Turok Review: 360

TUROK

Well I went and rented:

Okay let me explain the part on rented first of all...most of the information I have come across regarding mutliplayer in this game is that its run of the mill...CTF..Team Death Match..etc..oh and one more thing my poor ass real life friends won't buy it and COD4 still isn't old yet...back to the review.

WARNING: Spoilers may be ahead

Well I was intrigued to see a copy of Turok for rent when I went by to my local Blockbuster last Saturday. It seems that the stores must have been a mix up in the apparent street release date of this game. Touchstone's Turok webpage still had a ticker counting down the time of release. I never did come across any internet chatter regarding that situation, but its probably do to the fact this game just didn't live up to the hype or did it.....

Presentation

The game looks great in some places and lack luster in other. The dinos look real as what I imagine they would look like and the landscape shots were also intriguing, but some of the close ups on the scenery looked painted on. The blood effects are cool, but lacking as well. I am not a specialist of anatomy, but it would seem likely if you slashed the neck of dinosaur it would spew out not dribble out.

Example below:




Yes my graphics are suck, but windows paint brings out the necessary effects about as good as the game...j/k. The animations on the dino is great especially when you do the knife timed-events. After 50 knife kills, the stab to the head has still not gotten old. The human timed-kill animations are also cool, but what is with the FUCKING sparks. A knife kill is supposed to be visceral and mean, but instead you hear some cool sounds and see sparks after taking a knife to the chest. The spark effect could have been replaced with a little bit of blood then the blood could have been dripping off the blade for a even cooler effect.

The guns in the game are good {they could have been great with the cerebral bore}. The ability to have a second firing option on the weapons is awesome especially since most of the secondary effects are spectacular. The plasma rifle effect with the environment is definitely appealing. After shooting the alt fire with the plasma rifle, it unleashes a grenade type round which explodes devastating both the opponent and the environment. When reloading the higher ends weapons, the animation effects are definitely cool as hell.

Story

The story is okay I guess. I haven't finished the game, but being at the halfway point it has been so so to say the least. I really wasn't expecting an intriguing story to begin with. My formulation on an opinion in this avenue probably won't be finished until I finish the game. The odds are I won't be that impressed unless they build up the confrontation to the ex-leader of the wolf pack.

Gameplay

It is an FPS and its pretty linear. Go here kill dino...go here dino/humans....go here kill humans. The interaction with each is different. Basically the bigger the dino the more rounds its going to take to bring it down. The humans on the other hand takes quite a few rounds unless your good at getting the headshot. Most of the time I try to go for the stealth kill for the obvious reason its freaking tight. Why is killing the human enemies a pain in the ass at times? I don't know if it is a hit issue with the models, but it shouldn't take a whole clip to down one human.

The AI

The raptors are hilarious at times....at one point I killed 10 of them in a row. It was like they where waiting in a bank teller line waiting to get stabbed in the head.

The over grown iguana are cool little bastards. They remind me of a crocodile that can climb trees, but have the elusiveness of a squirrel. Dodging and knife killing these mofos can be a hassle or you can do as I do shoot'em down while they are still in the tree with your bow.

The humans in this game look cool, but are fucking retarded....Seriously Propaganda devs you failed in this area. At one point in the game, I am running back down to get on the elevator with Sid {more on this asshole later}. One of the AI is behind cover and he keeps standing and crouching..standing and crouching standing and....you get the idea...The AI seem to do this a lot when behind cover. The only smart thing they do is run backwards when you go to knife them down. Your squad/teammates AI are just about as stupid. When a dino comes around it takes 1000 bullets for your squad mate to kill them. I will be knifing the shit out of raptors and then I will see Sid shooting 1 fucking raptor. Devs if your going to put AI in the game make them at least somewhat useful {IE Gears of War}.

Sid oh Sid how I love to hate your ugly ass. He constantly is reminding you throughout the beginning portions of the game to "Hurry up or I'll leave your ass behind." It pissed me off to the point where I just waited and you know what...HE NEVER LEFT ME BEHIND. The same thing on the elevator level. After blowing up the override button on the top platform, he will constantly yelling some other bullshit that I can't remember right now. Devs maybe thats your way of developing a character, but those two examples show why me as a gamer don't want to hear the same bullshit over and over.

