That’s right - scroll down the sidebar to see the current achievement leaderboard for Viva Pinata. Viva Pinata flew in under the radar of Gears of War, Tony Hawk, and Rainbow Six: Vegas this past fall, and was orginally considered a disappointment commercially.
However, it was Rare’s most critically acclaimed game since Banjo Kazooie, and restored a lot of people’s faith in the company. Its sales have also stayed steady, and the game may have a longer shelf-life than most videogame analysts expected. (Peter Moore pretends he knew this would happen all along.)
Perhaps it was that the game never found a good target market. Admittedly geared towards children in design, but with gameplay challenging enough for even the most elite gamer to master: the game proved challenging to sell. (On a side note, Rare reported recently that some Pinata have still only been seen by only a handful of those who have finished all of the game’s achievements.)
So the following is the Official SoL Viva Pinata Leaderboard: (more…)
The SoL RAG had a week’s hiatus as the editor spent some time in the sun of Las Vegas. What was supposed to be a relaxing long weekend became one of terror when explosions and gunfire were heard almost non-stop. A group known as the Lagging Dr. Pepper Baloney Pants Show apparently misunderstood their Vegas booking at the Flamingo Hilton for an actual battle against “those terrorists flipping cards in our faces!”. Flamingo spokesperson Guy Breakneck made a statement, “We were made to believe they were a group of acrobats!” Most Las Vegas residents didn’t mind, as one put “This incident was nothing compared to the NBA Allstar weekend”.
Congratulations to the Pinkie McNeo family for having a baby girl on march 26th. The little tot was 8 days past her birth date due to the Raid Schedule of Neo’s WoW guild. Our reporter Kola the Sneak reports that Neo had a Slow Spell from an Arcane Specced Mage cast on Mrs. Pink to delay the birth. Amazingly, the baby, named Blair Zugzug McNeo, has a distinct birthmark on her back that is an exact replica of the Insignia of the Horde. She joins her brothers Dath Blueheat and Sir Goofalot in their happy home. All is well in Azeroth!
HEAT SIGHTING! Our source known as “Bedlam Mariner” reports that he thinks he saw HEAT while on bivouac in the Mojave Desert. Mr. Mariner isn’t sure as he claims he was hit with a Rocket launcher and while dazed overheard a man mutter “Happens everytime!”…then the man warned “you didnt see anything!”. We would like to believe the story but late yesterday we received a tip that HEAT was in LA shopping the Macy’s semi-annual white sale, purchasing camo-print sheets. (400 count Egyptian cotton! Very nice) Perhaps he was at both locations. Hmmmmm……
Knaughty has been seeking advice on how to pop the Q to long-time girlfriend Erin. Lady Blue suggested an activity they do often to surprise her, Wiffer had a variety of ideas, Blue Steel suggested a Star Wars theme and Grantie just cried aloud “WHY ARE ALL MY FRIENDS GETTING MARRIED?!” Knaughty also received an anonymous PM saying simply “Use the Rocket launcher”.
Well, I’ve finally had some hands-on time with the beta.I must tell you, it’s been a blast to play!However, for the purposes of the this article, I’m going to sit back and be as objective as possible.I’ll be looking at the game – not as someone who luckily scored a beta invite – but as someone who just saw the game at his friends house and has to decide whether or not to fork out $50 for it or not.Here are five things, for better or worse, that every SoLer should at least know about Shadowrun – before they make a decision on it.
1)It’s deep.Shadowrun won’t draw in the hyper-ADD Halo crowd.You know who I’m talking about.The game is setup to heavily reward strategy and teamwork, and to punish those who don’t use it.The game has three types of items for you to use in battle: weapons, tech, and magic.Now you’re weapons are simple: there about 8 guns for you to choose from, along with your standard grenades (that look sweet when they blow up!), and hot katana blade.What sets Shadowrun apart from its predecessors is (more…)
There’s a lot going on right now in the gaming industry that you may not be aware of.Allow me to break it down for you in an all-too-brief summary: GTA has caused a lot of controversy, even so far as people blaming the game for crimes they’ve committed.Jack Thompson is a lawyer who believes games with violent, sexual content – ought to be strictly prohibited from minors, and in some cases, banned altogether.Our gaming youth and our responsibility to them hang in the balance.Where do you stand?Where should you stand?
