General Update.

Yeah... Xbox 360 number three is dead. I bought my first Xbox 360 at launch. The more expensive and complete pro edition. That lasted roughly thirteen months. The original Xbox 360s shipped with the Xenon CPU. My original experience was annoying, but easy enough. Microsoft replaced the system entirely free of charge. My replacement Xbox 360 was also a Xenon. Well, you know how that went. My replacement Xbox 360 lasted roughly five months. And this time the experience was doubly annoying for the hassle itself and the fact that Microsoft wanted $120 to fix it which I paid. While my console was off being repaired E3 2007 happened and they announced the extended three year warranty and my repair cost were refunded. So that eased things a bit. Plus the repair units were coming back with Zephyr CPUs, the new and improved chipset of the elite units. As well as a new heat sink. My third Xbox 360 lasted twenty-two months. I called up Microsoft today to get started on the process of repairing number three and was told that my system was out of warranty because the warranty applies to the original model forward. I decided against paying for repairs this time. I went out and purchased the arcade model with the Jasper chipset that supposedly solves every last issue with the system. Your system can still take a dive, but now your odds are well within the normal range. Xenon to Zephyr to Falcon to Jasper. Hopefully they've finally gotten it right. I'm willing to bet after this Microsoft delivers the most stable of the three next generation. I'm sick of it, and they sure as hell have to be at this point.

WWE Legends of Wrestlemania -- FInal Opinion.

I have completed Legends of Wrestlemania. I've unlocked the full thousand points and I've unlocked every last mode, costume, and movie. Legends of Wrestlemania plays rather arcade like in nature. The combat initially appears shallow with just a few basic stick and button combinations but as you play further you'll start to understand the subtleties. The system is based on a three-tiered combo meter. Your move set changes based on your meter level as well as whether you tap or hold the strike and grapple buttons. The legends in the game have their individual move sets but you have the ability to set each move in the various combo levels for your created wrestler. You build the combo meter by attacking your opponent. Taunts and finishing moves alike drain your combo meter. At the game's best it's a dance of reversals until someone is able to capitalize on the other's mistake. At it's worst the game is a mindless bit of entertainment. The game does have some technical issues with collision detection and the size differences between some models allow for some interesting clipping. The game is a decent start. It could go someplace great in further titles but for now it just provides dumb fun. And anytime I get to hear Riddel cackle with glee from somehow managing to hit my character in the balls it's always a good time. I'm giving WWE Legends of Wrestlemania for the Xbox 360 a 7.5.

WWE Legends of Wrestlemania -- A Wealth of Modes.

Legends of Wrestlemania features an extensive character creation system known as CAW, or create a wrestler. From that base you're able to take your created wrestler through all of the standards you'd expect in such a title. You have exhibition mode where you can wrestle a one-off match of any variety from those you've unlocked. They include Single Match, Tag Team Match, Triple Threat Match, Ladder Match, Handicap Match, Iron Man, Steel Cage, Hell in the Cell, Submission Match, and Royal Rumble. That's most of the major match types. The only notable missing types are Battle Royal, Strap Match, and Dog Collar Match. Technical limitations essentially make the missing types impossible. All of the match varieties can be played offline or online. The game also offers what's called Legend Killer mode wherein you take your created wrestler through the ranks of the WWE. You'll earn experience points that are used to strengthen the attributes of your created wrestler. This is essentially your career mode. The game offers a rather interesting new mode in the Wrestlemania Tour mode. In this mode you're tasked with revisiting some of the greatest matches in Wrestlemania history in order to relive, rewrite, and redefine the experiences. In the relive section you're trying to recreate the match exactly as it happened and you'll earn points toward a gold medal for pulling off all the moves and sequences as they originally happened. For example you'll play as Hulk Hogan in Wrestlemania III attempting body slam Andre the Giant. In the original Wrestlemania Greg "The Hammer" Valentine escaped losing his title to the Junkyard Dog by getting himself disqualified. In the rewrite section you're tasked with rewriting history and making sure that the Junkyard Dog leaves the ring as the Intercontinental Champion. In the redefine section you'll get to revisit famous matches that have had their original conditions altered. What would have happened at the original Wrestlemania between Big John Studd and Andre the Giant had the match been a Hell in the Cell match? Legends of Wrestlemania really has done a great job in offering up the total WWE experience. They really have covered all of their available bases. I am aware that the appeal of these modes relies heavily on your awareness of wrestling history. The game attempts to help out new fans by including a few minutes of video on each match in the Wrestlemania Tour mode section. The videos give you the full picture of the matches. They show all the key events during the specific matches and really add a sense of history and place to the events you're set to relive, rewrite, and redefine. I'm quite impressed with the presentation. Of course none of that matters if the gameplay isn't very good. So how does Legend of Wrestlemania play? Next time...

