As to Oblivion, yes guys, it is the same engine. It has some of the same problems, and still has the horrendous movement system. Your options are to walk slowly, or run walk at a brisk pace, there isn’t any kind of inertia or speed up system to give it a good feeling. I noticed, however, that even being built off the same framework, they fixed most of the problems. The NPC’s are less boring: their lines are often witty, sarcastic, and sometimes sad. The women actually occasionally look like actual women, some even… attractive, for the Oblivion engine.

But at some point I should talk about the game itself. At the beginning, it does a great job of drawing people in, but still left me somewhat unsatisfied. Now, I realize making the Vault/tutorial section longer would upset many people who just want to move onto the game, but it felt empty to me. Regardless, the coolest moment of this game was when I stepped outside into the "wastes" - the post-nuclear remains of Washington D.C. You start out in a rigid, clean environment, where everything is happy and good (except for the fact that you live under the rule of an insane dictator), but when you step outside, what greets you is quite different. In a way, the contrast is beautiful, and I commend the artists here on their work, but it is intensely sad to wander about post-apocalyptic Washington D.C. and see the last remnants of a great civilization.

For all its wacky humor, it keeps you playing, and I could never tell what I coming around the next corner. Because of the level cap, you can’t perfect all of your skills, so most hardcore gamers will be playing the game through several times as different characters. Fallout 3 has the coolest weapons of any game of late, however. There is something intensely satisfying about watching a mutant run up to you with a nail board and firing off a mini-nuke and watching him blow into 50 pieces (especially in V.A.T.S.). The game got bonus points in my book for not overdoing the blood, but also allowing you to knock off someone’s arm from 200 yards away.

The game really needed some sort of preset weapon switching system. Pretty annoying to have to use my hunting rifle at long range, assault rifle when they get closer, and a melee weapon at close range, all the while having to pause the game, wait for the Pip-Boy to load up, scroll through a huge menu of weapons, pick out the one I want, and then go back. It's possible to bind the weapons to the D-Pad on the Xbox 360 release, but almost impossible to use due to the strange sensitivity of the controller. The worst thing in the world is sneaking up behind someone undetected and accidently pulling out a bright, flaming sword instead of your silenced pistol.

The radio in the game is quite annoying. It adds realism to the game for exactly five minutes, then you realize that no radio station could stay on the air playing so few songs. There are two stations: one playing, at most, three patriotic songs and one playing, at most, five 1950s songs. You can get another station which plays classical violin music by completing an optional quest, but you're unlikely to even encounter the quest until you're at a high level (and at that point, you've probably destroyed the creepy-patriotic station), so you'll be spending most of the game with your radio off; this is probably for the best, anyways, since Three-dog's "news" gets more repeatitive than the music.

Overall, despite its flaws, it’s a game I would recommend to anyone who likes first-person shooters or any role-playing-style game. Its one I enjoyed thoroughly, and will spend a long time with - there are so many different ways to go about playing it. And as a bonus, there are three expansion packs with more rolling out soon, so users will be able to get more enjoyment out of their game; a objective they echoed with the release of the G.E.C.K, a tool which allows users to create their own expansions.

Here are the final results:

• Gameplay: 7/10
• Graphics: 10/10
• Music: 10/10
• Immersion: 9/10
• Everything Else: 6/10
• Overall: 9/10

These changes come in addition to the labs feature released late last month, which allows members of the public to test out new Gmail features selectively before they are implemented system-wide.

The customization seems to be a direct challenge to desktop clients, which have long since offered a plugin system. The ability to customize your view has been a popular prospect on the web, as well. Social networking site MySpace, which allow you to upload custom stylesheets for your page or use a built-in generator, has more new users every year than rival site Facebook, which does not have such functionality, has had in its entire life.

Both new features are accessable from the settings tab of the Gmail interface.

