As many of you know I have been running Windows 7 on my netbook and I have been greatly impressed with it.

Microsoft has now released an early upgrade offer where pre-ordering the newest version will save you a lot of money. You can preorder the Home Premium edition for $49.99 (about half off) or you can order the Professional version for $99 (about half off).

For the past week and a half I have been spending quite a bit of time playing sacred 2: Fallen Angel (Ascaron) on my Xbox360. When I first heard about the game my initial thoughts were on the line of, "oh no, not another Diablo clone!" What I have come to learn is that even though it does have some elements of the Diablo games it also has elements of one of my favorite Fantasy RPG computer games; Baldur's Gate. Yes, Sacred 2: Fallen Angel is not so much a Diablo clone as it is a game with roots in both Diablo and Baldur's Gate. So the game is not so much a clone as it is a child of those two venerable titles.

To get the basics out of the way let me start by telling you that there are six character classes to pick from and each one can be customized to a great degree as you level up. The game world is immense, huge even! If you like the sandbox style of RPG then you better bring along your shovel and crab shaped bucket because Sacred 2: Fallen Angel has more sand than you can shake a stick at! Couple this with a huge amount of sidequests (600+) and two different campaigns (light and dark) and you have a game that you can play for a very long, long, long time.

Unlike its PC counterpart the Xbox360 version of the game limits you to four players total over Xbox Live. You can also have a second player join you on the same console in a shared (not split) screen environment. Much like Diablo (and Baldur's Gate to a lesser degree) the game truly shines in a multi-player format. Enough with the broad overview let's get down to brass tacks, shall we?

Character Classes

• Seraphim - The female-only Serpahim character is the supreme force for light in the world. This class is the perfect fit for new players in part because she is so well rounded. Her Combat Arts of; Exalted Warrior, Celestial Magic and Revered Technology allow for a good mix of offensive and defensive abilities. Her abilty to wield most weapons and heavy armor also helps out.
• Dryad - The High Elves who left the main land and focused their magic on the spheres of nature became Dryads. She is a more barbaric (as opposed to civilized) character than the rest and even goes so far as to wear the shrunken heads of defeated enemies upon her belt.
  Though her magic powers are on the weak side in the early part of the game there are none better than her when it comes to ranged combat. The Dryad is clearly a character for the advanced or veteran player.

• Shadow Warrior - Brought back from the world of the dead this undead warrior is the ultimate hand-to-hand fighter in the game. All of his Combat Arts are designed to either boost damage or raise the users power/defense. One of my favorites, the Scything Sweep, allows the Shadow Warrior to "sweep" his blade through his enemies in hand-to-hand hitting several at once. At advanced levels this power can even be used to hurl dead enemies like missile weapons!
  Because of his heavy focus on melee the Shadow Warrior is an excellent choice for new players.
  
• Inquisitor - This character is the equivalent of the Dark Elves of fantasy. This character is evil incarnate and can only play the dark campaign. Unlike the balanced nature of the Seraphim the Inquisitor is an all attack no defense type of character. He relies on his ability to quickly dispatch enemies rather than armor or defensive magic. Because of this he is recommended only for advanced players.
• High Elf - As one of the long-lived elves of the world the High Elf is the closest thing to a mage that the game has to offer. Weak in hand-to-hand but capable of some serious ranged magic attacks the High Elf is not a good choice for a new player. In fact one might even go so far as to suggest that the high elf only be used in a multi-player game.
  Her Combat Arts focus on fire magic, ice magic and defensive/utility magic. Her powers are very great but she simply can not hold her own in a melee. If you want to play this character be sure to think more strategically.

• Temple Guardian - This is the cyborg of the game. Originally created by the great creator to guard the temples and T-Energy itself. Unlike other characters the Temple guardian has a built-in weapon that performs both in hand-to-hand and ranged combat.
  This character is tech heavy (yes I know it's a fantasy game) and most of his powers are based on technology. He performs great in a support role in multi-player games but should only be chosen by advanced players in single player.

Character Customization

As characters advance in level (up to level 200) they gain points that they can use to add to their prime ability scores as well as skill points used to buy and increase skills. At best 14 Combat Art modification points can be earned for each grouping of Combat skills (each class has three). Each Combat Art skill can be modified/upgraded three times. When upgrading each Combat Art you will have to pick one of two options to go with. Each one is good but alters the way the Combat Art works to one degree or another. for example one option you may encounter is to make a Combat Art target more enemies for less damage or less enemies for more damage.

The Combat Arts system is a little bit confusing at first but you should quickly get the hang of it. My advice is to focus on a particular one of the three Combat Art groupings available to you and bump it up to level nine as soon as possible so that you can max out one of the individual techniques under that skill.

Equipment

Unlike your traditional RPG where all thieves wear leather and all fighters wear plate Sacred 2: Fallen angel uses a piecemeal system. With this system you can mix and match armor pieces (gauntlets, vambraces, helms, etc) to create a very functional, if not exactly stylish, suit of armor.

Some items are class-restricted and will appear in a different color on the equipment screen. This goes for armor, weapons, runes, you name it. Items also have a level on them and though they can be used by a lower level character they will not be as good until you meet the level requirement.