Multiplayer

I haven't gotten into it if I do I might post something about it. From the chatter around the net, the general consensus is that they are not offering very much in this realm.

Achievements

The achievements in this game piss me off. Why can't you have a balance between both online and offline play? Most of the achievements in this game are for the online play requiring many games to obtain. I don't have a problem with online achievements, but I think the devs could have been a little more creative with the achievements in regards to the story mode. After all if you are looking to make sequels, you better do one of two things....have a bad ass story or bad ass online multiplayer. If you lack in either department, your second go around better blow people's minds.

Final Thoughts

I was a huge fan of the originals games on the n64 and I was really looking forward to this new refresh of Turok. The game so-so for me. It was probably my fault for putting it on a lofty pedestal. The n64 versions of Turok had weird plots, but the game play was gritty and gory. The plot in this game is definitely better than those of the past, but I think they could have improved on making this game a little more dark and sinister. The graphics in all weren't bad, but weren't mind blowing either. All in all I am glad that I rented this game.

6.5 Knife kills to the head outta 10

Disassembly of the Xbox 360 Wireless Controller

===================================================
EDIT 1: having issues uploading pictures from this PC....will add them later tonight along with the video from trigger dissemmebly. I will try to have pictures for each part.
========================================================
===================================================
EDIT 2: Pics are up...sorry if I have some grammatical errors. I started painting the control below and some of fumes may have been lingering...lol
Also you can leave comments or there is a chat function off to the right side. I won't be able to check it till late afternoon Jan 18.
========================================================


DISCLAIMER: First and foremost I want to be clear that I am not responsible if something goes wrong if/when you are using this guide. This is just for informational purposes only. I will answer your questions to the best of my ability but if something happens during your disassembly/reassembly well....sorry your SOL. Some of you may be living with you parents please ask permission before attempting this....don't say, "the internetz told me to!". You use this guild at your own risk.

Alright with that out of the way lets begin. I will do my best to keep this short and concise since I hate reading walls' o text.

Materials Needed:

• One Cup or Small Container - this is for holding the buttons/screws/springs etc.... Some of the pieces are small and you don't want to lose track of them
• 2 Flat nose screwdriver #0 or #1 - you might need it for light...and I mean light prying
• Philips screwdriver #0 or #1 - for the D-Pad

• A tamper Torx 8 screwdriver - bought mine from this guy - you can find them on other place in the web but the Torx screwdriver has to have a hole in the middle this is key.
• A table - don't take this apart on your bed or in front of the TV cause your bound to lose parts.
• A bowl - this is useful to hold the controller when removing and installing the buttons {X, Y A, B etc.}

Step One: Battery and Screw Removal

• You will first want to remove the battery....duh no shit sherlock...hey some people might not have known.

• When you have the battery out, you will notice a UPC label code. This is a sticker it will be removed. No I don't know if this voids warranties, but I think if you came this far you know what your getting into.

• As pointed out in the picture above you should see all 8 screws. The key screw is the one in the battery which is sometimes over looked. Be careful with the last screw {which everyone is your last} some of the items float in the controller {not latched down} so they may fall out. Table is key in this situation.
  

Step 2: Inside your Xbox 360 Wireless Controller

• First remove the remove the black piece where your headset plugs in and then remove the LB and RB

• So now we should have the back side of the controller in one hand and the guts and front side of the controller in the other. Place the side with the battery in a secure location. Grab the green board from the sides and pull it out. I would recommend setting the control face down on the table and then lifting the green board out. While doing that with one hand take the other hand and grab the motors with heads on tops IE: the rumblers and set them to the side.

• You should have something that looks like the above. I would reference this picture when putting the controller back together, so you know exactly how it should look before you put the green board and rumblers back in.
  

