The Angry Video Game Nerd plays yet another horrible video game adaption of a great movie:

EA just released a demo for Tiberium Wars. I have been looking forward to the game for a while now. So I definitely will be checking this out when I get a chance. If you want to check it out you can download it here. I am loving the new trailer as well:

The latest version of Dystopia has been released. You can download it below:

• Dystopia V1 Client (516MB)

Dystopia Explained

Dystopia is a cyberpunk themed total conversion of Half Life 2, created by an amature development team and released to the public for free.

Dystopia places the player into tense combat situations in a high tech world spanned by computer networks. As either Punk Mercenaries or Corporate Security Forces the player will fight through the physical world to gain access, via jack-in terminals, to cyberspace.

Cyberspace is a three dimensional representation of the world’s network. Inside cyberspace players will launch programs to hack into systems linked to the physical world while fighting off enemy hackers and defending critical systems. Gameplay progresses through inter-linked physical and cyberspace objectives, some are completed in either the physical world or cyberspace, others only by a well timed combination of the two.

Whether the player is a heavily augmented combat mercenary armed to the teeth with the latest in firepower, or a twitch reflex cyberdecker racing to infiltrate a cyberspace node; they’ll be immersed in an action packed battle. Only through skillful use of the high tech arsenal we’re making available and intelligent team play will players truly jack-in and kick ass.

Team Dystopia is a collection of dedicated and talented gamers who are creating an action packed multiplayer game. Dystopia draws on the themes and concepts of the cyberpunk genre and implements ideas born out of years of gaming experience. With a diligently designed gameplay system, we hope to produce the next step in online multiplayer gaming.

- Source

Well, I bought my first Cell Phone game today. I had about an hour and a half to kill, and all of the games on my phone were demos that lasted like 2 minutes before demanding I buy them. So I decided to use the web browser on my phone to buy Doom RPG. I heard a lot of good things about it, and since John Carmack was involved I was sure it was going to be impressive for a Cell Phone game.

And impressed I was. I have only spent about 20 minutes with it, but right away I could tell it is pretty cool. It doesn’t play much like the old Doom games since it’s an RPG (and therefore combat is turn based), but it does use the source material well. I only played the first level, but it feel like a fun and solid (if not a bit simple) RPG game. There is a good mix of puzzle solving, talking to people, and shooting. Overall, I am happy with the purchase so far.

Now check out this trailer that makes the game look way more intense then it really is:

Well I don’t know if he was running out of bad games on Nintendo consoles or if he just couldn’t ignore some of the awful games on other platforms, but the Angry Nintendo Nerd has changed his name. He is no longer limiting himself to NES games and one of his first stops outside the realm of Nintendo is the Atari 5200. Enjoy.

Bungie has created a small FAQ about the upcoming Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta. This should answer many of the questions people have.

Is Halo 3 beta registration closed?

Yes, phases one and two of the beta have already ended. If you haven’t received an email by this point, then you were not one of the lucky few.

Is there no other way?!

If you didn’t get in to either phase, then you can still get in by buying Crackdown , releasing in the US, on February 20 th . Inside every launch copy of Crackdown is an invite to the Halo 3 beta.

How will the Crackdown invite work?

Once the Halo 3 beta has been activated (start date is still TBD) you simply go to the Downloads menu in Crackdown to download the Halo 3 beta. After that, you will need to launch the Halo 3 beta from within Crackdown. You will need an Xbox 360 with a hard drive and an Xbox Live Gold account.

I’m an experienced beta tester with a PhD in Astrophysics and a minor in messaging Bungie to whine about the beta. Why wasn’t I invited?

Microsoft did not choose beta testers based on merit, that would take far more manpower than is realistically possible. Phases one and two were both essentially lotteries or contests. Bungie was not actually responsible for those contests, but rather your local Microsoft Games Studios division. Messaging Frankie, Sketch, KP or any other Bungie employees is futile.

When does the beta start?

The beta will not start when Crackdown is released. The beta will go live when it’s ready, which should be sometime this Spring. The team is currently busy whipping the included content into shape. Our goal is to deliver a fun, solid game experience though it will still very much be a “beta.”

How long will the beta last?

The beta will only be playable for a limited time. Exact timing is still TBD.



Are there multiple phases to the beta?

Not really. The term “phase” applied to the beta registration process. Participants from phases one and two as well as those using Crackdown will be able to get their copy of the beta at the same time. The participants from the Friends and Family program may be able to start playing shortly before the others, however.

What can you tell me about the Bungie Friends and Family program?

Not much, at the moment. As we’ve said, it’s just a method for Bungie to get some of its closest community friends into the beta. As we mentioned above, this program will start at a period shortly before the others, the extent of which is yet to be determined.

How many players are going to be in the beta?

A lot, many thousands. Let’s just say, you won’t have trouble finding a match.