Most armor and weapons can also be customized by visiting a blacksmith and having them forge other items you collect into your weapons and armor. In an early quest you can acquire a lava rock that a blacksmith can forge into your weapon to turn it into a fire-based weapon. This comes in very handy when dealing with undead hordes and rats. By becoming a flaming weapon it gains the ability to set enemies on fire, which causes recurring damage as they burn.

Runes can be forged into weapons or used by the character to power up their Combat Arts. There also exist Runemasters in the world who will trade runes with you.

Along with equipment comes a very interesting item; the Hero Chest. This chest appears in every major city and some minor ones. There is also a bit of DLC available that summons an imp who brings the chest to you anywhere in the world and even into a dungeon. This proves invaluable when you find yorself to full of loot to pick up anymore. Sadly the Hero Chest does have its limits and you can fill it up.

Another benefit of the Hero Chest is that the same chest (and contents) appears in every game you play. Because of this every character you create after your first will have a very nice equipment advantage. Same goes for playing online.

Combat

Sometimes when a game goes from the PC to the console you lose something do to the smaller amount of buttons on a controller compared to the vastness of a mouse and keyboard. This is not so in Sacred 2: Fallen Angel. By allowing the player to choose their own button bindings the creators of the game have brought the feel of mouse and keyboard to the controller.

The four buttons on the controller can each be bound to weapons or Combat Arts. However you are not simply limited to four. By using the left and right triggers you can bind up to 12 different attacks to those four buttons. Potions are bound to the control pad for easy quaffing during battle.

Not only can you bind weapons and Combat Arts to the buttons but you can also create combos and bind them to the buttons as well. By strategically choosing what Combat Arts to bind together you can, with one button press, you can simultaneously attack, heal and setup a defensive countermeasure in the middle of a battle.

The World

The game world is huge. I'm talking vast. It would take you hours of travel to get from one side to the other. Lucky for you the creators added in two things to make it a lot easier; portals and resurrection monuments.

The portals are fairly simple. Once you activate them you can always teleport to them no matter where in the world you are. The resurrection monuments are where you respawn when you die. They also work like the portals however only one can ever be active at a time.

Portals are not so common that you can rely on them to bounce around the world quickly. They are also not so rare so as to force you to fight your way into an area multiple times.

The dungeons you encounter do not change. They are always laid out exactly the same no matter how many times you enter them. Some might think this hurts replayability but I happen to like it.

Multi-player

Now we're getting down to the meat and potatoes of this game. Much like Diablo some games are fun enough single player but truly shine when you have a few friends playing alongside you, Sacred 2: Fallen Angel clearly falls into this category.

Because I do have friends I was able to test out the multi-player modes (yes, modes as in plural) before writing this review. there are several modes to choose from including a PvP mode.

For starters you have your basic two players on one console mode. The second player simply activates a second Xbox360 controller and can either use on of your characters (if they don't sign in) or create or use one of their own if they do sign in. Game play is the same as single player with both players sharing the screen. This does limit some of your strategic movement but it works well enough.

The more common mode of play is the four player cooperative mode. In this mode you and up to three friends can play together. This mode does work with the local co-op mode in that two of those friends can be on the same console.

Four player co-op is the creme de la creme of Sacred 2: Fallen Angel. Not only do you get to run around slaying monsters together (without a monthly fee other than the Live Gold fee) but you can talk smack to each other at the same time using a headset!

Because heroes in the same party can not hurt each other (friendly fire) when playing in the PvP mode no one will be in the same party. This has some negative aspects because it prevents you from fast teleporting to the location of other players. Some might consider this a bonus but if I'm gunning for you in a PvP scenrio I don't want to half to walk for hours just to find you!

The multi-player modes (except for PvP) allow you to quickly teleport to the location of other party members. You can also trade equipment with other party members. When creating a multi-player game it is important that the host has the best connection to the net. As long as the host stays online everyone is playing. While players can freely leave the game if the host leaves the game ends.

When you play four player co-op you are playing a D&D style game. Grab a Shadow Warrior, High Elf, Temple Guardian and an Inquisitor or Seraphim depending on which campaign you are playing. This will give you a strong party capable of overcoming anything in the game.

Humor

Yes, this section is marked humor.

Why? Because the game is full of it! When you play Sacred 2: Fallen Angel you can't help but chuckle at some of the jokes and gags in the game.

When you encounter a cemetery be sure to read all of the gravestones. Don't be surprised if you find humorous one liners and famous quotes. One tombstone I encountered had "so long and thanks for all the fish," written on it while another simply said, "I took how much damage?"

Even the Heavy Metal band Blind Guardian makes an appearance in the game! They are responsible for the soundtrack too.

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel has a lot of humor that is geared towards gamers and that is one of things that makes this game so good.

Conclusion

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel is an excellent RPG for the Xbox360. We have long been waiting for a good RPG game like this to arrive and now I have to say that it is here. If you enjoyed Diablo and Baldur's Gate then I believe you will love Sacred 2: Fallen Angel. I wasn't very excited when it showed up at my door and it took me a few readings of the manual to fully understand how the game is played but now that I know I find myself thinking of excuses to sit around and play it.

