Since its inception, Leveling Down has been about the thoughts of two hardcore gamers as we scale back in our gaming lifestyles. During this time, we have reduced the number of games we purchased and played, the amount of time we played, the number of achievements pursued, the number of blog entries each week, and many other aspects of our gaming lives as we grow older. Where has all the time gone? We now have more responsibilities in our lives, and struggle with just trying to find time each day to get some good quality gaming in.

The end of this year marks the next phase of our Leveling Down journey: the end the blog. With such limited time to play now (let alone write about gaming), and perhaps even the real world affecting the way we review our games, we believe it’s the logical next step for us. We’ll still try to keep on gaming for the foreseeable future, so find us on Xbox Live, PSN, Steam, Battle.net, etc. Thanks for all of your support and see you online!

- espion4ge

I’d also like to thank our fans who have supported and read the blog over the years. As we’ve been leveling down, it’s been a privilege to share in that experience with you all, even online. I also would like to extend my personal gratitude to espion4ge for giving me the chance to write and play with him here. It has been a lot of fun and I’m glad for the opportunity.

Like espion4ge said, it’s a good time for both of us to end the blog – especially considering I’ll be playing Skyrim for the next three months! Peace out everyone, it’s been a blast.

- cmfl3x

These last couple of days, Blizzard and Starcraft 2 have been in the gaming news in a big way. With Starcraft 2 less than a month away, Blizzard has seen fit to provide fans with good news and terrible news. The good news is, Blizzard has released “Phase 2″ of the beta test for Starcraft 2, so those of you that have been undergoing withdrawal from the Starcraft 2 Beta can get back in and play (add me – account name: espionage, character code: 315). I’ve played a couple games myself and it looks like the beta is certainly back with a lot more stuff going on such as new Achievements and the ability to play AI on all difficulty levels. The terrible news, however, is their announcement that any forum participation in the official Starcraft 2 (and soon to be World of Warcraft) forums will be posting with your RealID – your real first and last name. Terrible terrible news.

Why Would Blizzard Do This?
The overt reason why Blizzard has decided to force our real names to be present when posting on their official forums is to get rid of all the negative posts, flames, trolls, spam, etc. – all the junk that is on the official forums now. They claim that by forcing posters to have their real names displayed next to what they post, they will be more careful about what they say. I can see that as a legitimate reason, but did they really think about all the negative aspects that come with it?

Then there’s another, more sinister underlying reason that several people suspect: Blizzard wants a piece of the goldmine that is social networking. Can they somehow turn their fans into more revenue? Well, here’s the problem….

Battle.net Is Not Facebook
Facebook users do go by their real names and anything they want to share about themselves, but we have to keep in mind one thing: Facebook is not a forum. It’s not a place where people just post and chat all day. While Facebook users can chat with each other, it’s all through a certain level of privacy controls. Users can decide how much they want the public and even their friends to see.

Unlike Facebook, our real names cannot be “turned off” and hidden from the public if we wish to participate in Blizzard’s forums. The moment you make a post, it’s there for the entire world to find if they decide to search for your name. It’s crazy, but even Facebook has more privacy than this new direction that Blizzard’s RealID thing is going. To be honest, I wouldn’t be complaining as hard if the Blizzard official forums forced us to use real names but the forums were only accessible by those that log into the forum with their accounts. This would at least cut out all the searchbots and at least keep the “real named” community behind Blizzard’s closed doors.

What’s the Big Deal?
The big deal with our names being associated with the forums against our will is basically if Facebook did not have privacy settings, and anyone could access our page: stalkers, pedophiles, enemies, harassers, etc. While just our name may not be as telling as what someone can find on a Facebook profile, if your name is unique, female, ethnic, etc., you have just opened yourself up to being harassed by sexists, racists, etc., if the perpetrator were so inclined.

