I'm so happy

So I boot up the old computron today and what do I see? The new E3 trailer for Fallout: New Vegas.
Here it is for anyone who wants to enjoy life.

Video Games | Fallout: New Vegas | E3 2010: Exclusive Gameplay Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

It looks magnificent and what excited me the most was the .50 caliber sniper rifle shown early on in the clip.
You see, I'm a sniper. I try to play every FPS I have that way. Early on in Fallout 3, I was a tank, just plowing through everything and everyone in my way. However, my instincts to sneak around and pick off unsuspecting prey with a rifle finally caught up with me and now I prowl around the wastes invisible and use my Reservists Rifle to lay waste to my victims without them even knowing. It feels like the hand of god, smoting them from a distance without them even having a care in the world. It's almost humane, they never know what's happening as their heads explode like melons.
Wow, that was a rant that could put me away if read into too deeply. Read that I am not a psycho (at least I don't think I am) and wouldn't do anything in a video game to a regular person.
What I'm trying to relate is that the experience of the Fallout universe is one that I love immensely, and having a game like New Vegas coming out within the year is something I am extremely excited about. It's like I'm a tween in line for a Justin Bieber concert, I'm that excited.
Now where's the nearest clock tower.

Finally playing real games!

So in between shifts of putting down a new floor in my home and my shifts at the paper, I was finally able to get in a good few hours of gaming this week.
And what did I play? Why, Fallout 3 of course.
I could have gone out and hocked a lot of money for Red Dead Redemption, but then I remember that I'm not a big fan of westerns. But post-apocalyptic scenarios? Yes, please!
After finally finishing the buggy mess that was Operation: Anchorage, I started my delving into Point Lookout.
And boy is it nice. But if you're a fan, you already know that and have known that for a long time.
But really, playing this week has really put me in the mood for E3, which I will be staring at all week.
Expect posts all next week about the goings-on at the Mecca of gaming.
Back to sleep, it's much-needed.

The evils of casual games

We've all been there, we've all seen the messages.
Someones farm needs fertilizer, someones fish needs feeding, someones mafia needs joining.
Blah, blah, blah.
These are the evils of casual games.
You see, there are two types of casual games. The first is the more well-known version which are Wii titles that people from ages 8-800 can play effectively and have fun when you get the entire family together for an evening of fun on Christmas Eve or the like.
The second is what I truly consider the casual game, and they are the bane of my existence.
Farmville, Fishville, Mafia Wars, Vampire Wars, School of Magic, etc...
It's easy to blame Facebook and just get it over with, as all of the games I just described got their go on the social networking site. However, I blame the games more than the site as it is the games that have sucked in people like a drug dealer peddling free candy-flavored crack.
And the sad thing is I have been suckered in myself.
Last night I downloaded a game for my Android phone called World War. I thought it was going to be a cool game where I led soldiers like an RTS or maybe sent a guy though the trenches like an FPS.
However, after five minutes looking over the game I realized that I had, in fact, downloaded a mobile version of a Facebook game.
And instead of putting it down and going straight to the hospital for some antabuse or methadone, I instead continued to play the damn thing and started leveling up.
I am addicted, and I hate myself for it.
Before anyone tries to get me to again be their neighbor or join their family, hear this... I will never be a part of another of these games.
It's a fluke that I joined this game, and I don't want to be a part of any other game like this.
As it stands, I have no desire to attack anyone or do anything more than press about five buttons and level up. I don't care about joining coalitions or anything like that. I am a rogue nation, and I want to be left alone.
Anyway, enough about my secret shame, you can all go back to your farms and fish tanks, just leave me out of it.

