word. I’m sure I will be able to find
some kind of flaw in the film in the months to come, but for now, I
will simply savor the resolution in all its glory.

But this savoring is not meant to last, for I must now pick my ass up
and get to bed. Then I will hopefully arise sometime around 7 AM, the
earliest hour I’ve woken to since I began winter break. Oh, how I’ve
enjoyed those long mornings after a satisfying night of Live. I will
miss them dearly.

02 Jan 2004 by Richie

comments (0)

Silviar hooked me up with this video and I thought you all might like to see it as well. If you are a cat lover, you may want to procede with caution.

31 Dec 2003 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Hey guys, just wanted to let you all know about this: MTV’s Ultimate Video Game Countdown. It airs on Jan. 2, 2004. They’re taking a poll on whichever game is the ultimate game of the new millenium thus far.

Now I know some of you (I’m looking in your direction, Break and Afro) would like to vote for something other
than Halo, but from what I hear, if Bungie gets enough votes for this
thing, they’ll be extra-nice to us and show us some new Halo 2 footage.

So please, head over to the link and rock the vote, only
you can decide whether you want to see more about Halo 2 or not. And
please, Mighty Bean, if this is something that I really want to watch,
please let me know…

-Jack

31 Dec 2003 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

It really surprised me how much of a difference that new router made.
No longer do I have to dick around with cables and the timing of
turning on the Xbox and cable modem. Just a couple button presses
connect me to Live and all the fun such a connection entails. The whole
thing is so efficient, it scares me, since during the school year, the
only reason I was doing more homework and less Live was due to the
hassle of changing around the connection. Without that hurdle, it’s
very difficult to say how much work I’ll actually do with any accuracy.

And, with the constant connection that the router allows, I’m much more
prone to just hopping on Live for a quick race or dogfight. Crimson
Skies is great over Live, but it hasn’t managed to grab hold of me like
Project Gotham Racing 2 has. I’m still amazed at the gross replay value
of this game, as it is very easy to spend two hours in the game room
with the same guys experimenting with cars, weather conditions, tracks,
time of day, ect. I think of little else.

And, completely off topic, I have no sympathy for cops who do this.

31 Dec 2003 by Richie

comments (0)

Making a fan film is not as easy as you would think. When I first saw
them I thought it was going to easy to just whip one out. But when it
came down to it, it was extremely tough. I couldnt stop laughing, I
couldnt remember lines, it was a mess. It took me a shit load of takes
to do anything. So when you all sit there thinking you could easily
make a fan movie and it wouldnt be tough, your so damn wrong.
-Shadow out
30 Dec 2003 by ShadowmanX

comments (0)

Tonight’s show can be heard here.
(Make sure you right click it and do a save target as) It might
actually be funny to listen to. Me being sick, Yatta making Richie
sick, and the internet going out made for an eventful evening. Enjoy.

28 Dec 2003 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Just in case anyone is searching Shoutcast or the site for the end of
The Game Show, you can stop. Break’s ISP again decided to cut us off at
the knees and drop Breaks connection, taking the Show along with it.

A pisser, but the only thing that we didn’t get to was my closing
comments, which would have consisted of me comparing Yatta to the lye
chemical burn from Fight Club. It hurts like a bitch, but over time,
you can accept the pain, and be better off because of it.

28 Dec 2003 by Richie

comments (0)

Be sure to catch us today at 7:00 Central Standard Time on the The Game Show. Click HERE
to start the broadcast. To write in questions, IM me: AIM: (NEW NAME)
kuBreakmanX, Yahoo: BreakmanX, MSN: BreakmanX@hotmail.com, and ICQ:
14009569. Voice call ins can be done through Yahoo messenger, simply
messege me through Yahoo for instructions. Its easy =)


28 Dec 2003 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Merry Christmas to all, I hope your Christmas was filled with good
stuffage, as i know mine was. Mine has been filled with much FFXI and
FFX-2. No Xbox though, which i guess really isnt that disappointing.
Not really much to speak of other then after watching Pirates of the
Carribean I have decided to grow a beard, which will be documented on
the site via webcam. LET THE GROWAGE BEGIN.
-Shadow out
27 Dec 2003 by ShadowmanX

comments (0)

I could comment on various things, like this
crime of a game bundle, but I’ll leave that for another day, since I’m
sure you’re all busy giving gifts, enjoying the ones you received, or
returning the ones you aren’t. I know that a lot of readers posted
their wish lists on the forums,
and I’d be curious to know if any part of them were answered, or if you
were unfortunate enough to end up with a copy of Butt Ugly Martians, or
some undesirable game like that.

So, I’ll wish you all a Merry Christmas, and let you get back to enjoying the holiday season.

25 Dec 2003 by Richie

comments (0)

Happy Holidays from your friends at BreakmanX.com!

25 Dec 2003 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Break (as in "…from school", not BMX.com’s personal Blue Bomber) has
basically been a rerun of summer vacation, boiling down to sleeping in
past noon, working, gaming till absurd nighttime hours, then going back
to step one. I have no
problem with this, other than the fact that the sleeping and gaming
parts have so far prevented me from seeing RotK, which is on my to-do
list for Wednesday night. And, like most, I’m getting all the
obligatory gift-giving out of the way, evident by the sight of me
walking around the local mall with three shopping bags in one hand, and
my credit card in the other. If I could have looked at myself from a
far at that moment, I’d have called myself a fucking pussy.

After the purchases were made, I took a stride into Gamestop, and was
greeted by the more pitiful and disgraceful parts of the community. In
one corner, a clerk was attempting to explain why Gamecube discs
weren’t inferior to PS2 discs to a 60-year old lady. In another corner,
a parental couple could be overheard as they tried to find a copy of
Mario Golf, in the used Xbox section. All the while, I’m standing at
the new PS2 racks, disgusted at some of the titles produced for the
system, like Butt Ugly Martians, and Celebrity Deathmatch. The worst thing is that I know, know,
that some uninformed grandparent or relative is gonna come along and
buy either, or both, of these games as a gift to their gaming-inclined
relation. I feel for those gamers.

And, since it is that time of year, I’d like to recommend that any readers listen to The Night Santa Went Crazy by Weird Al Yankovik. It’s guaranteed to get you into that warm, friendly, holiday spirit.

24 Dec 2003 by Richie

comments (0)

As some of you may or may not know, this week I’m back visiting my
family in Wichita. This is quite a fun time for me because I have
nothing to do while I’m here except watch sports on TV, and play tons
of video games.

One game that seems to be consuming all of my time (and I thought it
would) is Final Fantasy XI. This game is pure digital crack. You get in
that perfect party, and you want to keep playing for days on end with
them. Not to mention the fact that you "have" to get that next piece of
armor or weapon that you can get as soon as you level up the next time.
This game is great, and it’s a shame I haven’t seen Break on it
yet….GET ON IT! NOW!

But anyways, I’ve got it from a fairly reliable source that we may be
seeing a ton of Halo 2 stuff in the coming month, perhaps as a New
Years or Christmas present, but we’ll see…usually I’m pretty
skeptical about this stuff, but this guy’s been right in the
past…we’ll see…

-Jack

FFXI Character: Masterchief
World: Asura
Country: Bastok

~~EDIT~~ Afrotect breaking in here.
FFXI Character: Afrotect
World: Asura
Country: Windurst (Bastok Sux0rs!)

23 Dec 2003 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

After the show I spent so many an hour perfecting the art of the blue
spark. And now that it is mastered I am kicking much ass. It is a
beautiful thing. To be honest Breaks lack of seeing RotK makes me so
sick that its comparable to watching Tomb Raider. I dont understand how
you just cant call in sick or somthing, or maybe just dont go. But that
poor child has what some of us call a sense of responsibility. Its so
sad.
23 Dec 2003 by ShadowmanX

comments (0)

But, I have not yet payed my respects. If you would like, you can hear
us talk about Return of the King and many other things in yesterday’s show.

My main problem with seeing Return of the King is really my own
inability to wake up anytime before I absolutely have to. You see I
work late afternoon usually till about 10:30 which is prime movie
viewage time. In fact, there are no showings in a time when I could see
them. None. Honestly, I think it is a joke being played on me by my
managers at EB and the local movie theatre. Phylo got together with
them to plan the RotK showing to exact times when I could not go to it.
It is a honorable ruse, but I think I may be able to thwart it. If I
can get up before 1 or so, that is.

Along with my notbeingabletoseeitness, there is another development. A
Perfect Circle is on tour, but has no plans to come ANYWHERE close to
me. They are overseas right now, performing their beautiful music
before people. People that most definately aren’t me… If they do any
more dates in the US, I am going to go see the closest one even if it
is hours away. I even had a kind of nightmare about this last night.
Close enough anyway. After getting screwed out of seeing them live
several times (this is true, everytime they’ve been here there’s been
something I can’t get out of) I finally was at a Tool concert. Sitting
in some pretty good seats, I hear them open with The Grudge, and I’m
all happy, all is good. Something happens in the first song;
electricity goes out, I can’t remember exactly what, but the concert
can’t go on, and I go home. Then I wake up. I will
see Tool when they come around. Since Danny Carey (their drummer) is
from Kansas, they always come here like three times. And I am going all
three fucking times… I don’t care what happens this time!

This post is tardy, but it is not without reason. My internet went down
last night (yes A-Fucking-Gain) when I started to write this post, and
stopped the uploadage of the show. I fell asleep, and somehow managed
to hibernate for several hours before managing to wake up. Once I woke
up, though, the internet had returned, the show was on its way, and I
resumed the post. Thank you for your patience, as it is most
appreciated.

