Wipeout In the Zone - Xbox 360 Reviews

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List Price: $49.99
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Got Wipeout and got home to play with my 6 year old and wife. We all signed in and we played through an episode. WOW! Lots of fun and laughs. Even replays funny shots/hits to the avatar.

Second game, new level. Hmmm. I'm signed in but wife and son have to register again even though we picked play again. Haha, the replays are funny but a lot.

Thrid game, new level. Wife didn't want to play but son had to reregister again. Really?!! Man the replays are a lot and getting on my nervers. Found in options you can turn off. That's better.

Overall it's good family fun and is a party game. I've played through all the levels and think a few things are missing.

1 Would like to set funny hits/replays to be after an episode or calibrate to not be as much. It's all or nothing.

2 Would like the replay level option to keep everyone registered and allow you to remove players as needed.

3 Would like a build your own course scenario.

4 Camara angles for some obstacles (side view for big balls to behind for spinning obstacles) switch without warning. Tends to cause a wipeout till you learn a level and motions. Guess that's the game being Wipeout ;) But it was the one thing that made the wife dizzy. Camaras switching up obstacle to obstacle quickly.

5 After replays it takes a second to know you're back in game and the clock is running.

Wait till price drops to around $25-$30. My 6 year old is almost done with all the levels and he's only played the game 3 times.

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Read some reviews of the game not tracking, not stopping, having to jump for avatar to jump or this game is a workout. Tracking issues can be fixed by lighting. Know the avatar commands is simply playing the tutorial; arms out to stop, arms out and jump up to climb... etc is not that hard to learn. You need to jump to get the avatar to jump. Not sure how to respond to that expect, yeah. As for this game being a work out or getting the heart going. I suggest Your Shape Fitness for a month then pop this game in and then you'll blow through all the levels in this game within two days.

The Kinict games we have I'm comparing to; Kinictamals, Fantatic Pets, Your Shape Fitness and Dance Central. This game is not on par with these games when it comes to timing. Kinictamals maybe. Even though this game came out after these games don't expect the same on key reponse. Seems to be minor lag but the game I feel gives you time to recorrect if you are erring. But that's the fun of Wipeout. You're supposed to wipeout. That is till you learn the level and camra switch ups.

Had friends over who played and had to stop cause the camra angles were too much.

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As a owner of the Wii edition, I am glad they finally put it on Kinect, it was soo worth the wait. I like being interactive in the game; with the bonus of a workout. It looks easy on TV but you have no idea until you are actually running the course. Plus it was only $35 at Toys R Us :)

Just like with most games you have to unlock additional courses, this game also has a practice and multi-player. Good family fun, it did not disappoint. Of course I wiped out several times.

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Overall, Wipeout for the XBox 360 is a lot of fun. The only downside is that the Kinect doesn't always register your movements correctly, especially when compared to the accuracy of other games.

Honest reviews on Wipeout In the Zone - Xbox 360

Ive tried everything and we just cannot get our kinect to read our actions accurately with this game only. It makes it frustrating and we all lost interest. I would not recommend this game to anyone.

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First of all I want you the reader to know that i like the show "Wipeout", it's similiar to MXC which i love, so i'm not a wipeout hater. This game however is a pile of dook, let me tell you why. The whole idea of kinect is to make the player feel immersed in the game, YOU are the controller etc. I played this game with a 7 year and he was getting so frustrated with the delayed unresponsive controls. At first i thought he was having a tough time because he was a youngster, but then i tried and immediately understood his frustration, the controls and delay are unacceptable. There is a good one second delay between your movements and the character actually moving onscreen. Now, in a game where your timing is crucial, this is a HUGE problem. You have to jump a good second before your obstacle to enjoy any success.

My other major gripe with this game, the controls, really bring my piss to a boil. Kinect is supposed to track your movements and make you feel like your that little cartoon character. So when im physically running along and i suddenly physically stop, why does the game character keep moving forward? Oh i remember, because i didn't put my hand out like im directing traffic to get my little avatar to stop.... I mean i could maybe learn to deal with a one second delay, but when i have to motion to the camera with my hands to stop my legs onscreen i have to draw the line. It totally takes you out of the experience, you remember you are playing a crappy TV tie-in game. Why did they make it this way? Did they think it would be fun to learn all the different ways they want you to move? Why didn't they just code it to track your actual movements, that seems logical to me. Anyway, im getting "In the Zone" and sending this one back to Amazon for a trade-in to try and cut my losses before more time passes and this turd loses more value. GO WIPEOUT!!!

Eye Toy Kinetic - PlayStation 2 Review

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List Price: $49.99
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The game has 4 major elements: Cardio, Combat, Toning and 'Mind and Body'. The cardio and combat sections of the game are marvelous with lots of fun elements. The mini-games (in the combat and cardio sections) are 10 minutes each. Even the easiest level can get you huffing and puffing with lots of sweat. You are tested on your reflexes as well as precision. I don't know much about the strength part in the combat games because I kind of cheated by moving very very rapidly.

Just like what the company describes, you can set your own workout profile. It's as if you have your own personal trainer.

However, Sony needs to work out the kinks of the Eye Toy hardware. Our living room is quite comfortably sized for a couple with 2 cats, but Eye Toy doesn't think so. There is a distance of 7 feet between the TV and the couch, and the Eye Toy still doesn't think you have enough room. Unfortunately, Eye Toy isn't quite for apartment dwellers unless you mount the Eye Toy on the wall.

Lightings is another problem. The room needs to be EVENLY lit or else you'd have a hard time reaching one side of the screen. Setting the camera for 'dim room' helps tremendously. The camera sensitivity should set to Medium or even Low. I accidentally set it on High, and I saw my furniture playing the game with me.

Nonetheless, if you have a decent sized living room, and if you can get the camera working right, this game is AWESOME!!

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Over all the game has a very sweet idea to it play games and excercise at the same time. when you buy this title you wont be able to wait till you get home.

as soon as you start you build a profile your height, weight , age and how active you are. After you select your personal trainer they will set up a routine for you. mine was set up for advanced the first week i had a routine on Wed/Thu Fri/Sat Sun/Mon which seems like a lot of work but the excercises range from 4-10 minutes long each routine had only three excercise's though. if you dont want to go that route and want to just start playing you can build a routine. you routines will consist of either Combat, toning, mind and body , or Cardio. For those of you who think this product wont work i play football and baseball and the cardio workouts will get you winded and sweating,provided you dont cheat. And even if you think you are pretty warmed up beleive me you probably aren't. Like on the combat i swung at A Target and hit it but since you are swinging at air if you think you can just throw a haymaker right of the bat you cant, i thought i threw my arm out tyring to swing at that thing. Some of the problems are that you need to have quite a bit of room , and it needs to be pretty will lit. in some cases a had to wrap a shirt around my fist for the camera to pick it up. If you have a lamp or two close by just turn them on this should help.

Pros. 1. Burns calories

2. Fun and entertainiing for the whole family even mom and pops

3. Actually pretty challenging.

4. actually measures how hard you hit the object

5. ther are many more i jsut cant list them all

Cons. 1. need to have a pretty good sized area

2. needs to be well lit

3. and a few more little things but nothing major

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I own five games for Eye Toy, the majority of the Eye Toy collection.

This might be the best use of this technology thus far. Fun, exhausting and highly customizable. There are thousands of ways to play this game. Each exercise has its own unique choice of music and an initial difficulty level that automatically increases as you progress through the routine. Entire guided fitness plans are created for each player after series of questions. It even snaps progress photos as you complete your plan.

In addition as the camera, a wide-angle lense is included to accomodate an entire body workout. After your body and a Playstation, everything you need is included. This is more than a game, it is a revolutionary exploration into what video games can do for us.

Per usual, while the Eye Toy does require a rather bright room to function well, a standard two-bulb overhead fixture works fine. If you really want the full Eye Toy experience, I would reccommend this game, as well as Antigrav.

Honest reviews on Eye Toy Kinetic - PlayStation 2

We just bought this game a week ago. Not a day goes by that I don't work out with it!

Why do I love it?

The game has Cardio, Combat, Tone & Mind Body.

Cardio the games require you to hit and kick moving orbs on the screen. This is really FUN!

Combat the games require you to hit and kick things on the screen, but HARD. This is also very fun and gets out any anger or frustration you have.

Tone Abs, lower body, upper body, arms... I've only done the abs portion on easy. I've done loads of pilates and crunches and though it starts off easy (for me, I imagine for people that haven't done a lot of abs work should probably take it easy) and works up to some really HARD abs stuff.

Mind Body These are fun stretching, tai chi, etc. games. Games, yes, and you have to break the orbs, or followi them, etc.

Very fun.

You can have a personal trainer in either Anna or Matt (I have Anna, my husband has Matt) and do a 12 week personal trainer workout that gives you days off.

There is also Routine Builder and you build routines if you wish.

I do both, the personal trainer mode and the routine builder mode. On my days off from the personal trainer, I do several cardio routines sprinkled throughout the day.

The warm up on the eyetoy is great. The stretch after is also nice.

What I like more about this game, rather than Yourself Fitness is that you are not doing jumping jacks and jumps. I have a really hard time with them, and YF doesn't have a skip (yet). Also, with this game the game doesn't have to test you. It knows how well you are doing (ie, because of the camera). On YF you have to constantly take hard physical exams which require you to do jumping jacks and interrupt you if you want to just do the exercise for the day.

So, I really really LOVE eyetoy kinetic!

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I have problems staying motivated to go workout at the gym on a weekly basis. The motivation wasn't consistent for me, because I get bored easily doing the same things: riding a stationary bike, treadmill, precor machine, etc. With Kinetic, however, I'm having fun playing this "game", but I'm really getting some good exercise in!

I'm currently on week three of Personal Trainer mode. The first two weeks were fairly easy for me. I can tell, however, that the workouts are getting harder as I am sweating more and breathing hard, and the next day, I can feel the burn in my legs from all the squatting and kicking certain games entail, and my arms are sore, too, from all the punching.

One thing I think is missing from the game is the game not telling you proper form. Yes, you're punching and kicking like there's no tomorrow, but you risk getting injured if you don't know how to punch or kick correctly.

The yoga exercise, too, is great IF you've had yoga instruction before by a yoga instructor. For someone who has never done yoga before, they may find this difficult, or they will most likely not be using proper form. Same with the Tai Chi. I've never done Tai Chi before, so trying to follow this part of the game was pretty hard for me, even with all the camera angles the game shows. I would probably have to take a Tai Chi class somewhere to know what the heck I'm really doing.

Another thing that bothered me was the loading time in between the workouts. I guess it's good for those that need a good break in between to grab some water, but I just want to get into the groove and keep going back to back non-stop for a fluid exercise routine.