Even though the game is rated M for Blood and Gore and Violence I found that you can turn off the gore and it really is not that unsuitable for the under 17 crowd. The blood and gore is very pixelated anyways.

between the main quest, numerous side quests and the sandbox nature of the game you can play this one for hours and still not fully explore the game. In fact you have to play it through once as each class to even experience all of the quests because some are class based. At $60 this one is a definite buy.

PS: When you pick it up be sure to look for me on Xbox Live, I'm always looking for some adventuring partners.

The Good
• Character class variety
• Nearly unlimited character and equipment customization
• 600+ quests
• Sandbox
• Good monster AI
• Save multiple characters based on profile
• Hero Chest

The Bad
• Four player limit on multi-player
• Hero chest size limit

The Ugly
• Some graphic anomalies

Just this afternoon I found myself with a hankering for some potato chips. It's not very often that I eat these things on account of how their grease tends to have a highly negative impact on my digestive tract. Every now and then though I just can't help myself and I succumb to the desire.

I stopped by a local convenience store to find my bag of chips and after a few minutes of perusing their selection I settled on the Ridges chips made by Wise. I think it might have been the words "Big Munch" next to the 99 cent price tag that pulled me in. I used to always buy the Cape Cod chips but I thought I might give Wise a shot at some of my hard earned cash.

The bag was clearly larger than any other bag in its price grouping and according to the weight data it contained 2.375 oz / 67g of chips. With that said I had also forgotten that Wise chips tend to be on the heavy side when you compare them to other chips. This is due in part to them not slicing their chips as finely as some other brands are prone to do.

After returning to my office space I proceeded to pop open the back and eat. That is when I came to a rather rude discovery.

Even tough the bag was large, and the weight clearly marked, I was more than a little bit surprised to see how much of the bag was filled with air. Looking into the bag it seemed like a very long way before those chips appeared. In fact, as you can see from the pictures, the chips took up about 1/3 of the available space inside the bag!

There is a lesson to be learned here and it does not only apply to chips. Whenever you go shopping it is always important to look not only at the price but also at the unit price when compared to similar items. Quality is also a very important factor but when all other things are equal I always try to use unit price as a basis for making my purchasing decision.

A few days ago I took my daughter with me to the grocery store to pick up a few items. One of her staple foods is Mac-n-Cheese. Unfortunately for us she has a preference for the SpongeBob licensed Mac-n-Cheese, which costs a little more than the basic elbow shaped product.

We do give her a weekly allowance of $5 that she is able to spend as she sees fit and she is pretty good with her own money. Seeing an opportunity for some learning I made a point of showing her the prices and unit prices of everything we purchased. She quickly caught on and when we arrived at the Mac-n-Cheese aisle she put the plain elbow variety in the cart and saved us about 25 cents per box.

When we got to the paper towel aisle things became a little bit more complicated. This happened because we had the option of buying them as single roles (most expensive), two-packs or 24-packs. As I am sure you can imagine the 24-pack was the best deal but I then had to explain to her that even though the pricing was the best it was not the best deal for us because we lack adequate storage space to keep the extra rolls. In the end we paid a little more and got the two pack.

After spending so much time playing with Fallout 3 and all of the current DLC I couldn't help but begin to feel a little bit nostalgic about the original game from 1997. I still remember the original spiral bound instruction manual that came with the game. I remember loading that game up in my old Windows 95 computer (I think it had some sort of AMD chip in it) and playing for a little while before getting killed by radscorpions. I have no idea where that book is now but I do know the CD-ROM for the game is likely to be inside that book.

I never got very far in the original game and it came out the same year I got married so my computer gaming days were somewhat on the way out. I never made it any further than Shady Sands and Vault 15 but I did enjoy the game and the fear of radscorpions has long stuck with me. I still cringe a bit when I encounter those beasts in Fallout 3!

I never played any of the other Fallout games until the latest one arrived on the Xbox360. I often wanted to revisit the world of Fallout and play through the original game but I was never able to locate the disks. That problem has come to an end because only a few short days ago I found a compilation of the first three Fallout games on a DVD-ROM and purchased it.

Returning to Vault 13

Getting back into the swing of the game was very easy. I played through the escape from Vault 13 and the rat tunnel so many times that I still knew where everything was. I didn't even forget to stop by shady sands for a bit of rope before heading on to Vault 15. After acquiring the 10mm SMG in Vault 15 I returned to Shady Sands and, for the first time, I did not get killed by radscorpions along the way! Not only did I not get killed by them but I even took out their lair nearby!

With my Fallout groove on I proceeded to explore the world that I had let pass me by a decade ago. What was I thinking way back then? This game is awesome and has held up very well over the years. I also have to say that if I had played Fallout all the way through I would have been using the hunting rifle in Fallout 3 a lot more often than I used the 10mm SMG.

The DVD Pack

The DVD-ROM pack includes not just Fallout but Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics for under $20. That is three games (some better than others) for under $20! With that low price in mind I picked it up and was not disappointed.

