Fun Fact: Threepio had a monocle in my first workup of this image, but it was obvious that nobody would ever see it.

Do not underestimate the power of the Recap.

It's that time again, time to see what everyone has been up to today. Not a bad one, either. You'll notice that my embargo on GTA blogs continues. It's going to go on for a long time, which you can thank dvddesign for. I'll open them up and check them, but if I get a hint of spoiler, I'm gonna have to stop and make my best guess. Once again, caveat emptor. Zimmerisms follow.



*- While this post is about how great it is to own a Dreamcast, I'm picking it because Phist's new blog header is AMAZING.
*- Will games continue to be able to reconcile strong single and multi-player experiences, or is the divergence too strong now? (razerangel)


A- ParaParaKing re-examines the Metal Gear series in preparation of MGS4.
A- kratosmaster draws some (somewhat stretched) comparisons between Intel and Nintendo
S- Control Freaks, new series examining innovative or unusual control schemes (njsykora)
M- Savegame Archives (Kamikaze Tutor)
M- ZombiePlatypus plays with the format. What a dick.


C- CBlog Xbox Scavenger Hunt (Ends 4.30)
C- that audiosurf contest (Ends 5.2)
C- Does it Suck? contest (Ends 4.30)

E- Does Turok Suck? (GAMEGOBLIN)


F- It's PS3 Poker Night again!
F- AMMO MOOnday! Test AgentMOO's game.
C- Dtoid Vent server is back online
C- Should Nick write about instruction manuals?
B- Happy belated birthday, Grim.
B- By contrast, today actually is neonie's birthday
H- brainderailment bought a new TV for GTA IV
RIP- EternalDeathSlayer gets Red Ringed and Pink Slipped in the same day. Rough trade.


N- Europe gets new modes added to MGO beta
N- Guardian article suggests gamers have already won the war for legitimization
N- This week's Rock Band DLC
N- This week's Euro releases
N- XBLA releases for the week (there are none)
N- New Saints Row spots featuring Gary Busey
N- How to get an MGO Beta code
V- Prototype looks awesome.
V- Video review of the Tiger Electronics R-Zone handheld
V- Atmosphere of the Fallout series
V- New Alone in the Dark footage
V- New Battlefield Heroes trailer
V- Trailer for the new 50 cent game (which is, coincidentally, what the trade-in value will be a month after release)
R-trig reviews his runs on Rainbow Road (Mario Kart Wii)
R- BigPopaGamer puts the hate on Timeshift
R- PassionateStyos likes to play dress-up (The World Ends With You)
R- B-Radicate's HUGE Mass Effect Review Part One Part Two
T- A better use for the Wii Wheel
T- Reminiscing the SNES era.
T- Concerns about importing mature games into Australia due to customs regulations
T- Demo Impressions: Siren
T- Do you game when on the clock?
T- MGO Beta impressions
T- galagabug talks about another shmup I've never heard of
T- Characters confirmed for Soul Calibur 4
T- How might MGS end?
T- Tips for using your Celestial Brush (Okami Wii)
T- Thoughts on old Laserdisc games
T- New episode of You Don't Know Jack
T- Custom playlists for Guitar Hero 3 PC
T- Why do final bosses in fighting games have cheap moves?
T- Phoenix Gamma thinks playing with the Wii Wheel may lead to dementia
T- Choices, consequences and morality
T- There are games that aren't GTA? (Persona 3)


A- High-quality version of Venture Bros season 3 footage from last week
F- Artoo and Threepeeo hidden in set of Indiana Jones
S- New adapter from The Ant Commandos lets players use PS2 guitars on PS3 at bargain price


L- deiga has drawn a kickass comic
L- You see, kids? This is why you always remember to log out.
R- Man arrested for returning homemade game discs to stores, selling originals on eBay
R- Butmac has mad skillz
R- BahamutZero gives stock tips
R- Dolphin dies tragically, Concealmo placed on suicide watch
R- This looks uncomfortable
V- Colin's Bear
V- TF2 homage to Monty Python
C- blah blah blah, Jack Thompson sucks, blah blah blah
?- I'm not sure I get it.


S- Snail-like
F- Waaah! Halo sucks, waaah!
F- Don't we have an entire forum for this?
F- Waste of my time
F- You aren't a journalist and this isn't journalism. It's a misplaced forum post.


IV- This is, apparently, the ultimate GTA vid.
IV- Would you stand in the rain for GTA IV?
IV- Hyperbolic much?
IV- The Metacritic numbers aren't moving much on GTA, still at 99/100
IV- One of these blurbs about GTA isn't real
IV- Impressions
IV- IGN video used for sex and violence fingerpointing
IV- Odd disparity between special edition preorders in teach4food's hood
IV- Apparently, glitches are being recorded just as quickly as reviews
IV- Some Wii fanboy dissing the game in a video that wasn't available
IV- How to survive a six-star wanted level
IV- Skribble has it.
IV- Best game ever?
IV- Somebody's off to get theirs.






I spent a lot of time this weekend playing Lego Star Wars II, since it's one of the games in dvddesign's scavenger hunt for May. I may have mentioned this before, but I'm not a fan of the Star Wars films. They're alright as far as the action/adventure genre goes, certainly better than some of the fare we see passed off every summer. Still, the only reason I can logically think of for their massive success is that there wasn't anything else like it at the time. It isn't the 80's anymore, though. The continued obsession with the series completely boggles my mind.

All that said, I really love the Lego Star Wars games. They're cute and have clever mechanics. There's just enough stuff there to bring out the completionist in me without being so overwhelming as to make me give up on it. And any game featuring drop in co-op gets big points from me.

I've played both games previously on the PS2 and had a great time with them. I admit, however, that going through it again on the 360 is kinda wearing on me a bit. After about six hours, I became really really sick of John Williams' music and wanted a something a little different. I frequently use the 360 dashboard to play audiobooks or stand-up routines while I'm playing a game and felt in the mood to listen to Eddie Murphy's 80's albums, Delerious and Raw.





After hopping over to the dashboard and getting things playing, I returned to my game. The volume level of the blasters and explosions was completely drowning out my other audio. Hell, the hum of an extended lightsaber made it hard to hear the routine. So, I went to the options and reduced the "Audio Volume" by about three notches. Still too loud.

Once I dropped it a few more, I came to realize that "Audio Volume" means "Music Volume". There's no way to turn down or turn off the sound effects in this game. Whether you like it or not, you're going to hear Chewbacca moaning over anything else you happen to have playing.

That's not the only problem with the audio, either. If you're playing Story Mode on a level, whenever the game takes you into a cutscene your dashboard music just cuts out completely. Going into the dashboard at this time shows the music player greyed out. Then, at some point in the cinematic, your audio will just come back on. It's really horrible integration and something I hope they fixed in Complete Saga. I'm gonna be hella pissed off if I can't listen to the soundtrack for the Prince Batman soundtrack while playing Lego Batman in a few months.

USE THE RECAP, LUKE