Vandal Hearts: The Flames of Judgment.

Man, the fond memories I have playing Vandal Hearts and Vandal Hearts II on my PSX. I loved the story, characters, and most of all, the music. Sadly, Vandal Hearts had fallen silent for over 10 years after the release of the second game. This changed early this year with the announcement of Vandal Hearts: The Flames of Judgment.

I'll be honestly, I was actually quite shocked that Konami was making another one. I figured that they where just gonna let Vandal Hearts slip in to obscurity like many of their older, lesser know titles. Naturally I was excited by this news and eagerly awaited more info on what the story and what not. When Konami started releasing info and screen shots of the game, I was less than impressed.

As I expected Konami, like many other Japanese developers recently decided to go with a western development studio with a spotty recorded. The first thing that struck me was the gaudy art style. The art style struck me as bad deviant art level, and the characters are pretty bad as well. Judging by the characters seen so far, we have quite the list of sterotypes. Tobias is your generic Japanese styled plucky young solider, shy looking magic user with glasses, calm and cool guy with a spiffy uniform, and token black character, but wait, this time it's a woman.

Visually, the game leaves alot to be desired. Look, I know it's a game for PSN and XBOX Live, but this game could pass for a budget PS2 game. It's apparently going to be a short game as well with about 20 levels the developer said.

Come on Konami/Japanese Developers, this is getting old. I mean, yeah they have had success with Silent Hill Homecoming and Silent Hill Shattered Memories, but their luck is gonna run out sooner or later.

Liberal Scumbag Monthly: Harry Reid.

Before I start, if is inspired by The Angry White Dude and his awesome awesome site. Check it out one day!

You know, I don't talk about politics enough here, so I figured I'd offer some opinions on what that worthless fucktard Harry "Illegal Immigrant criminals are undocumented Americans" Reid said some rather vile, and of course, untrue things on the senate floor this following week.

"Instead of joining us on the fight side of history, all the Republicans can come up with is "slow down, stop everything, let's start over" If you think you have heard these same excuses before, your right". Reid said Monday. "When this country belated the wrongs of Slavery, there where those who dug their heels in and said ' slow down, it's too early, things aren't bad enough."

And you know who those people where Reid? Fucking Democrats! Remember the Civil War Reid? You remember who was the president of the south? No? It was Jefferson Davis, a Democrat. Ever head of a little group called the KKK? Again, started by Democrats. Not to mention nearly all anti-slavery and civil right legislation was opposed by the Democrats. Seriously Reid, fuck off.

Of course Reid goes on about Women's rights and more talk about civil rights, of course forgetting that Democrats have done almost always blocked civil rights. It's also the Democrats/Liberal of today that act as if Blacks are to stupid to think for themselves, which is a shame, because black people are every bit as capable as anyone else. However, since most "black leaders" have profited on this victimization such Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson, who are also two cry babies that find racism in everything, blacks continue to be fooled that Liberals actually care about them.

Reid is also a big fan of Anti-White racism as well. Reid, like many Liberals does his best to make every white person out to be a racist if they don't support his insane views. A personal favorite of mine is his calling the gang banging criminal Mestizo's that enter this country illegally every day "Undocumented Americans" or Anti-Immigrant. Not only are the Liberal Immigration Reform (Amnesty) bills a slap in the face the face to people who try and come here legally.

It's time to wake up America!

P.S: If you wondering what a Mestizo is, it's a person of mixed Indian and European blood. They make up a majority of the so called "Hispanics". Regardless, Hispanic is a bull shit term invented by Richard Nixon to lump anyone that speaks Spanish in to one group regardless of their race. Not that I'm saying all Mestizo's are gang banging criminal, not at all. Most Mestizo's in South America are hard working, decent people. The ones in the US, not so much.

P.S II: Another interesting thing is that despite most Americans thinking Hispanic = Mestizo/Cholo/whatever. Most of the rich and successful people in South American are Criollo's or people that are directly descended from the Spanish Conquistador's/European's or other Criollo's. Criollo's also take extreme pride in the fact they are of European blood.

If you found any of this "Racist", then your probably a Liberal shit.

"But, bethesda didn't have anything to do with Rogue Warrior."

Of course they did. Rogue Warrior was announce way back in 07' as a joint effort between Zombie Studios and Bethesda Softworks, billed a a robust tactical shooter. Originally set in near modern day North Korea and focused on Richard Marcinko and his SEAL team trying to neutralize North Korea's nuclear launch capabilities. It also offered 4 player offline co-op and 24 player competitive online play with randomly generated maps built around the Unreal Engine.

The game then resurfaced in early 09' totally revamped as Bethsoft scrapped the original third person shooter game play, co-op, and random mulitplayer maps. This time focusing on Marcinko's personality, kill moves, the fact that Mickey Rourke was in the game, and other "cool shit" that Bethsoft is know for.

Since the games December 1st release date, the game has failed to score above a 3 from numerous gaming sites. I personally have been getting a kick outta the Bethsoft fanboy's trying to say Bethesda just released it, but as I noted above, they had a lot of say in the games development.

I played this on the 360, and boy was it a nightmare. Constant freezing, PS2 level visuals, constant swearing, short (like as in 2 hour's short), and... fuck it, you get the point. You can tell Bethsoft had a good deal of input in this game honestly. It's not even worth a rental, as the single player mode is beaten in under 2 hours, and forget about online play. You have two online modes, Death match, and Team Death match. Doesn't sound like much of a deal does it?

In closing I would also like to say the dialog is beyond retarded. I'll summarize if for you. Fuck fuck fuck fuck god damn fucking shit fuck fuck fuckity fuck fuck. I wish I was kidding but the level of swearing is childish. I've never read one of Mr. Marcinko's books, but even hardcore fans of his, please stay the hell away from this game at all cost!

FFXI Job Overview: Dragoon

The Dragoon, every ones favorite Lance wielding, super jumping, and pet Wyvern using Job. Today I will go the basics of the job in depth as well as it's strengths, weakness, and various other aspects of the job. Please note, this is based of mostly off my personal experiences with the job, as well as general info.

Dragoon Overview: At it's core the Dragoon is one of the many damage dealers (DD's) in the game specializing in Polearms and aided in battle by a small pet Dragon know as a Wyvern with some solo capabilities with White Mage or another mage job as your sub job.

Party Role: In a party Dragoon fulfils one of two roles, DD and in Dragoon burn merit parties, can heal the party via the Wyvern and healing breath. In terms of DD potential Dragoon really stands out when fighting flying monsters i.e bats (trio, and large), Crane flies, and other flying mobs.

Pros:
1. Does extra damage when fighting monsters that fly.
2. Very effective at T.P building, sometimes even surpassing Samurai.
3. High Jump and Super Jump shed hate built up while attacking. HJ is around 33%, and SJ is full hate.
4. Can solo very well with a mage sub job.
5. Jump attacks are a steady stream of extra damage and T.P (Tactical Points).
6. Excellent Dot (damage over time) thanks to the faithful pet.
7. Very beginner friendly. New players wanting to play a DD often pick Dragoon because of it's relatively inexpensive gear choices.

Cons:
1. Has to compete against other DD's.
2. Can only solo certain types of monster, i.e nothing with a damaging area of effect attack or a powerful single target attack move.
3. Outside of flying monsters, Dragoon might seem underwhelming.
4. Somewhat lower stats compared to other DD's such as Samurai or Dark Knight.
5. Lacks a viable secondary weapon. With it's next highest capping weapon being Staff, and a C- ins Swords, Dragoon must rely on one weapon type almost exclusively.

Job Abilities and Support Job Section:

Support Jobs:

Warrior: You really can't go wrong with this SJ. It offers many attack boosting job abilities that further add to a Dragoon's DD potential. This SJ offers the Double Attack, Attack Bonus, and Defense Bonus job traits, which are all very nice to have. If you don't have Samurai as a sub job, then use Warrior.

Provoke: For getting the hate of your Wyvern or a mage.
Berserk: Sacrifices defense to add a nice boost to your attack power.
Defender: Sacrifices attack for defense and can be useful if you have to much hate and your jumps are still recharging.
Warcry: Provides a small area of effect attack boost.

Samurai: Thanks to an update did a few years back, Samurai is now an amazing SJ for any user of two-handed weapons. In terms of stats, using Warrior as your sub will offer your more strength and attack, but it does leave you open to damage if you pull a lot of hate, this is why Samurai is often chosen as a high level or 50+ sub job. It also offers two passive Store TP job traits, which help you store extra TP and Zanshin, which allows you to get another attack if you missed your initial one.

Third Eye: A handy ability that lets you fully avoid one physical attack. It's saved my butt numerous times.
Hasso: An EXCELLENT ability that grants you an attack speed bonus, accuracy bonus, and strength bonus when using two-handed weapons, but it does increase you casting time and JA cool downs, but well worth it.
Meditate: Grants you an extra 60% TP bonus. It's not the 100% like a Samurai gets but it's an amazing JA none the less.
Seigan: When used together with Third Eye, you will have the chance to avoid the attack but keep Third Eye up and avoid another attack. It's a bit hit-or-miss but very nice to have.

Thief: Not a sub I use, but it's great when farming. You get the Gil Finder and Treasure Hunter job traits as well as a few evasion ones. Not a bad sub, but not a personal favorite.

Sneak Attack: Lets you score a 100% critical rate when attacking from behind and enemy.
Flee: Lets you move at double speed for about 30 seconds.
Trick Attack: Lets you set hate on a target when attacking the enemy from behind, while behind say your parties tank.

White Mage: This sub is excellent for soloing as well as Dragoon burn parties. You also get Auto Regen and Clear Mind (increase the amount of MP you recover while resting).

Ninja: Ummmm no. I hate seeing Dragoon's use this sub for a few reasons. 1. It's a waste of a sub as Utsusemi: Ichi casts much to slowly to be worth it. You also waste valuable DD time casting a spell you really don't need. When you hit level 74 and get Utsusemi: Ni, it get's a little better but again, you waste time casting shadows you don't need. 2. I fucking hate /nin for most jobs. I'm dead serious, don't use /nin in exp parties. Much like Sam/Nin your take a huge hit to attack power. Also people who sub ninja are generally lazy fucks.