Overall, believe it, or not, I look forward to turning the game on to see when I'm scheduled for my next workout. That's how motivated I am now after buying Kinetic.

If you have enough room to play this game in, the lighting works out for you, and if you want to lose some weight and have fun at the same time without joining a gym or a sports team, Eyetoy Kinetic is the game to play! Of course, you only get out of it what you put into it. Don't forget to also watch what you eat!

Review of Two Worlds Collector's Edition -Xbox 360

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I waited and waited AND waited some more for this game to arrive. After logging 220 plus hours with Oblivion, games after that just didn't hold much appeal for me. So, I had some very high hopes (as did many of us) for Two Worlds.

For all the release delays this game offered us, it's engine was a buggy mess. The graphics were very poor, mostly they seemed to have a very jagged appearance reminiscent of older,low polygon count games. Many of the light effects were VERY obnoxious. Flames looked very unrealistic, light gradients were very mis-colored. Example; you would be walking through a otherwise dark cave, when suddenly the passage is a light blue color. No blue flames indicating the presence of supernatural activity, nothing. Just blue.

Shadows were very jagged looking as well. At times the shadows of a tree would make me wonder if I was interacting with some "Thing" instead of a shadow. Water was like a wobbly mirror.

One of the most annoying and near laughable features in the game was the "Inability" to control a horse. I soon discovered that wasting earned skill points points on my horse riding skills was...well a waist. If you had to stray from the beaten path, what so ever, your mighty stead was bound to get completely immobilized by a shrub or tree. Slight embankments and hill sides were also a major "No-No" for our stead. I can't imagine what the team involved in the actual design of the horse in Two Worlds, was thinking.

I'm thinking malt liquor and bong-hits were the sole inspiration for this one. Next was the (Now Legendary) horrific voice acting. The voice actors themselves sounded as if they had to perform nude in front of a stadium of giggling onlookers. VERY UNCOMFORTABLE SOUNDING. Not only did the characters sound scared, but there was simply not enough variety in the actual voices. You could speak to a close group of three people who all shared the exact same voice and greeting.

The A. I. was very funny. Very bad, but at least it made you laugh. For instance, I could interact with a character who absolutely hated my character and made it known by cursing and threating me. However, as soon as the interaction was over they would say in a totally different voice; Grand Day! Or Greetings Tall One! Or A Fine Day Indeed!

The menu looked a lot like the old Diablo menue system, right down to the barely readable fonts. It wasn't until my wife and I bought a HD t.v. that I could even read what some the menu items or instructions said.

The travel log was the worst I have EVER seen. It's crammed way over to the right side of the menu screen and written in tiny, black letters with some words being separated by an entire line width. It was absolute torture to try and follow.

The title music was also the cheesiest music I have heard in a long, long time. Anyone here remember that old song called "A total eclipse of the heart" by Bonnie Tyler? It sounded like that but with some generic, wannabe operatic woman singing. The in-game music was very unbalanced as well. It was either very quiet or VERY LOUD, so adjusting it in the controls menu was pointless. Not to mention, most of the time the music itself (When you could hear it) didn't fit the situation.

Now there were (Believe it or not) some redeeming qualities to the game. combining similar weapons to make a more powerful version was great. I had some massive sword called the Dragons Jawbone, that had a slashing power of over 3000. Basically I had a one hit wonder. One hit and most everything went flying across the screen and laid on the ground twitching . That was pretty satisfying.

Creating you own spells and so forth could have been cooler if you had some sort of guide to help you. Since you didn't, it was more or less a way to make room in your inventory or power up magical attributes for a weapon. Mostly it was just cumbersome. I beat the game without ever really using any magic.

I threw a few fire balls but why bother when you can smash the tar out of anything with a giant jaw bone? lol The Bow was great to. Once you got your skill level with the bow up to ten and it's damage abilities really high, you could wipe out an entire Orc Camp with it, no problem.

Sadly though, the game just ends up being a decent way to relax before bed, cracking Orc skulls and flinging Bandits into the weeds is alway's a joy.

For $60.00 to $70.00 though, it's just not worth it. Rent it, borrow it or wait until it's in the clearance bin. Whatever you do though, don't waste your money on a brand new copy and especially the Collectors Edition.

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...then Two Worlds is the game for you! I see and hear many people trying to compare Two Worlds to Oblivion and frankly, I just don't think that's a fair comparison to make. When it comes to western RPGs (by western, I mean those that don't have a real Japanese flavor to them, like Final Fantasy, Blue Dragon and Infinite Undiscovery), I like to view things as being on one of two extremes: tactical RPG (like Oblivion and Morrowind) and experiential RPG (like Diablo and RuneScape). Reality Pump took Two Worlds in a different direction; they attempted to blend the two styles, and for the most part, I'd say it works. You still have the 3rd-person (and occasionally 1st-person) view of the character. You're directly in control of swinging your sword and casting spells. Unlike Oblivion, though, you have more of a Diablo-like inventory system and can stack items to improve them (which, albeit less realistic, makes collecting items a lot more fun).

Graphically, Two Worlds is up to par for what you should expect from the 360 at this point. It's not earth-shaking (even though it does look beautiful in HD), but you can still tell you're playing a 360 game. I'd say it at least matches the graphics of Oblivion, for the most part.

The audible aspect is a bit of a touchy issue for some people. Yes, the dialogue can be laughably bad at some points, but I personally view it as a welcome comic relief. It's humor seems unintentionally tongue-in-cheek. (Think of it like Mystery Science Theater 3000 or The Bard's Tale for original XBox.) Allow me to illustrate:

True Story: I'm playing Two Worlds and my character is running through the woods when he comes upon a guy standing outside a cottage. I run up to him and enter into a dialogue that goes something like this.

Man: "I have the finest horses in all of (such-and-such a place). Would you like to buy one?"

I didn't, at the time, so I exited dialogue... but accidentally pressed the button to draw my weapon (which is X, by the way. I'll never forget that now.) My character says something to the effect of "IT IS TIME TO DO BATTLE!" ...and that it was.

I tell you that to make one point the dialogue is unintentionally funny, and if you can accept that, you'll enjoy the game and segway to my next point. Your enemies are TOUGH in the begining of the game. In this instance, because it is similar to Oblivion, I will draw a comparison. Two Worlds doesn't level enemies up with you, like Oblivion does, meaning that when you're level 1 in Two Worlds, a villager will WHOOP YOU. (I got mine handed to me by the horse guy.) On the same token, once you've level up sufficiently, you can return and exact your revenge like the barbarian you are! I deffinately found this to be an improvement over Oblivion's system of leveling up enemies as you leveled up. (It felt like you were never getting anything accomplished.)

I will admit, I haven't tried the online mode yet. I'm waiting for a friend to make some money and buy the game as well. I hear it's a little buggy online, but hopefully it's only minor issues that can be worked out with updates via XBL.

Overall, my experience with the game has been positive. I think Diablo fans who would like a little more control over their character, or Oblivion fans who really wanted to just hack and slash, will really enjoy this game. It's not brimming with excitement for the first half hour or so, but if you give it a little time, it really becomes quite fun. :)

I hope my review has helped. Sorry for the less-than-formal style.

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This is truely one of the best RPGs I have played in a while. This game should go up on the wall with Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and the Dungeon Siege Series. The game puts you as a mercenary looking for his sister whom he hasn't seen in 3 years whilst the world's major factions are in an uproar looking for the fallen god of war. Like Oblivion or Mass Effect you can go off of the main quest and do whatever you want to do, if living up to the mercenary part of you is your thing you can go slaughter Orc Tribes, blast Bandits into zapor with your magic arsenal or travel the vast terrain the game can offer. The game is pretty balance, you have four major attributes governing what your skills do and a variety of skills like magic, thievery, melee combat or ranged combat. Your only restriction is level which is not really a problem until you get to the higher levels.

This game is not without errors though, if you have a 20" or smaller TV or wear glasses/contacts you will have trouble reading the text, it is probably in what would be Times New Roman size 10 (or maybe Arial) and the names have different colors which can get a little annoying. One thing that will show are the leaves, they are very blocky and look like 2D blobs of feces instead of a leaf. The blood is cartoon-like it is 3D and all but it is rendered really strange but is quite funny. There is not a great amount of voice actors but the punch-lines and phases your character mutters such as "prepare to meet death" or "drip, drip, drip...its raining" or a grunt when he jumps in water. This game runs smoothly and there is no problem with it, for that real cinametic feel you can hookup your Xbox 360 Elite to a 1080i HDTV with Verizon FiOs which is not really necessary but makes a great picture!

The combat is actually quite intricate, your enemy seems to learn as you attack. If you like jumping back a lot (hitting the B button) they will press attacks, they will chase you if you retreat and will try to unhorse you if you charge at them on a war steed. You will find you self mashing the health potion button at bigger fights and running. The medium and hard difficulties should be remaned Psychotic and Apocalyptic, it is that hard especially when you get up to higher levels. If you like button mashing something to pieces this is not your game

The levels are not hard to get unless you want to press the 100s (yes its possible) if you can get a couple million XP you can get their. You get skill points for combat achievements like killing intervals of enemies (10, 25, 100...) or picking pockets, opening locks, riding horses or casting spells.

All-in-all this is a great game, from the leveling/skill system to the great terrain that ranges from dark dungeons, to sprawling plains, dry deserts and icy mountains and in addition with the funny lines NPCs and your character make this game is very enjoyable

Honest reviews on Two Worlds Collector's Edition -Xbox 360

First off I'm going to say that I found this game to be strangely entertaining.

For the bad, this game has horrible graphics, poor frame rate, laughable voice acting...no, im serious, there were times I was rolling on the floor...very poor story. the ending was horrible nomatter if you were evil or good. control was a pain. horse was the worst by far. and the game froze at least once every time i played it. the only game ive ever played on my 360 that froze. one of the selling points that they use for this game is the changing environments without loading, i.e. walking into buildings. what they dont tell you is that the game loads at extremely inopportune times. i.e. in the middle of battles or there was this one small house that the game loaded 3 different times because i walked into different sections of the house.

This game could have been one of the best rpg games to date if the creators had actually spent a little time with the engine and story.

now, for what i found entertaining. i liked how you could upgrade your weapons and armor by adding 2 of the same type together. you can get some fairly ultimate equipment by doing this. making potions was also fun. especially when you could make them that do permanant effects to your stats. My character had over 800 strengh by doing this. Its not even a cheat. basically this games whole point seemed to be upgrading your character. i never played the game for the story or anything else. it kept me addicted and entertained by finding weapons and armor (and there are very many) and combining them to make better than i think the creators even intended.

as for the online. its nothing. i went online several different times, and never found anyone.

if you like treasure hunt games this one is fairly good, but thats all.