Think if your name was Samantha, Laura, etc. How much do gamers go crazy now when they hear a female voice in their game? Horny adolescent teens can go through great lengths to become quite troublesome to women, and I can’t imagine any female gamer wanting the world to know the gaming world to know that they are female. This post here sums it up pretty nicely from a female gamer.

Then there’s the whole negative stigma behind being a gamer anyway. While this is our passion, potential employers and potential girlfriends we are dating are not going to be thrilled if they do a search for us online and see us writing paragraphs about some video game. That incriminating evidence you have right there could cost you a job or a girlfriend!

The main point behind all of this is that many people like to have their real life and gaming life separate. One is a fantasy world that we are meant to engage in just to have fun, while the other one is obviously far more important and consequential. Why Blizzard thinks it is necessary to merge the two worlds together against our own desire is deplorable.

One Example of How the Fans Have Been Fighting Back
To show its support behind this new ridiculous change, a Blizzard Community Manager decided to share his first and last name – since all Blizzard staff will also no longer be behind nicknames. It backfired in the guy’s face as someone was able to find his address, phone, age, family members, and his facebook info. His family has since stopped answering the phone and he’s deleted his Facebook account.

I think the dude just took one for the team that is Blizzard, as he became the primary target for all of the Blizzard fans that wanted to show their disdain for this decision. But honestly, maybe once all of Blizzard staff decide to share their info…the hatemail will be distributed equally among them or something. In any case, this brings me to my final point…

Is Blizzard Truly Behind This Terrible Decision?
Blizzard has worked so hard to become a development studio that is adored by its fans – after all, how many game development studios do we know have their own annual expos or games played as practically a national sport in Korea? With Activision’s acquisition of Blizzard and Bobby Kotick’s desire to monetize everything he can, could he be behind this?

One forum post, caught by Team Liquid, mentions:

“the Blizzard leads have been told in no uncertain terms that the non-gameplay-related direction of the game is working to a different blueprint now. GC and company are free to play with shiny new talent trees all they like, for example, but for the first time the decisions regarding Battle.net implementation, Real ID, and plans for the general acquisition of new players for the business are no longer in Blizzard’s own hands, and that’s not going down too well.“

If this is true, then at least I can feel a little better at ease knowing that even the Blizzard folks are not supporting this idea – but rather, it’s being pushed from corporate (i.e. Activision) – who doesn’t necessarily care for the gamers, just the money. Unfortunately, Blizzard does have to answer to Activision now, and as we saw how Activision treated Infinity Ward, we may see if there ends up being some sort of exodus from Blizzard as well at some point if Activision continues to tighten its firm chokehold on its star development studios.

Now What?
The “good news” is that at this point in time, our names would only be displayed if we were to post on Blizzard’s official gaming forums in either Starcraft 2 or World of Warcraft. Our real names won’t be displayed in-game (although the issue of friends of friends on our buddy list seeing our names is a slippery slope), so we can play Starcraft 2 without worrying about giving up our personal identity. We just can’t talk about it on the forums unless we want our names to be found online. While not a heavy poster, I did post once in a while on Blizzard’s forums (especially on my realm’s forum, when I played World of Warcraft) – but I guess this announcement simply means no more posting. It could be worse, and that’s what I’m afraid of. The last thing I want to see is our real names being used during matchmaking so someone can harass me in real life after a match.

I don’t know if it’s because I’ve leveled down or what, but I actually felt that the E3 this year was not that great. For many years now I’ve always looked forward to what Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo say at their keynotes, and like many other gamers, I like to determine which of the three of them “won” E3 that year. I guess in most instances, winning E3 is more about making announcements that actually excite gamers, so let’s review what the big three console companies had to share and my evaluations for each of them.

