Rock Band 3 Wireless Fender Mustang PRO-Guitar Controller for Xbox Review

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I have been a drummer for about 14 years. I have been around guitars most of my life, but never really felt like learning one, mainly cause hitting drums seemed easier to me. I got this controller about a week ago and I have already learned 5 songs on expert. If you are not very good with rockband/guitarhero guitars, but still love the game for singing or drums, this may be for you. I can't play a single song on the 5 button guitar controller on the expert difficulty setting. But in a week I can play 5 songs, easy songs, but full songs.

SIZE - This this is slightly bigger than a 5 button guitar, but weight wise feels the same.

QUALITY -I haven't had any problems with a button not responding and the strings are steel coated with nylon, which seem like cheap plastic from the sound they give off. But they are durable, they just sound like plastic. I don't mind this because they are infinitely quieter than uncoated strings. But make no mistake, this IS a plastic guitar controller.

NEW features -With songs that have Pro guitar/bass charting you can practice the song like normal. But there is a new trainer unique to each song under the "learn to play song" section. Here the song is broken down to its basic components. For example the song "The Hardest button to Button" only had 3 components. You practice these components as you would a beat or fill in the drum trainer. Once you master the components you go to practice song and place them where they go and bahdabingbahdaboom you now know a song.

CONS -None that I have noticed so far. But I am not too familiar with guitars so I may never notice. A friend of mine that came by to give it a shred said that with strings you can feel which string you are on easier cause on a "real" guitar the strings are different thicknesses. On this its just 17 frets of buttons, all the same size. (thickness, not width) But he loved this anyway, cause he learned to play a song he likes and has never tried to play before.

If anyone has a specific question about this, or even about the software (the game rockband) just ask here and i will answer asap. :)

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First off let me just get this out of the way. I did not purchase this from Amazon, I purchased it from Gameshark.com and have had it for about 2 weeks now.

I was incredibly skeptical about this guitar when I first heard about it. "A plastic six string guitar? How's that supposed to work?" However, I heard nothing but good things about this guitar over at the Rock Band forums so I knew I had to actually try this for myself. So essentially this is a plastic guitar that has 102 buttons that is supposed to mimic a 6-stringed, 17 fretted guitar. The neck has numbers on each edge by the 3rd fret,the 5th fret, and so-on, similar to real guitar so you have a guide to where which numbered fret is where. As far as the rest of the buttons are concerned, you have the A, B, X, and Y buttons on the right side of the pick guard, and you have your start, back and guide buttons on the left side of the pick guard. If you are left handed like me, this layout is unfortunately terrible because instead of the buttons being located directly below the strings where they're easy to reach, they are instead located under your arm pit essentially. This isn't a big deal, but it's incredibly annoying if you're a south paw. One of my absolute favorite features of this guitar is how you can disassemble it into three pieces. You can easily pull the entire neck out of the body of the guitar, and you can also easily take the head stock off of the neck, unlike the RB3 Stratocaster where trying to remove the head stock is a chore.

Now down to playing the guitar. Like I said before it has six plastic strings that are all the same gauge or thickness, which is different from a real guitar of course, but I'm glad that they took this route so us leftys could try pro mode. This unfortunately is a bit of a problem, because on a real guitar you can tell what string you're playing by feeling how thick it is, but now since both the strings and the buttons are all the same gauge, it's harder to tell what you're playing without looking at the guitar. Another thing that's lost in translation with this guitar is the lack of vibration from the strings. Again, when playing a real guitar whenever you pluck a string it vibrates and you can tell if you're putting your finger on the right string on the fret board based on the vibration. Since this obviously can't happen with this plastic guitar, unavoidably there will be situations where you'll have your finger on the right button, but you'll be plucking the wrong string. This isn't a deal breaker, but it can cause some confusion. And now for my last little gripe about playing this guitar, the strumming. This may vary from person to person, but I find that trying to strum a string quickly can be quite difficult when done continuously. On a real guitar, yes I'm a broken record, when strumming a string quickly you usually only graze the string when you play it, but this technique won't work particularly well on the Mustang since it's wont pick up light strums most of the time.

At the end of the day, the Mustang is a really fun peripheral to use. It's awfully similar to a real guitar, and it's incredibly fun to use. I really wish this guitar wasn't so darn expensive though. $150 seems awfully steep for a plastic guitar, but it does have over 100 buttons so I suppose it's pretty expensive to make. If you have any desire to learn guitar or bass, then this is easily one of the most entertaining ways to do so. I know Madcatz has a pretty bad reputation when it comes to their products, but this guitar is a quality item. I will definitely update this review if anything goes wrong with it however.

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First and foremost, the guitar does appear to work as advertised, however I bought it about a week ago and will be sending back tomorrow. I am familar with playing the guitar (not tons of experience, but can play a hadful of tunes) so I figured this would be a good way to enjoy Rock Band 3 and get some practice in at the same time.

I didn't realize just how much the fact that the strings at the bottom and the fret buttons were all the same size would throw me off. All of the strings are the same thickness/size (probably so they'll stay strong and won't break since there doesn't appear to be a way to change them), and this makes playing while staring at the TV extrememly difficult. Every string and button feels exactly the same, so it's difficult to play by feel.

Also, the guitar seems a lot heavier in the neck, and this kind of threw the balance off whenever I would play. Make sense due to the amount of wiring / etc. that i am sure is in the neck, but still pretty annoying.

I'm not saying that someone who kept trying couldn't maybe get used to it, but at this price why risk it? I'll be buying the actual guitar when it comes out later this year since this didn't work out. I felt bad about giving it two stars since it works as it should, etc. but two stars means "I don't like it" and that's the best description I would give it really. While it is an interesting idea, I can't see any reason to recommend this over the actual guitar Fender will be putting out later this year, especially after having used this one.

Honest reviews on Rock Band 3 Wireless Fender Mustang PRO-Guitar Controller for Xbox

I was a bit worried when I heard that Madcatz was doing the hardware for this RB3 Pro Guitar. Although Madcatz has improved their hardware over the years, I knew this pro guitar needed to be solid and with this many buttons, it had to have good quality.

Well the quality is very good overall and the body, buttons, and strings have a solid feel. The one area where the design is a bit weak is in the knobs that hold the strap, especially the one you screw is directly in the seem of the body and can easily push apart the seem of the guitar and not lock tight. To fix this, I just used a helping of Duco Cement. Now this means that I can no flip the strap to the lefty side but I can live with that and I don't have to worry about this knob popping out.

I also had to screw in a few of the top screws of the body (this was why the knob did not fit right) because it seemed one of the body screws was not fully seated. But I suspect this manufacturing glitch may not be that common.

Other than that, the guitar feels very solid for a plastic game controller. Much more solid and polished feel than I would have expected. Sure its an expensive game controller but its fairly complex piece of hardware and they did a very good job with making the buttons, neck, etc all feel like a guitar. Lighter and not quite as big as a guitar, but the fret distances are pretty much spot on.

One thing to note is that this guitar can be used in standard guitar modes and thats a good way to get a feel for the different fret spacing but the main purpose of this guitar is using pro mode to learn guitar. If you just want to play Rock Band with the best standard controller, this is not it. This guitar is for pro-mode and pro-mode has a much steeper learning curve than the standard Rock Band game. And for that purpose, this guitar delivers!

Pro-mode is very well done with great pacing where you go from learning basic notes and slowly advance to learning cords etc. And although they do not use tab for the notation, they have come up with a notation that is similar to tab but work well with the highway display and fast scrolling that will come with playing songs. I still think it would have bee nice to include a full tab mode but my guess is they tried that and found the new notation to work best.

So, although you will not learn tab reading skills, you will learn the chord names and shapes needed to play all the RB3 pro mode songs and that is impressive. Honestly, the pro mode trainers are much more complete than I would have thought. They really spent some time putting this together. Also, when you miss a chord, it can automatically stop the song, show you the correct fingering, and let you get it before you continue. It works very well and if you don't like it, you can turn it off.

Back to the hardware... Right now, I give it 5 stars because it just works. Now, for those that play guitar, you will quickly find issues here because, and this needs to be clear, this is not a guitar. Its a guitar trainer. It has some very basic differences that make some things hard to transition from real guitar to this trainer. First and most obvious is the lack of strings on the neck. What is the effect here? Well, you don't have the same feel for the string/fret so its a bit of a different feel as far as the coordination of your hands on the strings and pairing that up to the fret that pairs up with that string. But, since a real guitar give you more feedback, it may be easier to transition TO A REAL GUITAR, then FROM A REAL GUITAR. Which is sort of the whole point of a guitar training. So, if already know how to play a real guitar and you don't want re-learn a trainer, you should probably wait for the Fender Squier ($250-$350) to come out. But if you are just learning guitar, this makes one impressive trainer.

