Stuck in Purgatory: Limbo Review

Posted by Byrdie On Tuesday, July 27, 2010 1 comments

Limbo or Purgatory is a Catholic belief that between Heaven and Hell there is a place for the lost and for those who were neither good nor bad. That is where the XBLA exclusive puzzle game Limbo takes you (maybe). You play a boy who awakes in a forest, begins walking around and discovers that this is no ordinary world. It is a world populated by dangerous creatures and traps and other children who don't take well to you being there.

Stanley's Tactics And Strategy (STAS) [Left4Dead2]

Posted by Pershire On 1 comments

Hunter




Hunter strategy
Fast, agile, and distracting, the hunter can pose a dangerous threat to the survivors. The hunter can pounce and pin down survivors. Unfortunately, it can only pin down one survivor at a time. When a survivor is pinned an announcement will come up informing the rest the of survivors.

Library of Games: Episode 12 - "OH MY GOD, IT'S ELMO!"

Posted by Gloqwi On Sunday, July 25, 2010 0 comments

And with the release of this episode, Kaillif is officially the only person to be on every single podcast episode! :D Bragging rights!

Also, after you listen to this, do not worry. I will never host a podcast episode AGAIN!

Byrd's Nest Blog #4: Stand up for you rights as a gamer/citizen

Posted by Byrdie On Saturday, July 24, 2010 1 comments


You may have heard about the recent Schwarzenegger proposal from the Govener of California which would basically make the ESRB rating the standard in stores, meaning that it will be illegal to sell M-rated games to anyone other 17 without parental consent. Now before you say this law seems okay let me say some things. The MPAA (the movie rating system) is not federally enforced. You know why. Beceause it's unconstitutional.

Coming soon to Library of Games

Posted by Byrdie On Friday, July 23, 2010 0 comments

As we all await the next podcast I decided to run down some of the new features coming to Library of Games.

Video Achievement guides- Since Matthew Byrd (ColonelByrd95) and Kailiff Ammen (Gloqwi) have the highest gamerscore's at LOG they have decided to feature video achievement guides for all you Achievement seekers out there. Upcoming games include Limbo, Alan Wake and Transformers: War for Cybertron.

Game Commentary- Love it when you and your friend make extremely funny comments while playing games? Want to hear even funnier people doing it? Well then Stanley Ng (BattleStorm132) and Matthew Byrd (ColonelByrd95) will be doing hilarious game commentaries all for your enjoyment.

Old game reviews- Ever want to know how old games stand up to the test of time? Then your in luck. LOG staff will be review all pre-2005 games simply for your pleasure.

Written by Matthew Byrd: Gamertag: ColonelByrd95

Puzzle Agent Review

Posted by taylorb librarian On Wednesday, July 21, 2010 0 comments



I’ve always wondered what a Twin Peaks video game would be like. It would be mysterious, scary, darkly funny and trippy. I want to see this game happen. I want creepy game dream sequences. In the meantime there’s Telltale Games’ newest adventure/puzzle hybrid Puzzle Agent. So, the art style maybe doesn’t scream David Lynch but there are some definite similarities in the storytelling and absurdity of this game that make it Lynch worthy (even a creepy dream sequence!!). The story and visuals are really the strong suit of this game and make it worth playing. Sadly, the puzzle elements which make up the majority of the gameplay aren’t nearly as strong.

In their brief history as a studio Telltale has made some of best traditional adventure games in the past 10 years. Puzzle Agent is a very different game. While Sam and Max and Tales of Monkey Island rely on inventory-based puzzles to move the story forward Puzzle Agent’s puzzle integration bears more similarities to the Professor Layton games.

You play as Nelson Tethers who works for the U.S. Department of Puzzle Investigation. He’s like an FBI agent except instead of using investigative skills to solve crime he uses... puzzles. It’s pretty apparent from the beginning that Agent Tethers doesn’t get much work. But fortunately for the player there is a mysterious accident at the Scoggins Eraser Co., the official supplier of the White House’s erasers. When the FBI investigates all of the town’s problems seem to be puzzle-based. This is where you come in. Nelson is sent to remote Scoggins, Minnesota to find out what happened. He’s met by a slew of strange, funny and often sinister local characters. As the mystery unravels things get stranger and stranger. Let’s just say the majority of the mystery seems to involve a cult and gnomes. And not cute little photogenic gnomes. Not these are seriously creepy gnomes. I had nightmares. It’s amazing how scary cartoon gnomes can be in the hands of Telltale.