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This game surpasses any expectations I had. I had been devoted entirely to Fable, but this game is simply ADDICTIVE! I have developed a nasty habit of staying up sometimes all night playing this game! Usually I spend at least 5 hours solid. BUt it is never the same game twice and full of quests and challenges. I love it!!

Worms 3D Reviews

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I have grown up with the Worms game. Ok, well, more like it entered my childhood one day when my cousins brought over their Dreamcast and their new game...Worms Armageddon. We played for HOURS! I was laughing so hard I had to change pants because I wet myself, and I thought I was gonna die, as I was laughing so hard I couldn't breath. I've been playing often since. From Worms Armageddon, to Worms World Party, now to this. I was never able to play the origonal or Worms 2 (and any other before Armageddon, but I can't remember any at the moment), but I sure am glad I was introduced to this franchise. When I heard of Worms 3D, I was so excited. And finally, this morning after a gaming party, I got to play for about an hour. I am hooked. After everyone packed up their games, computers, etc. I had an urge to keep playing. I finally found a working mirror for the PC Demo, and I have just got done playing a few matches. I also plan on getting the game as soon as possiable. I am rarely pleased when my favorite 2D games go 3D, but this made a good transition. A good game, great price (A $26 launch price!?), and loads of fun...what more can you ask for! So grab your 3 friends, one controller, and a TV and get ready to laugh yourself to the Worms!

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was more then i asked for got the product almost brand new works great and the most fun i had on the GameCube since super smash bros!

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My four kids (ages 11, 9, 7, and 5) all think this game is great, including the biggest kid of them all, my husband! One of the best features is they can all play together.

Best Skinit San Francisco 49ers Microsoft Xbox 360 Wireless Controller Deals

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This is a cool little product for your favorite sports team...or maybe the one of your other half. ;-) While the decal is well sized and properly aligned for the holes it buckles a little bit around the edges where there are some arches of the remote. Other than that the actual product is pretty neat.

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Buy Xbox 360, Elite, Slim Power Pyramid Charger - Charging and Storage

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I got this to replace and old charger. Being a storage dock was an added bonus. It keeps my gaming area clean and organized. It works great and looks good too. I haven't had any problems with it. It charges the controllers fast. I never have to worry about a controller dying in the middle of a firefight now. Nothing is worse then not knowing when your battery will die. After two days of playing without charging the controller it only took about 30 minutes to get a full charge.

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this is very compact and perfectly designed.. you can place it on your video center because it looks so nice, or hide it away. charges the controls very rapidly.

Best Deals for Xbox 360, Elite, Slim Power Pyramid Charger - Charging and Storage

I had this for one week. Works fine with charge. Had a problem as it wouldn't charge one of my controllers. Then after 2 weeks, the entire charger died and doesn't charge at all now. Charging means a red light. Blue means its fully charged. Now there are no lights at all.

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This is probably the best charger for the price and the amount of controllers it charges at once. No complaints.

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This is a great product. I would buy it again if I needed more than four controllers to charge at once.

Reviews of Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X 2 - Xbox 360

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Let me first off say that I was a huge fan of the first HAWX installment and an overall huge fan of anything Clancy. I was eager to get this game because I had seen some great in-game footage of the AC-130 mission and landings were now included. Before I start telling you why this game is a disappointment let me tell you what is good about it.

1) The graphics are just as good if not better than the first HAWX. The detail of the maps are great and give you an almost there feel. The planes seem better as well. The plane graphics seem more realistic with a more war worn look that's not as clean as before.

2) It's more realistic. Even though you still have a ton of missiles available it seems the designers spent more time making it tougher to hit the target.

3) The A.I. is a lot more difficult. Gone are the days of sending out 4 missiles at a time, every map, at every threat. I only remember one map where multi-target was available and that was for ground targets.

4) New technology. You not only get to control an AC-130 but there are drones and precision guided bombs that expand the gameplay.

Now for the not-so-good parts of the game. I really like tough games, they are a challenge and make for more fun but this game almost made me snap the disc in half. Here's why.

1) Your wingmen are absolute garbage. They don't seem to do anything other than warn you of incoming missiles, as if the red warning lights, picture in picture, and warning buzzers weren't enough.

2) You will spent 90% of your time dodging missiles and 10% of your time TRYING to have a decent dog fight. The MIG-29's are great they are extremely tough to get a lock on but as soon as you get any where close to missile lock you have to break off in order to escape incoming missiles.

3) The missions are scripted. You can't pick which targets to engage like you could in the first HAWX. If you are trying to protect a ground base from tanks you'll be forced to break off and take out incoming fighters. When you attempt to kill the fighters the ground forces practically destroy the base. Once you get rid of the fighters and try to take on the ground forces again you are taken to a cut-scene or the mission ends. That's what really gets me, the enemy doesn't retreat if you overwhelm them like the first, its just over.

4) The storyline is boring. Rebel forces take over some Russian nukes, WOW that hasn't been done to death. Thankfully you can skip the load-screens after about thirty seconds.

5) This isn't that big of a deal but the game is pretty sexist. There is a female pilot who talks quite a bit throughout the campaign and she is pretty much the only source of a "team" feel. When she talks she is almost instantly told to be quite by one of your wingmen. In the end she sacrifices herself trying to take out an enemy target and the game is like, "alright she's dead who's up next?".

6) No choices of what planes or missile packages you get to fight with. You are given some really bad planes to take into combat and don't expect to play with too many US aircraft, the game is set as a world conflict so you only get to play the F-22 and Warthog in a couple missions, otherwise your Russian, French or English.

The first game was great it had creative and fun missions like protecting the President of the United States and taking on wave after wave of ground targets. This game is intense but I would say its not very fun. There seems to have been a complete lack of imagination on this one. I have only played the multiplayer a few times and it seems to be a rank up as you go system so maybe that is worth the price of the game. All I can say is the campaign is a huge let down.

ALL FEEDBACK IS APPRECIATED. THANKS AND GOOD GAMING.

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HAWX 2 puts you in the cockpit of a variety of fighters and in control of some drones in order to accomplish a variety of missions against a stiff opposition of anti-air fire and enemy aircraft. As a preface to this review, I own and enjoyed the first HAWX and I only play with the xbox controller (though I am thinking about investing in a flight stick).

HAWX 2 does some things very well. The AI aircraft in the single-player campaign are much smarter than in the first incarnation of the game. Dipping and diving and trying to lock on to enemy aircraft is the heart of HAWX 2. Moreover the backdrop of deserts, rugged mountain peaks, and other locations are beautifully done. Screaming through mountain passes at tree top levels has never looked more realistic on the 360. The take off and landing effects are also very cool (especially on aircraft carriers). The narrative cut scenes that propell the story are ok (but I don't really play for the story).

The multiplayer is tons of fun. There are co-op mission modes and team battle. Team battle is up to 4 on 4 fighter combat and has a number of customizable features. You can pick from a variety of maps (points can be scored hitting NPC targets as well as enemy players). But what I loved was that you can select an "era": korean war, vietnam conflict, cold war, modern, or open. This era selection restricts plane choices to those available during the selected conflict. Also a various realism factors can be engaged to make the multiplayer the shining area of HAWX2.

Finally the perks system is very well done. You rank up both in your experience level and with each plane. To unlock customizable loadouts, you must play with each plane. Also, as you rank up special effects that give your team brief bonuses can be unlocked (these include radar jamming, camoflage, no missile lock warning for the enemies, etc).

Some things that are exactly like HAWX 1. All the planes have a lot of missiles (sometimes 30 or 40 missiles) and machine guns even stealthy modern planes that do not have the old dog-fight standby. The "realistic" mode in multiplayer helps to correct this.

And HAWX 2 missed the mark completely in two places: 1) campaign aircraft selection & 2) "assistance off" mode. First, In trying to stick to some sort of story-plot the plane you pilot in the campaign is scripted. I did notice that the rewards for ranking up did not seem to include the great variety of planes from HAWX 1,but this may change as DLC becomes available. Secondly, The assistance off move your perspective from the standard 1st or 3rd person to a zoomed-out third person. The idea is so you can see more of the battlefield. In reality you have very little control of your plane and the camera angles are wonky so you mostly fly in circles and shoot wildly.

All-in-all, HAWX 2 is a good game for your flight combat fix. It has some shortcomings, and is not a revolutionary advance over HAWX 1, but I can see myself flying the unfriendly skies for a good number of hours.

Best Deals for Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X 2 - Xbox 360

I think it was clear when they released the game at 49.99 that they felt it wasn't a premier game. Over HAWX they improved the graphics and added a couple of neat features. The "neat features" I refer to are the ability to finally take off and land (also taxi) even on an aircraft carrier at times. The story mode isn't that great, it has nothing to do with the book (neither did HAWX for that matter). Here are my pros and cons:

Pros

-Better graphics

-Can now taxi and land aircraft

-Has more weapons to choose from

-Online is slightly better (more options)

Cons

-CANNOT CHOOSE YOUR AIRCRAFT OF PREFERENCE!!!! (I don't want to be stuck flying a mig or su during certain missions... stick me with an F16 for all I care...)

-I will say again for con #2 that I want to fly planes of my choice, not a random foreign fighter jet.

-Story lacks a bit

-They incorporated several levels similar to Call of Duty's AC130 levels. If I wanted to play that, I'd put in Call of Duty 4.

-If you play the game with an aviation stick (flight stick), you suffer in dogfights from regular controllers, especially in the assistance modes where you can "bend the laws of gravity".

Conclusion:

I went back to play HAWX 1 just to choose my aircraft and play more clarified missions after a couple of weeks of playing HAWX2. Aviation games have never reached the level of potential that I expect from them. WWII games have been done to death and modern airplane games lack in detail. Thus far HAWX1 or AC4 are your best choice. Maybe the new Ace Combat will be worth playing. I give it 3 stars just for the graphics, average gameplay, and the simple reason that they came out with a sequal.

Honest reviews on Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X 2 - Xbox 360

This came takes all the great aspects of the first and throws them out the window with no regard. Plot, graphics & animations, computer controlled enemies and allies, and game play are seriously hindered, lacking, or not thought out at all. Please, do not purchase this game or pay full price, you will be wasting hard earned money.