One last thing, I’ve heard really good things about The African Safari Papers,
and am most likely going to start reading it soon. There is a nice
synopsis over at Amazon, but I would like to add that I normally don’t
care about African Safari books, or anything. The positive things I’ve
heard are mostly about how it was written, and the way it writes about
religion and some philosophical thingies. And, I happen to like
philosophical thingies.

Prying open my third eye

22 Dec 2003 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Be sure to catch us today at 7:00 Central Standard Time on the The Game Show. Click HERE
to start the broadcast. To write in questions, IM me: AIM: (NEW NAME)
kuBreakmanX, Yahoo: BreakmanX, MSN: BreakmanX@hotmail.com, and ICQ:
14009569. Voice call ins can be done through Yahoo messenger, simply
messege me through Yahoo for instructions. Its easy =)


21 Dec 2003 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

I made a bad…bad mistake. I purchaced Civilization 3 Gold. Now it’s
not like I hadn’t played this game before, cause I had. But I played
the 1.0. No patches, no updates, long story short, little game
mechanics made end-game civilizations impossible to maintain. So when I
see it bundled for 30 bucks, how can I say no, now I can Play the World
and build my civilization to massive heights and powers. If anyone
want’s to challenge me and get it goin, bring it on, suckas.

Also I’ve played a touch of BF1942 under the coercion of Yankee, and
whew when you get on a roll killing the DAMNED ALLIES you really get on
a roll. I haven’t had this much fun sniping since UT, and not the 2K3
one, baby, the pure, sanctimonious Unreal Tournament.

FFXI is going well, we are converting more and more people who "don’t
want to pay to play video games" into our massively multiplayer mánágé
é bíllíoñ…and no I don’t know how to really spell it. If you want to
join the über Asura server, let me know and we’ll world pass you right
on over to join the festivities.

Oh and I haven’t seen Return of the King nor have I read the books. So don’t spoil it….please.

20 Dec 2003 by Afrotect

comments (0)

As I sit here and type this post, I find myself yearning to go and play
Mario Kart or FFXI. I recently acquired Mario Kart from the Buster of
Blocks, and I decided it was definitely work a by. So I’ll be getting
it for Dr.Thud for Christmas. Shhhhh don’t tell him. As for my feelings
about Double Dash, so make it short and sweet it’s beautiful and Wario
is a mad pimp. And his partner in crime Warluigi is a sneaky bastard. I
will discuss it in all its majesty tomorrow on the show.

A story that was not shared about the Return of the King showing in
Wichita was the brawl that almost happened over some good seats. Since
we got there early we picked out some of the best seats in the house,
my friend Kevin and I were directly center about 10 rows back. Perfect.
Then some jackass who thought he was hardcore came up and asked if our
whole group of about 10 of us could move down about 5 seats. For those
who know me, like Break or Ritchie, I try to think that I am a fairly
calm and collected person. But if you try to pull some shit like this,
sweet Christ you are asking for the ass kicking of your God damn life.
I politely told the man and his two kids that they would get these
seats when the swept my dying corpse from them. At this point the
niners hat was removed and handed to Kevin and I prepared for a little
Mortal Kombat action. But the man decided to back down like a Forest
Hare in FFXI backs down to the almighty power of Gurai.

Speaking of which it pains my heart that I have not seen Break on FFXI
in some time. Actually I have never seen Break on FFXI. I have a theory
about break and MMORPGS that I do not wish to speak of until it is
officially proven or disproven. But I feel my hypothesis is sound. Also
to make Jack happy I have decided that the Xbox will be my request
present for Christmas. Thud is convinced I am selling my soul to
Lucifer himself, but I’m sure he will come around. Unfortunately I must
depart and pick up a new microphone if Break will answer his damn
phone. Later
-Shadow out

20 Dec 2003 by ShadowmanX

comments (0)

Since our last meeting, I’ve sustained myself through two very intense
days of study and two very long nights of preparation. Fortunately,
neither of the two days were even close to the bloodletting sessions I
feared they would be. Whether this is because of those long nights of
preparation, or the fact that I showed up to those days of school half
asleep, is a question probably best left unanswered until I get the
results of my finals back.

I also managed to completely forget about my game favorites during this
time. Battlefield 1942? Project Gotham Racing 2? I just don’t know any
more. It was almost a painful transition for me, going from knowing only of those games when not in school, to knowing nothing but
school and forgetting the games. I’ve made a promise to my gaming
systems, parental in origin, that, over Christmas break, I would make
it up to them.

And to start that process, I am going to see
Return of the King with Realm on Friday night, an event I hope will
eradicate any educational thoughts still present in my mind after
school and replace them with the fanticiful bliss of Lord of the Rings.

News Update

I’m happy to report that finals went extremely well, enabling me to
finish out the semester with a halfway decent record. Unfortunatly,
Return of the King was sold out tonight, so me and Realm compromised on
The Last Samuari, which did not dissapoint. If you find yourself in my
position, put that movie money to good use and buy a ticket for this
show.

19 Dec 2003 by Richie

comments (0)

As far as music goes, I have my bands that I have loved and adored for
quite some time. Bands that stand above the rest of the bands that I
listen to. And bands that require immediate attention when they release
any kind of thing.
Incubus happens to fall in to this rather exclusive catagory. Which is
actually becoming a little weird since they have become so incredibly
popular.. I remember when it was just a small group of friends that
listened to them. But, anyway, the point of this ramble is that
although their new CD comes out on February 2nd, 2004, they have
released a single from this new CD entitled Megalomaniac. The high
quality version was only available on iTunes, so.. I had to.. use it..
and stuff. It actually didn’t hurt too much. Kind of like an injection,
I just didn’t want to see it go into my skin..

I am pretty
happy with the song, and am delighted to inform you that although it
took a vacation during their last album; the word fuck is back in all
its glory. Besides iTunes, there is also a straming version on their website.

18 Dec 2003 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

As I waited at the cinema at around 2 for the 3:15 show I began shaking
with anticpation. There was nothing I had been looking forward to more
then this day. Monday it was Fellowship of the Ring extended version,
tuesday it was Two Towers extended version, wednesday Return of the
King. It was truly a beautiful thing. There are some differences like
most of the movies to the book but nothing to unbeleivably signifigent.
Legolas my favorite character has a nice role again and I enjoyed
watching him in his acrobatic splendor.

The movie is a masterpiece like all of the other adaptations. Now I
must warn you if you are looking here for a strong critics opinion you
wont get it. When it comes to movies I am extremely easy to please. I
do not know why this is, i think it is my strong desire to enjoy
myself. Like when everyone didnt like the new matrix, i did because im
just easily amused. So i havent heard a general buzz but the small
group i viewed it with were in agreement that it was a good movie.

Like everyone else I have been through the finals hell. Though mine
have not been as difficult becuase of the fact that I have chosen to
take exceptionally easy classes for my senior year and I exempted the
hardest one. I take my last final tommorrow, which I must go study for.
It is for the horrible class of Humanities, or Pnilosophy. So it is the
only tough one so I must get to work. After the last final, there will
be lots of alcohol, and lots of FFXI. In which order, I do not know.
-Shadow out

17 Dec 2003 by ShadowmanX

comments (0)

Break’s description of the 2nd week in December, “suck week”, is
becoming more and more accurate as the timeline unfolds. Finals are, of
course, no fun, and generally cause a lot of pain and suffering for the
students who have to prepare for them. This general feeling is
amplified for me, since my teachers feel that teaching is above them,
and don’t feel the need to, especially the last-minute stuff they
didn’t get to earlier in the year. Their reason? Snow days,
specifically the two we had last week, which took class time away, and
therefore makes the teachers feel that they don’t have enough time to
teach their material. The result? Instructions that can be summed up in
a simple sentence: “Learn it yourself.” Cockmongers.

That taken into consideration, I’ve promised myself that I won’t buy
any games this week, since I know that any distraction I can find from
studying will be taken advantage of to the fullest, resulting in a
complete lack of study on my part. Not to say that I don’t have enough
distractions as it is, I’m just having a hard enough time staying away
from them. If new ones were to enter into my life, I wouldn’t have the
willpower, as a student or gamer, to avoid them till finals are over.

Just three more days. Just three. I’ve got to make it. It will all be over soon.

17 Dec 2003 by Richie

comments (0)

After yesterday’s grueling endurance trial of 3 finals in one day, I
was hoping that it would soon be over, and the pain would stop.

If only that were the case.

I still have one final that I have to go to tonight in about 2 hours,
and I also have to take the hardest one yet, my Japanese final tomorrow
night, and that one is going to be a pain.

I hope everyone is still enjoying my student film, please feel free to
show it to all of your friends, strangers, and loved ones. PGR2 is
still claiming my soul in between intense study sessions. I finally
beat the American Muscle cars chapter of the Kudos World Series last
night, and I felt an overwhelming sense of relief, mainly because all
of the American Muscle cars just plain suck. They have no handling
whatsoever.

Now I’m on the gloriousness of the super cars and I am now truly
convinced that this game is one of the best ever. It’s just so
involving….oh well…back to studying.

One last note, I finally picked up FFXI today, but I’m not going to get
into it until tomorrow night after my Japanese final. Hope to see
everyone on there, I know everyone’s been waiting for it

-Jack

16 Dec 2003 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Yesterday’s show can be enjoyed by pointing here and clicking.

If you haven’t made a donation to Child’s Play, it is very much getting
down to the wire to do so. All I can say is that those kids are going
to have a kick ass Christmas. DVD Players, Game Systems, and all manor
of toys will be at their disposal. It is enough to make someone jump
for joy. Also, it will be interesting to see what the people who are
against games will say.