• BE CAREFUL HERE!!!!! ATTENTION!!!!! Here is where you going to take out the gray pads and buttons of the controller. To reiterate I about lost my select button cause its freaking small so be careful. Hold the controller over the bowl and just turn it upside down OR remove them piece by piece {my preference}.

Final Step 1.5: Removing the D-Pad

• Alright so now you should have just the front panel of the controller with no buttons. On the back of the D-pad you with see 2 small screws and two flaps sticking out. Remove the two small screws {these are small be careful}. This is where you might need another set of hands.. The two plastic flaps need to be pushed toward each other using the two small screwdrivers {doesn't matter just so they slide into the hole}.

View if looking from the side:

pushing this direction----->|_|<----pushing this direction

The front piece {the part you press while gaming} should fall out. You might have to push
it out, but highly doubtfull.

When complete you should have the above!

Final Step 2.0: Removing the Rumblers

• The tumblers are really easy. They work like a extension cord which plugs into your electric socket. In order to remove them easily, take your flat head screwdriver and put it between the male and female ends and twist gently. It should not take much effort to get them to detach.

• When you remove the rumblers, it is wise to leave them on the table as you removed them. As you can see in the picture above I left the each side in the same spot.

Final Step 2.5: More Advanced

• When I did the Gears Of War controller, I took off the triggers. These suckers are really, really tricky. I read another guys blog and he said they were easy. I will disagree on this one. It took me a while to figure the right way to get it to work. When you do get them off, you don't need to worry about keeping them separated. They can only go into the control one way IE: the left won't work on the right and vice versa.

• I tried to explain....the above is the video {coming soon}. Again be careful, I know you all like fragging people online so delicate is the key word.

Congratulations: Your control is in pieces and you are screwed.....hahaha just kidding yea I am an ass. I recommend taking some alcohol or cleaning solution and clean the plastic pieces. WARNING: Keep your green board in a location where it will not get wet.

Now what well its up to you from here. Since most of you will need the tools first, I will post tomorrow on painting and how I did the Gears of War controller.

All Rights Reserved Flesh Productions 2008­®

Being a Chief's fan for the past 19 years

Just got done listening to this abortion of a press conference.

As the title states the Chief's have been one of my passions as long as I can remember back. With the advent of the internet, I have been able to keep up on everything that is Chiefs. The organization has finally put the car into reverse at full throttle. This isn't your average run of a mill car this is a Ferrari running red lined.

In the press conference, King Carl stated, "We have a plan and that plan is being implemented as we speak!"

Really your highness, I have heard this speech before yet we still haven't won a playoff game since '93 and we have made the playoffs a hand full of times. Yes you have put some good teams on the field, but that is all they were "good" teams. They were not "Superbowl" teams.

I am glad after going to The Star webpage. Chief's fans have finally united under the same banner protesting the regime by not filling the stadium like mindless drones.

Oh to you people who say that the WE aren't TRUE fans, yea you support your team in the good and the bad, but just like the revolutionists of France your not going to support the regime that is holding your team hostage.

In conclusion it is nice the Chiefs are going to be building from the draft {which every LOGICAL team does}, but I think the team is going to get worse than it gets better. It could take a couple seasons to put together a line comparable to that of the 2002-2005 teams. With Brodie Croyle leading the charge {barf}, I wouldn't expect a competitive team till '10 maybe '11 unless Carl/Herm steps down and the Chiefs are able to find a real head coach. Oh well I will still keep up on my Chiefs regardless and still be a fan even though I might be doing more complaining than cheering in the future to come.

Review of AvP: Requiem

Nothing says fun like a Predator taking his whip out and tearing up an alien. My first opinions of AvP: Requiem were highly promising with the apparent gore and geared up Predator. The R-rated trailer provided everything an AvP fan could desire. The human heads were exploding like fireworks in the sky. The aliens were running around stabbing would be victims with their hideous mini head while the Predator was destroying any likely victim to cross his path. All of the above sounds as though to provide for a promising movie. While the movie delivers on some parts, it also fails in others. Spoilers to follow....so don't read on if you haven't seen the movie.

