cstGaming

…well it’s been awhile, so i probably should get caught up. To get this blog-ball rolling again i figured I’d steal a page from Yahtzee over at The Escapist. Call of Duty: Modern Warefare 2 (CoD:MF2) smashed all the records when it came to FPS sales on opening day (over 7 million copies worldwide), making Halo 3 look like the latest in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. So does the game live up to all the hype?

1UP writes: “Mixing real-world locations with bombastic set-pieces MW2 continues the guided, thrill-ride experiences of its predecessor, and adds even more depth to its multiplayer offerings. It might not have fixed all the problems from the first game, but there’s just so much quality content packed into this game that it will almost certainly be one of the most-played games in your library for a long time to come.”

…lets see how Yahtzee feels about this game:

I stole this from The Consumerist who stole it from Game Informer. Isn’t the internet grand?
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i wonder if this is a Japanese remake too?

The Xbox 360 breaks five times as often as its closest failure-prone competitor, the PlayStation 3, a print edition-only Game Informer survey found.

The poorly manufactured, red ring of death-prone console has a 54.2 percent failure rate, compared to 10.6 percent for the PS3 and the Wii’s 6.8 percent.

The magazine surveyed nearly 5,000 readers to get the data. And while the 360’s rate is alarmingly higher than the others, it’s still bafflingly low because it blows the mind to imagine that 45.8 percent of the consoles have not broken. Also, Microsoft’s numbers are inflated because 360s are used the most of the three consoles. Results said 40.3 percent of 360 owners use the console three to five hours a day, compared to 37 percent of PS3 owners. Meanwhile, the plurality of Wii owners (41.4 percent) play their consoles less than an hour a day.

Microsoft also seized the gold medal for unhelpful customer service, taking nearly a month to repair or replace a console, while Nintendo and Sony stuck closer to a week. Only 37.7 percent of Microsoft customers found the company’s customer service was “very helpful,” compared to 51.1 percent fo Sony and 56.1 percent for Nintendo.

The most shocking number from the survey — and frightening from a consumer perspective — is only 3.8 percent of Xbox 360 owners said they’d never buy another Xbox because of hardware failure.

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SO what have we gathered from this article: 1.) If you buy a 360 the chances of you getting the R-ROD (that’s what we call the red ring of death here at cstGaming) is quite similar to that of a coin flip. 2.) The people that buy 360’s could care less that their hardware is shit. 3.) Regardless of how superior the PS3 is the 360 still rules the realm of TV based consoles. 4.) Nintendo Wii is not real.

…this one is for AbraXas.
The things i find on my news updates at work:

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By MARIA CHENG,Associated Press Writer AP – Tuesday, August 18

LONDON – Since swine flu first emerged in April, it has sparked panic, vaccine production and now, a video game.

In an effort to further raise awareness, Dutch researchers have created a game that challenges players to control a new pandemic.

“It is actually what is happening now, what is happening in the real world,” said Albert Osterhaus, head of virology at the Erasmus Medical Center, who designed “The Great Flu” game with colleagues.

The game can only be played online at http://www.thegreatflu.com and it is free. A World Health Organization spokesman said Monday the agency was not familiar with the game and had not had time to play it.

WHO has reported nearly 178,000 cases of swine flu including 1,462 deaths worldwide, though those numbers are believed to be a gross underestimate of the actual caseload, since hard-hit countries no longer test all cases with flu-like symptoms.

As the virus has spread worldwide, countries have tried different methods to slow it down and pharmaceutical companies are now racing to produce a swine flu vaccine.

The game begins with images of bedridden patients and graveyards from the 1918 Spanish flu. As the head of the fictitious “World Pandemic Control,” players pick a flu strain, and then monitor that strain’s spread around the world.

To fight the emerging outbreak, players use measures including setting up surveillance systems, stockpiling antivirals and vaccines, and closing schools and airports. Players also have a limited budget and are warned that “your actions to control the virus cost money, so keep an eye on it.”

A running tally of the numbers of people infected and those who have died sit above the budget. Newspaper stories about the deadly virus and the global response to it _ like riots breaking out worldwide _ pop up to help players monitor the outbreak.