I hate school projects. You know, the ones that require all that work
outside of school, and usually some sort of collaboration with people.
I’ve always liked to get things done in class so these things are like
poison to my ears. Luckily I’m working with cool people on this final
English project; including Kitsune from the forum. I’ll be busy with
that for the rest of the day. Which means I’ll be editing video of
Kitsune and I talking about foxes and women in Japanese. It shall be
rather interesting.

Hope you guys are still enjoying the film
that Jack made and I’m in. As of this morning 2100+ people have
downloaded it. I haven’t received any death threats yet, so I’m
thinking it turned out all right.

wyf

15 Dec 2003 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Be sure to catch us today at 7:00 Central Standard Time on the The Game Show. Click HERE
to start the broadcast. To write in questions, IM me: AIM: (NEW NAME)
kuBreakmanX, Yahoo: BreakmanX, MSN: BreakmanX@hotmail.com, and ICQ:
14009569. Voice call ins can be done through Yahoo messenger, simply
messege me through Yahoo for instructions. Its easy =)

Also, make sure to check out Jack’s student film. I’m the Matt Nyquist guy that plays Cyber Self…

(And make sure you right click the links and do save target as)

Self-Respect Windows Media Player

Self-Respect Quicktime

Tetrinet
is a game that has long been in my blood. I can remember playing it
back in 1997 or 1998 till the wee hours in the morning. Tetrinet is
basically a form of battle tetris that gives you different special
blocks to use as offensive, or defensive weapons. I hadn’t played this
game in forever and a half till I played with Silviar tonight, and I
must say that the blocks still fall, and the powerups are still
merciless. If you’ve never played this game, then by all means give it
a try. Do keep in mind that it is multiplayer only, so you’ll need a
few other humans to play it with. And, if you are like me and you
haven’t played it for awhile you might be surprised at how fun and
addicting it still is.

In other news, I finally
have my world pass and am getting ready to dive into the world that is
Final Fantasy XI. It is a bit scary to dip my toes back in the waters
of the MMORPG world since the whole Galaxies thing. But, with Tetrinet
and FFXI in my life I better get used to a life of little to no sleep.
Honestly, dipping my toes is so much an understatement that I don’t
think I can leave it at that. If FFXI is the swimming pool than I am
standing on the high dive peering over the vast ocean in front of me. I
can see Shadow, Afrotect, Phylo, and MetusOdium swimming in the pool
having a wonderful time. They are waving for me to join them, and I
begin my run to the end of the board. The final seconds of freedom pass
as I jump to the end of the board, and blast into oblivion.

14 Dec 2003 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Okay, so I found free money, don’t ask how, but I came across an ample
supply of video game funding. Long story short, I bougt DDR Max 2 and
an extra pad for my PS2.

The Good: Video game + workout = a grand ol’ idea
The Bad: I can’t feel my legs.
The Ugly: Me dancing to "In the Navy Remix"

13 Dec 2003 by Afrotect

comments (0)

 

Well as I sit here and speak to you all a gentle snow falls on my
gentle little town of Wichita. The Ruby Weapon is very confused by this
phenomenon, having lived underground in the desert of course, but I
have faith she will adapt well enough. I mean she can destroy the
Highwind with a wim of her arm. Tommorrow I will most likely be picking
up a new mic for the show as break has informed me i sound much like
ass and that i need to change. So hopefully this will take place.

I recently watched Jack’s film Self Respect and found it funny because
I think Break is very funny and Jack has film making skills that pay
the bills. Well as I end this message I must depart, the exaustedness
of little sleep and lots of alcohol has taken its toll and I must sleep.
-shadow out

13 Dec 2003 by ShadowmanX

comments (0)

Alright, so I’ve talked about this for a few weeks now, and here it finally is. The internet premiere for my student film, Self-Respect.

I worked on this video with an extremely talented and funny writer,
Andrew Morrisey, who also did a heckuva lot in the process of getting
the film done. I myself had a hand in some of the situational writing,
but nothing too big, and I was along every step of the way making sure
everything was just where it should be. Brad Danler also helped out on
the film, doing everything he could to help us out with the shooting
and editing of the film. Without either of these guys, this film would
not have been what it is now.

And I also can’t forget our great actor, BreakmanX, or, as we know him,
Matt Nyquist. Let me tell you, Break has excellent timing when it comes
to comedic acting. He does the straight man perfectly. We couldn’t have
gotten a better actor for our movie. Thanks again Break, for putting up
with my constant nagging and calling and being there when we needed you.

So, I guess this is where I should present the film itself….Self-Respect
is a 5-minute mockumentary about Coach Cyber Self. I won’t go much
further than that, as it spoils most of the fun of the video. We used
videogame footage, all of which worked greatly, which to me makes this
the best videogame film since The Wizard.

So
please, take a few minutes to download this film, and don’t hesitate to
let us know what you think in the comments section, or the forums. We
can take criticism, I just think it’s a great film that we’ve done. I
know I’ve been quite long-winded here, but it’s just because myself and
my partners spent a lot of our time these past few months trying to
make this the best we could possibly get it, and we are quite satisfied
with the result.

Please, enjoy one of the following two flavors:

Self-Respect Windows Media Player

Self-Respect Quicktime

And, as a little bonus, our short mock PSA that we did earlier in the semester with Break as well:

PET PSA Quicktime

PET PSA Windows Media Player

-Jack

13 Dec 2003 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

As I continue to follow the Haitian community’s campaign against Grand
Theft Auto: Vice City, my overflowing frustration and rage has been
replaced with laughter and pity. In the latest development,
the Haitian community plans to hold pickets against Wal-Mart and other
retailers for selling Vice City, even after Rockstar removed the
offensive sections from the game. I will now quote Ringo Cayard and
Jean-Robert Lafortune, respectively, both Haitian leaders:

“It’s too little, too late…They made the money, the message went through.”

“The presence of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on the shelves of national
distributors and retailers … continues to constitute a clear and
present danger for Haitian nationals in the United States. Residents of
Little Haiti (in Miami) have become like a sitting duck.”

Jesus fucking Christ, if I didn’t know better, I’d believe that people
are standing out on their front porches in Miami, AK-47s in hand, just waiting
for some unfortunate Haitian to walk by, the minds of the
Haitian-hunters warped and twisted into believing that Haitians are
some kind of game animal with their own hunting season. I’d
also believe that Rockstar is some kind of sadistic hate group with
it’s own agenda to systematically wipe out the Haitian presence in
America. Their copies of Vice City acting as the corrupting gateway
drug and mind controller, leading to a murderous clan of gamers bent on
killing Haitians.

I can’t help but laugh out loud
at these two. I mean, if you’re scared that some harm will come to you
in Miami simply over the presence of a violent video game, then how the
hell do you get the courage to tie your fucking shoes and step out the
door in the morning?

12 Dec 2003 by Richie

comments (0)

I know I mentioned this in a post a few days ago, but I thought that
I’d pimp out my student film some more. (I have very little dignity)
Please, if you’re in Lawrence, come by Oldfather Studios tonight
(Thursday) at 7:30 to see my film that I made with the rest of my
group, and Break. It’s a laugh riot. If you can’t make it, that’s
fine…we’ll have it up on the site very soon. However, if you do make
it, I will love you forever (well, if you like it and know some
hollywood insiders )

Plus, there’s free snacks and drinks.

Hope I see at least a few people from the site there. If not, that’s
cool. It should be great. We put a helluva lot of work in to this film,
and we hope that everyone likes it.

-Jack

11 Dec 2003 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

First the insanity that was the Super Mario Bros. 3 video and now this.
It has been around for awhile, but it still floors me everytime I see
it. The sheer majesty of how He selects His boss amazes me in and of
itself. Once He actually gets to the levels, though, you really have to
watch yourself. It is easy to pee your pants. And by easy, I mean you
can’t help but do it. So, my wet pants are getting uncomfortable so go
ahead and download it. I’m going to go change.

On an unrelated note, someone was able to fend off a bear with their bare hands.

10 Dec 2003 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

To their credit, the Smoky Valley school district has done two smart
things this year: canceled school on Tuesday, and canceled school on
Wednesday, due to local weather conditions. It’s not very often that
USD 400 makes educated decisions, but when they do, I rejoice in them.

But, even with all the free time that has been made available to me
without school during the day, there have been few changes in my
day-to-day games. Bust some caps in R6-3, dish out hell with a fuel rod
gun in Halo PC, soul search for the perfect drift car in PGR2, and,
best of all, stain the blade of my knife with the blood of a camping
sniper in Battlefield 1942. But, please, don’t take me for a homicidal
maniac because I find the most violent activity out of all the ones
stated above to be the most enjoyable, but there are few things in this
world that are as satisfying as knife-killing (the Battlefield 1942
equivalent of a bitch slap) some annoying sniper, who decided that
improving his kill/death ratio is more important than capping flags and helping his team.

And, strangely enough, I can still find myself playing Gran Turismo 2
on ePSXe. I know that racing games are known for their replay value,
but with the zillions of combinations of cars, parts, and tunings, Gran
Turismo is in a class unto itself on that score. It’s those time when
I’m sifting through rear- and all-wheel drive cars, mixing and matching
parts, fiddling with differential settings and spring rates, and I wish
I had a PS2 and a copy of GT3, so I could do the same with next-gen
graphics. And if that doesn’t break me down and force me to get a PS2,
then GT4 will, with the potential awesomeness of online play.

But this is not to say that I’m not appreciative of any of my racing
games. On the contrary, after a
hooligan-driving-turned-call-your-friend-to-pull-you-out incident
earlier tonight, I’m very grateful to have such games to release my
illegal driving tendencies.