One thing many old gamers (especially PC gamers) are aware of is the fact that most games need to be patched for bugs found after they are released. The games on this disk are patched and in some cases they are patched again.

For example, the Fallout game comes in three varieties; patched, high-res and community patched. The basic game is the 1.2 version that fixed a good number of bugs from the initial release. The community patched version fixes even more bugs and has a large readme file listing the bugs that were fixed. The high-res version is based on version 1.2 and allows you to run the game at a higher resolution. Considering this game was made to run at 640x480 this high-res version allows you to completely utilize your screen real estate. The DOS version is also on the disk though you should not need to use it.

For Fallout 2 there is a patched and a community patched version. For Tactics you also get an editor. However, since I have not played these two yet I really can't talk about them.

The Test of Time

After spending numerous hours in the original Fallout world I began to think about some of the complaints leveled at Bethesda when Fallout 3 was released. Some said it was just 'Oblivion with guns' while others lamented the change to an FPS style of gameplay.

What I am finding is that Fallout 3 is a worthy successor to the Fallout name. It does capture a lot of the humor and feel of the original game and some things are clearly inspired from the original. Dogmeat anyone?

What I am also seeing is that you can play through the entirety of the Fallout quest in a matter of hours. What I thought would take a long time given the games 120 day allowance for finding the water chip ended up being only a 2+ hour job. The opposite holds true in Fallout 3 because you can't complete the main quests in less than eight hours of constant gaming. That may just be a sing of the times or a case of things going faster once you know where to go.

When I first started playing the game I relied too much on the burst setting of the 10mm SMG and paid the price. Without ammo to feed that beast I was stuck using my knife in hand-to-hand and often getting myself killed. I also found myself nervous in combat because in the original game you don't see the enemy life bar. Think about that, you could have the enemy within an inch of his life and you don't know.

I found a very expensive geiger counter in a shop but I could not afford to buy it. I wish I had because after entering a place that I thought was safe I found myself to be suffering from radiation poisoning. Unlike in Fallout 3 healing chems are not exactly plentiful. Ammo and caps also fall into the 'not plentiful' column which makes each shot very valuable.

After you acquire your first laser weapon you don't simply equip it and shoot it at every hostile you see. That weapon does not come with any spare ammo so you end up holding onto it for those special occasions that you think may need it. In fact you will often find yourself holstering your gun and wading into hand-to-hand with a crowbar to save on ammo!

Conclusion

If you like Fallout 3 or old-style single-player RPG games on the PC then you should investigate getting a copy of this game. It stands up well to other games from its time and though it is not as expansive as modern RPG titles it is still very enjoyable.

There are a few minor graphic issues but they can normally be worked around by setting the game to run in Win98 mode. The most common is where the entire screen turns black and you have to move the pointer around to uncover the screen. I had some other issues on Windows 7 with DOSBox and without. the most common problem is where colors do not match up. This likely some sort of color palette problem.

If you are feeling particularly nostalgic you might want to check out a mirror of the original Fallout website!

I would like to thank everyone who took the time to enter the contest. I'd also like all of you to know that we only received five entries! If you did not enter (for whatever reason) you blew an easy chance at winning an awesome $60 game!

We have a winner! Rob Pitt is the owner of a shiny new PS3 copy of the Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Athena game.

I have more swag to give away so keep an eye out for future contesta.

Entries that did not win:

Where do I begin?

The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena is a game for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. The single player storyline of Dark Athena is set after the events of the 2004 title The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. Unlike its predecessor Dark Athena includes a large multi-player portion. The game also includes a remastered version of the original Butcher Bay game.

Plot

Sometime after escaping from Butcher Bay with Johns, Riddick's ship is found by the mercs aboard the Dark Athena who pull it aboard for salvage and body harvesting. Lucky for Riddick (and unlucky for the mercs) Riddick's cryo tank releases him before the mercs board the ship. While Riddick hides in the ceiling the mercs come aboard and take John's unconscious body away. It is during all of this that Riddick acquires his first weapon, a hatpin from Gale Revas's (the captain of the Dark Athena) head.

It is now up to you, in the role of Riddick, to escape from the Dark Athena. You will use stealth for most of the early part of the game. Guns are not acquired until much later though you can use the guns of defeated drones but you can't take the guns from them.

There are a few side quests that can be performed for achievements but these are not needed to complete the game.

Gameplay

Like Butcher Bay before it, Dark Athena puts you in the role of Riddick in a single player game that easily spans eight hours of gaming time. The game does not use a conventional save game system and instead uses a checkpoint system that automatically saves the game when you pass each checkpoint. One of the biggest benefits of this system is that it allows you to go back and replay the game from any checkpoint you have previously passed.

The first two or three hours of gameplay will find you playing a game of cat and mouse with the mercs and their drones aboard the Dark Athena. You will be using either your fists, Revas's hatpin or the Ulaks once you acquire them. You will be crawling through ducts and hiding in the shadows. If you can keep your presence secret by hiding the bodies in the darkness the mercs will not be on alert. Once the mercs begin to find the bodies of the dead expect to hear announcements over the P.A. system talking about you!

