Another reason is because I just got an Xbox 360. My father had gotten one some time ago, but then he realized he never used it, and gave it to me. Awesome.

However, he’d forgotten to give me the games he had as well. So I had to enjoy my 360 without any games. Luckily, it’s not too hard.

When I first booted up my 360 I had to make an avatar for the new Xbox Live thing. Took a picture, etc. Then I decided to try and recover the Windows Live account I used for the Dawn of War 2 beta. Luckily, it worked. But I had to make a new avatar. I couldn’t find the eyes I used for the first time, and I suddenly looked like a complete faggot. Nice. I did find some better eyes later on.

So what do you do on a console with no games? Download demos of course! Luckily the downloads were quite fast, but they were humongous as well. Seriously, 1.5 gigs for a demo I’ll play for less than 30 minutes? I was also annoyed by the demo setup of some games. For example, Universe at War had a tutorial that explained the controls… But didn’t explain the actual game mechanics. So when I tried a skirmish I had no idea what to do.

I found the new Xbox Live experience quite clunky. It took me quite some time to find things (and I found out that the menu you bring up by clicking the big X is actually much quicker and more efficient), and it took me a long time to get a list with demos only.

And while we’re talking about lists, the listing on genre is terrible. Since when is The Orange box a Strategy and Simulation game? There’s a LOT of games that are incorrectly labelled, which makes it hard to try and find games of the actual genre.

Tomorrow I’ll get the games from my father, which are some racing game (One of the need for speeds, no idea which one) and Halo 3. Has anyone got any suggestions on what games to get?

Packing heat at a whopping 2GB (this is a demo after all..) the two missions included are guaranteed to be beefy with corpses littered atop what was once a perfectly good corn field I’m sure you can’t wait.

For those of you fuddy duddies who are still sitting at home, tin-foil hats firmly upon their heads– the demo only comes in STEAM choo choo flavour, so don’t bother looking because unfortunately gentlemen, you cannot find it.

Look forward to some demo impressions within a couple of days once I’ve had time to explore every nook and cranny and stick my head into every orafice.

A link for the lazy

A few days ago the demo for Yakuza 3 (Ryu Ga Gotoku 3 in Japan) came out on Japanese PSN. By cheating the system I downloaded the Japanese demo due to being a big fan of the Yakuza series. The demo has some flaws.

I had to download the demo twice, at first the demo had gigantic load times, but the second time I downloaded it and installed it everything went very smoothly.

Oh boy has the game been improved. First of all, when navigating through the town of Kamuro-cho you are no longer bound by fixed perspectives, you have full camera control all the time. Second of all, battles occur without any screen transition, instead all the pedestrians on the street run away from the place you will fight in and line themselves around the street ends to watch the fight. The game also has a wast assortment of mini games that are actually fun. Also the difficulty level of the combat has been increased, atleast when facing story enemies. Also there are more quicktime events in combat, some of which are pretty impressive. The demo itself is pretty long for a demo, lasting out for around 25 minutes if you don`t screw around.

There also was some plot but I barely understood it. Anyway, for those of you who are impatient, here`s a small walkthrough for the demo.

- Enter the club Stardust (blue door right next to where you start).

-Watch cutscene, then fight the yakuzas, the battle ends when you defeat the yakuza in the blue suit with the katana.

-Defeat the Yakuzas, watch cutscene

-Exit Stardust and head for the two pink triangles marked on your map while avoiding the police until you reach an alleyway. Watch the cutscene.

-Fight the foreigners in black suits, but be careful of the bigger one, he has some stronger moves and more health.

Congratulations, you have beaten the Yakuza 3 demo.

Oh yeah, I will defenately import this game along with Ryu Ga Gotoku Kenzan next month, expect my reviews sometime next month or the month after that. Also sorry I had no screenshots.

Most people remember the monstrosity of StarCraft 64, I remember renting it for my Nintendo 64, and I remember loving the game for being StarCraft but hating how it was done. If you have never paid StarCraft 64 let me tell you this: Don’t. The consoles are a huge deal in RTS games. StarCraft 64 takes good controls and decides add a nice layer of shit upon it. This isn’t about SC 64 though, so let’s get to Halo.