Microsoft [Grade: C-]
Microsoft spent some time showing videos of the new Call of Duty: Black Ops game by Treyarch – big whoop. As far as I’m concerned, Call of Duty is dead now that Infinity Ward blew up. But anyway, Microsoft had the big announcement of timed exclusive DLC map packs…joy! As if any 360 owner is going to get excited about that. Up next was some footage of Metal Gear Solid: Rising, which was kind of cool in its own way – but wait, it’s not exactly an exclusive title. Microsoft did share some new footage on its main exclusives though: Gears of War 3, Fable III, and Halo: Reach. But seriously, these are just sequels to games I’ve already been playing only 1-2 years ago. Are any of these exclusives really that interesting?

For some reason or another, I feel like Microsoft has totally lost it. Years ago they were really the hardcore gamer’s paradise with all of their exclusives, strong third party support, etc. Now, they’re losing practically all their third party exclusives, and decide to spend over a third of their 90 minute keynote sharing this new Wii-mote knockoff called Kinect. Last year it looked more interesting with the whole Milo demo, but this year with all the stupid dancing and arm waving – what a disgrace. And do they really think it’s going to sell at $150? That’s how much a Wii basically costs now. Even at $50 I was skeptical about this device but if they really think this thing is going to sell like hotcakes for $150 they must have really lost it. What an utter disappointment from Microsoft.

It’s like Microsoft decided to give up their core gamer crowd and chase after a piece of Nintendo’s pie. Unfortunately, that ship has already sailed. I think Microsoft pretty much screwed itself with such much invested in this $150 Kinect. The slim 360 was a little bit exciting, but unlike the PS3′s slim and $100 price drop, the 360 was already at an inexpensive price so it didn’t really do much. Microsoft is lucky they still had a few console exclusives left to show, or else they would have looked truly foolish.

Nintendo [Grade: A-]
I remember E3 last year and how Nintendo’s key note was a total disgrace. A finger sensor accessory? Luckily, Nintendo came out a lot stronger and exciting this year. They opened their keynote with a new Zelda game, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and it looks good. I’m sure fans are excited, and while Nintendo had a lot of big casual games: Mario Sports Mix, WiiParty, Just Dance 2, etc., they also showed a lot of more traditional Nintendo franchise favorites such as Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, Metroid: Other M, Kirby’s Epic Yarn and a couple new surprising announcements with a GoldenEye remake starring Daniel Craig and Donkye Kong Country Returns. And we can’t forget Epic Mickey either. In short, just this list of games that Nintendo demonstrated probably rivals or even generated more excitement out of me than Microsoft’s keynote.

Then Nintendo showed off the new Nintendo 3DS. The thing looks really good and turned their keynote from pretty decent to pretty awesome. The new Nintendo 3DS looks like a ramped up DS Lite, but now with an analog stick, 3D support without glasses, and a graphics engine that looks practically as powerful as the Wii now. Maybe even more powerful!

The list of supporters and game franchises for the new console is also staggering, with announced titles including a new Kid Icarus game, a new Nintendogs game, Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil, Super Street Fighter IV, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy…these are all major franchises. The PSP2 will definitely have its work cut out for it. I may have to get one of these new Nintendo 3DS things after all.

Sony [Grade: B]
Sony’s keynote clocked in at about 2 hours, and therefore was longer than both Microsoft’s and Nintendo’s. Like Microsoft, Sony also spent a good amount of time demoing their Wii-mote like device called the Playstation Move. Again, it looked stupid to gamers. And really, are there casual players buying PS3s? Get out of town. Fortunately, unlike the $150 Kinect, the Playstation’s Move controller is only $50. Another thing mentioned for $50 was the new Playstation Plus service – an annual fee similar to Microsoft’s Gold Subscription, but who knows what they’re going to add if multiplayer is still going to remain free.

Unlike the Microsoft keynote, Sony had several exclusive franchise sequels demoed: Killzone 3, Gran Turismo 5, a new PSP God of War, Patapon 3, LittleBigPlanet 2, and inFamous 2. An HD Sly Cooper Collection was announced, as well as a new Twisted Metal. Unlike Microsoft, Sony is really continuing to build out their exclusives and they’re really starting to come around to appreciating the hardcore gamer.