Even though guns do become available in time it is important to note that ammo is limited. Once you run out that weapon is nearly useless. Some weapons are nearly useless from the start, namely the SMG. This glorified B.B. gun is only useful because of the excellent spotlight attachment. On the other end is the shotgun which has the equivalent to an LED light on the end but wastes mercs with a single shot! You're not likely to need the lights because Riddick has his eye shine which allows him to see in the dark.

For the most part eye shine works great but there are some areas where even with the eye shine on you can't see anything! in these situations flicking the lights on and off quickly can help you get your bearings without making you too much of a target.

Drones

There are two types of drones in the game, regular and alpha. The regular drones also come in two varieties; controlled and uncontrolled.

A controlled drone has white lights and acts smarter because it is being controlled by a live merc (or you at a certain point in the game). An uncontrolled drone has red lights. Drones also carry a machine gun that can not be removed but Riddick can use the body as a shield and fire the gun.

The alpha drone is a very large beast equipped with a grenade launcher and chain gun. They are difficult to take down if you don't know the secret. Taking down an alpha can be a bit of trouble as it easily shrugs off everything you throw at it. It's a two-part process to take one of these beasts down so if keep that in mind after your fifth re-spawn!

The drones are the chief export of the Dark Athena and their reason for existing. The mercs on the ship are more like pirate raiders than mercenaries. They make their living by turning convicts (and others) into drones and selling them.

Weapons

In the early part of the game you will either be using your bare hands or the hatpin you stole from Revas. Once the Ulaks are discovered (automatic) those will become your main hand-to-hand weapon.

There is a tranquilizer gun that can be acquired shortly after defeating Margo by killing a technician working in a confined space. This weapon has unlimited ammo and stuns anyone hit for about 15 seconds. you can quickly dispatched a stunned merc with your Ulaks.

When it comes to launching a lot of rounds down range you have a few options. The first is the basic pistol. It does not pack much of a punch but it can be used to create diversions and to kill lightly armored opponents.

Up next we have the submachinegun. It holds the most rounds (60) and has the best light but it also has poor accuracy and low damage. I find this is a good weapon to use in the Pitch Black multi-player portion of the game.

If you don't mind getting in close with your guns then the shotgun is the one for you. It only holds eight shells and the light is near useless but those eight shells pack a lot of punch! Those same shells lose their potency quickly at anything other than close range.

The last weapon that will see heavy usage is the assault rifle. With a 38 round magazine and a decent light this is a great weapon. It is the one you will likely use the most in single player.

Not quite a gun but something else is the SCAR. This weapon shoots explosive charges that stick to whatever they hit. Up to five charges can be live and they are detonated with the left trigger. A common tactic is to shoot some on the ground and walls before a group of mercs charge in. Trigger the explosives and take out a group of mercs in seconds! The SCAR does suffer from a slow recharge rate.

If you complete one of the side missions you can acquire the sniper rifle. This weapon has very limited usage in the game simply because of the lack of ammo. Instead of a light this weapon sports a scope. Long distance - the next best thing to being there!

Voice Acting and Such

One thing that really impressed me about this game is the top notch voice acting and character movements. It's not just the gravelly voice of Vin Diesel himself either. All of the voice acting is excellent and when you see the prisoners move in their cells all of their movements match their dialogue.

There is no stiffness or bland body gestures like you find in other games (cough oblivion, Fallout 3, cough). Instead you have a game where you feel like you are taking part in a Riddick movie because the characters are so life like.

Let me tell you right now that nothing kills immersion more than listening to bland dialogue while the person gesticulates wildly. When you talk to the sadistic Jaylor you feel like you are dealing with a real person and not some graphical construct on the screen. The same goes for the script. When Riddick talks it just feels right.

Multiplayer

When Butcher Bay was released in 2004 it lacked a multiplayer environment. This was due in part to the publisher (Starbreeze Studios) not wanting to delay the games release or push it too far over budget. With Dark Athena they decided to embrace the multiplayer idea and even went so far as to create two new modes in addition to the standard four multiplayer modes we all know and love. there are numerous maps to choose from and a DLC pack of extra maps is available for download.

The usual modes are death match, arena, team death match and capture the flag. Long time FPS players should be familiar with these so I will not be explaining them further. Instead I will focus on the two new modes; Pitch Black and Butcher Bay Riot.

Pitch Black - You think your bad enough to play the part of Riddick and kill mercs in the dark? Do you? If so this mode is for you.

One player takes on the role of Riddick (eye shine and Ulaks) while everyone else is a merc with a gun. Mercs start the game in a well lit area where they pick their weapon and drop into the darkness where Riddick lives. When choosing a weapon players either choose between high power or good lighting, you can't have both. That's right, the more powerful the weapon the crappier the light mounted on it! When Riddick dies the merc who killed him becomes him and the hunt begins again!

This mode is a ton of fun. Even the worst FPS player gets lucky sometimes and manages to kill Riddick while he's busy slicing up the other mercs. The SMG provides a lot of light but Riddick can charge and kill you before you take him down with that over rated pea shooter! The shotgun takes Riddick out fast but you can't see anything!