THE GOOD:

• The Predator is a beast literally. He gets most of the classic weapons with a couple of new additions with the whip being my new favorite. It would have been nice to have seen the disc or the retractable netting, but hey it was to be expected.
• The Aliens still acted like aliens sneaking and lurking to their unsuspecting prey
• The gore was abundant and sometimes over the top, but that is to be expected with the genre since some of the first aliens movies pushed the bounds of acceptable gore.
• The killing was very plentiful. Both the alien and predator took out humans galore. The Predator really had some nice kills with the new remote mines and whip {my personal favorite}. The one kill that was particular cool was the spear through the head of the alien, which was topped by the lead's love interest taking a over sized ninja star to the gut. {I totally laughed my ass off after seeing her go down}

THE BAD:

• How does a Predalien go from a little baby to a big bidass in a matter of minutes with the abilities to take out a whole crew of Predators?
• Why do we always have to have one predominate Predator in every movie? Most predator fans want more predators. Yea it is probably more expensive to produce but an all out predator and alien battle would be epic. The only other conceivable excuse would be developing the story around more than one. Hollywood still has not wrapped their arms around the fact that most fans of the genre are not asking for a Titanic-esk plot. All we want are some sweet Predator and alien kills with cool Predator gadgets.
• So Predators are asexual??? The scene in the hospital still baffles me. The predalien injects embryos into some of the pregnant women in the hospital. While the scene was very gruesome, the movie might have given us the grounds of basis that the Predators could reproduce asexually. When the aliens used human, they carried over the human style of reproduction through a female alien so would that be the same for predators. Just an idea......
• The human arch in the story was just worthless. The obvious attempts to create new Ripleys and human counters to the previous movie was just lame. The story in general would have been better if the human actors would have had as many speaking lines as the predator.
• The final standoff was lame. Dear CGI and effect artists some of the stuff you guys do is amazing {IE: the human heads getting wasted by the duel Predator cannons}, but when you cannot see what the hell is going it really frustrates the movie watcher. If you can't make the CGI good enough for the scene, you should remove it not flash the camera all over the screan in a bad attempt to make the scene more visceral.
• Its an AvP movie and there was not enough AVP in the movie. People wanted to watch aliens messing up Predators and vice-versa. As you can probably tell personally I am a Predator fan. Most of us would not have had a problem with Predators dying if we could have seen more of them{I don't count the ones who get offed in the beginning}.

Final Conclusion: Its not bad as the first, but it really isn't that much better. Hollywood still is oblivious to what action/gore movie goers want for entertainment. AVP: Requiem is just a run of mill action/horror film. It should satisfy some while leaving most disappointed.

6.5 Predator Masks outta 10

Current Phase of Xbox Live Part Duece

The ODB: You might be saying whats with the picture? This is the original ODB and if you don't know who he is look him up. The ODB of Xbox live is the guy who just plays the game to win and have fun. He isn't talking shit usually and is the quietest one of the bunch. When the game is on the line he might give out some pointers, but he usually won't get involved with the bickering and bitching between rival classes during matches. He is the most cordial of the categories.

Favorite Dis: usually doesn't dis.

Rating: 1 {you want to play with this guy}



The Clanster: Can be the worst or best part of Xbox Live?! Depending on the general grouping on the Clanster they could be a group of racists/gangsters sprinkled with your prepubescents to get a mixture of a bunch of annoying shits. Sometimes you can get a bunch of ODBs, college students, or adolescents who know the game and just have fun pwning as a team.

Favorite Dis: usually will expound on whatever the leader says
ex: The leader says somebody sucks the followers will reply with some variant of sucking on some other type of level. If further explanation is needed, go to the zoo and watch the monkeys. If one chucks shit soon others will follow.

Rating: 5 {don't mind them until they start on tyrants about stupid topics}




THE JOKESTERS: Can be very entertaining when they are actually funny. Most of the time they will usually fall under as sub category of class already listed. They tend to make more jokes about the game or players than actually play the game. High possibility of actually sucking at the game on a consistent level since their head isn't in the game.

