Wage a Civil War with Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2

In recent months there have several major disasters involving superhumans. A cry has gone out amongst the people to hold the superhumans accountable for their actions. Congress answer that cry with the Superhuman Registration Act. The act requires anyone having or utilizing any form of superhuman abilities to register with the government as a “living … Read more

Live your own story with Dragon Age: Origins

A purple-tinged dragon unleashes its breath weapon on a warrior.

The highest compliment I can give Dragons Age: Origins is that everyone who plays it wants to tell me about their character. In a pen-and-paper RPG, that’s a major social faux paus, but with Dragon Age I think it’s a sign of just how into this game people are getting … and how well it’s … Read more

Borderlands: Find Your Very Favorite Gun

“Six men came to kill me one time. And the best of ’em carried this. It’s a Callahan full-bore auto-lock. Customized trigger, double cartridge thorough gauge. It is my very favorite gun.” — Janye, Firefly That quote is the reason why Borderlands rocks. Sure, it’s a competent shooter with some basic role-playing aspects thrown in, … Read more

Mass Effect Revisited

It took me two years, but I finished Mass Effect, Bioware’s science fiction RPG and the company’s follow-up to Knights of the Old Republic. I wasn’t far from the end – it only took a two-hour push to finally beat the main campaign – but finding those two hours had been a challenge when I … Read more

Anticipating Bioware’s Dragon Age

When it comes to western-style Computer RPGs, the single best designers around have to be Bioware. They created the fantastic high magic, D&D-spawned Balder’s Gate, the Star Wars-themed Knights of the Old Republic, the Oriental adventure Jade Empire and the space opera Mass Effect. This fall they’re returning to their fantasy roots with Dragon Age: … Read more

Ticket to Ride wins on Xbox Live

The Xbox Live version of Ticket to Ride is a faithful port of the popular board game, recreating the train-themed game on Microsoft’s game console. The game board features a map of the continental United States with its major cities connected by different colored train routes. Players draw different colored tickets from a deck each … Read more

Red Ring Redux

For the second time in two years, I have a dead Xbox 360. The machine gave me the Red Ring of Death on Sunday after crashing while running DeadSpace. The machine simply froze, and when I powered it down and powered it back again, I was greated with the ominous glowing red rings.

Normally, this would be inconvenient by manageable: Microsoft extended the manufacturer’s warranty on the 360 to three years, and my Xbox is still covered. Unfortunately, this month isn’t anything resembling normal. I’ve got three game reviews looming between late October and late November, and don’t have time to wait for Microsoft to fix my box.

The first thing I tried was stopping by Best Buy; I got the extended warranty for my first Xbox 360, and when it died I was able to walk into their store and get a replacement. Unfortunately, the warranty was from the original date of purchase and wasn’t extended when I got the replacement.

Halo 2 Soundtrack, Vol. 2 Delivers the True Halo Experience

Master Chief holds two submachine guns as the world explodes in a orange-yellow haze around him.

When Halo 2 was released, it was accompanied by a soundtrack. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the soundtrack fans had been hoping for: instead of one featuring the music from the game, it instead pulled the old “music from and inspired by the game” trick. While a few game tracks could be found on it, including “Halo … Read more