Back in September of 2007, Bungie Studios took their beloved Halo series “Next Gen” with the release of Halo 3 for the Xbox 360. Making full use of the beefier console’s graphics capabilities and revamped controller design, the game revolutionized the way we battled the covenant. Now here we are, two years later, and Bungie’s done it again. Tuesday at midnight Halo 3: ODST went on sale to eager fans around the world. Overlapping events in both Halo 2 and Halo 3, this expansion takes the focus off of Master Chief and places it on a rookie Orbital Drop Shock Trooper (ODST). Gone are the days of the Overshield, invulnerability to fall damage, and the seemingly endless supply of ammunition. Make no mistake about it, the game has changed my fellow soldiers. Which begs the question: Is this expansion worthy of it’s full retail price of $59.99?

The Good:
So how does this iteration of Halo fair without it’s beloved Master Chief? Incredibly well actually. Make no mistake about it, ODST is a drastically difference game from it’s predecessors. Until now, each of the sequels offered what really amounts to just a cosmetic upgrade with one little gameplay change – Halo 2 gave us dual wielding and Halo 3 gave us Equipment. ODST on the other hand, forces you to completely abandon everything you thought you knew about killing covenant and offers a uniquely different (at least in terms of this franchise) combat experience.

The previous games were all about Master Chief being a completely and total badass. Any situation could be fixed with an onslaught of bullets. In the off chance that you ran out, you couldn’t throw your nerfed pistol without hitting some sort of ammo crate. If then, by some miraculous reason, you were somehow able to deplete even that ammo, you could always just punch enemies in the face and they’d pretty much just keel over. Thus is the life of a Spartan.

The life of an ODST, on the other hand, is not so badass. You’re still technically an elite soldier, but you don’t have an overshield. You can’t dual wield. You can’t use equipment. And you get hurt when you jump from, well… almost anything. This may sound like a downside, but it’s actually a refreshing take on the series’ combat mechanics. “running and gunning” is no longer the name of the game. Instead, you have to rely on outwitting, outflanking, and generally outplaying your enemy. All of which has to be done while attempting to conserve ammo. I played through the game on the “Heroic” difficulty and spent a huge chunk of my time ducking behind corners and into buildings desperately searching for any weapon that had even a shallow clip left in it.

The level design is also vastly improved upon. Unfortunately, the entire Halo franchise is sort of known for it’s incredibly linear level design that often forces you to push all the way through a boring corridor only to have to fight your way right back through it again after completing your objective. In ODST, bungie focused on huge wide-open levels, may of which are larger than the the “Big Team” maps in Halo 3. Add to that the constant juxtaposition of the solo night moments and the flashback big battle sequences, and the game never feels stale or repetitive at all.

Lastly is ODST’s new  co-operative mode called Fire FIght. Similar to Gears of War 2′s Horde Mode, Fire Fight drops you and up to three buddies onto a map and then precedes to unleash wave after wave of covenant baddies onto the map until you and all your friends have been obliterated. The maps for this mode are absolutely enormous and are literally pulled straight from the campaign. I actually spent my first several hours of the game playing Fire Fight online with friends and it was amazing to find myself later attempting to defend and assault the same choke points in the Campaign that I had been in this mode. Fire Fight is really the crowning achievement in this game.

The Bad:
I’m a huge fan of the Halo series and I’ve love each game that Bungie has released thus far, so it’s no surprise that I also love ODST. That being said, this is not a perfect game. In fact, it’s not technically a game at all. Halo 3: ODST is actually just an expansion, or companion really, to Halo 3. And that’s where it’s problems stem from.

Bungie’s original intention with the game was to give the fans something to keep us busy while we wait for Halo: Reach (the prequel to Halo: Combat Evolved). They admit that it was just supposed to be a little expansion, however, they claim that the project quickly developed into so much more. So much more, in fact, that they’re charging the price of a full game ($59.99). The truth is that ODST isn’t a complete game and doesn’t come anywhere close to feeling like it is.

Yes, there is a new Campaign. Yes, there is a new Co-op mode. Yes, both these modes are beautifully crafted and original. However, that’s all that ODST has to offer. It has no Competitive Multi-Player. Instead, it just comes with a copy of Halo 3 with it’s Campaign ripped out. In my opinion this is beyond disappointing. This game offers a completely fresh take on war in the Halo universe, but doesn’t let us take up arms against each other. How can this be? If you look at the achievement  breakdown for Halo 3, you’ll notice that there are 43 achievements available in Multiplayer and only 36 available in the Single Player Campaign. Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t this prove that Bungie acknowledges the importance of Multiplayer over Single Player? Why then would they just ignore the feature in ODST?