Dragoon's job Abilities:

Spirit Surge: Dragoon's new two hour ability they added a few years ago and it's a good one at that. This JA was added on 12/13/05 replacing Call Wyvern as Dragoon's two hour ability. When used the Wyvern grants the Dragoon H.P, the T.P it has accumulated, all jumps are enhanced, and added strength and haste. Level gained: Level 1

Call Wyvern: Using this J.A calls your pet Wyvern to fight by your side. Just keep an eye on your buddies health, cause if he goes down and the timer is still close to full, then doing good DD is tricky. Has a 20:00 recharge timer. Level gained: Level 1

Ancient Circle: Grants you a resistance, defense, and attack against Dragon. Party members also gain this if they are in range. Grants a 15% attack bonus against Dragon family mobs similar to other circle protections. Has 10 minute recharge timer and last 1 minute, however if you use the Drachen Brais, it's 1:30. Level gained: 5

Jump: The first of the three jump attacks. Delivers an instant jump attack that does damage, and generates a small amount of enmity. Numerous items can enhance Jumps, namely your artifact boots. Has a 1:30 recharge. Level gained: 10

Spirit Link: This JA sacrifices some of your HP to heal your Wyverns. Uses around 25-35% of your HP. The amount healed is random. Has a 3:00 recharge timer. Level gained 25

High Jump: The second of Three jump attacks. Delivers an instant jump attack and sheds some enmity. Like Jump, it can be boosted threw gear. 3:00 recharge timer. Level gained 35

Super Jump: The third and final jump attack. Unlike the other two, this one deals no damage, but sheds 99% of your hate. Handy when you have lots of hate or about to be nailed with a powerful spell. 3:00 recharge timer. Level gained 50

Deep Breathing: First of two merit JA's. This one boosts your Wyverns next breath attack and it boosts both healing and elemental breaths. 15:00 recast, but can be merited down to 5:00. Level gained 75

Angon: A very useful JA that lets the Dragoon use a throwing spear know and an Angon to reduce the enemies defense by about 20%. 3:00 recast, but can be merited down to 1:50. Level gained 75

Empathy: First of two merit job traits. Empathy transfers the Dragoon's buff to the wyvern. As you level it up, the more buffs can be transferred. Level gained 75

Strafe: Increases the accuracy of your Wyvern's breath attacks. Level gained 75

Weapons, Armor, and Artifact Armor:

Weapons: The first thing you will want to do as Dragoon is grab a decent Polearm. Polearms come in two variations, Spear and Lance. Spears are weaker than Lances, but often have nice stat bonuses to make up for this. Lances are much stronger but have higher delay. At high levels Lances also have numerous stat buffs, such as accuracy. Dragoon's second most proficient weapon are Staves, however these have little use outside of skill up parties. Dragoon's can also wield Rapier styled and Short Swords, however with a C-in this weapon it's solely a skill up weapon, and no, subbing /nin does not help. Once you hit 30, grab a strap for added stats and faster attack speed for two handed weapons.

Armor: Once you have you weapon, it's time to suit up and get some armor. Armor wise Dragoon can use some nice stuff of mainly the leather, doublet, and scale variety. Try and grab some battle gloves for the +3 accuracy, and at 30, the Centurion Scale Mail and Merc. Captain Doublet are excellent. At 57 grab a Scorpion Harness or the +1 version as they added accuracy and evasion. At higher levels, Dragoon use some heavy plate armors and some nice, but hard to get rare/exclusive gear.

Artifact Armor:

Peregine: Your level 41 Artifact lance. It's pretty good actually compared to most AF weapons.

Damage: 61, Delay: 492: Dex and Vit +1

Drachen Brais: Your first piece of artifact armor and it's not that great honestly. To get it, you have to accept the Chasing Quotas quest, and fight a tiger notorious monster called Sturmtiger. It's easily soloable by most 75 jobs, as I soloed it as my 75 WHM/BLM. I wouldn't recommend using these as there are better options available.

Def: 27, H.P+`15, Earth Resistance +10, Enhances Ancient Circle, Wyvern: HP+10%

Drachen Greaves: Your second piece of artifact armor which is obtained from opening a coffer in the Quicksand Caves while on Dragoon. To get these, you first have to start the artifact gloves quest, then farm a key from Antica mobs around level 52-59. Just find a level 75 friends and you should have no problem killing the mobs. Stat wise the boots are pretty good stuff, and if you don't have something like Leaping or Bounding Boots, then use these.

Def: 10, H.P+12, AGI +3, Evasion Skill +10, Enhances Jump Attacks (10% attack bonus to jumps)

Drachen Finger Gauntlets: Your third piece of artifact armor obtained from the Borghertz's gloves quest. You need to accept the quest and head to The Boyahda Tree and pop a coffer to obtain the key item, Old Gauntlets. Head back to jeuno and talk to a few NPC's and head for Castle Zvahl Baileys, and find a ??? to pop the bomb NM, Dark Spark. Dark Spark can be soloed by just about any level 75 job. Once he's dead, touch the SAME torch you touched when you spawned him and head back to Port Jeuno and touch the ??? on a box for a short cut scene and your gloves. Like the boots, these are good, and if you prefer these over say your Race Specific Gloves (I'm a hume) then you can't go wrong with them.

Def: 15, H.P+11, DEX +3, Parrying Skill +15, Enhances Wyvern accuracy (+5 accuracy)

Drachen Mail: Your fourth piece of artifact armor obtained from popping a coffer in the dread Ifrits Cauldron. It's a cool looking piece of armor, but I wouldn't use it as the Scorpion Harness is vastly superior. It's pretty decent for soloing though.

Def: 38, H.P: 15, VIT + 4, Ice Resistance +10, Adds Regen to Wyvern

Drachen Armet: The fifth and final piece of Dragoon's artifact armor. It's obtained from the quest, Knight Stalker. You need to talk to Rahal in Chateau D'Oraguille to start the quest. Now run around San D'Oria talking to various NPC. After that is done, go farm a Kuftal Tunnel coffer key, and open a coffer for a key item, Challenge to the Royal Knights. Once again, head back to Sandy and talk to several NPC's. Rahal will tell you to head to The Temple of Uggalepih, the home of the dread Tonberries. Now make your way to the Death from Above NM spawn point, and make sure your on Dragoon with your Wyvern out, and click on the ??? with sneak up. Two NM's will pop, Rompaulion S. Citalle and Cleuvarion M. Resoaix. You only need to kill Citalle, so you can let Resoaix despawn but if you have lots of DD like I did, you can kill both is no time at all. Once they are defeated, click the ??? again for a nice cut scene and your Drachen Armet. You can also head back to sandy for two optional cut scenes. Overall, the helmet is decent to use in a party, but is excellent solo as it makes a Defensive Wyvern use it's healing breath at 50% H.P instead of 33%. Offensive Wyvern's will also exploit the mobs elemental weakness. Multipurpose Wyvern's will heal you at 33% or less.

Def: 16, H.P: + 16, MND + 5, Lighting Resistance +15, Wyvern uses Breaths more effectively

Overall: The Dragoon's artifact, while not bad, is not amazing either. You can surely get some use out of the gloves and feet, but the legs, body, and helmet are situational at best. It's in my honest opinion that any Dragoon should shop around for better DD gear and while I'm the last person to tell people what to do in FF11, I will put my foot down here. For the love of God, don't use full Dragoon AF in a party. The DD gear Dragoon can use it often very cheap. The cool thing about the Dragoon AF though, is it's an obvious homage to Kain the Dragoon from FF4 as the armor look almost identical. Overall, I'd give it a 6/10

I'll add stuff like Relic Armor to this later, but tell me what you think, I've worked on this for about 3 days.

Hollywood Undead, I don't see the appeal.

I just really don't folks, but I guess we better start by clearing some things up. I'm sure some of you are wondering, just who is Hollywood Undead? Well, let's climb aboard the way back machine and head to the year 2005.

The band started in 2005 when Deuce (Aron Erlichman) and J-Dog uploaded a song called "The Kids" to Myspace and like so many band, they became popular over night. They quickly skyrocketed to mega myspace stardom with over 1 million plays within 9 weeks. Adding to that, they have well over 500k fans on myspace, several of their songs have been featured in games such as Madded 09', Rock Band 2, UFC Undisputed, and more recently, Velvet Assassin. Their debut album is still on the Billboard Top 100 list at #52 and is certified gold by the RIAA. So as you can see myspace is the main reason for their success, as it is with many bands but I'll save that for another time.

So, the big question, what do I think about Hollywood Undead? Well, to be brutally honest, I just don't get the appeal of these guys. If anyone what's a good mental image of what these guys look and sound like, then try and picture this. Take one part boy band, add a two cups of faux street cred, equal parts Rap and Metal/Rock, and a pinch of the every so trendy Slipknot style masks and presto, you have Hollywood Undead. I can really say much about the music itself other than if you've heard one rap rock band, you pretty much heard them all. The only real difference is HU incorporates numerous Metal influence's such and Ozzy Osbourne's Crazy Train main riff but slightly changed to be a bit heavier. Oh well, I don't foresee these guys being around for long. The Rap Metal trend has died off, and with Deathcore and Metalcore still being very popular, forming a Rap Rock band seems a bit pointless.

Speaking of Deathcore and Metalcore I shall be listening to various -core bands in the coming days, so stay tuned.

Nier, the differance an art style makes.

It's funny how much an art style can make people do a 180 on a game. Read more to find out.

Nier: Gestalt- "I don't know about this game. It look generic and SE is pandering to the western audience."

Nier: Replicant- "OMG! This game is awesome! I love the art! SE is an amazing company, I can't wait for this game!

As you can see, Nier: Replicant is seen as the superior game. Why? Because it has a Japanese art style, even though it just as generic as Gestalt.

Weeb: Hold on a sec! Did you just call Replicant generic?!
Me: Yeah.
Weeb: It's better than Gestalts shitty western style....
Me: uh huh. Let me guess, because it's Anime right?
Weeb: Well yeah, Gestalt has a generic western art style.
Me: And Replicant has a generic as fuck Anime style. What's your point?
Weeb: Generic?!
Me: Yes generic. The character designs in Replicant are run of the mill anime you see everyday.
Weeb: Your racist, you hate Japan.
Me: lol what? Hate Japan? What are you talking about?
Weeb: You hate anime, so therefore you hate Japan....
Me: :Cosmic fucking face palm: Who said I hated Anime?
Weeb: Well you said that Replicant has a generic art style...
Me: Because it does. I like Anime and what not, but that doesn't mean I can't be critical of it.
Weeb: Well, I guess I see your point.
Me: And for the record, Gestalt looks generic as well.

Weeaboo's....Weeaboo's never change.

Dragon Age: Leliana Origins trailer.

So the folks at Bioware released another trailer. This one focusing on Leliana, who is about as interesting as a cardboard cut out. Some stuff I like about the trailer, and stuff I really didn't.