Messages from governments mirror the difficulties faced by international agencies like WHO. For instance, when players set up costly surveillance systems, the game often relays a message from governments that “we will comply with your directions…but we must inform you that the political support for this action is low in this region. Therefore, the effectiveness of the system may differ from your expectations.”

Osterhaus said the video game’s approximation of combating a pandemic, choosing between various interventions yet still watching the outbreak spread, gives people a sense of how difficult it is to make decisions in the public health world.

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Seriously though, this game is one of the coolest sim games i’ve ever played. It’s has a full flash interface  and is very easy to use. Handling something like this isn’t something you’d see yourself doing everyday which makes it all the more interesting. It’s free…. so there’s no reason you shouldn’t check it out.

www.thegreatflu.com

p.s. don’t get the swine flu…who seriously wants to smell like pigs while they’re sick?

So I’ve been wondering when someone was going to step up and create a database with all the badass gaming tracks out there… and as of last week that music has a place to call home.

“Playnit is a Social Music Network for Gamers!
Here you can listen and share hundreds of gaming musics with your friends and people around the world who like the same as you!

If you are a gamer, for sure you already have listened and enjoyed some great music on games which you would like to hear and hear again. Here you can search for hundreds of musics and music-videos of your favorite games. We don’t have the music you are looking for? Don’t worry! Simply ask our community about it!!

On Playnit you have lots of music to listen to. Just search for the game you want and start listening to your favorite videogame music. Everyone is free to upload new music or embed some exciting music videos directly from YouTube. But that’s not all! You can create and personalize your profile, and make your own playlist!”

Ever since the inception of Video Games Live (Video Games Live (VGL) is a concert series created and produced by industry veterans and video game composers Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall.[1] to help encourage and support the culture and art of video games, featuring music from over 50 major titles. Each featured segment is complemented by projected video footage, synchronized lighting, and on-stage interactive segments with the audience. – Wikipedia) music from the “gaming” genre has become more main stream. I don’t know too many people that if you played “One Winged Angel” for them they would say they’ve never heard it before.

I remember when i was a kid watching the WWF and how much each intro song from each big time wrestler used to stick in my head and those were just midi instrument tracks. Now if you tune into the WWE every wrestler has intro music by some large scale recording artist. Triple H walks down the ramp every night to Motorhead’s King of Kings, recorded specially for him. This is just a loose example of something that also has grown exponentially over the past two decades. The more mainstream video games become the more profitable this avenue of music will become. I think we are just starting to jump into the void that is video game’s music. So if you have a second and you want to check out a cool social website with a lot of interest to the ears check out playnit.com and you can follow the progression of the video game music world along with me.

Friend Request Me! Username: saberwolf

and i leave you with this…

Zero Puntuation takes funny to a whole new level. This review is ZP’s 100th video and its, in my opinion the best one to date. Congratulations to Zero Punctuation and The Escapist Magazine for employing one of the funniest Brit’s I’ve ever encountered.

CheatCC Writes: “If you’ve been waiting for a great Western-themed shooter, then look no further than Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood. The gameplay is fun and varied, the story is entertaining, the visuals are well done, the voice acting is terrific, and the game even sports a respectable online offering. Fans of the original Call of Juarez should also be quite pleased, since Bound in Blood’s story provides insight into Reverend Ray’s past while improving upon almost every aspect of the previous title. So, if you’re a fan of the previous game, the Western theme, or are just looking for an alternative to killing aliens with space marines, be sure to give Bound in Blood a try.”

On another note The escapist is having a contest for the development of a Zero Punctuation game… i can’t wait to hear Yahtzee review to winner of this thing.

“Starting Wednesday, August 5th, 2009, The Escapist will be taking submissions for browser based Zero Punctuation games. Submissions will be valid from August 5th to October 19th. All submissions will then be judged over a 2 week period and the winner(s) will be announced the week of November 16th.”

…more details are at http://www.escapistmagazine.com/contests/register/stonkinggreatgame_09