The second huge blunder committed by the developers is that the Fire Fight mode doesn’t have any Matchmaking functionality. This means that if you don’t have any friends to Co-op with, you’re completely shit out of luck. This is the real shame in my opinion. Fire Fight is simply an amazing mode. So good in fact that, if it had Matchmaking, I might be able to completely forget that ODST has no Multiplayer mode of it’s own. In fact, if I could be assigned to a random squad any time I was in the mood for a Fire Fight, I’d be online right now instead of writing this post. But I can’t. Effectively, the mode might as well not even be on my copy of the game because I don’t know enough people who even own a copy to ever really take advantage of it.

If this expansion would have come out as Downloadable Content at 1600 Microsoft Points (roughly $20), We wouldn’t have an issue. It would be clear that the game was just an Add-On. It’s not though. It’s being sold as a full fledged game. Even if you subtract the money you’re technically saving from the 3 new bundled Multiplayer Halo 3 maps (which we’ve been paying 800 points a set for so far), the game is still $30 more expensive than it should be.

The Final Verdict:
So, now that I’ve gone on about how much I love the game AND ranted about everything I hate about it, what’s my final verdict? Well, maybe I’m just drinking the Bungie Kool-Ai, but even with missing features and the outrageous price tag, Halo 3: ODST is an awesomely fun game. I’d say it’s a must buy for any Halo fan out there. Take it from the guy who took Tuesday off of work and played the game for about 12 hours straight. If you bought this game and don’t love it, well then you probably had no reason buying it in the first place.

posted by Christopher Schnese

Wanna try Halo 3: ODST for yourself?

In the weeks leading up to E3 2009, everyone already knew what games they were excited for. They knew the big first party releases, they new the big sequels, and they knew exactly what they were going to be reporting on after each of the big press conferences. But if you watch or read any of the post-E3 2009 wrap-ups, you’ll find they all have one little thing in common. Just about every single one mentioned a beautiful little gem of a game called Scribblenauts. A game that came virtually out of nowhere to impress the pants off of everyone who saw it.

Scribblenauts is one of those game that makes you want to call “shenanigans” when you first hear the concept. The objective is simple, just collect a “Starite” from each of the levels. The catch is that the game give you nothing but a magnifying glass and a notebook to scribble in. It’s this little notebook, however, that makes the game special. Anything you write in it appears before you. There are literally endless possibilities of what you can create within the levels.

Need a jet pack to fly somewhere out of reach? What about a SCUBA tank to swim under water? Maybe you need a bazooka to kill a large carnivorous animal. How would you like to just obliterate everything with a nuclear bomb? With the exception of a few caveats (copyrighted material and obscenities) if you can think it, it can be scribbled into the game. Scribblenauts is truly one of the most innovative games I’ve had the pleasure of playing in a long time.

Is the game perfect? The short answer is no. The controls can be cumbersome at times, you can scribble in twenty complex objects before discovering all you needed was a coffee table (yes, that was an actual example), completing the first world in standard mode doesn’t provide enough Ollers (in game money) to buy access to the second world, the handwriting recognition feature is sort of janky, and the only free-play level you get is the main title screen. A screen obstructed by a huge start button in the bottom center of the screen. Even with all these “problems”, this is a really fun and imaginative game. In my opinion, it’s a must have for all DS owners out there.

posted by Christopher Schnese

Wanna try Scribblenauts for yourself?

Some shows, like 24, are good for their action and suspense. Others, like LOST are good for their mystery and intrigue. There are a hand full, like How I Met Your Mother, that keep you laughing week to week. And there are a special few, like Pushing Daises, that just captivate you with their charm. There is another type of show. A little unexplainable gem. One that doesn’t necessarily excel in any one show category, yet pulls you in and keeps you wanting more. For me, that show is Lie to Me.

“Inspired by a real-life behavioral scientist, this FOX drama tells the tale of a deception expert who helps uncover the truth for the FBI, local police, law firms, corporations, and individuals. Dr. Cal Lightman and his team are effectively human polygraph machines, and no truth can be concealed from them. The Lightman Group is headed by Dr. Cal Lightman and his partner Dr. Gillian Foster who is a gifted psychologist. She brings balance to the partnership by thinking about the overall picture while Lightman focuses on the details. Together they make an invincible team with insight into human behavior. Eli Loker is the lead researcher, who believes in radical honesty. He often gets in trouble for saying what he thinks. Ria Torres is one of the few “naturals” in the field of deception detection. She has an untapped ability to read people that makes her a force to be reckoned with the right training.