10 Dec 2003 by Richie

comments (0)

Well I have been awaiting the return of Playonline in Lawrence so that
I can switch to Afrotects server. I have not spoken with him today but
i can only hope today is the day. I have been experimenting with
different characters to decide what to do with my new one, and i have
not the damndest clue what i want. A warrior or a red mage is probably
my decision but who knows.

My time for gaming has been very little, i have finals coming up and
some time i plan on a trip to see Lawrence so I can be immersed in
Break’s propaganda for KU. And to see him of course. I also hope to see
Ritchie who i havent seen in ages, and finally meet Jack which hasnt
happened yet. But I must take off now, for my soccer team, the
Argentina Alligators have a game and I must not miss the pregame
drinking so that the Irish and Italian Blood can become roudy.
-Shadow out

09 Dec 2003 by ShadowmanX

comments (0)

So, I’m working on this short 5-minute film for my Basic Video
Production class at KU, and my group is getting down to crunch time
right now, which means that I haven’t had much time to play any
videogames. However, since this film is somewhat about videogames, I thought I would discuss it here…

For those of you not reading the forums on a regular basis (shame on you), you might check out this thread.

My group’s film is coming along quite nicely, and we just have a bunch
of finishing touches on it right now…but what we have so far looks
great, and I can’t wait to share it with everyone, and I know Break
feels the same way too, after all, he is starring in it.

He’s done a great job with everything we’ve needed him to do throughout
the shoot, and he’s been great to work with. I just felt that I needed
to thank him for the great job that he’s done with us, because I don’t
know if he realizes how much he really has helped me and my group out.
Thanks a bunch man, really.

So, if you’re wondering what it’s about, it’s a Mockumentary, much like This is Spinal Tap, Best in Show, or Waiting for Guffman.
Our short film follows the story of one Coach CyberSelf…I’m not going
to give away much more than that. You’ll have to see it

-Jack

09 Dec 2003 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

My Internet is going off and on, and this is my window of opportunity
for awhile. A full length post will come once it is back to normal, but
until then check out yesterday’s show.

08 Dec 2003 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

…it was Break’s internet that fucked up The Show this time. As a
result, the stream is down, so all of you faithful listeners waiting
for us to go back on, you can turn it off. The hosts are, as we speak,
recording the rest of The Show, and will be available for download and
streamed over Shoutcast when Break gets his connection back. Yes, I
know, I sound like shit, but that’s because I’m hooked up over the
phone.

And, rest assured, Break will severly punish the slackers over at Sunflower ISP come Monday morning.

07 Dec 2003 by Richie

comments (0)

Be sure to catch us today at 7:00 Central Standard Time on the The Game Show. Click HERE
to start the broadcast. To write in questions, IM me: AIM: (NEW NAME)
kuBreakmanX, Yahoo: BreakmanX, MSN: BreakmanX@hotmail.com, and ICQ:
14009569. Voice call ins can be done through Yahoo messenger, simply
messege me through Yahoo for instructions. Its easy =)


07 Dec 2003 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

So I’m sitting waiting to play my FFXI for the night, and the other
PlayOnline game, Tetra Master (of FFIX fame…or not), catches my eye.
One thing leads to another, yadda yadda yadda it’s 5 hours later and my
eyes are bloodshot. Needless to say, this game is an amazing little
addition to PlayOnline. If you have FFXI and haven’t tried it out, give
it a shot.

Also, I’m hunting down one of my friends who dashed off with my copy of
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. All I have to say is if you haven’t
played this game, you are a heathen to the gaming society, and doing
yourself a great disservice. Go out, pick it up (It’s Greatest Hits now
I believe) and play it. Now. Stop reading this.

Really…

No I’m not kidding…Go

I’m leaving now, Castlevania calls me.

06 Dec 2003 by Afrotect

comments (0)

Last Night I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Mo Rocca
who we all know from The Daily Show on Comedy Central, I love the 80′s
on VH1 (as well as the 70′s and soon 90′s,) and The Today Show on NBC.
You also may recognize him from Spike TV’s Video Game Awards show.

I’ve been a fan of his extremely funny, yet highly informative pieces
on The Daily Show for quite some time, and while I listened to him he
was just as funny as he is on TV. The amount of facts in his brain is
something that boggles the mind; he claims to know the capital of all
the countries in the world, and we tested him. Besides all that, he was
also a nice guy, and very personable. What else do you expect from the
man that has visited the graves of all the American Presidents?

He’s also in the process of writing a book that tells the history of
our Presidents through the eyes of their pets. Mo said that some will
most likely buy it thinking it is a cute book about animals, but will
be shocked when they discover things like Socks the Cat’s view of the
Lewinsky affair. "It is more twisted than that," he said. I’ll be
picking it up, and so should you.

05 Dec 2003 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Following my illegitimate child analogy from earlier, my relationship
with Project Gotham Racing 2 would equate to me kicking its adolescent
ass out of my house. This asskicking came at the full realization of
how 80% of races are settled: the first turn. And by turn, I mean the
first one that is tighter than 30 degrees, and more like 90 degrees,
the kind that drivers come up to far to fast, brake too late, and end
up smashing their Enzo Ferrari sideways into the railing. This, in and
of itself, is not unusual in racing gamers, and is actually closer to
commonplace. But the entire event changes when the car number is
multiplied by eight, and the result is an automotive melee of spinning
tires, sideways cars, and the obligatory exchange of comments such as
“fuck you”, “holy shit”, “God damn”, and “son of a bitch!” The winner
of the race is the driver who maintains the most control going into the
turn and leaves with the most speed, not getting caught up in the
demolition derby between the lesser drivers. So while the guy who
pulled away is happily powersliding corners and racking up kudos, the
rest of the drivers are fighting amongst themselves, the idea of
actually trying to finish the race a distant memory.

The saddest part about the whole fucking idea is the presence of a little map in the lower left corner of the screen that tells you when the killer corner is coming. And there is not a soul on Live who uses it.

That stated, Project Gotham Racing 2 received the
see-you-later-and-don’t-let-the-disc-tray-hit-you-in-the-ass-on-the-way-out
treatment from me, and replaced it almost immediately with Rainbow Six
3, so far managing to fill PGR2’s gap pretty well. Offline, I’ve been
honing my technique with my M4 and Desert Eagle, while on Live, I’ve
been learning the finer points of hostile room entry from the more
experienced antiterrorist operatives. This is what R6-3 really has
going for it: it’s not a game where “spray-and-pray” will work, and
therefore filters out all the run-and-gun sorts who walk into a room
with both barrels blazing extremely quickly. That’s not to say that
run-and-gun games are bad, but R6-3 clearly is not one of those games,
and is harsh of people who try to play it like one. It’s this fact that
eliminates the happy-trigger-finger sorts from the gene pool and leaves
the survivors, people who are generally more thoughtful than a typical
FPS player.

This effectively brings be back down to my roots as an FPS gamer, with
Battlefield 1942, Desert Combat, Halo PC, and Rainbow Six 3 filling my
time available for gaming. But, as is the tradition with young people,
it will come time for one child to leave the nest. Which one, exactly,
I do not know, but with the aforementioned titles like KOTOR and FFXI
available to me, I’m sure that any absence left by one game will
quickly be filled.

05 Dec 2003 by Richie

comments (0)

The entirety of the Star Wars Galaxy is contained on three CDs. Which
at the time, I thought was a fairly reasonable thing. The Final Fantasy
Universe is kept on five discs. I didn’t think that was so bad until I
went to install it. After all was said and done, it took me two – three
hours to install this game. That’s the longest I think I’ve ever spent
installing a game.

I had apparently missed the opening cinematics when I beta’d the game
last summer for the Ps2. There was a point where I went downstairs and
got some pop or something, and that time was prolly when all the good
stuff happened. The opening cinematic is like someone pouring pure
sugar into your eyes. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, but it is
amazing. Amazing like a black mage…

I’m hoping that XI doesn’t get boring as Galaxies did. After all the
Star Warsyness wore off, and I realized that I was running around a
desert killing the same animals over and over again with far too slow a
reward; I just couldn’t continue. I actually logged into it one last
time the other day to realize that they are following the story now,
and that Leia’s nice blue planet has been destroyed. That’s cool, but
when I want to be in the Star Wars universe, I don’t want it to be
boring. I guess I’d rather not play as Luke BEFORE A New Hope. You
know, where he’s wishing to go off on adventures? That’s what I felt
like.

Shadow says that XI is different, and I hope it is. I trust his
opinion, and he’s not the only one addicted. Afrotect and Phylo are
both enjoying it pretty well, and the whole idea of forming a party
sounds cool. That, and I can be a ninja. I CAN ACTUALLY BE WHAT I WANT.
There’s not one ninja in the entire world. If I work hard enough, I can
be a ninja. Unlike some other MMORPGS I know. *cough* Jedi *cough*

So far, Im loving XI, though. The music is wonderful, and the game
actually runs well on my computer. I’m having fun so far, and that’s
all I want. I just hope it continues.

04 Dec 2003 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Nowadays, I’m thinking of my games as kids that I’ve fathered: four
chicks, four kids, four child support payments. The child support
payments are the time due to each kid. And as of right now, my checks
are bouncing like a DOA girl’s tits in Extreme Beach Volleyball.

