GYG Blog

Looking for a great place to meet adult gamers that just want to have fun?  Tired of the trash talking 12 year olds in Halo?  Take a look at PreGame Lobby and make yourself at home!

Looking for a great online store to purchase games and movies?  Having a hard time finding the missing game from your Atari 2600 collection?  Head on over to Cool Stuff and take a look!  Or, better yet, if you’re in the Denver area, stop in and see them in person.  Tell Sam and Geoff that GYG sent ‘ya!

Hear the music, not the noise.

Is your Rock Band™ drummer driving you crazy? Neighbors yelling at you about the racket? We have your solution! Drumshhh™ are pre-cut, self-adhesive, foam-backed felt pads that attach to the face of Rock Band™ drum heads to reduce the drumstick noise.

Check out The Gamerz Club, Arizona’s premier 360 gaming cafe and tournament center!

As the title of this category would suggest, I am a girl who enjoys playing video games.  I know most girls have a reputation for constantly nagging their boyfriend/husband to stop playing video games and to spend more “quality time” with them; and while I do like quality time with my man, I also enjoy some mindless entertainment every now and then.

So a little background on me since I will be popping in from time to time to give my 2-cents on the latest and greatest in video games.  The first video game system I ever played was the Commodore 64, but I was really young and my dad monopolized most of the time on that machine.  Then when I was in kindergarten we got an Atari system and River Raid and Pitfall consumed my non-school hours.  I played other games like Snoopy and the Red Barron (hey I was young), but River Raid and Pitfall were my first loves.  Fast forward to Junior High and Super Nintendo and Super Mario Brothers were how I spent my time from about 3pm till bed.   The Super NES was the system of choice for most of Junior High and some of High School with games like Zelda and Mario Kart keeping me from playing anything else.

Then in High School I took a hiatus from playing video games, too much going on in the real world I suppose.  But in college, my boyfriend had a Super NES and soon I was playing Mario Kart and Street Fighter everyday again.  That was fun and nostalgic until Sony launched the Playstation which we were convinced was the greatest thing to ever sit in our entertainment center.  Killer Instinct & Tomb Raider  were  the games I most enjoyed, while my boyfriend loved to scare the crap out of me by playing Resident Evil.

So I credit the Sony Playstation with getting me back into video games, but these days I play XBOX 360 and Nintendo Wii almost exclusively with the exception of Drake’s Uncharted on the PS3 which is like Tomb Raider with a guy and a funny commentary.  I’ll give any Wii game a shot because its just so darn fun but as far as the XBOX 360 goes I stick to first person shooters (R6V2 consumes me these days).  I will play GTA IV but I seriously suck at driving, I am the last person you want as a get-away driver.  But I do enjoy beating up random people and hot dog vendors.

So that’s it, more than you ever wanted to know I’m sure and more than I should have shared.  Like I said, I will be giving my 2-cents on games worth playing from a girl’s point of view, whatever that means.

Konichi wa, gamers!  Uncle Grant’s back with an in-depth look at Rainbow Six Vegas 2, available on the Xbox 360 and PS3 platforms.  So toss your chips in the table and go all-in, guys… it’s go time.

Let me tell you folks, it’s rough getting old.  You start to notice hair growing in weird places… little aches and pains pop up in muscles you didn’t even know you had… and game developers just flat-out stop producing stuff you like anymore.  Case in point — just what in the hell is happening to single-player games, eh?  Seems like every week I get to review some brand-new first-person shooter that cares less and less about the singular experience, and it’s beginning to look like I’m the only person out there that gives a damn.

So let’s start with the good news — there’s finally a new multi-player game worth turning off COD4 to play.  Vegas 2 has a truckload of new modes, among them the highly-touted and interesting Team Leader mode, as well as a bunch of new maps to make your way through.  It’s easy to forget that Vegas 1 was the game that started the whole “leveling up during multi-player” angle of gameplay, but they did, and you ain’t gonna forget it in this edition.  That part of the game has been made fuller and meatier.

The bad news is the single player campaign feels pretty much tacked on and really doesn’t enhance the experience in any kind of meaningful way.  If you’re tired of me using COD4 as a yardstick, then I’ve got news for you — it’s my review, so shut your pie hole.  COD4’s single player has just as much weight, if not more, than the multi-player.  Ignoring that, Vegas 2 instead becomes all sound and fury that holds no real meaningful appeal once the next FPS comes out.  Which, knowing the gaming industry, will happen in about 19 hours.

Herein is the appeal AND the problem with this game – the entire title doesn’t really feel vastly different or unique from Vegas 1.  Beyond a couple cursory enhancements, it’s really more like Rainbow Six Vegas 1.5, and that’s kind of a shame.  You coulda been a contendah, Vegas 2.  You coulda been somebody.

Anyway, that’s my time, and I’m Grant.  If you want to shower me with praise or pelt me with garbage, drop by Get Your Gamez dot com, home of good reviews and great rentals.  That’s games with a “Z”.

See you later, soldiers.

Gamers unite!  Uncle Grant’s back with a look at another big release called Universe At War, available for your Xbox 360.  Unleash the fury, kids — it’s go time.

Okay, so lately the Xbox has become the home for first-person shooters and not much else.  And you want something else, don’t you?  Well, that in and of itself is enough for you to take a gander at a title like Universe At War.  But since you probably want more of an endorsement than “won’t give you motion sickness”, let’s get into the deets.

Universe At War is a real-time strategy title that puts you in the roles of three alien races that are currently using Earth as their own personal port-a-potty.  Each race has their own strengths and weaknesses as you’d expect, and all of them hate each other.  Oh, and here’s the kicker — humanity is still around, but they’re basically getting slapped around during every battle and you can’t properly control them anyway so who cares.