The plot, oh the plot. They ripped off sections of popular games such as the AC-130 gunning, attempted to do the "multiple story lines that converge" method of plot, and clearly did not put much effort in telling a coherent story. As with most Clancy games, there is an overall story line that spans from EndWar to Ghost Recon. This game I guess is taking place in an alternative reality that ignored what happened in the previous game and all other games in this universe. Not to mention complete disregard for logic, in several parts of the game your fighter is not armed with missiles for no discernible reason, aircraft carriers double as landing craft, and its an acceptable choice to sink oil tankers. So, if story isn't such an issue for you, there are more reasons to not like this.

The graphics of this game are definitely lack luster and not on par for its generation of games. In cut scenes the lips of the characters don't sync up with speech, a really, really, dumb failure. This sort of characterizes the game, it just seemed like the design group didn't care. The maps are big but the models still look like they came out of a game years ago, small details I know but when you keep crashing into fuzzy poles, it gets annoying. The use of real maps is overhyped and a gimmick at best. The scales never seem right and I'm pretty sure they just threw the models in at random. But wait, there's more!

Your computer allies clearly take the "if I stay away from danger, someone else will deal with it" approach to combat. In HAWX 1, you could tell your wingmen to cover you or go out and engage. In this game, you are almost always a wingman and the only times you are a lead is when you are by yourself. So, don't count on your allies to watch out for you or help complete objectives or support craft to fire at anything. The enemies though take full advantage of the good old lazy programmer approach of infinite ammo. You will have portions of the game where you will endless circle, trying to lock on with the guns because missiles are ineffective against what seems to be flare infused fuel in your target's engine. The game's story was clearly balanced for multiplay with three of your friends (Assuming you have three friends with this game) being able to handle the vast number of enemies being thrown at you. This brings me to the last part of shortcomings.

You have no alternative control layouts, ability to change sensitives, or choice of aircraft. The game was meant to be played with a joystick. Like the mech game that required a giant $100 controller to play it properly, this game was designed for those of you who play lots of flight games and have put down the cash for a joystick. For the rest of us, deal with it. You will find yourself just flying in random loops, dodging endless missiles, and being thrown off by the very jumpy controls. Push the stick a little too hard and before you know it you are hugging a tree, hard. Then another "If it worked in the first game we shouldn't do it" moment was with the no choice of planes and loadouts. I can understand from a story point of view that Russians won't field US planes or when expecting flying CAS you won't have bombs. But by denying players the option of choosing to forgo the radar guided missiles (Good luck keeping those on target) for multi-AA missiles you just frustrate everyone. Oh and the landing/takeoff/mid-air-refuel stuff, it got old after the first time. Expect to spend minutes with the assistant thing (They also wrecked this system, its useless) trying land to end a mission. If I wanted to do those things, I would play a realistic fighter game.

Overall, this is a frustrating way to spend your time. If you're patient, more power to you. If your like me and would like the flow of the game uninterrupted by bad controls, allies, and such just play the original.

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Fantastic for all us would be sofa fighter pilots.

Great for dads and kids as there is no blood and gore which most teen onwards xbox games seem to be, just high speed and high flying fun. You get an f16 to start with so it can't be bad huh?

By the way, US ntsc format will work on UK xbox if you use HDMI connection.

Discount Doom 3 BFG Edition - Xbox 360

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List Price: $19.99
Sale Price: $18.29
Today's Bonus: 9% Off

Doom 3: BFG Edition is a HD update of Doom 3, but also includes Resurrection of Evil, The Lost Mission, the original Doom and Doom 2. You get plenty of content for your money.

I'll briefly summarize the story: You play a marine sent to Mars for security and to find a missing scientist; unfortunately for you, a gateway to Hell is broken and the facility is overrunned by demons. It has cutscenes, and some chilling audio logs which are very well done and worth listening to.

First, the game still holds up. The graphics are even better than some modern games; obviously they can't compete with the best of this generation, but it can compete with some. The gameplay and framerate are mostly smooth, although the framerate drops briefly after an autosave or load screen. The gameplay is old-school and fun but it may not be for everyone. (I.e. No cover system, no regenerative health, no aiming down your sights) It wasn't a problem for me. Load screens are a little lengthy, by the way. The technical transition of Doom 3 was great, overall.

Doom 3 is a scary game. The intro when all hell breaks loose (literally) is amazing as you hear the chilling calls for help. Plenty of jump-out scares, as well. Even with the new mounted light, the game is still scary since the battery quickly depletes and doesn't completely light up the area. Since the monsters/demons spawn so quickly and randomly, you always have to look over your shoulder which adds to the tension. Conversely, since the monsters spawn so randomly and often, you're often involved in a lot of shooting which kills the atmosphere and tension at certain times.

Overall, I've really enjoyed Doom 3: BFG Edition; this is for the fans of story driven games with amazing atmosphere. If you haven't played Doom 3 yet, if you're a big fan of Doom, or if your just looking for something scary for the season, then I highly recommend this game. If you've been spoiled by modern shooters and just can't go back, then I'd recommend waiting for a price drop or sale.

Update 11/4/12:

I've completed the original Doom 3 campaign, the Resurrection of Evil campaign, and the Lost Mission. I did not find any significant technical issues, the campaigns are 100% playable. As for the multiplayer, the online community is not active (i.e. dead); I couldn't find any online games or players, so if you wanted to play online, this game is not for you.

Approximate Playtimes (based on saves before final boss fights) -

Doom 3: 9hrs

Resurrection of Evil: 3hrs 30 min

The Lost Mission: 2hrs

TOTAL: 14 hours and 30 minutes

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I loved all the Doom games, and Doom 3 was my biggest love/hate relationship since Robin Murphy in the 8th grade, man, she was great, she had this long brown hair and...wait, the game, oh.

I've purchased this for the Xbox 360 and I'm really glad I did. Back in the day when D3 came out I had a good gaming computer that I built, but D3 gave it a real run for it's money. The lighting was bugging out my system and I had to lower the detail to play. I was also frustrated by the infamous lack of a flashlight while aiming a gun issue...I know many "purists" deride this complaint as part of the game design when in fact, it was taken out due to technical limitations of the day. The game engine couldn't handle it.

Well now you get Doom 3, with a flashlight, and looking REALLY good on my Xbox. The graphics which were state of the art for PC in 2004, now look sweet on a modern console. These graphics are better than the original console version having been upgraded for BFG edition. I don't have a 3D setup, so I can't comment on that, but the remastered 5.1 sound is GREAT through my home theater system.

Also added was a checkpoint save system. Most of these "upgrades" have been around for awhile via PC mods and if you played Doom 3 on your PC back in the day, there is little new content. There is a brand new small expansion that looks to be a much faster pace than the drawn out main story line and the earlier expansion pack. Also included is Doom and Doom II

So, if you are like me, and you rage quit Doom 3 back in the day (I'm much better now, honest) and you have the ability to return to something you once threw away, I think this is a good but expensive buy, so maybe wait.

But if you never played Doom 3, this is the game that gave Dead Space it's ideas on horror, so you should really pick it up! It's a fantastic game and killing monsters is SO much fun with the "original" BFG...and now it's more flashlighty!

Best Deals for Doom 3 BFG Edition - Xbox 360

Recently you may have picked up the re-release of Halo:CE for the 360 which not only includes a revamped look of the game with 5.1 sound, stereoscopic imagery etc but also the ability to instantly switch to the original in all it's ancient graphic glory. 343 Studios who handled the remake did a bang up job as they kept the purity of the gameplay but managed to up the graphics considerably.

Doom 3 BFG for the 360 is not in that mold. It's effectively the old PC version running on your Xbox 360. There's no real improvement in graphics over a high-end PC of the time although the inclusion of surround sound is a nice touch. Therefore do expect some muddy textures in places and low poly characters. Since there's no real increase in graphics, given the extra power of the 360, it does mean the game easily runs at 60fps which is a nice smooth thing of beauty.

The game is, as you may remember, a series of corridors with monsters that either materialize out of thin air or spring out of cupboards and shout 'boo!'. Really that's all there is. Sure there's a couple of little puzzle bits where you drop barrels into a furnace or move bridges around, but basically it's a linear trot from one area to the next with bad guys surprising you. And really that's all it needs! I'm playing through on 'Marine' difficulty and am enjoying every minute of the nostalgia the game is pouring out.

Also included are all of the update level packs and of course the original Doom 1 and 2, albeit with the latter showing a sanitized version without the satanic imagery. The earlier Dooms play as they did without the ability to jump or look up or down and it still works fine. Sound on the originals, especially the music is a little subdued but it's still the same as it was.

I do have three complaints one of which I feel is more serious than the others. Firstly you should not install the game disc if you intend to play Doom 1 or 2 as you simply cannot whilst it's installed on your HD. If you have an aging 360 then perhaps this might be a problem in terms of stress on the drive and noise, but really performance wise you don't lose anything. The second issue is in Doom 3. It autosaves at the worst possible time seemingly randomly and the action halts for about 4 seconds when it happens. There's plenty of elevators and areas with no action where the autosave would be preferable, but instead it seems to kick in when it's least appropriate. Gets quite annoying after a while. You have a manual save option at any time so a game-pausing auto save seems superfluous.

My final complaint, and it's probably the most unacceptable is the flashlight (which you can at least now have on as you fire your weapons) does not cast real-time shadows. There's lots of environmental lighting in the game, in fact there's an NPC at the beginning that you follow and his lantern casts shadows everywhere. Yet the most important light, your own, does not. Even the original Xbox version had a kludged shadow coming off the flashlight. I cannot fathom why they left this out; there's plenty of processing power left and in terms of atmosphere you lose a lot without those ominous shadows coming off your torch. A star off for that.

Other than that this is Doom 3. It's not better than Doom 3 was all those years... it's just D3 with all the trimmings on your 360 and the original 1993+ Dooms thrown in. And that's no bad thing.

Honest reviews on Doom 3 BFG Edition - Xbox 360

This was one of my favorite first person shooter games growing up. Had to upgrade my PC to be able to run this at that time. Played it again on my Xbox and it proved why it was so good. The scary effects and the story line were impeccable. The new expansion pack is a good addition.

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The game itself provided hours of fun and challenges as well as some additional episodes. I played this the original Doom and Doom 2 in the 90s and it was the number one reason for getting me hooked on video games. Really nice to play these two PC games on my XBOX 360. I really hope they make a 4th one because I want more!!

Discount Ceton InfiniTV 4 PCIe - 4-channel Internal Cable TV Tuner Card

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I was an early adopter of HTPC technology. Windows Media Center and I go all the way back to the original version in Windows XP. Since then, Windows Media Center has matured nicely in Windows 7 and is finally ready for Prime Time. Even if you're not a techy, I strongly suggest looking at this technology, especially if you're fed up with the substandard DVRs the CableCo's charge too much buck for too little bang.

