Blog Flux LinkLog: Outgoing Link Logging and Click Tracking for From the Bottom Up From the Bottom Up: September 2006

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Halo Wars vs. Halogen

Ensemble studios in association with Bungie and Microsoft has recently announce that they will be producing a RTS (Real Time Strategy) game based on the Halo ip. A lot of people are cheering for this new iteration of halo. I am not one of them, let me tell you a story.

Once upon a time there was a small independent developer named Slipstream Productions they had made a name for themselves in the Mod community by producing quality mods. Than one day (sometime in 2003) the guys a slipstream decided "Hey we should make a mod for Command and Conquer: Generals using all the halo stuff" Since there was no Halo RTS at this point they went ahead and started work on the mod. They would spend the next three years developing skins and new mechanics that looked amazing. Fast forward to 2006 after 3 years of development there was a knock at Slipstream's door. It was Microsoft's lawyers with a cease and desist order saying that they must stop whatever they are doing with "Halogen" and take down all publicity that they had for the upcoming mod. Reluctantly and with a heavy heart Slipstream complied and trashed everything they had to do with "Halogen". Why would Msoft put a stop to something that only could have strengthened the Halo brand? Because they realised that there was a market for a Halo RTS and why should anyone else get a piece of their pie. So Msoft is now coming out with a Halo RTS and the kids are going ape shit for it.

Good 'ole Microsoft always beating down the little guy. Oh did I mention that this RTS will be available on the Xbox 360. I wonder if Microsoft realises that to play an RTS effectively you need a mouse and a keyboard.

Ssshhhh that will be our little secret.

R.I.P HALOGEN

If you would like to learn more about Slipstream Productions visit their website @ http://www.slipstreamproductions.net

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Mega Man ZX Review

Hot on the heals of his Xenosaga 3 review Brillulus seems to be reviewing up a storm. Head over to FtBU Reviews for all the blue bomber goodness.

Oh yeah only 6 days left till FtBU and Section L present Aunt Hortenze's Treasure

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Wii Wii Wii

Well it finally happened we get our launch date, price and much much more.

Nintendo has held two press conferences over the last two days one in Japan and one at the world Nintendo Store in NY City. A ridiculous amount of Wii info has been pouring into gaming website all day well I thought I would sum it all up complete soup to nuts.

Wii Launch Date:
US and Canada Nov 19th 2006 (Mark your calendars)

Wii Price Info:
The Console it self will cost you about 250$ US. First party games will go for 50$ a Wii-mote is about 40$ the nunchuck about 20$.

What 250$ Gets You
A Wii console, 1 Wii-mote with nunchuck, Wii Sports

Virtual Console Jazz
20$US gets you 2000 Wii-points, 24$ CDN gets you the same
NES games will go for about 5$ SNES for 8$ and N64 for 10$ about the same as reported earlier

Other Wii Tidbits
  • Wii will not support DVD-playback. (Good I haven't put a DVD in a game console since I burnt out my first Xbox)
  • First party Wii games to be region free (Just like the DS.... yippee I love playing games in Japanese, I love not having a clue what's going on)

Holy New Review Batman!

Brillulus has finally fished his first new review since July this time around he takes on cut-scene driven space opera Xenosage 3. I however get sleepy just thinking about this game but Brill being a fan of the series happened to enjoy it. So head on over to FtBU Reviews and check it for yourself WARNING!! The review contains 4 hours of cut scenes about 1/8 the amount contained in Xenosaga 3.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

We Haven't Gone Anywhere

Greetings FTBU readers as you may have noticed I haven't posted anything in a very very very long time. Being a writer who values his readers I thought kind of owed you all an explanation.

The truth is Brillulus and I have been very busy working on our first game. An Adrift text adventure called Aunt Hortenze's Treasure. Right now it is scheduled for release on September 26th 2006 and I am planning to have it available for download right here on FTBU. I have also been asked to take on another project following that. I will be working on www.rvbretaliation.com a Halo 2 clan website. However once Aunt Hortenze's Treasure is finished (along with my 3rd term of school) I'm hoping to come back with all the editorial content and gaming industry commentary you all have come to love. It might even be better this time around maybe a little more creative. I have been working on some short stories that I think you guys might like. Brillulus has also been playing some games for review. Keep your eye on FTBU:Reviews for reviews of Xenosaga 3 and Disgaea 2 coming soon.

Well I hope that this answered some questions on where Brillulus and I have been. So stay tuned things are about to get crazy.