Butcher Bay Riot - Anyone up for a three team capture the flag style game? This is the ultimate team game for 3 to 12 players. Before the game begins you have a limited amount of money to purchase your weapons and armor. If you win a round you get bonus money for the next round. You win a round by finding the power cell and taking it to one of the opposing teams bases.

This is a very challenging mode and it requires a lot of thought and tactics to win.

Conclusion

Even though Dark Athena is not as much of a stealth game as Butcher Bay is I still consider it a worthy successor. The game does an excellent job of immersing the player into the Riddick universe. Playing as a drone (regular and alpha) is fun and even the brief stint in the mech is enjoyable.

The inclusion of a remastered version of Butcher Bay doubles the single player enjoyment from eight to sixteen hours easily. Add in the multiplayer modes and this game is easily worth the price. Single player enjoyment alone is easily in the $3.75 an hour range.

The Good
• Voice acting
• Character motions
• Script
• Butcher Bay inclusion
• Pitch Black

The Bad
• Some 'boss' battles will have you scratching your head on how to beat them
• Some AI issues with line of sight
• A few, "what do I do now?" moments

The Ugly
• Some issues of enemies being able to shoot through walls and hit you

Since the release of Broken Steel I have been feeling more and more like starting Fallout 3 all over again and playing through as a new character. While this idea was going through my head I started to wonder what the core perks were that most players always (or always should) take.

After that little brainstorming session I came up with my top five list of perks that all players should take when playing the game. They are listed in the order in which they can be taken and do not include perks gained through questing.

Comprehension – This perk doubles the effectiveness of skill books by allowing you to gain two points on a skill rather than only one point when the book is read. With 324 skill books in the game (roughly 25 per skill) this skill turns what could be a 25 point bonus for each skill into a 50 point bonus. Couple this with the skill bobble heads and you have a whopping 60 point bonus for each skill.

Since each skill starts with a minimum of 7 (based on Intelligence) taking the Comprehension perk means that you will only need to add 33 points (or less) to each skill over the course of your 30 levels to max them all out. If your Intelligence is a 5 each skill starts at 15!

With that said it is important to understand that you want your skills to max out as soon as possible so even with an Intelligence of 5 you will be gaining 14 skill points per level for a total of 390 skill points (or 30 per skill with 30 points left over). When you add in your three tag skills (+45 skill points) you find yourself with a grand total of 1,083 skill points to distribute across 13 skills. That means you will be able to put approximately 83 points into each skill over the course of your character's 30 levels. 83 + 15 = 98.

So, assuming you started with an Intelligence of five (and never found the Intelligence bobble head) each of your skills will be at 98 when you hit level 30. OR you could have 12 skills at 100 and one skill at 74. Without this perk all of your skills would be 25 points lower after reading all of the skill books.

Scrounger – This perk increases the amount of ammunition you find in containers around the DC Wasteland. Closely related to the earlier perk Fortune Finder this one is clearly better.

What makes it better you ask? It's better because when you find caps you have to convert them into something else (by bartering) before they become useful. Ammo, on the other hand, is useful as soon as you put it on your weapon!

Ammo can also be sold for caps and is never worth less than one cap. Caps, however are not exchangeable one-for-one when purchasing ammo except when buying the lower end ammo.

Strong Back – After you get a few guns you almost never wade into hand-to-hand with the denizens of the Capital Wasteland so why bother raising your Strength? What is there was a way to get the carry bonus benefit for having a high strength without having to raise your strength? There is and this is the perk.

Every point you raise your strength raises your carry weight by 10 pounds. The Strong Back perk raises your carry weight by 50 pounds! That is a 25% bonus for a character with the minimum strength of 5 (200 lbs base carry weight) for the cost of one perk.

Once you start looting heavy weapons and armor off of the enemies you defeat having a high carry weight becomes extremely important. This is especially true when you raid the armory in an Enclave outpost and find yourself unable to carry all of the cool stuff you find! Nothing hurts more than having to decide which named weapon to leave behind because you can't carry everything!

Animal Friend – Fighting off Mole Rats and Wild Dogs is not much of a challenge after you get a few levels under your belt but there is one beast of the Wasteland that is strong enough to take out Radscorpions and even wounded Deathclaws. I'm talking about the Yao Guai. These mutated bears are tough, fast and like to hide behind things before they attack you.

Having this perk turns those animal enemies into neutral friends. Taking this perk a second time turns those same animals into friends who will help you in a fight! I have not seen a reason to take this perk twice because if a friendly animal is close by I can usually just run towards them and they will cheerfully attack whatever is chasing after me!

Grim Reaper's Sprint – Nothing says “this game loves me” like seeing your action points refill after killing an enemy. If you use VATS this is the perk you have to have. It is hands-down the best of the level 20 perks in the game.

What's that? A room with six Enclave Troopers in it? If you don't have this perk you better have some good FPS skills because after the first one goes down you will be out of action points. However, with this perk as soon as the first trooper goes down your action points will be full again and you can quickly target the next one! Wash, rinse and repeat!

The above list of perks are good no matter what type of character you are playing as. I try to avoid the perks that give you skill points to one or two skills because I find them to be a waste when you have the Comprehension perk. Those perks do speed up your ability to increase a skill but with the level cap increased to 30 those perks have lost much of their luster.

