Ramblings from the Marginalized

One fine sunny day President Barack Obama was sitting behind his desk studiously writing on some envelopes when Vice President Joe Biden walked in.

“What's up big dawg,” quipped the veep.
“Oh, hi Joe. I'm just working on my three letters,” replied the President.

Joe took a step back and looked around before closing the door to the oval office, “you mean it's not an urban legend? Bush really left you three letters in the desk? And you went through all of them?”

Obama leaned back in his chair and tilted his head a little to the left. He wasn't sure how he should respond to the question. After a few minutes of thought he motioned Joe to come on over.

“It's all true Joe. Bush left me three letters in this desk, and over time, I have been opening them.” Obama took a moment to show the three envelopes he had just sealed. They were numbered from one to three and bore no other distinguishing marks except for the seal of the President of the United States.

“But, you can't be done with all three already, can you,” asked Joe?

“Do you remember when we first came into office Joe and we were pushing the stimulus bill? That was when I opened the first letter. It was very clear and to the point. It told me to blame the first major crisis of my administration on Bush, the former President.”

Joe nodded his head and scratched his chin, “I remember that. We blamed all the economic problems on Bush back then didn't we? What with TARP and all it certainly wasn't hard! If memory serves me right didn't we blame Bush for a lot of things?”

“I'll get to that,” replied the President.

“After stimulus went through we had a good ride for a while. Then we started getting all that flack about Gitmo not being closed yet. I knew I couldn't blame Bush for that because I had already signed an Executive Order to close the place down. So, I did the only thing I could do, I opened the next letter. This time it said to blame Congress. I couldn't believe my luck! It was perfect and the Republicans even helped by being so vocal about not closing Gitmo!”

Joe smiled that knowing smile and chuckled quietly, “yeah, they did play along rather well, didn't they!” After an extra moment or two to savor the memory Joe turned back to the President, “when did you open the third letter?”

Obama turned in his chair and stood up. He walked over towards Joe and put his hand on his shoulder. “I don't really remember when I opened the third letter and it didn't really matter because the third letter was useless, all it said was to write three letters!”

Joe looked a little shocked when Obama told him this. Seeing the shock Obama smiled and walked back over to his desk. He picked up the letters and waved them in the air for Joe to see before dropping them into a drawer.

“Look Joe, we both know that Bush was no where near as smart as I am so I wrote three improved letters. I expanded on the first one to include not just blaming Bush but to include spreading the blame to anyone hired by his administration whether they still work in the government or not. I expanded the second letter to include placing blame not just on Republicans in congress but also those teabaggers and Fox News. All I have to do is blame Fox News and the rest of the media believes it to be true!”

“What about the third letter,” inquired Joe with a nervous tone in his voice?

“Oh that one? I changed it from 'write three letters' to 'buy three envelopes'.”

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Next Tuesday Red Dead Redemption hits stores. In the game you play as John Marston, a reformed outlaw making his way in the old west. what better way to get in the mood than by spending some time with Jonah Hex?

Jonah Hex is a character that originated in the 1970's from DC comics. Created by John Albano and Tony DeZuniga, Jonah Hex is a scarred cowboy who lives by his own code to protect the innocent. As a gunslinger none are better than he is. The parallels to the story of John Marston are many.

Both Hex and Marston tried to leave their pasts behind them by and become ranchers. Both married and had sons. In the end Jonah Hex died a grandfather, gunned down while cleaning his glasses. Marston? It's up to you to keep Marston alive in your game.

The collected stories of Jonah hex are available in trades by DC or you can search out the original comics.

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Long time readers know that I am a huge fan of the Fallout universe. From it's inception on the PC all the way to its recent appearance on the Xbox360 and PS3. Yup, I love this game!

I was stoked this morning to read that a collectors edition of the Falout New Vegas game had been announced.

Features:
♠ Seven “Lucky 7” poker chips, each designed to represent chips from the major casinos found on the New Vegas strip and throughout the Mojave Wasteland.

♠ A fully customized Fallout: New Vegas deck of cards. Each card in the pack has been uniquely illustrated to depict characters and factions found within the game. Use the cards to play poker, blackjack or Caravan, an original card game that was created by Obsidian especially for New Vegas.

♠ A recreation of the game’s highly coveted “Lucky 38” platinum chip.

♠ A hardcover graphic novel “All Roads” that tells the story of some of the characters and events that lead up to Fallout: New Vegas. “All Roads” was written by Chris Avellone, the game’s creative director, and created in conjunction with Dark Horse Comics.

♠ ‘The Making of Fallout: New Vegas’ DVD. This documentary DVD will contain exclusive video content, including interviews with the developers in which they take you from concept to creation and discuss topics such as story, setting, legacy of the Fallout franchise and more.

North American players can preorder this directly from Gamestop: Fallout: New Vegas Collector's Edition

PS: Preorder ships 10-1-2010!!!

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For the past few days a friend and I have been trying to take down the ultimate boss monster in Borderlands: Crawmerax.

This gigantic craw wurm is the baddest boss in the game and fights at level 64 while the players are capped at level 61. He is surrounded by level 61 craw wurms and craw maggots that will tear you to shreds! One swipe from the giant beast is often enough to leave you fighting for your life.

How did I beat this bad boss? Well, I cheated.

See, there is a glitch area in the boss encounter that causes the big guy to freeze in place and roar. Not only does it freeze him but it also freezes all the lesser craw critters as well. Check the video o see how it is done.

PS: After you defeat him make sure a friend is around to join your game because he drops more loot than one player can carry!

Happy hunting!

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NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Rockstar Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), is proud to announce the ‘Outlaws To The End’ Co-Op multiplayer Mission Pack for Red Dead Redemption. Available FREE this June simultaneously for Xbox LIVE® and PlayStation® Network, this brand new co-op mode adds an entirely new dimension to Red Dead Redemption’s game play.

“Multiplayer in Red Dead Redemption offers players a whole new way to encounter the massive open world we’ve created, but we felt the experience would not be complete without co-op game play,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. “With these missions, we wanted to create new ways for players to share in the experience of engaging with this amazing landscape.”

One of three downloadable content packs, the ‘Outlaws To The End’ Co-Op Mission Pack features six all-new multiplayer missions full of outlaws, epic gunfights, and revolution for 2-4 players. The ‘Outlaws to the End’ Co-Op Mission Pack offers additional multiplayer XP rewards and brand new Achievements and Trophies to unlock. These six explosive and epic missions will play out across the game world, including:

“Walton’s Gold”

Walton’s Gang have taken control of a mining camp rich with gold. Fight through the camp and load your mine cart with as much gold as you can carry and get out as fast as you can – Walton’s boys have rigged the place to blow.

“The River”

Ride a raft down river, taking out rebel encampments along the way until you reach the rebel stronghold of Nosalida and a final epic battle for the town’s massive weapons caches. Watch out for Gatling gun-equipped enemy rafts.

“Ammunition”

The Mexican Army has the town of Tesoro Azul under siege. Storm the gates under heavy cannon, Gatling gun and sniper fire to destroy the Mexican artillery placements.

Go to www.rockstargames.com/reddeadredemption for more information. Stay tuned for news about two additional downloadable content updates for release later this summer.

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A few months back I reported on the Black Wii hitting European shores. Those of us in North America can now rejoice for not only has the black Wii come to the Americas but it has arrived with extra goodies!

While keeping with the $199 price point Nintendo has increaded the value of the base system by adding in Wii Sports Resort and a Motion Plus accessory. This equates to about a $50 value.

The add-ons are available with all new Wii systems, both black and white. While some fans may be disappointed that the Wii has not moved on from 480P most new buyers will be happy for the increased amount of loot available with the console.

With global sales of over 70 million units sold (topped only my the Nintendo DS at 130 million) I just don't know how many new buyers Nintendo is going to get for their hardware. For comparison the Xbox 360 has not even broke 40 million units sold and it came out a year before the Wii. Then again, the long-lived PS2 sold over 140 million units so who knows?

To quickly recap the new Nintendo Wii bundle includes a black or white Wii unit, one controller, one nunchuk, one motion plus, Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort all for only $199. Expect the previous bundle to drop about $20 or more as retailers attempt to move them off of their shelves.

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On December 2, 2009 Pokemon International released the Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG): Rumble to coincide with the release of the Pokemon Rumble game on WiiWare. This game combines TCG strategy with a board game presentation, is fully compatible with all of your existing Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) cards and can be played with two to seven players.

The box contains 16 cards (same in every box), a set of energy dice, a targeting die, a Battle Royale Playmat, 14 player markers (two per player), and rules. The 16 cards are from an exclusive Pokémon Rumble set that can only be acquired in this box and each card has a foil Pokémon Rumble logo imprinted on it.

The game begins by laying out the Battle Royale Playmat and placing Pokemon cards (one face-up and one face-down) on each of the seven slots on the playmat. Players then take turns placing their player markers (max of two per slot, can't double up your own marker) on the playmat. The player markers have either a three or a five on the back side and these numbers come into play when the game ends for scoring purposes.

On a player's turn the four energy dice are rolled. The dice are six-siders that have a dash on one side and various energy symbols on the other five faces. There is also a special energy symbol that can be used as any type of energy. After rolling the dice the player scans the Pokémon on the playmat (not just ones with his/her marker) and chooses which attack to use. For example Rattata can use Bite for 20 damage at a cost of two colorless energy and Pikachu can use Volt Tackle which can cause 60 damage to another Pokémon but also causes 10 damage to Pikachu for a cost of one electric and two colorless energy. If both of these Pokémon are on the playmat and a player rolls enough energy they can use either of these attacks to injure or knock out other Pokémon.

After choosing what attack to use from which Pokémon a special red target die is cast. This is another six-sided die that is numbered from one to three (three ones, two twos, one three) and decides which Pokemon is hit with the attack. All attacks are made in a clockwise direction and the Pokémon launching the attack can not attack itself.

After rolling the target die and seeing which Pokemon is hit weaknesses and resistances are taken into consideration. This part of the game works exactly the same as the standard TCG system. When a Pokémon is weak or strong against an attack they suffer more or less damage. If a Pokémon is not knocked out from an attack, damage counters are placed on the card. If a Pokémon is knocked out from the attack the attacking player takes the card and flips the remaining card face-up. If that was the last Pokémon in that slot then the slot remains empty and is ignored for the rest of the game.

There are two ways for the game to end: If only one player still has markers on the playmat or if only one pile of Pokémon still has player markers on it. When the game ends any remaining player markers on the playmat are given back to their respective players and the number on the back is added to their score along with one point per Pokémon defeated. If a player knocked-out four Pokémon then four points would be added to their score. If this same player had their three point marker on the playmat at the end of the game their score would now be seven (four Pokémon + three point player marker). The player with the highest score is the winner.

The cards in the game are 100% compatible with the existing Pokémon TCG cards but not all Pokémon TCG cards can be used in Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG): Rumble. Any Pokémon that requires more than four energy for its attacks can not be used due to the number of dice in the game. Also special effects are not used in this game so Pokémon who rely on such things will be less powerful.

All in all I have to say that we played the game and found it enjoyable. The game is weighted more towards luck than strategy (dice) but some basic strategic skills will help. The learning curve is very low and even though the game suggests players be 10 or older this game can easily be played with younger players who enjoy collecting the Pokémon Trading Cards but are not able to play the game.

Put this one on your holiday shopping list for your Pokemon fans!