The trailer fairly short, but showed some combat and the rather poor animations. Every time Leliana fires her bow, her upper torso moves forward for reasons unknown. The voice acting is still in needs a bit of work as do the character models. They in all honesty look the same. I liked the armor designs though.

Also in the video is a glimpse of the sex scene you can have with Leliana, and boy is it funny. The look on her face was a riot. It was the "just hurry up and do what you wanna do" look. I have a feeling DA is gonna be a pretty good game, but with a healthy amount of trying way to hard to be serious funny stuff.

Fallout 3's power armor is deep stuff man!

So says Destructoid.

"You know, I think in a post-apocalyptic game like Fallout 3, when you put on a suit of Power Armor, you’re saying to the Wasteland, saying to the world, ‘I’m a badass. Bring it.’ These are the guys who have gone beyond survival. They’re no longer on the defensive, and are bringing the fight to the enemy. Because, when you think about it, so much of the equipment used by the guys in Fallout 3 is pure crap. The guns have decades-old tape on the stocks, everything is near broken, lots of stuff is cobbled together from spare parts. Everyone is barely surviving. But the Power Armor is constructed, and maintained. It’s a step above what any average Wasteland dweller has. And having access to equipment like means you’re probably part of an organized group, like the Brotherhood of Steel or Enclave -- those are the guys with the resources and determination to strap themselves into Power Armor and go on the offensive."

Wow...just wow Emil. Why is it that every time that Emil, Todd, and Pete open their mouth something amazingly stupid comes out? It's amazing really. It's been almost a year since Fallout 3 came out and the 3 Stooges STILL talk about it. Time for a line by line break down of this latest gem by Emil.

"You know, I think in a post-apocalyptic game like Fallout 3, when you put on a suit of Power Armor, you’re saying to the Wasteland, saying to the world, ‘I’m a badass. Bring it."

Umm...what? No it doesn't Emil. The Brotherhood uses Power Armor because it's a powerful piece of pre-war technology and the Brotherhood is always in the mood for using pre-war tech. This line shows just how little Bethesda know about Fallout, and it's really sad because the 3 stooges keep spouting this bull.

"These are the guys who have gone beyond survival. They’re no longer on the defensive, and are bringing the fight to the enemy."

No longer on the defensive and taking the fight to the enemy? What the hell are you talking about Emil? Did they really bother playing the game? I mean yeah, the whole "We're such huge fans" line they say constantly but I really would like to know, did they actually play the older games? To answer the question at hand, the Brotherhood was never on the defensive and they always kept to themselves. As for the whole taking the fight to the enemy and fighting the good fight nonsense that the Brotherhood in FO3 talk about. That's a simple lack of understanding on Bethesda's part and as usual not understanding a damn thing about Fallout.

"Because, when you think about it, so much of the equipment used by the guys in Fallout 3 is pure crap. The guns have decades-old tape on the stocks, everything is near broken, lots of stuff is cobbled together from spare parts"

Sure Emil, sure they are. That's why every Raider and Talon Company Mercenary have numerous assault rifles , rocket launchers, and in the case of the Talon Company, well maintained suit of combat armor. Keep up the top grade bull shit.

"Everyone is barely surviving."

Jesus Christ....barely surviving my butt. Yes, the people on the east coast are just in such a horrid situation. That's why they have a metric ton of food, water, and ammo. The everyone is barely surviving line is wore out Emil, give it a rest.

"But the Power Armor is constructed, and maintained. It’s a step above what any average Wasteland dweller has. And having access to equipment like means you’re probably part of an organized group, like the Brotherhood of Steel or Enclave -- those are the guys with the resources and determination to strap themselves into Power Armor and go on the offensive."

Oi, keep up the good work Emil. God listening to Emil or anyone from Bethesda is like beating your head against the wall.

Oh and don't worry, plenty more Emil lol-a-thon, as he did an interview with some random gaming site. I'll post it later, and it's a doozy.

"I though this was going to be the new Oblivion."

That is an actual quote from the latest Dragon Age gameplay video, which of course was over run with brain dead Bethsoft fan boys. The thing that amazes me the most about you average Bethsoft fanboy is their lack of understanding of RPG's outside of Bethesda's McRPG garbage. So today we are going to go over some rather stupid quotes I've heard from Bethsoft fanboys about Dragon Age.

"I though this was going to be the new Oblivion."

What? Why would people even think this. Since first being announced Dragon Age has been called the Spiritual Successor to the Baulders Gate series. It was never going to be like Oblivion in the first place.

"That was the slowest sword fight I've ever seen."

Again, if Bethesda's fanboys knew jack shit about WRPG's, they would know that that real time with combat with the ability to pause the game and make battle plans has been in the WRPG genre for well over a decade.

"He paused the game and choose which enemy to attack, just like V.A.T.S"

For the love of god people, the pause and choose feature in Dragon Age is nothing new, and Fallout 3 most certainly didn't invent it, that's for sure. Oh yeah, V.A.T.S sucked.

"I though this was an RPG, not a strategy game."

Strategy game? In that case....I though Oblivion was suppose to be an RPG, not a first person shooter with very light RPG elements. See what i did there, however unlike the Bethsoft fanboys response, mine is the truth. Bethesda games are action games with mild RPG elements.

So here's and idea Bethboys, use your fucking brain for once before lumping any new RPG that comes out as a Oblivion knock off.

No Elder Scrolls V says Todd Howard

Speaking at the annual QuakeCon this week Todd "The Hype Machine" Howard said this, "We are working on our next big game but we are not talking about it.”

So, what's their next big title exactly? In all honesty, it's gonna be another Fallout game. Since picking up the license on 04, they said they planned on making plenty of Fallout games and with Obsidian working on a spin off title, Fallout: New Vegas. What better way to keep interest high than TWO Fallout games. I mean this is Bethsoft after all, they've got to milk FO for everything it's worth as fast as they can.

But, surely Bethesda will improve? One would like to think that, but again, this is Bethesda we are talking about. They might tweak VATS a little, improve the animations slightly, and well, that's probably about it. Bethsoft is able to get away with rehashing the same crap over and over again. It worked with Fallout 3, so it will work again and honestly, this is Todd Howard we are talking about, he's more than likely just creating hype, but I guess time will tell. Personally, I can live without another of Bethsofts McRPG's.

Another day, another Zeta interview.

Well, as Mothership Zeta's release date get's closer and closer, it seems like new interviews come out every other day. Talking about games recently conducted an interview with Jeff Gardiner and while not a whole lot was reveled, it does give us a sneak peek of how certain DLC's at Bethsoft are made...boredom.

"We thought it would be a very unique environment to explore, a far cry from the dust ravaged wastes of DC. The lead designer, Emil Pagliarulo, and I are interested in Alien conspiracy theory...There's a lot of information to sift through on the internet, while neither of us is quite sure what to believe it makes for interesting coffee conversation."

So...Mothership Zeta is the result of Jeff and Emil getting bored and looking at various UFO and Alien conspiracy therories? Top not creativity as always Bethsoft!

"The high-level technology employed by the Alien invaders still has the 'retro' feel of Fallout. Mothership Zeta is also laced with dark humor - it was penned by the same quest designer responsible for the Fallout 3 'main' questline, Brain Chaplin."

Awesome! More over done retro nonsense! Ah, so gotta offer my apologizes to Emil, it turns out that Brain Chaplin was in charge of writing that abortion know as the Fallout 3 main quest.

Fallout New Vegas, and Fallount in general mock interview.

It seems that Bethsoft has outsourced a new Fallout project to Obsidian Entertainment, a studio made up of several former members of Fallout and Fallout 2's development team, BlackIsle studio. So, what does this mean and what can we expect? Well, from my point of view, it's more than likely a move on Bethsofts point to try and please the hardcore Fallout fans and keep making Fallout games and keep public interest in the series high, while they make a another McRPG in the Elderscrolls series. So, I will offer my views and thoughs on this in a mock Q&A session.

Q: What is Fallout: New Vegas?
A: Fallout: New Vegas is a spin off in the Fallout universe that takes place around or in Las Vegas. Very little is know about the game, other than it has a rumored release date of June next year.

Q: Who's making New Vegas? Bethesda?
A: No. New Vegas is being developed by Obsidian Entertainment.

Q: Who are Obsidian Entertainment?
A: A California based development studio made up of former Fallout and Fallout 2 developers, BlackIsle Studios.

Q: Why is Bethesda letting Obsidian develop New Vegas?
A:Personally, it's for two reasons. 1. So they can keep the Fallout brand going and in the public light. 2. So they can try and appeal to the hardcore Fallout fans by having a studio closely related to some of the guys of BlackIsle.

Q: What will the game be like?
A: It's more or less a glorified Fallout 3 mod. It still uses Bethsoft's outdated version of the Gamebryo engine, is more than likely to use the same broken S.P.E.C.I.A.L and skill system, and will more than likely have the same broken third person view.

Q: Who much creative control does Obsidian have on this project?
A: No one really knows, but given the fact that Bethsoft is the one over seeing this project, I doubt Obsidian has much control.

Q: Well, What are some of the things you want to see in the game?
A: Better animations, better writing, skill and S.P.E.C.I.A.L checks that make sense, better voice acting, better third person mode, and less rehashed story elements from the past games.

Fallout 3 related:

Q: You and several Fallout fansites are very hard on Bethesda and Fallout 3, why?
A: Because as a Fallout game, it's just straight up awful. It's riddled with inconsistency (Fallout 2 and tactics where quilty of this as well, but FO3 takes it to a whole other level), the Capital Wasteland was a haphazard mix of ideas, factions are totally different, raiders are suddenly cannibals that wear crude and ineffective armor, the writing is just flat out bad, and the list goes on.

Q: Fallout 3 won an award for writing, so it can't be all bad.
A: No, it's terrible. I was shocked it won an award for best writing as that's a slap in the face to games with actual good writing such as Grand Theft Auto 4. The writing in FO3 was done by various people but most of the writing was done by Emil Pagliarulo, a designer for the overall visual theme of the game, and while I do think Emil is a great designer, he's a god awful writer. The writing in Fallout 3 was all over the place, some was decent, some ok, and most of it was just flat out insulting to any writer and to make matter worse, Emil has said that they hate hiring writers because they won't play the game, and I have to say it's attitudes like that which make me dislike Bethsoft even more.