Favorite dis: to many to list

Rating: 5 on average {They don't bother me unless they go on tangents. While I like to play to win, sometimes a jokester can improve the overall game.}


The Female: oooOOOOHHH......aaaaAAAAHHHH Hardly ever see them like the Loch Ness monster every one has claimed to see one, but there is never any factual basis on the claim. In all seriousness just kidding females if your reading, I see/hear them occassionally but usually "The prepubescent or The Adolescent" will scare them off.

Favorite Dis: Leave me alone!

Rating: unknown {well never really played with one!?!?!?![no on xbox live jackass]}

======================================================================
======================================================================

In conclusion we can see that Xbox Live provides a gambit of different individuals. Some of you may be saying where do I fit in all of this? If you are saying that to yourself, then you are probably lying to yourself. While this is mostly supposed to be humorous, it shouldn't take away from the fact that some of the points made above are valid. If you are a developer for Xbox Live, please for the consumers sake make it an easy option for the individual to mute people who ruin the experience for others. If you need an example please copy Halo 3's options cause they are flawless.

You are probably also asking yourself. "Okay Mr. High and Mighty which one are you?" I have been in most of the classes besides your prepubescent and adolescent. While I don't believe I have acted as a gangster, I am sure I have made fun of that category plenty of times.

Disclaimer: just my opinion....I don't condone any category listed....I am just telling it through my eyes.

Disclaimer of the disclaimer: I have friends in all the classes so yea I play with every one besides prepubescent.


*initial phase - gamers from the first three years of Xbox Live.
*current phase - all the people playing since the inception of Xbox 360 gaming system.

The Current Phase of Xbox Live Part One

Xbox Live is one of if not the best online gaming experience on the planet. Many hours have been spent on this network by all shapes, sizes and types of people. While I tend to enjoy my time on Xbox Live, I have found many categories of people to become annoying to say the least. Stereotypes in society are bad, but in this instance I am going to stereotype these individuals since they always tend to do the same thing over and over.

Stereotype: A conventional image or characterization that is widely accepted.
www.oneontacsd.org/hs/murphy/terms.htm

Xbox Live began around 4 to 5 years ago and has been a premiere online game function for both versions of the xbox gaming system. I started using Xbox Live around 2 years ago playing Halo 2 and Ghost Recon. Both games added a whole new dimension for gaming for me. I had played the occassion online battle on PC, but they were low end games that just sucked online. The two above games kept me on the couch and enthralled for hours on end.

The games where great but also was the human live interaction with other individuals. I say individuals since most of the people playing at the time were not the same age group as those today. Voice communication allowed gamers to not only chat, but coordinated during cooperative and multiplayer game variants.

Most of the time people you played with during the INITIAL* phase were for the most part cordial and willing to work together to win the match. You had few instances that took away from the overall experience. The CURRENT* phase is basically what the intention of this blog is focused. The initial phase was basically an incubation period for the current phase. While during the initial phase, you would occasionally have an occurrence that would take away from the Live experience, but today this occurrence is DAILY......just so you know what I mean by DAILY.....EVERY FREAKING DAY!!!!!!!!! My play time on average is about 2 hours daily maybe a little less. I usually am playing late at night due to the job, but I still come in contact with these current* phase....idiots for lack of better adjective.

Disclaimer: I am not saying everyone who plays on Xbox Live is an idiot. What I am saying is that they have become more abundant during the current* phase.

Now I would like to explain the current trends and personalities of the Current* Phase. I will also rate annoyance level from 1-10.....1 being alright I can tolerate it to 10 being I wish I could send a trojan to your 360. The favorite dis is the phrase most said by that category of player.


The pre-pubescent adolescent: This male---er female are the ones who left from middle school and didn't talk to anybody all day. They get home sit on their parent's couch and plug in the mic into their controller. They go grab their copy of Halo 3 from the shelve while thinking to themself "I bet Billy made it home by now!" He fires up his TV, adjusts the mic pratically on his mouth.

