“Ooh, a dog suit!  That looks like the chicken suit from the last one!  I wonder how much that is,” I thought.  Then it got weird.

I selected it, and it showed me this:

One Microsoft Point.. I’m ON IT!  …wait, what?

Minus one point?  So it’s going to give me a point? 

Naturally, I’m gonna do it.  After clicking on “Download Now”, I got this completely bonkers error.

I worked this out. That many Microsoft Points equates to five billion dollars, or more specifically, $5,368,709,118.

…that dog suit probably has fleas, anyway.

I have a new IMDb photo on my profile. It’s one Neil Kellen took one day for me, in a panic, after realizing I had no photos to post on the “Reality” website.

November is going to be an expensive month, because it’s when a few different gadgets I’m wanting all come out around the same time.  I’m looking forward to the Kinect, the Samsung Focus and the latest Assassin’s Creed game.

I’ve been pretty darn terrible at updating here, and think I should probably turn back to my ridiculous image posting.  It always inspired me to sign in and update, so here’s today’s:

I had a blast playing the single-player mode, finding out about Sam Fisher’s latest adventure and the trouble he faced, saving the world and learning about the mystery of his daughter’s death.  It was exciting, well-written and compelling.  In fact, this might have been the most connected emotionally I’ve been to Sam.  Like a TV show or movie series you’ve watched for years, Sam & I had been through a lot together, and as the story unfolded, I was taken along for the ride.  I think Michael Ironside and the writers should be given giant raises for their work throughout the series.

I have a ton of fun playing the multiplayer co-operative modes, both the prologue to Sam’s story and the Deniable Ops, bite-size chunks adventures, featuring new-on-the-scene Archer & Kestrel.

The graphics are good.  The sound is good, other than Michael Ironside’s tinny-sounding voice clips this game.  He normally has such a more commanding voice in these games, in the same vein as James Earl Jones.  It just seems like something is off there (bad mixing, weird recording, etc).

I have always loved the Splinter Cell games, since the demo disc that Toys R Us handed out before the first game’s release nearly ten years ago.  Since playing that, I’ve never seen a game series get my attention or get me so immersed in the gameplay and storytelling as the Splinter Cell franchise. 

I played each of them repeatedly, honing my skills until I could get through each game rarely, if ever, getting detected.  I took pride in my ability to assess a situation and come up with the best possible course of action for either eliminating or avoiding any opposing force.  I don’t know that I’d set any records with my gameplay, but I was proud of my skills. 

This is what Splinter Cell: Conviction takes away from me:  my pride.

Playing Conviction requires a totally different skillset, a “run & gun” style more akin to Gears of War or Rainbow Six (which isn’t such a far stretch, seeing as how Maxime Beland, the game’s Creative Director, came over from the R6V team).  However, in an added twist that neither of those games even have, you can, at most points in the game, see through walls and mark bad guys with a little flag.  At that point, if you’ve earned an “execute token”, you can barge into the room, hit just one button, and automatically shoot and kill anyone you’ve flagged, up to three at a time (four, if you’ve upgraded a particular weapon).

No longer do I have to lurk in the shadows, watch enemy patrol routes, spot weaknesses in their defense and exploit them.  Now, I can just flag a few baddies from another room, bust in and hit the “win button”.

There’s a making-of video on Xbox Live and floating around the internet that has one of the most perplexing quotes I’d ever heard from a developer.  Sean Stanek, the game’s Scripted Events Director, said, “I love the old Splinter Cells, but it was time to kinda do something new.”  Wh…WHAT?  He likes them, so it’s time to change them?  What sort of message does that send to the fans?  “We know you like this… but we don’t care.”

What I hope is that this was a hiccup, a misstep on their adventure to making the next great Splinter Cell game.  While very fun in its own way, it doesn’t fit the genre I’d grown accustomed to and respected for this last third of my life.  Perhaps Ubisoft will see that though there’s no denying a group of gamers who require simpler, easier-to-master experiences, Splinter Cell fans aren’t part of that group.

I am a gamer who enjoys challenge, complexity and critical-thinking in some of my video games.  I understand the casual gamer is an appealing audience as well, and they can have most any other franchise they want.  Just don’t give them my Splinter Cell.

First off, the overall tone IS Splinter Cell, including the mood, writing, music, acting, etc.  I so far very much like the projection-style flashbacks and objectives.  It’s an interesting story-telling device I’ve never seen in a game.  The levels still seem dark, grimy and very tangible.

Sam is voiced again by Michael Ironside, who, in my opinion, is making it nearly IMPOSSIBLE to create a movie around Sam, since I don’t think there’s an actor around that could do that role justice.

I’m having trouble with a part of it, and I’m not sure whether it’s the gameplay or the control scheme.  I don’t mind the game moving in a different direction, since the plot is so different from the other games, but I’m very uneasy playing it, which I haven’t been since the FIRST Splinter Cell.  Sam’s moves haven’t changed for four straight games, so in trying to make Sam do some familiar things, like drawing his gun, or taking cover, I end up throwing a grenade or reloading my gun.  There’s always a learning curve to games like this, so it’s no big deal that I can’t IMMEDIATELY do what I want.  That happens with almost all games… except Splinter Cells, until now.

So I’m going to give it several more playthroughs to familiarize myself with the controls, and try and unlearn, or at least repress, my normal thought process of controlling Sam.  I’m looking VERY forward to the story and the co-op, so I can’t WAIT to get my hands on the full thing next month, and until then will practice up on this demo.

It looks like my sister is getting closer and closer to an adventure in NYC.  If she does, I’m going to try to maybe have a weekend out there with her, if it can work out.

I want to try and rent 2012 on Blu-Ray, because I’ve heard that it will make great eye candy.  Any other Blu-Ray recommendations?  I own ONE right now, Halo Legends, but since a lot of it is hand-drawn animation, I’m afraid I didn’t get the best demo for my new setup.

I leave you with this parting thought…

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time in HD

Trailer Park | MySpace Video

I’ve been away from the site recently.  No real reason in particular, but my rehearsals for the Civic Theatre show I just got done with didn’t help.  Games have been relatively slow recently, which is nice.  It’s been great bleeding more fun out of Halo 3.  Darren picked it up within the last six weeks or so, and we’ve been playing a lot of it.  He’s gotten where he’s able to hold his own pretty quickly, and can take me out in some interesting ways now, including this beauty below.  I’m the purple guy.  He’s off-camera with a rocket launcher.

I’ll be posting more in the next day or so about the movie premiere of “victimEYES” coming up in Henderson.  Until then, just visit www.victimeyesmovie.com.