StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

• Published by: Blizzard Entertainment
• Developed by: Blizzard Entertainment
• Genre: Real-Time Strategy
• Number of Players: 1-8
• Release Date:
  US: July 27, 2010
  Japan: July 9, 2010 
• MSRP: $59.99
• T for Teen: Blood and Gore, Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Violence
• Also Available On: Macintosh, Macintosh

My rating: 10/10 (10 out of 10)

General rating: 8.5/10 (8.5 out of 10)

Just a heads up about this game review; its going to be quite biased since I love this game and I am a big RTS and MMORPG player and I have played in several tournaments for both of these game genres. So with that in mind lets start this review.

If you've played Starcraft and the expansion Starcraft: Broodwar when they came out then first: you are old, and second: you might be a fan and thus have been waiting for this game to come out for some time. Now I know this review is coming out even though Starcraft 2 has been out for quite some time now but that doesn't change the fact that some less than die hard fans have still not bought this game and might still be "on the fence" about purchasing it.

A few things to note about Starcraft 2:

1) It requires internet connection to play (if you want achievements)

2) It requires a Battle-net account

This campaign for Starcraft 2 is a continuation of the story from Starcraft and Starcraft: Broodwar. I won't give away any spoilers since some people might not have played Starcraft and Starcraft: Broodwar and thus do not know of the epic story.

For those of you that favor the online multi-player scene then you shall not be disappointed or forgotten. Online play is huge with around 170,000 players and quite competitive with a ladder and league system. If you aren't then have no fear since Blizzard has been very creative and has a custom game option where you can play vs. the A.I. or even on a bunch of player created maps. 

Some computers might have problems running this game with its best graphics offered but others won't and will be able to experience some of the best death animations ever made. It doesn't take too much away from the gameplay though unless you are a serious graphics "Nazi". The story line for the campaign is very nice, and leaves you wanting more, but the only problem is that you only have the option to play Terrans. Apparently there are expansions that will be coming out later for Zerg and Protoss. ($$$$ for Blizzard eh?)

Pros:

1) Continuation of one of the greatest games in history

2) Great Story line

3) Great multi-player

4) Awesome custom maps and games by fellow online players 

4) Graphics are great if you computer can handle it

Cons:

1) $60 (less now) for a game is not cheap

2) Requires internet connection for achievements (there are ones for multi-player and campaign)

3) Multi-player still isn't fully balanced but everything takes time

4!) Multi-player is region locked. (If you buy a North American version then you play with other NA players, EU for EU, and Korean/Asian for Asian regions) If you want to play with other people you will have to buy more than one account. Blizzard does offer a one time region shift but after that they won't help you.

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To buy, rent, or leave on shelf?

Its a buy for me. If you played Starcraft and Starcraft: Broodwar and want to know what happens in the rest of the story then still pick it up. If you love RTS games then yes buy it, they even have a collectors edition for those die-hard fans (It comes with a bunch of stuff and I'll have price links to that and the regular version so you can see)

Best places to buy Starcraft 2:

1) Amazon.com , Newegg.com, Bestbuy.com                ($49.99)

2) Walmart                                                                             ($55.99)

3) Target, Apple Store (probably just MAC version)       ($59.99)

Best places to buy Starcraft 2: Collectors edition

*StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty Collector's Edition Features:

• The Art of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, a 176-page book featuring artwork from the game 
• An exclusive 2GB USB flash drive replica of Jim Raynor's dog tag, which comes preloaded with the original StarCraft and theStarCraft: Brood War expansion set 
• A behind-the-scenes DVD containing over an hour of developer interviews, cinematics with director's commentary, and more 
• The official StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty soundtrack CD, containing 14 epic tracks from the game along with exclusive bonus tracks
• StarCraft comic book issue #0, a prequel to the comic series 
• A World of Warcraft mini Thor in-game pet that can be applied to all World of Warcraft characters on a single Battle.net account 
• Exclusive Battle.net downloadable content, including special portraits for your Battle.net profile, decals to customize your units in-game, and a visually unique version of the terran Thor unit 

1) Bestbuy.com                ($99.99)

2) Amazon.com                ($122.99)              Base prices only

3) Ebay.com                      ($1-$200)

Local game stores versus Corporation game stores

This came up in a conversation between my friend and I last night when we started talking about where we go to buy games. 

There are some of you that don't know of anything other that corporation game stores such as Gamestop or Walmart or maybe even K-mart. These are not the only ones but they are some of the only ones that were around where I grew up.On the other side there are the Local game stores that are kind of like mom and pop stores but owned by one person or persons but not controlled by some board of directors or anything like that. 

Of coarse there are other places to buy games such as online but thats if you are willing to wait for shipping (and most Corporation game stores also have websites anyway).

What I want to know is which one you support and if it applies which one would you rather support? 