So what's next for ARSON? Within the next month, we plan to launch ARSON Radio, an online radio station streaming weekdays, and playing good music, whatever that may be. Sometime later this year we plan to launch a series of podcasts, and, eventually, vodcasts ranging in topic from news, to video games, to the internet, and whatever else one could think of. We also plan to launch a video news brodcast in early 2009, so be sure to keep an eye out.

Avoiding the obvious puns which could be made by an organization with a flame for its logo, the future of ARSON news is looking bright.

First, we're going to offer you a track from John Carpenter and Alan Howarth from their album "Halloween III: Complete Original Motion Picture Score". This track, as well as many others from the album, are perfect ambiance music for the holiday-of-sorts. If you're hosting a Halloween party be sure to put some of these songs on your playlist.

And finally, The Young Punx, the electronic dance group from London, released Ghosts VS Ghouls, a special Halloween mashup which "spans the decades", in the words of Hal. You can check out all the information at their Blog, YourMusicIsKillingMe.com, or just download the track below:

Except thinking about it further, I realized something which is a recurring trend in technical limitations: they only serve to restrict those who don't have any problems to begin with. Before I explain how I think this is, let me make an anaology. Did you ever notice those anti-piracy warnings on the beginning of movies? Now, go and show me one pirated movie which doesn't have that warning removed. What tends to be the case is that people apply limitations and warnings, only to be limiting and warning those who are already abiding by the rules we'd like them to follow.

Relating it back to the matter at hand, this is an optional feature, obviously. There's no government regulation requiring this, and there probably never will be because of the issues with backwards compatibility with older vehicles. So, essentially, we're leaving the option of limiting the vehicle's usage to the parents. However, most people who worry me as drivers are the kind of people who've got very relaxed parents to begin with. In general, the ones who'd have this restriction enabled are the ones who are already responsible drivers, good students, et cetra, while the ones whose parents wouldn't care are the ones who worry me the most.

Because I don't like to make generalizations about all teenagers, though, I'll give another way in which this system fails. The minds of engineers can never match the wits of ten thousand teenagers on the internet. Within a week of the release of this technology, I can almost guarentee it'll be broken. Once you've given someone physical access to a device, and given unlimited time, there is no force in the world which can stop someone from breaking into that device. It's just as true here as it is in the world of information security, where an 84 million dollar web-filter developed by the Australlian government was broken by a teenager in thirty minutes. In fact, even with well over a few million dollars in technology, it's widely known to most students in my school district, Lake Washington, that bypassing group policy restrictions and Websense internet filtering is as simple as removing the Cat5 cable during the login sequence.

So, I'm of the opinion that it's not worth the time to put restrictions on people; educating them is probably more effective. As for Ford, spend a little less time on stupid features like this and start working on getting your average MPG up.