Project Gotham Racing 2, is, by far, the spoiled brat of the bunch,
with its Live play draining my time account dry. It’s one of those
games that can make you completely lose track of a few hours, which is
really disconcerting for someone like me who has a pretty keen sense of
time. If in the event that I get frustrated with PGR2, there is always
Rainbow Six 3 to play, single and multiplayer, both of which are a
blast. With those two roughly balancing my books out to the last cent,
the last thing I needed was Realm to come along and mention that
Battlefield 1942 was up to version 1.5, and my further discovery that
Desert Combat had reached .5 beta. This quickly put me over budget as I
tried to cram in a few rounds of all four games in one night. It’s the
kind of situation that can make a guy like me wana drop out of high
school. Simply trying to plan 20 minutes into the future is an exercise
in frustration as thoughts of a PGR2 race or a round of Oddball in Halo
attempt to wedge themselves in.

Shadow recommends that I sell some of these kids into slavery to open
time up, but I know in my gut that he’ll just recommend Final Fantasy
XI to fill up the newly freed time. But if I don’t do that, then Realm
will come in with KOTOR recommendations, or Break will show up with
demands for me to play Prince of Persia. But I prefer to think of those
games as orphans in the Gamestop Orphanage: they’re not very happy
where they are, but sooner or later, a loving gamer will come along and
pick them up, a gamer who can give them I good home. I feel sad that I
am not that gamer, but I know that the game is better off. So, I beg of
you, go out and let one of these great games have a place in your life
and give them a home in your system of choice.

03 Dec 2003 by Richie

comments (0)

From the Microsoft press release, "Microsoft Game Studios announced
that the Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge Soundtrack is now
available on the Sumthing Else Musicworks label at Tower Records,
Virgin Records, Amazon.com, Newbury Comics, select Best Buy and Borders
locations and other fine stores for a suggested retail price of $15.98
(U.S.). In addition to the 54-track CD is a bonus DVD containing Dolby
Digital 5.1 Surround mixes of the game trailer and two tracks from the
CD. The soaring orchestral score is performed by Northwest Sinfonia and
Grammy Award-winning conductor, Adam Stern. For a sample of the
captivating soundtrack visit http://www.xbox.com/en-US/crimsonskies/,
or play the recently released Xbox game Crimson Skies: High Road the
Revenge! Gamers interested in how a game musical score is created can
check out a revealing interview with composer Stan Lepard and audio
lead David Henry at http://www.xbox.com/en-us/crimsonskies/themakers2.htm."

02 Dec 2003 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Ross Mills just alerted me that he has a new Halo video up on
Halo.Bungie.org. If you would like to see this video as well, please
click here.
It is quite good, and I assure you that it will bring a smile to your
face, if not a warm fuzzy feeling deep within from the warm holiday
spirit it is saturated with.

Also, there is a new Halo2 video up on the same site. My copy of Counterstrike finally came in today, so I’m going to give it a trial run.

02 Dec 2003 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

As we speak I have almost coughed up my own lung about 47 times. I
swear it gets a little more fun every single time I do it. Being sick
is one of the great paradoxes of our time. It is fun to get to sit home
and play vid games and do nothing, but the absolute feeling of shit is
not so good.

My day was going ok, just a lot of FFXI and watching my little Gurai
grow up. Then I check out Gamespot and there is a great review of some
Xbox game that made me laugh. A 1.6 review for any system is just
fricken hurtful. I mean, I want Jack to get this game just so he can
tell me, ya thats about a 1.6. I’ve never played a 1.6 game before,
maybe some 2s or 2.5s but thats the closest. I think they even give the
Olsen Twins games higher scores than this. But then again, who can
resist that sexy little duo. And on that note I need sleep to
recooperate.
-Shadow out

02 Dec 2003 by ShadowmanX

comments (0)

 

As many of you may or may not know, the new Halo novel, Halo: First Strike by Eric Nylund (author of the other great Halo novel, Halo: The Fall of Reach)
has come out this past Friday, but unfortunately, no one in Lawrence
had gotten it then. In fact, I thought that it would be pretty
pointless to try to begin a quest to search for the new book, which
chronicles the actions that Master Chief and Cortana get involved in on
their way back to Earth after they destroy Halo. So basically, it’s all
the story that leads in to Halo 2…which I can’t wait for, which is
why I wanted to get this book so badly.

But fortunately,
after checking 5 different places, the Borders here in town finally had
one (granted, that should have been the first place I looked, but hey,
I’m slow). I’m about 50 pages in right now, and I’m loving it. I won’t
spoil anything for anyone, but if you’re a Halo fan, and you have $7 on
you, go buy First Strike, not only will it make the wait for Halo 2
that much harder to bear, but you’ll also get some nuggets of
information about what lies in store for good ol’ MC as he makes his
way back to earth.

Besides reading, I’ve been playing a bunch of Midway Arcade Treasures
(which I am kicking ass at too). This game is throwback genius. The
frontend sucks, but beyond that, the games are all perfect recreations.
I’m still trying to find 2 more people to play through Rampage and
Rampart with (Break and Afro, I’m looking in your directions), but man,
this game brings back some memories…ah well…back to trying to get
the #1 score for Rampage

Don’t forget: Deus Ex 2, Beyond Good & Evil and Armed and Dangerous come out this week!

-Jack

01 Dec 2003 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Before we get carried away, I would like to point out that yesterday’s show can be downloaded here.

Shadow has done it. I swore that I would not get into Final Fantasy XI,
but he has made me get it. As I was sitting in my basement, minding my
own business during Thanksgiving break; he just had to call, and he just had
to give me a sermon about the wonders of Final Fantasy XI. I’ve played
it on the Ps2, and the amount of joy I got out of it can roughly be
compared to the amount of joy one gets from listening to a band they
don’t like. It doesn’t necessarily hurt you, but it makes you want to
do something, anything, to change it. A game of this type
really needs to be played on a PC. Certain games just have their
platforms, and the MMORPG’s platform is with the PC, fo shizzle.
Nizzle. *Cough* So anyway, I’ll be picking up Final Fantasy XI this
week, and when Shadow figures out what world he is on, I will be
playing with him. I’m thinking as a ninja, samurai, summoner, or something.

In Japan they are having a tribute to my favorite system; the Famicom
or the NES as they called it in the States. If any of the Japanese
listeners/readers are viewing these words, I would be eternally
in your debt if you’d take some pictures or just write down some words,
in prose, generic poetry, or haiku (I don’t care) and send it to me
. And, I know there are some Nihonjin that look at the site, so don’t
be shy and give me some info. I will be with you in spirit.

If you haven’t seen the show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,
do yourself a favor and watch it. If you are a guy and would like to
attract the attention of a certain female, this show will help you out.
It teaches you what food, what to wear, and the whole shibang. I’m
really doubting that most of you will take any of their advice, but you
can at least act like you are making an effort for the girl by
watching. Besides that, it is dripping with humor at every turn.

Everyone I know, and I mean everyone, has some sort of illness that is
plagueing them as of present. I am the only one not sick. This
basically means I have to look forward to getting sick in the near
future. This is something I’m not greatly looking forward to. And, as I
look at my calendar it couldn’t have come at a worse time. My last day
of classes is the Thursday the 11th, which is the one after this week.
So, right when I’m not having to go to class, I’ll be fuckified with
the sickness. A great, but also wonderous thought. Hopefully I’ll have
enough strength to finish Final Fantasy X, and some other games I’ve
been meaning to beat.

Number one in the hood, g.

01 Dec 2003 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Be sure to catch us today at 7:00 Central Standard Time on the The Game Show. Click HERE
to start the broadcast. To write in questions, IM me: AIM: (NEW NAME)
kuBreakmanX, Yahoo: BreakmanX, MSN: BreakmanX@hotmail.com, and ICQ:
14009569. Voice call ins can be done through Yahoo messenger, simply
messege me through Yahoo for instructions. Its easy =)

30 Nov 2003 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Alright, so a few days ago I booted up Final Fantasy X-2, and lo and
behold I am assaulted with enough J-pop to make Yatta! seem
Americanized. While I’m fine with the cheesy music and super happy
times, the game itself was a little lacking. I was oh so very baffled
by the battle system, especially after playing FFX’s lovely turn based
fighting. Long story short, it’s a clusterfuck. But, in my true FF
Fanboy-ness, I waged on. Through cheesy dialogue and a maze of a battle
system, I fought; and much to my suprise, a great story, and now a
seemingly easy to manage battle system arose. The proverbial ugly
duckling turned out to be a swan. I can tell you’re excited.

EDIT: Okay…it’s 5:30 and I’m going to bed after seeing what I believe
to be the bastard child of terrible teen-pop and cheesy soap opera
drama. FFX-2 has a great story, Yuna’s dialogu is like a shotgun blast
of romance novels to all your vital organs. But it’s still a good
game…if you can get past that…may whatever diety or lack thereof
you believe in be with you if you try.

If anyone out there likes the FF series, especially FFX’s world of
aeons and the like, pick up X-2, but be prepared to wade through some
murky waters on your way to the promised land of Dresspheres (Job
Classes) and Garment Grids (your choice of classes in battle).

I am still, yes, still playing FFTA for the GBA, and my grades reflect
it. For some reason, I fell a pang at my hip whenever my western
civilzation teacher lectures about christianity and the protestant
movement and blah blah blah. The GBA speaks to me…can you hear it?

get out of my teeth

29 Nov 2003 by Afrotect

comments (0)

Well I did a great thing today; I uninstalled Galaxies from the comp
along with a lot of other unused games. Unfortunately this was all just
to make room for my next MMORPG fix. This fix would be Final Fantasy XI
in all its glory. And after about nine straight hours of it, I have to
say I’m extremely pleased with it. Never have I started a MMORPG and
felt so comfortable playing it. When I first started playing Everquest
I remember feeling incredibly bewildered and confused, but eventually
growing to like it. When it came to Galaxies, I hated it but after
about 3 hours I kind of figured things out and liked it. When I started
playing FFXI there was no period of awkwardness, no moments on
unenjoyment, just 9 hours of pure online fun.

