As I woke up from a night of drinking, I checked my list of usual websites and stumbled
upon this gem on Joystiq.

To summarize for those that don’t want to read it: Rockstar has integrated a system into
GTA4 where if you hear a song on the in-game radio you can call a number on your in-
game cellphone and if you are a member of the Rockstar Social Club you will get a text
message with a link to Amazon.com’s music store to download the song (DRM-Free) for
either $.89 or .99.

Genius.



This is what companies should be charging for. Not weapons or guns. Not only is this an
ingenious way to make extra money from your game but it’s also a great way to
incrementally sell the soundtrack. Odds are the large soundtrack wouldn’t sell a lot of
copies on its own, but allowing people to buy it song by song is great for the artists and for
anyone playing the game. The best part of this is that it no affects the actual game. There are
no balance issues or controversy over music.

Granted, I will probably not use this service, but I still believe it’s a great idea.

Well done, Rockstar.

I have an addiction.

Not to something fun like meth. Or even cigarettes.

I have an addiction to zombie movies. And I’m not gonna sugar coat it: its pretty
unhealthy. Every time the power goes out my first thought is “zombie outbreak” and I
quickly try to figure out how to barricade myself inside whatever building I’m in and where
I can find an adequate weapon. So you can imagine how excited I was to find out about
Left 4 Dead. Co-Op action/survival-horror where you can play as the zombies and as
the survivors? Yes please.

The first screens looked promising and after I saw Valve was publishing it I breathed a nice
sigh of relief. But that comfort quickly turned to disappointment after I saw it in action.
Now, I love Half-Life, Half-Life 2, and all over the add-ons/expansions but I
never liked Counter-strike. It always felt a little too jumpy and/or clunky for my
tastes. I didn’t hate it, just never really got into it. So you can imagine that I was a little let
down when I saw that not only did Left 4 Dead retain the same graphical looks as
Valve and Sierras other shooters, but also played like them.



Now, don’t cry foul because I just stated above that I love the Half-Life series, but its
game/graphics engine is really starting to feel dated. Games like Call of Duty 4 took
the FPS to the next level and L4D looks like a sad step backward. I’m not usually a graphics
whore, but when a game I’m excited for starts looking like it was made 5 years ago, I get
annoyed. Now, this might be OK for PC gamers, but with [i]Gears of War 2, SOCOM, Far
Cry 2, Dead Space,[/i] and Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway on the horizon, games
using a dated graphics/game engine are bound to fall behind.

Maybe it will be a lot of fun to play and maybe the gameplay will make me forget about the
subpar graphics, but I can’t say that I’m not already disappointed. I’m just hoping that
disappointment gets forgotten when I actually play the game.

To be completely honest, I will probably buy it anyway. I bought Dead Rising day one
and even though it wasn’t amazing, I played the crap out of it. Zombie games are my gay
cowboy Heath Ledger: I just can’t quit them.

I don’t have a large collection of roms. So don’t sue me.

However, I frequently enjoy firing up a game I’ve never heard of or just never played just
to get my jollies. I’m weird. I’ve often recounted these explorations to people I know and
lolz are usually had. So I thought, why not put the account of my adventures here?

So here’s volume one:

SWAT Kats

I have never heard of SWAT Kats, but a swift swing to Wikipedia nets me this info:

"SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron is a Hanna-Barbera American animated series created
by Christian Tremblay and Yvon Tremblay. The show ran in syndication from 1993 to 1995,
when it was canceled. The show was based in the fictional metropolis of Megakat City,
which is populated entirely by anthropomorphic felines, known as "kats". "

Ok. I’m sold. Let’s start this shit up.

After a brief intro that appears to be a large feline flying around into the remains of John
Candy’s exhumed corpse, I hit start and get ready for some super mega awesome Kat
SWAT action.



Alright, all jokes aside, its time to pick a character. First up there’s T-Bone:


Then there’s Razor:


(Don’t give me sass. I know it’s actually spelled Rahzar)

I picked T-Bone. Not sure why.

Next was level selection.



I went with the big ferris wheel, even though I figured if I went to visit Onyx, I’d run into
Ash. Then I could finally beat him with his own Pokedex. Oh well.

I soon find this big ferris wheel is called “Mad Kat Land.” Now that scares the shit out of me.
Good job game.

Falling clown heads burst into smaller clown heads. I’m kind of freaked out. I then fall
down the first jumping section three straight times. Why? Because I was distracted by this:



Is that a pepper? Why is there a floating pepper power up in a game about genetically
superior SWAT Kats?

Needless to say I quickly exhausted my first 4 lives.



And I had no desire to play again. Oh well.

I’ve been playing the Battlefield: Bad Company Beta for the last day or so and thought I would offer up my opinions on the game.

First off, let me say that I’ve never played any of the Battlefield games before, so I didn’t really know what to expect. And honestly, I’m not too excited now that I’ve played it.