Full GH4 Song List

• 311 - “Beautiful Disaster”
• 30 Seconds To Mars - “The Kill”
• Airbourne - “Too Much Too Young”
• The Allman Brothers Band - “Ramblin' Man”
• Anouk - “Good God”
• The Answer - “Never Too Late”
• At The Drive-In - “One Armed Scissor”
• Beastie Boys - “No Sleep Till Brooklyn”
• Beatsteaks - “Hail to the Freaks”
• Billy Idol - “Rebel Yell”
• Black Label Society - “Stillborn”
• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - “Weapon of Choice”
• blink-182 - “Dammit”
• Blondie - “One Way or Another”
• Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band - “Hollywood Nights”
• Bon Jovi - “Livin’ On A Prayer”
• Bullet For My Valentine - “Scream Aim Fire”
• Coldplay - “Shiver”
• Creedence Clearwater Revival - “Up Around The Bend”
• The Cult - “Love Removal Machine”
• Dinosaur Jr. - “Feel The Pain”
• The Doors - “Love Me Two Times”
• Dream Theater - “Pull Me Under”
• The Eagles - “Hotel California”
• The Enemy - “Aggro”
• Filter - “Hey Man, Nice Shot”
• Fleetwood Mac - “Go Your Own Way”
• Foo Fighters - “Everlong”
• The Guess Who - “American Woman”
• Hush Puppies - “You're Gonna Say Yeah!”
• Interpol - “Obstacle 1”
• Jane's Addiction - “Mountain Song”
• Jimi Hendrix - “Purple Haze (Live)”
• Jimi Hendrix - “The Wind Cries Mary”
• Jimmy Eat World - “The Middle”
• Joe Satriani - “Satch Boogie”
• Kent - “Vinternoll2”
• Korn - “Freak On A Leash”
• Lacuna Coil - “Our Truth”
• Lenny Kravitz - “Are You Gonna Go My Way”
• Linkin Park - “What I've Done”
• The Living End - “Prisoner of Society”
• Los Lobos - “La Bamba”
• Lost Prophets - “Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast)”
• Lynyrd Skynyrd - “Sweet Home Alabama (Live)”
• Mars Volta - “L'Via L'Viaquez”
• MC5’s Wayne Kramer - “Kick Out The Jams”
• Metallica - “Trapped Under Ice”
• Michael Jackson - “Beat It”
• Modest Mouse - “Float On”
• Motörhead - “Overkill”
• Muse - “Assassin”
• Negramaro - “Nuvole e Lenzuola”
• Nirvana - “About a Girl (Unplugged)”
• No Doubt - “Spiderwebs”
• NOFX - “Soul Doubt”
• Oasis - “Some Might Say”
• Ozzy Osbourne - “Crazy Train”
• Ozzy Osbourne - “Mr. Crowley”
• Paramore - “Misery Business”
• Pat Benatar - “Heartbreaker”
• R.E.M. - “The One I Love”
• Radio Futura - “Escuela De Calor”
• Rise Against - “Re-Education Through Labor”
• Sex Pistols - “Pretty Vacant”
• Silversun Pickups - “Lazy Eye”
• Smashing Pumpkins - “Today”
• Steely Dan - “Do It Again”
• Steve Miller Band - “The Joker”
• Sting - “Demolition Man (Live)”
• The Stone Roses - “Love Spreads”
• Stuck In The Sound - “Toy Boy”
• Sublime - “Santeria”
• Survivor - “Eye of the Tiger”
• System of a Down - “B.Y.O.B.”
• Ted Nugent - “Stranglehold”
• Ted Nugent’s Original Guitar Duel Recording
• Tokio Hotel - “Monsoon”
• Tool - “Parabola”
• Tool - “Schism”
• Tool - “Vicarious”
• Trust - “Antisocial”
• Van Halen - “Hot For Teacher”
• Willie Nelson - “On The Road Again”
• Wings - “Band on the Run”
• Zakk Wylde’s Original Guitar Duel Recording

New Stuff:

The thing that most stands out about Rock Band 2 is the Battle of The Bands function. Knowing that somewhere in the world some guy is crying over losing to you is a real motivator, and doing it with friends is even better. The World Tour mode has been upgraded with cool venues, it's easier to earn money and, as expected, there are more guitars, hairstyles, etc.

Gameplay:

The two bandmembers of Internet Love Machine, /b/LACKUP and Sn4tchbuckler, experienced deja vu when they realized it's almost exactly the same as Rock Band 1:

How disappointing. It's exactly the same as Rock Band 1, except that the menus look different and Harmonix's choices for songs are, unfortunately, terrible. Oh sure, there are a couple songs that are pretty good, like Eye of The Tiger or Float On, but a lot of the songs lack that feeling that almost all songs had in Rock Band 1. without that feeling, the songs just aren't fun anymore... they just throw notes at you until you get through the setlist... it's more work than fun....

