Here are some PvP videos I put together from Darkfall Online. This game is great, full loot, free-roaming, non-instanced MMO with city building and sieging.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTmx7GToFEw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTRzXUthcNM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54psL2s9fB8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vRVmBjoTVw

The new PC is on its way and I'm looking forward to it.

CPU: i7 920
Mem: 6 GB 1600 Mhz
Vid: Geforce 295
Sound: Xi-Fi
OS: Vista 64-bit

I've been playing a lot of Darkfall and am hoping that the new rig will be handle the massive siege battles of 200+ people. Will have to wait and see!

I really, really was not looking forward to Fallout 3. I felt I had to buy it because the first 2 were some of the best games I had ever played but my expectations were very, very low. Needless to say, Fallout 3 is the best game I've played in the past few years.

This game captures the atmosphere, quests, characters, and humor of the first two games. I love how they've taken a lot of the 2D objects that we've come to know and love and transformed them into 3D. You can really tell that Bethesda did their research and are fans of the original games. People may complain that the game is brown, tan, brown, and some more brown but so were the first games. In my opinion the game should be brown, dirty, and dingy and it is. I don't imagine beautiful green grass and spring flowers following a nuclear apocalypse, sorry.

VATS exceeds my expectations as well. It feels like the old turn based system and improves on it in certain ways. I love how the game kicks into slowmotion and changes up what view you see as you go through combat. I'm trying to play the game strictly through VATS and feel that the pace of Action Points accruing and the more tactical feel is very, very cool. I'll duck behind a door, maybe throw a land mine in front of it, and sit tight while my Action Points regenerate.

The NPCs feel like they have a personality which is a far cry over what the NPCs felt like in Morrowing and an improvement on the "main" NPCs in Oblivion. There are bad guys, there are good guys, and there are a lot of more generic NPCs that populate the isolated settlements and towns. All of the NPCs look significantly different and there have been a few that I was tempted to kill simply to steal their clothes. The quests have been different, fun, and full of the dark humor that made Fallout such a hit in my mind. I don't want to ruin anything but suffice it to say that many of the quests could have been pulled directly from the first game.

I think this game also strikes closer to home to me because I am from Bethesda, Maryland. I know many of these metro stops and locations that are found in the game (a lot of them are fictional) and was kinda spooked to find the metro stop that is next to my house. I love how they took D.C., the capital of the United States and symbol of freedom and utterly destroyed it. It really strikes home when you're wandering along dust strewn streets amidst dilapidated buildings and you hear patriotic music blaring form an Enclave robot.

The music in this game is excellent. It has that creepy, happy feel that we've come to associate with Fallout.

Whether you're a fan or not, I highly recommend this game. There are going to be people who hate it because it's not isometric, not turn based, and is developed by a company people hold a personal grudge against. To those people, I'd say broaden your mind and be receptive to new ideas. The old Fallout isn't going to come back, so take the plunge and head back into the wasteland again. You won't be dissapointed.

I have a confession to make.

Some of the games that I love, receive absolutely horrible "professional" review scores. Examples in point, Dynasty Warriors. For some reason these games, as similar as one is from the next, are just plain FUN! The Dynasty Warrior series is one of only three games that I could ever convince my (now ex) girlfriend to play. There is just something so FUN about cutting down hundreds upon hundreds of bad guys.

Sure, the gameplay isn't deep, it's not complex, there aren't a hundred buttons to mash with corresponding combos. And that's the reason why these games are just so dang fun. The philosophy is simple, you're a complete bad @#*(& who tears @#&* up. You don't mess around, you just cut people down by the hundreds.

It's easy to get involved in and the characters and story are loosely based on real world fact. It's these types of open-ended games that I really love. It's not about what the story tells you is true, it's about how you feel. I feel the same way playing Mount and Blade. There are some characterless NPCs who through their actions during my open-ended gameplay sessions have caused me to love or hate them. For whatever reason, maybe it was he saved my behind in one battle, I have nothing but the utmost respect for Lord Meltor of the Swadians in Mount ant Blade. This wasn't hard coded into the game, it just came about because of certain situations I've run into with him.

This, to me, is what makes a great video game. I can make my own stories. This is what I missed about the books I read when I was younger. I'd re-read the story and it always turned out to be the same. With open-ended games, I can make whatever story I want and it will change from time to time.

As a 28 year old male, I'm embarassed to admit it but I am looking forward to the new Harvest Moon game. Same philosphy, completely different setting.

Mount and Blade has finally been released! After 3 and a half years of waiting, the final version came out! It's definitely been fun playing a game through its various stages of development. I'm a little bittersweet that the final version has come, but now I can look forward to M&B 2!