With the release of 'Eye of Judgment', I, along with many CCG fans I'm sure, am curious to see how well the game is received both critically and publicly. Will it become a new sensation, a shot to the arm of the CCG genre that will allow it to cross-over to the consoles? Or will it simply become a cult hit like Culdcept, loved by a select few but hated by many?

However this post isn't about EoJ and it's reception with the gaming populace. I decided to sit down and share my thoughts on where I think CCGs and their gaming ilk should advance themselves in order to keep themselves fresh, but also maybe expand their market within the video gaming community.

Now before people start saying 'you don't know shit about CCGs lol!', I'll share some general experience of mine. I must point out that rarely am I a tournament player, instead preferring to simply play for casual fun. Casual gameplay always appeals more to me than anything, allowing me the option to be creative with my deck creations and strategies. In fact I gained more respect with many players simply because I could create very oddball deck designs that could give them an interesting challenge to test their might with.

But enough with stroking my e-peen! Allow me to just share some random facts about my CCG 'career', if it can be called that =P:

8 years of Magic the Gathering
3 years of Yu-Gi-oh!
3 years of Dragonball Z
1 year of Dragonball GT
1 year of YuYu Hakusho
1 month of Inuyasha (Does everything related to that series suck or what?)


So as you can see, I can at least write an opinion piece based on my experiences with not only card games in general, but also with the collected knowledge I have of various discussions I've had with fellow players about issues such as the one I'm about to go into now. However if you either think I'm full of shit, just don't care, or can't stand CCGs in general, then this post isn't for you.

Maybe you'd be better off reading WiiSucks' blog (j/k =P).

With that behind us let's get to the 'meat' of this post. Within the last few years, there has been a steady increase in the number of CCG video games. While some of these try to emulate a real-life game (Yu-gi-oh! games in general), others try to add card mechanics to genres or series not known for being cardboard-infused (PSO: Episode 3, that Warhammer game for PSP). However these games all share one thing in common: they are mostly shit.

Before you get out your pitchforks people (well...the 3 of you that care anyways), notice I said 'mostly'. There are exceptions to the norm when it comes to card video games. For instance 'Baten Kaitos', which featured a neat little card mechanic wrapped within one of the best RPGs on the Gamecube. Then there's Culdcept, the addictive hybrid of Monopoly and MtG that's been ensnaring PS2 and 360 owners with it's delicious, Reese's-style combination.

But for these rare gems, you get the massive amounts of cubic zirconiums.

In the next part I'll go into details on why these quick cash-ins tend to taste of 'aids and phail' and how I think card video games can improve themselves into a viable genre. Feel free to leave any creative criticisms you wish; I tend to favor harsh criticism as I feel you can only truly improve your writing if you have your flaws brought forth. If you liked this though, I'd love to hear about that though!

Alright folks, let me level with you. I'm not what you would call a 'PC Gamer'. Hell the most I've ever done on a PC was play Majesty, Summoner (god help me), Arcanum, WoW, and Guild Wars. Even my computer is a crappy hand-me-down from a friend that cost me like $300 to get off of him. This same PC supposedly cost him $700 to buy from a local computer parts store (Waytec) back in early '06.

For the longest time I figured 'this is all I need', using this computer to play WoW from time to time, surf the net, and masturbate to some old school '70s pr0n (those extreme bushes and shitty film quality do it for me everytime =P). Hell I barely even play anything on my PC, even after I went through an 'upgrade' phase when I acquired a wireless keyboard/mouse from Staples along with a used 360 wireless receiver from the store so I could use my 360 wireless headset on Vent.

But something has begun to change that. I don't know if it's impatience for 360 ports of great PC games, or if it's the fact that I keep reading about these great old-school titles that helped inspire some of my favorite games on the 360. It could even have something to do with what Bill Roper said on 1up Yours, filling my head with sweet thoughts of loot and guns in Hellgate: London.

Whatever it is, it has suddenly made me want to go about the very scary prospect of building my own PC, using what little money I have and the knowledge trapped in my head from tech classes to build a rig capable of at least playing these games in the mid-high area with a great framerate regardless.

Now I do have SOME idea on how to build a PC, having done it a few times back in my computer tech classes in high school. I know which wire goes where, how to install an OS, partitioning a drive, all of that. But what I'm not sure about is what I actually NEED in order to build something decent.

You see, when we built the computers in tech class, we were given the parts already and told to build. If we screwed up, we at least had the teacher there to give us a hand, show us what we fucked up on. But I've never before attempted to shop around, find what I needed in order to properly piece together a working machine. Everything from what power supply to get to the motherboard, the case, even whether to get SLI or non-SLI to save on costs; all of this is proving quite frustrating to me.

So I've decided to turn to my fellow bots here on D-toid for help, since I'm sure many of you have your own PCs, and even more of you have built your own I bet. What would you recommend in terms of what parts to use? Course if you also happen to know a great site that sells PCs for a fair price, that could work too =P.

My price range is around $1000, and to give you an idea of what kind of PC I'm looking build, here's a list of games I'd like to play:

Clive Barker's Undying (played Jericho, loved it, and I've heard a lot of good things from people about this game in particular)
System Shock 1 and 2 (same with Jericho, only involving Bioshock. Plus everyone I talk to about it seems to have a fucking hard-on for these two games)
Majesty (would just love to play it again is all =P)
Neverwinter Nights (it's BioWare back in the day; how could I not want to try this?)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R
The Witcher (I know this game hasn't been getting the best scores, but it looks like something I could sink my teeth into come post-holiday)
Hellgate: London (looks like it will be THE game to play this year for MMO fans)

So there you have it folks; one man's attempts to cross over to the other side. I've always secretly been jealous of PC gamers, getting to play some of the most graphics intensive and generally creative games on the market, only for poor schmoes like me to get the 'watered-down' console version of a game later on. Granted with the 360 and PS3 this distinction is getting smaller and smaller, but I'd rather not take the chance that a great PC game won't make it out on a console for some reason (like S.T.A.L.K.E.R and Witcher).