DVR v1.0 used an ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner. Since there are multiple people in my house, and the ATI tuner can handle only one channel at a time, the Ceton card was a welcome upgrade for DVR v2.0. The installation and configuration is straightforward and will take about 1 hour depending on your level of expertise. Here's a rough outline of the steps you'll need to follow.

1. Pickup a CableCard from your CableCo. (They may tell you a home visit is mandatory, violating an FCC directive. Read on below.)

2. Open up the PC and insert the Ceton InfiniTV card in an empty PCIx slot.

3. Insert the CableCard into the Ceton InfiniTV slot.

4. Visit the Ceton website to install the latest drivers and firmware.

5. Connect your coax cable and reboot.

6. Start Windows Media Center and follow the setup wizards. The first wizard certifies your PC as Cable Ready. The second establishes your channel lineup. Typical configuration time is about 30 minutes.

During your journey to build the perfect HTPC, there are three possible hurdles you may encounter, which are surmountable given some time, patience, and tenacity.

1. Faulty card

2. Poor signal strength

3. Reluctance from CableCo to support CableCard technology

I experienced two of these hurdles, which I'll share with you in the hopes it will bring you to a speedier resolution.

The first card I received from Ceton had a faulty OOB (Out of Band) tuner, which has been documented on several websites devoted to Windows HTPC enthusiasts. To make matters worse, when I initially explained the issue to their tech support department, they ignored my detailed analysis of the issue and sent a canned reply requesting that I jump though a bunch of time-consuming hoops that they would have realized were unnecessary had they actually read my email. After I became more assertive regarding the situation, they apologized, and overnighted a replacement card, which has been running without issue for a month. Since Ceton is a new company, I expect missteps such as these. In the end, they did the right thing and made me a happy customer. I can now record up to 4 programs simultaneously and stream those programs to any XBOX 360 in the house or any Windows 7 PC in the world. (Try doing that with the CableCo DVR!) The recorded programs look and sound great and so does live TV. The diagnostic software is useful and well organized.

As people here and elsewhere have pointed out, the CableCo's are very reluctant to support this technology, even though the FCC has directed them to. Since they will lose substantial income from your DVR rental cancellation, the sales staff will do everything in their power to talk you out of using a CableCard. Then the technician who visits your home will most likely not understand CableCard technology and know even less about Windows Media Center. In other words... they are going to make the whole process as frustrating as humanly possible and you're pretty much on your own. For example, Comcast/xFinity insisted that they had to send out a technician (even though the FCC rules say that they must allow customer self-installs). Once the technician arrived, he had no idea how to set anything up. And to add insult to injury, they wanted to charge me for the visit!

Bottom line is: Why am I paying for an untrained technician to make a home visit that according to the FCC shouldn't be necessary in the first place?

So if your CableCo tries to bully you into submission, ask to speak with a supervisor and refer the supervisor to the rules listed below:

* CableCARD fees have to be the same for everyone, no matter which package you have.

* If your cable company allows any self installs, they must allow CableCARD self-installs.

* Cable companies must support SDV for CableCARD users -this was implied before, now it is black and white.

* By default, all new deployments must be M-Cards (unless you actually request a S-Card).

* Cable companies can include an IP interface in set-top-boxes lieu of a 1394 port.

* One way HD boxes without CableCARDs are no longer forbidden and they don't require IP interfaces.

The irony of course is that DVRs will be obsolete in 5-10 years thanks to advances in on-demand services (Internet TV in Windows Media Center, Hulu, iTunes, Netflix, etc) combined with faster broadband and cellular data speeds. But for now, despite the hurdles I described, this is truly the best DVR option out there. Yes, it's a little pricey, but the money you save in DVR rental fees will pay for the card. If you can get past possible equipment failure and your CableCo's frustrating reluctance to support technology the FCC directed them to, it's all worth it in the end.

My HTPC Specs: goo.gl/dHBKr

I give the InfiniTV 4/5 since the first card was faulty and because the repair process wasn't as smooth as it could have been.

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The Ceton 4 tuner cablecard tuner is a marvelous piece of hardware that can solve a long standing problem of how to have High Defintion Cable TV throughout your home without paying $17 a month for each cable box for each screen in each room.

First a warning, your cable provider can really turn an install into a pain if they are imcompetent, not an unusual occurence.

I had no problem installing and getting my Ceton up and running within an hour of it being delivered. I had gone to my local Comcast store earlier in the day and picked up a cablecard. My Ceton was delivered around 2 PM. I had the tuner and cablecard paired up and activated by 3 PM, the big 82" in the living room was looking good.. Wasn't long before it was working in the bedroom on the plasma, then in my den on my work PC and finally the Notebook as well.

Comcast ufortunately managed to completely farkle my account setup details when I returned the original cablecard I had been using in my Tivo a few days later... The Tivo HD is a great device which the Ceton has sent to the showers by the way.

After returning my old cablecard to the Comcast store, the rep there had through total incompetence ended up disabling my cablecard in the Ceton at the house. Drove all the way home only to find that cable TV had stopped working properly. I had to to make another tirp back to the Comcast office again to straighten out the serial number issue. I had no idea what was going on but the phone techs at Comcast support were able to see her mistake but were not allowed/empowered to fix. So back I go to the Comcast store to argue with them for awhile before they would even consider they screwed up. Even after the billing mistake was correctd (wrong cablecard serial number, a typo by the rep supposedly, makes you wonder what is the point of using the bar code scanner to check them in and out). I drove back home thinking she had corrected the information but when I got home and reinstalled the cablecard it still would not work correctly.

This whole sequence of events was so suprising as everything had been fine just 30 mintues before I left the house yesterday to return the Tivo's old cablecard. Heck the Ceton had been running several days already. The tech I now spoke to assured me getting the serial numbers fixed on the account was all I needed to get my Ceton up and running again. I hate to beat a dead horse but the customer service rep that scanned the cards with a bar code scanner so it still eludes me how she could make a mistake on the serial numbers. The only thing I can figure is that it is Comcast I was dealing with after all.

Back home again and back on the phone again, the local Comcast tech support group could not fix the next issue, a duplicate Host ID problem, one that resulted from the mistake made on cablecard serial numbers in the Comcast store, a mistake supposedly fixed. I was about to lose it. My issue had to be escalated, the local office tried but they either did not know what they were doing or lacked the empowerment to make the necessary changes, they tried by gosh, they tried. Thank goodness I have a speakerphone.

Another team took over my case and resolved the problem the next day. Pure imcompetence on the part of the employee at the Comcast store led to all that touble, arghh! Anyway, after many phone calls, a lot of driving back and forth and a lot of standing in line at the Comcast Store I was nearly at my wits end. It is probably a good thing I am not writing a review of Comcast Customer Service as it would be scathing. There are two points I am making here, cable companies just don't seem to be able to do things right and when it comes to cablecards they are sort of deer in headlights and what is so simple in theory, can be a nighmare in practice. The Ceton is great! Good luck with that cable company of yours!

Anyway, assuming your cable company doesn't make your life completely miserable, the Ceton is a great solution, especially if you have the infrastructure to fully support it. It takes a good bit of equipment besides the PC it will reside in before the Ceton's 4 tuners are going to be taken full advantage of. Whole house video is what the Ceton really offers that is new. First you need a very good cable signal going to the Ceton otherwise the picture is going to pixelate and it will ramdomaly drop channels. Ceton provides tools for you to view your signal strenght and quality. I bought one of the Motorola Broadband Distribution Amps offered here on Amazon to bring my cable signal up to snuff. You can't run splitters willy nilly, and if you are doing it right the Ceton does the job of several boxes and you shouldn't need all those splitters reducing the signal to zero.

For reference, the same signal that made my Tivo happy was not sufficient for the Ceton with the latest firmware. Give the Ceton a top flight signal and it will lock to your cable provider's programming very well. Perhaps future firmware will allow the Ceton to work with weaker less clean signals, it really needs a good line, seriously! Tivo has had years to refine their firmware so it is not surpsing that what was good enough to make the Tivo happy is not good enough for the Ceton.

So now that you have gotten a cablecard paired up in the Ceton and solved your signal strength issues...

Okay, what do I mean by infrastructure?

Well 4 tuners is a lot, and unless you are recording every program on the dial you will probably want to share some of those tuners with either other Windows 7 PCs or with some Windows Media Extenders or maybe even a healthy mix of both. You will need to be going through HDMI to your displays big or small.

I used the Ceton Network Tuner Utility to reserve two tuners for my main HTPC, one for my main desktop pc and one for my main notebook. I also have an older HP Windows Media Extender plugged in for good measure. All of them are nicely playing any and all of the channels available though my Comcast service tier. I already had cat 5 ethernet running through my house . I also have a 1gb D-link router and plenty of 1gb switches. Gigabit (1000 mbps) is the only way to go if you are steaming lots of content around your network at the same time. That stuff is really cheap these days.

What does all this give me? I pretty much have HD cable TV in every room that matters with just a single cablecard running in the Ceton. No cable boxes, no eqipment rentals, in case you don't know the first cablecard is free. I hate paying the cable company to rent anything, I even own my cable mode, bought a Motorola right here on Amazon .. and who could ever justify putting HD Cable DVRs in every room?

With the Ceton it is not only possible to have HD Cable in every room,it is practical and if you have the infrastucture you can recoup the Ceton price in 2 years easily. I confess I had all the gear needed to make this work up and running for sometime as I had the local broadcast HD channels running into every room for a couple of years now. If it was not for Comcast, the Ceton install would have been a drop in, no muss, no fuss, cakewalk of an install for me.

Since we mentioned HD Cable boxes, let me also confess I can't stand them and that is why I have been using a Tivo HD for HD cable in my living room since 2007. The Windows Media Center Interface for DVR is much better than what is in any cable company box, better in a number of ways than even the Tivo and you can add more storage for recording whenever the fancy strikes you.

I have a very new Dell Notebook with the latest wireless technology from Intel in it. It is 802.11n but with triple streams, that means it delivers speeds up to 450mbs.. what that gives you is a notebook that handles HD Cable pretty darn well over wireless. I can be out on the patio watching HD cable TV without a network cord, if I ever get a router with the features to match the Intel Nic in the Dell,I could probably stream HD cable to more wireless devices, maybe even watch HD Cable TV streamed to my neighbor's house.

Your individual results using wireless are hard to predict, every house is different and wireless routers vary in quality immensely as do wireless nics. The newest latest Netgear top of the line router, has the hardware to fully support the speed you can get with triple steams, that new technology provides for uninterrupted rock solid HD streaming in most normal environments. But, in your house and with your existing equipment, succes in streaming HD can be stated this way, in some homes with the existing wireless gear, streaming HD works just fine, in others using even fairly new gear will only drive you crazy.