As an added bonus Pokémon International has also released a new collector tin for the holiday season. The Arceus tin is available now and includes a special foil Lv. X Arceus card and four booster packs from recent sets.

You can purchase this game through Funagain Games.

This is cross-posted on PokeFarm

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I've begun to notice something in my gaming life; misery loves company.

I know what your thinking, “that's an old saying Steve so what are you talking about?” If you give me a few minutes of your time I'll try and explain it.

As a child of the American 70's and 80's I grew up with the likes of Parker Brothers, Milton Bradley, Avalon Hill, and in later years Nintendo. Most of the board games I played were player vs. player. The only exceptions would be role playing games but even when I played those games I more often than not ran the games as opposed to being a player in them. For all practical purposes I was always playing single player against the game (in the case of video games) or against a group of others (board and RPG games.)

In recent years more cooperative board games have appeared on the market and I've tried a few. It can often be hard to get a group of players together once you advance in years and move into family life. Yes, you have your family to play games with but you can only play so many games with children before your head explodes!

For me the only real outlet for group gaming has been video games. It is also an outlet that has only recently moved me into the world of cooperative group gaming. Whether it be an FPS or a rhythm game I have found that as fun as these games are when you play them solo the fun factor increases exponentially with each additional player.

Let's take the Rock Band franchise for example. I can do a pretty decent job playing the game on medium difficulty by myself but it's not really fun to play it solo. It is much more fun to have a group of friends (or in my case kids) over and jam out as a band, switching instruments between songs. Even though I can't carry a note in a bucket I still have fun making noise into a microphone while the others jam out on their instruments. It doesn't matter whether we five star the song or barely squeak by, as long as we live or die together we all have fun. Yes, even when we lose we still have fun.

Which brings me to the world of FPS gaming, something I do with my older (though still not as old as me) friends. Last night I got a chance to play Borderlands in co-op mode with a friend of mine who lives several states away. We had our crappy 360 wired headsets on (why most the wireless one be so expensive?) and we were chatting back and forth as we played.

Now I have some friends who play the more realistic war themed FPS games but I never noticed them having a lot of fun. What I would notice is a whole bunch of yelling, screaming and passing the blame around after a mission would start to go wrong. Because this was my main exposure to the genre my interest in it was always lukewarm at best. It all changed last night.

We started off on the wrong foot when both of us chose the same character to play as. Having two skinny guys running around with sniper rifles did not make for a very balanced game. While we were very good at killing things long range we were not so good at killing things at close range. I'm not sure how often we died or how many times each of us died but we re-spawned a lot.

This is when I had my little epiphany. When you play a group game against the game (as opposed to other people) it's not that stressful. Neither one of us were complaining about the other player's complete lack of tactics or ability to coordinate attacks. In fact just the opposite was true. As we were getting our asses handed to us by a guy with a bunch of bones on his head we were laughing and cracking jokes. When one of us would go too far ahead and then come charging right back followed by a pack of angry critters there was no name calling or other abusive behavior. Even when healing packs would appear on screen both of us would quickly look at our health bars and quickly decide on who needed it most. Due to the shared XP system of Borderlands neither one of us complained when the other would steal our kill. Well, except for one time when one of us was trying to kill someone for a Second Wind and other did him in but, we don't talk about that anymore.

My point is that it was not just our shared victory that kept us playing but also our shared misery. No one wants to feel like a third wheel and because our skill levels were very close neither one of us felt that way. When one of us died the other was soon to follow.

It was this simple reality that made our game fun. We were losing miserably but we were losing together. Neither one of us was dragging the other down just as neither one of us was consistently saving the other.

It is this shared misery that is often missing from many games. Nothing is worse than going to your friends to ask them about a boss battle only to have them tell you it was a cakewalk and that there must be something wrong with you if you can't defeat the bad guy. When you play single player it is you against the game. When you play co-op it is us against the game and for some reason when you lose as a group it doesn't sting nearly as bad as when you lose on your own.

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