WWE Legends of Wrestlemania -- Initial Impression.

There was a time in my youth when I watched wrestling religiously. I haven't followed wrestling for the last fifteen years or so. WWE Legends of Wrestlemania is aimed exactly at me. Lapsed wrestling fans who happen to be gamers and remember wrestling's glory days of the mid to late eighties. When it was all about the show and terms like face, heel, and shoot weren't common knowledge. The premise of Legends of Wrestlemania is to allow fans to play with an extensive roster of wrestling superstars from that particular era. Although there are a few from the later attitude era that followed and the current era. Riddel and I started messing around with the game last night and we spent about two and a half hours creating our characters. The character creation aspect is extremely impressive. It's on the level of Saints Row 2 in how much control you have over creating your legend. It goes further than that. Once you've created your wrestler you then take on the role of television director and set up your specific intro sequences. How you come out of the back stage area, how you walk to the ring, how you enter the ring, and what you do while in the ring. You have control over the camera, the music, the pyrotechnics and other special effects. Down to when exactly they trigger within the sequence. The depth here is awesome. We then spent a little time messing around in player matches over Xbox Live. I haven't played enough of it to judge how well it plays as I need to learn the moves. We pretty much just slapped the shit out of each other until someone got a pin. I can say that the game looks great. The wrestlers look like their real life counterparts with a little dramatic license. They're clearly going for a how you remember them as a kid and how superhero like they seemed aspect over the reality. Andre the Giant was never muscular or that fit. And that's fine. I like the approach they've taken visually. So hopefully it turns out to play well as I'm liking what I've seen thus far.

Tomb Raider: Underworld -- Beneath the Ashes & Lara's Shadow All in One.

I've finally managed to get around to the download content for Tomb Raider: Underworld. The game offers up two expansion packs, the first Beneath the Ashes, and the second Lara's Shadow. Tomb Raider: Underworld comes to a satisfying conclusion but it leaves a few details out. Beneath the Ashes and Lara's Shadow provide those missing details. As the true conclusion the expansions are well worth the price of admission. I really enjoyed the closure that they provided for Tomb Raider: Underworld. The conclusion they provide is very satisfying and it wraps up the Anniversary, Legends, and Underworld trilogy in a smart way while still leaving a few possibilities open. Graphically and aurally they're obviously identical to Underworld as they're using the same engine and assets. And that means that they're both great looking. They offer more of Underworld's great score and Keeley Hawes' great voice work as Lara Croft. Beneath the Ashes has Lara Croft returning to the destroyed Croft Manor after the events of Underworld looking for an artifact her father may have hidden. This level plays out exactly as any other level from Underworld. The level offers some great platforming action and a couple of good puzzles. It also sets up Lara's Shadow. On the other hand Lara's Shadow plays out in a way that feels apart from the traditional Tomb Raider gameplay. In Lara's Shadow for the first time in series history you're not playing as Lara Croft but as her doppleganger. And as such you have new powers which greatly change how the game is played. You still have the great platforming action and great puzzles at the core of the experience. Lara's Shadow begins directly at the end of Underworld and continues through Beneath the Ashes and goes further to the conclusion. You're definitely going to want to play Beneath the Ashes before Lara's Shadow. I really enjoyed both expansion levels. And they bring the trilogy to a very satisfying close. I'm giving both Beneath the Ashes and Lara's Shadow each a 9. Supposedly Crystal Dynamics will be giving Ms. Croft another reboot. Hopefully it will be as successful as the Legends reboot.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars -- Final Opinion (It's Shit)

I have not completed Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. Nor will I be completing Chinatown Wars. As I can't stand this game for another second. The game shows some promise at the start. It comes off as a technical marvel on the Nintendo DS. Graphically it's really damn impressive. And as you're initially playing you're thinking along the lines of I can't believe they've managed to offer up the full Grand Theft Auto experience on the Nintendo DS. You don't initially mind that the controls seem decent at best. You don't initially mind the too limited view. You don't initially mind the touch screen gimmickry. You don't mind the glitchy nature of the AI. It's not until further in that these really start to grate on you. After the initial impressiveness of the technical aspects start fading. The real issues though are the new wanted level system where your wanted level doesn't drop unless you take out police cars pursuing you. Each wanted level has a set number of cars that need to be taken out before it'll drop to the next lower level. You need to take out the cars, but don't kill any cops or the level goes up. You take out the cars by knocking them into buildings and other various immovable objects as well as colliding head on with them yourself. The limited view, the too floaty driving physics, and the rabid AI all add up to a very frustrating and not fun time. All of this might be worth suffering if the story and character of the game were worth anything. This is easily the weakest GTA story I've ever seen. It's downright boring. I haven't come close to even remotely liking any of the characters. The lack of real music and probably more importantly voice over, and the boring story and city and characters play a major role in fueling the frustration of the other aspects of the game. I just can't deal with it anymore. I've never had the urge to throw a controller, or in this case a system, more than I have with this game. I can't recommend this one to anyone at all beyond those obsessive types who would already line up to drink the Kool-Aid for anything Grand Theft Auto.