Getting excited

Just finished reading an article that Valve will not showcase Portal 2 at E3 this year, instead opting for a "surprise."
If it's Left 4 Dead 3 I will be pissed.
Hey, I love Left 4 Dead, it's one of those games that my wife and I can lose hours in together slaughtering the hordes while preparing our minds and coordinations for the upcoming zombie apocalypse (oh it's happening).
It's just that I've had enough of that ride.
It's like that kid you take to Six Flags that wants to keep riding the same ride again and again, not caring that it takes over an hour from the moment you get in line until you get off the ride. They love watching the cartoons in between while you are stuck there holding the water, personal items and everything else on sore feet that scream for a bench and a bucket of ice water all the while wanting to ride the raging rapids just to cool down.
That's how I feel about the Left 4 Dead franchise. It was amazing, and I bought both games and all the DLC since, but after a while you want to get on another ride.
And with Valve, there are two great franchises that are worth riding again, those being Portal and Half-Life.
Sure, you could add Team Fortress to that mix, but my hatred for actual people can only be trumped by my hatred for screaming children over microphones who have nothing better to do than not do homework and instead play Halo (yeah I went there, god I hate Halo).
Portal and Half-Life both have soft spots in my heart. Portal was that great game that my wife and I spent a week just agonizing over, laughing at not only GLaDOS, but also our own failures.
Meanwhile, Half-Life is the first shooter that I really went into wanting to play, and in the end coming out loving shooters.
I'm being completely serious here. I hated shooters, and since Doom 2 I vowed to never play them. Not because Doom 2 sucked, I actually loved that game. I just didn't want to play them anymore.
I was a fan of RPGs, computer RTSs and 3rd-person shooters like GTA, and I was happy about that.
Then Gordon Freeman came along and changed my life.
Valve has this ability to create suspense in a constrained environment. It was like a rail shooter where I had the choice to go into that room on the right or not. Half-Life opened the door to me that a game can have the illusion of a sandbox while not being sandbox, can have the illusion of freedom while instead being quite rigid on where you have to go.
It was brilliant.
I was excited to hear that Valve was going to show off Portal 2 at E3, and it was a title that I was excited to see and purchase.
However, if this surprise is instead Half-Life 2: Episode 3, I think I will pee my pants with excitement.
Oh I went there, I will dawn a plaid skit and giggle like a girl if I see Gordon Freeman on a big screen at E3.
Valve has been treating him like the Beastie Boys treat albums, it takes forever to get anything new, but the end product is more than worth the wait.
But I shouldn't get my hopes up too much, I have done this before and just got another spoonfull of zombies for my troubles.

The summer is here

It's been months since this blog has seen an update, and while many would think that's a good thing I personally think my laziness is going to get me into a lot of trouble.
So here goes.
With the summer here and my 9-5 (or 4-midnight) job slowing down for the time being, it's time to start blowing the dust off my rigs and breaking out the games for a few months of joy.
Inject E3 in there and you have yourself a deal.
So over the next few days and weeks this blog will get a little life and maybe come off life support completely, which is a joy to me as a gamer and as a writer.
To tell the truth, there aren't many games that are lighting my lamp, but I'm sure something will come eventually. That's the beauty about this time of year, it's that time where game companies are starting to wind down their catalog and instead start their hype machines for that glorious week in Los Angeles.
So check back every once in a while, there might be something cool coming soon.

It's been awhile again

So, it's been some time since I have been on this blog ranting and raving.
However, something awesome happened tonight when my wife fired up Fallout 3 for another round of the Wastes with her evil character around 9 p.m. central time.
THERE WAS AN UPDATE! A 21mb update!
Excited, we sat and salivated with the thoughts that finally we will be playing the downloadable content for one of the best games I have ever played.
We got a look at all the new trophies, further whetting our palettes toward the eminent joys we will be having soon enough.
Oh yes, finally some DLC for Fallout 3.
Also, Scribblenaughts came out yesterday, so expect a full review by the end of the day tomorrow.
Until then!

It's been a while, I know

It's been quite some days since I came on here to express myself. Likely because I know that not having the cash to do this job right can at times be frustrating.
On that, I am endeavoring.
However, there is some news that I saw today that brought me back here to peck at the keys and get my own muffled voice out there.
Apparently, Six Days in Fallujah developer Atomic Games has had to lay off employees because it can't get anyone to take on the publishing costs of what was expected to be a great game.
It's a sad state of affairs indeed.
Look, the game was expected to be amazing, a bold retelling of the battle of Fallujah that didn't carry with it the baggage of being either for the war in Iraq or against it. This is what a war game should be, unless you are killing Nazis.
It's a shame that there are people out there that are crying foul at all, especially seeing that both sides of the damn issue are griping. I guess you can't tell the stories of our men and women in uniform without having a message, be it "war is hell" or "war is necessary."
It's just stupid, that's what those messages are. War is war, and nothing else. What this game was set to do was tell a story. Tell the story of the soldiers who were sent to fight in Fallujah and the six days it took to capture the town. Nothing more, nothing less. The story doesn't have to be about anything deeper than that. If it did, it would be useless.
I don't need anything else to tell me that the war in Iraq was either bad or good. Newspapers, television, cinema, all things that have spent the last few years drilling into our heads that war is bad, and the war in Iraq is even worse.
I don't need video games to tell me that too.
This game had a chance to be one of the best games of this generation, had a chance to be a kind of game that moves the public's eye from "those are just kid's games" to "maybe this is an art form."
This is a game that had legs, and could have raced into every home and just told a story.
Instead, we have possibly one of the best games of our time sitting in a cupboard, collecting dust until someone has the guts to take a chance, until someone has the guts to not listen to the people who just want to hear themselves talk.
I'm sorry, but this is a larger argument. No longer is this just about a game that would have been great, this is about a society that can't stand to look directly at itself.
It's about a nation that is so split that if there is anything neutral neither can like it because none will even try it.
I'm sorry, but this is unacceptable for our great nation.
This may be just a game, but deep down this is more about two groups of people who can't see past their own noses to look at something for what it is.
Let's just hope that someone looks down long enough to get a bit of sanity and perhaps allow what could be a great piece of art to finally see the light of day.