So again your mileage will vary and no promises when it comes to HD TV over wireless.

Wireless HD did not work in my house before the new Dell it worked but it needs to be close to perfect or it is really annoying. I have other notebooks with older nics, I won't even bother with them for HD wireless streaming. The Intel nic in my new Dell notebook is the latest and probably the best PC notebook wireless nic in existence today. It is only now that wirless routers are starting to catch up and support the full wireless speed and bandwith of this amazing Intel Nic. So wireless HD cable can definitely be done if you have the enviroment and your gear is good enough.

The Ceton is not cheap, but nothing else will allow me to watch HD cable in a Media Center Window in one corner of the PC's monitor I am using it to type this review on. This is happening while at the very same time my wfie is watching HD Cable in the master bedroom on the plasma. Not enough HD Cable, the HTPC is also playing a basketball game on the big set in the living room. Someone else could be watching another channel on the patio with the Dell notebook and if I had another Media Center extender (I will shortly) someone else could be sinulataneouwly watching TV in yet another bedroom all from a single Ceton InfiniTV 4 installed in my HTPC.

The Ceton is also coexisting nicely with my HD Homerun dual ATSC tuner grabbing free HDTV from the rooftop antenna. Actually the two tuners (Ceton and HD Homerun) complement each other and the integration is seamless in the Media Center Guide. If the same program is available via OTA I will always watch it from the rooftop antenna, the picture is frankly better. Now that is not due to some limitation of the Ceton. It is just because the cable companies compress the signal to run more channels over the wire, they sacrifice piture quality to do this. Theorectically, there could be six different HDTV shows in action at my houese at the same time using the Ceton and HD Homerun dual ATSC tuners I have on tap. I actually have another HD Homerun sitting on the table over here. I just don't need that many tuners going at the same time.

So if you have the PCs, have the network wiring in place, verified the cable signal strength and maybe even have some Media Center Extender(s) then you can do with the Ceton what has been a practical impossiblity until now, which is HD cable TV viewed throughout your house with just a free cablecard and no cableboxes, sure you still have a cable bill but no rentals and no sluggish hot piles of iron sitting on top of your TV to curse at. Bigger houses with more rooms and more TVs, just add more Cetons and more Win 7 PCs and or Win Media Center Extenders, one Windows Media Center PC supports a bunch of Media Cetner Extenders, I think the number is like 10 extenders for each Win 7 PC. Most people are using Xbox 360s as their Media Center Extenders, the new slim ones are nice and word is the price is going to drop shortly.

If you don't want to use the Ceton at full capacity, you could choose to use the Ceton to watch and record shows for only one TV/display. But to me that is like somebody commuting all by himself to work in a big yellow school bus.

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I've had this tuner about 3 months now (wasn't on Amazon at that time), and I can say, it just works and it works well It's really what Cablecards should have done 7 years ago. Had some minor concerns about the Comcast cablecard installer, but the Ceton Diag tools even made the installation fairly painless. Running Win7 on an i3, homebuilt HTPC, and things are FINALLY the way MCE should have been years ago the card doesn't seem particularly problematic with incoming signals (I have mine sitting on a 7 way splitter but that includes an internal AMP) and my signal and SNR both look good Card is quick to tuner to other stations, and it even goes to sleep and resumes correctly (YEA!) There is a slight 30 sec pause on system resume while it seems to "sort of CC encryption stuff", but MCE displays the "spinning wheel" for a few seconds, and then your getting all the HD you want. I have this internal turner next to an analog PCI turner (Hauppage) as well as an HDHomeRun on the network Everything seems to co-exist nicely (although setting the guide up the 1st time took some effort). Finally, I was also waiting for the SD HDPrime, as I thought 4 tuners was overkill and pricy but in the end, I'm glad I have the 4th tuner and the extra $100 was worth it We now watch basically all the TV in the house on extenders, and between recording shows, we've had all 4 tuners busy several times Support has been good from Ceton (read the GB forums), and all it all, while pricey, this card is WELL WORTH IT, if you want HD in your W7MC box It's almost enough to make one forget about the pain of the OEM boxes with ATI tuners... Long awaited, and an excellent product!!

Honest reviews on Ceton InfiniTV 4 PCIe - 4-channel Internal Cable TV Tuner Card

I couldn't rate customer support because quite frankly I've never needed any customer support with this, and I've had it about 8 months. But everything else is definitely 5 stars. If you are in the market for a CableCARD tuner, this should be one of the products you consider. It might be expensive, but it's worth every penny....plus you get your money back anyway since you avoid renting a cable box or paying DVR fees. The monthly savings add up, and before you know it, this card is actually free.

Cost aside, I really enjoy not having to use the cable box the cable company has. With the InfiniTV4, I can record 4 HD cable channels at once...something my old cable box couldn't do. I can also add as much storage space as I want, so I don't have to worry about running out of space. And believe me, with 4 tuners, I am recording much more than I used to. I hardly ever watch live TV anymore. I just record everything and watch it when I want to.

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I built an HTPC four years ago. At the time, the only option to get HDTV in Windows Media Center was use an HDHomerun tuner. Yes, CableCard was available for HTPCs in 2007, but you had to purchase a system from an OEM manufacturer and it cost way too much money.

Fast forward to 2010. I was one of the first people to receive one of these cards. I must say, the only thing that hurt my experience was Comcast. Without question, this card is unbelievable! It is SIMPLE to install the card. Further, assuming you have a cable technician who has any experience, it is easy to set up in Windows Media Center.

Simply put, this card works. No, I do not get On Demand or Pay Per View (maybe if I call the cable co., but not via my remote). However, what I do get is a tuner that records 4 shows at one time without any problems.

Ceton's customer service is unparalleled. When I told them the trouble Comcast was causing, they contacted a Comcast engineer in New Jersey who fixed everything. All of this was done without question and without fail. They also have fast response times.

Yes, the card is not cheap. However, look at it as an investment. It's an investment in sanity as there are no more battles over what gets recorded. It's an investment in technology because my system can do things that a standard cable box could never accomplish.

I NEVER submit product reviews. Period. This product, however, is awesome.

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition - Xbox 360 Reviews

Customer Ratings:

You know, it's amazing that in this day and age, you can have a game with spectacular graphics and unbelievable surround sound and the game is just.... blah.

I mean, graphically Lost Planet is pretty nice. Beautiful, actually. There are some boss battles that are pretty astounding in how they are presented. There's one moment at the very beginning where a creature named Green Eye appears and the size of this thing is enough to make your jaw drop. There's also another moment when you're running across an open field getting chased by this monstrous worm thing that is an experience on its own. This is definitely a game that benefits from being played on an HDTV setup with surround sound.

But then the story kicks in and you can't deny that it makes very little sense, not to mention the fact that the hero of the story is really not an interesting character to begin with. The gameplay itself is a bit repetitive and really, the game just amounts to little more than eye and ear candy. Even when you're not on foot and riding around in the mechs, it just doesn't add up to any memorable experience.

The online portion of the game isn't enough to make you want to play it a lot, especially with games like Gears of War and Rainbow Six: Vegas out there. It's kind of stale and just not that interesting.

I'm really down the middle on this game. I'd say that it's worth a rental and then if you like it, get it. I wouldn't call this an outright purchase as it just didn't grab me the way I would've expected it to.

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This game has amazing graphics and is really a lot of fun to play. So this is not a negative review, plus I have yet to use the Xbox live component, which I have heard is impressive. However, as far as the single player mode is concerned, the game is weak on a few fronts and you might want to rent it before buying

1.) The story is really crappy lame dialogue pointless missions and undeveloped characters. The developers were going for Sci-Fi action, but the storyline comes out as Anime. The characters are completely forgettable and in most cases annoying.

2.) The missions, and there are not too many of them, are simple and Boss-oriented. They all seem to follow the same formula ascend corridor -> fight boss, climb ridge -> fight boss

3.) The game is not strategic or tactical like Gears of War or COD. This is a "run-and-gun" shooter -that is there is not much "taking cover" or flanking and a lot of running around and circle strafing bosses.

So while this game is fun, you might want to rent for the 3 reasons above. Plus you could probably play through this game in a couple of nights. If you don't intend to use the multiplayer options (online only no split screen) you might want to rent or pick it up used.

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At the time of its release, Lost Planet was arguably the most hyped game from CAPCOM since Dead Rising blew the minds of many, myself included. While it boasts a load of potential it is ruined by a horribly fiddly control system.

Thrown into a cliched revenge story on a desolate ice-covered planet, we quickly learn the importance of a well thought-out control system. Sadly, this is what makes the game so painful; if it wasn't for the controls this game would have a lot going for it. The main problem is that the right analog stick controls your direction, but if you tap it quickly you spin quickly in that direction. So if you're facing one direction and tap down, you'll turn 180 degrees. What this means though, is if you're trying to aim at something and just want to adjust your site very slightly and you just tap the right stick, you're suddenly facing a completely different direction, which makes for VERY frustrating boss fights. And the control settings aren't modifiable! At least not the problematic ones anyway.

Most of the game involves action on foot or controlling mech warrior style machines called Vital Suits which are actually pretty cool. There are different types of machines to keep things interesting. Your character also possesses a Batman style grappling hook which is pretty cool but overall the gameplay really suffers due to the controls.

The graphics are very nice, with large, explorable environments with finely detailed snow and fog. The enemies vary in their quality but typically the bosses are very detailed. There are some very nice fire and lighting effects as well so overall the graphics are really very good.

But when it really comes down to it, the controls RUIN this game. It's probably even more disappointing because you can see the games potential as well. It's like when you meet a really hot girl and you start getting along with her great and then she says she has a boyfriend.

Honest reviews on Lost Planet: Extreme Condition - Xbox 360

Lost Planet Extreme Condition is a classic run-and-gun game set on a frozen planet. This isn't a game of stealth or strategy. You see, you shoot, you move on.

There is a plot here but it's really best to ignore it. You, a young teen guy, are battling either ice monsters or other clans of pirates. Sometimes you fight both simultaneously. Missions in essence tell you "go here, kill everything".

Part of the fun is that you get to fight both on foot and inside a mech, hopping in and out whenever the whim takes you. This gives you a nice variety of weapons to choose from. Now, I have to comment that for a space-age distant planet colony, these weapons seem pretty modern times. You would think they would have progressed to laser cannons and plasma rifles as their sole weapons by now. I do like the grapple hook, though. It gave a fun, Zelda-like aspect to many of the levels.

