In the last couple of months?
We’re about to turn the last page of 2009 and Q3 brought us some news and some of what I’ll call anti-news.
Dragon Age: Origins was released, and despite my initial enthusiasm, I have to admit I’m actually a little disappointed with it. It’s very Bioware which (to me at least) is a good thing. It also very much deserves it’s M rating which is probably the game’s strongest suit. Sex, Lyrium and gushing blood as they say. So what’s not to like about it? I honestly don’t know… When I play the game I just can’t seem to shake the feeling that I really don’t care about my character or any of his friends. If the world is run over by darkspawn that’s fine with me. Dragon Age: Origins is a good looking, action packed, intricately detailed game for grown ups. But in my humble opinion it doesn’t have shit on Mass Effect even though that game is significantly older.
Which brings us to the next order of business. As previously announced Mass Effect 2 will launch on January 26th in the US and January 29th in Europe. That’s pretty sweet. Check out the official site for info, video and wallpapers. The game has yet to show up on Steam, which worries me. Dragon Age which is also an EA published Bioware game was available for pre ordering for a while on Steam. Does this mean we wont be able to buy the game that way?
A game that can be found on Steam however, is Global Agenda. A game that I’m afraid to say, will disappoint the shit out of me. This is of course because me expectations are off the chart, and that I still cry myself to sleep a couple of nights every week, because I didn’t get into the closed beta. Stupid Hi-Rez and they stupid awesome looking pew pew game.
About a week ago the news that Global Agenda is going to launch on February 1st 2010 emerged on a number of sites. I doubt that it surprised a lot of people though, as that date has been obvious on Steam for a while now. The real news, I suppose, was that the game is now available for pre-order.
In other game related anti-news Allods Online recently finished CB2. A third closed beta test is rumored, and an open one after that. I have to admit I was very skeptical about Allods at first. After all it is a free-to-play MMO with microtransactions and a gameplay that’s predictably close to a certain MMO Leviathan. However, the possibility of creating and playing an undead cyborg psionicist Gestapo agent, made me go ahead and give the beta a go, and I must say I’m pleasantly surprised with it. I hope this game gets a proper following when it’s fully released, because judging by what I’ve seen so far, it deserves that.
Notice that there are two Allods Online websites. A European and a US version.
On a non-game Internet related note. Mike and Jerry(Gabe and Tycho) are having a reality show produced about life at the arcade. PATV features four episodes (three, the pilot was a two parter) of Penny Arcade: The Series. Anyone who reads, or used to read, or is familiar with, or never heard of Penny Arcade should most definately go check it out. It’s fun, it’s short and it’s something different.
Last but not least. Some non-Internet related anti-news. Unless you want it to be internet related. In which case I recommend checking this out.
On January 2nd Martin Kampmann faces Jacob Volkmann at UFC 108 in Las Vegas. This may very well be a fight for the future in the UFC for both fighters, who are coming off losses in the fall. Kampmann suffered a disappointing TKO to Paul Daley at UFC 103 in September and Volkmann lost his UFC debut at UFC 106 in November. Hopefully Martin Kampmann has this fight in the bag and can start winning his way back to contention at 170lbs. I know I’ll be right here cheering my face off.
Merry Christmas and a happy new year to anyone who may stumble by.
That is all.
