After much delay (and rumors of possible project cancellations a while back), Valve shows us a trailer for the upcoming Team Fortress 2 (included with upcoming Half-Life 2: Episode 2). The cartoon-shaded style works nicely, and there seems to be a good amount of player types to choose from.

Enjoy:
http://gamevideos.com/video/id/4570

One of the most well thought out & incredibly implemented idea to hit the electronic gaming industry, has got to be Valve’s lastest creation: Portal. Using Half-Life 2’s ‘Source’ engine to creating compelling situations of ever-increasing difficulty in a series of rooms, the simple concept of Portal (to use a portal-making weapon to aid you in any given objective) manages to create an new definition for what First-Person Shooters are typically thought to be. It’s sheer madness; and it seems amazingly fun!

The trailer video speaks for iteslf.

There are very few instances in the course of life that would make a person want to commit a self-inflicting, violent act - The kind that involves a level pain that taxes your very soul…

One of those sad, sad moments occured to me today, in in Battlefield 2: Modern Combat no less:
I got not one, but TWO online medals (Army Cross & Expert Assault; 10 consectutive kills without dying), along with the flashing “medal acquired” text on the screen - only to find out I wasn’t going to hear that wonderful ‘plink‘ sound we’ve all come to love (the ‘Acheivement Unlocked‘ popup) because I was playing through an UNRANKED match… Now, I’ll have to grind your pearly teeth all over again for the pay in another match.

What irks me most is that I usually play ranked only in this game, unlike most other games like GRAW or PGR3 where I spend most of my time in unranked player matches due to the amount of cheating going on in ranked rooms.

Do yourself a favor & learn from my mistakes - ALWAYS PLAY RANKED MATCHES in BF2:MC and save yourself the agony!

I know, I know… the upcoming changes & fixes to the site seem like they’re taking forever. All my fault - apologies!

I’ve been extremely busy at work as well as with my pending move and the upcoming Street Soldiers project, so I haven’t had time to work on any of the updates for either of the sites. (In all honesty, the little free time I’ve had to myself has been spent either trying to get Acheivement Points on Live or just good ol’ binge drinking!)

Oh, yeah… and while I’m on the sites subject: We’ll have a new sister site tagging along soon - theaveragegirl. Not too much info on the horizon yet, but we’ll let you know as soon as we know the juicy details!

We’re currently working on a project with the South Florida-based sport bike crew, Street Soldiers. If you are in the South Florida area and would like more info on the group or are interested in joining along for the ride, be sure to check out their website for more info.

Can’t comment on the specifics yet, but be sure to check back here soon for more info.

Congratulations to the Miami Heat for their victory in the NBA Finals and bringing Miami their much-awaited first championship!

Everyone in the team played with spectacular fashion in the final game and came through when the situation arose, to capture the title even after loosing the first 2 games and the Dallas home-court advantage.

History has been made; now it’s time for the team to return home for a much-deserved celebration!

Let me start by saying that this game is IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND ANYWHERE! It’s not only that alot of folks are buying it off the shelves, but alot of stores don’t even stock it regularly (No SKU’s). I’ve been looking for this dreaded game for over a week…

There were only 2 Gamestops in the city that had a single used copy in stock, so I had to grab one of these when I found it. Luckily, the copy I ended up getting had box & manuals in impeccable shape, which is nice. Normally, I don’t buy used games from retail stores as they have a huge markup over the little they pay people for trade-ins, but I really hit gold when the fellow behind the counter (and new XBL Friend!) gave me an additional discount that made the game $26, a deal I couldn’t pass up due it’s great condition.

Was it worth it? YES! This game is mad cool! Very much like the Metroid series in function with a little dash of RPG elements a la Final Fantasy or Pokemon games. The 2D adventure-platformer hybrid’s graphics & sound are well done and gameplay is fun and addictive; fans of the series will not be disappointed here. The nicest feature has to be the use of the dual screens to provide a persistant status or map screen; this is almost genius as you never have to pause to see where you’re going or what you have equipped!

If you can find a copy, don’t hesistate to grab it!

I picked up the almost obligatory copy of New Super Mario Bros., which is EXCELLENT so far - way past any expectations I had! The colors are intense and the gameplay is all classic Mario greatness. It also offers a ton of very fun little mini-games broken up by category (many of which take full advantage of both the touchscreen and the mic), which should add good depth to an already-enticing game. This is a title every DS owner, let alone self-proclaimed gamer should have in their collection (or at least played through)!

I was also fortunate to grab a copy of Metroid Prime: Hunters. To tell you the truth, I didn’t even take it out of it’s shrink wrap until today as I was pondering trading it back in for Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, but I decided to finally pop it in. While nowhere near PSP-quality graphics (or as crisp as New Super Mario Bros.), they’re fluid and don’t disappoint. The controls will take some getting used to will have you on the virge of slamming your shiny new DS into the floor, but it’s well thought out once you get the hang of it. I have yet to play wi-fi multiplayer mode, which is where all the meat of this title lies, but it’s definately a keeper.

Wi-Fi Multiplayer is STUPID HARD! Objects (or Hunters) in the distance are also extremely tough to make out, but this can be said of many handheld titles & comes with the territory, I guess. On the plus side, no lag at all = good, but the controls are incredibly hard to get used to; lefties beware!

I decided to wait until after all the fuss was over and pick up a DS Lite on Tuesday afternoon. At first, I was really questioning my purchase, as I decided to skip out on the DS originally & opt for a PSP (which I can’t find now - it’s been lost somewhere inside my house for the past couple of months), but after spending some time with it, I’m loving every minute of it! The screens on this little sucker are impressively clear, colorful and rather bright - real nice quality! I was playing though Metroid Fusion again recently on my Cobalt Blue GB Advance SP, and when I popped it into the DS Lite, the difference was immediate… The screens alone give older GBA games a new lease on life!

This new unit seems very solid with a much better overall finish than the original DS, but the white ‘inside section’ (actual gaming area) has a sort of matte satin finish unlike the glossy outside. This begs the question of whether the unit will be prone to alot of discoloration due to dirt buildup and such - only time will tell.

Ducati’s Desmosedici RR racer replica will finally be released to the public in July 2007.

Not only is this 200hp monster tuned to the teeth, it also sports all carbon-fiber fairings, a trick multifunction LCD dash and Ohlins adjustable race-ready suspension. 400 units to be made at starting around $70K.

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