I think this may be the game that finally replaces EQ as my online
crack. The game is absolutely beautiful, it is incredibly smooth and
the surroundings are so detailed I sometimes just stand back and look
around me in wonder. It’s also extremely nice to have an old school
growth system that you don’t have to worry about a lot. FFXI took the
simple level system in and made it work. I prefer this lot compared to
the crazy growth system of Galaxies. My guy is an Elvaan named Gurai
who is a level 6 warrior. I haven’t decided what I want his ultimate
job to be. I have so many classic FF choices I can barely take it. The
one I’m really considering is either a Dark Knight or a Dragoon. Either
way I’m sure to be happy.

Dr. Thud or my bro as he is also known is presently on a quest to beat
FFX. I am helping him along with it but I plan on beating it myself as
well. He is much closer to the end then I am, I think he is extremely
close to beating it, maybe only 10 or 20 hours, which may seem like a
lot to some, but not to the average RPG fanatic. He’s absolutely
consumed with it so that he can get FFX-2, which I’ve actually heard
isn’t even that good. But whatever makes him happy. Alas I must depart,
for I’m setting up another line of sweet white powder that I call 11.

-Shadow out

29 Nov 2003 by ShadowmanX

comments (0)

Infuckingcredable.
The bounds of human idiocy never cease to amaze me. How can anyone, by
any stretch of the mind, see the master/slave system of naming IDE
devices in PC, a system that’s been around since the creation of PC’s
themselves, as racist and offensive? I mean, it’s not like the master
drive is trying to make the slave drive its bitch, its just the way the
two get along in a PC full of components vying for the CPUs processing
time. The IDE system isn’t a democracy, where all devices are created
equal, it’s a data transfer medium which must give priority to certain
devices and give the cold shoulder to others. I spent a good amount of
time trying to wrap my head around the oppositions case, seeing if I
could wear their shoes for a second, then realized that the time I had
committed to the effort was now wasted, as the opposition has no case,
other than to see how much change they can bring about over so simple a
matter. And whoever else is left that really does see the master/slave
setup as offensive, thou art truly a sad being.

But,
ranting set aside, I can fully back up Jack in his opinion that Project
Gotham Racing 2 is, without a doubt, the shit. I could go on about the
strong points of PGR2 for far longer than should be done in a post such
as this, so I will instead direct you to Jack Burtons review, which covers just about anything I could say, and more.

I was also saddened to hear that Break made the death march back to
Lindsborg for the holidays. Not that I mind his presence here in Hell,
it’s actually a relief to have another true gamer around, if only
temporarily. But it is sad because, for someone who has had the joy of
leaving this place for any measurable amount of time, to be dragged
back by family commitments, must surely be a fate worse than death. But
I guess it’s better if Break, or anyone else unfortunate enough to
drift into this town, were to think of his time spent here as a camping
trip or a church retreat: you spend a few days in absolute fucking
misery so you’ll appreciate the good things of your daily life that
much more.

However, if you feel that you would benefit from a similar retreat,
please, please, do not come here. Take a walk. Get on your bike and go
for a ride. Drive around, if you have the means. There is nothing to
fear in the immediate outside world, I assure you, outside of the
prospect of ending up here if you don’t keep track of where you’re
going.

28 Nov 2003 by Richie

comments (0)

First of all, I would like to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving.

I have suffered the drive from Lawrence to my home town of Lindsborg,
and am now experiencing the boredom I had when I lived here. It’s
almost like an invisible blanket, really, enveloping you with this
feeling. It is most likely the reason I became so into Video Games.
There wasn’t anything else that really mattered.

Absence really does make the heart grow fonder, because at this very
moment, as we are having this conversation I have an outright lust for
my consoles that lay dormant three hours away. I have brought them with
me before, but during holidays there is always some game involving a
ball that must be watched on every TV in the house. So, yeah, doesn’t
do me much good. When I return I think I will dive into some Final
Fantasy X. As previously mentioned, I am overdue for that game and I
really need to fix that.

I, of course, did bring my trusty GBA and my copy of Double Dragon
Advance. So, when I’m not eating turkey I will be fighting it out with
the Shadow Warriors. The SP is still my perfect companion, always
brightening up my life and helping me pass all of those otherwise dull
moments.

Completely switching gears; loosecannon alerted me to an article
Revolver about A Perfect Circle. Not only that, but there is a rather
length interview with Maynard James Keenan (Tool and APC’s singer.) I
was excited to read a new interview on the subject, so on the way home
I stopped at several bookstores. Apparently, the magazine publishers
let loose a horde of ninja upon the stores that don’t destroy last
month’s issue once the new one arrives. As I stared at the brand new
magazine, all without any kind of Maynard or Perfect Circle properties,
I decided to ask the clerk if they had any of the old magazines in.
Everyplace gave me the same answer. “Nope, they are gone.” I’m assuming
they just throw them away, and I’d be perfectly happy with one out of
the trash, but this is also against publisher orders. I was
half-tempted to try a Jedi mind trick, but I decided to walk out of the
store in a disappointed fashion instead. Yeah, it pisses me off.

You should really go back and get another plate of food, before it gets
cold. The micro waved stuff is never quite as tasty. Me? Oh, I’m just
going to grab some more, and head over to Richie’s to engage in some
encounters of the Xbox kind.

You tell em, Steve-Dave.

28 Nov 2003 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Project Gotham Racing 2 is still owning my soul. It has the deepest
single player mode and an even deeper multiplayer mode over xbox live
that I have ever seen. Look for a full review coming soon from myself.
I do believe that it is the best racing game this generation thus far,
even outdoing what many believe to be the best ever, GT3.

I stand by my submittal, and I think that you should at least check
this game out, because it’s very well done, and even if you don’t like
racing games (like Break) you’ll appreciate all the details and stuff
like that which went into making a fine game like this. Break can go on
and on about NFS:Underground all he wants, but for my money, I’ll take
a game that’s style and substance over a game that’s just style anyday
of the week.

Not saying that NFS:U isn’t a bad game, it’s just nowhere near the quality of PGR2. Look for the full review soon…

And also, I beat Prince of Persia…brilliant ending to say the least.
I loved every last second of this game, and I can’t wait to play
through the first two prince of persias that are only on the Xbox
version

Break and I are working very closely with some friends of mine for a
new video for the site, and we start shooting tomorrow. Hopefully Break
won’t oversleep like he normally does, and will show up on-time.

-Jack

28 Nov 2003 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

I’d also ask you all to welcome our new staff additions: Afrotect as
our site designer/news poster, and weezerjedi as our Import specialist.
Afrotect’s credentials can be seen all over the damn place, but for any
that ask, “Why is weezer the Import guy?”, such doubters need look no
further than our Imports section on the forums. Just look
at it, for God’s sake. We’d be lying to ourselves if we didn’t
acknowledge that this man has a fucking EKG monitor on the pulse of the
Japanese gaming industry.

I’m also happy to report that my
new Xbox has been making me it’s personal bitch lately, keeping me up
far too late into the night, fixating my brain on the rubber-melting
madness of Project Gotham Racing, or the classic fun of filling some
nameless Tango’s body with 5.56mm rounds in Rainbow Six 3. I don’t
think I could have chosen better first games to get for the Xbox,
either, since both fill ever-present holes in my gaming life. Rainbow
Six 3 must have had the blessing of The Gaming Savior, or some other
deity, because I’m quite sure that it was this game that Ubisoft wanted
Rainbow Six to be from the beginning. All the glaring problems have
been worked out, like the clumsy attack plan system, or the complicated
go-codes that you always seemed to forget mid-mission. All has been
replaced with a sleek interface, good graphics, a voice communication
system, and the good old terrorist-cappin’ fun that veteran players
know and love.

Project Gotham Racing, on the other hand, makes up for what Gran
Turismo doesn’t have: drifting. Sure, you can build a powerful
rear-wheel drive car and start doing powerslides any time you want in
GT, but that’s not the point of the game, and you certainly aren’t
rewarded for it. GT is about speed and grip, not atomized rubber and
consecutive-corner drifting like PGR, which is very, very
satisfying when done correctly. Just about every form of unbridled
hooliganism, from doughnuts to E-Braking is rewarded in PGR, and is, in
reality, the only way to progress though the game. If you enjoy cars,
and the sight of tires being burned off their rims, then you need to
try PRG 1, or 2, preferably 2, if at all possible.

And, lastly, I’ve recently bought a webcam, which has been made available for viewing here. Why anyone
would want to look at my acne-scarred visage is beyond me, but it is
provided nonetheless to make our Webcam page more complete. And, as a
warning, you’ll more often than not see pictures taken of me holding
various weapons, demonstrating how I plan to cleanse this mortal plane
of the evil that resonates from my current city of residence. Do not be
alarmed, however, as me going on a homicidal rampage is exactly what
the hatemongers that live here would like to see me do, so I don’t plan
on giving them the satisfaction.

26 Nov 2003 by Richie

comments (0)

This
site, called the Game Open Market, can be thought of as the currency
exchange for MMO’s, allowing the purchase and selling of online
currency for other types of currency, or cash. Personally, I think
they’re taking the whole online money thing a little too far this way,
but an interesting concept, nonetheless.

21 Nov 2003 by Richie

comments (0)

Be here >>> 11.22.03

21 Nov 2003 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

 

Project Gotham Racing 2 is still owning my soul. It has the deepest
single player mode and an even deeper multiplayer mode over xbox live
that I have ever seen. Look for a full review coming soon from myself.
I do believe that it is the best racing game this generation thus far,
even outdoing what many believe to be the best ever, GT3.