I would prefer to support a local game store but I don't know of any near where I grew up so if I bought games they came from Gamestop or Walmart. Here are some pros and cons that my friend and I came up with.

Corportation:

Pros:

1) Games always in stock

2) Prices always set and known

3) Buys/trades all items 

4) Everywhere

Cons:

1) Greedy

2) Workers there are annoying

Local owned:

Pros:

1) Can negotiate prices (Buying and Selling/Trading)

2) Very good customer service

3) Might have rare items

Cons: 

1) Not everywhere 

2) Might not have some items in stock

Waking Life (2001) - Movie Review

Every once in a while I think I'll do a movie review so that we can move away from the monotonous blogs soli about games. Most people have a certain genre of movies that they watch and stick to, but I am one of the few that doesn't. I can sit down and watch a drama, comedy, action, horror, romance, etc. on my own without having to skip through it or be bored. So lets get down to the movie review shall we?

Movie:  Waking Life (2001)
Rating: R
Length: 99 min
Animation, Drama, Fantasy
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0243017/
My rating: 7/10 (7 out of 10)

My roommate recently "found" a bunch of movies labeled "mindfuck', which already tells you the general basis of how this movie is going to turn out, for us to watch. This is one of those "mindfuck" movies, but contrary to popular thought its not one of those gore movies or anything that makes you confused but rather a thought provoking movie. The movie is simple and has real actors but the movie is seen in this "animated' sort of way. I would liken the animation to something akin to cell-shading which some really like, some hate, or if you are like me you don't like or hate it.

Even though I am on neither side of the fence on the animation I really couldn't stand to watch this for 99 minutes so I had to window the movie and do something else while listening intently to the movie. The key here if you also need to window or minimize (I wouldn't suggest this as the animations are pretty good and for the most part add the the plot and the feeling the directors are trying to produce) the movie is to listen. I can't stress that enough. LISTEN to the movie. The messages that Waking Life conveys is very thought provoking and should have you nodding your head the entire time or at least a few times throughout the movie.

To be very honest this movie would get a 9 out of 10 or even a 10 out of 10 if not for the fact I couldn't stare at the animation for long and thats a big deal to me since I don't know of anyone that goes to the movies just to listen to it. (My apologies to the blind). Then again others might give it that perfect score if they actually enjoy the cell-shading type animation.

I am trying to think of what else I can talk about as I have just been talking about the looks of the movie but its rather hard since that would give away some of the movie. So I think I'll just leave it there and wait for comments about the movie for those who are going to watch it or have already watched it. Please don't spoil it for others in the comments.

As always, comments are welcome, opinions, and suggestions, as well as requests for movie reviews. I shall always try to avoid spoiling the plot for others.

For those of you wishing to buy the movie:

Amazon.com offers it for $7.99 (shipping price not included) right now and Newegg.com offers it for $9.97

Dead Space 2

First request so I'm going to do this first and move the game I was going to review later.

Game: Dead Space 2

Developer: Visceral Games

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Rating: 9 out of 10 (this seems to be the average rating given by other gaming sites as well)

Console(s): PC, Xbox360, PS3

Now first of all I should say that scary games aren't my favorite, call me a wimp sure but isn't that what scary games are suppose to be like? If you watched that one ad with the old people or parents saying that this game was bad and shouldn't be played by kids then you get the gist of what its going to be like.

It follows the first one in gore and game play but with better graphics and a tad bit more gore. I'm not going to do any spoilers about the story line unless you do a special request for it but to be honest you can jsut go on any review site and find those.

For those of you that enjoy games with DLC  (Downloadable content) then you should be happy to know that this one does so you can probably expect more DLC to come out later if you have already finished the game.

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To buy or not to buy or to rent

I would recommend that you buy it if you played the first one and liked it or if you like horror games in general. For someone like me who doesn't like horror games that much the rent option is awesome, or even better borrow a friend's copy and play it for free.

Best place to buy the game would be amazon.com for online purchases.

For the xbox360 the best prices come from Amazon.com and Newegg.com with the same prices.

For the ps3 Amazon.com is the best but Newegg.com is a close second again with .59 cents more

For the PC Amazon.com wins again but this time Walmart (US, and a few other countries)  takes second

If there are any other questions or games you wish for me to look at then feel free to comment with questions and suggestions on how to improve.

Thanks for reading.

Introduction

Lets start by saying what this blog is going to be about since its always useful to know what you are going to read about and whether or not you desire to continue reading about someone's crappy life, their sex-life, etc.

This blog is not going to be about your life or my life per-se but rather about mine and your "Second Life". No not the game Second Life (http://secondlife.com/) but the virtual one located in any game or movie you watch/play to dive into just to escape the crappy life you have or to take a break from work.

So to sum up:

This blog is NOT


1) About my life
2) About your life
3) About anything really important

This blog IS


1) About games
2) About movies
3) Reviews and where to buy things