You can’t deny the originality and strangeness of the story but just as original is the art style. The characters and background all look like they are hand drawn. When there are close-ups of characters you even see the thick grain of the pencil lines. It’s a refreshing style that was inspired by the comic Grickle by Graham Annabale, the former Creative Director of Telltale. For Telltale’s first original intellectual property the style is easily recognizable, unique and just fun to watch.

For all these positives about Puzzle Agent there are some major drawbacks. The majority of the game is spent solving a variety of sometimes tricky but mostly fairly easy puzzles. As the story progresses you will find that Nelson needs to solve a puzzle in order to get a new lead, enter a new location or continue interrogating a suspect. For the majority of the game the placement and type of the puzzle make sense within the story and because of this there is a nice variety of puzzles throughout. For example, in order to unlock a new location, the player has to create a path with logs to guide Tether’s snowmobile to the new location. A completely different kind of puzzle is a logic puzzle that challenges you to determine the time of an explosion based on different suspects cryptic interviews. Unfortunately, some of the puzzles don’t fit quite as nicely. In the local town diner, you have to solve several puzzles in order to get suspicious townsfolk to speak to you. All of these puzzles felt tacked on and not particularly relevant to the story. In one case, you have to organize a characters bug collection in order to get a vital piece of information.

The difficulty of puzzle varies throughout the game. As you would expect the first few puzzles are easy but instead of becoming increasingly difficult the puzzles just vary in difficulty throughout. In many cases the player will be able to solve a puzzle in a matter of seconds - even towards the end of the game.

For some of the trickier puzzles there is a very nice hint system. You can pick up chewing gum throughout the game (chewing gum helps Tethers think) and as long as you have a piece you can access hints. Initial hints are basic but if you ask for hints enough you will be given the answer. Gum is plentiful so you will never feel completely stuck no matter how hard the puzzle. However, you will get penalized for using hints and for submitting wrong answers.

The puzzle submission process was one of the most entertaining parts of the game. Every time you submit an answer you are giving a rating based on the amount of taxpayer’s dollars you spent solving the puzzle. If you used hints or made a wrong guess the amount will go up. While the total amount spent on solving puzzles doesn’t change the outcome of the game I always felt guilty spending more money than necessary (although I would be kind of fun to see how much government money you could waste over the course of the game).

The adventure gameplay elements are minimal. Apart from solving puzzles you don’t have much else to do. The game holds your hand and instructs you exactly where to go and when. While this does prevent the player from following the wrong lead it also doesn’t give you much freedom to explore Scroggins or feel like you are solving the mystery on your own.

Puzzle Agent is a short game (only 2-3 hours) and maybe because of this the story does peter out towards the end. I’m still not quite sure what happened at the end - although it did involve more creepy gnomes - I can’t overstate the scariness of the gnomes. I’m not sure the cryptic ending is an entirely bad thing but I did feel a little cheated that there was so much build up for so little pay off. However, it needs to be noted that Puzzle Agent is not a full-fledged stand alone game. It’s a pilot that hopefully will have life as a full Telltale season at some point.

In all the premise was great and the Nelson Tethers is a character I would enjoy playing again. The voice acting was superb, especially Tethers. However, as a pure puzzler the game needs to be a little more difficult in order to really give the player satisfaction. With such a good hint system in place Puzzle Agent could be much harder without being frustrating. But the thing that will make me go back to Puzzle Agent is the quirkiness of the story - I really want to see what Telltale will come up with next. Just warn me if there are going to be gnomes.

Skip, Rent, Buy? Try the demo. If the puzzle and story interest you enough buy. But really this is just a taste of what may or may not be a new series.

Byrd's Nest Blog #3: Why people don't like Video Games.

Posted by Byrdie On Tuesday, July 20, 2010 1 comments



Now if your reading this blog you most likely love video games. You play them almost everyday and read magizines and articles about video games. You are most likely perplexed as to why people don't like video games. It shocks you. It shocks me too. So I did some investigating and I've narrowed down 5 reasons why people don't like Video games and then quickly debunked each reason.