One of the other major talking points of their keynote was the announcement of Portal 2 not only coming to PS3, but being the best one. Think about how Left 4 Dead and its sequel never made it to the PS3 – Valve claimed that the PS3 was too hard to develop for, but now they’re doing a 180 and instead putting their best work on it. And there were also several EA games shown, and unlike Microsoft’s Call of Duty: Black Ops timed exclusive, several of the PS3′s games shown had notable exclusives. For example, Dead Space 2 on the PS3 will come with Dead Space: Extraction and Playstation Move support. Buy the PS3 version of the new Medal of Honor and get an HD remake of Medal of Honor: Frontline. EA really wants to sell its games more on the PS3 these days, and with Dead Space: Extraction being bundled in with the PS3 version, I may actually have to go for it.

Sony is really making a turn around with the effort they’re putting into the system, and I guess as a new PS3 owner, maybe I will have to start considering the PS3 as more the future and the 360 the past. At least, based on what I’m seeing from these key notes.

A Grim Glimpse into the Future
As someone who owns several 360s, I was very disappointed that Microsoft’s E3 showing was the worst of the three. Sony’s was better than Microsoft, but Nintendo pretty much blew them both away. My “hardcore gamer” side weeps as I hear stuff like the new Zelda coming out on a Wii with last generation graphics, and consoles with HD graphics (the 360 and the PS3) parading around trying to show off their new motion capture devices. Where has the gaming industry gone? A significant amount of Microsoft’s presentation was about this stupid Kinect thing – do Microsoft and Sony really think that casual gamers are so excited about the Wii that they want to upgrade and spend several hundred dollars to buy another system to put on their shelf next to their Wiis already collecting dust?

Oh well – maybe I’ll find gaming salvation with the new Nintendo 3DS. Or, maybe the gaming industry will just come to an end and we’ll all be dancing to motion based games for our gaming future. After all, cmfl3x has already taken up Just Dance. Now it’s time for the rest of us to join in on this dancing party! Not.

I was going to write about Halo Reach’s Invasion mode (which I have a LOT of thoughts about), but I figured this might be more time sensitive (Nintendo has a history of shutting down unsanctioned projects). So Invasion will have to wait for next week! Some of you might have seen this already, but if not it is BEYOND worth checking out.

Super Mario Crossover is an awesome old school NES mashup which you can play here. The premise is simple: play through the original Super Mario Bros. using Mario and a slew of other classic NES characters. Samus Aran, Simon, Mega Man, Link, and Bill R. from Contra. The unique thing about this game is each of those characters brings the unique moves from their games. Samus can drop bombs, Bill R. can shoot in different directions, etc.

The amazing thing about the game is that a lot of stuff has been reworked to accommodate different characters. You can shoot blocks out, the different characters have different jumps, and each character gets their own unique powerups when you get mushrooms and things like that. All the different characters feel exactly as they did in their respective games. It really is a lot of fun, and there is a save feature so you don’t have to play the game all in one sitting. You might not be able to play at work, but check it out: it’s a blast from the past and a lot of fun!

Also, this has nothing to do with anything, but if you are a fan of action movies you need to watch last week’s Community, entitled “Modern Warfare.” The title alone should be enough to warrant your interest.

Today is Earth Day, so I am writing on a topic to celebrate. There has been a lot of effort in the games industry to try to make things more greener, which, coincidentally, also makes things cheaper for game companies. Xbox 360 games now use less plastic in their cases, and of course the move to more downloadable games and content saves the environment as well. So now game companies are taking the next step, completely eliminating game manuals!

OK, not all companies, but Ubisoft announced this week that game manuals will now be downloadable from their website and no longer included in the game case. I don’t think it’s a big deal since most manuals are like two pages long now, but it did make me think of the good old days when I used to:

- Tear open the game while still in the car and read the manual until I got carsick

- Read through the entire story multiple times. Remember when you needed the game manual to tell you what the story was since there was so little in the game?