On the outside looking in

Being stuck in Oklahoma sometimes sucks.
I'm here in Oklahoma while the whole world of geekdom is in San Diego right now at Comic-Con. Do I like comics? Not really, but what I do like is video game news, and Comic-Con is the place for news.
The biggest news coming out today is not pointed at myself, but it's huge news.
Halo: Reach will be Bungie's last XBox 360 game.
Speaking to Gamerzines at Comic-Con, senior game designer Lars Bakken said...
"In terms of a platform for Halo games made by Bungie...yes Reach is the last one. I can't answer that question about Microsoft - whether they have something in the works or not, I don't know if they're actually ready to talk about it yet. But in terms of Bungie-produced Halo games, ODST and Reach is all you're going to get on 360."
That's just sad for XBox fans, as Halo is arguably the best shooter for the console and built the rabid fan base that the franchise holds.
As for me, the most exciting thing was a gameplay trailer released for the Nintendo DS title, Scribblenauts.
This is THE game I have been waiting for, a big surprise for a portable title.
I just want to see if I can break the game, but it's been said that it is impossible.
But anyway, here's the trailer.

Video Game - E3 2009 - Video Game Trailers

See you tomorrow, maybe I will actually have something cool to say. Likely not, the house has been uber busy lately so the system has been mainly used to watch DVDs. Oh well, at least I can finally see Watchmen tonight.
I know, it's awful that I'm just getting around to watching it now.
Fudge ya.

Not a lot to say

So since it's summer and I don't have much to say, I will just rail on how much I hate exclusive gaming.
Many people don't have the money to buy all three major systems, and I count myself in that group as well. Therefore, companies are doing themselves a disservice by keeping a game out of my hands.
Look, Valve is likely the most innovative and awesome creator of games like Half-Life and Left 4 Dead. However, they don't publish for the PS3.
Now, this is not because of any kind of agreement with Microsoft, it's because they don't have the manpower to code for the PS3.
This I somewhat understand. If you don't have the ability to do a port to the PS3 then that's cool.
Where I get riled up are the sweetheart deals that keep DLC and games out of the hands of fans.
Fallout 3 DLC, GTA 4 DLC, inFAMOUS, Littlebigplanet all four are the first games or content off the top of my head that could be making a lot more in the hands of other consoles.
Bethesda is finally putting out their content for PS3, but Rockstar has shown no desire to send the GTA stuff my way and Sony will never let go of their star properties that could be the make or break for their system. There's just either too much money spent or too much money to be gained exclusively for them to budge on the matter.
I think it was Todd Howard of Bethesda who was talking once and said that he wants to see an end-all, be-all system that can play everything.
I agree totally, but I think we all know that it will never happen.
Oh well, a guy can dream can't he?

Oklahoma is lame... Sometimes

Here in the windy confines of Southwest Oklahoma, two things are certain in this time of year.
1) Horrible heat
2) Horrible storms
The last two weeks, No. 1 has been the boss with temperatures reaching 111 and over on many a day, it was hell on the AC but great in the fact that I felt obligated to stay indoors and play a lot of games.
Let's just say that the obligation was more of a excuse, I hate going outside even when it's nice.
Well, starting yesterday No. 2 reared its ugly head and brought down the hammer on our little area.
With some annoying results.
Have you ever felt that you needed to play a game, I mean like really needed to play a game?
You get all excited and race home to play and then when you get there you find out that the power has been out for 30 minutes?
That's what happened to me last night around midnight. I get home from a long day at work, wanting to get in 18 holes of the British Open at Turnberry on the Wii then I step into my house and see that the wife has lit candles.
Sadness crept into my heart as we sat in the dark.
However, it gave me more than enough chance to play the DSi, and Dr. Mario got his fill of me.
I can't wait until Sept. 15, when Scribblenauts hits shelves.
It will be a nice birthday present, an original game with thought and substance.
Well, the power came on around 2 a.m. and the wife and I decided to go to bed instead of booting up a system with the thought that another lightning strike would possibly ruin everything.
So today we woke up and again that anticipation was there. Boy, did I want to play some golf.
Then the power goes out... AGAIN!
However, this time the power is out for just a scant few minutes. Lucky them, I was about to get a case of the ass.
So finally, I was able to get on the course... But more on that in a second.
But in the end, it was just a couple of days in this part of the world. With more foreboding weather creeping in I don't think the systems of our household may get a start again until tomorrow.