Q: You said they changed Factions, what do you mean?
A: The biggest example is the Brotherhood of Steel. They have changed greatly from being a group of technology hording recluses to white knights that protect people and shout annoying pseudo-knightly nonsense like Hail sir knight, or the classic, Steel be with you. The Super Mutants are no longer the threat that they once where, the raiders are, like I mentioned before, are just your generic bad guys that for some reason eat people and wear ineffective armor. Seriously, take a look at the Raider Sadist armor, it's just pants with some leather bits and pieces while the upper body armor is just a leather shoulder pad with a strap that holds it on at the waist.

Q: Well, the game also had top notch voice acting like Liam Neeson-
A: Yeah, so what? Oblivion had Patrick Stewart, and he was in the game a grand total of 10 minutes, a total waste of time on his part and a waste of money on Bethsofts. Most people seem to forget that the non big Hollywood talent in Bethsoft games tend to vary in quality greatly. Ranging from good (Wes Johnson), decent (Greg Sechler) and just flat out awful (pretty much everyone else). Also having big name talent doesn't always equal good voice acting, just look at Odette Yustman. Her deliver as Amata was just flat out stilled and dull.

Q: The music was also priased, what do you think?
A: Inon Zur's music in Fallout 3 was boring. It wasn't particularly bad, just boring. Inon Zur however has done good music before.

Q: Fallout 3 really nailed the 50's theme-
A: Yes, and they over did it. If Bethsoft played the first two as much as they claim they did, they would know that the 50's thing had more to do with the the optimism of a nuclear powered age, and less to do with pointless 50's songs, 50's styled clothing, and basically over doing it.

Q: Well, the first two had some of that stuff as well...
A: Keyword is some. The first two games focused on the choice and moral decisions in a post-apocalyptic world, where as Fallout 3 is about ultra cool gore, swearing, and over doing the 50's setting.

Q: But, Todd, Pete, and Emil said they played older games...
A: Oh, of course they SAID that, but having played Fallout 3 all the way threw numerous times, I really have to question their statements. Hell, Pete Hines never heard of the games until the picked up the license for the series and Emil has flipped flopped on weather or not Fallout Tactics is canon or not, however I'm glad they do at least consider it semi-canon as FoT is very underrated.

Q: Do you think Fallout 4 will be any better?
A: Doubtful. The best way to find out how Fallout 4 will turn out is to see what the next elder scrolls game is like.

Q: Last question, It has been said that Tenpenny is from England, what do you make of it?
A: It's makes no sense. Europe is even worse off than the United States, and to make matter worse, the EC (European Commonwealth) was already on the verge of collapse with the war between them and the Middle East, and once the bombs started falling, it wasn't a pretty picture. That's not to say the EC or other areas didn't have place to hide from the bombs and radiation, it's not the fact that Tenpenny is from England, it's just that it's never explained how he get to the D.C area. Foreigners or surviving nations are not a new concept Fallout as Tyco from Fallout has been to Mexico, and Marge Lebarge is from Canada as are a few people in redding. Mexico and Canada make sense as they are close to the US.

Peace!

Same ol' Same ol'.

Bethsda failure that is. It's been a busy few weeks at Bethsoft with new DLC coming very early next month, so MTV Multiplayer asked in an email interview with Jeff Gardiner if they have plans to up the level cap again, here's the actual question:

"In an email interview with Jeff Gardiner regarding August 3rd's release of the next "Fallout 3" DLC, "Mothership Zeta," I asked if it would even be possible to increase the level cap from its current 30 (as set by "Broken Steel.") Specifically, if the stat caps were boosted beyond 10 and skill caps were boosted beyond 100, would the game system simply break?"

Break the game? The game was already broken in vanilla Fallout 3. The fact you can cap out all your skills by level 12 sounds pretty damn broken to me, and the god mod perks added in Broken Steel and from the sound of it, added in Mothership Zeta as well. So, yeah, the game is plenty unbalenced already.

Mothership Zeta Info:

All new Alien weapons! More than likely to to one shot anything, just you wait.
New outfits! Like the Gemini-Era space suit and samurai armor, yes 15th-16th century Samurai armor, random much Bethsoft?
New perks like Xenotech Expert! Makes the already godly Alien Blaster and other Alien based weapons even stronger. Alien Epoxy, now you items can magically regenerate!

Jeff Gardnier Interview:

"The alien menace--err, presence--has been hinted at throughout the history of Fallout."

What? "Hinted at throughout the history of Fallout"? No they haven't you goofball. The Aliens in the past Fallout games where Easter Eggs, which where small, funny, and totally non-canon gag encounters. Oh, an before anyone throws a hissy fit as says "But...but, they where in the old games as well", I hate to break it to you, but the "Aliens" in Fallout 2 where not Aliens. Nobody knows really what they are, some say experiments, and some say they are simply mutants, but they where not extraterrestrials.

"In Fallout 3, there is a crashed alien space vessel hidden deep in the Capital Wasteland."

Ironically, this simply started out as an Easter Egg as well, but for whatever reason got turned into a full blown DLC. Well, the reason is the universal, Rule of Cool.

"The aliens are the same type that people claim are currently abducting people around the globe, small grayish-green with long appendages and big heads with huge eyes."

Ummm, Jeff... that kind of Alien, the Greys, is an 80's deal. Oh well, as long as it's fucking awesome with asploding alien heads right?

"They are studying humanity to see if we're a threat."

Wait, what? A threat? That makes no sense at all. Why would the aliens see a ruined planet with people having trouble surviving a threat? Does anyone at Bethsoft even try to make logical plot lines?

Stay tuned for more in the on going saga of fail that is Bethsoft!

Bethesda, truely the most arrogant company in years.

It seems the folks over at Gameobserver conducted an interview with Ashely "The AZN" Cheng and among other things, he mentioned how they have no plans change engine. Oh yeah, this is the same Ashely Cheng who was disappointed that Blizzzard didn't make Star Craft 2 a first person shoot....stupidity of this grade can only come from Bethsoft folks.

"We’ve been building on top of Gamebryo for the past 8 years."

8 years and it still looks god awful compared to other middleware engines and hell, even other games that use Gamebryo.

"you name it -- we do it faster than anybody else in the industry. No one can match us when it comes to vast, open-ended beautiful worlds full of NPCs, quests and dialogue."

Hahahahaha, are you serious? They can't be THAT stupid. Games such as The Witcher, and the Gothic series did the open world design much MUCH better. Beautiful worlds? Never mind the fact that both Oblivion and Fallout look horribly dated when compared to games released around the same time. Quests? Bethesda certainly does have quite a few quests, too bad 95% of them are generic fetch quest that are poorly though out. Dialog? Yeah, too bad it's amateurish at best, honestly porn scripts have better writing.

"I am responsible for the overall schedule, making sure everyone is completing their work to a high quality and overseeing test cycles. I’m also responsible for voice recording and casting, localization and our relationships with outside entities like Microsoft and Sony."

Holy fuck! Did high quality get used in the same sentence as voice recording and casting, and test cycles? Bethesda's voice acting and casting is awful. The most common tactic used in a Bethsoft game is to hire some random big name actors or actresses and have them record maybe 3 hours of dialog each for there shallow and lifeless characters, then the gaming press has a fap-a-thon over how great Bethsofts VAing is, and ignore the real mean and potato's of the VAing in a Bethsoft game. If you look past the big name celebrity talent, you are left with some of the most down right mediocre VAing around. Oblivion and Fallout 3 had some of the worst VAing in the last couple of year. With the exception of Wes Johnson, Malcolm McDowell and Greg Schlear(spelling?), the VAing is a fucking train wreck of poor delivery, and piss poor direction. Test cycles? They do that at Bethsoft? I guess that explains why the game is buggy as hell and two DLC released a total train wreck.

Here's a new slogan for Bethsoft... "Bethesda, arrogant as fuck."

The Last Remnant, PS3 version canned?

It seems at a recent share holders meeting, SE pretty much gave some hints towards the PS3 version of The Last Remnant being canceled, and honestly I'm not surprised. For those who don't know, The Last Remnant is a JRPG/Strategy game hybrid released in November 08' for the XBOX 360 and early this early this year for the PC to lukewarm reviews and rather awful sales.

Why was the PS3 version seemingly axed? Quite a few reasons actually, and they are mostly poor decisions on SE's part. The biggest problem facing the PS3 version from the start was the use of the Unreal engine, which is wildly know as being less than PS3 friendly, and not like it would have mattered anyways as the 360 version is an absolute mess if you didn't install it to the 360's hard drive. If they couldn't get the game working on the 360 or PC, then the PS3 version would more than likely ended up unplayable. During the early stages of development, SE said that they developed TLR with a western audience in mind, and I have to say, they did? The game is pretty much a straight up JRPG threw and threw. The only thing western about it s the fact that it uses the Unreal Engine and that the English voice acting is the original language. In addition, it's clear that SE saw the 360 as a way to make a quick buck, well, so they though. The sales world wide have been poor, with the 360 version selling around 200+k world wide last time I checked, and the PC version I'm unclear of. In other words it was a total flop, much like SE's other JRPG's on the 360.

So, the big question is what would the PS3 version be like? Well honestly It would probably be half way decent, and more than likely have the Japanese track (gotta make the Weeaboo's happy amirite?!) and maybe the DLC the PC and 360 version had. At this point I feel it would be pointless as the PS3 has quite a few JRPG and WRPG coming out that would likely over shadow TLR. It would probably sell decently in Japan and SE could maybe even break even.

A word of advice SE, JRPG's rarely sell well on the 360, so better luck next time.

IGN's review of Cross Edge.

So, it seems that IGN's review for Cross Edge has certainly raised some eyebrows, and rightly so if you ask me. While I'm not a hardcore JRPG fan like I use to be, I still play them every once and awhile. So, what has caused the the JRPG fans to take an interest in this review? Probably the fact that the reviewer played about 2 hours tops, or if even played it at all. Let's take a closer look shall we?

The first that struck me about the review was the "I don't give a shit" tone to the whole review, because honestly the reviewer would rather be watching asploding heads in Fallout 3. Every aspect of the game was hardly touched at all, which I will explore in greater detail below.

The combat system was explained fairly well, but of course it was "too complicated" saying that "as attempting to document everything on screen would be like outlining the design schematics for a jetfighter." Really? I honestly doubt the battle system is that complex and if I was willing to guess to as why it's complex, is because it doesn't have an instant win button like in Fallout 3 and by instant win button I mean V.A.T.S.

Not going to comment on the visuals as they are pretty spot on in that respect. They are a tad fuzzy.

The game has both Japanese and English voices to choose from, you might think they would comment on the voice acting and if it's any good or not. Well they comment on it alright...just letting you know that both tracks a present. Don't you think it would be prudent to comment on if the voice acting good or not? Did the reviewer even play it?