The only remaining question is how well the hardware hold up after months of use. So far, it feels like it will hold up well. But that is nearly impossible to predict. So, come back here in a few months and see if the review change. But for right now, this thing is a great guitar trainer.

UPDATE: I have since upgraded to Rocksmith for learning real guitar. At the time I did this review, RB pro-mode was the best choice. But today, I have to say that getting an inexpensive guitar and getting Rocksmith is a much better option. It does not change my review or score but I will say that I will not go back to Rockband Pro mode because I feel that Rocksmith has nailed the real-guitar trainer.

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One of the three greatest inventions in the history of human kind....that greatly contributed to insomnia. Here they are..

1. Thomas Alva Edison invented the light bulb.

2. Microsoft (or who ever who sold it to them) invented the Kinect and Harmonix made Dance Central game for it.

3. Harmonix (once again) invented Pro Guitar for rockband 3.

Mustang Pro guitar is good. I mean really good. I mean really really good.

To start this review with.. I'm a beginning guitar player. I'm was studying the 4th stage of a 6 stage lesson DVD set (Metal Method by Doug Marks: he is great BTW) when I got the Mustang Pro guitar. Anyway long story short; I'm not a good guitar player at all.

*Can it teach you to play real guitar? Hex yeah!!

**Does the Mustang pro guitar simulate a real guitar? IMHO better!!

*First I did the first two of the training sessions with Mustang Pro. And then I picked up a real guitar while my wife tried the same training sessions with the Mustang Pro. On the real guitar I was able to easily play the same in the electric guitar with the practice I got from the mustang Pro. AND it sounds awesome sound coming out through the guitar amp when it blends with the sound track of the game. 'Hey, that sounds v-e-r-y good' were my wife's exact words.

**I have read comments about people talking about the guitar feeling light to; strings are same thickness to; buttons being the same thickness to; there is no correlation between buttons and the strings you strum. In my experience none of this is the case. I cannot feel the thickness of the strings with the pick anyway (duh.) What I am learning from this is the skill to approximate the distance between the strings without looking. With practice able to do this better and better. Same goes for the buttons. My finger beginning to remember where they need to move to press for each note. This is a skill I can take directly to the real guitar. The buttons work very well, interestingly even for slides.

So why did I say in someway the pro guitar is better than a real guitar... There is something more satisfying about picking these strings with the pick than picking real metal strings. I threw out the picks that came with it and got Dunlop standard thickness Nylon picks. When picking the strings with those picks the strings almost feel like these strings are rubber not plastic. It's a good feeling .. u'll know what I mean once you get one yourself [UPDATE A DAY LATER: I had only played single notes and power chords when I wrote this. Later I played major chords and the strings get pretty loud when doing that. No big deal though.] As far as the construction of the guitar goes it's sturdy enough and you forget about the guitar once you get immersed in the game. Maybe wish the body was bigger like a real guitar so I could rest the elbow of the strumming arm on it when sitting down.

The reason learning with this is better than learning with an actual guitar is... you ALAWAYS have a backing track and a cool note highway showing where to play.

I can write this review into pages but I would cut it short.. because I myself dislike reading long reviews.

-If you want to learn guitar buy this.

-If you want to teach your kids guitar buy them this.

-If you don't have the time, patience or interest to learn don't buy this

I did notice one thing...in most of the trainings it tells you where which finger to put on which fret. On two trainings it did not tell me where how to move down the frets . For example it was wanting me to play 5th, 7th and 8th frets and to play the 5th string with my index finger. Suddenly it wants me to play the 9th fret but does not tell me which finger to use. So I'm confused whether to move my hand all the way down and play with the index or stretch my pinky to play the 9th fret (this was a base line by the way. ) I wish there was an option where I could watch a video of a hand playing that piece if I wanted to . That's about all I can nit pick about. I would figure this out or ask somebody who knows... so no big deal.

TEN stars. Harmonix, come here so I can give you a kiss.

Grand Theft Auto Double Pack Reviews

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I love the games Vice City is freaking awesome. I am not a big fan of GTA 3. A lot of people love GTA 3, so don't think you wont like the game, it is just my personal opinion. Which in the world we live in means nothing. You will enjoy these games as I have and will continue to enjoy. Peace, Love, and No Drugs.

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Review of NHL 10 - Xbox 360

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That title sounds like hyperbole, but it's true from my perspective. I love sports video games and hockey most of all, and I thought NHL 09 was the best hockey game ever...until NHL 10 came around. I have probably played hundreds of hours of NHL 09 over the past year, and this game does an excellent job of taking everything that was good about that game and making it even better. I don't see myself getting sick of it anytime soon.

As a caveat, I do not play online. This is a review based on my single-player experience, which is my preferred way to play.

While the changes in NHL 10 are in large part subtle refinements of NHL 09, this isn't just a roster update. The "Be a GM" mode formerly franchise mode has been completely overhauled to give you GM-specific challenges and rewards as you play through the seasons. A few other new game modes single playoff and single season modes, basically have been added as well.

The main improvements in my opinion are found in the on-ice gameplay, which has been enriched by the ability to control the aim on passes, board play, the new fighting engine, scuffles after the whistle, better goalie animations, and better AI. The game experience is completely customizable and there are slider pre-sets for arcade-like, simulation-like, and intermediate gameplay (intermediate is the default).

Professional reviews will be able to tell you a lot more about this game than I will, so let me just say that everything you love about NHL 09 has only been improved. It's rare to see an EA Sports development team that really delivers and works hard year-after-year, and this team does exactly that. You can tell that there is a real passion and desire among the developers to make the best hockey game possible. They did it last year, and they did it again.

I have not encountered the AI problems that the other reviewer did in playing this game in single-player mode. Perhaps I am just used to the way the game plays, or perhaps that reviewer needs to explore the create a play option to get better performance from his AI teammates.

If you like hockey, buy this game. If you love sports games (and don't HATE hockey), buy this game. I've been let down by EA Sports many, many times in the past (most recently with Madden 10). This game is nothing short of triumphant.

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nothing in this game has changed to much..only real different game play is fighting along the boards for the puck, (which you dont use to to much) and an actual fighting system which had many people scratching there heads in NHL 09 on how to fight. other then that gameplays seems about the same, i noticed shots from the point give more realistic chances for rebound goals then in 09.

another really great upgrade is the GM mode. wow...this almost gets complex. players have trade values, buyouts, teams have rumors of whos on the chopping block, you can put 3 players you want traded into the rumor mill, you can tell other teams what your looking for ex. offensive defense athelitic or draft picks.

its such an upgrade over last years, your general manager actually has a reputation,

anyway this is a good game, my review kinda rambled and went on longer then i wanted but if your a fan of the NHL EA series i would suggest buying this, no turn offs that i can see nothing drastic has changed. enjoy

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NHL 10 is a fantastic game, and it's amazing to see how far hockey games have come over the years. The gameplay and controls take a bit of time to get used to, but once you do the NHL10 experience really is a lot of fun. The graphics are great, there are tons of teams to choose from, and the whole experience is a decent step forward from NHL 09.

One of the major gameplay upgrades I've noticed is that in NHL 09 interference penalties in front of your opponent's net were very common. Since 'check' and 'shoot' are both mapped to the right analog stick, if you were positioned in front of your opponent's goal trying to jam the puck in you would often end up getting an interference penalty for shoving a guy off the puck. This was VERY frustrating, but thankfully the problem is solved in NHL 10.

I play a decent amount of games online with one of my buddies, and it works great except for one situation. When we play in person, we like to play with the two of us against one CPU-controlled team. Unfortunately this isn't possible online. You can play against each other, or against another team of humans but there is no way to team up cooperatively against a CPU-controlled team. This is pretty much my biggest problem with an otherwise fantastic game.

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Let's start this review with this tip: If you ignore me and buy the game anyway, IMMEDIATELY turn off the in-game music. Thank me later.

Now, if you do have it and your game hasn't frozen by now just give it some time you've very likely noticed that some of the problems of NHL 09 still reside in NHL 10, and this iteration created a few of its own.

Offline Gameplay:

Essentially every game I play is like this: I drive the wing hard, look for someone to pass to heading to the net, don't find anyone, have to curl and pass it to the point. At the point, usually the other forwards are hanging out at the side of the net, on a smoke break and of no help when I blast a shot low for rebounds. Playing that way for a few games is as dull as reading this paragraph again. Go ahead, try it.