Red Octane, however, has proven time and time again that they have good taste. Each Guitar Hero sequel having challenging songs that are also FUN, unlike Rock Band 2 here. Red Octane also changes up their menus with more innovative art, instead of Harmonix's "let's take the Rock Band 1 main menu and put a tiger over yonder" approach. And combined with the addition of a touch pad guitar and song editor (yeah. a song editor!), I expect great things from Guitar Hero: World Tour.

But now you can play other instruments at least....

6/10

I'm sorry, Harmonix... I'm leaving you....

Halloween Revisit

After last night's awesome Halloween party, I feel like I was a little harsh on Rock Band 2. Maybe it was the lack of the party the first time... and the songs actually aren't that bad... but anyway:

8/10

I'm still getting GH4 though.

10. Custom Setlists in Quickplay Mode

In Rock Band there's a lot of waiting for songs to load and then more waiting for the setlist to load again once the song is over. Rock Band 2 addresses this small annoyance by allowing players to create setlists in Quickplay mode. It's a small feature, but it's sure to save people some time.

9. No More "Band Leaders"

Rock Band forced one player to be a "band leader". The other players were locked out of many tasks. Rock Band 2 addresses this by no longer requiring this. This means less work when you need to change band members. It also eliminates people mashing buttons after selecting the menu option to try to lock in the leader spot.

8. More Great Songs!

Okay, so it's hard to say that people weren't expecting this - it's a music game after all! Still, Rock Band 2 includes songs from Journey, Foo Fighters, AC/DC, The Who, Soundgarden, and a whole lot of others. Guitar Hero IV is also set to include some great songs, which brings me to my next point.

7. Full Instrument Compatibility

I'm told that all Guitar Hero instruments will be usable on Rock Band 2, including the new ones introduced with Guitar Hero IV. However, unlike the previous versions, Rock Band 2 instruments will also function in Guitar Hero IV. I'd guess that Guitar Hero IV also supports original Rock Band instruments, but no word on that yet. Obviously, Rock Band instruments will work on Rock Band 2 and vice-versa.

6. Better Graphics

One of the things I noticed while at PaX was the new graphics. The selection screens look way nicer, the characters and stages are more detailed, and in general the game brings us much closer to feeling like we're watching an actual concert. As an aside, the song selection screen also lists much more information about the song, such as the difficulty levels.

5. Improved Instruments

Well, really just the Drums so far as I noticed; the Guitar and mic are mostly the same. The drums will feature improved bounce, a severe reduction in noise, and a metal-reinforced foot pedal. Further, it will come with support for actual cymbals which will be sold seperatly.

4. Song Importing and Compatibility

Rock Band 2 will be able to import most of the songs you played in the original. Because they actually had to re-license these tracks, we'll loose Enter Sandman by Metallica, Run to the Hills by Iron Maden, and Paranoid by Black Sabbath. It's not free, but at 400 Microsoft Points it's not expensive either. (That's about $4.99.)

All past and future downloadable content will work between both games automagically as long as you don't live in Japan. If you do, Monsoon by Tokio Hotel will not play on Rock Band 2, again I presume for license reasons.

3. New Modes

Rock Band 2 features several new gameplay modes, including No-Fail (where no one can fail), Freestyle (where you can play over any MP3 on your console), and Breakneck (like the Hyperspeed cheat on Guitar Hero III). Additionally, many new training sessions are available, including many for the drums, which seem to be a more difficult instrument for most.

2. Four Instruments, One Player

Supposidly, one character will be able to play all instruments. I wasn't able to confirm this, nor did I notice it at PaX. However, I can only assume this would be added, as it would make party play much, much easier. One note: characters from Rock Band will not transfer to Rock Band 2.

1. Rock Band in Real Life

Through Harmonix's website, players will be able to obtain real-life merch for their bands! Posters will be available, as well as six-inch tall figurines of the players' characters. The line between games and real life is already blurred with bands like the Guitar Zeros and the One Ups. The only thing they're missing is T-Shirts (which can't be far behind).

Photo credit: 8bitjoystick (CC-BY)