So in the end IGN once again gives a failtastic review on a game that they clearly didn't play for more than 2 hours, and yet they talk about how innovative and amazing Failout 3 is, which is so far from the truth it's not even funny. I honestly don't know why people put so much faith in their MSNBC level biased reviews.

Planet Fallout Interviews Jeff Gardiner.

Well, it seems Planet Fallout has interview Jeff Gardiner of Bethsoft talking about various glitches and problems of The Pitt and Broken Steel. Time to offer some commentary folks, so sit back and relax.


"I’ve lost tons of sleep on this. Unfortunately, both of them were totally unforeseeable errors."

Wait, what? Unforeseeable? Seriously folks, Bethsoft needs to get some better play testers that aren't a bunch of yes men who act like the game is flawless. Hell, I even question if they have playtesters at all. Both the FO3 and it's following DLC are so full of glitches and bugs, it's almost a chore to play at times.

"Point Lookout has been thoroughly tested – again- and we’re going to try our best to ensure that we won’t have to repeat those problems. "

You know, I'd like to believe that, I really would but sadly this is Bethsoft where talking about. I wouldn't be surprised if Point Lookout had several of the problems both The Pitt and Broken Steel had and even if it does, Bethsoft will get a free pass, you know, like they always do.

Anime, it's serious business folks.

If there's one things I've learned over the past few years, it's that people take Anime way to seriously, as a good majority seeming take offense over jokes, or in my chase, cheesy jokes. I mean I'm all for having a healthy interest in something but, good god, taking offense over anything said against Anime is down right dumb. I mean honestly, is it any wonder why a lot of Anime fans have such a negative stereotype about taking it way to serious and take offense at the smallest mention of Anime being poked fun of.

So remember folks, Anime is super serious business.

Fallout 3: Final Thoughts

Well finishing FO3 and the following DLC, it's time for some final thoughts, well there is another DLC on it's way, that I'm sure of.

"Fallout 3 is one confused game."

And it really is. Fo3 honestly can't make up it's mind what genre it wants to be. Now I know Todd Howard says it's an RPG, but honestly, it's not that simple. Calling Fo3 an RPG is a bit of a stretch I'd say, as it has elements of First Person Shooters (a good 95% of the game), minimal RPG elements, and survival horror. The big problem however is FO3 simply can't make up it's mind on what genre it wants to be. The game is also riddled with faux horror elements such as dark tunnels and feral ghouls jumping out at you. The game also has very very minor RPG elements such as equipping weapons and armor, increasing your skills, and leveling up. Gone are the staple Fallout elements such as tough choices and actual consequences for your actions and replaced with SuP3R AW3SOME ASPODING HEADZ!!!11111.

"Bethesda is a good company to care on the series."

That's up for debate, and personally I feel Bethsoft did some things right such as the art direction, and 50's vibe, even if it's over done. On the opposite end of the spectrum however, Bethsoft really manged to royally screw over classic organizations like the Brotherhood of Steel and one most beloved Fallout characters, Harold the ghoul. The Brotherhood are a group Knights with roots in the US military and government. They also have laser weapons, and highly advanced armor called "Power Armor". The BOS are in numerous areas in the wasteland with the original being located in California. The Midwestern BOS is located near Chicago and last but not least, the eastern BOS located neat Washington D.C. They are the same organization, however they have several things that make them unique. The deadly Super Mutants also make return in FO, but are much more tame this time around, capable of being killed with a few pistol shots at level 2, yes, level 2.

"No originality and plot holes the size of the glow."

The thing that bothers me about Fallout 3, is it's slew if rehashed designs and plot holes. The story is more or less a slapped together pile of rehashed elements from FO and FO2. You are looking for your father and involes water (FO) and you need a G.E.C.K to cleanse said water and save the wastleland (FO2). The only differences are that in FO2 you needed the G.E.C.K to save your village. A noble band of holy Knights are also in the D.C area, sworn to protect the helpless people of the wasteland....opps, I mean the Brotherhood of Steel. Seriously, what the hell happened to the Brotherhood when they made it to the D.C area? Why did Bethsoft turn them into a bunch of goody goody Knight stereotypes? Just because they have ranks like Knight and Paladin doesn't mean they are those kind of Knights. I can remember the first time I heard them start shouting "To arms, to arms!" or "Hail Sir Knight", I honestly busted out laughing. The Super Mutants from Fo, FO2, and FOT also make an appearance as cannon fodder, orc like morons that die in 3-4 shots. In Fo, FO2, and FOT the Super Mutants where an enemy you didn't take lightly, however in FO3, you can kill Super Mutants with the greatest of ease, even the SM Behemoth. The Enclave from FO2 also makes a return, however they left all their depth and awesomeness back on the west coast. In FO3, the Enclave is just a super evil group to oppose the white knights of the wasteland, the Brotherhood. When Fo3 was announced, it was said that the Enclave was just the left over remnants from the west coast, however with the new ending in broken Steel, that's not the case, as it seems to point to there being several other locations where the Enclave has bases. Also it's never explained how the Brotherhood actually gets to the D.C area, or why they are having such trouble beating the Super Mutants. Oh well, so long as we get asploding heads right?

You might have noticed I mention Fallout: Tactics a good bit and for good reason. Unlike FO3, one of the things FOT was able to do is create it's own version of the Brotherhood and chapter in the FO universe without ripping off nearly everything from the first two, and it had better writing.

Well until next time, laters.

Pete Hines Interview at OXM.

Well it seems out good buddy Pete "I didn't know what Fallout was until we picked it up" Hines sat down Offical Xbox Magazine for an interview. As usual I will offer my though on what he said.

"Yes, that's the third of the three things. Whether it's the absolute last one remains to be seen. Because it's been hugely successful. Operation Anchorage vastly exceeded our expectation. It was like "holy shit, we did how many?" And the Pitt was really successful, after a bit of a false start."

Why is the success of the 3 DLC's a surprise? I knew from the time they where announced the brain dead Bethboys where gonna eat them up.

"But Broken Steel is the one that. when we first announced all three, this is the one that everyone has been bugging us the most about, because it removes the ending and changes the level cap and lets you play more in that world. I think it's going to be hugely, hugely popular."

Of course it's gonna be popular Pete. The BFF's (Bethesda Fan Fags) will love it, as they get to see more asploding heads and ZOMG AW3SOM3!11!! GOREZ!!!!. Also, the new ending is awful and it's pretty much lifted straight from Van Buran, because Bethsoft really can't come up with their own ideas at all.

"Our intention is that Fallout is ours, we went to great lengths to acquire it. It wasn't just something we were working on but something we owned. We want to make sure whatever it is we do is appropriate and we have a lot of love for it and respect for it."

Love and respect for it? Yes, re-skinning Oblivion and adding guns shows so much love and respect.

"Look, we ran a gauntlet for four and a half years doing this - there was a lot of folks weren't really sure if we were the right guys to have this. Were we going to fuck it up and destroy what was beautiful? But for the most part I think we've proven that we can be stewards for this thing and take care of it."

Because you did fuck it up and you HAVEN'T proven you are able to take care of it. What FO3 did prove is that Bethsoft has little creative ideas as FO3 was pretty much a mix and match of ideas and "cool shit" from FO1, FO2, FoT, Van Buran, and yes even that "non canon" Brotherhood of Steel. At least they are trying to get a competent studio to make New Vegas and I hope Obsidian can work some magic with the Gamebryo engine.

I was going to post on the epic ass kicking that No Mutants Allowed gave Bethboy Makemeasammich.

Nowgamer gives Bethesda a reach around.

So the folks over Nowgamer interviewed Todd Howard and Emil Pagliarulo, however it was more like a hand job in interview form. On with the show.

"Fallout’s devoted fans knew as much, and the moment Bethesda purchased the IP from Black Isle Studios they felt the same thing was happening to them. Fallout 3 would be just another bastard offspring of a once proud institution."

Yep, because it is. FO3 fails as an RPG and fails as a Fallout game.

"However, impartial observers had reached a different conclusion: Fallout 3 was in the care of Bethesda Softworks, a master of the art of role-play, and failure was not an option."

Bethesda is NOT a master of RPG's. I'm not sure why people continue to say this, as Bethesda's games are barely RPG's to being with. Also nice job at being impartial by sticking your head up Bethsofts pooper. Unlike Nowgamer I was impartial to FO3 being made by Bethsoft, and critized No Mutants Allowed for jumping the gun. The thing is however, No Mutants Allowed was right about Bethsoft turning it into a RPG light FPS with pause.

"We felt obligated by the series, not by the fans in particular, as we’re big fans ourselves."

Having Fallout 1 playing on a loop in the background on your PC doesn't count. I seriously question statements like this when all Todd talks about is how super violent the first two games where in every god damn interview I've read.

"Bethesda allowed itself no quarter, and shunned any received ideas and tried-and-true solutions."

This is false as FO3 is simply Oblivion with guns. The core game play mechanics are pretty much the same thing as in Oblivion right down to many of the animations being the same.

"A particularly lazy criticism of Fallout 3 is that it’s just ‘Oblivion with guns."

No, not lazy, just true. Bethesda has even said that Oblivion with guns is the simplest and most accurate way to describe Fallout 3.

"The Capital Wasteland is the frontier of the war to rebuild the country, but that can only be earned through blood and toil, and the outcome is far from certain."

Ummm....what? The battles between the NCR and Enclave out west honestly would have had a greater effect on the outcome of what the US would look like. The nonsense that happend in DC was cheap rehash between the super eviiiiiiil Enclave and the noble and honorable white knights of the Brotherhood of Steel.

"The choice to save or destroy Megaton was definitely a deliberate attempt to show the world we were serious about taking on the Fallout franchise,” says Pagliarulo, “because a big part of that is giving the player some really tough choices to make. Megaton is definitely one of the first big decisions you have to make. It’s one of the biggest in the entire game, really. The Fallout world is not pretty, and that’s something we fully embraced. It’s epitomised in the Megaton quest.”

No, what Megaton really showed was that Bethesda has no fucking clue what Fallout is about or moral ambiguity. It was also an excuse to see a "OMG CH3CK OUT DAT 3XPLOSION!!111!!1!1!".

"By allowing the player multiple ways of completing quests,” explains Pagliarulo, “which, in many cases, included killing the quest giver in the middle of the task, we were creating more permutations than players were really even aware of..."

No, not really. A good 95% of the quests only have two outcomes, a good or evil choice.

