Latest WoW patch tames once-challenging content

Along with taking your character to the barber shop for a shave and a trim or re-visting old parts of Azeroth collecting the newly added achievements, more casual players who were previously unable to reach the end-game raids in World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade are now able to do so -- with ease.

Guilds that cleared end-game raids such as Black Temple, Mount Hyjal and Sunwell Plateau were once among the few elite on their respective servers. The latest patch, dubbed "Echoes of Doom," released last Tuesday to lay the framework for the upcoming expansion, reduced all raid bosses' health by 30% and even lowered the amount of damage they put out. This significant change now allows lesser-geared players to walk into these previously challenging raids and complete them quickly and easily.

Along with lowering the difficulty of the bosses, the new patch added new talent trees and abilities that signifcantly boosted healing and damage done for all casses. This means that not only are the bosses now easier -- three and a half weeks before the new expansion, Wrath of the Lich King releases -- but players are more effective during these encounters.


Hey me too, right!?
So, what does this all mean? Right now, nothing but a little humor for the raiders who saw end game months ago. Guilds with players in green-level items can easily down four, possibly seven out of the nine bosses in Black Temple with a bit of coordination -- previously unthinkable. And just last night on the server I play on, I witnessed a guild down the first boss in Sunwell, even though they only downed four bosses in Black Temple prior to the patch.

Blizzard is certainly opening the doors before Wrath of the Lich King launches November 13 to let casual players experience content they never thought they'd see. It's only a matter of time until these guilds who couldn't down a single boss in Black Temple pre-patch down all six bosses in Sunwell. Let's not even start talking about Lady Vashj and Kael'Thas...

Dead Space visually stunning

I've been fortunate enough to spend the past two days playing EA's new survivor horror title, Dead Space, on the Xbox 360. And I must say, I'm loving it. But aside from the solid controls, engaging story, and the eery atmosphere, EA has successfully created the most aesthetically pleasing title on the Xbox 360. Dare I say any system?


Dead Space is simply stunning.
"These graphics aren't that good are they? They seem kinda boring," my roommate said. He couldn't have been more wrong. But let me respond to that. What did you expect? You're on board a gritty mining ship, the USG Ishimura, which just so happens to be over-run by aliens of sort. Anyone expecting bright colors -- Kameo -- please step away. By simply watching Aliens or Event Horizon, one can know what they're in for in Dead Space.

I was initially impressed with the visuals of the game. They are certainly on par with those of Gears of War and Bioshock, except EA has used the shadows and lighting to create the terrifying atmosphere that is Dead Space. Now through chapter four, I can firmly say these are currently the best graphics on the system. Without spoiling anything, there is a scene where you board the bridge of the Ishimura, and it is hands down the most-beautiful scene I've ever witnessed in a videogame -- simply stunning.


Things don't always turn out so nicely.
EA has done a tremendous job at engaging the player using the lighting and shadow effects. From having all the lights being turned out around you with only a flashlight at your gun tip, to entering a reactor room with flame patches all around and shadows casting from the creatures crawling from the rafters above, Dead Space is a phenomenal experience.

SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation out?

It's been a while since I can remember when a big game was released and there were no reviews -- or can I? For Playstation 3 owners, SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation is undoubtedly one of the most-anticipated games on the system because of the success of the previous installments of the series on the Playstation 2. One problem: It's out, and nobody's talking.

Available at retailers for $59.99 with Sony's Bluetooth 2.0 headset, or $39.99 without the headset, SOCOM: Controntation was released October 14, and there haven't been any reviews to speak of.

GameRankings.com average review ratio: --

Doing a bit of research on my own via various message boards and YouTube video reviews, players seem to be enjoying the game now. Several people said it suffered from some severe server problems -- lag and down time, presumably -- during its release, but those problems seem to be resolved. For now, I'll stick to wondering why there aren't any reviews. What's the word, Sony?

Dead Space a 'creeper' hit

For a game that flew under the radar -- even after its release -- Dead Space has earned its spot as one of the premier titles of 2008. This survival horror title puts you on board the USG Ishimura, a downed mining ship which lost contact has been lost with. And your objective, of course, is to investigate what happened, and ultimately fix it.

Dead Space does a great job of initially engaging the player. The action picks up in the first few minutes of the opening cinematic, and it's all hell throughout after. And what the game does well is packing a variety of great movies and games into one. Most critics didn't even have to read much into the title before the comparisons between it and Event Horizon started to run ramped. Aside from the obvious comparisons, Dead Space takes elements from Doom 3, Resident Evil 4 and Bioshock and incorporates them to make an excellent survival horror title.

And instead of a being a simple clone, Dead Space improves on what it borrows from. Although these are only initial impressions, after already completing chapter two, I have a sense of how the game operates and -- hopefully -- what I'm in store for. The controls are very reminiscent to those of Resident Evil 4 with the over-the-shoulder style, however, it does it in a manner that's designed to add to the scary ambience. You are free to rotate the camera 360 degrees without moving your character using the right analog stick, but while running or walking, the camera purposely rotates slowly so you can't see what's immediately around you. This simple trick of the camera adds to the already-creepy atmosphere of the game, and is why I run around with my gun out 90 percent of the time.

"Oh my, there's backtracking! Backtracking sucks," say many gamers and critics -- not this time.

Dead Space does have backtracking, but it seems to be done correctly. Again, I've only completed chapter two and haven't gotten a full scope of the Ishimura's size, but the times I've had to backtrack seem relevant to the mission. It would be tough to imagine a person [in real life] in a similar situation that didn't have to do any backtracking and visit previous spots on the ship. Your mission, after all, is to find out what happened and do a little repair work along the way. But so far, I haven't been bored or annoyed with the backtracking.

These tasks -- some not so simple -- consist of finding repair modules to open new doors, finding parts to construct bombs to blow apart locked doors and a multitude of other tasks. And word to the wise, just because you already cleared a room, don't go running through during the backtracking segments expecting no surprises...

The last part I'll touch on is the combat, which I had my doubts on after seeing initial gameplay footage. The 'monsters' you kill have to have their limbs cut, shot or blown off to be killed. Using the Resident Evil 4 camera style (over the shoulder) for aiming, it's done fluidly. You have the option of meleeing them to death, and subsequently knocking their arms and heads off, or you can shoot them, piece by piece. The choice is yours, but as I've discovered so far, a mix of both works quite well when you get swarmed in all directions.

A neat twist EA added to combat and even puzzle elements was Stasis, which is an option to slow down time by pressing the X button while you are aiming your weapon. This allows you to pick them off, limb by limb in slow motion and then sit back and watch their decapitated bodies hit the floor in real time. It's quite satisfying. The aiming system works well, and like I said, I had doubts before, but after playing Dead Space, those doubts have been erased.

Thus far, Dead Space is impressive. The story is slowly unraveling itself with clues along the way, such as audio diaries and video and text logs, and I'm eager to play more to reveal more of the mystery. For now, Dead Space is certainly in contention for game of the year.