The Entomologist perk has gained some new usefulness with the introduction of the Albino Radscorpions. Those things have no real weakness so if you find yourself encountering them a lot you might want to consider grabbing that perk.

In the end the choice of perks is always up to you and the type of character you are trying to create. After playing the game you will find a certain archetype appeals best to you and breaking free from that mold can be hard (right Grimjesta the sneak-sniper?) but also rewarding.

Listen up everyone. We just received an extra copy of The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena from the publisher and we want to pass it on to you!

Now, in order to make things interesting we have decided to go with a "demotivational" poster making contest. If you want to win this contest you need to take an image of Riddick (from a game, movie, wherever) and turn it into a demotivational poster. The winner will receive a free copy of the game for the PS3. (Don't have a PS3? Most 'big box' stores will allow you to take it back without a receipt and exchange it for the 360 version. Just tell 'em your uncle got it for you or something!)

How To Enter

1. Find a cool image of Riddick. (Here or via Google.)
2. Think up a witty thing to write on it.
3. Create the poster using Motivator: Create your own customized motivational poster or a graphics program.
4. Email your entry to me via steve (at) hmtk (dot) com with the Subject of "Riddick Contest".

On Wednesday May 20, 2009 we will pick a winner. That winner will receive a free copy of the game.

Description:

Continue your existing Fallout 3 game and finish the fight against the Enclave remnants alongside Liberty Prime. Broken Steel moves the level cap for your character from 20 to 30, allowing you to experience even more of the game, including new perks and achievements.
Story:

You may have dealt the Enclave a serious blow at Project Purity, but their forces are still out there, and still pose a grave threat to the people and security of the Capital Wasteland. In Broken Steel, you’ll continue your current Fallout 3 character past the events of Project Purity, and work with the Brotherhood of Steel to eradicate the Enclave threat once and for all. Travel to new locations like the Olney Powerworks, wield destructive new weapons like the Tesla Cannon, and fight powerful new creatures like the Super Mutant Overlord.

Key Features:
• Battle your way to level 30, with all new perks and achievements to unlock along the way!
• Extends the Main Quest, allowing you to continue playing your existing character and find out what happens next in the Capital Wasteland.
• Acquire new high powered Enclave Technology, including a new devastating flamethrower, the Heavy Incinerator.
• Tougher foes await in life beyond level 20, including new enemies like the Super Mutant Overlord.
• Your decisions will inalterably affect the outcome of the Wasteland’s survivors.

That is how Bethesda describes the new DLC content for Fallout3. that sort of information is good to get a general idea of what a game offers before you buy it but let me tell you right now that it does not do justice to what Bethesda has created.

In The Beginning...

When Fallout3 first hit the street a few people complained saying the game was nothing more than Oblivion with guns. Some of us (who greatly enjoyed Oblivion) took that as a compliment and more of a reason to give the game a chance. Give the game a chance we did and we loved it!

Fallout3 has been my main Xbox360 game since it came out last year. I have played it through several times with good, neutral and evil characters.My one main complaint has always been the level cap. My friends with the Windows version were lucky enough to have hackers remove that cap early on, not so for us console gamers (and why is that Bethesda? Why can't we use custom mods on the console version?)

When Operation Anchorage was released I gobbled it up. I used a sub-level-20 character to play through it and got all the goodies. Unfortunately I fell victim to the "shoot 'em in the head" bug and ended up using an earlier save game rather than miss out on the suit of T51b armor from Fort Constantine.

When The Pitt was released a short time later (though it felt like forever) I took my character through it and gained a few levels. I also lost out on some of the unique items due to my fervent desire to find all of the ingots coupled with a lack of carrying strength. I do have to say that the Tribal Power armor is the best!

Broken Steel kind of snuck up on me. I knew it was coming but I thought it would not be out for a while longer. Imagine my surprise to wake up one morning and see it featured on my Xbox dashboard! Yes, I ponied up the points and downloaded it. I did not, however, start playing it right away.

Getting Ready...

One thing I knew about Broken Steel was that along with raising the level cap it would also raise the power cap on the monsters. The Super Mutants, Ghouls, Enclave and Rad Scorpion factions all see a substantial power upgrade in this bit of DLC.

The Super Mutants get the extremely bad-ass Super Mutant Overload. This beasty is half-way to becoming a Behemoth and it shows! Your toughest weapons appear to just bounce off of them. I depleted a missile launcher from a high state of repair to scrap trying to take one of these bastards down. When you do take them down you are often rewarded with some serious loot, including the much coveted Tri-Beam Laser Rifle.

The Ghouls get a new creature in the form of the Feral Ghoul Reaver. These super-powered Ghouls are extremely tough to kill and they pack a ranged attack. These things can even survive a hit from a mini-nuke! If you are wondering how tough these things are think of what you would get if you crossed a Deathclaw with a glowing One and gave it the HP of a Behemoth. Sound scary? Now imagine entering a room and finding three or more of them present! They do have one weakness, the Ghoul Mask.