There's a double standard to this game. The defense AI (on superstar, anyway) is always covering my guys and it's not simple to get a pass through, whereas my defensive AI leaves people alone in front of the net. My offensive AI is rarely near the net, there AI is ALWAYS near the net (regardless of settings--the best I've found is to choose collapse).

The best setting I can come up with is crash the net and full attack, and even with this they are not as aggressive as the opponents AI.

Be A Pro Mode:

Be a Pro mode suffers from the same problem, although my impression is that your teammates were far more useful in that mode this year. In NHL 09, you had to dictate every pass and shot, otherwise you'd never get anything done in Be a Pro. However, based on more games played in this mode, it's darn near unplayable, except for as a goalie.

Let's Pause for A Second:

To reply to the user about create a play: I know all about it. And unfortunately it's a must. You have to go to these pre-assigned circles in order to get your team to do what they should do when you tell them to "crash the net." It's a problem to me when the opponent's AI does it automatically, and I have to sit around making plays and it's of little use on the rush, as your teammates are always 3-5 strides behind.

Further Gameplay Discussion:

Sometimes, for added frustration in the game, before even getting the zone, when I lead my passes as I'm heading to the blueline, my teammate AI just stops. They are letting me know they've got better things to do. Or they are afraid of the blue line?

Moving on to other problems, we have a faulty neutral zone AI. The computer will pass the puck for sometimes 1015 seconds back and forth through the neutral zone looking for a hole to open up. When they finally cross the blue line, they are apt to pass the puck indefinitely wing to D, D to wing, wing back to D, D back to wing, wing back to D unless you get out of position to attack. Once you do that, since your defense AI is lacking and likes to guard spaces instead of players, you'll get scored on with a wide open one-timer, because their forwards are always around the net. Must be nice.

Other problems, so far, include pucks sliding through my body and stick when I dive, nearly every poke check is a tripping penalty for me (solution to this is holding down the left trigger forces your player to face opposition better), and near perfect stick-lift abilities from the AI (Superstar-Normal mode).

What's "new?":

Talking about the new features: On the plus side, the board play adds a little to this game. Instead of either checking someone along the boards or sliding off, now you can pin someone for a few moments either in a fight for the puck or to keep them out of the play (don't hold on too long, or you'll get called for interference). There is a problem with this feature though, because even if you are past someone, they can still pin you to the boards. Most refer to that as a "magnet" effect, and it needs fixing (a perfect excuse for NHL 11!).

Also, on the good side, it's more enjoyable to play as a goalie, as you can now make a "spread eagle" move and a "windmill move" (stacked pads on one side, then you throw your legs in the air and stack pads on the other). Also, you don't automatically hug the posts anymore when you are pressed to either side, which was a nuisance to me last year.

So, What Should You Do?

For me, this is an online game only, as a forward, just as NHL 09 was. The EASHL (EA Sports Hockey League) is where you get to play with a character you create, along with up to 11 other people (each playing a position). So, all of the problems with the AI (not going to the net, passing in the neutral zone forever) are gone. Only to be replaced by people who really don't know where they are suppose to be if you don't join a good team -so join a good team!

My hope is that this update of NHL 09 has removed most of the cheats that were around in 09's online play (curve shot, wrap around, so on) without adding new ones of its own. Time will tell on that and I have my doubts, but what I can say immediately about online play is EA's desire to take every dollar you have will very soon turn me off as a customer. I paid for the game. Give me the whole game.

This season, EA has introduced special equipment "booster packs" you can buy for your Be a Pro player. These "booster packs" make your player better than the other people on line, by increasing your speed or other attributes. In other words, you are getting better not because you are improving (when you did well in NHL 09, you would get player cards that would let you increase your skills this is still in NHL 10) but because you paid to be better.

If You Only Have Time, Read This!:

For now, NHL 10 is fun for me only as an online game. But, as I fight against more people with these artificially better players, if this is the path EA wants to tread, I'm not sure how much longer I'll be playing.

So, should you buy NHL 10? If you are going to play this in a season mode on your own, offline, I'd say no. If you are going to play online, I say rent it, see how much fun you have, and go from there. If you don't get around to buying it, it's not as though there won't be an NHL 11 or an NHL 110 down the road. And since it looks like the NHL2K series is done for now (rumored to be no NHL2K11), it's either this or bust.

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No hockey video game seems to be as memorable as the ones I played on Sega Genesis. Still, this one is fun for a while.

Best LEGO Lord of the Rings - Xbox 360 Deals

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I never played any of the LEGO games before this, but always thought they looked like fun. They already have LEGO Star Wars, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, and Pirates of the Caribbean, so I wondered when they were going to make LEGO Lord of the Rings. Being a HUGE LOTR fan, I had to get this.

For the first 2 or 3 hours, I was a little disappointed. I think my expectations were too high due to all the hype. Some previews were saying things like "this isn't just the best LEGO game, it may be the best LOTR game" and how it was going to be open world. One person called it "Skyrim for kids". It's not the best LOTR game...it's too condensed and too simple, and it really isn't what I consider "open world". Yes you can explore off the path and you can revisit locations as you wish, but you can't go too far and you can't for example take a different route to get to Mordor than they took in the book/movies. Some areas are fairly big while others are really small. Rivendell is pretty big, while Bree is like 4 or 5 houses, then when you leave you literally turn a corner, go over a hill, and there's Weathertop.

Once I got about 5 hours in though, I cast aside my preconceived expectations and began just having a blast. The cutscenes are HILARIOUS. I've laughed out loud so many times. It's a really fun game, and addicting. I like how you actually get to play as Isildur and fight Sauron at the beginning, and fight Saruman and the balrog as Gandalf, and get to play as FREAKING TREEBEARD and just step on orcs, and as Faramir and try to take down the oliphaunts! It covers the entire story and lets you play most of the memorable scenes. The fighting is a bit on the easy side (it's kind of like Fable 2 & 3 where you can't really "die", you just lose some money every time, which could have been used for buying new and better equipment), but there are puzzles that have had me stumped. It doesn't hold your hand and show you what to do.

As of this review I'm only halfway through The Two Towers, but seeing as how I haven't been able to find many reviews online I wanted to let people know how it is. If you're a fan, get it. It's a really good game and does the source material justice. There are little easter eggs in there that only big fans would get, like how Tom Bombadil is an unlockable character, and Peter Jackson makes a cameo in Bree (eating a carrot). I'm 30-years-old btw so you don't have to be a kid to enjoy this. Just don't expect "Skyrim for kids" or "the best LOTR game ever", but it's way better than most of the tie-in games that have been coming out in the last few years. I give it a 4/5.

UPDATE: I've now finished the Story Mode. It will take you about 9-12 hours depending on if you try to collect everything, but after you finish it tells you that you're only about 30% done with the game. Now you begin Free Play Mode and can now roam freely around Middle Earth collecting things and doing sidequests. There's also at least one bonus level (that I've discovered so far) that may be the best thing in the whole game...You get to play as Sauron, and the entire map of Middle Earth is now built out of LEGOs, not just the people. It's a lot smaller than in the Story Mode though. You go around with your mace and smash Minas Tirith, Edoras, Rivendell, Lothlorian, Bree, and Hobbiton into little LEGO bricks. The Mouth of Sauron follows you around as your companion. You can send the LEGO villagers flying with your mace...and there are sheep that you can ride around on as you spread your fear. So much fun. Anyway, it's a short game, but fun. The most open area in the game is Rohan/Gondor which is all one field but much too small for Rohan AND Gondor. You can see every landmark (Edoras, Helm's Deep, Isengard, Minas Tirith, and Mordor) on the horizon no matter where you're standing.

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As a grown man in my 20's, I bought this game because I wanted something lighthearted and entertaining to play. I truly love LOTR, still own my Legos from childhood, and own several other Lego inspired video games and this game is already my favorite Lego game. For parents considering purchasing this game, be mindful that the game is intended for children 10 and up. There isn't anything vulgar or too mature for younger children, but I would say that some of the puzzles and objectives may be too advanced for a younger child to figure out on their own. However, if you willing to try the game for yourself, this could be a fun bonding experience.

What you need to know about this game:

1) Prepare to collect studs. Lego games consist of destroying objects throughout the environment to collect studs (think coins) that can be used to purchase additional characters, items (weapons, tools, etc), and unlocks that make the game easier (stud multipliers, quest finders, etc.) These characters and items can the be used during free play to access areas that were not accessible during the main narrative. Ultimately, this system adds a lot of replay value to the game, although it can be frustrating at times because it is sometimes unclear as to what character and item you need to access these areas. There is often a bit of trial and error.