The big draw to this game has been the dynamic environment destructibility and it, for the most, delivers. Everything can be shot, destroyed, shredded, etc. and it’s pulled off pretty convincingly. Buildings aren’t entirely destructible, however, and will stay standing (the corners of each room and the roofs can’t be destroyed). While this may disappoint some, it keeps the game from becoming a rocket, grenade, and explosion/destruction-fest. What results is a reasonably fun, balanced game that probably won’t make me leave my current wife, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, anytime soon.

Graphically, its pretty strong. But still doesn’t compare to COD4. Explosions look great and the character models are nice, if not somewhat cartoony. I don’t mind this, but I’m sure some will.

Most of you that have played it (or tried to play it) over the last day or so have probably noticed the lag and server issues. While annoying, it is somewhat understandable. Seems like DICE and EA underestimated the toll it would take on their servers. Hopefully they fix this ASAP. After a few rounds this morning, I was too annoyed to continue playing because the lag was so bad. And no it’s not my connection.

The sole game type included, Gold Rush, is fun. But got old pretty quickly. I (and others, as I have noticed) have resorted to playing it like team deathmatch, just focusing on killing the other team, instead of playing like a squad and taking the objective. There also seemed to be a lack of voice chat, although I’m not sure if that’s because people don’t like to talk or if they’ve disabled it. I’m assuming it has to do with the many socially challenged individuals on XBL, but I could be wrong.

A few other things that bothered me were the lack of a grenade or melee button. Instead of hitting a button to throw a grenade, you have to switch to your grenades (with RB) and then throw it. Same goes for melee. Instead of having a button, you have to hit the Y button to switch to your knife, then pull the right trigger to actually knife someone. Both of these end up being somewhat clunky and frustrating.

I plan on giving it some time, hoping that some of the issues will be resolved when they get the servers settled down.

Oh Destructoid, you've finally lured me into your van with promises of kittens and bicycles
with neat little baskets and handlebar frills.

I guess I'll start with my personal gaming history.

My first memory of gaming is playing a random Sesame Street game on my Dad's Apple
IIe. I honestly have no idea what the game was called, but I really wish I could remember.
I'm just pretty sure it involved Grover and space.

Then came my NES years. The first game I remember playing was The Goonies II.



Now that was a fucked up game that had nothing to do The Goonies. Part Super Mario Brothers, part Point-n-Click adventure... 100% worthless. Then of course there were the classic experiences with Super Mario Brothers 2 and 3, Contra, and Legend of Zelda.

It wasn't until I got an SNES and a Sega Genesis that I finally fell in love with games. Actually, to be honest, it was Deion Sander's Prime Time Football that did it.



Gotta love a game where running a pitch play to the open side of the field would next 15 yards every time. And a football shitting stars.

I owned a Nintendo 64. Loved it. Still sad it died so soon.

Then came Final Fantasy VII. It completely changed how I viewed gaming and the games themselves. Never had I been so emotionally involved in a game or wanted so badly to kick my nemesis' ass.



I mean come on. This dude was just hurtin' for a beating.

I made some other worthwhile stops during my love affair with Sony's grey box (well, all 3 of them; those things failed harder than Gamespot): Warhawk, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VII, VIII, and IX, Castlevania: SOTN, Tomb Raider, etc.

I'm pretty sure the Dreamcast came next. Not really sure why I bought one. Sonic Adventure was fun. Phantasy Star Online was fun. Quake 3 was surprisingly enjoyable to play online. Crazy Taxi was insane. And for some horrible, horrible reason... I actually purchased Seaman. Nothing beats having an asian man swim around a virtual fish tank.



*shakes head*

Pausing here, I'm gonna go ahead and state for the record that there were heavy doses of Gameboy during each of these segments of my gaming career. And when I say Gameboy, I mean Pokemon.

XBOX and Playstation 2 came next, and I still owned both up until just about six months ago. The XBOX introduced me to The Elder Scrolls, Halo, and Ninja Gaiden (and many others), while the PS2 cemented my love for RPGs in Final Fantasy X and XII, Xenosaga, and Kingdom Hearts. In the grand scheme of things, I'd put the PS2 right behind the SNES for my favorite game console.

Alright. So we're to present day. I have a Wii and a 360 and I adore both. Although, my attachment to the Wii is surely driven by my love of Nintendo's classic franchises. Twlight Princess was wonderful. Super Mario Galaxy was mind-blowing. Metroid Prime 3 was enjoyable. I just wish there was more quality outside of the Nintendo's products.

My 360 gets most of my attention. Currently I'm still pretty obsessed with Call of Duty 4. I also am enjoying the new Battlefield: Bad Company Beta.

So there you go Destructoid. An introduction that is probably way to long that most of you
won't even read. At least I gave you some purty pictures to look at.