How many maps, gametypes, playlists, etc. are we going to see in the beta?

Just enough to get the testing data we need while providing a fun game experience yet still leave everyone wanting more. The exact scope is still being finalized.

Will the party system be implemented in the beta?

Yes, you will be able to find your friends, join their party and enter matchmaking with them, in playlists which support parties.



Will we be seeing anything that we have not yet seen from the Alpha screenshots (and leaks) in the beta?

There are bound to be a few surprises in store for fans. And seeing a fuzzy cell phone video of the alpha doesn’t even begin to come close to actually playing yourself on an HD television with maps that are several months further along in development.

Will we see the function of the mysterious X button?

Yes. Whether or not it’ll still be mapped to X is subject to change. And honestly, it won’t be all that surprising. Just cool.

Please tell me I get to blow stuff up with the laser.

You get to blow stuff up with the laser. Try lining stuff up and then firing through it all. Preferably without teammates in or around said stuff.



Will we all have to sign NDAs and never speak of the beta? Will you try to contain screenshots and movies coming out of the beta?

Nope. In a perfect world, maybe, but it’s hard enough when the participants are just a few thousand MS employees, let alone thousands and thousands of Halo fans. We don’t expect anything in the beta to remain a secret. The beta will be covered by a normal user agreement, with lots of caveats about the fact that it’s not finished, only lasts for a short time and so on.

What kind of data and feedback is Bungie looking to glean from the beta?

We’re looking for a lot of things. Mainly the kinds of things that you cannot otherwise accomplish without the mass of people we’ll have, such as stress-testing all of the backend stuff and networking. We’ll be keeping an eye on our forums for general feedback, but the primary goal is to gain valuable technical information that’s only possible when we have tens of thousands of simultaneous players across the world.

- Source

If you have not been following Halo 3, you might want to check out the recent Brute Documentary as well as the analysis.

The game is being developed by Australian-based Auran Games and will feature intense space battles as you pilot ships for either the humans or Cylon forces. The game will also feature single player and multiplayer modes. According to Bill Kispert, vp interactive of NBC Universal, “We wanted to bring a more intense combat experience to gamers. From a story standpoint, fans will be able to relive key battles from the first two seasons of the show, and then we’ll add new content and missions outside of that.” The game will be played from a first person perspective, putting you in the cockpit of Vipers and Cylon raiders.

Expect the game to arrive on your console this fall. Now if only we could get Battlestar Galactica Episodes on the Video Marketplace. If you have never watched BSG before then you are missing out on one of the best shows on television. Check out this clip from when the Battlestar Galactica attempts to rescue people from the surface of the Cylon occupied planet New Caprica. It is possibly one of the best science fiction battles ever:

Well it looks like my prayers have been answered and Ikaruga is headed to Xbox Live Arcade. According to CVG, an early build of the game has been spotted on the debug version of Xbox Live, which is only available through Xbox 360 development consoles.

If you have never played Ikaruga before, all you need to know is that it is the absolute best Top-Down Shooter ever created. The game is based on a two-color system, allowing the player to switch between the black & white sides of his ship during gameplay. The black side is immune to black enemy bullets, and dies on impact with white enemy bullets. Your own black bullets do double damage to white enemies. The opposite is true for the white side. These properties create a balance between protecting yourself well and killing enemies fast.

Ikaruga could easily offer the best co-op experience over Xbox Live for an arcade game. Let’s cross our fingers and hope that it is included.

Beginning February 12, US gamers over the age of 13 can register at the Rewards Challenge Web site and attempt to increase their Gamerscores by 1,500 points before April 12. The contest is limited to a first-come, first-served basis, and there will be a total of $500,000 in prizes to be given out.

After registering, you will automatically be placed into one of three Rewards Levels based on your current gamerscore. Your level will determine the rewards you are eligible for during each Challenge.

• Level 1 (registrants with a Gamerscore of less than 5,000)
  Prizes for completing challenge: A special gamer picture, Xbox 360 dashboard theme, and the Xbox Live Arcade game Contra.
• Level 2 (registrants with a Gamerscore between 5,000 and 9,999)
  Prizes for completing challenge: A special gamer picture, Xbox 360 dashboard theme, the Xbox Live Arcade game Contra, 100 Microsoft Points (worth $1.25), and a contest T-shirt.
• Level 3 (registrants with a Gamerscore of 10,000 and over)
  Prizes for completing challenge: A special gamer picture, Xbox 360 dashboard theme, the Xbox Live Arcade game Contra, 200 Microsoft Points (worth $2.50), a contest T-shirt, and a copy of Fuzion Frenzy 2.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six series of games have seen a whole lot of change over the years. The series started out as a slow, tactical, shooter with a heavy emphasis on planning. When the series made its jump to the Xbox with Rainbow Six 3, the game dropped the planning stage to attempt to appeal to a broader audience, while still retaining a tactical shooter feel. The game was extremely successful, becoming one of the most played games on Xbox Live. But after a well received expansion, the developers took a sharp turn and moved the franchise into arcade shooter territory. The majority of the fans were disappointed, and the game was a critical failure. But don’t worry Rainbow fans, Ubisoft has indeed learned from their mistakes. Vegas is the most intense and tactical Rainbow Six game, making it easily the best in the series.