2) Don't skip the cutscences. Even if you know the LOTR by heart and have seen the movies, it really is worth watching these scenes. It is nice that the the producers used the actual voices and dialogue from the films to bring this game to life, but what is particularly great about these scenes are the creative liberties they take. I couldn't help but laugh when the rings being depicted are bigger than the Lego characters' hands or to see Legolas comb Gimli's beard when he wasn't looking. Sure these things are highly ridiculous and inaccurate, but that is part of the fun of this game. Just enjoy it for what it is.

3) You can co-op with a friend, sibling, or spouse. My fiancee and I decided to join forces on this quest and really has been fun for both of us. The nice thing about working with someone else is that we can collect studs and find hidden items much faster because the environments are really large (arguably larger than any other environment in the Lego universe). The other thing about co-oping is that if we both want to go off an explore separate portions of the environments, the screen will go from a full screen (as long as we are close together) to a split screen. This is a good feature because you are not tethered to partner the whole time.

Drawbacks to the game:

1) During co-op, sometimes you'll actually damage your partner as you attack approaching enemies. There is no life penalty for "killing" your partner, but before they respawn, they drop a lot of studs you have collected that will need to be quickly recollected before they disappear. If you trying to reach "True Adventure status" on each level (basically collect enough studs to completely fill a gauge at the top of the screen) this can be problematic.

2) Split-screen can sometimes make it difficult platforming (jumping from one object to the next) because it can be hard to gauge distance and direction. If you fall off the map, you lose some studs. Although, there is an option where you can change split-screen to vertical cut through out the game which could make things easier.

3) The instruction manual for the game (provided in the game case) provides bare minimal explanation of the features of gameplay. Luckily, there are in-game instructions that appear at that bottom of the screen and statues that tell you where hidden items can be found. However, figuring out how to buy items, where to buy items, and how to get to where you need to go next can still be difficult if you haven't played a Lego game before. When stuck, you can always look up how to complete objectives online.

With all that being said, if you are a LOTR purist, then this game may not be up to your standards because it does not depict every nuisance and detail from Tolkien's tale, but if you can accept the game for what is designed to be--an entertaining way to re-experience Middle Earth--then this game is quite fun and worth owning. I am certainly glad I purchased it and I hope others will be too!

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This is a great game for anybody despite the whole LEGO feel. I'm in my 20s and I'm enjoying the game all the same. It tells the LOTR story that we all love with the dialogue from the movies and the music and all. It has a cool open world aspect where you can explore zones and do quests that I've not seen in a LEGO game before. If you enjoyed other LEGO games or are a LOTR fan you will undoubtedly enjoy this one too. Check it out.

Honest reviews on LEGO Lord of the Rings - Xbox 360

Lego has come so far with these games since they were first introduced. This one has full voice acting, great music, quests, and follows the movies very well. Great fun for the family, had my 6yr old playing with me no problem. Get it, its that good.

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I am a huge fan of LOTR so I was over the moon when this product was announced. However, I have to say that it lacks the simplicity of previous games such as Lego Batman. The open world concept is a bit challenging when you take in the epic story and characters. Essentially you play through the entire story in story mode, and then you may replay parts of the story in Free Play mode. That does feel odd since you are essentially taking other characters where they wouldn't have been in the books. But if you are enormously attached to the books, this game may bother you as it had to make changes in order to accommodate two players at all times. In order to have two players, new characters are introduced or characters may appear earlier than they would have otherwise. The story follows the movie closely, with identical voice acting.

Two of the standout parts of the game are the Ent battle, and when Sam saves Frodo in the orc castle. I enjoyed the novelty of the first, and the puzzles and humor of the latter. The game is rife with humor, a lego trademark. The earlier parts of the game are more of a visual delight, with the elf settlements and Hobbiton. I enjoyed the game much more in this earlier part, then when the landscape became pretty much the same later on. But then, Fellowship of the Ring is my favorite book of the three.

Following Golem through the swamps is one of the most annoying sections of the game, along with some of the battles (the oliphants!). Sometimes it felt like every battle was also a puzzle. Some of these are easier if you have two players, as when you play single-player, the second "player" doesn't play very effectively.

The interface is more challenging than previous games, since now you have inventory. It isn't always obvious how to access your inventory. There are many characters to choose from, and buy, but it's not always easy to figure out how to swap characters. Sometimes the character you swap goes into the player 2 spot. Some puzzles are extraordinarily annoying (certain jumping sequences especially) in a way that I don't recall from previous Lego games. And every major story scene had some annoying battle where you had to do a certain sequence of movements. After the first runthrough, one has no desire to repeat these experiences, especially if many minutes were spent trying to figure out what to do while being killed by a troll repeatedly. Once you know how to do it, there's no challenge it's just rote repetition. Ironically, it's more of a challenge than some previous lego games where battle is just button-mashing, but sometimes when a girl comes home from work, she just wants to button-mash and beat up bad guys.

The game does have lots of tips to help you on your way. There are infinite ways to achieve things. Again, this goes to the lack of simplicity that made previous Lego titles so great. The concept is that in addition to each of the characters having special powers you can also craft and acquire items that give you the ability to do things.

Definitely this game will reach a more adult audience than lego Batman, with the scope of the story and the depth of the horror. Lego of course makes it lighter and less violent than the original. I think that's why Lego chose to make the game more complex, complicated, and wide-ranging.

Overall, I will give the game three stars because unlike Lego Batman, I do not wish to replay every scene to get the maximum score and items. The massive scale and number of things to do overwhelms me, and I actually dread my son asking us to play it again. It just doesn't have the fun factor. We played Lego Batman for months. I don't see the point of playing this game for months. It's too big to appreciate the small victories along the way. it's too difficult to figure out how to replay previous levels. Overall, I just had trouble making the adjustment. Although I do play complex games on my own (like Assassin's Creed, Dragon Age, etc), when I want to play a game with my child, I don't want it to be hard for ME to figure out, because that makes it less fun for both of us.

Buy Backyard Baseball

Customer Ratings:

My child and I have long enjoyed Humongous Entertainment's (HE) "Backyard" series on the PC, especially because of the kid players: Speedy Pete Wheeler, good-natured Keisha Phillips, spunky Annie Frazier, and powerful Pablo Sanchez. The usual crew is here, along with 10 actual MLB baseball players (e.g., Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez) playing as kids. (You can also create your own player, distributing attributes such as contact and power).

There are a few differences between the Gamecube version and an earlier one we have for the personal computer. The one negative is the graphics: The characters' faces here have lost some definition and detail and tend to look like Pillsbury doughboys. This really took some getting used to, but eventually we did. There's also no random game mode: Even for a single game you have to go to the trouble of selecting individual players.

However, the Gamecube version has many excellent features. Video baseballers will probably play on a TV monitor (for many families, this is will be larger than the PC monitor), and this enhances the experience and eases eye strain. A major improvement is the ease of fielding compared to the "follow the blue dot" method used on the earlier PC game. As in the PC version, you can play a single game or an entire season, Gamecube also offers a homerun derby mode that is a lot of fun. We really enjoy season mode in which your selected players and team go through a regular season and can advance to the playoffs.The game tracks season statistics (e.g., RBI, HR, ERA, Strikeouts), which, of course, is often important to baseball fans. HE has included several great fields (including an underwater stadium that "unlocks" once you win a few games), and, as usual, you can adjust the game according to your ability. The background noise and commentary add authenticity and humor, and the sound levels can be individually changed as well. Overall, an excellent game.

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My kids and their friends used this game a lot. They had countless hours of fun playing this game. Just what we were looking for.

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What if you took Disney and mixed them with the Backyard BunchTM? Well, I wouldn't know but could you imagine if Pablo Sanchez had to face Mickey Mouse? Or Donald Duck faced-off against Pedro Martinez? How's about Chip N Dale going against Ernie Steele? Well, there's no Disney in this game, but overall, it's still about the coolest game of baseball around! That would have been nice to see a "Charmers Team" in this game, Charmers don't get enough attention! There are 9 professional players in the game along with 2 unlockable fields! This review is just an idea, it's not meant to be helpful!

Honest reviews on Backyard Baseball

Don't you wish there was a Disney Sports Baseball? If so, this is the alternative! If not, get outta here! This ain't no Disney Sports wack game, no way, this is the backyard, so close, you don't gotta leave your chair! Now let's see the game's blood, a baseball game plain and simple, right? WRONG! This ain't no 1980's Nintendo 2-D baseball, no... this is 3-D pros as kids, with the "Backyard Bunch" who play some hot baseball with crazy power-ups, Aluminum Power Bat, Under-grounder, Fire Ball and Big Freeze! ...