- Learn about all the different characters and be excited to meet them

- Read through the manual AGAIN whenever my sister was using the TV

Anyway, these are the types of experience young boys and girls will be missing out when they buy Ubisoft titles from now on! I know it’s not a big deal, and kids probably do all their reading in front of a glowing rectangle these days, but it still makes me a little sad. My guess is all companies will eventually go this route, so enjoy those game manuals while they last!

Video games news outlets were all a twitter about the strange machinations going on at Infinity Ward, the Activision owned developer responsible for Modern Warfare. A quick summary of what went down:

- Late Monday night, rumors come out that bouncer-types showed up unannounced at the Infinity Ward offices, unnamed staffer states Infinity Ward staff is “freaked out”. Two senior employees not seen since they had a meeting with Activision big shots [Kotaku]
- Tuesday morning, it is confirmed that President Jason West and CEO Vince Zampella are no longer with Infinity Ward, and that they were let go for “insubordination” (Did they not properly execute a Code Red?) [Wired]

- In an official press release, Activision announces that Treyarch will release another COD title this year, Infinity Ward is working on two downloadable map packs for Modern Warfare 2, and a third studio, Sledgehammer Games, is working on a Call of Duty ACTION ADVENTURE game [Giant Bomb]

Now, we don’t usually report news here on Leveling Down, but this story is so crazy and has me freaked out in multiple ways. Here’s why…

My Fears as a Stockholder
I bought a small amount of Activision/Blizzard stock a while back after the market crashed, figuring I could own stock in a company whose products I enjoyed. I knew Activision was all about the bottom line, but I figured that might be good as an investment. Since then, Activision stock has remained modest, and the company has been making more and more ridiculous decisions involving bleeding their popular franchises dry.

Consider this: 5 Hero titles were released last year, Starcraft has been split up into three games (though Blizzard says that’s a game design decision), and now they are expanding the Call of Duty franchise into the action/adventure genre? With financial interest in the company, I just totally disagree with these decisions. I understand that popular franchises make the most money, but the fact of the matter is that World of Warcraft is responsible for most of Activision’s financial success. If Call of Duty goes down the tubes with the loss of talent at Infinity Ward (or if the dismissals lead to bad morale), or if World of Warcraft finally falls out of vogue (the ban in China definitely affects the bottom line), then Activision is in trouble. They already let go a lot of people at Neversoft and Red Octane, the companies most involved in the Guitar Hero franchise. The Infinity Ward dismissals are the last in a line of questionable business decisions in my view.

I’ve tried to remain patient, but I’m about ready to jettison my stock. I already feel like I’ve sold a part of my soul owning the stock in the first place, and these goings ons make me feel even more uncomfortable. At this point, I’m hoping Starcraft II gives the stock a little boost this summer so I can get rid of it without taking a bath.

My Fears as a Gamer
I don’t really own that many shares, so it’s my fears as a gamer that I’m most concerned about. It seems to me that Activision feels like its developers are replaceable, and they care way more about the “name” of the game then the actual quality of it. They obviously assumed that Guitar Hero would sell forever, regardless of quality, although they did admit they made a mistake not pursuing Harmonix way back when. Since Activision picked up Guitar Hero, the quality of the product has definitely gone down.

Now, the founders of Infinity Ward are gone, yet Activision seems to believe that won’t hurt their bottom line! First of all, I can’t imagine what it would feel like working there. How can that not effect the quality of the games Infinity Ward makes? Secondly, Activision is obviously continuing its policy of emphasizing quantity over quality. It’s already severely diluted the Guitar Hero franchise, and I fear Call of Duty is going to suffer the same fate. Part of me is saying that Call of Duty had a great run, and I should just be glad I got to experience it. Think of that! What an absolute mess!