I stand by my submittal, and I think that you should at least check
this game out, because it’s very well done, and even if you don’t like
racing games (like Break) you’ll appreciate all the details and stuff
like that which went into making a fine game like this. Break can go on
and on about NFS:Underground all he wants, but for my money, I’ll take
a game that’s style and substance over a game that’s just style anyday
of the week.

Not saying that NFS:U isn’t a bad game, it’s just nowhere near the quality of PGR2. Look for the full review soon…

And also, I beat Prince of Persia…brilliant ending to say the least.
I loved every last second of this game, and I can’t wait to play
through the first two prince of persias that are only on the Xbox
version

Break and I are working very closely with some friends of mine for a
new video for the site, and we start shooting tomorrow. Hopefully Break
won’t oversleep like he normally does, and will show up on-time.

-Jack

20 Nov 2003 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

Getting my Xbox, I knew the games I wanted were there: racing games. I
had no worries about that. But what wasn’t planted so firmly in my mind
was Live. So, as was my plan, I picked out a Live game (Rainbow Six 3,
in this case), started my 2-month free subscription, and went into the
game with as little bias as possible. And, even with my PC heritage, I
still must admit that Live is great.

During an online bout of deathmatch, as grenades sailed across the
level and empty magazines clanked on the floor, I came to realize that
Live offers a level of simplicity and reliability that the PC does not,
and probably never will be able to emulate. The voice headset is a
great example, making comparable PC setups look clunky in comparison.
Coordinating attacks and discussing tactics is a joy now, and has made
me a firm believer that this is the game that Rainbow Six was meant to
be from the beginning. But, as with just about anything on the Internet
these days, it’s a double edged sword.

While it makes playing a game like R6-3 fun and interesting, Live also
allows fucktards to have their fun. This was a fear I had of Live ever
since it’s inception, and I’ve not found myself to be wrong yet.
Instead of a given fucktard having to take time out of the game to
exercise his severely lacking English skills to type out a flame for me
after I killed him, he needs only do it over the voice, making himself
known much quicker and a lot easier. It’s something that comes with the
good, I guess, and, thankfully, there is still the option to mute such
fucktards.

So, I now don the headset again and go online once more, seeking a
solid answer to my feelings about Live. And, just so you don’t feel
like you completely wasted your time, I’d encourage all interested
parties to check The Matrix Online’s site, as they have updated it with lot’s of new information about the MMO’s gameplay and features.

19 Nov 2003 by Richie

comments (0)

The first sequel of the Final Fantasy series is here, and I dont
actually have it. I havent beaten FFX yet, so I refuse to let myself
get it. Maybe one of the other guys will pick it up, but I can’t play a
sequel without first playing its predecessor, I just wont have it. 11
is either out or comes out soon Im not really sure but regardless I
have decided that my addiction to MMORPGs is not over. I am going to
get it, and I know i will regret every minute of it when i am through
with the purchase. but it has to be done. I didnt get to say much about
it due to my late arrival for the show, but Prince of Persia is a
masterpiece, and thats all that needs to be said about it. Now i must
get back to it, for after i beat it i can continue with FFX.
-Shadow out
18 Nov 2003 by ShadowmanX

comments (0)

No offense to any readers in Australia, but you’ve got a bunch of fucking brain surgeons in charge of roadway safety.

17 Nov 2003 by Richie

comments (0)

My good friend and Halo2 programmer Greg Snook was on Bungie.net for a quote for the big Halo two year anniversary. I agree Greg, blasting those bastards is awesome.
16 Nov 2003 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

Be sure to catch us today at 7:00 Central Standard Time on the The Game Show. Click HERE
to start the broadcast. To write in questions, IM me: AIM: (NEW NAME)
kuBreakmanX, Yahoo: BreakmanX, MSN: BreakmanX@hotmail.com, and ICQ:
14009569. Voice call ins can be done through Yahoo messenger, simply
messege me through Yahoo for instructions. Its easy =)

16 Nov 2003 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)

It is official: I am now the proud owner of an Xbox, and, in the hour
or so I’ve had to play it, I’ve had no time at all to formulate a
negative thought about my purchase, short of the red crease the
Gamestop bag made on my hand while carrying the Xbox through the
parking lot. But I will refrain from commenting at length about my new
toy until The Show, for the sake of content, and I still have many more
powerslides to do in Project Gotham Racing. I know the awsomeness of
games like Project Gotham and others for Xbox is a foregone conclusion
to some of you, but there are few things that can bring such joy to a
person as buying a new console and having a fucking blast with it.

One thing that has troubled me tonight, though, is not with the Xbox,
but with the Gamestop I bought it from. Does anybody remember back a
year or so ago, when Sony was exposed for being guilty of planting
promoters at game stores, who were paid to casually hint to other
customers that they should buy Sony products (think of it as an
undercover version of the N-Gage Special Forces)? Ya, I think I ran
into one. While browsing the wall of new Xbox games, a little Hispanic
kid, playing some iteration of Tony Hawks, looked at me and recommended
some nameless FIFA game to me, saying, “That’s a really good game,
man.” This initially didn’t bother me, as I politely told the kid I
wasn’t into sports games, and moved off to look at the used shelves.
The little kid blew his cover a minute later when he recommended the same game
to a couple 20-year old shoppers, who had moved into the area I had
occupied only a few seconds before. Later, discussing the little mole
with Realm, we came to the realization that this is exactly the kind of thing EA would do, and then all the pieces fell into place.

But, please do understand that I’m not trying to put down Gamestop, as
they were very helpful in making my Xbox purchase, and I had a good
time with the employees cracking jokes about the N-Gage, but I would
appreciate it if they would at least make some effort to keep little
spy bastards like the one I met tonight out of their store. That is,
unless, Gamestop is in on it, which would constitute some kind of gaming conspiracy.

But, undercover promoters or no, I’m pleased to say that I’m completely
happy with my Xbox, and I can only say that I wish I’d have done it
sooner.

14 Nov 2003 by Richie

comments (0)

So I guess between the halo 2 rumor that’s been swarming around the
various message boards on the ‘net and the lukewarm response to Mario
Kart: Double Dash, I’ve been kinda in a bit of a haze all week.

First the halo 2 rumor gets me really excited, then I realize it can’t
be true, so I spend the rest of the week wondering what’s actually
going to happen. Not to help matters, but I also just finished reading
the Halo novel, The Fall of Reach, written by Eric Nylund. Now, I’m not
a big fan of videogame literature, the memory of the doom book still
haunts my soul to this very day…

However, The Fall of Reach is simply a must-read, especially if you are
a Halo fan, like I am. This book gives backstory to the spartan
program, cortana, capt. keyes, and even the master chief himself,
John-117. I’m going to see if I can get Break to read, even though I
know he probably won’t even touch it, but you never know. If you like
Halo’s story, I HIGHLY recommend picking this book up. It is
amazing…plus, Nylund’s writing the 3rd halo book as well…this one
takes place right after Halo is over, and leads up to Halo 2. It comes
out on Dec. 2, and you can check out a sample chapter here: Exerpt . I can’t wait….

Oh well…picked up PoP today, and I can’t wait to try it
out…unfortunately, I can’t until I study for Nihongono. Oh well, wish
me luck…

I think i’m going to start doing this for some of my posts too:
whenever I’m playing a game that I just don’t have time to write a
review for, I’m just going to post a score after my sig, and if anyone
has any questions they’d like to ask about the score, just go ahead and
comment, I’ll respond. Take it easy, everyone!

One last thing: If you’re free and in Lawrence tomorrow night, head on
over to AdrenaLAN, at the request of the owner, I’m taking my Drummania
and guitar freaks games over there to show off to everyone. So, if
you’re a Drummania or guitar freaks fan, be sure to catch us over there
tomorrow night (Friday, the 14th).

-Jack

Legacy of Kain: Defiance: 8.2

13 Nov 2003 by Jack Burton

comments (0)

It has been a rough couple of weeks on the old wallets as we have
discussed. And at this moment I have exactly 8 dollars to my name and
none of the games I really want that are soon coming out such as Call
of Duty after Ritchie and Jack’s approval, Prince of Persia, and after
what I have read from Tycho, FFXI but thats a big maybe. So thats about
150 bucks that I require to feel complete. I have 8 dollars out of that
so i figure I am pretty much no where close. Looks like Ill have to
turn to crime as usual. Now you might question where all of this money
has gone, I mean I had a good amount saved up for this month but it all
just kinda disappeared, kinda like my memory of the preceding couple
nights.

For you see, alcohol is a very expensive habit. So ya football season
ended last week much to my happiness and now the new season dubbed,
"Miller Time", has begun. This is a season of good times, and well
better times. Although since I also have a compulsive gambling problem
I tend to also wake up the next morning not knowing what happened to my
cash. This is all ok in the end, since it leaves more time for FFX
which still is far away from complete. Speaking of Final Fantasy, there
is an incredibly well done analysis of the one or two screenshots we
have of FFXII at Gamespot that I think you should take a look at. I’m
not really sure about the main character guy though, the only thing we
see of him is him talking on a cell phone and not looking incredibly
masculine. I really hope that Squenix has not jumped on the media
bandwagon and decided to make a gay main character. I just don’t know
if when they try to do the romance in the game and its between two guys
that I would be coo with that. Actually I know I would’nt.