Review of Mafia II

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List Price: $19.99
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Back in 2007 when the first trailer for Mafia II debuted, I said to myself this looks awesome.

I played the first one and thought it was one of the best PC Games ever made, So I was looking forward to this game since it was announced. I was blown away by the demo despite it having a 12 minute time limit. It wasn't long into my Mafia II playing experience that I realized I enjoyed playing a 12 minute demo more than playing 2 hours of the actual game.

I was very disappointed in this one.

The game is set in a fictional called Empire Bay (Based heavily on 1940's-50's era New York City)Taking place after World War 2 and beginning in 1945 when The main character Vito, returns home from serving in the US Army. We are introduced to Empire Bay and the games characters. The vintage cars & Well put together oldies soundtrack add to the overall feel of the 40's and it certainly feels authentic. However This all provides a facade for a game that lacks much substance and leaves the player craving for any kind of excitement. This game reminds me of a beautiful woman, appealing and seductive at first glance, but you find she's as dumb as a bag of rocks.

Mafia II is similar to it's predecesor. The story is really the only thing that makes this game interesting but it's dense plot and predictable outcome really make it just as dull and boring as the gameplay. The voice acting is certainly one of the few postitives of the game, featuring the voices of TV stars Rick Pasqualone & Sonny Marinelli. The Cinematics really make you feel like your watching a Scorcese flick, sadly this isn't enough to mask the insipid world around the player.

The map itself isn't very big to begin with, Despite having an open world with seemingly limitless possibilities, The game feels more like a dictator forcing you to rush through the game and beat it as quickly as you can. For instance,

when Vito completes a Chapter/Mission he is always told to "go home" and "sleep" this leaves the story to proceed to the next chapter. I'm not saying it should be like GTA, But it would have been better if you could space out your story progression and do side-missions for different characters at your own leisure, rather than just go straight up the gut with the story. Perhaps 2k Czech did this purposely to hide what awful non-linear activities they have spread throughout the map

To put it blatantly there is really nothing outside the linear plot that can keep you occupied, The car customization option is a really cool feature and I'm sorry to say is perhaps the highlight of the game, allowing you to get a fresh paint job, new rims, and engine upgrade. Unless you enjoy robbing stores, Bringing stolen cars to a chop shop for money, Getting drunk or buying clothes this game is not for you.

There is no free roam save feature the game saves automatically when you advance to the next chapter, this really cripples the open world, sandbox type game I was expecting it to be. Mafia II lacks the diversity of the other mafia themed video games such as The Godfather. The Godfather allowed you to run a vast criminal empire of rackets, store fronts and prostitution rings, why wouldn't The people at 2k Czech realize that's what being in the mafia was all about and what makes the game fun and interesting. 2k Czech must not have played this game after they made it because they would realize how dull and un inspiring of a game it was, Which makes me wonder why they even delayed this game for as long as they did. It didn't improve anything. The map is consists of only 3 islands which are all clones of each other with simlar buildings, shops and streets.

If anyone played the demo, somewhere along your torturous experience in this game you'll notice the subtle differences like the bridge cincematic in the demo is not even in the game at all. I feel 2k sucker punched us and made us look like fools.

This game had alot of potential. It wasn't long into my Mafia II playing experience that I realized I enjoyed playing a 12 minute demo more than playing 2 hours of the actual game. My advice to those interested in purchasing this game, don't be decieved by the trailers, gameplay footage or what favorable reviews you may come across, This game isn't half bad however I would not reccomend buying it there is no replay value at all. It's the ultimate game designed to look good in Trailers, Posters, etc. and set us up for a high expectations and HUGE letdown. Perfect example of style lacking substance.

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Mafia 2 is a fun 3rd-person action game. It's not a GTA clone nor is it up there with Gears of War or Uncharted as far as shooting and covering go. It does however have a great story to tell with well-staged cut-scenes and some of the best graphics I've seen on a console.

As I said before the story of Mafia 2 is excellent and VERY much carries the game. You play as Vito Scalletta, a poor Italian-American in the 1940's who, after fighting in WWII, finds himself drawn into the world of crime. Every character in Mafia 2 is well developed and well voice-acted and the story plays out very dynamically (starting in WWII Italy to a prison stretch to being a mafioso on the streets on Empire Bay) but is easy to follow.

The graphics are also excellent in Mafia 2 and really bring the world to life. Snow and leaves fall, birds and cats move around on stoops and in alleys, and people go on about their daily lives while you are on a mission. The building interiors look especially good like they were taken out of an episode of 'Mad Men'. The character models are surprisingly detailed as well.

While the presentation of Mafia 2 is a wonder to behold, the gameplay is very disappointing. The controls are shaky when you're just walking around. Driving around takes some getting used to but is fun overall, same with hand-to-hand combat. Shooting and covering however is lacking: namely you can't blind-fire from cover. Normally I wouldn't mind (I mean you can't blind-fire in Mass Effect either) but when your enemies CAN blind-fire from cover and with some of them trying to rush you, gun-fights can get frustrating.

Mafia 2 is also very linear. I don't mind that there's no side-missions (which I rarely partook in games like GTA or Red Dead Redemption) but the basic story-missions almost never have alternate paths. This is a shame because there's a couple really good stealth-missions thrown into the mix that could've benefitted from non-linear solutions. In fact I think the game needed more stealth missions because I had more fun on those than the actual gun-fight and chase missions (or at least have a stealth optional solution to most missions, I mean I ASSUME the criminal underworld doesn't want this much attention drawn to itself!).

Despite my complaints Mafia 2 is still a worth-while game. It took me about 10 hours to beat which is average for a linear action game. If you love good gangster stories like I do you'll love the narrative of Mafia 2. If you're looking for a more well-polished gaming experience best to save your money.

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Story has often been a minor addition to video games. Recently it has been coming into it's own with some previous and next gen games really pushing the limits of digital storytelling. When you play Mafia 2, you'll realize you have have one example of excellent story telling in a game to tell your friends about.

The game begins with an introduction of the character you will be controlling, Vito. Vito's story begins in Italy as he is part of the US Army forces tasked with invading Sicily. In this level you will get a feel for the gameplay and be introduced to the extremely intricate character that is Vito. Over the next 10-15 hours, you will take part in a story that rivals some of the best mob movies ever made. Vito's story is so compelling that you will find yourself looking forward to the next cutscene. Your friends in the game will really tear at your heartstrings at different moments and you will really feel for the characters.

So, the story is fantastic and hits a homerun, but for most, this isn't enough. Luckily, the gameplay isn't too bad. Shooting is and movement in the game is basically what you would find in any other game out there. If you have played other third person shooters then you will feel right at home with Mafia 2.

The sound is a homerun as well. The sound of the city and characters is extremely well done. Along with the sound, the graphics are top notch in some places. Occasionally you won't be wowed by the graphics but then you will see the city skyline and your jaw will drop. It's a mixed bag but one that is perfectly capable in a game of it's caliber.

The only drawback to the game is the open world. The open world is great, it just feels empty. There's nothing to do but go in some random shops and drive around. You will spend your time in between missions driving to the next story mission and nothing much else.

All in all, Mafia 2 is a great game you should check out if you like a great story in your video games.

Honest reviews on Mafia II

I am quite the fan of GTA style games. Not just the storyline but the way the game plays as far as controls etc. This game while somewhat predictable because of who made it, is exactly the kind of game I like. The graphics are fabulous. They have a somewhat dark feel to them without actually being "dark". The missions really fall into being predictable but again, fun. The camera controls are also predictable which is a good thing. I hated Alan Wake for the reason of the camera control being absolute crap, those in this game are what I am use to and gives you the ability to really look around and watch where you're going and what's going on around you.

Edited to add that the soundtrack is simply amazing. I'm not old enough to remember music from that era so I forget that there were alot of good artists back then.

Editing a second time now that I have finished the game. Wow! The ending comes fast. I wasn't expecting it when it came. I had a feeling the mission I was on might be the final mission the way it was playing out but was still surprised. The fact that there is no free play after the final mission is bad. If you wanted to collect all the collectables in the game you'd better do it before you get sent to the Observatory. There were so many open ended things in this game that they could have expanded on but didn't.

Overall this was a fun game but not worth the $60 paid for it. This was shorter than most EP's/ports for GTA games. I've said that just to give you a reference to how short this game really is. There really is little replay value in this game. Play it once and you're done.

