Bonk's HRB Diary Day 3 (By Rebecca "Bonks" Rothschild)

Day 3: 05/05/2010

12:51 hours

Games Won: 10

Dear HRB Diary:

Man, it's rough out there today. First I went to give my feedback to Bungie and the forums are stuffed with obnoxious troll comments. Yes I suppose there are some subtle COD similarities but so what!? COD is a rockin' game too so whatever. I think people are afraid of change when it comes to their favorite game franchises. The truth is video games need to evolve and I find these changes to be subtle and really fun. Don't know if I can make another trip to the feedback forums without getting seriously irritated.

So then I hop into to some free for all and I had a few issues. So I decided to take a little breather and enjoy the sun...

After my little sun tanning session I found my stride again...

And then I got a little carried away...

So yeah, productive day for sure. I did manage to swing a classic slayer win. There were only a few hiccups such as load outs would stop working and of course a few blackscreens but otherwise pretty smooth. Matchmaking speed is still solid.

Bonks's HRB Diary Day 2 (By Rebecca "Bonks" Rothschild)

May 4th, 23:55 hours

Day 2

Games Won: 7

Dear HRB Diary,

Guess what's back.....back again....T-bagging's back....never ends

Yeah that's a whole a lot of fun. Anywhoo, I have mastered the sticky grenade launcher. Looooove sticking one dude with all four grenades. Had my first Covy Slayer which is Slayer as an elite, they growl a lot. Finally got into the groove and got some killing sprees, grav hammer helped with that.

All of the sudden I see the bulltrue medal so maybe I was wrong about that, no more sad face. Much smoother today by the way, looks like Bungie got some more server space, finding a match is much easier.

Our Newest Member, Vera the Zibit Bot (By Rebecca "Bonks" Rothschild)

Say hello to Vera.

She can't be more than 3 inches tall but she packs a real punch. I LOVE THIS THING! Courtesy of Senario comes Zibits, these adorable RC controlled robots that retail for just 10 bones. What I love best is how these things appeal to kids and adults and cats alike. There are twelve bots in all and they hail from different "scenes" such as junk, tech, or urban bots.

I think they should be named the cubicle accessory of the year.

Vera makes an excellent office assistant. She never looks back, only moving forward ahead (the remote has two moves, forward and 360 spin). And as you can see she's incredibly photogenic. You have to love the simplicity, it's not some needy virtual pet or starving Barbie. This is has all the basics I need, it's cute as a button, easy to use and it's a frickin' robot! Hooray! Thanks Senario, your research was correct, I am amused and will be for a while. You can grab these little guys at Amazon.com, Etoys.com and Toys "R" Us.

Bonks’s HRB (Halo Reach Beta) Diary #1 (By Rebecca “ Bonks” Rothschild)

Day 1: 05/03/2010

20:42 hours (8:42 pm)

Current Rank: Corporal

Games Won: 1

Dear HRB Diary,

ZOMG the beta is up! Holly crap it takes a long frickin’ time to get into a game. However, this is not uncommon with betas. Bungie said the more the merrier, but there doesn’t seem to be enough server space, although again, this is common with betas. Actually that one was at times common with Halo 3 game play so no surprise there. Basically, once I’m in I stay in, even if I can’t feel my thumbs anymore, I know, I’m super gamer gangster.

So, what did I learn today?

*Armor looks amazing, much like the ODST customization but prettier.

*It’s fun to buy yourself some sexy armor with your credits.

* The gave us a little sample of the game soundtrack, meh, but it’s only the beta.

* New weapons are, fun I loves them all. The ones I rely on most are the needler, AR and DMR. Still getting used to needle rifle. Sticky grenade launcher is a little tricky, you gotta charge it up a little bit but it does home in on targets to a point. Oh, and I’m very happy to the scope being back on the pistol.

* The matchmaking system has features that make it smarter because you can put in preferences.

* The kits are cool, I like scout and stalker the most, because I am a ninja. Guardian is a great kit but I think it will have more effect against the vehicles rather than people.

* There’s no lady Spartans, that damn well better change for the final product.

* Your emblem is not on your armor. Speaking of emblems, there’s some new stuff but not too much, hopefully there will be lots of new additions in the final product.

* It’s wayyyyy too hard to kill the Juggernaut, they might wanna take another crack at that.

* I still hate all things flag and Oddball but Headhunter is super fun, I won one of those.

* There’s no bulltrue, sad face.

* Maps are good thus far. I've only played on Powerhouse and Sword but they're not too big or too small.

* Call outs will be much easier as every area on the map is labled on your HUD for example “Rock Garden” or “Dirt Patch“.

* "Opportunis" is my new favorite medal, it smiles.

* Some of the medals I scored today

- Double Kill

- Stuck

- First Strike

- Headshot

- Pummel

- Vengeance

- Opportunist

- From the Grave (always get lots of these)

Singularity Reminder (By Rebecca "Bonks" Rothschild)

The brainchild of Raven-Software and Activision is almost here. Singularity releases this summer in June.

There was a lot of hype about the innovative FPS a while back but then disappeared. To my knowledge there haven't been any official statements for the delayed release date. Although if I were Raven-Software I may have wanted to have a second look at the contracts after the whole Infinity Ward fiasco.