Created by Sam Baum, Lie to Me is executive-produced by Baum, Brian Grazer, David Nevins and Steve Maeda. The series is produced by Imagine Television and 20th Century Fox Television” (via TV.com)

I first discovered this little gem last night while hanging out with a good friend. We were having a bit of trouble agreeing on what to watch (having mistakenly chosen Vantage Point as our opener for the night) and we decided to check out the available television shows on Hulu.com. As I scrolled through the listings, Lie to Me caught her eye and she pointed it out. Neither of us know much about the show, but had both heard good things about it from various people. We decided to give it a try and we put on the shows pilot episode.

Now this may just be my opinion, but this show is undeniably good. I can’t even explain it, there’s just something incredibly intriguing about it. I think maybe it’s just the entire deception expert premise that draws me in. I mean we live in this world where everyone is lying constantly. Sometimes they’re big lies, some times they’re little ones, but we’re doing it all the time. Imagine now that you had someone following you around who knew all the ‘tells’ of a lie and could point out every single one made, and you have the show. It’s almost like a cop drama that completely ignores evidence and crime scenes. Our heroes and heroines solve all the crimes simply by understanding the involuntary emotional responses people give off as they speak (and even in some cases when they’re just listening to someone else speak).

If you’re already watching Lie to Me, then good on ya. If you’re not, then you need to be. The bottom line is that this show is worth checking out. So head over to Hulu.com, watch the first four episodes (only four have aired to date). And please do it soon. For some reason the Hulu stream for the pilot episode of the show will be expiring in four days (just in time for next weeks episode), so you should jump on and watch it soon.

posted by Christopher Schnese

Screen real estate has always been a huge issue for computer users. Generally, we tend to combat our space issues by buying bigger, more numerous monitors or by utilizing virtual desktops. Personally, I’ve learned to live within Apple’s virtual desktop feature ‘Spaces’. It’s proven to be a near perfect solution, except that applications for chat and twitter don’t work within the confines of a one application per space system. If only there were some smaller, sub-monitor, that existed only for uses like this. Enter the Nanovision mimo UM-710

For those who haven’t seen these things floating around the tech blogs lately, the Nanovision mimo UM-710 is a USB powered, (and more importantly) USB driven mini monitor weighing in at a lean 800px by 480px. Because of it’s compact size, this sub-monitor doesn’t have to exist within your average multi-monitor setup. It can float around freely and take on the minor applications that you always want open, but still don’t want taking up screen real estate.

The Pros:
- quick setup
- compact, lightweight, & portable
- both powered & driven over USB
- runs in vertical or horizontal mode
- only $129

The Cons:
- poor viewing angles (the further you get from dead center, the harder the screen is to see)
- screen is a bit reflective
- physical screen smaller than resolution (like the old 12″ Powerbooks, the screen size versus resolution causes things to look smaller on the screen)
- only 800px by 480px

The Final Verdict:
I absolutely love this little thing. I’ve always wanted a little… well, companion-monitor and someone’s finally given me one at a very affordable price. Obviously this isn’t the same as actually having a second monitor, but it’s amazingly useful for those little applications you always want visible without obscuring your whole desktop.

posted by Christopher Schnese

For the last few days the internet has been abuzz over the new version of the Google Mobile application for the iPhone. The big thing that has everyone drooling is Google’s new Speak-to-Search feature. Well, after a little bit of a delay, the application is finally available to us. The question is, does it live up to the hype?

The short answer is no. While Google’s ability to translate your spoken words into a search query is very cool, the results provided are no more intuitive or insightful than a normal typed Google Search. In other words, asking the app “where is the nearest Apple Store” yields the same answers as typing “where is the nearest Apple Store” into the Google homepage. Yes, I can switch the searching mode from “iPhone and Web” to “Maps” and just say the words “Apple Store” (which will pop open the google maps application and show me where the closest store to my area is), but this is not what’s been pitched to me.

Every clip I’ve seen and every podcast I’ve listened to made it sound like the Google Mobile application would work like magic. I was led to believe that the application would use some sort of semantic technology to determine whether I was looking for a photo, map, or just general information. Unfortunately, this just isn’t the case.