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there is a few things i dont like about this game such as the camera when i doors when you walk inside an apartment or sometimes other biulding the camera gets extremely close direclty over the shoulder of the character making it harder on my eyes atleast and harder to see whats around you, also there isnt much of a free mode everytime you end a mission you pretty much start another but i will say this im only on chapter 9 so maybe that changes, and i have the feeling that this game is going to be short and not as long as say GTA 4 which i hope isnt the case but like i said i have the feeling it is. that said the graphics are great and the way the have the story mode set up you see yourself having trouble putting the controller down, i like the fighting sequences in the game and the cars are pretty nice to drive . that said i would say this is a buy if you are into these type of games like i am.

Midway Arcade Treasures 2 - Xbox Reviews

Customer Ratings:

This collection of Midway arcade games includes a lot of classics that haven't seen the light of day for over a decade.

Midway's website lists the following games as appearing on the collection:

A. P. B.™

Arch Rivals™

Championship Sprint™

Cyberball 2072™

Gauntlet® II

Hard Drivin'®

Kozmik Krooz'r™

Mortal Kombat® II

Mortal Kombat® 3

NARC®

Pit Fighter™

Primal Rage®

Rampage World Tour®

Spy Hunter® II

Timber™

Total Carnage™

Wacko™

Wizard of Wor™

Xenophobe®

Xybots™

I was a little disappointed not to see the original spy hunter, or the original mortal kombat. I was also disappointed that Joust is missing from the lineup. The collection remains pretty outstanding I haven't played NARC since back in the day. So if you're old enough to be playing for nostalgia's sake, this looks to be a pretty good buy.

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THE SHORT: The ridiculously cheap price is worth spending on some of these games on their own, let alone in a double digit package. But while most of the games run great, there are some slight issues here and there that make some of these games not quite arcade-perfect.

THE LONG: I love Mortal Kombat II. Adore it. I always have, and though the SNES version was great in 1994, no console has ever had an accurate version of it. That's why this was an exciting releaseit promised arcade accurate versions of this game as well as a bunch of other good ones. And if you're just thinking about getting this now, then you didn't have to go through the debacle of having the original Mortal Kombat removed from the package and thrown onto the more cost-prohibitive MK: Deception.

So I checked out message boards and waited for the game, and once it came out and I chatted with others, I noticed a disturbing trend: no one console had a release of this collection that was entirely flawless. The PS2 supposedly had trouble with, I believe, Hard Drivin', and the Gamecube had sound problems or something. The Xbox version was supposed to be flawed in some way too, but I honestly can't remember what that was supposed to have been. All I know is that I was a devoted MKII fan to notice some fanboyish inaccuracies. I won't go into them all here, and while there aren't a lot they are noticeable: stuff like flickering shadows when a character jumps, and screams that go on past death when a character lands in the Pit, etc.

But for every thing the programmers somehow messed up, there are ten it gets right. MKII, as with all others on the disc except for the somewhat muffled MK3, has sound so crisp I'd forgotten how much better it was than past console offerings. The graphics are sharp and the colors bold, and the animation is fluid and correct to how I recall it. Nothing is left out, not even something that a great deal of players never knew about MKII: The computer fights more lazily and gets worked into patterns more easily when using controller 2. This strange, small trick, as well as others such as Shang Tsung's Sub Zero freeze/ fatality skin glitch, were emulated perfectly.

But that's the thingthere are still disappointments despite these best intentions. In making the game, someone neglected to re-map the start button. In MKII, pressing start was part of two tricksselecting a random fighter and accessing hidden character Smoke, but since pressing start in this collection brings up the main pause menu, start is rendered obsolete in-game so apparently these details are inaccessible. That's probably the biggest mistake, and while it doesn't make the package suck, it'd definitely worth mentioning.

Otherwise, the collection is pretty fine. Most of these games are well suited to the Xbox or PS2 controller's simple layout (The GC controller is absurd for the fighting games) and more importantly, the rest of the games seem about the same as I remember them in the arcade. Like with me and MKII, it would take a devoted veteran to notice any changed details that aren't egregious. More so than the original Midway Treasures, this disc has some great titles90's classics such as Narc, Primal Rage, Total Carnage, and of course MKII and 3 are on a disc that by this point costs less than twenty bucks. At that price, imperfections and all, it's hard to pass up on such a modern collection of proven greats.

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Warning, this is does *NOT* work on the Xbox 360!

I saw a recent nostalgia article on several of the games, and picked up this collection expecting to play it in emulation mode on my 360, and it does work. Now to drag the xbox out of the closet...

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Enjoyed old memories as well as creating new ones with my son. CyberBall rocks!

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Midway Arcade Treasures 2 is a sweet collection of old school arcade hit titles. The collection of arcade hits are at a very low, low cost and worth a buy for those missing games of yesterday. May people are grippin' over the loss of Mortal Kombat 1 (who cares, its packed with MKD Kollectors Edition). There are other sweet games included in this package like MK2 (my favorite 2D fighter to Street Fighter 2), MK 3, Pit Fighter and Rampage World Tour. I hope in the next collection Midway adds MK3 Ultimate and MK4, so gamers can complete the Mortal Kombat collection on there xbox's. So, get toasted and play this game at parties, happy gamin...

Review of Xbox 360 Quick Charge Kit

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List Price: $29.99
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Today's Bonus: 8% Off

This product does well, what I need. It quickly charges my battery pack, and lasts a long time.

Also the fact it's black finally matches my black controller, so I'm happy.

Anyways this is a great product and came in 24 hours with amazon prime, thanks Amazon.

Item Includes: 1 Black Rechargeable Battery Pack & Charger Itself.

If you want a Video review post in comments thanks.

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The extra battery makes this product worth it in itself but I'll write about my other opinions too. For starters, I HATE blister packaging and this product comes neatly in a box. Which is a huge plus. Did I also mention it comes with an extra battery? The charger itself has a small footprint which can easily be hidden behind other things. The main idea for something like this is to prevent you from having to use the dreaded play/charge kit and this is where it delivers. Dead battery? No problem, just swap in a new one and keep on going. Only issue comes around when you have more than one person playing and need more batteries, but those are available as well. It's an authentic Microsoft product so you'll be getting a high quality item while padding Mr. Gates' pockets nicely. The rapid charge function works well and it does manage to charge the battery in about 20 minutes. I usually keep the charger unplugged most of the time because it has quite a bit of vampire draw with nothing plugged in, which is the reason for my 4 star rating.

Overall, this is a good product that's well made and worth your money. I would recommend it any day.

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This is the real Microsoft black quick charge that I have looked everywhere for. I just got it today and it looks great with my new xbox! Works just like the old white one. Awesome product.

Honest reviews on Xbox 360 Quick Charge Kit

if there is no battery pack in it, it makes this live electricity noise (like the fence from jurassic park). it sounds dangerous and i've had 2 of them with the same problem. also if u leave a battery pack in for a week it will die and wont be able to charge again.

what i do is, unplug the ac adapter when i'm not using it. but its sort of inconvenient because sometimes i'm too lazy to plug it in so i'm left with an uncharged controller.

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This is an excellent product which charges 2-XBox 360 controller Rechargeable Battery Packs at a time. It comes with 1 battery pack, the charging unit and the power cord. We purchased 1 additional battery pack for our second controller. I love this type of charging unit as it allows the user to install the regular battery packs in the controller to continue play, while the chargeable battery packs are recharging in the Charger. We actually have two of these units for times when all four controllers are in heavy use. I highly recommend this product as being reliable and a good value. The Amazon pricing and service was excellent.

Best 250G HDD Hard Disk Drive For Microsoft Xbox 360 Slim with USB 2.0 Deals

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This hard drive was crazy easy to install (I think it took me less than a minute to put it in) and it works great. I've had it for a couple of months now and I haven't had any issues at all. It's a terrific bargain and turned my 4gb Xbox 360 slim into a 250gb xbox 360 slim. I couldn't be happier with it.

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This product is working very well. I'm really glad I got it, and at a great price and also quick delivery. Now I can play and download things that I couldn't do before.

Best Deals for 250G HDD Hard Disk Drive For Microsoft Xbox 360 Slim with USB 2.0

This is the best product that I have ever bought from amazon. At first, I was a little unsure about buying something so important from someone that I didn't know, but it is wonderful. The hard drive was simple to install (it took me about 5 seconds) and it works very well. I seriously doubt that we will use all of the space on this hard drive, but if we do then I would definitely purchase another one here. The bonus memory card reader is even better than the hard drive. I have been unable to transfer any of my pictures from the memory card in my phone to my computer unless I email them to myself one at a time. This is time consuming and very frustrating. I tried the memory card reader, and it took me about 20 seconds to transfer almost 1000 pictures! This purchase has been a lifesaver!