Development directed a lot of focus on an elaborate story for the game. Raven's Brian Raffel is a mega 1950's Sci-Fi fan and applied what he loved about those stories to the game's plot. It all starts back in the 1950's when the U.S.S.R and the U.S.A were looking for anything to tip the scales during the Cold War. Uncovered was a time altering technology by manipulating the powerful E99 compound. The Soviets were able to create powerful machines that produced enormous amounts energy and had supernatural like powers on an isolated island. But the technology was deemed far too destructive and was wrapped up and classified by both the U.S and Russia. Due to the fact that during the experiments, there was a devastating explosion that had bizarre and tragic consequences.

Perhaps the most bizarre is that the island suffers from time waves that bring the island back to the 1950's and then forward again. Nate Renko is an American recon pilot ordered to fly over the uncharted island. As he flies over he is shot down by an unknown source. Renko is now stranded on this island which has strange and deadly inhabitants. Not only are there there Russians hunting you, there are also strange, insect like creatures that seem to be out for blood, not to mention old Soviet ghosts who are trapped reliving the day of the accident. Renko discovers an amazing time altering device that he uses to navigate his way around this insane island. And it will only get crazier once a time wave strolls through booting Renko back to the Cold War.

The time altering device is small enough for Nate to fasten it to his left hand. But don't let the size fool you, this is thing has some crazy abilities.

1. Age- You can hurl your enemies forward in time turning them into nothing but bones. Age also works on the environment around you. For example if you want to block the path of your enemies you might age a perfectly good bridge so they can't cross.

2. Revert- opposite of Age, so using our bridge as an example you can restore a rusted, broken bridge to brand spanking new. Now the effect this has on humans is rather interesting, and no you will not be killing babies. Instead you will revert your human enemies to "placental reverts" that live a short, intolerable existence.

3. Stasis- This ability pulls an object out of time itself freezing it's personal timeline.

4. Impulse- Violently pushes objects away from you.

So obviously if you combine Stasis and Impulse together you have "the force." But hey that's a fun power to have.

Now, a time altering device is awesome, but I'm a shooter, and luckily there's guns. Most likely you'll be wielding SMG's, Pistols, and Shotguns. I have no arguments there, all of those are good killin' weapons.

Now let's hope Raven and Activision can pull off this complex mixture of story and play.

BlazBlue Continuum Shift (By Rebecca "Bonks" Rothschild)

2-D fighting fans rejoice, Aksys Games has the wheel of fate turning once again with BlazBlue: Continuum Shift. BlazBlue happens to be a Sugar Gamers favorite, and our ladies can seriously dominate. Bright colors, several characters resembling some of your favorite anime stars, it’s all there plus a few extras this round.

The biggest and most talked about addition is the new characters, three new characters to be exact. Starting with an elusive performer by the name of Hazama has stepped onto the scene.

?-12 is a big ball of surprise and mystery and then there’s the new lady knight Tsubaki, no doubt she’ll be a cos play favorite sporting her beautiful armor. In all honesty I was expecting a few more characters but there is always the unknown of the unlockables and of course secret achievements.

Continuum Shift also comes with a vast list of new moves, and not just for the new characters. There was also the implementation of the Tutorial and Beginner Modes. This will enable noobs to throw down super mega combos in no time. The challenge mode offers player specific missions and combos. Legion Mode is the one I am most interested in. You can take over the map by defeating and recruiting enemies, I’m excited to see if they can pull this off and if fans will enjoy it. Online play will also available with match making and party chat, as well as the ability to observe matches.

The game will be available for Xbox 360 and PS3 this summer.

C2E2 Special! Iron Man 2 The Game

Iron Man 2 is on it's way and to compliment the movie will be the video game, courtesy of Sega.

The game will not feature the storyline of the movie. The story line was written exclusively for the game. It takes place in the universe that the movie has created and they even managed to snag a few famous voices such as Sam Jackson and Don Cheadle. RDJ was not available to lend his voice but they did manage to get a decent replacement.

Hot features for the game include the the ability to play as Stark or War Machine. You're battling mainly mechanical foes which you can shoot or beat to death. The melee actions are very similar to Master Chief beating the crap out of tanks in Halo, plenty of fun. And of course there is the flight feature.

The game is available on the big three consoles, as well as handhelds such as the DS and PSP. And for any of those wondering, there is nothing too incredibly fun or special about controlling your flight on the Wii.

Okay, so I got all the facts in there right? So, Sega was displaying the game at C2E2 on the Wii and the Xbox, I got a chance to fool around with both. Wanna know what I think? Are you sure? Don't read beyond this point if you're not interested in my ranting...

ARE YOU KIDDING ME SEGA?! REALLY?! The gameplay graphics alone are an insult, especially on the Xbox. Tony Stark would never let a lackluster thing like this be released with his name on it. Look, I get it, movie video games are a quick cash cow, I can't blame you for loving money but I personally can't give you a thumbs up on this one. Sorry to rant like that but I just don't see a whole lot of TLC in the development of this game, I think it was rushed which is a shame because it really did have potential.