Rainbow Six: Vegas takes place in Las Vegas as you probably have guessed. Most of the story unfolds while you are playing the game, either in helicopter briefings while you are flying to your next target or while you are on foot from an audio and video feed in the top left of your screen. This is a pretty nice change from the text briefings before missions that Rainbow Six players are used to. Without giving too much of the plot away, terrorists have attacked various casinos in the city, taking some hostages and planting bombs. You play as Logan Keller, a team leader for a group of highly skilled soldiers, and it is your job to go from casino to casino and take care of business. If this all sounds familiar, that’s because it is. We have all heard this same basic story dozens of times in other games and Hollywood action movies. But while the storyline isn’t exactly original, it is good enough to keep you at least mildly interested. What really matters is the gameplay, and that is where the game truly shines.

If you have ever played Gears of War, your might be surprised how similar the two games play. They were in development around the same time, so it’s hard to say if any copying was going on, but both games have a heavy emphasis on cover, requiring you to use anything you can hind behind to stay alive. However, the cover system in Vegas works quite a bit better then it does in Gears. You have a lot more control when it comes to moving around cover and shooting out. Also, the cover seems more important in Vegas then it did in Gears, mostly because you can take much fewer shots in Vegas before going down.

Another element both games have in common is a squad of teammates that you fight along with. Controlling the team works similar to other games in the series. You can still tell your squad where to move, whether to hold fire or shoot on sight, to stack up behind doors before throwing in a grenade and storming in as well as all of the other commands you could give in the previous games. However, there are a few additions. For example, you now have a snake cam that allows you to peak under doors. Using this device, you can then give your team priority targets in the next room, to make sure they take down the most important enemies first when they enter. Your teammates also have some pretty good AI. They know how to take cover and engage enemies, meaning you really don’t have to worry about them that much. They also do a great job taking down terrorists, making them very useful.

Besides commanding your squad, the game has other features that allow for some complex tactics. Many of the rooms have multiple entry points. Using the snake cam you can scout out the room before determining how you want to enter it. You can even use two entrances at once, by having your team stack up outside one door while you go to another. Then you can order your squad to barge in guns blazing at the same time you enter from another door. You also have the option to do some repelling during some points of the game, which adds another entrance, the windows, to a room.

Your large selection of weapons also allows you to take in some tactical considerations. Vegas features a ton of assault rifles, machine guns, shotguns, and pretty much any type of gun you can think of. Each of the weapons offers some level of customization. Pistols can have things like extended magazines or laser sights, while rifles can be fitted with different types of scopes depending on what is needed. Once you have selected your guns, you can choose from items like explosive grenades, C4, breaching charges, flash grenades, and more.

With the cover system, team controls, multiple entry points, and a large selection of weapons, Rainbow Six: Vegas offers a lot of choice when it comes to tactics.

But the single player campaign is only half of what the game has to offer. Rainbow Six: Vegas has a fully featured and expansive multiplayer option, which easily makes it the best on-line shooter on the Xbox 360. The core of the multiplayer experience is what the developers call the P.E.C., or “Persistent Elite Creation”. When you first start out, you create your own character and have a limited access to different types of gear like body armor and weapons. After every match, your character gains experience, allowing you to go up in rank and gain access to more items. It’s a neat feature that rewards you for playing, yet doesn’t make the game feel unfair for new players that don’t have access to all of the items. Different armor makes you choose between mobility and protection, while other weapons may be more powerful but are harder to control.

There is a good selection of game modes to choose from that range from objective driven modes like attack and defend, to more standard offerings like solo and team deathmatch. The levels are varied and well designed for the most part. Though some, such as the Calypso Casino level, were clearly designed with attack and defend in mind and can be slightly unbalanced in other game modes like team deathmatch due to one team having a better spawn point. But if you are not into competitive gaming against other players, Vegas offers cooperative gameplay over live for the entire single player campaign with up to three other players. Or you can play “terrorist hunt” which is a mode that puts you and your friends in a level with a bunch of randomly placed terrorists that you need to take out.

Overall, Rainbow Six Vegas is a great game with a lot of value. The single player is challenging and offers a lot of depth, and the multiplayer packs in a lot of features. You could easily find yourself playing this game until the next Rainbow Six game comes out. It is not often that developers try to reinvent such a successful series, but Ubisoft gave it another shot and ended up creating the best Rainbow Six game so far.