Catching Up Y'all

News this week on the gaming forefront is pretty scarce. The Take2 (Developers of the 2K Baseball series, Publishers of Grand Theft Auto) acquisition is still in a state of flux (if you've been living under a rock for the past 3 weeks, EA has put a 2 Billion Dollar mark on take 2 and is trying to purchase the company). Take 2 denied the 2 Billion Dollar tag that was out on them saying it was "Undercutting the worth of the overall company." This of course pissed EA's head honchos off thus forcing them to make the whole situation public to the share holders of Take 2. This has entailed a fury of remarks by said share holders directed towards the President and VP of Take 2 asking them to "Be smart about this." In the end I predict that the deal will go down sometime in the next month or so, but from what I have read and seen this could become a very HOSTILE take over by EA. If I was a share holder in Take 2, I would be yelling at the top of my lungs, "SELL, SELL, SELL!"

ITS OFFICIAL: THERE WILL BE NO ACHIEVEMENT POINTS ADDED INTO XBOX ORIGINALS. This (in my humble opinion) sucks. I wanted to go back and replay Ninja Gaiden and Indigo Prophecy one more time...they were great games! For those of you who are still holding onto that shred of hope, I'm sorry to report: "We haven't and wont add achievements to xbox originals" says Managing Director Michael Patcher of Wedbush Morgan Securities. Sorry boys and girls.

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So I figured I would let you all in on a few games I've been playing the hell out of; First Up is:

1. GRAW 2 (Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter)


This by far blows away the first installment of GRAW which first made its debut on the 360 back in 2006. Its a tactical 3rd person shooter that focuses on the choices you make rather than bombarding you with Rambo Techniques and the ohh so favorite tactic known as "The Run and Gun," or as Cliffy B (Lead Designer for EPIC Games) Likes to say
"Stop and Pop." I'm on the last mission right now and have found only one gripe I have with GRAW 2. Sometimes there are extremely over lit sub sections of each map. meaning that its almost hard to see at long rang (hell, even short range sometimes) without having to squint due to brightness of the screen. I know I know, I'm being picky, however with the new SOCOM game coming out for the PS3 in the next few months which is the direct nemeses of the GRAW Series, these are things to look at when making GRAW 3, if they wanna keep competing! 4.0 out of 5.

2. LOST ODYSSEY


This game is, simply put: The best RPG I have played in a very long time. I have no idea what the reviewers of this game (Kevin Van Ord especially of gamespot.com) were talking about when they slammed the game with a universal 7.5 out of 10. Yes the game, developed by Mistwalker (Famous for working on the Final Fantasy Series) has some tech issues like a slight slow down/frame rate when hi res textures appear (i.e. panning landscapes and huge boss battles) but its nothing to the point where you find your self actually noticing the hiccup. In my experience thus far I haven't even encountered such problems; or at least noticed it enough to be pissed off. The graphics are beautiful and the game play is great. Theres nothing like a good turn based RPG for the hardcore role player in all of us. Yes, the game is knee deep in old school mechanics and doesn't re-invent the wheel, but it sure as hell is fun, looks great and plays even better. This game gets a well deserved 4.0 out of 5 for me.

Well, thats it for now. Check back here on a regular basis for up to date news, event coverage and personal rants and raves from yours truly.

ON A SIDE NOTE: I'm looking for contributors to Warp 9 Gaming. hit me up on the comments section and let me know if your interested.