5. Hot Coffee (A.K.A Sex(Sex?))


In 2004 a Dutch modder discovered a hidden minigame in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas which allowed the player to have sex with the players girlfriend in numerous sexual positions. The minigame caused a firestorm of controversey which included the notorious attorney Jack Thompson (shocker) and even then-Senator Hilary Clinton. This mini-game controversey has put a negative spotlight on the industry that games are sex simulators for kids (even though San Andreas was an M game NOT INTENDED FOR KIDS!) and are desensitizing America's youth (when have you heard that before?). The fact is barely any mainstream video games in their entire history have had nudity and never except for Hot Coffee has sex ever been simulated and in the players controls during a game. This is a simple misunderstanding of Video games.

4. Video games are stupid children's entertainment

Like Comic books, video games are seen as children's entertainment not to be taken seriously. So when people play games they are considered trashy and child like. The truth is that gaming's fastest growing demographics are adults. A majority of the triple-AAA titles released are M-Rated so this is just a stupid and short-sighted arguement.

3. Jack Thompson

If all gamers had a nightmare- that nightmare would be Jack Thompson. The Florida attorney single handedly placed in the minds of American parents that games like Doom, Grand Theft Auto and Mortal Kombat would turn their children into axe murdering psychopaths who did drugs, murdered their classmates and would become devil worshipers.And the funny thing is, people believed him. Time will tell but it looks like Jack Thompson may have put full video game acceptance in pop culture back by a decade.

2. Video games have no depth.

On the surface when people look at video games they see simply killing simulators for no purpose. Any gamer will tell you this isn't true. Whether it is the tragically epic story of Red Dead Redemption or the mature philisophical adventure of BioShock games are mature pieces of art which use their interactiveness to distiguish themselves from other art mediums and saying that they don't have depth is simple ignorance of the medium.

1. Violence

This is the biggie. Video games have always been known for violent games. Counterstrike, Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, Manhunt the list goes on. But so what. Movies have been violent for nearly a hundred years and their an accepted form of entertainment. Their are two reasone why this is a reason. One the interativeness makes it seem like video games are turning America's kids into murderers (Jack Thompson). However there is NO PROOF that video games are involved in anyway in school shootings or murders of any kind. Second it's the newest medium on the block so it's instantly made fun of and looked down upon.

In conclusion you can expect all these problems to go away in 10-20 years. A new generation is coming. A generation raised on popular next-gen titles and this generation, I predict will be the one to bring gaming (good gaming) into the mainstream.

Written by Matthew Byrd: Gamertag: ColonelByrd95

Weekly Update 7/12/10

Posted by Byrdie On Friday, July 16, 2010 0 comments

5. Red Dead Redemption still selling strong

Rockstar's blockbuster new IP continues to sell strong as June games sales show that Red Dead Redemption was the top game seller last week continueing it's two month streak. Other entries in the top ten include Wii Fit plus, Super Mario Galaxy, Toy Story 3: the Game and Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4.


4. Mafia II developer's announce new DLC (one of which is PS3 exclusive)


With barely a month left until release date Mafia II's, the new Mob open world game's developer announced 2 DLC packs that will release shortly after the August 24th release date. The first one Betrayal of Jimmy will be PS3 exclusive and will allow the playe rto play as Jimmy who is a merc from the game. The second one is a similar one for both console's known as Jimmy's Vendetta which will be multiplatform. Both will include acrcade-like missions and online leaderboards.


3. Rock Band Punk DLC pack announced


The latest Rock Band DLC will include 2 Bad Religon songs (New Dark Ages and No Control) and three The Stooges songs (1969, I Wanna be your Dog and No Fun) The Total Package will cost 800 Microsoft Points and 1000 Wii Points. The DLC will be released next week.


2. Madden NFL 2011 Demo Announced

The latest installment in the legendary franchise will be out in late August, but gamers can get a preview of the action with the Madden Demo which come out on the Xbox 360 and PS3 on July 27th. The demo includes a game between the Colts and the Jets and a demo exclusive achievement/trophy.