Boy I suck at golf

Now to the funny stuff, I suck at golf.
I mean really suck at golf.
Through two rounds of the British Open, I am currently dead last with a 26-over par.
I need to finish 23 under tomorrow just to get out of the cellar.
My drives had a case of the shanks and my reading of the greens was like a blind man groping around in the dark. I just had a horrible day.
At least I can continue playing, unlike most of the field I can't get cut.
Let's hope that my final two rounds can be just a little more respectable.
Or just as bad, cause fail=funny.

An awesome contest

Indie game developers out there! Here's what this blog is about... sometimes.
Here is a link to a site that will allow you to jump out there and get seen.
The Indie Games Challenge
Sure, it's sponsored by Gamestop, who are the Wal-Mart of video games, but it's nice to see that the big dealer supporting the little guy.
Get on there, get your game entered and give me a shout. I'd love to see your idea!
Indie games are such a key component of this industry so we don't have Madden Killzone Halo 245 for Holiday 2012.
But don't take my word for it, here's G4's Adam Sessler, who I look up to as a fellow journalist, making the point oh so eloquently.

Video Game - E3 2009 - Sessler's Soapbox

Keep me posted. Here in the Outlands the little guy is our favorite. Let us know what you are doing out there, and we will get your news and info out there for public consumption.

A little behind on golf

As promised, I was going to play the British Open with the pros on my Wii this week. After two practice rounds yesterday I set myself up to play my first round this afternoon, but found that it was time to head into the day job.
I will work to get in the round when I get home tonight, and will post my results for hopefully two rounds at Turnberry. Expect to see where I stand on the leaderboard, cause that's where I'm going to be looking to all afternoon.

What am I to do now?

Well, being away from the computer on Monday was a good thing in the end.
On Monday, Bethesda announced that the Fallout 3 DLC would not hit the PS3 until September, much later than the late June original release date.
If I were around on Monday, my head would have likely exploded.
Instead, the news broke for me late Tuesday and now I have had a night to sleep on it before getting so upset that I will storm around and complain.
Complain I will, but not here, not as much anyway.
Everyone says that's what I get for running a PS3, but to them I say, "Fudge ya!"
Anyway, there is a silver lining. The PS3 rollout of the content will be different than the XBox version.
Instead of getting Operation: Anchorage first and players like myself having to use a new character to jump right into the mix, PS3 owners will get Broken Steel first.
Broken Steel raises the level cap and allows the game to be played after the original ended.
That is great, cause I want to play as my good character again!
But I will have to wait until September to get my hands on that, so now comes the question as to what to play in the meantime.
Prototype and inFAMOUS are two titles that are really calling to me right now, but being on the cheap for the time being may keep Fallout in the drive until I can get some payola.

Follow me at the British Open

If you don't know who I am, I am a sports journalist for a newspaper in Oklahoma.
With this week being the British Open, I have decided to hit Turnberry with the pros on my Nintendo Wii.
Therefore, the rest of the week I will be posting my scores at the end of my blog entry. Hopefully there will be a leaderboard that will show how well I did against the guys that get paid to stand in the sun.
This will either be very good or very bad. I know that everyone out there wants bad, cause everything is better with fail.
See you tomorrow. Feel free to give me game suggestions in the comments section.