Review of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm - PC (Standard Edition)

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(+) The old lands of Azeroth were refined to great effect:

* Zone design and lore is more interesting

* Quest hubs are more plentiful and feel more organic, major cities and population centers were redesigned to be more practical and useful

* Phasing, cinematics, real time events, RTS segments, and guided narratives make it feel more like a modern RPG hybrid and less like a MMO

* The new game experience has been streamlined, flowing much more coherently levels 1 through 60

(+) The slight graphic updates and introduction of DirectX 11 effects make the game look far better than you might expect especially for a clearly aging engine with cartoonish art design and direction

(+) There is an absurd amount of quality solo and small-group content in the new post level 80 zones

(+/-) The class and mechanics changes, overall, were well thought out. They made the game even more accessible, early advancement more fun and rewarding, and the general gameplay more elegant. However, customization is limited and stunted. The last leg of levels, 81-85, leave you feeling like you're putting in time and gaining levels without growing in power or versatility

(-) Too much homogenization between classes, defined by role, has occurred. Class and spec combinations that once felt unique have been altered in a ham fisted way, now functioning in an essentially identical manner to others

(-) Cataclysm is short on raiding content. What's present feels uninspired and rushed many dungeon and raid bosses are copies from past expansions wrapped in new skins/assets

(-) Changes to healing mechanics have rendered the role formulaic and rote

(-) Despite the smorgasbord of content the "grind" (repetitive activities that must be performed ad naseum for reward or advancement) has been ramped up far beyond anything I ever thought I would see in a WoW expansion. This terrible design approach is pervasive, affecting everything from dungeon progression to tradeskill advancement particularly the new Archeology skill

(-) There is a gigantic gulf in difficulty between normal and "heroic", or advanced difficulty, dungeons. Many tedious mechanics are introduced, mistakes are far less forgiving, there are too many enemy abilities that kill instantly or nearly instantly, and the time required to complete a single dungeon has been extended from a sensible 20-30 minutes to an hour or longer. It's not uncommon to invest hours in a dungeon only to have the other players give up out of frustration leading to no one seeing any kind of reward or advancement for their efforts

A symptom of the poor heroic dungeon design is an ugly social atmosphere. Players quickly grow short tempered and irate. The sense of gregariousness and community is abandoned, replaced by single minded greed as players squabble over any perceived reward their hours upon hours of grinding might, on some off chance, grant them. It's a terrible and sudden shift that ruins the game and drives players away from a substantial chunk of content.

Blizzard keeps introducing changes that exacerbate the issue, rather than alleviating it. And they apparently do so to spite their customers, as feedback has been overwhelmingly negative towards all of their recent developments. As a result the heroic and raiding community has sharply declined since the launch of Cataclysm. It has been distilled down to small, unsavory cliques of elitist and socially awkward players the kind that, prior to WoW, could only have been found in the darkest corners of the grindiest and most unfun MMOs of 2000-2003.

--Conclusion ---

Cataclysm is a lot of fun for new players and those looking to experience the rebuilt world of Azeroth. Blizzard has shown that modern game design and techniques can work in MMORPGs. It's worth the cover price for the hours of quality gaming it provides to new and old players alike.

However, the wheels come off as you approach "the end game". The game transforms into a soul-sucking trial of banality and tediousness seemingly designed with cold and uncaring calculation to make players unhappy and question their enjoyment of the genre as a whole.

World of Warcraft came along in 2004 and dragged this genre out of relative obscurity, leading to hundred million dollar MMO budgets and prime time advertising campaigns. So it's ironic that here, in its twilight, Blizzard has abandoned the casual players that made it a success and transformed WoW into a ghoulish doppelganger of the MMOs it conquered long ago. Do they intend on courting the types of players that reigned over those archaic fossils of MMO past....and their insignificant subscription tallies? One can only wonder how Blizzard can do so much right in a game, just to turn around and essentially soil their own hard work.

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I played WoW for six years and loved it. I downed most raid bosses while they were still relevant, achieved very high-rank PVP (and later Arena) titles, and was even satisfied as a casual player for over a year when my work schedule was rough. Then the Cata beta came along. Over the course of nearly half a year, I dutifully tested every bit of content available and experienced more of Cata than most people have on live, even now. And I hated it so much that I permanently left the game.

---

Having participated in previous betas, I was struck by the difference in tone this time around. Developers rarely responded to constructive feedback, no concerns were ever addressed with in-game changes, and the bug reporting and suggestions feature was broken for months. The game was clearly going to go live as the developers envisioned, reality be damned.

So what did beta testers take issue with and the developers ignore?

1. Questing. The quests are fun, but mostly only the first time around as the new "on rails" design requires each zone be done in the exact same order no choices, skipping, or jumping around. Leveling is also too quick. It took longer to get from level 70 to 75, let alone 80. Even at a leisurely pace, it takes only days to get to...

2. Level 85. Cataclysm raid bosses are split between several raids, but don't be fooled Naxxramas alone featured more bosses than all Cataclysm raids combined. Cata also has the fewest at-release dungeons of any expansion thus far, profession-related quests which pale in comparison to previous expansions, and few daily hubs. You get to 85 too quickly, and then there's nothing to do besides...

3. Heroics. They are too long for too little reward. For a mandatory (for progression), daily task for the entire expansion, two hours is an outright chore (and it's often still over an hour in epics). Dailies on multiple chars + raid-prep gear grinds = recipe for boredom. But the biggest problem with heroics is...

4. Healing. Universally maligned during the beta, all five specs now have identical playstyles where one spell is spammed ad infinitum. There's some variety when raid healing, and your overall healing done per spell may vary, but one spell will dominate your time spent casting. To ensure hour-long queues, Blizzard also targeted the other vital group role...

5. Tanking. Skilland control-based mechanics have been replaced by DPS-like rotations. Tank cooldowns are now along the lines of "Reduce damage by 10% for 10 seconds" you don't even notice you've used a special ability. The changes to tanks and healers were part of a bigger problem...

6. Homogenization and loss of replay value. If you have one tanking or healing class, you have them all. The differences are superficial, and with few talent and glyph choices, even DPS classes all provide essentially the same experience. Every instance is the same, every character is the same, every day is the same the game feels like a second job instead of an escape. There was only one thing left to screw up...

7. PVP. The imbalances are worse than at any point in WoW's history, and that's saying something. Tol Barad is an unmitigated disaster, with mechanics that were so poorly thought-out that it's mind-boggling. The "new" battlegrounds are quick clones of Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin (Battle for Gilneas even displays AB node names at the start of games, to make it clear just how little work was put into it). Rated BGs are regular BGs with 90-minute queues.

---

The hype coming from Blizzard simply does not resemble the reality of the game. The talent/glyph revamp made things more cookie-cutter instead of less. Homogenization not only made the game less enjoyable, but did not help at all with balancing nearly every patch (and sometimes hotfixes, too) features massive (30-50%) buffs/nerfs.

Blizzard's greatest misstep was blaming players instead of admitting their mistakes. They've convinced half of the population that the other half are unskilled whiners, causing a permanent rift in the community. The devs are in a lose/lose situation now, as they'll lose players if they don't make changes, they'll lose players if they do make changes, and there will be caustic bitterness in the community no matter what.

After so many years and so many attempts by other companies to create a "WoW-killer," it is a hilarious irony that WoW has itself become a WoW killer.

Update (06/07/2011) I check community fan sites every so often to see what the state of the game is, and things continue to get worse. They've announced premium subscription services (paid in-game features), confirmed that every new raid tier this expansion will have around 7 bosses, and scrapped the Abyssal Maw, among other things. Cata lost 600,000 subscribers in the first three months after release. At that rate, 2.4 million subscribers will have been lost by the end of the year. But with D3, GW, SW and other games due out this year and Cata having the slowest content release schedule of any WoW expansion, 3 million (1/4 of all WoW players) is a safe estimate. Sadly, this may be the end of WoW.

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This is the Worst Xpack that blizz ever came out with! I have been playing WOW since 2005 and I never thought anything would ever make me quit. I was one of the Biggest WOW fans their ever was. I bought all the books, comics, and collectables. This Xpack is mostly like having a second Job only its less fun. You have to Grind 5 times as hard for items just to be able to raid. there is no new content most of it is revamped old content. The new dificulty level has turned the community against itself making doing anything with out a guild a very painful experiance.