“Where is the nearest Fry’s Electronics” just give me a list of web articles about Fry’s. “Photos of Scarlet Johanson” just gives me a list of articles about Scarlet Johanson with links to photos of her. I shouldn’t have to switch my search mode. I mean, the point of being able to speak your searches is to eliminate the need to input with the touch screen. If you have to manually switch modes in the application to get a desired result, then it sort of defeats the point.

All that being said, Google Mobile is not all bad. I mean let’s face it, the iPhone’s keyboard is not the greatest thing in the world. Sure you get used to it after a while, but sometimes it’s just a pain in the ass to deal with. Anything that can let you quickly bypass dealing with the keyboard is a winner in my book. Especially if you’re already a poor speller like me. All in all, I’d say the application is worth downloading for all those quick searches you do when out and about, you just have to understand that it’s not as magical as we all hoped. But who knows, maybe things will improve with the next version.

posted by Christopher Schnese

Wall-E is one of those movies where, from the moment the teaser hit theaters, I fell in love with it instantly. There was just something magical about this cute little emoting robot developing a a personality and roaming around a deserted planet exploring his curiosity. With every new clip that showed up on the internet, I fell even more in love with this film. Within no time, it became my most anticipated film  of the year. Now that it’s out and I’ve seen it, the question remains whether or not it lived up to my hopes and expectations.

When I walked out of the theater Saturday afternoon, I was torn between being completely in love with this movie and being somewhat unimpressed. The problem with Wall-E is that it suffers from ‘we’re trying to say something’ syndrome. In addition to the sweet story of the curious robot, there is a side plot which explains why humans left earth, but is just riddled social commentary on modern society. This side story borrows A LOT from the 2006 film Idiocracy, yet does so without borrowing any of it’s humor.

While the human side story does little more than knock the film down a few levels, I think it was saved by Wall-E himself. He is undeniably adorable and every second on the screen just warms your heart. The only thing more touching than watching him  scurrying around the deserted planet and going about his normal routine, is the arrival of EVE and his ‘love at first sight’ reaction to her. Everything from his selfless attempts to shelter her, to his awkward efforts to show affection leave you with this overwhelming cheerfulness.

Maybe Wall-E isn’t the best PIXAR film around, but I’m still going to have to recommend it. Forgive it’s ulterior motive of social commentary and just lose yourself in the adorable antics of a cute little robot named Wall-E and watch as he chases after the little bot of his dreams, EVE.

posted by Christopher Schnese

The film Jumper, based on the novel by Steven Gould, begins with the story of a young boy who discovers he has the ability to teleport. Having grown up in a broken home where his mother ran way at age five and his father was, at the very least, verbally abusive, Young David Rice uses his new found ability to run away from home and make a better life for himself. With the power to go anywhere and do anything, his new life seems almost perfect until he learns about the war between the Jumpers and the Paladins.

As it turns out, David isn’t the only one with the power to teleport. Unbeknownst to him, a group of religious zealots who believe that ‘only God should have the power to be everywhere’ have been systematically tracking and hunting down the Jumpers for years. Fortunately for David, he runs across another Jumper named Griffin, who’s taken it upon himself to tip the scales by hunting down the Paladins, who tips him off to the war just in the nick of time.

Jumper is part super hero, part action, and part fugitive story with entirely too much hinting towards future story lines. It’s quite obvious that the film was meant to be a series (provided it brings in enough money) in that it feels like a high budget pilot to what would be an awesome television series. The acting by the two leads (Hayden Christensen and Rachel Bilson) are borderline horrendous and their love story is absolutely forgettable if not unbelievable. But honestly, it doesn’t take away from the film.

The truth is that it’s an action movie with teleporters being hunted as they flee for their lives. How can you not have fun with that? This is made even better by the films approach to teleportation as not just some boundless ability. There are clear rules and shortcomings to the Jumper’s power, they leave ‘jump scars’ behind that allow others to follow them, and their powers are rendered useless by electrical current. The act of teleporting also disrupts the environment around the jump sites causing damage to objects too close to the entry point.

The fact is that Jumper is an incredibly entertaining movie. The effects and battle sequences between the Jumpers and Paladins are incredible. I, for one, hope that the series continues. Whether it’s a sequel or a television series, I’ll be there.

posted by Christopher Schnese

Earlier tonight as the rest of the world sat down to watch ‘The Big Game’, I sat down with a group of my friends to play a little game called Munchkin. This amazingly fun and clever card game, created by Steve Jackson, is a complete spoof on the role-playing game genre. The word ‘Munchkin’ itself is actually a gaming term referring to a player in a non-competitive game who plays all out in a overly competitive way. This game not only encourages this once annoying behavior, but makes it the sole element of the game play experience. As the tag line states,  your main objective is to “Kill the Monsters. Steal the Treasure. [and] Stab Your Buddy”.