"We always wanted to make another Fallout game, so we jumped at the chance. But while I do still enjoy playing the game – the basic mechanics are really fun – the key ingredient, to explore and be surprised, is lost on me at this point.”

Yet another perfect example of how Todd really doesn't know jack squat about Fallout. Fallout was never about exploring or surprises, it was about playing with morality and choices and consequences.

On another note, Gamepro named Todd Howard the 18th most influencial in gaming today...honesty what bull crap is that? Todd Howard is in no way influencial.

Deadliest Warrior: A deeper look.

It seems the controversy has sprung up in the Ninja v.s Spartan episode as well, and rightfully so as I noticed many inaccuracies. I'm no expert on these things but any sane person can tell that most if not all the info in the show is a load of crap. For views on the Ninja's portrayal in the show, I would like to point you to the youtube channel Scottbaioisdead, the guy knows his stuff.

Ninja v.s Spartan Controversies:

Several valid points have been brought up against the very Hollywood portrayal of the both warriors. Did you know that the so called Ninja "experts" are huge fakes? Lou Klein is apparently a voice actor, and an actor is many B movies. His only Ninja related experience is playing a Ninja is a video game and some Japanese guy in an awful movie. The other guy, Michael Lehr (Jung-Woo Kim) is a martial artist, just not Ninjutsu. That aside, the most glaring thing was the straight bladed Ninjato, and while I think it's not a big deal for stuff like say video games, movies and what not, it very inaccurate, even though I think it's a pretty neat idea of the straight bladed Ninjato is all fine and well for mindless fun. They also used Shuriken, which is fine but they said a hit to the chest could kill, which honestly is bull as both Ninja and Samurai wore armor. I can't really comment on the blowgun, and Black Egg (which is actually Metsubushi mad with peppers and not glass). I think the biggest moment of stupidity was they said Ninja didn't wear armor, which is total bull crap, as Ninja in fact did wear armor of various types. It wasn't uncommon for Ninja to wear light weight Chain Maille, or Lamellar Armor.

Now it wasn't just the Ninja being horribly inaccurate, the Spartan also suffered as well. First and for most, Spartan's DID NOT fight like in that horrid movie 300, seriously I about vomited when I saw the spartan leap threw the air and try a downward thrust like is 300. Team tactics where a huge part of Spartan fighting. Not to say they where horrid at 1-on-1 fighting, but they almost always fought as a team. The Xiphos the Spartan's used was not made of Steel, I mean unless the Spartan's also had time machines. The one Spartan's used was made of Bronze. The the Dory or Doru (spear) was portrayed fairly well. The Javelin on the other hand, I not even sure the Spartan's used it much or if at all, I'm not 100% sure. The shield is called the Hoplon, and was used in as a weapon and when marching forward. One thing not even mentioned is that the Spartan's where skilled in Pankration, which is a martial art consisting of boxing and wrestling. Being that my ancestors are from Sparta, I have to say I took offense.

Viking v.s Samurai Controversies:

This episode also caused a good bit of controversy, namely for it awful stereotyping of both the Viking and Samurai, and not to mention the "Samurai Decedent" was Tetsuro Shigematsu is a Canadian radio personality and comedian. Also Brent Chan is Chinese, and seems to be a Wushu stuntman. Of course the episode played up on many myths about Samurai and Viking, such as that Viking where raving Barbarians and that Samurai where unstoppable. For the Samurai they test the Katana which I have to admit I smiled when it was knocked off it's high horse by being stopped dead in it's track by maille armor. The Naginata was also tested, however Brent Chan was using it very much like the Guan Dao, which the Naginata is based off. The Yumi was portrayed fine in my book. The special weapon for the Samurai didn't make sense to me personally as the Kanabo seems like a very very specialized weapon personally.

Now the Viking was also stereotyped, however in a very negative light as a raving unclean mad man, and unskilled. This is a huge misconception as cleanliness was very important to Vikings as they had many items to keep themselves clean even soap. The Vikings short ranged weapon was the Viking Axe, and I'm not sure why. Medium range weapons was the Viking Long Sword and still I don't know why as the Viking Sword was still a close range weapon. For long range the Viking was given a spear which doesn't make any sense as Vikings where also skilled archers as well. While the spear could be thrown, and most certainly not two at a time, it was also used with the shield. Last but not least the Vikings special weapon was...a shield and I have to ask, why? A better choice would be the Atgeir also know as a maille piercer. Honestly this episode just furthered the myth that western martial arts and fighting is holly inferior to eastern martial arts. They also failed to mention Vikings also used Lamellar Armor, and they failed to mention the Housecarl's, who where highly trained elite guards.

Apache v.s Gladiator:

I won't go into the Apache much, but focus on the Gladiator, which really was just a mix and match Gladiator at that. For short range the Gladiator was given the Cestus, an ancient hand to hand weapon at was also used in Pankration. It was also given the Roman Scissor, which was forearm length tube with a semicircular blade attached that inflicted nasty wounds. Now for the mix and match. For medium range it was given a Net and Trident, which was the weapon of the Retiarius Gladiator. Long range the Gladiator was given a sling, and a far as I know ranged combat was never used in Gladiator matches. Special weapon was the Sica, a sword that was used by the Tharcian Gladiators.

Pirate v.s Knight:

Not even gonna bother. It was a highly unfair match to being with. Pirate had Grenades (Grenado), flintlock pistols, and blunderbuss which is pretty much a shotgun.

I know the show isn't suppose to be anything scientific or anything, but a little research would be nice. Match ups that make sense would be nice as well. How about Knight v.s Viking or maybe Knight v.s Mamluk (the Middle Eastern equivalent of the Knight). Samurai v.s Sohei or Yamabushi would be interesting and it would be interesting to see how the Samurai would deal with the Ono (Axe) and Masakari (A Japanese Battle Axe).

Forging the Fail.

Oh snap! Two anti-Fallout3 rants in one day?! Well it seems Bethsoft has updated their blog with info on the last DLC for 360 and PC, Broken Steel.

"If we were to increase the level cap to 30, we first needed to figure out which factions we wanted to support the new cap."

That's nice and all, but how about balancing the game play such as the skill system and what not first.

"Super Mutants were one creature we knew we had to support. The decision was made to keep the Super Mutant Behemoth at the top, so we needed to fill the gap between the Behemoth and the Super Mutant Master. Thus was born the Super Mutant Overlord - a creature much stronger than a Super Mutant Master and one that is beginning to take on the shape and form of a Behemoth. Its posture is beginning to show signs of the Behemoth with its large, thick neck and slightly forward head. Given enough time, the Overlord would eventually grow to become a Behemoth."

Seems like a reasonable idea. No problems with that personally.

"To fill the gap for the Feral Ghouls we added the Feral Ghoul Reaver, which wears worn out armor, has special effects emitting from its body, and a new ranged attack, making it visually distinct from the normal Feral Ghouls as well as the Glowing One"

This is Bethspeak for "We slightly altered the Feral Ghoul Roamer. Gave it worn out metal armor instead of combat armor, and the ability to throw grenades." Such innovation Bethsoft, you guys are truly the greatest developer of all time.

"For the Rad Scorpion, we made the Albino Rad Scorpion - a formidable foe that roams the Wasteland, dealing out great amounts of damage, and is much more resistant to attacks than the Giant Rad Scorpion."

ZOMG HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!1111!1 OMFG ALBINO SKORPIONZ SO KEWL AND ORIGINL!!!!1111. So, you guys are going to slightly alter the appearance of the Giant Radscorpion? Talk about innovation!

"For the Enclave, we introduced a new elite fire-based ranged soldier who not only wears new fire-resistant armor, but also wields a new and powerful weapon, the Incinerator. The Incinerator is a powerful ranged fire attack that ignites its victims upon impact."

The armor looks cool. The weapon however, not so much. I have a feeling this is yet another god mod weapon.

"Can anyone explain why i should buy this useless, overpriced DLC with BoS that sounds like medival knights slaying dragons ?" Patton89, NMA forum regular.

Good questing. Considering the fact it's going to be 2 hours tops, easy, and overpriced half assed DLC from Bethsoft. And yes, the Brotherhood Knights do sound like a bunch of generic fantasy knight running around killing dragons.

Broken Steel drop May 5th.

Stop giving Fallout 3 awards people!

In the latest series of awards given to Fallout 3, this time coming from the ELAN awards winning best art direction and best console game. As always I'm going to offer my thoughs on this and bring some form of logic to the ass pat-a-thon that is FO3.

Best Art Direction.

This one I can actually understand as Bethesda has a amazing art department. One of FO3's strongest aspect was overall world design, armor design, and the 50's style art work (even if it was over done). However....

Best Console Game.

No it's not. What about Dead Space, Mirrors Edge, or Valkyria Chronicles? These three games offered a more enjoyable experience than FO3. Fo3 was short, buggy as shit, average visuals, and hell I could go on. Not Best Console Game material at all.

Deadliest Warrior

For those who don't know, Deadliest Warrior is a show on Spike similar to shows like Jurassic Fight club. The difference is instead of Dinosaurs, they pit two warriors against each other, most often from totally different time periods. When I say time periods, I don't mean like 100 years, I mean like centuries apart. Each episode they talk about various weapons they used and test the effect these weapons would have on the human body using ballistic gel, fake blood, organs, and pig carcasses (pig skin is fairly similar to human skin in it's make up). However, while the show is good fun, it at times relies on stereotyping the various warriors, which I will explain later.

The show is all in good fun, and not to be taken seriously at all, but some valid criticisms have arisen about the fighters pitted against each other and the over use of stereotypes. The most controversial of these I think, along with several others, is the Viking v.s Samurai episode. I have to be honest, this is probably one of the most nonsensical match ups I've seen, with only Pirate v.s Knight (that's right a guy in armor with melee weapons against a guy with gun power weapons) rivaling it for sheer weirdness. For the Viking v.s Samurai episode, the Viking was mercilessly stereotyped as a barbaric and moronic savage, while the Samurai was, of course portrayed as intelligent, and highly skilled. Another big criticism was the choice of long range weapon for the Viking and the special weapon for the Samurai respectively. The Viking was given a spear, which was thrown instead of using it as a melee weapon, and even an instant where they tested throwing two at once. Now, I for one don't understand why they didn't give the Viking a bow, as combat archery was HIGHLY valued in Viking culture. The Samurai was also given the Kanabo as it's special weapon. The Kanabo is a large wooden club with metal studs on it, and while it was used as a weapon by Samurai as well as Monks, it was not an everyday weapon that Samurai used. In addition to that, it was more of a mythical weapon used by the Oni (Japanese Demons) than a practical one.