I love the weather... Inside

More than ever, I am enjoying video games.
It's not because I'm getting older and want to stay home. It's not because many of my good friends brought me back into the arena.
It's because it's hot. VERY HOT.
Here in Southwest Oklahoma, the temperature is hitting 114 some days. That may sound like an exaggeration, and at times it is, but when I have to drive to the day job I can't help but look at the bank thermometers and they all read triple-digits every day.
Which then makes me want to head home and pop in a game and just sit back and enjoy the air conditioning, even if it's a little broken right now.
On Monday, my family went to Oklahoma City to the theme park there. While it was fun, it was at its core a bit of a mistake.
I don't ride rides, I don't play carnival games. I love to head to these parks and just kick it with the family for a while then the wife and I will break off on our own and find the arcade. We then spend the rest of the day pumping quarters into arcade machines with utter joy.
However, the theme park in Oklahoma City doesn't have an arcade. Therefore, it was then a somewhat upsetting day as we had to march through the heat without the known joy of arcade fun later.
Oh well, it was still a fun day. We got to eat good carnival foods and I got to spend some time with my wife, something our schedules don't allow much anymore, so overall the day was a success.
We took the Nintendo DSi, but we were so worried about the thing melting (I'm not kidding) that it didn't come out of the bag.
However, when I got home and it was time to hit the hey, the ritual of Dr. Mario Express was on again.
Since we bought the DSi, a very fun portable I will add, Dr. Mario has been the most played game in its lifetime. We have GTA: Chinatown Wars, but since there can only be one save at a time the onus is on the wife to finish her game before I can get into it, and her schooling is keeping her from that.
I will hop on the game and then look up and it's three hours later, which is great when you have a sleep schedule that demands you wake up at noon and you fall asleep at 5 a.m.
We all know Dr. Mario, it's a game as old as time itself, at least game time anyway, but I just wanted to sing its praises cause, frankly, I'm tired and I need to get some rest.
Maybe when the heat breaks there will be something better here to say.
But likely not.

Must have now!!!

Not much gets the nerdgasm going these days.
E3 gets me hyped up, but it more the event and all the neat things that could be coming that get the juices flowing.
But then my stumblings around the fine internet brought this magic to me.

MechWarrior at IGN.com

OH YES!!!! Mechwarrior is back baby!!!
Not much is cooler than a Mechwarrior game. The only reason I'm not playing Mechwarrior game right this second is that I don't have a rig that can play a Mechwarrior game.
I think that may just have to change when this little wonder comes along.
Looking at the video, this will be a reboot of the entire franchise. Mechwarrior 4 left off with the end of the FedCom Civil War and the beginning of the Jihad (there comes the total nerd again).
Instead of continuing the story from there, the creaters of the game decided to head back to just before the Fourth Succession War which would be by the video 3015.
This is a great time frame to set the reboot of the franchise. You don't have to worry about the Clans and their superior technology and you can just focus on the gameplay and the story.
IGN also had the first details of what the game will be like. Reading those questions and answers makes me feel like this game is going to be solid.
The coolest parts of this for me were watching that tariler and seeing that heat translates. You could see on the Warhammer when he fires his PPC that the arm is red-hot for a while and then cools down. The interesting thing with the fiction was that sometimes a pilot would at times fire too much and the weapon would seal shut from the heat melting the end together. We may see this happening.
Overall, I'm so excited that I think this hype will subdue my anger of the delay of Fallout 3 DLC. Which Bethesda said they will give an update on next week. Stay tuned.

Welcome to the Outlander

Welcome to the Outlander Games blog!
I will be your host as we try to make sense of a lot of the weird stuff that happens in games and the like.
My name is Nick Livingston, and I am a journalist. I am a sports journalist, but as many people know I have a passion for video games.
Expect a little something every day from this blog with updates on news, videos and pictures of the kind of games I like to play.

In the PS3 right now - Fallout 3 and MLB 09: The Show

Waiting impatiently for the Operation: Anchorage DLC to drop, I have continued my evil trek through the Capital Wasteland. It's a lot different making my home Tenpenny Tower after blowing up Megaton.
This isn't my playthrough by far, but here is a fun video of Megaton getting nuked.

It was so easy to just head to Megaton and start my treks from there. Now I am in the corner of the map and have to march a long way to get anything done the first time.
Also, I'm so used to my level 20 good character, that it's weird to be grinding for XP again. However, in the Wastes it really doesn't feel like grinding.
Anyway, on to The Show, where my Houston Astros season had been on the back burner for a while. Jumped back into the mix today and got destroyed by the Braves, but it's a nice change of pace.

In the Wii - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10

Don't really see any game taking hold of this system any time soon. It's just too good to take out and try to find something else to put in the Wii.
Don't have much to say other than bravo to Nintendo for their Wii Motion Plus and what it does for the game. I have never liked golf games, but this one is really fun.

Well, good first post. If you have stumbled across this, drop me a comment. I would love to see what you are playing and what you think of things.
Until next time.