1. Michael Jackson E3 game explained

The mysterious trailer Ubisoft ended their E3 press conference with (and excited LOG's Kailiff Ammen) has finally been explained. It will be a dance game titled Michael Jackson: The Experience and will release on the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii and will use motion control. The Release date for the game is set for November.

Written By Matthew Byrd: Gamertag: ColonelByrd95

Achievement Destroyer #3: Manifest Destiny-Red Dead Redemption

Posted by Byrdie On Thursday, July 15, 2010 0 comments

So this is a pretty tricky achievement. You have to kill all the Buffalo in the game (Don't worry they don't respawn). Now all the Buffalo are located in the Great Plains which are West of Blackwater so you can't get this achievement 'till around Act III of the game. There aere two ways to get the achievement. The first way is to go up to the herd of Buffalo and simply slaughter them with a regular gun. If you don't kill them all at first you can return to the Great Plains in a few hours and kill of stragglers until you get this achievement.

The Other way to get this achievement is to reach Master Hunter rank 5 in the challenges and you will unlock the Buffalo rifile which kills Buffalo in one shot. Once you get this it will be immensly easier to get this achievement and will save time. Either way BAM! 5 gamerscore for you.

Note: This is my final text only Achievement Destroyer guide. It will be a while 'till you see me again as I must get a new game and figure out the capture device for video podcast's so stay tuned for more, even better guides.

Written by Matthew Byrd:Gamertag: ColonelByrd95

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 Review

Posted by Byrdie On Tuesday, July 13, 2010 1 comments


Marvel Ultimate Alliance holds a special place in my heart. The 2006 game held a special place in my heart and was one of my favorite games so I was psyched the sequel was announced. However the original developer, Raven Software was replaced by Vicarious Visions and trust me. That was a mistake.

The game takes place during the Marvel Civil War were heroes are split over the Superhero registration act and you can either play the Pro or Anti Registration. A chance at multiple enjoyable playthroughs was squandered as the campaign's are simply carbon copies of each other. As you play through the game, something very clear comes up. This game took all the good things from the first game and made them repetitive. They then took all the bad things from the first game and amplified them.

Seriously. This game sucks. This game is putrid bargain bin, generic, graphically glitched trash. This game belongs in garbage cans across the world. Why? Because the brawler action gets repetitive real quick and listening to bad voice actors gets tiresome real fast. The game's weak attempt at Mass Effect like conversation has no impact and makes your hero seem like a stupid little kid who's going on an adventure with his favorite superhero. The camera is even worse as sometimes it goes behind walls and sometimes it goes up in the sky and leaves you OFF-SCREEN!!!!! And that's just the start. Enemies disappear into walls and fly into the air (and not because their supposed to.). Co-op is unenjoyable as camera issues make what was an enjoyable experience in the first game into a chore to play.

Bad. Bad. Bad. This is one of the worst games I've ever played. I had so much difficulty completing this game, not because it's hard but because it's such a chore to play. This game is barely a step above Superman 64 in terms of badness. Avoid this game at all cost. Go play a good game like Red Dead Redemption or the first Marvel Ultimate Alliance game but please skip this trash.

Written by Matthew Byrd, Gamertag: ColonelByrd95

LoG in: Taylor Bayless [taylorb librarian]

Posted by taylorb librarian On Monday, July 12, 2010 1 comments

Taylor Bayless (PSN ID: tab253) is a librarian at YOUmedia Chicago who started the Library of Games group in October 2009. She's a proud geek and is the token adult in the Library of Games group. She's also a girl. Who plays video games. Yay!!!

Q. Who are you and what do you think your doing here?


I'm the one who started this shindig! I'm a librarian at YOUmedia, the Chicago Public Library's teen space at the Harold Washington Library Center. My colleagues were lamenting the fact that teens in the space were only playing video games and not doing much else. Well, why not create a program about video games? The original program was called YPlay (I'm not very good at naming things). YPlay only had two members (Kaillif and Stanley) but once we started to record podcasts new members started to join. Stanley, our current podcast host, came up with the great name Library of Games and not long after our current stable of hosts came together: Kaillif, Stanley, Malic, Aaron, Byrdie, Patrick (who has now left us to go to Boston University) and our producer Sannya.

