Impressions: GHOSTBUSTERS THE VIDEO GAME

As a kid, I was a serious Ghostbusters fan. I had everything, from the original NES game to the replica proton-pack to the action figures (including the fire house and Ecto-1). I loved the cartoon as well but nothing came as close to me as the first Ghostbusters movie. In retrospect, the film used a lot of adult humor, much of which I did not fully understand until I had grown up. However, there was something about four guys running around in a technologically decked out white ambulance, catching ghosts, that really drew and appeal. Once of my fondest movie-going moments involved going to the drive-in with my parents and being lied to about what movie we were about to see, only to find out it was Ghostbusters II.

Being someone with a certain fondness for all things retro, especially those with a direct influence on my childhood, you can only imagine my excitement at the announcement of a new Ghostbusters game on the current-gen consoles. I've know about it for some time, but as we get closer to it's release, I continue to be in greater awe the more I see of it. Not only are all of the orignal cast (Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson) back to reprise their roles as voice talent, the game's design is maintaining a strict likeness to the movie franchise. Everything iconic we've come to love from the franchise (the proton packs, the brown jumpsuits, Ecto-1, Slimer, etc) have returned to pull you back into 1980's New York.

I am excited beyond believe. If I had one true wish for this game, it would simply be that this game not suck. Too many games with movie tie-ins are absolutely horrible and it would a major travesty to do this to such a beloved film. At the very least, at it's current state of development, it's looking pretty good.

Please Atari, give us something we can have a complete nerdgasm over.

Overview: WORLD OF WARCRAFT PATCH 3.08

The latest patch to World of Warcraft may not have been a major content patch, but it did add a couple things to make the game a little more accessible. Among these, the major thing that steps out, is the ability to create a Death Knight on any server (provided you have a character above level 55). This works out great for me personally because I can finally have that high level alliance character I've always wanted to mess around with (for nothing more than to experience the dark side). Also, friends who have characters on other servers can finally join mine so that we may play together.

The other big thing to come from this patch is the reworking of Lake Wintergrasp. Nothing particularly huge except for the reduced price of pvp items, the addition of ranks, and the increase in health for vehicles and cannons.

I'm not much of a pvp person myself. However, it did directly affect me Wintergrasp caused Northrend to consistently crash when 3.08 went live. This was fixed shortly thereafter with the 3.o8a patch.

Another noteworthy change came with the increased usefulness of the Relic of Ulduar. It is no longer the turn in for a crappy quest but rather the turn in for Sons of Hodir reputation. Great news for those of you unwilling to grind the hell out of dailies and/or those with a rather large stockpile of them.

Finally, as a Mage, the changes most intersting to me came with the Evocation (cooldown reduced to 4 minutes) and Elemental Precision (now called Precision as it effects hit rating with all spells). As an alchemist, my Titanium transmute cooldown was reduced to a day, my Northrend Alchemy Research cooldown was reduced from 7 to 3 days, and my chance to learn a new transmute has been greatly increased. Did I mention an alchemy lab is no longer needed to create flasks?

Overall, not a huge update but a couple cool things regardless. The next patch (3.1) should be quite a sizeable one with the inclusion of the Ulduar raid instance. Cross your fingers, but this could finally include the ability for dual specs as well. ;)

Currently Playing: GEARS OF WAR

That's right, the first one. Being that I haven't had an Xbox 360 until about a month ago, I have missed out on so many great games (Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare to name a few). With all the great things I've heard about the sequel, I finally have a reason to catch up on this title as well as get primed to play Gears of War 2.

Off the bat, Gears is a pretty game. It holds up extremely well against recent titles. My earliest impressions of 360 games was that they incorporated a lot of motion blur in the background while moving the camera. I guess it's meant to make the game feel that much more realistic but, to be honest, I really didn't care for it one bit. Gears incorporates this quite heavily and surprisingly, I'm kind of digging it. Although it has been fun for me so far, I really see Gears as more a show piece than senseless fun. The music is quite good and keeps pace with the action quite well. The cover mechanics are very polished and, as I stated before, the visuals are quite staggering. It's not as run-and-gun as Mercenaries 2 and it's not as technical as COD4, but it is quite the experience to behold. I'm starting to see now why it has received so much acclaim.

Act 1 down, several more to go.

Currenty Playing: FALLOUT 3

The first thing that stood out to me in this game with the incredible size and the great attention to detail. There's something about standing on a hill, looking over a blown-out Washington D.C. and realizing, I can explore that! Within the first hour of the game, my brother says to me, "That looks amazing. Can you actually go all the way out there?"

Hell yes you can.

If you're aware of Bethesda Softworks, or if you've played Oblivion (or any other Elder Scrolls game for that matter), you'd know how expansive and alive the worlds they create can be. There's something about being able to walk into a person's house and being able to steal literally anything and everything (with consequences of course). From the clothes in their closet to the silverware on the table, it's all pilferable.

The best way I can describe Fallout 3: It's Oblivion set in a post-nuclear-apocalypse Washington D.C. That could be good or bad depending on what you thought about Oblivion. Personally, I wasn't really able to get into Oblivion like I had hoped, but I was a huge Morrowind fan.

The story is captivating, the graphics are down right gorgeous, and the role playing elements will keep you coming back for more and more punishment. The nuclear apocalypse never looked so good.

Final thoughts when I finish it.