Universe At War has an interesting backstory that most gamers will completely ignore in favor of setting up battles and watching their men fight.  That’s right, FPS addicts — the key is WATCH other people fight, so don’t go into this expecting a lot of Halo action.  The subtlety behind the title is the enjoyment of watching your factions perform flanking maneuvers and unleash mass destruction upon the Earth.  If you have a problem with that, this isn’t the game for you.

All told, Universe At War is an interesting and challenging diversion with a lot of complexity, but it’s still a very pleasurable ride for a few hours.

That’s my time, kids.  If you want to see more of my reviews, drop by GYG.com.  That’s Gamez with a Z.

See you soon, troops.  At ease.

Hola gamers!  Uncle Grant’s back to look at half a game.  I speak of none other than Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, which is available for your PlayStation 3.  So finish painting those flames on the side of your mom’s mini-van and take a seat… it’s go time.

Now to say the Gran Turismo series sets the bar for visuals in a driving game is a little like saying the ocean’s kind of big or mimes are slightly irritating.  That’s no headline.  But trust me when I say the visuals on this edition of the game are going to make you crap your pants.  Twice if you’re a driving enthusiast or just incontinent.  Three times if you’re me.

The reason I call Prologue half a game is because… well, it is.  The reason this game is called GT5 Prologue is because it’s a big ol’ over glorified demo of the full version of GT5, which apparently is going to hit next year.  So what’s missing?  Well, a bunch of tracks, a crap load of single-player content, and as always the ability to really jack your car up by crashing into walls.  The agreements with licensed car manufacturers means they really don’t want you ruining their wheels, so don’t expect a lot of Burnout-style crashes.

That said, for realistic car handling and a great online component, this game does to Forza what you do to toilet paper.  The visuals can scale up to 1080p with up to 60 frames a second of racing goodness… and for those of you that don’t know what that means, just suffice it to say that means mo’ betta’ gameplay.  And it’s relatively value priced at around 40 bones, so for a great racing experience you can’t get cheaper.

Anyway, that’s my time… and my name is Grant.  Want to see more of my reviews?  Drop by GYG dot com.  That’s Gamez with a Z.

Later racers.

Hola party people… it’s your old pal Grant back atcha, and this time we’re looking at Mario Kart Wii, available for all the consoles including the Turbografix 16 and the N-Gage.

Nah, just seeing if you’re paying attention.  It’s a Wii title, so go meet that creepy guy on Craigslist and buy one… ’cause it’s go time.

Mario Kart is 15 years old… anybody else feeling really old now?  Well, if you’ve never played one before, it’s your basic race driving game against all the Nintendo icons like Mario, Donkey Kong, Bowser, and that one metro sexual mushroom-looking guy in the short-shorts.  The question is, does it hold up to the new console, or should you go dig out your old SNES for some old-skool action?

The answer, just like getting kicked in the junk, is a mixed bag.  The game itself isn’t vastly different from what you remember from previous incarnations, but where it really shines is the online component.  Forget Smash Bros — This is truly the game you want to swap Friend Codes with your buddies to play.  The game itself adds on some sweet new rides, including bikes this time, but ultimately this is a case of “if you like this sort of thing, then this is the sort of thing you’ll like.”  Don’t try getting a die-hard Gears or Halo fan into this kind of game, but if you’re into a fun little diversion without too much seriousness, you’ll really dig it.

Personally, this IS the sort of game I like.  It’s challenging but not “throw your controller” difficult.  I can play it for 15-20 minutes and then stop without feeling like I didn’t get anywhere.  And damn it, the game is just plain ol’ fun.

Anyway that’s my time, and the name’s Grant.  Want to check out more of my reviews?  Then drop by Get Your Gamez dot com.  That’s gamez with a Z, kiddos.

Bienvenidos, gamers! Happy Cinco from your Uncle Grant; I’m back at it bringing you tales of a new game called Iron Man… available for the Xbox 360, PS3, PS2 and Wii platforms. So strap on the jet boots ’cause it’s go time.

Now even I have to admit it’s tough reviewing ANY game that’s not called GTA. In fact, I’m going to keep this one short so you go back to playing it. The game Iron Man is based on the Marvel Comics icon of the same name. If you’re not hep, Iron Man is Tony Stark, a billionaire weapons mogul that is captured by enemy combatants and forced to build a bomb. Except his “bomb” is actually an “amazing looking flying tank suit” and he quickly uses it to break out and become a superhero. There’s more to it than that, but we’re going to keep it short and there’s more than enough mythos to go around.

When I first played this game on the 360 platform, I was immediately struck with just how gol’dang fun this game really is. The controls of the Iron Man suit damn near require a flight rating to get used to, but once you get the hang of it it’s pretty easy to zip around the landscape at will. In addition, the weaponry at your disposal is just full-on awesome. Sure, the game’s got some issues — notably the fact that it suffers from a lot of repetitive “blow up a bunch of crap and come back” missions — but overall it’s a fun little distraction. And I do mean “little” — this game’s shorter and less replayable than my last five dates, which is saying something. Something sad.

The real tragedy of this game is that it needed to be released the same time as the movie, which meant going toe-to-toe with Niko Bellic and the rest of the GTA faithful. Unfortunately that means it’s going to be overlooked for months, and that assumes people will finally find their way back to it, which may never happen. All in all, take a flier on a rental — if you like it, the smart money is on it being available to purchase in about 2-3 months for $30 or so.

Anyway, that’s my time and my name is Grant. Want to check out more of my reviews? Drop by GYG.com, home of great rentals and rambling diatribes.

Later, Ironators.