The gear is horible to look at, and there is very few dailies to keep you occupied. The raids are mostly set up for the top eliete whom play the game,leaving the casual player base behind. The blizzard Dev team never listens to the player base, they even removed the suggestions tab from the forums. The things the player base have been asking for for years have been completely ignored. The Avitar models are the same since the game came out in 2004.

The game engine is the same it was in 2004, only the environment in the xpacks are new giving the illusion that the game has improved graphics. If you are a new player too the game you are going to be paying well over $100.00 to get all the xpack including this one for a game made in 2004.

The game is loaded with bugs and most of the original devs working on wow have been transfered to the new Titan MMO blizzard is working on thus making the game even more buggier. The GM`s do not pro actively police the servers allowing people to activly bot and gold farm / mat farm / honor farm for items.

The devs have completely lost touch with the community all the requests that have been asked for by long tearm veterans have been completly over looked such as more charecter slots, updated Avitar models for example.

The 2 main specs Tank and Heals have been designed in a way that makes most players fustrated to the point that they have been either shelved by players or exploited for ingame gold for runs, or the ever so popular its my way or ill boot you from the group attitude. This elietest attitude is a complete turn off for new players due to no one giving the new player a break in a dungeon its either you know what your doing or we will vote kick you.

Blizzard put alot of effort into revamping Azeroth for new players, but anyone over lvl 60 will rarely see it due to LFG que`s never having to leave the city. Not to mention that the dev team has essentially made the community an ANTI new player game. If you are a new player be prepared for a sound tongue lashing from the elitests. If you are lucky they will just vote kick you with out calling you every explitive in the book.

The thing that really agrivates me the most is when they took all of our creativity with our classes and made them all cookie cutter spec's... i mean common Actiblizzion why on earth would you take away every thing that we could call special about our classes. now its like playing tick tack toe with your self. and with pvp or as i call it PVCC there is absolutley no fun in it you are constantly frozen stunned and did i mention frozen.

Shared raid lock outs GASP now you can only chose between a 10 man or a 25 man, they only took away stuff only to take more away. And i want to pay $15.00 a month for this? really Actibliz?

There is no events during the year other then the same old holiday events that have been going on since vanella. The only really fun events are the ones that herald the new xpack that brings a reason to the new xpack. So you are spending time grinding dailys, doing the same dungeons and raids over and over and over again. There is simply no creativity comming from the devs team.

In my opinion Actiblizz is just keeping the lame horse alive long enough to have incomming revenue to fund their Titan MMORPG. there is no way any company would let a major game that millions love go this far down the toilet. Actibliz is their own worst enemy, i will never buy another game from them again.

last but not least if you are a parent avoid buying this game for your children at all costs, the community is the absolute worst cesspool of filth, and depravity that the internet has to offer. There is things that you will see, hear, and read that will make you cringe to the point that you cant beleive that someone would be that awfull. The player base almost goes out of its way to be as discourtious as they can possibly be making one wonder why the hang are they playing a multiplayer game in the first place, unless it is their intention to be there just to be mean to others with no recourse for their actions. there are a few in the game that are nice but most of them are leaving for other games.

All in all I thought that there would have been virtually nothing that would have made me quit WOW I was completly addicted to this game but this xpack was so bad it made me quit cold turkey and I never even felt bad about quiting.

BUYER BE AWARE: this xpack is the worst XPack i have ever seen. Blizzard should be ashamed of themselves for releasing this. They are a wonderful company and I have never seen them release any game this bad!

( edit 11/20/2011 ROFL @ pandas and Pokémon )

Honest reviews on World of Warcraft: Cataclysm - PC (Standard Edition)

You know, I used to love playing this game! I started playing two years ago in 2009, and wow I had waaaay too much fun! I played for ridiculous amounts of time, and there was always something to do.

When I heard that Cataclysm was going to remake the old content in this game I was so excited I couldn't contain myself. I managed to get a sneak peek at this game and do some testing in closed beta on it.

By the time the game came out I was so infuriated about everything that had changed with the game. I mean I really thought that Blizzard knew how to make games that were so good they were even addictive. What I found out was that they either lost their touch, or the talented bunch that made WoW aren't working on it any longer.

With changes like locked in talent trees up until level 71, talent points every two levels, simplified/homogenized classes, linear questing, and guild perks, and making the end game very hardcore tuned...things don't feel right.

In fact the entire game feels like its replayability has been gutted in the extreme for a faster leveling process. Sadly, I don't think Blizzard is able to keep up with its customers as it has a hard time pushing out content fast enough even with its new release method.

To me, this game has destroyed what I enjoyed about it...

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Far and away, the worst WoW expansion or concept of all time. With the release of patch 4.2 grinding has reached an absolutely shameful high. Gated upon gated content, the proverbial carrot on a stick on steroids. Most of Cataclysm's gripes have already been documented and discussed extensively so there's no need to add to it. Suffice it to say that Cataclysm is proof of WoW's steep downward slope. With other, very promising mmo's on the horizon, WoW will decline further. Good riddance.

Reviews of PSP Slim Component Cable

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Ordered this for my psp slim. Arrived a day earlier than expected. The HD cables work just fine, they put your entire psp screen on to your hd tv. This includes the homes screen, music screen, even the internet screen. One kinds draw back is that games do not fill the screen on the tv, this is NOT the cables fault, the programming fo the psp does not let it fill the screen, all other screens will fill the screen. The other thing is if you use a non hd tv, where youjusty use the yellow cable it will only display movies on your tv, nothing else, again this is not the cable, but just the prgramming of the psp. Othe rthan those two issues the cables work great.

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I like this cable for the PSP. It is cheaper than Sony's offerings and it is both a composite and a component cable. There is a switch on the cable that lets you switch between composite or component.

I have tested the video output on both a 4:3 tv and a 16:9 hdtv and it works just fine from what I can tell. If you have a lot of movies on your PSP it really adds value to your PSP because you can watch your movies on the go, or on your TV.

I also recommend the 16GB mark2 memory stick pro duo card for your PSP.

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This cable works exactly as intended. Longer than the usual cable, and a great price.

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The Component connectors do not work and I tried them on several TV's. The composite hook up did work, but I paid for both. :(

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ok this cord hooks up to my psp but it will not show a picture on tv it does have sound but thats it

PlayStation 3 GC-2 Wireless Controller Reviews

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While this controller feels great in you hand, for what it's designed to do it falls short.

As a FPS controller this thing has all the right features, turbo/macro, sensitivity settings. However the right stick has way too much dead zone for anything but left and right. As a person who prefers to be a sniper in most games this is a dealbreaker.

Go ahead try to make a tiny circle with the controller in any sensitivity setting. The controller seems to only work well in 0-45-90 degree rotations and nothing in between. Making small adjustments to my aim in games was frustrating and not worth what I spent. I went right back to my DS3 and was much more satisfied.

If the team could make the analog sticks work as well as the DS3 then it would be a great controller. However for shooters this just doesn't work.

I did however kick some ass in button mashers. (IE running games, some fighters)

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This controller fits my hands so much better than Sony's Dualshock. It has almost an Xbox 360 feel to it (whose controller I prefer) and all the buttons are very responsive and work excellently. Plus, it looks sleak.

Highly recommended.. Mass Effect Trilogy is playing WAY better with it than the Dualshock..

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I like this product, and people will especially when they convert Consoles, (WII U or Xbox to PS3) Button Mapping is flawless, very fluent, and closely compacted, as well as a flawless D-Pad that's easy to maneuver. Holding it doesn't make your hands cramp, enough space to hold it w/ both hands and is a MUST have for Xbox Controller Lovers. Controller should be more expensive, it's very nice and cheap and the material feels very nice in my hand. Only Con is the back buttons and the sensitivity on the R3. Back Buttons are Stiff and the R3 Button is sensitive, but easy to get used to after you use it. Over-all rating / 8.5 (See the Review Video here: By Cronizone)

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One of the things I dislike about the PS3 is the DualShock 3 controller, I love the Xbox 360 controller and this product has the best of both worlds, the battery lasts even longer than the DualShock's one and the controller itself is very comfortable.

The turbo feature is amazing too, I don't use it that much but it's very helpful when you have a very repetitive task in a game and you have to press the same button a lot of times, this aplies mostly to RPGs for me.

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.. the R1 button stopped working. No matter what I did, it wouldn't register when I pressed it. I much prefer the Xbox 360 shape of the controller, but if the buttons don't work then it's useless to me. I threw it out. I won't risk buying another. Such a shame too, because it felt so good in my hands. Very unfortunate.