Swollen Pickles » Video Games http://www.swollenpickles.com Me fail English? That's unpossible! Wed, 17 Mar 2010 05:42:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 It’s Brewfest in Azeroth http://www.swollenpickles.com/2009/09/30/its-brewfest-in-azeroth/ http://www.swollenpickles.com/2009/09/30/its-brewfest-in-azeroth/#comments Wed, 30 Sep 2009 05:50:42 +0000 swollenpickles http://www.swollenpickles.com/?p=1816 For those of us unable to make it to Germany for Oktoberfest I may have stumbled across the next best thing... Brewfest. One minor problem though, it's in Azeroth, so you're going to need a World of Warcraft account.

Once you've got that sorted, head to the beer garden outside the dwarven capital city Iron Forge. Then, drink up until your computer generated you cant walk straight anymore. Brewfest began on the 20th of September and will finish up on the 4th of October.

Besides the opportunity to get your geek drink on, Brewfest also opens up a heap of Brewfest related quests that will see you drawing your sword against the nefarious Coren Direbrew, leader of the Dark Iron dwarves. Defeat Direbrew and he drops a heaps of cool stuff at random, including some weapons and trinkets, as well as a couple of Brewfest mounts, the Great Brewfest Kodo or the Swift Brewfest Ram. Personally I'm after the Kodo, cause it looks cooler, but as of writing this, I've paid Direbrew five visits, for a total of 25 drops, and neither the Kodo or Ram have dropped once. With a couple of days left my luck might change.

Brewfest T-ShirtI've also got four days left to complete two of the final achievements in order to take the title of Brewmaster. I have Drunken Stupor (basically getting sh!t faced and surviving a 65 yard fall) and Disturbing the Peace (While wearing 3 pieces of Brewfest clothing, get completely smashed and /dance in Dalaran) left to complete.

Not surprisingly the event has spawned a range of real world merchandise including the "Tankard O' Terror", that can hold close to 2 litres of your preferred beverage. Personally, I'm feeling more than a little include to pick up one of the groovy Brewfest t-shirts. I'm sure chicks dig dudes in World of Warcraft apparel.

]]> http://www.swollenpickles.com/2009/09/30/its-brewfest-in-azeroth/feed/ 0 CityGT free iPhone driving game launches http://www.swollenpickles.com/2009/09/02/citygt-free-iphone-driving-game-launches/ http://www.swollenpickles.com/2009/09/02/citygt-free-iphone-driving-game-launches/#comments Wed, 02 Sep 2009 06:37:24 +0000 swollenpickles http://www.swollenpickles.com/?p=1800 If you are in, or around, Melbourne this weekend you may want to head down to Federation Square for the global launch of the latest driving game for the iPhone. Unlike a lot of iPhone applications doing the rounds at the moment, the CityGT game is available for free.

In what is being billed as a world first, the creators are giving people the opportunity to play the game live on the big screen at Federation Square. Ever wondered what it's like to play a video game on a 40ft wide-screen? Here's your chance to find out.

It's not often you get something for nothing these days, so I'd suggest that you take full advantage!

Here are the details (from the press release) for those who may be interested in giving it a closer look

The game was created by Melbourne-based advertising agency, JWT, and offers the best driving graphics available on the Apple iPhone for free.

Join the driving fun at the global launch of CityGT at Melbourne’s Federation Square on September 6th between 11.00am-2.00pm. Have a go at CityGT on an iPhone and show off your driving prowess by playing on the big screen.

Go to the City GT website to find out more about the game before it goes live, and then go to www.apple.com/iphone/apps-for-iphone/ from the 6th September 2009 to download the CityGT game for free.

Edit: A video of the game testing at Fed Square is now on YouTube.

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]]> http://www.swollenpickles.com/2009/09/02/citygt-free-iphone-driving-game-launches/feed/ 0 Left 4 Dead 2 trailer http://www.swollenpickles.com/2009/06/03/left-4-dead-2-trailer/ http://www.swollenpickles.com/2009/06/03/left-4-dead-2-trailer/#comments Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:49:39 +0000 swollenpickles http://www.swollenpickles.com/?p=1738 The first Left 4 Dead first person shooter on the Xbox 360 was a cracker of a game. Stupid, mindless, fun. If the teaser trailer for Left 4 Dead 2 is anything to go by, it looks like its makers have upped the ante in terms of splatter and potential for gore. The apparent introduction of a chainsaw is a master stroke.