Q. That sounds boring and frivolous. How long have you been in the gaming industry?

I was a cinema studies major at New York University and focused on animation and special effects. This led me to studying the wonderful world of gaming and the connection between traditional animation and game animation. I then went on to University of Michigan where I studied the connection between the use of video games in the library and teen participation. But don't fear I'm not all theory. I actually play games. My first console was an SNES and for the vast majority of my youth I was attached to my Game Boy. However, my true gaming love lies in the world of PC gaming especially LucasArts adventure games of the 1990s. If it's puzzly or has great story I'm sold.

Q. Wait you love adventure games. Didn't you hear that the genre died about 15 years ago?

No it didn't. Okay, maybe a little but the influences of the adventure genre are everywhere. I mean without all those point and click Indiana Jones games you wouldn't have Uncharted. Plus adventure games are evolving (i.e. Heavy Rain). I'd like to think in the middle of all those depressingly grey shooters there's room for a game about comical pirates, rabbity things or film noir skeletons.

Q. I'm sold. Bring on the point and click. What makes Library of Games seem different than any other groups you've worked with?

First, Library of Games is a group of teenagers speaking intelligently about video games. It's hard to find that online and in an organized fashion. We have a group that truly cares about games. They care not only about playing games but also about the future of gaming. All of our contributors to the podcast and the blog are proactive and care about what they are doing. I mean I don't even need to give out assignments they create features on their own and come up with material to fill one hour of chat every week. Basically, you guys make my job really easy.

Q. You've been leading the group for about half a year. What do you think Library of Games will become?

I really hope that we can get the podcast on iTunes and grow our readership and listener base. I would love to see us as the go to site for teen opinions on video games and technology.

Q. Why are you an evil genius librarian?

One. I run a video game program in a library. Two. I successfully made a teenager read War & Peace (It's a little less than 2000 pages). Note: I brag about this endlessly.

Q. I'm a teenager. I live in Chicago. How can I find out more about this YOUmedia thing?

Visit us in person. We're located on the 1st floor of the Harold Washington Library Center at 400 S. State St. in downtown Chicago.

Visit us online. Or follow @libraryofgames and @youmediachicago on Twitter.

Q. Favorite games?

Grim Fandango, Psychonauts, Portal, BioShock, Half-Life 2 and Land of Illusion (Favorite game of my childhood. I played it on the short lived Sega Game Gear)

LoG in: Matthew "Byrdie" Byrd [ColonelByrd95]

Posted by Byrdie On 0 comments

Matthew "Byrdie" Byrd (Gamertag: ColonelByrd95) is a Film/Video Gaming Nerd who, although he joined LoG around episode 9-10 ish, has become one of the core members of the LoG group. He is one of most passionate Pro-Single Player advocates at LoG and sat down to chat with (insert interviewer name here) to answer some questions.

Q. Who are you and what do you think you're doing here?


Hi I'm Matthew Byrd but you can call me Byrdie. I've been into Video Games since I had the Original Playstation and N64 but I didn't get really into them until I got the original XBOX. I had a tough transition into next gen system but when I did I became a full on Gaming nerd. For the podcast I am a contributing writer for the website and one of the co-hosts on the Podcast.

Q. How long have you been in the gaming industry?

I've been playing games since I was 5 but I didn't "really" get into games until I was 12 (2007) when I got the Xbox 360. I fell in love with games like Call of Duty, Dead Space, Batman: Arkham Asylum and they really fueled my passion for Single Player games.

Q. Please describe to me why your a single player supporter.

Well I feel that single player games are good for three reasons. One. They (the good games) offer intriguing stories that are interesting to play through. You just can't get that in multiplayer. Second, they are free from the homophobic and racist people who inhabit Xbox Live and PSN and finally they offer me quiet alone time with games.

Q. Did joining the Podcast late alienate you from the rest of the group?

Oh no not at all. Kailiff and Stanley are some of my best freinds from school and I already knew Malic, Aaron and Taylor so no, not at all.

Q. What do you think of your fellow LoGers?

Oh they're awesome. You see I was alienated in Elementary school because I was a "nerdy gamer" while my other "friends" were into frat boy shooter gamers. This was very sad and really made me hate myself so I stopped gaming for a period of 7 months. When I got to my new school and met these guys at the Library I didn't feel alone anymore. I could play games and be cool. They really saved me from never gaming again.