Enough about that though, I love Max Payne 2. There is nothing I love
more at the moment that hitting up the ol bullet time and diving into a
room filled with the squeaky cleaners, armed with nothing but my dual
berretas. That is the life. And I must return to it now.
-Shadow out

13 Nov 2003 by ShadowmanX

comments (0)

Before the show last week I finally got my shit together, balanced my
checkbook, and bought Call of Duty, with Jack’s recommendations and
Gamespot’s 9.0 review assuring me I had made a wise purchase. Three
days, two campaigns, and numerous online battles later, I still have no
regrets whatsoever. This is by far the most intense FPS/Action title to
be had, on par with the Max Payne and Unreal series. If nothing else,
the fact that my neighbors called me up and bitched that, “it sounds
like a friggin’ war zone over there”, should convince you that the
developers have gone to a lot of work to make CoD a game that can
consume you in the fight. Of course, the fact that I probably had the
volume up a few notches too high and was being turned into sound waves
by my Logitech Z-560’s made complaints almost inevitable, but the “war
zone” part makes it clear that the neighbors could differentiate gunfire, present in just about every FPS, from the artillery shells and screams of dying men.
The computer AI is anther big factor, which, I promise you, will hand
you your ass on more than one occasion. I’d like to think that it’d be
up for Game of the Year, but with contenders like Halo 2 and Half Life
2 vying for the same award, I realize that it’s an extremely unlikely
prospect.

But while the Germans on the European front are
slugging it out with me, I see that Break was able to sort out his
feelings regarding Revolutions after three viewings, and I was very
pleased to see that he found his feelings to be positive ones. I’m also
aware that there are two, and maybe more, haters of Revolutions present
in my school. The haters know who they are, and to them I give a big
shoutout: what the fuck is wrong with you?
Did the movie have its faults? Sure it did. Was the ending less intense
than we’d like it to be? Damn right. Granted, I did not have as much
time as I would have liked to discuss the vagaries of Revolutions with
the haters in question, but the main argument that I heard was, “The
ending sucked.” Yes, the ending is important, but it’s hard for me to
see why someone would allow a single factor of the movie to ruin it for
them.

When you think about it, the Wachowski brothers had a
lot of expectations from the fans, and considering how little story
they had to work with, I think they did an extremely good job. Another
important aspect to look at is the fact that The Matrix has strong
anime influences. The fact that Shadow and I both see Dragonball Zish
tendencies in the Neo/Smith fight is not coincidence, it’s the anime
factor of The Matrix showing itself. Another example is the open door
left at the end: Anime makers do this routinely, as well as
foreshadowing future events and problems, and always leaving some
question unanswered should the makers choose to continue the story. The
short of my point is this: If you go into it with typical movie
expectations, you will most certainly be disappointed.

12 Nov 2003 by Richie

comments (0)

As I walked into the theatre to watch Matrix Revolutions, several
thoughts were swimming about in my head. A few worries about how they
would end it were in there as well as just my longing for this movie to
be great. Loosecannon’s love of the Matrix is something that could fill
many a heartwarming book. He holds a form of unconditional love towards
the movie that is rather odd, but ultimately magnanimous
in nature. If Neo had started off Revolutions talking about poopy
diapers and doing the happy dance while Agent Smith sang "Oops I did it
Again," he would still like it. He would be shocked, no doubt about
that, but he is a true fan and he would explain to me just why the
Wachowski brothers had made this decision and how it completed what the
Architect started in Reloaded. Even with this fact though, I can
imagine the heartbreak he would feel if Revelotions did, indeed, suck.
He made me promise that no matter how bad it was, I wouldn’t say a
negative word on the way to the car, or on our way back to the place.

After my first viewing of it, I walked to the car completely silent. I
said nothing on the way to the car or on the way home. Did I have bad
things to say about it? Abosolutely. Did I have good things to say?
Definately. Never before have I been so torn with a movie where I love
it and hate it at the same time. There were times during the movie
where I felt like the plot was pulling my teeth out, soaking them in
coca-cola all night, and putting them back in while painstakingly
repairing nerves just so I could feel the pain. But, there were also
moments where it was like the screen was lit up with an absolute
masterpiece.

I thought a second viewing would clear things up for me, and help me to
make my final decision. After seeing it for the second time, I liked it
even less and was more frustrated about things. The bad seemed to come
out more than the good. But, I still felt like I didn’t have a final
decision. I saw it a third time on Saturday, and came up with what I
think is my final decision. I liked it. Fuck that, I loved it. The
third time I watched it the things that had irritated me before did not
bother me in the least. I was able to look past them and see the beauty
of the film. I’ve heard many people, including myself, rant and rave
about how the ending sucked and should’ve been better. The Wachowski
brothers are the ones that started this ride for us, gently pushing us
on our way into this fabulous world they had created. They made it a
bit bumpier in Reloaded, but to a good end. Gave us a little bit of
excitement, whatthefuckness, and maybe general confusion. But, I
honestly think it added to the trilogy, and yes, was good. After the
bumps, they guided us to the end of our journey. It is their story,
this revolutionary geek-movie masterpiece that was started with their
brain and initiative, and I think it is only proper that they end it as
well. This is the ending they had invisioned all along, and even if it
is not the one that some of us imagined or wanted, it is the correct
one. It has, is, and always will be their story, and the ending is
theirs to decide as well. The Matrix Trilogy is great, and is one of my
favorites of all time. It is a 3-part masterpiece of a future that is
both fantastical, but also plausable. It fucking rocked, and I’m not
ashamed to say it.

Tonight, I also had the chance to play some Crystal Chronicles with
Kitsune, Grundy, and Kyle and it was a wonderful experience. We started
the evening out right by ordering some pizza from our local Gumby’s
pizzeria. We were all supposed to convene at my house at about 5:30,
but we had to stop by Best Buy on the way to Gumby’s (its only right.)
And since Kyle had to go there, I went with him, and Loosecannon
decided to go too. So, Kitsune ended up waiting outside my place in the
cold Kansas drizzle waiting for our slow asses. My apologies, but I
don’t think you would have liked the music playing there anyway.
Loosecannon asked the man who concieved our pizza what band it was, and
he replied with, "Curl Up and Die." My first reaction was that he was
disgusted with Loosecannon’s apparent ignorance to this new music
sensation, but upon further reflection we realized it was the band’s
name. Thus, loosecannon was not required to follow through with the
Curling Up, or the Dieing.

As we approached my place, a blurry Kitsune came into view through the
thin veil of rain that the weather had granted us. We knew this man
needed pizza, stat, so we rushed in and got down to business. After
giving us crap about us making him wait, and finishing our feast, we
headed upstairs to play Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles on my
Nintendo Gamecube. I’ve only been able to play this game once since I
played it with Gabe and Tycho in Redmond, so I was very eager to get
back into it. It is still glorious as I remember. No game can evoke the
kind of communication this game does. One second we would be descussing
the finer points of the onion kingdom from which Grundy hailed, and the
next we would be attacked by some devilish Final Fantasyey creature
which would immediately switch the conversation to things like who was
combing spells, heal requests and the like. To anyone who may be an
inocent bystander, it may seem as if there is a convention for the
mentally impaired taking place in my vary gaming room. Shouts of, "Damn
you onion man, I want to carry the bucket," to things like, "I can cast
blizzard and cure, what spells can you cast," to the
reoccuring, "What the fuck are you doing, get the bucket back here so
we can take on this magic bat," all would scare somone out of the know
away. If you want a multiplayer game that forms a bond as strong as
adamentium between the people that hold the other controllers, look no
further. I mean, actually stop looking, this is it. There is NO better
multiplayer experience out there. And I know that after reading that
Jack has already begun typing Halo into the comment box, but I really
mean this. We played for four hours or more and it seemed like 5-10
minutes. I have not played a game that holds my interest this intensely
for a long time. Something that really aids this is the absolutely
wonderful design of the areas in which you play. They are vaired in
art, sound, and gameplay and truly offer you something new in each
stage. It was interesting to actually explore these places and see what
each had to offer. The graphics are the best that I have seen on any
console, and the music is up to the usual Final Fantasy quality which
is quite a comment by itself. The gameplay is what brings it home
though. It reminds me of Secret of Mana, and since it does have the
same developer, I shouldn’t be that surprised, but it perfectly
executes all of its ideas. It requires things that are fun to do, and
is rarely tedious. Good teamwork is invaluable and the game will
actually force different characters into leading the group by giving
only one person the map. Not only that, but the map actually changes
people with each room or section you go to.

After all this,
expect no loadtimes or buggyness. As I said, I think its strongest
point is the teamwork it makes you use. It is the best way to hang out
that I know of. This game will go down in history as one of my favorite
games ever, and I strongly encourage, fuck that, I require all of you
that own a GameCube and know of three other living people to buy it. I
mean, you’ll need the game, GBA’s, and GBA link cables but it is all
worth the price of admission. And, being a gamer today having the most
expensive of the items, the GBA, is pretty much a requirement. Once you
get your group together you’ll prolly want to play through the whole
game with them, and now that our group and time is set, I will get to
play my current favorite game in its most enjoyable way once a week.

And before I go, I would like to mention that it is not hard at all
finding people with the stuff necessary to play. I didn’t even really
have to try. There are actually many more people than the ones that did
that could of and had the desire to play. Unless you have something
against having a good time, or possibly playing good games, you need
this game. And I mean need like you need food and water. And if you
don’t believe me about how many gamers have a GBA just check out this chart of how sales are going for the system. Yeah, a few people to choose from.

Perfection in such a small size. I almost feel like Smeagol when I talk aboutt myyyy preeeccioussssss.

11 Nov 2003 by Editor-in-Chief Matthew ‘BreakmanX’ Nyquist

comments (0)