Entry 4 - 01-07-2008

During my gaming session last night I read about the 1UP/EGM destruction...it was quite a shock. I don't personally know any of the people that work there but it's amazing how attached you can get to people just through a podcast. 1UP's podcasts to me were what differentiated it from the rest of the other Internet sites out there. They were really taking videogame journalism to new areas with their podcasting and videos. That is the part that I will miss the most. So much potential wasted and possibly never realized. Hopefully everyone who lost their job will land on their feet and move on to bigger and better things.

And here is what I played last night:

Gears of War 2 - Played some Horde mode with Parker, Diego, Diego's sister and Parker's buddy Quach (I think that's how you spell it). I love Horde mode. Definitely the best part of multiplayer for me. Waves and waves of bad guys against you and four other dudes/dudettes.  The kind of team play that this mode can foster is incredibly satisfying. We played on the Hardcore difficulty level and started at Wave 10. We made it to Wave 20 but could not beat it. We played on the Stasis map and basically hit a wall where we could just not kill the Locust fast enough. The biggest obstacle are the Blood Mounts. On Hardcore the mount has a strike attack that knocks you down with one hit. It's difficult to avoid when there are 2 blood mounts, Grinders, Boomers, Maulers and tickers running around the same area. The best way to take them out is to shoot the mount in the head until it shakes off it's helmet. While it's shaking off it's helmet shoot the rider off and move in for a chainsaw or finish of the mount with some shotgun shells. Sounds easy, but difficult to pull off in practice.  All in all my ass was saved many times by my teammates and we all had a great time. I think they might have gone on playing after I tried to get some rest.