Another match up that has a fair amount of Criticism is Spartan v.s Ninja. This was another lopsided match up. The Ninja is a stealthy fighter, and the Spartan was a wall of muscle and armor. Several people pointed out the choice of weapons for the two fighters as incorrect. For the Ninja it's short range weapon was the straight bladed Ninjato, which is a sword hotly debated to as weather or not it actually existed. The Ninjato is often found in movies, and video games as the typical sword of a Ninja. They tend to be straight, single edge blades with a square hand guard, which is incorrect. The Spartan also had incorrect weaponry as well. The short range weapon for the Spartan was the Xipos, which is correct except it wasn't made of steel, but bronze.

The latest episode was Pirate v.s Knight, and well we all know how that ended up. Once again the match ups are totally one sided as the Pirate has Gun Powder weapons and bombs. The next episode actually makes since though. It's Mafia v.s Yakuza (Japanese Mafia) and the episode after that is Green Berets and Spetsnaz, both are elite military unit from the U.S and Russia. Episode 7 is another odd one, it's Shaolin Monk v.s Maori Warrior (indigenous people of New Zealand). Episode 9 however is wacky as all hell as it's William Wallace v.s Shaka Zulu (African tribal leader). I honestly hope they make another season, the show is a lot of fun even if it's beyond crazy and weird most of the time.

Gamasutra Interviews Emil Pagliarulo.

And I offer my comments to some of more interesting things he said. So gather around all, uncle Richard is about to rant.

"Yeah! We did. The shock that people saw was legitimate. I'm actually really shocked at the writing award."

I think everyone is Emil. FO3 had no business winning that award, at all. However what's even more shocking is that people actually will defend the writing as good. Having played FO3 numerous times, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that the writing is absolute garbage. I've already explained why the writing is total crap several times, I mean just look at skill check dialogs.

"Bethesda is to an extent proving the viability of the large-scale single-player Western RPG. It's not the most ubiquitous genre." Interviewer

No their not. I think Cimmerian Nights over at No Mutants Allowed said it best, "Yeah, if by "large-scale single-player Western RPG" you mean FPS Adventure game with RPG elements. Perhaps the most ubiquitous genre currently." Right on the money I'd say, as Bethesda's game barely can be called RPG's at all and have more in common with with first person shooters and action games honestly. The RPG elements in Bethesda games have always been rather minimal at best.

"And while we realized that people saw this game as a sequel to Fallout; they saw it just as much as a sequel to Oblivion, and Oblivion didn't end. People expected that from us."

Of course they did Emil, FO3 is nothing more then an Oblivion mod with Guns.

"Our goal, anyway, is to capture a little bit of that magic of PC games. I think a lot of our audience is in that same category. They see what we do and appreciate it. I think there's definitely some of that going on. There's not a lot of that on the console, so it's almost like we have that novelty quality, too. We have those niches -- the giant open game niche, and also this PC game novelty niche, too."

PC magic? Are you kidding me? I'd love to know where that PC magic is Emil, cause every Bethesda game since Daggerfall HAS been devoid of that. Also your target audience isn't in the same category, I mean look at the sales for FO3 as an indication. The 360 version sold the most, followed by the PS3, and the PC version dead last. FO3 appealed to the FPS audience, not the RPG one.

"Now, you're reacting to that feedback almost immediately. We're able to, months later, respond to that player feedback and put out DLC. For us, it's been a tremendous success. We're actually surprised that more companies don't do it, but we also know how difficult it is to do."

I'm glad most companies don't do this. Give me a well though out expansion pack that actually adds plenty of content, not some sorry ass 1-2 hour long shoot'em up.

"Shivering Isles was a major project, and horse armor was -- well, we were one of the first people to do DLC, so it was an experiment."

Horse armor is nothing new Emil. Several free-to-play MMO's have been doing it for a good while now. Shivering Isles is also overrated.

"We used the Knights of the Nine model of small, well-priced, additional quests with new stuff. Look at Operation: Anchorage -- four, five hours of gameplay. People criticized it."

Since when is Operation: Anchorage 4-5 hours? Most people are lucky to get an hour out of it. Well priced? Seriously Emil, lay off the drugs. Ten bucks isn't well priced for something that's an hour long tops. People criticized it because it was a rip off.

"And thematically, The Pitt plays a lot more on the shades of gray. We explored moral ambiguity a little bit in the base game, but we were just starting to get a feel for it."

Well at least Emil admits they are new to moral ambiguity and didn't have a handle on it during development.

"I think as we wrapped up production, we thought, "We understand this now. We get it, and we want to do it." In The Pitt, it's much more, "What is good and what is evil, and which line do I walk?"

Sorry Emil, that's not moral ambiguity. Moral Ambiguity is the lack of any good or evil or a mix of the two. The Pitt is heavy handed with how it deal with moral ambiguity, making all the characters as "Evil" as possible but fighting for a "good" cause. That's simple black and while paths as far as WRPG's go.

For the record, I like Emil. He's probably the most intelligent guy over at Bethsoft and no where near the ego maniac Todd Howard is or clueless as Pete Hines is.

Krazy Keith at it again!

Well it seems like out good friend and bat shit insane liberal, and left wing nut job, Keith Ubermoronn really out did himself on Wednesday's Countdown and for Keith to really make a totally earth shatteringly ridiculous statement, it takes something really stupid, and boy did we get a bomb on Wednesday.

On the Wednesday edition of Keith's rating challenged show he blasted moderate democrat Ben Nelson for daring to lump Keith and his BFF Richard Mancow (Rachael Maddow) with Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, both of whom are much more successful that either Mancow and Oralmann. Now that's not the most ridiculous point about Keith's rant, oh no. You see, this was a perfect moment to attack News Corp, Fox News, and people more successful than both him, Maddow, and MSNBC as a whole. The usual insults where thrown about Glenn Beck makes stuff up, Bill O'Reilly stalks people, and Fox News is biased and gets talking points from conservatives, never mind the fact Keith and Rachael are both pathological liars, and both get talking points from far left websites such a Think Propaganda and Daily kos. Being a liberal, Olby of course loves to call people Racists (a time honored liberal tradition) and of course called Rush a racist and encouraging violence.

This is the same Olbermann who just recently had failed comedian and extremely unfunny person Janeane Garofalo, who like all liberal called the Tea Parties "a small group of racists, and filled with hate for our black president". Comments like this don't shock me at all, because Miss Garofalo is a text book insane liberal. You know the kind, the ones that preach about tolorance, how white people are bad, being worthless race traitors, and exploting black people.

In other words, more of the same from obly.

Sakura Con 09' Video

I sometimes get behind on what's happening in the world of anime, so I usually turn to Anime News Network to catch up on what I've missed, and I almost missed a classic.

I was browsing the "Chicks on Anime", a section where a group of girls give there opinion on various trends and news in the anime world, and I almost missed a rather interesting column about a commercial for Sakura Con 09 directed by famous attention whore, Vic Mignogna. Seems harmless enough right? Well that's what I though at first, so I watched said video. Wow Vic, did ya cram enough stereotypes of anime fans in there? The video also features a cameo by Tiffany Grant, another voice actor, probably most famous for her role as Asuka in Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Before I offer a few opinions on said commercial, I would like to say that I fully agree that the video is pointless and nothing to get worked up about, but the video certainly gets under my skin, mainly because it sends a rather negative message to non anime fans that all anime fans are sushi eating, Japan worshiping Japanophile weeaboo fucktards.

In the span of around 31 seconds I witnessed enough stereotypes to make your head spin and promptly fly off. If your average Joe happened to see this, I'm pretty sure they would think anime fans are a bunch a insane weeaboo's. The video starts with Tiffany Grants saying how much she loves sushi, then some random dude saying he loves Japan period, a comment about J-Rock, followed by some mall emo mentioning shitty J-Metal band Garugamesh(Gilgamesh), random stuff about anime and manga, gaming, and other assorted stuff, hell they should have mentioned JRPG's as well, cause most JRPG fan boys are huge weeaboo's as well. What's really sad is that even though it's a commercial full of stereotypes, most of them are in fact spot on.

I remember my first (and last) con, I went to Anime Weekend Atlanta. It was pretty fun, managed to pick up some neat stuff, a few T shirts, catch up on my Berserk manga, and some other nick nacks, however I just took in the sights and didn't bother talking to anyone. The whole experience was pretty cool, and i did have good time, but the stares I would get, you know the "your not a true fan" stare, man I was so glad to leave, and I doubt I will go back. Which brings me to another point....

While I said that the video portrays a lot of stereotypes in regard to anime fans, but at the same time it's true. Over the years I I would stand up and say "Not all anime fans are like that!" but I had to come to the sad realization that a huge chunk, if not the vast majority of anime fans are like the video portrays them, hell I'd go as far to say it actually encourages this type of absurd behavior. This is probably why a lot of my friends aren't anime fans.

Now, I'm sure some people are wondering, "but don't you like anime Richard?". Yes I do, and I like JRPG's, and various aspect of Japanese history and culture such as the Genpei Wars and The Tale of Heikei. I also enjoy music by various Japanese composers such as Yasunori Mitsunda, however is pretty much loathe JPOP and JROCK and find it to be a bunch of uninspired drivel. I don't care if someone if interested in Japanese culture, honestly I find it to be interesting as well, but if you think Japanese culture is just cartoons, comic, raw fish (sushi), and cardboard covered in chocolate (pocky), then you need help.

In closing, I have to say, I'm glad my weeaboo days are long gone and youtube has some really awesome parody video's such as Sakura-Con 40k: Dawn of Weeabo, check it out!

Ummm Shuster...

So it seems David "Slippery" Shuster accused Fox News of having no standards and saying this, "The inflammatory rhetoric from the wing nuts, is it merely entertaining or seriously dangerous?....Shouldn't there be some standards at some of these other networks? I mean, that's a problem, isn't it? There's no standards."

Ummm...Shuster, you do know which network you are on don't you? You know, the same network that on the March 12th edition of Countdown with Keith Olbermann was pushing some half-cocked conspiracy theory that Dick Cheney was leading an "executive assassination ring". This absurd theory was put forth by famous libtard Seymour Hersh. Yeah MSNBC is just oozing with standards aren't they Shuster.Hypocrisy much Shuster?

Todd Howard at D.I.C.E. 09'.

It seems like Todd "The Hype Machine" Howard gave a 25 minute presentation at D.I.C.E, and I'd like to share some thoughts on some of his more colorful comments.

"The first two Fallout games sold poorly."