The first thing I noticed about the demo is that the graphics are very well done, and the cutscenes are amazing. This time around we have more story from the Halo world, and we get a better sense of what was going on in the war between the Covenant and the Humans. Story is a major part of an RTS, and from what I’ve taken so far from Halo Wars, it’s not going to be on the short side of the plot stick.

Who cares about graphics and plot though, it’s all about the controls. Here is where the Halo Wars does fairly well! I was expecting to be fumbling with my controller to get simple tasks complete and I was very surprised. Though playing with a mouse and keyboard is infinitely better then a 360 controller, the controls work for the game.

The game itself, well here is where we reach a bit of a bump in the road. See because Halo Wars was built from the ground up for the Xbox 360, you have a more dumbed down RTS experience. Building bases is limited to where it lets you, resources are automated and limited only by how my supply pads you have. The battles feel more battle then strategy, but all and all the demo is actually fun, and that my friends is what it boils down to (for myself anyways).

So final impressions? Halo Wars will be a positive step in console RTS games, I could go as far as to say even some “hardcore” RTS players will grow to like it. It’s only a shame that it may do worse than Halo 3 because the fanbase seems to not have the patience required for an RTS game, then again, that Mythic map pack comes a month early with it. You never know.

Billy: It’s no fair, Portal got a 90 on Metacritic while The Last Remnant only got a 65! It’s just a fucking tech demo! Why are reviewers such sheeple?

Dad: Watch your fucking mouth you little bastard. Just because Portal is a tech demo doesn’t mean it automatically deserves a lower score. And besides, you liked Portal, didn’t you?

Billy: It was ok, I guess. Definitely not as good as The Last Remnant, but worth playing.

Dad: Exactly, the likelihood of a tech demo being not worth playing are highly slim. Even if the story is lacking, the entire game is based around the tech being demo’d. As such, the sheer using of it is fun. You remember Assassin’s creed right?

Billy: Of course I do, stabbing people is so fun in that game, and the free climbing mechanic was the bomb.

Dad: Jesus Christ, what kind of games does your mother let you play? I need to hit her more often. Anyways, Assassin’s creed had a shitty story. So did Portal, so did Mirror’s Edge, so did Psy-ops: The MindGate Conspiracy. But all of their games had cool mechanics worth dicking around with.

Billy: Well, all of those games are based around one thing. That’s so shallow. I’m glad I take money out of mom’s purse, otherwise they wouldn’t be worth buying.

Dad: Well, how else are they supposed to develop the mechanic? It starts simple and becomes more intricate as time goes on. Wait, you take money from your mom’s purse? You ungrateful little prick.

Billy: Just wait dad, before you strangle me, I just have to say, some mechanics would be pretty cool in other games.

Dad: Of course they would be! They don’t make tech demos for fun and let them rot you abortion. You want to see the portal gun in the new Half Life? Or the Mirror’s Edge free climbing mechanics in a Battlefield series? It’s more likely than you think. Especially if they don’t fuck it up. You could turn a good game into a fantastic game!

Billy: Yeah, we might get a Star Wars game where using the force is intuitive and useful as well!

Dad: Did you get into my weed stash? Stop dreaming boy.

Billy: Fine, Fine. I know that will never happen. But what about the price? EA was crying because Mirror’s Edge didn’t sell well.

Dad: Well, the games could stand to be a bit cheaper. All I ever hear is how people WOULD have bought it if it was 20 bucks cheaper. I guess it’s up to the developers to find the sweet spot between production values and gameplay when making these games so as to finally arrive at a price wherein the consumers will eagerly buy the game despite its deficiencies and be able to make a profit. That being said, seeing as you stole mother from your mother, I’m guessing you bought it for full price, Am I correct?

Billy: *gulp* Y-yea, I did haha. Did you want to come play it with me?

Dad: Yes of course, Just let me go find my belt first.

Fin

And the moral of the story is: Don’t buy tech demos until they are cheap. Also, don’t forget to write the company a letter about how great their game is, even though you haven’t bought it yet. They will appreciate the sentiment.