Tony

27% complete as of 2248 EST.

Update: A few thoughts on the beta before I pass out.

The Good: It feels like a Halo game, to a tee. The maps are very detailed and seem to be well balanced. The new weapons are a hoot. The new vehicle, the ATV is a blast to drive. Plays tight and quick.

The Bad: It feels like a Halo game. I guess I went in with expectations higher than I should have, but there didn’t seem to be anything that struck me as novel or innovative. That may have been unfair to expect from a beta, but I was hoping for something to wow me. The graphics aren’t bad but certainly could look better. I think Bungie dropped the ball here. They could have blown everyone’s socks off with some amazing visuals and left everyone wanting more. As it stands now, they look good and will probably look great in the finished product, but I was hoping for amazing.

The Ugly: Bungie and Microsoft’s preparedness. They have known for months that a lot of people would be joining the beta via their Crackdown discs. The fact that it took over half a day to figure out what the problem was and correct it was very disappointing.

Overall, Halo 3 is going to be a great game that has a long shelf life and is going to sell a lot of 360’s.

So I know I promised impressions of Pokemon Diamond, but I’ve only logged about an hour in Pokemon because I’ve been playing a bunch of Settlers of Catan, the excellent downloadable Xbox Live Arcade game. I’ve actually been putting a lot of time on the 360 in general, but most of it has been playing Settlers.

I’ve only played a couple games with real players, but both games have been a revelation. I think Joystiq hit the nail on the head last week when they mentioned the lack of renobs on Live. Maybe they’re busy playing Gears or working on some new colorful epithets. Whatever the case, the guys I’ve played with have been pleasant, if rather quiet. Not a lot of chatting going on, with some players without a headset altogether. Playing faceless opponents makes the stress of playing on the table-top non-existent. It’s a lot easier to turn a trade down when you don’t have to look the poor sucker in the eyes. No Xbox Live camera for me!

Playing against the computer is a mixed bag. Overall, it isn’t that bad, but sometimes it gets frustrating. There are times when I honestly feel like the computer is cheating with the “random” dice rolls. A game I played last night had nine (9!!) straight rolls of a four. Of course I didn’t have any settlements on a four, but the other three computer players were raking in the resources. I hope that is the exception, not the rule here. It’s also really easy to game the computer into getting what you want. I’ve offered a trade (say a wood for a brick) and then offer the trade in reverse (a brick for a wood) and the same computer opponent takes it. That breaks a bit of the feel, but playing with real players will solve that problem.

Games against the computer can be completed pretty quickly, but the online games seem to last a little longer. That’s not too much of a problem, but with no saving mechanism, you’ve got to be in it for the long haul. But I’m really enjoying Catan. If you’re online and are looking for a match, shoot me a line.

I promise I’ll get to Pokemon, as the first hour I played was positive. But with Halo 3 beta in a couple days, I’m thinking my game playing time will be consumed by that and not much else. Pokemon can wait.

(Excellent picture of the Settlers board game from n0wak’s Flickr stream)

Just saw over on Duncan Mackenzie’s blog that Bungie is now listing Halo 3 beta stats alongside your Halo 2 stats. I had completely forgotten how in depth Bungie’s stat keeping really is.

Here’s my Bungie profile page. I obviously have not played any Halo 3 matches yet, otherwise this blog post would have never happened. Nor would that lawn have been mowed or the kids fed. I’ve already put the family on alert that I will be in “Beta Mode” next week.

I poked around some of the stats from some of the Halo 3 matches that have already taken place, and Bungie looks like they’ll be topping themselves in the stats department with Halo 3. I also noticed some new medals listed on the game summary pages. I am such a huge medal whore. This will not be good for my sanity. Here are a few I noticed:

• “Killjoy! End an opponent’s killing spree – any spree.”
• “Death from the Grave! Kill an opponent after you have died.” (we call that the sissy grenade around here)
• “Laser Kill! Get an opponent with the Spartan Laser.”
• “Shotgun Spree! Kill 5 opponents in a row with the shotgun without dying.”
• “Oddball Kill! Get a melee kill when holding the oddball.”
• “Sniper Spree! Kill 5 opponents in a row with a sniper weapon without dying.”
• “Flag Kill! Get a melee kill with the flag.”

To say I’m looking forward to playing this game next week would be quite the understatement.

There are currently 1100 players playing Halo 3 as we speak. Lucky!

I haven’t been playing a lot of games lately, but I feel a manic phase coming on. Hopefully the next couple months should provide a lot of gaming opportunities.

On the DS front, I’ve finally given up on Contact. I tried really hard to get into the game, but there was too much backtracking and grinding for me. The combat was okay and the story had its moments, but I just didn’t feel like investing any more time into the game as a whole. So it will become trade fodder for me to pick up a copy of Pokemon. In addition to catching them all, I think I’ll get some more Elite Beat Agents in. I thought about picking up Puzzle Quest for the DS, but after I heard it was announced for the 360, I decided to wait and pick it up on Live. Multiplayer and achievements always win!

Also on the 360 front, there are a lot of things happening. The first thing I’ll be doing is picking up Settlers of Catan from the Xbox Live Arcade. Catan (the board game) was something my group of friends played a lot of. I actually hestitated picking up the XLA version because of the strife the board game caused us. Catan can be a very visceral game at its core — you have to be ruthless to win. Friends become enemies with the simple roll of a ‘7’. Sure, it can be a problem when you’re playing with friends, but imagine how much more so with spouses. Faced with trading your friend a brick for a stone to complete your city versus trading two stones for a wood with your wife can be perilous. I don’t need Doctor Phil to tell me what path leads to pain. I’m figuring that these types of gut wrenching decisions will be minimized with the digital version of the game.

I think I’ll also pick up the new Halo 2 maps in preparation for the Halo 3 Beta next week, or as I like to call it, “The Day Xbox Live Melted Down (taking the whole internet with it)”. There is absoultely NO WAY Bungie and Microsoft can be ready for the beating their servers are going to take once the Beta goes live. I’ll be right in there, part of the problem, not the solution! Then it will be Halo 3 time, all the time. I’ll probably pick up Forza 2 when that drops, but I’m not sure I’ll be picking anything else up for a while.

Of course, Everquest 2 will be sprinkled in there when there’s time.

Time. There never seems to be enough of it.