I should also mention too that, if you have any other suggestions for games that I should try and pick up, feel free to tell me. As you can see, I tend to go towards role-playing games mostly, though I do enjoy shooter games that offer a unique experience.

Sorry to end this post so hastily, but I've got to get some sleep; got to get up early in the morning for work =P!

Alright guys, here comes the big question: did anyone find a bundle that actually had the Guitar Hero 3 software missing? I know it seems silly to ask that, but I'm curious to see if this really was a big issue or if it was just an isolated incident. If it's a fluke, then I guess that means the store I work at has the worse luck in the fucking universe or something.

So share your experience here. Did you get your bundle in all of it's complete glory, or were you pissed off because something was missing? Course I'm sure most people read my post yesterday so I'm sure not many of you guys/gals/bots purchased the GH bundles without asking them to double check for you =P.

Well folks I gotta get ready for another 'fun' day of work. Later =D

I'll just make this a quick post guys, since I'm at work right now. As a neat little independent store, the store I work at has certain privileges. One of these is the ability to sell games a bit early, such as Halo 3 and Madden.

Of course this job also seems to come with a bit of responsibility, such as informing people of certain...flaws...that could come up with their game purchases. If you are wondering what I'm talking about, we are selling Guitar Hero 3 early and came upon an unusual development.

I'll cut to the chase: some of the 360 bundles seem to be missing the software. The guitar is still there but no game. So far this seems to apply to just the 360 version, since we haven't had any returns on PS2 bundles...YET. It seems as if about 30-35% of the bundles we've sold have come back with the same issue.

So when you are in line at Wal-Mart or Gamestop, I'd highly recommend asking the person selling you the game to open it up for you. Better to be safe than sorry.

For some reason I figured I'd make this a quick little post, not wanting to bore you lot with my opinions on things. However I should warn that I am very tempted to do a rant about Soul Nomad very soon, followed up with something about Castlevania when I get my grubby man-mitts on it.

But, for now, enjoy this little two-part vid I found on Youtube. It's done by Armake21, a sort of Youtube 'celebrity' known for his AVGN-style video game reviews. Some may hate these game reviewers, but I personally find Armake and his ilk (PlayitBogart and Urinatingtree being personal favorites as well) to be a good source of humor and a bit of nostalgia.

Granted it's the darker half of nostalgia, those painful memories of shitty games you played as a kid. In fact the game that Armake rips on in this video is one I owned as well, a terrible piece of plastic called 'Quatro Adventure'. Yet seeing the game getting the royal reaming it deserves, even if it's in a video out almost 20 years since the cartridge came out, brings a smile to my face.

So enough talk. HAVE AT YOU (with this video)!

Let me get something out of the way right now: in most games, I HATE medics. Be it something that features lame healthpacks being thrown about to nigh-uselessness in a fight, the role of a medic in general is despised. Sure you know someone has to do it in order for the group to survive, but you really don't want it to be you.

Even in the old Team Fortress, the pinnacle of gaming goodness back when I was in high school, the medic seemed like nothing more than an 'Outbreak monkey', it's only purpose to spread AIDS to the other team while healing up your own guys. Granted they made tempting targets for my stab-happy spy, but I couldn't see what anyone could find fun about this role.

A few nights ago, however, this all changed.

It was rather odd at first. As usual I was using my spy skills to take out key targets, giving my bosses a bad idea of the game in the process (they think the spy is over-powered). However I was growing constantly annoyed with the calls of 'Medic! MEEEDDDIICCC!!' that rang out in vain, almost everyone else in my group playing as a scout, soldier, or heavy. So I figured 'what the hell?' and switched to a medic, figuring it'd be a neat experiment.

Then something intriguing happened. I...liked it. At first I wasn't too sure about the idea of following someone around, being nothing more than an assist point leech funneling health to someone who was really doing all the work. Yet in time I began to get the hang of the weapons, the syringe gun proving quite useful in taking out weakened heavys and over-zealous spies. Even the bonesaw was fun, the cold metal bringing a painful death to a few smack-happy scouts.

Sure my bosses were giving me shit for this as well, finding the medic 'boring' and 'tedious'. But I didn't care. I actually felt like I was doing something really useful for the team. Being able to watch someone's back I could relay important information about spies and possible turrets that had perhaps killed me before, bringing greater success to my team than I could as a sapping spy.

Plus I guess all that experience as a spy definitely helps in figuring out when one's coming to stab ya. Nothing better than someone coming up to ask for healing only to meet my bonesaw when the dumbass either disguised himself as a class we didn't have on the team or as myself. Not to mention that I sometimes have a pretty good sense for when I can feel a spy sneaking up on me, having done it to other people quite enough.

However I should state that this isn't meant to make me sound like some 'uber Medic', as that is FAR from the case. I'm still feeling out the class, getting the hang of switching from healing to killing and back again. I just figured I'd show people that might be hesitant about playing as a medic that it can be be pretty fun, just as long as you are willing to get over the inital hang-ups with the class.

So if you ever need a decent medic on your team, send a friend/game invite to Biofreak Mike. Like I said, can't guarantee I'll be the best you've seen. But I at least know that firehose is for my team, bonesaw is for their team =P.