Q. What do you want to see changed about LoG?

I would love for us to be on iTunes but that's out of my hands. What I would like is for us to branch out into videos with video reviews and achievement tips, but I would still write text for both of those since there are people who want both. So to answer your question, I would like to see us be a more video oriented website.

Q. Final Question: What are your favorite games?

Dead Space, Red Dead Redemption and Spongebob: Battle for Bikini Bottom

LoG In: Kaillif Ammen [Gloqwi]

Posted by Gloqwi On 0 comments

Kaillif Ammen (Gamertag: Gloqwi) is a video game/anime addicted teen and one of the first two people who joined the YouMedia gaming club (originally known as the YPlay Gaming Club) that made this website! He has taken time out of his completely free schedule to answer some questions that look very familiar to people that visit Bungie.net because he is unoriginal like that.

Q. Who are you and what do you think your doing here?


Hi! I am Kaillif Ammen! I was the first person to host the Library of Games podcast before Patrick came in (who has now left us...he's not dead!) and I currently edit the podcast together. I am also the site's caretaker and one of the two currently contributing writers (and lead editor).

Q. That sounds boring and frivolous. How long have you been in the gaming industry?

I've been playing video games for as long as I can remember. I only started becoming super into video games since I got my original Xbox in 2005, and I've only been completely immersed by video games since 2007. I opened a website back in early 2008 which I post on from time to time and now I work here!

Q. Isn't that sweet. What makes Library of Games seem different than any other gigs you've done?

There is more than one person that cares. Seriously! Byrdie has been doing some awesome stuff for the website and Stanley puts a surprising amount of work into the podcast! I'm also happy Aaron and Malic can stand talking about video games and other nerdy things with us for about an hour straight! I love it!

Q. You've been here part of the club for about half a year. What do you think this site will become?

This club has become something bigger over the past 6 months. This started out as two people who raised their hands when they said they wanted to review games for the library, which has now become a larger group of people who now talk about video games weekly for an hour and a website. I don't know what it will become, but it will grow from what it is now.

Q. Whenever you do these long, meaningless posts and work on the slightly frivolous website, what stays in your mind to keep you going?

I don't think they are meaningless, and I don't think this site is frivolous. Everything has to start somewhere, you know? I think it's the thought in the back of my head that says that "something good will come out of this." Yeah, that's it.

Q. Any tips for people that want to start a podcast or a website?

Be different. The key is to stand out from the crowd to get the attention of people that you want to listen to you. We are different because we are teens on the internet that won't spend half of the time spewing racial, sexist, homophobic slurs and speak about video games with thought! Right now, that's not enough to get everyone's attention, but we are currently thinking of ways to stand out (and Byrdie seems to be on the right track!)

Q. Experience, work ethic, or talent? What are you looking for with these guys?

These guys come to the podcast every week and bring something to the table, so there's work ethic. These guys have enough experience talking about games and other geeky things with friends all the time, so what I would want from them is the talent to make something interesting on the podcast or website. For me personally, I have basic experience and talent to start up this place (because I'm egotistical like that) but if you know me, I LACK work ethic. There are about 4 podcast episodes you readers haven't heard because I was too lazy to edit them on time. Don't worry! I'm trying to change that right now!

---------------------

That seems like a very optimistic note to leave off on. This is just the start of interviews that all the members will be doing if you want to learn more about them and get inside their heads. I don't know what they'll be like, maybe the same as mine, maybe completely different. I really have no idea. But I can't wait to see what they respond!

Weekly update 7/5/10

Posted by Byrdie On Saturday, July 10, 2010 0 comments

As part of the redesign of the blog I've decided to do a weekly news roundup of all the news in gaming for the week

We've had a pretty intresting week in gaming with many DLC announcments and game launchs. Here's this week's top 5.

5. Red Dead Redemption announces 4 new DLC packs

Rockstar announced 4 new DLC packs for their blockbuster smash Red Dead Redemption. These include the Legends and Killers pack which has 8 new multiplayer maps, 8 new characters and a Tomahawk as a weapon. The Liars and Cheats pack which adds gambling games to the online formula. The Free Roam Pack which offers new multiplayer modes and the Undead Nightmare pack which has a new zombie based Single player story along with new animals to hunt and 8 more multiplayer characters.