I think Activision’s bottom line will eventually suffer for this, and deservedly. You can’t treat your talent just like cattle. Unless something comes out stating that the Infinity Ward guys did something egregious, I’m siding with them on this one. I’ve tried to defend Activision in my head in the past, but I’m running out of excuses to make for them. If it swims like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck…

Earlier this week, Take-Two announced that the first of several DLC packs for BioShock 2 would be released starting in March. I’ve been digging BioShock 2′s campaign so far, even if it does feel a bit unnecessary, but multiplayer is still up in the air for me. If you’ve read my initial impressions on the game, you’ll remember that I thought the multiplayer was playable as it’s set up just like Modern Warfare’s rank progression and unlock system, but it still doesn’t compare with Modern Warfare 2. Take-Two’s recent announcement of DLC has sort of infuriated me in a way, on two counts. Read on to to see what gets me to proclaim that this series has sold out.

From Take-Two’s press release:

Sinclair Solutions Test Pack, the first of several planned downloadable packages, contains a number of customization features that will allow players to further their character’s development in BioShock 2′s multiplayer modes and provide a deeper multiplayer experience. The pack includes:

• Rank Increase to level 50 with Rank Rewards
• New playable characters Louie McGraff and Oscar Calraca
• 20 new trials
• A third weapon upgrade for each weapon

Strike #1 – Releasing DLC to a game only about a month after its release
Other games are guilty of this as well, including Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2, but for the most part, I believe that most of the “launch DLC” is generally free as part of EA’s new initiative to bundle DLC as part of a retail game in order to dissuade people from buying used copies. But this new BioShock 2 DLC will cost us $5, and all it is is server-side stuff. There’s probably going to be nothing that we’ll have to end up downloading, so not only does it leave a bad taste in my mouth that they are trying to make money off of me so soon after release, but over content that probably won’t even really be downloaded.

Take-Two should have at least had some tact and perhaps waited a couple more months or so to make it seem like they didn’t plan on releasing this DLC one month right after the game shipped. But, maybe it seems like these days, even after games go gold, the studios keep working on the “DLC” since it’s now pretty much normal to try to make more money off DLC. It’s a disturbing trend, but because people do buy this DLC, I can’t complain too much on this issue but the next one is what really caused me to flip my lid.

Strike #2 – Releasing DLC that increases Multiplayer Unbalancing
BioShock 2′s multiplayer already seems a bit unbalanced since when you rank up you unlock new weapon types, weapon upgrades, and plasmids (a level 30 would demolish a level 1 player). But now Take-Two has decided to go down a more ridiculous path by being the first company I am aware of that is charging for DLC that will allow for the increase in level cap for multiplayer competitive play. People loved when level caps were increased through DLC in games like Fallout 3 and Borderlands, but that’s because it allowed gamers to continue enjoying the game solo.

If we read the details of the press release, it’s shocking to see that if someone pays $5 more, they can rank up to 10 levels higher than us, get access to better rank rewards, and more weapon upgrades. Is this a bit too far? It would be like Modern Warfare 2 DLC increasing the level cap to 80 for those that bought it, but it’s not even a fair comparison because Modern Warfare 2′s starting equipment for a new player can stand toe-to-toe with higher level players. BioShock 2 is not quite the same. In any case, I am not happy about this and hope that no one buys it to send Take-Two a message: this DLC is the worst of the worst!

Sometimes, I wonder if espion4ge and I are being controlled by the same hive mind, since I started this post before I saw his on Avatar. The title says it all: Do we really need 3-D games? At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last week, Sony and a bunch of other companies showed off their 3-D technology. For many companies, it was 3-D TVs that don’t require glasses, for others, it was showing off technology that can run current games in 3-D. Samsung had a display where you could play Gears of War 2 in 3-D, with the TV doing all the work, not a specialized build of the game.