Chrono Trigger -- Final Opinion.

I have completed Chrono Trigger at just over thirty-two hours. Everything that made the original Super Nintendo version of Chrono Trigger a classic has returned. We've got the same great story that's bolstered by an improved version of the original translation. It hasn't been rewritten, it's just been cleaned up a little. Mainly in the naming of weapons and locations. They've also cleaned up Frog's dialog. The character still talks with a higher, more proper level of speech than the rest of the group, he's just not using the old English dialect. We've got the same great graphics and sound. We also still have the amazing score which sounds better than ever coming from the NDS speakers. The game's battle system remains relatively fast. The different character techs allow for a good amount of variety in battle. Originally I played the game through to the one original ending of twelve. I've played the DS version through to the same ending, now of thirteen. I don't know at this point if I'm going to pursue any of the other endings. There are three main components they've added as far as extra content is concerned. The first being the arena which allows for monster raising and battling. I never even touched the arena through this playthrough. The second is an extra side quest called The Lost Sanctum which easily amounts to the most annoying fetch quest in the history of RPGs. The last component is called The Dimensional Vortexes and is reached after completing the game and earns you the new ending thirteen. There is technically a lot added to this version but ultimately it's all padding and the real reason to own this remains the classic core title. I'm giving Chrono Trigger for the NDS an 8.5.

The Nintendo DSi.

It's been a while since an entry and this one probably is not what you might have been expecting. My Nintendo DSi arrived yesterday. I used Amazon to take advantage of no tax and free shipping. So I paid exactly the $169.99 asking price. I chose the matte black over the blue. Where is my Luigi green Nintendo? The first thing one will notice is the box is both larger and heavier than one was probably expecting. The manual itself is three-hundred and thirty pages over the three North American languages. It's oversized and in full color on glossy paper. It's closer to a users manual for a new car than a handheld system. The system itself is surprisingly solid feeling. More so than the previous Nintendo DS and DS Lite. It's also surprisingly heavy. You all should know the deal by now. The DSi adds two 0.3 megapixel cameras. One on the inside pointed at the player to act as an Eyetoy level device and one on the outside so you can take regular digital photos. The DSi upgrades the WI-fi capabilities by offering a couple of higher level encryption formats. The DSi also offers larger screens by adding another quarter of an inch. The DSi also adds a SD card slot. They've improved the d-pad and shoulder buttons. They've both altered and moved the power button and the volume control. They've taken away the gloss casing and replaced it with a matte finish which results in no fingerprints. The system has a faster clock speed and more RAM. That's a lot of additions. They did however remove the GameBoy Advance backwards compatibility of the DS and DS Lite entirely. The system also features a much more complex operating system. One that brings it further into current gaming standards. The operating system allows for upgrades and applications. The DSi will feature an online shop just like the Wii. You'll be able to buy DSi Ware and presumably virtual handheld titles from systems past. The system allows for the potential of expansion level content to portable games. The DSi does expand handheld gaming's potential quite considerably. The question becomes will they justify it? Will they make you need one? I think the answer is yes. It's just a matter of how soon will they make you need one. We already know that there will be DSi enhanced cards. Meaning the DSi version of a DS title will have extra content. But will they go all the way and offer DSi exclusive titles? That remains to be seen. I bought the DSi so that I can be prepared for whatever justifies the system to me. I'll be there day-one. I wouldn't suggest you rush out and buy a DSi until whatever justifies it for you arrives if you have the DS Lite. Those of you who own the original DS probably should upgrade for the superior image, sound, and control as well as the better ergonomics.

Chrono Trigger -- Initial Impression.

The Nintendo DS train just keeps rolling along. While continuing to play Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars on the system I'll also be playing Chrono Trigger. I originally played the Super Nintendo classic when it came out in 1995. The Nintendo DS version of the game offers up new content in the form of a monster raising side quest, a new dungeon or two, a new boss, and a new ending. It also reuses the full motion video created for the 2001 PlayStation release of the game. For the most part this version of the game should offer the three key components that made it an instant classic in 1995, and that would be Yuji Hori's great concept, Toriyama's art, and Mitsuda's score. This version also features a new translation. It'll be interesting to see how Chrono Trigger holds up. Within the last year I've managed to play a bunch of old titles via the Virtual Console. Some have held up beautifully like Zelda III: A Link to the Past, Shining Force, Shining in the Darkness, and Landstalker. Others like Secret of Mana didn't age that well. Which side of the issue will Chrono Trigger land on?