4. Bioware's Dragon Age Orgins 2 is announced

The sequel to Bioware's popular new RPG (popular except for LOG's Kailiff Ammen) was announced on thursday and is slated for a March 2011 release date. Info will be availible in this month's Game Informer's cover story.

3. Dead Space Ignition announced for XBLA and PSN

EA announced on Thursday that the comic book style prequel to Dead Space 2 (which releases in January 2011) will be released this fall for XBLA and PSN. The game will offer 4 different endings and exclusive's for Dead Space 2 only found in Dead Space Ignition

2. Assasin's Creed series on hold 'till 2012-2013

Ubisoft Montreal announced this week that after the expansion pack Assasin's Creed:Brotherhood is released this fall that fans of the series shouldn't expect Assasin's Creed III or another title for that matter until 2012 or 2013.

1. Crackdown 2 dissapoints

The highly anticipated sequel to the Xbox 360 exclusive near-launch title bombed this week as critics (including LOG's own Kailiff Ammen) criticized it for repetitive gameplay, boring missions, bad flying controls and basically being a lesser version of the original Crackdown.

Well that's it for this week. Stay tuned every Saturday for the Weekly Update.

Written by Matthew Byrd:Gamertag:ColonelByrd95

Library of Games: Episode 11 - The "What If" Question

Posted by Gloqwi On Friday, July 9, 2010 1 comments

First episode of a new season! Episode 11 OR... Episode 1 Season 2. We are getting used to the new features, and it's bad that two of our hosts didn't appear for the show, but we still ended up having a pretty good podcast! Take a listen!

[Download the podcast here!]


Intro, Break, and Outro: "Electromooq" by Uma Floresta

Achievement Destroyer #2: "Heading South on a White Bronco" Red Dead Redemption

Posted by Byrdie On Thursday, July 8, 2010 0 comments

This week we will get the tricky 5G achievement "Heading South on a White Bronco" which requires you to escape US Marshalls while riding an Hungarian Half Breed horse.

First things first you must get the White Bronco AKA the Hungarian Half Breed. They are a white horse with a tale face that can be found in the eastern region of Mexico (Or you can simply buy one at a store). Next you must go to the town of Blackwater and kill 3-4 people before the Blackwater cops come to get you. From there you go to the church on the edge of town and wait there with a Mauser Pistol and kill all the law enforcement as they come at you in a straight line. When you kill them all your wanted rating will disappear.

Now simply leave town and in about 5-10 minutes the US Marshalls will come to kill you. Simply out run them on your horse (which is pretty fast) and bam!5G.

Next Week: Manifest Destiny 5G Red Dead Redemption

Note: You can expect this to turn into a video achievement guide in the coming weeks

Written by Matthew Byrd: Gamertag: ColonelByrd95

Achievement Destroyer #1 - Red Dead Redemption "Friends in High Places"

Posted by Byrdie On Thursday, July 1, 2010 1 comments


As part of the podcast and blog's new design, I've decided to add another feature to the website. Every week, I will give you tips on achievements from various games.

This week, I will give you tips on a tricky achievement in Red Dead Redemption: Friends in High Places which is 10G.

Friends in High Places requires you to use a pardon letter to get off a $5000 bounty. There are two ways to do this achievement. You can either:

  • A) just let your bounty rise naturally through the game
  • B) Do it the quick way.
The quick way is to go to Blackwater where the local law enforcement is not that tough and just go on a massive killing spree (Your preferred gun should be the Mauser Pistol and make sure to stock up on ammo). If you kill all the law enforcement your bounty will go away. If this happens leave town for 2-5 minutes and come back and keep killing people. When your bounty hits $5000 leave town and lose your wanted rating then use your pardon letter in the Blackwater train station to pay off your bounty and BAM! 10 Gamerscore!

Two notes before you start: You should purchase a bandana in Escalera before you start this so your wanted rating doesn't go down OR, if you're too lazy, save in a different slot. And that's it for this week.

Next week: Heading South on a White Bronco 5G, Red Dead Redemption

Written by Matthew Byrd: Gamertag: ColonelByrd95