But honestly, I don’t care about this! Don’t make us waste money on this new technology, and even though it will be “optional” for a while, the high development costs are still going to affect us somehow. Aren’t we in a recession? People STILL haven’t fully adopted HDTVs, and now these companies want us to get 3-D ready TVs? Is Avatar awesome? Yes. Is 3-D cool? Yes, every once in awhile. But we don’t need games to go the 3-D route…at least not until TWO generations from now. And please don’t try to give us 3-D games if it means making us wear stupid stereoscopic glasses.

Personally, I like my life in 3-D and my entertainment in 2-D. This is why I find all this 3-D tech annoying and stupid. Maybe I’m ignorant? What do you all think?

That was the question I found myself asking for the past few months ever since I started seeing news about it. Is it a game? Is it a stat tracker? Is it just an easy way for Microsoft to try to sell me crap? And, most importantly, does it deserve to be on my “Nav”? Well, since it was a free download, I put it in my queue and gave it a whirl last week, and this is what I found.

I think first and foremost, this is a ploy by Microsoft and Bungie to try to make some money, both directly and indirectly. That being said, there are definitely some positives that come out of this free download. I’ll just focus on those.

There is a section dedicated to tracking your Halo career, which spans three games: Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, and Halo Wars. It adds up your gamerscore for the three games and unlocks various goodies depending on how many achievements you have. There are medals for various achievements, although for the most part they don’t interest me too much, especially because I couldn’t figure out how to compare medals with friends.

The real winner here, however, is Avatar awards. I think EVERY game should do this, unlock cool stuff for your Avatar depending on the achievements you have. I managed to deck my character out in an entire ODST suit, but I later opted to just wear a recon helmet instead. Even if you haven’t played any of the games, you unlock the “monitor” for your Avatar just by booting Waypoint up.

The other section is called “Intel”, and it basically consists of strategy videos and developer interviews. It’s okay, but something I wasn’t too into. Supposedly they will use that to further the lore of Halo in the future, which could interest me. The cash grab in this section is Halo: Legends, an upcoming anime compilation that is due next year (on DVD). They previewed the first episode, “The Babysitter”, on Waypoint for free this past Saturday, and I checked it out. It definitely had some cool moments, but I was watching at 2 AM so I was falling asleep for part of it. I guess that’s how anime always makes me feel though.

Overall, Waypoint does give you something for nothing (the Avatar awards), and it’s nice to compare scores with your friends across all three games. There definitely is potential for something greater here, but whether that happens or not is in Bungie’s court. I’m waiting for the Halo: Reach trailer…

Many of you probably have seen this already, but if not it’s totally worth checking out. Purportedly this is the opening cinematic from Left 4 Dead 2, and it looks amazing. The first game’s cinematic actually told a lot about the gameplay in the game, something we only realized in retrospect. What does this cinematic have for us?

First, I think the setting looks great: the survivors are in the deep south near New Orleans (or in?) which is pretty awesome, and the music in this trailer does a nice job of setting the tone. In general, it seems like there is a chance that Valve might be expanding the storyline a little more - this time you could play Left 4 Dead without even knowing that the campaigns were linked, but the scene on the bridge where the government is bombing the zombies makes me hopeful there will be more of a storyline in this one.

Secondly, you get a look at some of the new special infected, such as the Jockey who can jump on the survivors and steer them around, and some freaky witch-like character. It also seems like there are going to be zombies with hazmat suits on, so I’m going to assume that molotovs aren’t going to work on them. You also get a look at some of the new melee weapons, such as the chainsaw, frying pan, and bat (there’s another video with the GameStop exclusive baseball bat out there as well).

There also seems to be the same campy humor that was present in the first game, and the survivors seem like they’re going to be as fun to play as the original cast. All in all, I’m getting pretty pumped for this game: my gaming time is going to be SERIOUSLY crunched in a few weeks. Looks like I know what I’ll be spending my $40 Amazon credit on!