I’ve mulled over this quagmire for quite some time.Personally, I hate the glorification of evil in games like the GTA series, Manhunt, 20 to Life, etc.And for people to say that ultra-violent games have no effect or desensitization on somebody is naïve.A military report once chronicled the fact that men during World War I were too scared and timid to fire at the enemy and take their life.So during training for World War II on, they began having men fire at silhouettes of enemy soldiers.The success rate of soldiers willing to take a shot increased dramatically.Now, soldiers play videogames, and the success rate of firing without hesitation is over 98%.The military officially credited videogames as impacting soldier’s minds when it came to firing on another human being.I’m not advocating that games with violence are bad per se, but to deny any effect is a losing bid. (more…)
The following is a list of this past week’s Xbox Live Activity, courtesy of M$’s very own Major Nelson. Gears of War continues to be the top overall game, and a reminder that the XBLA list only reflects the full, purchased versions of the game.
Xbox 360 Top Live Titles 1 Gears of War
2 Crackdown
3 Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six® Vegas
4 Worms
5 GRAW 2
6 Call Of Duty 3
7 TMNT 1989 Arcade
8 Oblivion
9 Madden NFL 07
10 Lost Planet (more…)
< "Guilty as Sin!" were the words proclaimed after the undeniable statement made by Grantly "Creepy Pants" Pantly. Late into the night and a few bottles of Evian later as our diabolical hero reviewed slanderous pictures of himself taken by certain Paparazzis. He came to the troubling realization as he sat mightily upon his throne; the words suddenly rang out "Hey, I look like one of those creepy guys that hangs around bus stops!"
Everybody was thinking it but no one had the courage to say it……until now. This is not the first time he came to this realization. Like all traumatic experiences, this was pushed deep into the dark recesses of his mind. There this demon has remained in solitude, yet every so often the suppressed memory pushes itself up to the surface and torments him. The first time this occurred, Grantly was back-packing in Austria 4 years ago with his marionette, Geppetto. (more…)
It was party time in the Northwest as several SoLers met in Anacortes to LAN at MonkyDrummers home. Many were in attendance including a mysterious woman who claimed to be JojoMama. After a phone call to Ammodragon who confirmed that Jojo was indeed safe in their Utah home, it was determined the woman was actually Cookieman in drag. Our sources had warned us that he was AWOL but we really didnt expect him to show his pretty face so publicly. A good time was had by all…except for Cookies table dancing…there just arent words for that incident!
HEAT SIGHTING! During one of the games played at the aforementioned LAN, partiers noticed that Heat Exchanger was one of the people in the game. Assuming that they were connected to LIVE and Heat was in his Californina home, no one thought much of it. But Airsick Dragon noticed afterward that they werent connected to the web at all! HEAT had snuck in, played, ate fudge and left completely unnoticed. Amazing. (more…)
Dekon’s proximity alert instantly jumped to life. He slowly opened his eyes as he felt the adrenaline needle enter his chest. The intense pain flushed his brain with a memory. The Memory he had been reliving for the past 7 years.
Covenant forces were laying waste to Headlong, marines were slaughtered without mercy. Dekon stood alone, his squad had been assigned to push the Covenant threat back, but the Covenant were too strong they pushed back too hard. Even though there were numerous casualties on both sides, the Covenant had emerged victorious and had almost secured Headlong, they just needed to deal with one last heat signature. Dekon was found in the main security control center wiping the servers and uploading whatever he could save, when he felt time was short, he dropped some grenades and charged back out to the fight. As the remaining forces converged upon Dekon’s position, he did something he was told never to do, but, he had no choice if he wanted to live. He detonated an EMP; all electronic and magnetic circuits fried. Energy Swords, Plasma weapons, Plasma shields, Grunt life support, depleted. As did Dekon’s energy shield. His Spartan suit became limp, at least the Spartans trained for this, they trained for everything. As a few Elites stood over him, he smiled at them, dropped 2 frag grenades at their feet and pulled a dead Spartan lying nearby on top of him, shielding him from the blast. With no shields, and no weapons, the Covenant became prey for the lone Spartan. Badly broken, it took Dekon 3 days to get a life support tube from the drop ship to the top of the X Building. He knew the EMP could not have reached that high. He only needed the battery from the building’s satellite system to keep him alive until someone, anyone, came. To his surprise, there was no battery, but there were several solar panels. After hooking up the drop ship’s proximity alarm to the system so it would get an extra boost, he split the power to the life pod. Dekon took the deep sleep pill, got in, and pressed the last button he thought he would ever press, then closed his eyes. (more…)
That’s right - scroll down the sidebar to see the current achievement leaderboard for Viva Pinata. Viva Pinata flew in under the radar of Gears of War, Tony Hawk, and Rainbow Six: Vegas this past fall, and was orginally considered a disappointment commercially.
Well, I’ve finally had some hands-on time with the beta.