The game is not the highlight of the day it is being able to talk across the internet ....oohhhhhh ..aaahhhhhhh ....Their intention is to make sure everyone knows how many kills they had and their weapon of choice. They swear on occasion which makes this class of Xbox live characters even worse. I tend to mute these individuals within seconds. If I really wanted to relax to that sound, I would buy the Barney Christmas CD and crank it to max volume on my home stereo. When your balls drop you have the right to speak on Xbox live, but until that magical moment please please talk at a low volume with your mic under the couch that way the sound will at least be muffled. I can't tell you how they play cause as soon as I hear one I either leave the match or mute the person.

Favorite diss: You suck!

Rating: 10 {I avoid like the plague and VDs.}



The adolescent: This male falls into many categories/characters that I intended to list. You basically can say that he is the chameleon which is able to adapt to any situation. He can be a racist or a gangster or a shit talker or a clanster. It all depends on the scenery. If the habitat is correct, you will know which one to find. They are repeaters which will take someone else's diss add another word and throw back. You will find them very lacking in dissing in general, but will throw plenty of swear words out their in general usually without any coherent intent. Most of time plays to win and most belligerent after winning. He will also make fun of your gamertag cause it rhymes with douche or another swear word.

Favorite Diss: You suck you douchebag MF SOB etc.......

Rating: 7 {annoying mostly try to avoid since they always want to dominate the airwaves of Xbox Live}


The College Student: The college student is like an adolescent, but less rash. Usually not much of a shittalker unless provoked or with his online friends. He may tend to get lippy after winning matches with friends or counterparts. Can be seen associated with the adolescent, racist, and gangster. He will not repeat as much as the adolescent. Most the time college students talk of drinking and parties. Mostly will play the game to win and have fun at the same time. Does not get along with the prepubescent. Will cause raucous with prepubescent during matches. Best to avoid situation when this occurs. The college student will get rambunctious during the WEE hours of the night.

Favorite Dis: STFU

Rating: 4 {Don't bother me as much, can handle them since it is not far removed from my past}

{insert racist pic here}

The Racist: Not much explanation is needed for the racist. You will know how to spot them out fairly easy.

Favorite Dis: {insert racial slang here}

Rating: 1-10 {Sometimes they can come out of the closet, while others wear it on their sleeves. It may be hard to pick them out but when they surface it is easy to find}



The Gangstar: This is definitely my favorite type of character on Xbox live. I like them better than the racist since they tend to be more animated in their dialog.

EX:
ME: "hey you wanna do a different match type?"
Gangster: "What son you leaving cause you got your ass kicked?"
ME: "uh no and why are you calling me your son?"
Gangster: "Cause your my son Cuz!!"
ME: Now I am really confused....."so I am your son and cuz so that means our family is a little weird!"
Gangster: "What did you say bout my family Mother Fucker?!"
ME: "right......."

As you can see the gangstar allows for poignant conversation and good ole' fashion time. Most of the time your will see that the gangster and racist are often the same individual. Both tend to say the same thing just in a different matter. They both just spew hate cause they love being tough behind a fake persona that is a gamertag. Sometimes it would be nice to see the moron on the other side, but I would be afraid of being disappointed. The gangster sometimes sound tough, but I am sure they would be sitting on an old couch eating potato chips with holes in their shirt pushing 125 pounds. If you really think your TOUGH or HARDCORE, prove it just don't spray your mic with a punch of shit that doesn't make any sense. You wanna impress me: jump off a bridge with a bungie cord attached to your fun bag. You would then be the toughest most hardcore individual around but until then STFU. {FYI: I said gangstar since they think they are the best players as well. gang+star= gangstar. genius I know}

Favorite Dis: CuZ you fucking suck yo!?!?!

Rating: 9 DO NOT NEGOTIATE WITH THESE INDIVIDUALS....THEY CANNOT BE CHANGED! THEY WILL DO THE OPPOSITE!
ex: me: Please lower your voice response: F' you MF' suck my dick



Part Duece to follow