Wow.
D: What’s your crown jewel, your fav arcade of them all?
PH: It would be a tie between Discs of Tron, Tail Gunner, Space War, and Lunar Lander.JD: And what’s the public’s favorite, what machine sees the most traffic?
PH: The favorite game among visitors would probably be Galaga. The only reason I got that game was because people kept harassing me for not having it. I don’t really like the game that much. Star Wars is another really big favorite among guests.
With Burnout Paradise, they take many of the cool elements of Burnout Revenge (camera angles, car wrecking, jumps) and add them to a free roaming map. I think the “party game” feature of the split-screen in Revenge was nice–but I quite like the challenge features and racing against other online players in the big open city. I also enjoy the new marked-man feature that makes you the target as you traverse an area of the map. And some of the stunt areas and jumps are absolutely fantastic.
I think it’s often the natural progression of a game to have it become something different along the way. This is not always a welcome change mind you. For instance, a lot of people were angry when NFS: Most Wanted came out because many of the aspects of the NFS: Underground series were lost when they made it an open-map game with a concrete story. The same thing has happened here with Burnout–they’re execution is just a little better in some ways.
So as a new game on the block goes–I have to give Burnout Paradise high marks. It is a fast paced, beautiful game with a lot of fun and entertaining options.
The next thing I want to do is pair a blue tooth headset with it so I can chat with my buddies in game and hook up the Sony Eye camera so I can make funny faces when I get taken out. OK, I do that anyway, but with the camera on, you’ll be able to see them.
Writer’s Note: There was a game called Crash Day that I hoped to one day play. It promised to have many of the elements that appear in Burnout Paradise but never made it to the domestic market. The game ended up being a cross between FPS and racing games instead–so I don’t know if I would have enjoyed it much. I had named it vaporware but it appears now that the game exists in PC format–UK and Europe only… for a very low price.
I was browsing klov today and came across this. I vaguely remember a game like this for CD-ROM…
Anyone reading this and remember it?
I’ve been experimenting with cleaning my newly formed token collection. It’s really not so much of a collection as it is a recently acquired cache of 2000+ coins that my Rowe BC1 Change Machine dispenses. Outside of actual Brass Cleaner, which is pretty expensive when you need to clean 2000 coins, I’ve found a couple of home cleaning agents that work best. There are several varieties of home remedies I found on the net. As an example, I tried a cleaning method that is touted across several forums and blogs first: Louisiana Hot Sauce. It cleaned the brass but it left pink stains on the coins. So I looked around and tested a few other methods. The two below I found to be quite useful:
The Works bathroom cleaner.
It’s about $3 a bottle and I just poured the whole thing in a clean bucket and stirred with a paint stick until the coins brightened. It didn’t clean the very tarnished (almost rusted) coins but for the most part it did a good job. Link to their product here.
The SludgeTM
This one is a little more expensive than the works as it requires more ingredients. However, it does a great job cleaning. Not any one of these agents seemed to work very good on it’s own but combined they make a pretty tedious job go a lot quicker and the results are surprising. For about 300 coins you’ll need:
Note: Keep in mind this is a cleaning agent and will not polish your coins. It will only remove tarnish and give them a bright, clean satin finish.
First sort out the problem child coins. In other words, make sure you don’t have ANY copper coins or coins that are so tarnished they will require something like Brasso or a real Brass polish to recover their luster. Copper coins in your brass mix may oxidize and cause some of your brass to come out discolored.
Layout your old beach towel on a tiled surface or other hard surface. You may not want to do this on your carpet or hardwood floors.
Now, put the remainder of your coins in the bottom of the bucket. Add all dry ingredients. Then add the lemon and vinegar. The mixture will foam. Fear not! It doesn’t last long. Mix the coins for about 3 minutes with the paint stick. If your bucket has a handle swivel it back and forth with the handle as a washing machine might with clothing. The water will turn blue. And eventually you may even see it turn rather brown. Use the paint stick to strain the dirty solution into your laundry tub–or outside if possible. The coins will now appear brighter. Rinse with warm/hot water and strain again. Repeat this a couple of times to be sure and get the agent off the brass. Now pour the contents of your bucket onto the towel. Spread the coins out evenly so they’re not resting on top of each other. An old t-shirt comes in handy to wipe down coins that may have a little residue from the solution you created.
Enjoy your clean coins!
I also ordered a coin tumbler which cleans the coins with a dry method. I’m looking forward to trying that and will report back how it works here.
On a side note, there is another guy that tried about every method available for a smaller coin collection here. It’s a very funny read.
I’ve unlocked Slash and 2/3 of the 42 tracks immediately available on “easy” in Guitar Hero III for the Wii.
The Wii remote couples with the new guitar quite nicely. There is a rubber socket that it slips nicely in from the back. The cords are tucked neatly and comfortably into the compartment as well.
The guitar feels more substantial than previous guitars (maybe partly due to the Wiimote being tucked inside) and the response from the wireless guitar is very good.
The song list isn’t everything I’ve ever wanted in a Guitar hero game but the download feature may provide a great way to get just the songs you want in the future.
Favorite tracks so far:
Apparently there are no spare guitars yet available for the Wii version. Maybe after T-Day. I hope someone else I know buys it soon so we can try out the battle mode with someone other than a computer character. Let me know if you do!
My Rating (out of 5):
Overall:
