Halo for Haitians

“See ma, I told you I could do something playing video games”

And finally, that phrase means something to someone other than those few nerds turned game developers, or the teenage kid (or nerd adult) who finally got their dream job at Gamestop.

From 12:00 AM Wednesday to 11:59 PM Thursday, HALO developer Bungie is offering to donate money to the Haiti relief for players playing using a certain emblem and color scheme. That’s all you have to do, and I know I’m going to. Here’s the official statement from Bungie:

We are rallying our fan community to show their support by playing Halo 3 or Halo 3: ODST online next Wednesday or Thursday while wearing a special emblem signifying your commitment to the cause. For every thousand heroes that participate, we will make a $100 donation on behalf of Bungie and our fan community to the Red Cross for Haiti relief efforts, up to a maximum of $77,000. All you have to do is don a special emblem and play a game online and know that you’ve done a small part to help those in need.

Please mark your calendars and help spread the word!

Here are the specifics:

1. Round up all of your friends and hop online with Halo 3 or Halo 3: ODST any time next from 00:01AM PST Wednesday, 1/20, through 23:59PM PST Thursday 1/21.

2. Edit your appearance settings so your character is wearing the RED HEART emblem.

a. Press START
b. Select “SETTINGS” / “APPEARANCE”
c. Select “EMBLEM”
d. Select “Hearts” ICON, “Circle” BACKGROUND
e. Back out to the APPEARANCES menu and select “COLORS”
f. Set “EMBLEM PRIMARY” to RED (or MAROON / BRICK / ROSE depending on which game you’re playing!)
g. Set “EMBLEM SECONDARY” to WHITE

3. Once your emblem is set, play! This can be a custom game or a matchmaking game, just make sure it’s played online, on Xbox LIVE, or we can’t track it.

If you keep playing more games through midnight on Thursday, KEEP THE HEART EMBLEM ENABLED or you may not get counted.

Mass Effect 2 Achievement List Released

Oh yes, its about that time. With the days winding down until the release of Bioware’s next big RPG, Mass Effect 2, gamers have been clamoring over the soon to be won achievements. (and presumably trophies, though less important.)

Some of the list from the first Mass Effect is back, including the dreaded “second playthrough” achievement, along with the paramour *cough sex cough* achievement. Luckily for everyone who played the first Mass Effect game, if you import a character from the first game, it carries over, and your game in Mass Effect 2 counts as the second playthrough, and your…romantic interest also carries over.

Most of the other achievements are leveling up and storyline, so detailing them seems sort of pointless. For more information, check everyone’s handy achievement source:

http://www.xbox360achievements.org/game/mass-effect-2/achievements/

Mass Effect 2 DLC?

The good people over at Joystiq have posted an article on a recent rumor surrounding Mass Effect 2 and it’s DLC. Check out the full article.

It seems as though we could see Mass Effect 2 DLC either with the release of the game or soon after. We won’t give away the full article here but it sure is intriguing rumor or not.

Netflix On Your Wii!

Nintendo and Netflix have announced that Netflix will add Nintendo to their list of consoles hosting their service. This move brings Netflix to your Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii. Like the PS3 users are forced to use their streaming disc to view movies online, a small inconvenience when compared to the amount of instant movies you will receive at the touch of a button. Of course you will need a Netflix subscription and since it is a Wii you will be playing them on you will not have the luxury of watching the movies in HD if that’s your thing. The service is said to launch in the spring, so those of you with a Wii be on the lookout.

Still Alive

Ladies and gentlemen of the public, Fisher here posting that Scorephoria has survived the holiday news dead zone. Expect content to start flowing out as we chuck out reviews, blogs, and maybe something special.

Game-wise, I’ve got reviews coming for The Saboteur, DJ Hero, Brütal Legend DLC, and maybe one of these big January games. If things pick up, there may also be a Dragon Age: Origins review on the horizon. But, THAT IS A LONG ASS GAME. So, if I can finish a playthrough while it’s still relevant, expect something there.

Norton is powering through Arcade classic Shadow Complex, so expect some word of that to come soon. He’ll also be reviewing Army of Two: The 40th Day and Mass Effect 2 later this month.

Caleb, well, I have no idea what he’s doing. Maybe he’ll review a SNES game or something.

Also, keep your eye out for some sort of blog outlining our thoughts on what’s to come in 2010. I’ll be posting one, and I figure Caleb and Norton will get in on it too.

January’s Games to Look Out! For

January 5th Bayonetta, Darksiders
January 12th Army of Two 40th Day
January 19th Dark Void
January 26th Mass Effect 2, MAG, No More Heroes 2

Them is games. January is looking like a pretty good way to start off 2010, overheating weapons or no overheating weapons.

2009 Spike Video Game Awards Recap

It took the show nearly 8 seconds to reveal the first announcement. That announcement was for the sequel to the extremely popular 2009 game Batman: Arkham Asylum.

The rest of the show followed this format: award, preview, award, preview, random celebrity, preview. Snoop Dogg and The Bravery (who sound horrid now) were the key performers.

Uncharted 2 took home the night’s top honors, and there weren’t really any surprises besides the fact that Modern Warfare 2 won only 2 awards (Best Multiplayer and Best Shooter).

Multiple reveals and trailers were shown. Among the world premieres were: Batman Arkham Asylum 2, a new True Crime game, Green Day: Rock Band, a Star Trek MMO, and Stars Wars The Force Unleashed 2. Deadliest Warriors was also officially announced.

Trailers for Halo: Reach and Crackdown 2 were shown, along with trailers for the newly announced Medal of Honor game. A continuation of the Spec Ops series was shown, along with the new Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, and the 2010 version of the UFC Undisputed Franchise.

All of the above mentioned trailers can be found at http://www.gametrailers.com

SAW

“Hello, (insert your name here). You’ve spent your entire life playing games the way that they are not meant to be played. The things that are given to you in life for enjoyment are taken advantage of and raped by your own greedy agendas. Today, we shall see how important your life is to you, rather than gamerscore. I have placed a device in front of your seat.  After activating the device you will find 7 levels full of puzzles, deadly twists and even deadlier adversaries, as you attempt to solve your way through and survive this final test. Also, you have 60 seconds until the room is detonated and you are blown to pieces.”

Anyone familiar with the SAW film franchise should understand what I’m getting at, and should be able to hear the Jigsaw voice reading it to them.

SAW is exactly what it looks like, a game adaptation of the SAW universe. The game takes place soon after events of SAW the movie, with Detective Tapp’s carelessness leading to the death of his partner. If you are coming into this game expecting an honest SAW experience like one you’d see in a movie, this game will be exactly what you’re expecting, for the most part, that is.

You play as Detective Tapp, the Danny Glover-portrayed character obsessed with the capture of the Jigsaw killer. Jigsaw has captured you and placed you in an abandoned insane asylum, leaving you with the SAW-clichéd audio tapes that give you hints and missions. The storyline features seven chapters, six of which involving Tapp saving various characters that series fans will more than likely recognize.

Hey, I think I know that guy!

The game play is pretty simple in that the game is a very puzzle-pounding survival horror. There are 4 main puzzle types: circuits, gear puzzles, pipe linking, and quick time events. While at first, these puzzles (although extremely similar in format to the hacking minigames in Bioshock) seem fresh and intriguing, they soon become extremely repetitive and end up annoying you more than anything.

Circuit minigame

The game also has an awkward feeling combat system, which you will use to defend yourself from the random combatants trying to get the key that Jigsaw has surgically implanted inside of you. To activate it, you’ll need to hold the left bumper while pressing X or A to attack. While this isn’t a bad system by any means, it just feels weird and kind of clunky at times.

Personally, the character models in this game are superb. The blood is pretty well done, but the gore rarely reflects the action being done. While sliding past a slamming blade, being too slow and getting sliced in half, the dead character model is simply beheaded, and not completely sliced in half like the action would have suggested.

While this game is a sincerely true-to-form SAW counterpart, it isn’t very long. The superbly written story lasts roughly 7 hours, and most of the accompanying achievements are either story-related or easily achieved by using each weapon once and picking locks. Achievement difficulty: 1/10

Konami has really hit the nail on the head here.. SAW is a truly accurate representation of the SAW film franchise. Although the game play gets overused and a little clunky, I think this is a must play for any fan of the franchise, and a must play for anyone who is a fan of unique puzzle games. SAW is truly one game that I would be ecstatic about playing a sequel of, as long as Konami can polish up the experience. 8/10

EA Confirms Dead Space 2

As if it were much of a surprise, EA officially announced the existence of Dead Space 2. Speculation of a sequel popped up a little while ago with the creation of some job listings. EA went ahead and put the rumors to rest, announcing the return of Isaac Clarke and his faithful plasma cutter. Making it a point to announce the return of the plasma cutter seems a bit odd even though it remains a staple of the Dead Space experience. Dead Space 2 is being developed for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. No date was officially announced, though (if we may speculate a little more) based on the popularity and overall quality of the last installment, it wouldn’t be a major shocker to see Dead Space 2 competing with other huge titles around holiday 2010.

Medal of Honor to Get the Modern Warfare Treatment

What’s the cure for any WWII first person shooter franchise that seems to be getting a little stale? Make it modern. EA has announced that the Medal of Honor franchise will be shifting its focus in the new installment to a more modern setting. This new installment will take place in Afghanistan with the multi-player being developed by DICE. With Battlefield Bad Company 2 just around the corner, DICE has taken on quite the load, though it’s not like the modern setting is anything too foreign for them. It’s impossible to look at this announcement and not think of it as a move to cash in on Infinity Ward’s success with the Modern Warfare franchise, but who’s to say?