Finally we have the Albino Rad Scorpion. Just as big as a giant rad scorpion these things are the white terror of the wasteland. They have 75% of the HP of a Behemoth and they regenerate in sunlight! This critter makes the Entomologist perk worth taking!

The Enclave

The Enclave gets several new troops in this expansion, some of which show up in the assault on the water purifier. I'm talking about the Enclave Hellfire Trooper, Enclave Squad Sigma and Enclave Sigma Leader. Out of all of these the Enclave Hellfire Trooper is the most dangerous.

Know how you can typically take out an Enclave Trooper with a couple of head shots through VATS? Not so with the Hellfire Troopers. They wear a suit of armor that is second only to the well known T51b power armor. Their weapon of choice, the Heavy Incinerator is a ranged fire weapon that sets enemies on fire on contact. Of all of the Enclave troops these are clearly the most dangerous and the most likely to kill you.

I found the Sigma Troopers to be hardly better than the standard Enclave Trooper. They are dangerous because of the numbers they appear in but with the right perks you can take them down very quickly.

Location, Location, Location

Unlike previous Fallout3 DLC Broken Steel does not take place outside of the Capital Wasteland. While the final portion of the main quest does take place at a far away place the game does not force you to ditch your follower. Broken Steel adds the following new areas to the game: Adams Air Force Base, Holy Light Monastery, Museum Authority Building, Olney Powerworks, Presidential Metro and the Satellite Relay Station. Some of these locations have multiple sub-areas.

Broken Steel also adds three new side quests that repurpose existing areas of the DC Wasteland. Just because you've been somewhere before does not mean that place will not have new residents when you arrive now.

The only problem I had with the new locations was in finding the entrance to the Presidential Metro Station. I think I spent 30+ minutes looking for how to get in only to find out later that I missed the entrance because an NPC was blocking my view of it when I first came near it! Here's a tip: It's not the locked door in the Capital Building!

Review

Without spoiling anything I just have to say what a good friend of mine said, "Broken Steel is what Bethesda has been working on all along. Anchorage and The Pitt were just crumbs they threw out to gamers to keep them interested in the game." Yeah, that pretty much sums up my feelings about this piece of DLC.

Before Broken Steel reaching level 20 meant you had no fear. Nothing in the Capital Wasteland could hurt you at level 20. With skills maxed out and the Terrible Shotgun in your hands nothing can stop you. Not so anymore. The three new creatures can easily take you out with only a few hits.

Operation Anchorage added a bunch of cool high-powered items but you simply did not need them. The additional firepower you get from completing Operation Anchorage now has a purpose other than wasting ammo.

The Pitt added some interesting background on the DC Wasteland and the Slavers but no super weapons were to be found there unless you count the insane Tribal Armor that gives you all sorts of bonuses!

I do have to say that there were times while I was assaulting the Air Force Base when I thought ditching my follower would have been a good idea. Even outfitted in the T51b armor Charon was running out in front of enemies and getting himself killed! I reloaded previous saves not because I need his help but because he was holding all of my ill-gotten gains! There is a ton of stuff to grab on that base!

A few people have mentioned how awesome the Tesla Cannon is. Let me say upfront that it is great against sentry gun emplacements and Vertibirds, not so good against everything else. There is nothing like the feeling you get from knocking a fully loaded Vertibird out of the sky before it can offload its squad of Enclave troopers!

I simply can't say enough good things about Broken Steel. It brought new life into a game that I still thought had plenty of life left in it. I do wish they had allowed for skills to go over 100% but that's not a huge deal. I also wish they added some better perks at the higher levels but how do you top the four you had to pick from at level 20 in the first place?

The Good
• Level cap raised to 30
• New creatures
• 6+ hours of new gameplay
• New equipment

The Bad
• It didn't come out sooner
• Finding the Presidential Metro location

The Ugly
• Some graphic anomalies still present
• Not knowing if this is the end of the DLC

Introducing Della, designed exclusively for women where style, technology and mobility meet. Dell Home helps organize your busy life with ultra portable netbooks that go everywhere you do. Personalize your Mini 10 at Della with exclusive artist designs, and make it all your own. Experience the freedom, experience sophistication, experience Della today.

Introducing Della! Life is complicated. Technology should be fun.

After glancing through the Della site I had to wonder if this is something good or something patronizing. The gamer in me remembers all of those super cheezy 'games for girls' video games from the 90's that looked like something a guy who had never met a girl would design.

Designer 1: I hear girls like horses.
Designer 2: Yeah? I heard they like dolls.
Designer 1: Let's design a game with horses that are dolls!
Designer 3: I knew a girl once... She liked to clean.
Designer 2: We can make a series of mini-games where the girl cleans up horse poop!

Girl with game talking to parents: You bought me a game where I have to clean up virtual horse poop???
Brother of said girl: Are you done cleaning up horse poop? I've got muties to mow down!!!

So... After giving it some thought I asked my wife her opinion.

After spending a few minutes on the site she told me that this site is a good thing. That a site like this is good for Dell in that it is aimed at educating their target audience and helping them find the right computer for their needs. Whether that need is processing power or something that is stylish and matches her shoes.

In that end I pronounce the new Della service as a good thing.