To add to the arcadey feel, your health naturally depletes over time and the only way to stay alive is to collect replenishing energy. Silly? Perhaps. But no more silly than most other arcade games and the reasons they give for you to collect objects.

What's really impressive here is the way that large enemies seem "massive". You really get the sense that these are giant, ponderous beasts with weight and heft. The designers did a good job with enemy design and boss battles. From the small, intricate flying beasties to the larger main enemies, each creature is enjoyable to fight. Speaking of Zelda, you even get Goron-like rolling rock monsters.

But, to diverge into the storyline for a brief moment, isn't it a bit troubling that man-kind has decided to land on a super-snowy (i.e. not ideal) planet and when it found indigenous life there decided that the appropriate action was therefore to wipe it all out? Surely if we're going to be on a hostile-environment planet anyway, we could find one without current inhabitants ...

I also wish they had in-home multiplayer. Playing online on XBox Live is all fine and good, but with the relatively short built in missions, I'd really like to play co-op with a friend against them, and crank it up to super hard. That would be a ton of fun. I love playing this type of game multiplayer co-op, and for them to not even have that as an option seems a great shame.

So a nice start but I'd like to see a Lost Planet 2 with a better plotline, better weapons, and co-op play.

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I put Lost Planet: Extreme Condition on my wish list because it looked like Gears of War crossed with Robotech, featuring giant mecha and tiny soldiers battling huge monsters in a frozen environment. That's more or less what I got.

Our hero, Wayne Holden (modeled after Byung-hun Lee and voiced in English by Josh Keaton), loses his father to a giant Akrid known as Green Eye. When the archvillain of the game is chiefly known by the color his eyes, it's an indicator that perhaps the translation isn't perfect. Or to put it another way, we don't call Godzilla "Flaming Mouth."

Anyway, Wayne wakes up on the same frozen planet, rescued by the tasty purple-haired Luka (Christina Puccelli) and her aggravating little brother Rick (Justin Shenkarow). Rick's one of those characters who always wears goggles, as if they're surgically affixed to his face. He's a staple of anime, the energetic techie that tags along with the hot chick to make her more effective, since said hot chick doesn't seem to do a whole lot besides make poor fashion choices.

Yuri (Andrew Kishino), who looks like a villain, complete with narrow gaze and white hair, leads Luka and Rick. With Wayne joining their merry band, they're ready to go out into the frozen world and steal stuff.

They're Ice Pirates...sorry, I mean Snow Pirates. Well, not really they're actually the Rebels to NEVEC's Empire, battling on Hoth...

Wait, this isn't the Empire Strikes Back?

Which review is this? Lost Planet? Oh yeah, right.

Sorry, sorry, my attention wandered from the convoluted plot. It involves Wayne losing his memory, a bit of time travel, a weird glowy thing attached to his arm that powers the mecha (sorry, VIRTUAL SUITS...can't the anime community agree on a standardized term for these bloody things?), some rivalry between Luka and some other mannish-sound woman, and another bad guy (we know he's bad because he wears glasses) who wants to take...over...THE WORLD! MUAAHAHAHAHA!

This is a mech game masquerading as a third-person shooter. Wayne plods along, even when there's no snow. He stumbles when he jumps. Fortunately, he has a grappling hook that fires from his wrist and never manages to dislocate his arm. I ended up shooting the grappling hook at a lot of stationary objects and dragging Wayne along like a slower, dumber version of Spider-Man.

The other challenge is that Wayne requires heat to live. Fortunately, the Akrid provide it, which really motivates Wayne to kill them however he can. There are also huge vats of energy lying around that are just waiting to be shot up. What doesn't make nearly as much sense is why Wayne has to power up his heat energy when he's indoors. Or in a volcano. Seriously.

The Akrid are beautiful to behold. They are all weird, squiggly bug-types, each unique and varied and most of all HUGE. Lost Planet revels in the size of the landscape, throwing giant worms and massive moths at you as you struggle with poor mini-Wayne to get to a mech. Once you're in a mech, the game becomes much more fun, because you can move faster than a snail's pace and blow things up much more effectively.

The human opponents, also in mechs and on foot, are annoying and suffer from the I MUST SHOUT SOMETHING BEFORE I DIE syndrome. Every time. When you kill a lot of these guys, the slogans and rallying cries get old. The Akrid bosses, who don't speak, make up for it.

In fact, the game is all about the bosses. Each is innovative, challenging, and terrible to behold. However, Lost Planet is a game of attrition; on the longer levels it carries over the energy you collected in the beginning. Since heat energy and damage are tied together, failing to get enough energy or taking too much damage in an earlier part of the game can make a boss battle impossible. I had to restart two levels from scratch until I got it right.

But Lost Planet is addicting. I played it on hard and all of the boss battles were very close. Two of the boss fights ended with Wayne going through two mecha, a handful of grenades and a missile launcher. Now THAT'S a fun game!

Cheap Yakuza 4 - Playstation 3

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $59.95
Sale Price: $35.99
Today's Bonus: 40% Off

I had the game yesterday and punched in about 5 hours and will update as I play along. The Yakuza series brings back familiar faces along with new ones.. A Loan Shark,a crooked cop and a ex-con.. Everything almost looks the same but that does not mean it's a bad thing..New areas such as rooftops and underground malls have been added along with new store fronts and hostess bars..Pachenko Slots have been added with a mix of a couple of new games..The arcade shooter is back from part 3 in the sega arcade..The battle system is fun,granted I only been using the loan shark as that is who you start off with.. His dashing kicks and move sets are really refreshing for the series.. As you progress through the amazing storyline you will cross paths with other characters you will play later which I always found an awesome concept..The soundtrack is great barnone.. The city to me now feels more live then it ever was before. If you are in to beat em ups like streets of rage with that element of shenmue with a mix of fantastic film making I say buy this now..Other reviewers really scarred this game for no GOOD reason other then lacking time to do a review to show up for PAX..what a joke..will update when I use other characters

Quick Update: There are multiple Hostess bars. Leaderboards for various mini games including the arcade shooter. Nothing big just forgot to point out.

UPDATE: I'm taking my time with this game but really upset at the lackluster hype for this underrated gem..Reminds me of part 2..Anyway I wanted to mention a few more things but also want to mention I'm still on the loan shark(doing more adventures then missions) The beat them up and flap them back up from the floor to continue combos is great and gives you a a$$ kicking feel. Singing duets and voices for each character really makes karaoke more fun then 3 hands down..Areas hidden at first for certain characters..This is a new element for the series but works well since there are tons of new areas in general..(also once you beat the game everything is unlocked) The key radar really helps when looking for all the keys in the game. Will update again when I get more in depth with the characters..the loan shark I must say is suave just like Kazuma so I can see why they brought him back in Yakuza of the End..

FINAL UPDATE: I am near the end of the road with the main missions and plan on beating it on EX hard when I'm done.. This game will make you Laugh,Cry and anger you at times(not the game itself the bad guys) There are a few characters from the past game that are in the storyline that add to the mix..So many twists and turns people will think you are possessed with your head spinning on wth really went on in this story..I always said Part 2 was my favorite of the bunch but part 4 is creeping up behind it..I am amazed on how well a story on a video game is played out..The sub stories are fun and engaging..The music I'm pretty sure I mentioned it before outstanding,from selection screens to battles the music keeps you motivated.. I will be sad when the series finally hits the end of it's life line..Part 5 is in development and won't release until mid-late next year and for us if we do get it will be maybe 3 years from now.. A solid game,a Masterpiece really..I bought 2 copies in support..Go buy it,don't have second doubts...If you own a PS3 this game should be in your collection..

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I have never played Yakuza series from Sega before and I heard raving reviews and accolades about the series and the 4th installment of the game seems to be awesome so far. Having played about 5 hours, I am already hooked. Before starting the series, I reminisced what happened in Yakuza 1-3 and know the basic storyline so far. As the other reviewers stated, the game is a mix of beat em up, RPG, action and adventure. The cut scenes are top notch although they can get a little bit on the long side. However, the graphics are a beauty and blew me away overall. Everything feels top notch as the movements, environment all seem so real and makes you feel like you are in Tokyo.

There are so many things to do that it makes you worry something has been missed or you forgot to talk to someone. Talking to people (they have green or blue arrows on top of their heads) or even eavesdropping on people is a charming task and it gives you an insight as to what's currently going on. (I've spent 3 hours doing just this) The fighting sequences are awesome and the punches, kicks, throws and grabs are real moves and not exaggerated. You can pick up various objects around you and beat the living crap out of the bad guys. It's a stress reliever for sure after a long day at work. =)

Overall, this game gives you the importance of respect, honor, philanthropy and revenge. Akiyama, the loan shark loans money to people in exchange of volunteer work or other humanitarian actions without charging interest. As the story unfolds, it remains to be seen what happens to each character. (can't wait) I will updating this review as soon as I put more hours to it. I cannot recommend this game more, it's that GOOD! If you are skeptical, Best Buy had it for $39.99 (probably still do) when I bought mine at Game Stop trading in some old games. I have purchased Yakuza 3 given the very good reviews on Amazon and cannot wait til I play it after Yakuza 4 is over.

PROS:

+Amazing Graphics (Production value is very high)

+Cinema Quality Cutscenes

+Great Storyline (so far)

+Character customization/advancing

+Amazing environment interaction (Going in to convenience stores/restaurants/clubs etc adds to the gameplay experience)

+Great characters and fighting sequences (accomplishing missions during fights is rewarding)

+Easily worth the $60 given the hours of addictive gameplay and extras

CONS:

-Need for install on to HDD (Doesn't take that long. Be prepared to read each character's bio about 6 times at the least =)

-Slightly long cut scenes (minor issue)

LA Noire and Catherine are another top notch games that I have pre-ordered so far. Hoping for the best that they turn out like Yakuza 4.

UPDATE 3/24/2011:

This game continues to amaze me. I went through the cops chasing me sequence and that was pretty fun being able to run away from the cops and throw them off when captured from back and run away again is awesome. I was also approached by a soldier named Daigo and I had to chase his pupil down who took my office keys. Chasing after him and ramming him when in proximity also adds to the fun. In addition, you are able to throw beer bottles at him and slow him down as well. Nice! These are some of the "extra-curricular" activities incorporated in to the main gameplay in which adds to the total experience of the game.

I finally had a chance to go to a hostess bar and talk to 3 girls and depending on what you say, they either like you or they leave you and another girl replaces them (at least that's what happened to me). I got 2 business cards from the girls and am totally loving this game even more :). Some nice touches where you can help a "nerdy" (for a lack of a better term) guy score a hostess girl or even help a homeless man with a drink makes you think Sega put extra effort in to this game. Upgrading abilities by utilizing souls also gives your character more moves and learning taunts recovers your heat gauge (so you can perform special moves) quickly.