Oh really Todd, that's funny since when is 500k apiece considered a failure? I'm sorry to break it to you Toddy but the first two Fallouts did not fail. They actually sold very well for the time they where released back in 97'.

"Culture of Quality"

For priding themselves is quality, it certainly is lacking at Bethesda. If they have such a "culture of quality", then why are Oblivion and Fallout 3 such bug filled and glitch ridden messes? I've played both the PS3 version and the 360 version, and both version are full of bugs and glitches, even after several patches. It's not like the glitches are minor, several of them are annoying such as enemies falling threw the floor and dead enemies getting stuck in the floor, the wall, and several times spazzing out and going all rubbery and shooting up in the air and those are just a handful and humorous glitches. I could write a essay on the sheer amount of bugs and glitches in both Oblivion and Fallout 3, and to think several reviewers and gamers have the gall to say they aren't that major.

"Great games are played, not made."

Todd is partially correct on this. Indeed great games are played and enjoyed by millions the world over, however they are also made. Todd also goes on about how worthless design documents are and how they are a waste of time. Really, design documents are a waste of time? Honestly why say such a thing? Design documents are a good way to see what direction the game is going in, although this would explain why Fallout 3 is such a mess of random parts of FO1, FO2, and FoT all rolled into a mess random fan service.

"We went back and played the old games."

Sure you did Bethesda, sure you did. Just like all the hardcore FO3 fans claims that they played the old ones right? You know the same FO3 fans that call you a fan boy and tell you to stop complaining if you dare criticize FO3. This also reminds me of the making of DVD/Bluray that game with that limited edition, which basically had Todd talking about about how they love the old games as it played on a loop in the back ground. Given the amount of plot holes in FO3, I doubt this comment, but hey maybe he did and just hand picked what was cool about the older titles such as violence, swearing, and the retro 50's future....oh wait.

"We wanted to make looking at stats entertaining with pipboy."

Sadly, they didn't. Humor is not something Bethesda does well at all and I don't see that improving anytime in the near future. The game is littered with unfunniness from start to finish.

"The old games where violent as well."

Yes they certainly where, however it wasn't the main selling point either. In FO3, Bethesda added V.A.T.S, a system that everyone calls tactical and useful, but in the real world it's a god mod that lets you see the same damn death animation(s) over and over again. Why? well to quote Todd "Violence done right is fucking hilarious". To be fair, it can be...however FO3 fails at having funny violence.

"I was backstage, giving out more awards to LBP - cause they don't have enough."

Awww. Poor Todd, what's the matter? Upset that Little Big Planet won awards it deserved? I have a feeling Todd was simply joking around, however he did seemed a bit pissed that FO3 wasn't winning for innovation. If Bethesda expected to win awards for innovation, the I would have to ask the question, what about Fo3 was innovative? It certainly wasn't V.A.T.S, and it sure as hell wasn't the overall game design. Face it Bethesda, FO3 was in no way innovative. It was a cookie cutter McRPG that Bethesda does best.

Peace out bitches.

Krazy Keith and Big Al Sharpton on the attack!

I knew Keith was gonna leap at the chance to attack News Corp with that "vile and vicious "racist" attack on Obama" in cartoon form. For those who haven't been following, a woman was mauled by a Chimpanzee that her friend kept as a pet, however the said cartoon had two police officers shooting a Chimpanzee and mentioning the stimulus bill, seems innocent enough right? Wrong, as Ubermoronn took this chance to slam News Corp (owners of Fox News) and Rupert Murdoch.

I was pretty shocked that anyone could find racism in the said cartoon, as it was pretty harmless and honestly was basically saying the stimulus bill was outta control and needed to be put down, but not to Keith and Rev. Sharpton. Using such time honored liberal skills such as finding racism in the oddest places, they deduced that it was a vile attack by New Corp and Murdoch and the Chimpanzee was actually a veil attack on Obama.

Really Keith? You and The Rev. honestly saw it that way? Well I guess I can't be to surprised, as Oralmann has done this before. He is pretty much your typical libtard that looks for racsim in anything and everything. For Keith it was just another run of the mill smear on News Corps...you know what he does best.

Good ole' Keith.

Man, I tell ya, nothing says comedy than MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann. I've been watching the show for about a year now, and thanks to that wonderful site, Olbermannwatch I can see I haven't missed much.

Seriously every episode of Countdown is pretty much the same damn thing every night. The usual targets are how evil republicans and to lesser extent Independents (he does go after Lou Dobbs for being "racist"), pointless and often ridiculous attacks on his more successful competitor for the 8 P.M time slot, one Mr. Bill O'reilly (who constantly destroys Olby in the ratings nightly), attacks on Fox News, which he often called "Fox Noise", Fixed News", and "Faux News" for being biased, which is ironic coming from Keith as MSNBC is 4 times as biased that Fox or even CNN, who is also pretty biased but I don't mind CNN personally, numerous smears on Bill (who Keith has a disturbing man crush on), Rush Limbaugh (whom he called fat, which is also ironic, considering Keith is a fat bastard himself), and basically one who makes the smallest mistake or bad mouths NBC, GE, Democrat's, or the Messiah (Obama). He's also famous for his "rip and read" style. Meaning if he sees something negative about Fox or something more successful than himself, he attacks, and quotes random pieces from said article to make said person seem like they did something awful.

Keith is also know for his lulzy "Special Comments". These said comments are often about how bad George Bush was, which I didn't like George Bush either but you know, I get tired of hearing the same shit over and over again, however Keith's shining moment of melodrama was his comment of Prop 8 the legislation which banned gay marriage in the most liberal state in America, California. The comment was one for the ages, fake tears, forced emotions, holding back said fake tears, and other melodramatic elements and honestly the only reason he even said did a comment is because his BFF, Richard Mancow (Rachael Maddow) who's a huge lesbian, with her own show on MSNBC, which gets destroyed in the rating by Sean Hannity nightly. Seriously, you can find said comments on Youtube for a good laugh.

I'm glad Countdown is shown at least 3 times a night, cause I can always use a good laugh and Countdown delivers in spades.

No Mutants Allowed is right.

You know folks, I'm gonna say it right now folks, in the time leading up to the release of Fallout 3 I thought No Mutants Allowed was over doing the complaints about Fallout 3, but you know what? After playing the game I have to say, NMA was right on the money. Fallout 3 is noticeably inferior to the first two games, and honestly it's inferior to Fallout Tactics as well in my book. So, I know what some of you might ask, why do they think that way, and in retrospect, why do I hate Fallout 3? Well prepare to be enlightened.

The core mechanics. The first two Fallouts where open world, well though out RPG's with many quests that often had far reaching consequences for example in Fallout 2 you could murder children if you wanted to, but you had best be ready for the consequences that game with it. If you killed three or more, you would have bounty hunters come after you, in addition you your horrid karma in pretty much every area of the game. You see, Fallout 3 offers none of that, and it doesn't even have to be child killing as in this day and age in America, something as taboo as that wouldn't float at all but it can't be that hard to think up something that would have similar and far reaching negative repercussions. In addition to the karma system being screwed over, the combat mechanics are dumbed down and Oblivionized, which for all purposes is not a good thing at all. Combat is exceedingly easy, even on the hardest difficulty setting and trust me, I've played the game on Very Hard and the only enemies you have to watch out for are Deathclaws.

The writing in often a target of ridicule and criticism, and rightly so, as it's amateurish and sloppy a good 99% of the time, however it sometimes has flickers of brilliance from time to time. In addition to awful righting, the skill checks and dialog check are often ridiculously stupid. Here's an example. Upon meeting Three Dog, owner of Galaxy New Radio and walking black guy stereotype, you will discuss why he keeps "fighting the good fight" and after a few lines of dialog, you get an Intelligence dialog check if it's high enough that reads as follows [Intelligence] "So, you fight the good fight with Galaxy News Radio?" moments after he just got done explaining why he "fights the good fight" or another good one is when you explain why the mole rats die from the repellent she made, however to be fair some of the skill checks do make sense such as when she wants you to go to the RoboCo robot factory, as you can skip it entirely if you have the "Robotics Expert" perk, which does make sense, but things such as this are few and far between.

The main story makes no damn sense and seems utterly pointless. So the water is irradiated and your dad wants to make it drinkable again, ok seems like noble goal however you dad is suffering from a case of Doing it wrong. This is a more sense able solution, "Filtering through earth removes essentially all of the fallout particles and more of the dissolved radioactive material than does boiling-water distillation... In areas of heavy fallout, about 99% of the radioactivity in water could be removed by filtering it through ordinary earth." and yet your dad wants to use the Jefferson Memorial to go about a lengthy and time extensive process using a GECK, and making you run pointless errands around the wasteland and it all end up with an extremely cliche' ending. Oh yeah, and giant robots. The side quests however, are often pretty damn good with the best being Blood Ties, The Replicated Man, and You Gotta Shoot'em in the Head. The three I just mentioned are the cream of the crop, offering many skill checks and dialog check, multiple ways to finish the quests, and believable NPC reactions.

Bethesda's voice acting often comes under fire as being mediocre, which isn't far from the truth if ya ask me. Ever since Oblivion, they have started to hire big name talent such a Patrick Stewart and Sean Bean in Oblivion's case and the former being the game a whole 10 minutes. With Fallout 3, Bethsoft hyped the fact that Liam Neeson was in the game, and I have to be honest, I was unimpressed. His delivery was iffy at times, however, I won't put full blame on him, as he had shit to work with. The rest of the voices are the usual Bethesda odd ball local talent, some of which is good (Wes Johnson) and some is just mediocre at best. Another noticeable flaw with Bethsofts voice work is the over saturation of voices, i.e you hear a voice so much you wanna go on a murderous rampage.

*Insert overtly epic sounding bombastic battle music as you gun you way threw Super Mutants near the Capitol Building*. Seriously the music is...odd. At times it more reserved and more ambient sounding, but when you fight enemies it changes into a faux epic movie score.

The change from Isometric, turn based combat was criticized by NMA, and honestly it's not that big of a deal for me, BUT Bethesda implemented first person perspective and real time combat horrendously with a insta-cheat option, VATS, which renders all skill pointless. However, NMA was indeed right, Isometic, turn based works best for Fallout.

Now for the biggest complaint, was Bethesda the right developer for the job? Honestly, no, they weren't. Once Bethesda picked it up, it's fate was sealed. The core concepts where dumbed down and Obivionized, striping away a thoughtful story, skills, and writing for a more mainstream, XBOX audience, and it really shows and in closing, "Bethesda...Bethesda never changes" have never rang more true.