Check out the trailer below.

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If you're into the zombie survival horror thing, check out The Walking Dead comic series. I've read the first eight trade paper backs (or 48 issues) and it's awesome.
Walking Dead montage

]]> http://www.swollenpickles.com/2009/06/03/left-4-dead-2-trailer/feed/ 0 World of Warcraft plague and the real world http://www.swollenpickles.com/2009/02/25/world-of-warcraft-plague-and-the-real-world/ http://www.swollenpickles.com/2009/02/25/world-of-warcraft-plague-and-the-real-world/#comments Wed, 25 Feb 2009 03:42:12 +0000 swollenpickles http://www.swollenpickles.com/?p=1653 Here's an interesting little bit of information I stumbled across while randomly surfing through wikipedia this evening. It relates to World of Warcraft, so nerds can rejoice. For those unfamiliar with the game, your character can pick up diseases and/or curses when battling the enemy. Like in the real world, these things can be a real downer, causing you to perform at less than your best.

A year or two ago, Blizzard, the company behind World of Warcraft, opened the games first 20 player raid dungeon, call Zul'Gurub, as part of patch 1.7. Basically the dungeon saw players taking on tribes of troll who were under the control of the Blood God, Hakkar the Soulflayer. Upon battling Hakkar, the dude with the brutal death metal sounding name, players were tagged with a debuff called "Corrupted Blood", which was a disease that caused the player to have their life sapped over time. The disease could also be passed on to other players that were nearby the infected player. Blizzards intention was that the disease was to only affect players so long as they were inside the dungeon. Unfortunately there appeared to be a bug in the system that allowed the disease to be carried outside of the dungeon, by way of Hunter's pets and Warlock's minions. Before long, corpses littered the World of Warcraft...
World of Warcraft - Corrupted Blood Aftermath

Within hours Corrupted Blood had infected entire cities such as Ironforge and Orgrimmar because of their high player concentrations. Low-level players were killed in seconds by the high-damage disease. Eventually Blizzard fixed the issue so that the plague could not exist outside of Zul'Gurub.

The corrupted blood plague so closely resembled the outbreak of real-world epidemics that scientists are currently looking at ways MMORPGs or other massively distributed systems can model human behavior during outbreaks. The reaction of players to the plague closely resembled previously hard-to-model aspects of human behavior that may allow researchers to more accurately predict how diseases and outbreaks spread amongst a population.

Source: Wikipedia entry

I find it incredible that such an event could be described as so closely resembling a real-world viral outbreak epidemic that scientists seriously examined the whole thing. Hopefully they considered the differences between World of Warcraft and real life. I mean, when was the last time that you saw someone die, respawn in a graveyard as a ghost, run back to their corpse, and come back to life?

]]> http://www.swollenpickles.com/2009/02/25/world-of-warcraft-plague-and-the-real-world/feed/ 2 Swollen Pickles enters the World of Warcraft http://www.swollenpickles.com/2008/11/21/swollen-pickles-enters-the-world-of-warcraft/ http://www.swollenpickles.com/2008/11/21/swollen-pickles-enters-the-world-of-warcraft/#comments Fri, 21 Nov 2008 02:30:03 +0000 swollenpickles http://www.swollenpickles.com/?p=1454 It's official. I'm a grade 'A' nerd. In some peoples eyes, I will have hit rock bottom. I have now played World of Warcraft. How'd this happen? Well, I've been curious for some time, so having a bit of spare time up my sleeve, I went and bought a copy from JB HiFi. In the week that I've had the game, I have to say that it's become a guilty pleasure. It's a simple game, but the key to it is that it's executed on such a grand scale, that it's hard not to become drawn into it.

After loading up the game, I had to register a World of Warcraft account, which was easy, and then created my character... Daken the Night Elf. I decided to create a Hunter, because they are good with a bow and arrow, and they can keep pets, once you reach a certain level. In a tribute to He-Man, I've named my pet tiger Battle-Cat.


If nothing else, my excursion into the World of Warcraft has reinforced to me that I shouldn't judge things before I've tried them. If you're into WoW feel free to stop by and say g'day to Daken, I'll be the guy shooting things with my bow and arrow, and building the Guild of the Swollen Pickle.
]]> http://www.swollenpickles.com/2008/11/21/swollen-pickles-enters-the-world-of-warcraft/feed/ 0 Coming soon: Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 http://www.swollenpickles.com/2008/07/18/coming-soon-marvel-ultimate-alliance-2/ http://www.swollenpickles.com/2008/07/18/coming-soon-marvel-ultimate-alliance-2/#comments Fri, 18 Jul 2008 05:46:18 +0000 swollenpickles http://www.swollenpickles.com/?p=1109 I heard rumors that this game was on the drawing board but I had no idea that its development was so far down the track. I loved the first Marvel: Ultimate Alliance game, and if the sequel picks up where that one left off then it should be a cracker.