Though seemingly daunting at first, the rules to the game are relatively simple. Flip over a card and if it’s a monster, you fight it. Every time you defeat a monster you gain one level and the first player to level ten wins. Ok, so there’s a little more to it, but that’s the the basic premise.

The game is played with one six sided die and two decks of cards (one of door cards and the other of treasure cards). Before the game begins, each player is dealt two cards from each deck. These cards can be any combination of Monsters, Curses, Traps, Monster Enhancers, Character Classes, Character Races, or Equipment. All of which can be played at relatively any time during play.

At the beginning of your turn, you flip over a door card. If there’s a monster there, you must fight it. To defeat the monster, you add together your level and the bonuses from all your equipment or character abilities. If that number is greater than the level of the monster, it is defeated and you get treasure (items, equipment, and such). If that number is lower, you can either ask for assistance from one other player, or you can attempt to flee by rolling the die for a five or six. Additionally, each monster card has a list of “Bad Stuff” that happens to your character if that roll is four or below.

Sound easy enough, right? Wrong! While you’re working on defeating your monster(s), your opponents can play any number of cards that can boost up your monster’s level or give you some sort of penalty. This makes for incredibly fun gameplay as the power slides from person to person as you all blissfully backstab each other and barter treasures for help in combat.

As if the gameplay wasn’t enough of a selling point, the actual playing card names, descriptions, and illustrations (by John Kovalic) are a riot in and of themselves. With monsters like “Level 14 Unspeakably Awful Incredible Horror”, “Level 14 Insurance Salesman”, “Level 6 Pukachu” (which, as its name suggests, attacks with projectile vomit) and Curse cards like “Sex Change” and “Chicken on your Head”, you’ll be laughing out loud with your friends while you stab each other in the backs as you clime your way to level ten.

The bottom line is that Munchkin is an incredible game. Whether you like RPGs or you don’t even know what those letters stand for, this is the perfect game for anyone. If you’ve never played Munchkin, you need to try it for yourself.

posted by Christopher Schnese

Cloverfield follows a small group of New Yorkers trying to survive as their city is laid to waste by a giant monster. What sets Cloverfield apart from other monster movies is that the entire thing is told from the point of view of a hand-held camera carried by one of the characters. The premise being that a camera was found after the events and you are playing it back to understand what happened. The film even goes as far as to open with color bars, time code, and a slate claiming the tape as property of the government.

From the word “play”, this films is absolutely amazing. Never once breaking away from it’s premise, you completely feel like you’re watching events that actually took place. There are no establishing shots or really any conventional camera techniques at all. It’s all just hand-held, eye-witness video in which you only see what the character points the camera at. There is no music except was is playing within the characters environment and every cut is made as if in camera with the record / pause button.

Now this movie is definitely not for everyone. As the credits began to roll, about half of the audience was noticeably upset. This is likely because they walked into the theater expecting Godzilla instead of government archival footage of “actual events”. You may also want to pop a few dramamine before walking into the theater. The shakiness of the footage in this film makes The Bourne Ultimatum look like steady cam work. While this is going to turn away many viewers and though some theaters are even posting warning outside the box office, it completely sells the realism of the movie.

Bottom line, this movie is an absolute win for me. The camera work, dialog, characters, everything is so spot on. I cannot recommend it enough. This was my most anticipated film of the year and for the first time in a while, a film lived up to everything I thought it would be.

posted by Christopher Schnese

Have you ever been driving in your car, listening to the radio, or watching a movie and heard a song you really liked, but had no clue what the artist or song title was? Well, if you had a jailbroken iPhone you wouldn’t have to wonder. Thanks to a new iPhone application released today called “Listen”, it would only take about 5 seconds to figure it out.

The idea of the application is simple. Hear a song that you’d like identified, launch the application and hold your phone up to the audio source, a little abracadabra, and out pops the track information for the playing song.

I’ve heard of similar services offered in other phones, but this if the first time I’ve had the opportunity to see it in action. I’ve tested it out on a few tracks and it works really well. Though I don’t have a whole lot of use for the service, it is pretty fun to play around with.

posted by Christopher Schnese