The story can get confusing at times as the cinematic sequences cross references the Ueno Clan and the other clan whom are families, but in such a way that you sometime confuse this person as Ueno and the other as the other clan member. However, this is not a big issue as just roaming around the city and beating away bad guys, gangsters, visiting Karaoke bars, Hostess Clubs, Convenience Stores, Restaurants and earning experience points by listening to people is the main thing that interests me. I must conclude and say that Sega really has outdone themselves with Yakuza 4 and hope to give their critically (and fan) acclaimed Shenmue series by Yu Suzuki a try as I hope that they re-release it for the PS3.

Best Deals for Yakuza 4 - Playstation 3

i really think sega out did themselves with this sequel. almost every aspect from 3 has been improved and expanded upon. City, NPCs, characters, voices presentation wise have been improved significantly. weather effects like rain have been added. day and night cycle. combat feels and plays alot smoother, but yes sometimes its hard to lock on but its a minor problem. the story and pacing are alot better and flows very well. playing as 4 characters back to back makes the game feel less like a grind or repetitive. each character has a unique personality and back story. i cared what happened to each character. even the Kiryu (main character of the whole series) has been improved with more insight on his back story and even more fighting techniques and attacks. one of the weak parts of 3 in my opinion of the redundant sub stories. there are less sub stories in 4 but they feel significant and not redundant. for note the game is 99% true to its original Japanese content. the only cut content are the opening song because of licensing issues, and a trivia game called Answer x Answer. barely noticeable this game is brimming with content. so go buy it now.

Honest reviews on Yakuza 4 - Playstation 3

This review is going to be quite an undertaking because frankly, I don't even know where to start but I know it'll be overly long. Perhaps you should skip it if you don't like reading a lot of text haha. I suppose I should start by saying that Yakuza 3 was the title that initiated me into the franchise after hearing vague notions of its similarities to Shenmue. I loved the 3rd installment and almost everything about it. We had a great protagonist: sometimes stoic, honorable, calm under pressure, and really just completely bad ass! So when I heard that the narrative for Yakuza 4 was going to be split between 3 other heroes, I have to admit I had my reservations.

This is one of the best video game purchases I've made in a while. I still can't decide which I like better, this or Yakuza 3. As soon as I started playing with Akiyama, I couldn't help but be reminded of some cross between Oh Dae-su from Oldboy and Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop. I believe the moment I knew I was going to love the rest of the game was the cutscene when the appropriately stereotypical mob goons got really hot-headed with him and Akiyama stayed cool-headed and retorted with smug insults. I mean how much better can you get than that? Not only does it brings us into the world of that fantasy, but with main heroes that likable and charismatic, it made me want to see the whole story through with them.

I'm just before the very final section of the game, and I can see how some of the reviews thought that Yakuza 4 had a ponderous quality to the story-telling. It didn't stop me from being engaged though. But the catalyst that makes it work so well, that makes me want to keep watching the story unfold from betrayals to reunions is the CHARACTERS and their RELATIONSHIPS. If I had to choose two things that marks the game's strength, those would be it. And those absolutely go hand in hand. The literal things that happen along the way probably wouldn't mean as much if all these people (including NPCs) had no real depth, life, or passions. Almost all the characters in this game have a personal meaningful struggle and I can't help but empathize with them. And in order to convey all that meaning, is the technical prowess portrayed throughout the in-game cut scenes. Correct me if I'm wrong, but for some reason, I don't remember the rendered faces in Yakuza 3 being as beautiful, subtle, and meticulous. I'm talking about the cut scenes with the voice acting, not the text boxes. Sega has really done something wonderful to surpass the uncanny valley. Our heroes are no longer just angry, or just happy, or just sad. There are many facial hints to their expressions that it's almost lifelike to me. The recognition of irony in Akiyama's face with a subtle smirk, the look of barely concealed savagery with Saejima. At some points, during some of the game's greatest revelations (pun intended), I was disappointed that when a character found out something extremely important, the game sometimes resorted to the text box sequences.

Much of the story plays out in Japanese melodramatic fashion...and that's a good thing! It's a pity that we have this idea that melodrama is something not to be taken seriously due to its over-the-top nature. Just because something isn't merely slice-of-life doesn't take away from the truth of what characters do and feel within the construct of the fantastical, living, breathing world Yakuza 4 gives us. And truth is much greater than being real. Realness is a confined quality, where truth can span the entire spectrum of human experience. So when a character stays behind to buy time so that someone else can escape, confesses to a 25 year old sin, and yes, gets into a fist-fight for the sake of honor and life's duty, there is a clear, strong, and palpable reason why these characters do what they do. In that way, I couldn't help but think of many other great stories that we've been blessed with: Macbeth, Hamlet, Oedipus Rex, many Kurosawa films etc. It doesn't have to fit into our world because the world of Yakuza 4 is so expressive and vibrant that it can hold all those typically "melodramatic" things.

Something else very striking to me is this "institutionalized sexism" I've been hearing about. I'm not talking about this to go on a moral rant or anything but some of it made me feel a bit uncomfortable. I don't remember feeling that way at all in Yakuza 3. In time, you'll have played through two mini-games: mini RPGs where you train young girls to be good hostesses and men to be fighters, respectively. In order to make a girl a good hostess, you have to dress them up appropriately, teach them social interaction, and cater to the club-goers' needs. It's like a rather insidious Barbie dress-up game. If you choose the option to allow them to go on a break, they talk on their cellphones like what one would think frivolous little girls would do. On the other hand, when you train a male fighter, you improve his strength, speed, and to an extent, assertiveness. The gender roles are very clear and yet it's the male NPCs in this game who usually come off very approval-seeking and lower in status while they pursue women like trophies. Let me just be clear: none of what I said is a criticism of the game, but I do think it's worth noting. Heck, western games have their own version of it, most likely to satirize it. The fact that this game calls out a real facet of Japanese culture is certainly a credit to it.

The actual gameplay is not too different from the last installment. I get bored easily with fighting games (at least 1 vs. 1 style fighting games like Soul Calibre etc.) but I never get tired of beating the crap out of punks who talk a lot of smack. I suppose what makes it all the more exciting and satisfying, particularly with the boss fights, is that from a narrative standpoint, the bad guys usually have a low expectation of you despite how bad-ass you are. They keep talking as if they can easily kill you and easily outnumber you, and all that does is make me want to fight that much harder. As far as battles among the main players, there is always such a profound mutual respect between the "good" guys and the "bad" guys, that I can't help but admire their individual appeal. Sure, the main adversaries may be twisted by our standards, but it's because they have a vision of how they see their world filtered through their own sense of justice. No two dimensional typical Yakuza bad guys here except for the henchmen which is pretty appropriate. My favorite moments in the boss battles have to be the scripted HEAT action sequences. It's so interesting to me that through a couple of well-timed on-screen guided button presses a la Shenmue or Heavy Rain, it can make you so emotionally invested in the over-the-top drama of battle. When a great punch or kick connects because you happen to hit X at just the right moment, you can't help but feel responsible for it, especially the final battles.

There's been a lot of debate regarding whether someone should start with earlier Yakuza titles if they're new to the series. In my opinion, Yakuza 4 is superior to Yakuza 3...but you should still start with Yakuza 3, or even earlier games. If I had a PS2 compatible system, I would be on those myself (except for the first one, I just can't imagine playing with dubbed English voices). The reason I say this is because much of the emotional pay-off that comes with Yakuza 4 is structured upon the journey you take with Kiryu in the earlier games. You have a greater appreciation for his struggles, as well as his relationships with the likes of Majima, Daigo, and particularly Hamazaki. Sure, for the sake of convenience there are recaps of the first three games and while I appreciate Sega putting those in for newcomers, I imagine it just wouldn't be the same as playing through Yakuza 1-3, or at least 3. When you finally get to the orphanage, you can't help but identify emotionally to what that place means for you considering that in Yakuza 3 you spend a lot of time there. I sort of equate it to watching a show like LOST starting from season 2 or 3. Yeah, I mean you can do it and have your friends recap the particulars of the first season, but it's just not the same satisfying feeling of going through so much history with familiar faces over the course of four games.

That you only spend a fraction of the game playing as Kiryu shouldn't detract you from the game. If anything, it makes it all the more satisfying to reunite with him when you finally get to play as him. Anyway, I realize this is long and probably didn't talk about things in length such as gameplay, sound, etc. but you need to pick this game up. This is one of those games that I would probably tell people is more like an "experience" that you need to have. And when you finally beat this game, you get a trophy aptly called "Thank You". When game creators are gracious toward their fans (like MGS4, Uncharted 2, and now this), it really shows throughout the entire experience. I literally felt like I spent a whole week in bustling Tokyo (Kamurocho).

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I'm going to beat this game before I elaborate on some of the more technical points (which are all excellent, particularly the ambient sound and voice acting). I can't bring myself to beat it before I complete most of the sub-stories. I know there's a premium adventure once you beat the game but I know like the last one, I won't go back to it once the main story is finished.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Yakuza 4 - Playstation 3

You either like this series or you dont. If you do, you're gonna love Y4-

Here's why:

Panty-thiefs falling from rooftops to opera music and visions of bras

Hobos put your enemies into half-nelsons

Kidnappers enraptured by fishnet stalkings

Tough Yakuza signing soft ballads

Dont know wtf I'm talking about? Ya, exactly, welcome to Yakuza 4-

This game is nuts, you just walk around and beat the tar outta people, in between beatdowns, there are tons and tons of side stories, collection quests, revelations and .

Seems like everything is here too: All the games, all the hostess quests, all the quirky sideshops, the japanese culture, tons and tons of side stories.

I've put in about 16hrs and I'm like 3.99% done...unreal. There is SO freakin much to do in this game it's crazy.

The upgrade system has changed a little, you now get the 'soul points' per level that you can use or save for the moves/abilities that require 3+ soul points.

And with more 3 new characters to play come new fighting moves, and the heat moves are nastier than ever.

I probably only have so little completed cause all I do is run around looking to unleash these moves on these guys who dont like the way I just walked by them.

Another to mention are the cutscenes. They're kinda deep. Some of the things they talk about arent about the game at all but about life, social issues, economic issues, political stuff...I'm not a cutscene kinda guy but I've always enjoyed the ones in Yakuza for whatever reason.

There is one major problem I've encountered with this game...your first fight in Okinawa. It could just be a mental thing but after 8 tries I couldnt do it and refused to lower the difficulty lol.

In closing, this is how a sequel should be made:

A familiar setting but with more content and new features added in with the old.

The safest pre-order I've placed in years.