For comic geeks the first Marvel: Ultimate Alliance game it is a must, and is the only game I own both an Xbox and Xbox 360 version of. Word on the street is that Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 will be out some time in the third quarter of 2008.

Nice... now I need a cold shower...

]]> http://www.swollenpickles.com/2008/07/18/coming-soon-marvel-ultimate-alliance-2/feed/ 4 Kane and Lynch: Dead Men review http://www.swollenpickles.com/2008/04/16/kane-and-lynch-dead-men-review/ http://www.swollenpickles.com/2008/04/16/kane-and-lynch-dead-men-review/#comments Wed, 16 Apr 2008 05:26:59 +0000 swollenpickles http://www.swollenpickles.com/?p=1030 Following my completion of Halo 3, I quickly popped the next game on my 'to do' list into the Xbox 360, Kane and Lynch: Dead Men. Kane and Lynch is an action/shooter style game borrowing some elements from the Hitman games as well as a hint of Gears of War (particularly the crouching behind cover feature).

I've seen it get mixed reviews, and to some extent I can understand why, but Kane and Lynch is not a bad game. No doubt it'll get some people off side thanks to it's liberal use of the "F" bomb, and even the occasional "C" grenade, as well as it's take no prisoners violence and story line, but then, those are probably the things I'd expect to find in a game focused on the exploits of two escaped death row convicts.

Throughout the main 'campaign' you play as Kane. Kane is "a flawed mercenary", on death row, for an unrevealed crime. Kane is busted out of prison by his former employers, a shadowy group called The7. These guys are obviously bad news, and from the beginning it seems Kane screwed them over on a job, leaving them to burn, and taking the loot for himself. He's given an ultimatum, retrieve the contents of a mysterious case, or his wife and daughter will be killed. The7 assign another death row inmate, Lynch, "a medicated psychpath", to monitor Kane in his progress, and help him where necessary. That signals the start of all the hijinks that span missions in the US, Japan and Havana.

Game play wise Kane and Lynch was simple and addictive. While you play as Kane, you are also able to issue orders to Lynch, and any other mercenaries that join you for certain missions. In many respects the game play could be compared to Hitman: Blood Money, if you replaced the 'stealth' aspects of Hitman with the run and gun aspects of Gears of War. If you are familiar with Hitman, this game will take you all of 2 seconds to become accustomed to.

You can't take to many hits before you hit the deck, however, so long as an ally is nearby, that can quickly administer 'first aid' in the form of adrenalin shots. Also, as you take more damage, things start to get a little hazy, which is an interested effect.

I actually found the story line for this game to be quite good, and I'm not surprised that there are rumors of Lionsgate turning the game into a movie, with Bruce Willis and Billy Bob Thorntan were rumored a candidates for the Kane and Lynch roles at one point.

One criticism I have with the game is that it was quite easy in patches. It was a quick game to get through. It probably has the potential for greater replay-ability though as compared to Hitman, which I guess is a positive.

In summary, Kane and Lynch was a decent game, not for the faint hearted or easily offended. I'm docking points because of the ease of completion, but if you can pick this up as a 'platinum edition' game then it'd be worth it. I'll give it 3.5/5.

]]> http://www.swollenpickles.com/2008/04/16/kane-and-lynch-dead-men-review/feed/ 2 Halo 3 completed and reviewed http://www.swollenpickles.com/2008/04/14/halo-3-completed-and-reviewed/ http://www.swollenpickles.com/2008/04/14/halo-3-completed-and-reviewed/#comments Mon, 14 Apr 2008 02:34:39 +0000 swollenpickles http://www.swollenpickles.com/?p=1028 Without too much fuss I finished Halo 3 on the weekend. That's not to say I found it a bad game, I just didn't find that it lived up to the hype and expectation I'd had following Halo 2.

