Interscription

So, Khidr and I just finished completing the single player campaign in Rainbow Six Vegas 2 cooperatively.  We’ve touched on it before in previous posts, but co-op is an extremely important part of why I love multiplayer gaming, and weighs in fairly heavily when considering whether a game should be rented, bought, or passed-over completely.  (Too Human broke our heart by not following Ozymandias’ Co-op Bil of Rights‘ first tenant: All co-op games should allow players to play cooperatively through the rich, single-player experience. Doing so through suspension of disbelief (ie, when cinematics refer to only a single player) is ok, though not ideal.  Jerks.)

• Read more: Rainbow Six Vegas 2 Review (Freeform)

So after reading this article on lifehacker.com, it got me thinking.  As anyone who knows me is aware, I’m a subscription entertainment junkie.  I currently have a Rhapsody subscription for my music, a Gamefly subscription for games (an awesome service, use this link to try it out, and send me some love!), and I’ve been demoing Netflix for it’s watch now product, which I’ll probably review at some point.  I also subscribe to every premium cable channel under the sun for their generally high level shows.

The theory of the article is that subscriptions are generally not the value that they seem to be as most of us actually consume far less than we think.  The argument doesn’t quite resonate very much for me on most things.   Let’s go through a couple of the subscriptions in my life:

• Read more: To Subscribe or not to subscribe…

My super negative knee jerk review -

Maybe I play too much cod4 on my 360. Maybe I’ve been out of the PC shooter game too long. All I know is I went into my STALKER experience last weekend with high hopes and a sense I got a steal (19.99 on steam). The experience began with a bit of a misstep, the game had to be downloaded, deleted and downloaded again, as the first time didn’t work, and I couldn’t get the game to launch. After that, the game started smoothly; and really continued my sense of “awesome” with the whole steam experience. I especially like that the download process also takes care of the install, so once it’s down, it’s ready to go.

• Read more: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

So, I figured I would spin some Frontlines last night since I have to give it back in a couple of days…and my preliminary thoughts are…

• Read more: Frontlines: AI of War

It was so very bad.

So, a few notes (which I’m sure several people have made throughout the Internet):

– The framerate is UNACCEPTABLE.  Sometimes the game runs well, sometimes it runs like a slideshow.  Let me be crystal on this: THERE IS NOTHING GOING ON IN THIS GAME THAT NECESSITATES A BAD FRAMERATE.  It is running on a version of the GRAW engine, and there is literally almost no AI and very few control options.  Add to that some fairly restrictive level design (even though you are on an island) and visuals that don’t raise the bar (and in some cases lower it), and this is an embarrassment of technology implementation.

• Read more: So I finished the Lost videogame

…of the beta release of Battlefield: Bad Company. 

First off, the graphics are quite lovely.  The day/night cycles are dynamic, and the area fog and sunlight effects are pretty dramatic.  Most of the board is dynamic, and can be blown up (more on that later), and the effects when blowing a wall out is always a sight.

• Read more: My thoroughly comprehensive review…

So I’ve been toying around with the sansa view and rhapsody…  advance america payday loanno fax payday cash advancepayday loan storefax free loan paydayloan money payday treeez payday loanlow interest payday loan,interest loan low payday,low interest rate payday loanonline payday loan applicationeasy payday loanpayday loan store milwaukeeonline payday loan instant approvaladvance cash loan payday softwareameriloan loan paydayadvance cash loan loan paydaypayday loan 1000payday loan paycheck advancecanada in loan paydaydebt get loan paydaymoney tree payday loanfast cash payday advancecompletely instant loan online payday,instant online payday loangeorgia loan payday,georgia in loan online payday2 loan online paydayadvance cash fast loan paydayadvance loan paycheck paydayloan oneclickcash paydayadvance loan online payday,loan online payday,instant payday loan completely onlinefax guaranteed loan no paydayloan payday till,loan till payday,info loan payday tillloan till paydayassociation canadian loan payday,canadian loan paydayno checking account payday loangeorgia payday loanez money payday loanquick payday advance loaninstant loan online paydayno fax cash advance for bad credit,advance bad cash credit loan loan,bad credit cash advanceadvance cash loan loan paydaycash till payday loancash advance business for sale,business cash advance,cash advance business opportunitycash fast loan paydayadvance america cashcash advance,cash advance america,business cash advanceadvance cash loan payday quickloan oneclickcash paydaylawsuit settlement cash advance,advance cash lawsuit pre settlement,lawsuit cash advanceno faxing savings account cash advance,no faxing required cash advance,advance cash faxing nocash loan payday tilladvance cash check credit nono fax cash advance,advance cash fax no,advance cash fast fax no It’s funny I have many of the same feelings about it that I had about the iriver…  primarily because, from a hardware perspective, it’s nowhere near as elegant as the zune, which just has a certain beauty to it.  Feature-wise, it has drag’n'drop support from windows, a big plus, as well as a very capable eq, and tons of ways to listen to your music. 

• Read more: Zune vs. Rhapsody - first thoughts

Success can be a poison.  Everywhere I look in entertainment and technology, success is the agent of sloth.  I can’t think of a clearer example than Microsoft.  Their operating system has been atrophying for years, a product that is no doubt their flag ship, but nonetheless stands essentially unchallenged in the marketplace.

• Read more: The Sopranos Finale