Gameplay wise, Halo 3 is largely the same as Halo 2. Point, shoot, kill, run, point, shoot kill, duck, point shoot kill... etc. It's classic first person shooter stuff, and it's enjoyable. It just didn't rock my world the way I'd hoped. After playing Call of Duty 4 I found Halo 3 to be lacking in style, difficulty and excitement. Weapons and enemies are all largely the same as those from Halo 2. The new addition is the 'equipment' feature, which allows you to pick up things like shields and auto-sentries, to use at your leisure. It's a nice touch.

The game begins with the Master Chief crash landing on earth, to find that the Covenant have all but wiped out the human resistance. The Master Chief is charged to bust the Covenant party up. After notching a number of Covenant kills, the Flood crash land on earth. It's part of some big plan the Flood 'Gravemind' hatched. All going well you jet off to another planet, save the day, and if you stick around until the end of the credits, learn that the Master Chief survives. Halo 4 anyone?

All in all, the plot in Halo 3 becomes "nonsensical". Having just finished the game, I'd struggle to recall any major plot points. I've heard rumours the Halo franchise will be turned into a movie, but based on the last two installments, it's going to be very hard work for the screen writer. One slightly annoying facet of the game is the number of 'false' conclusions. The last 4 or so stages all feel like the end of the game, and it's almost like the plot was stretched out to accommodate more game play.

In summary, while you'd no longer consider it ground breaking Halo 3 is a good enough game. It seems to have been developed using the 'if it aint broke don't fix it' model, which is not necessarily a bad thing, however with games like Gears of War and Call of Duty 4 on the market, you could be forgiven for wanting more.

I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5.

]]> http://www.swollenpickles.com/2008/04/14/halo-3-completed-and-reviewed/feed/ 2 Call of Duty 4 (Xbox 360) http://www.swollenpickles.com/2008/02/29/call-of-duty-4-xbox-360/ http://www.swollenpickles.com/2008/02/29/call-of-duty-4-xbox-360/#comments Thu, 28 Feb 2008 23:24:27 +0000 swollenpickles http://www.swollenpickles.com/2008/02/29/call-of-duty-4-xbox-360/ After a quick and deadly little campaign I have finished "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" on the Xbox 360. Two aspects of the game really stood out for me. Firstly, it looked awesome, the graphics were detailed and life like. Secondly, moving the Call of Duty series into a modern setting was a very good decision. This allowed you to play through scenarios similar to those you may see occasionally on the world news, as well as the opportunity to give the modern weaponry a run.

The main story takes place in the very near future, during a fictional conflict between the combined forces of the US and England, against Russian Ultranationalists and Middle Eastern rebels. The story itself is an interesting one, and at times takes some unexpected turns.

You play as either a British SAS guy (throughout the European missions) or a US marine (in the Middle East missions).There's also a flashback mission set 15 years prior to the events in the game, played out at Chernobyl.

Gameplay wise, not much has changed compared to previous Call of Duty outings. It's run, aim, shoot, duck, shoot, run, aim, shoot. Lets face it, the Call of Duty franchise is firmly entrenched in the first person shooter (FPS) genre, there's only so much you can do with that set up.


What sets this game apart from countless other FPS games is the attention to detail, the atmosphere it generates, and the "realism". For example, you can't just charge into a room full of bad guys holding down the trigger. You'll last about 10 seconds if that's your strategy. The best way to get through the game is to advance, clearing each area as you go, paying attention to what the rest of your squad is doing.

If I have one complaint with Call of Duty 4 it is that the game itself is a little short. It leaves you wanting more, but then, perhaps, that was the game makers strategy.

Overall, this is the best traditional FPS I have played since I first played Halo 2. I'd rate it on a par with the rock-on awesomeness of Gears of War. Now I'm just saving for Halo 3 to see how that stacks up.

]]> http://www.swollenpickles.com/2008/02/29/call-of-duty-4-xbox-360/feed/ 2 Xbox 360 arcade edition http://www.swollenpickles.com/2007/10/29/xbox-360-arcade-edition/ http://www.swollenpickles.com/2007/10/29/xbox-360-arcade-edition/#comments Mon, 29 Oct 2007 09:01:51 +0000 swollenpickles http://www.swollenpickles.com/2007/10/29/xbox-360-arcade-edition/ Just read that there will be an Xbox 360 arcade edition released prior Christmas. Herald-Sun listed it as $399, with the key difference to the standard Xbox 360 being that this version doesn't come with the hard drive.

Should I go for the bargain basement version, or save a little more for the real deal?

Anyway, I'm off to play Scarface on my antique Xbox now.

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