Thanks Banzai for sharing this.

There was a lot of talk about this yesterday morning at work. I didn't see it personally but it would have been cool to have seen. Lynette said she saw the flash out the window when it happened (just after midnight). KSL reports on the story with the video embedded below. If you click through, their video player also has footage from security cameras, traffic cameras, etc from Utah County to Weber County...which helps show the magnitude of this thing. That it lit up the sky from Ogden to Lehi and beyond is crazy. In the interview with Patrick Wiggins, he says it was seen as far away as L.A.

Awesome!

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

The following is my review of the game after my first 3 hours of gameplay (noting that with my play style, those three hours barely took me to a point where I had a weapon…which is promising in terms of game duration/depth). While I try to keep them to a minimum, this review will also contain a few small spoilers (most of which you'll already be aware of if you've followed reviews/previews to this point)

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OK…so I picked the game up on my way home from work last night. I still had responsibilities that kept me from playing until about 8:30. Before digging into gameplay I ran the "bonus level" codes to make sure they were unlocked from the onset (since it sounds like you can encounter them in standard gameplay through the story). Then it was time to begin.

I'd read the various preview articles about the opening sequences, so there was no big shock/story value there for me. I liked controlling Desmond and being able to run, jump and punch with him. I was sad to see that those controls disappeared once he got into 'animus proximity' again (I really would prefer to run or at least jog around the animus room rather than having to casually stroll). Still, it was nice. I like the character animations and details with the exception of Lucy's mouth which really bugs me for some reason.

Even though I'd read the previews, it was a little strange to literally play as "baby" Ezio. It definitely wasn't what I expected. When the previews said you start as a baby and worked through his youth, I figured the baby would be a cut scene and then I'd wander around as a 5-6 year old throwing rocks or chasing cats or something. The way it played it was strange. Not bad, just different.

It took me a minute to get back into the combat system but it quickly felt natural again. I enjoyed the story presentation of the street brawl followed by banter with his brother. The "romantic mini-game" with Christina was a little out there but it helped characterize Ezio and give a feel for his attitude and mannerisms, so I'll go with it. It made him feel more human…and it wasn't presented in a vulgar or over-the-top way.

My standard method of play is rather completionist so even though I played for ~3 hours, I didn't progress much through the story. Instead, I got a good feel for the controls and the current limitations (starting with no weapons/gear, etc) as well as the general layout of the city and what to look for. I like the ability to pickpocket most NPCs for money as well as to loot various chests around the city.

So far I've progressed far enough to purchase a pair of leather bracers so I'm not sure of the extent of the economic system, but I look forward to using it. There are also "doctors" around town that can heal you up as well as sell you medicine packs you can use for a quick heal on the road. This is a nice new feature that saves you from those annoying "resynchronization" periods where you're forced to reload and replay an entire scene that you were just about to beat.

The initial missions are presented in a straightforward manner but each unlocks a new type of side-mission. I'm sure I'll miss some of them, but so far I've unlocked "courier" missions, "race" missions and "fight" missions. They're fairly similar in style to the missions from AC1 but the presentation value is greatly enhanced and feels much more immersive.

I did jump into the water once and it felt good not to immediately drown. Swimming was a bit odd, especially since I didn't have anywhere to go, but I look forward to feeling out this new feature.

When Ezio's family is arrested, I did miss a "mini-game" button press when walking in the door (I suspect if I'd pressed the button, I would have dodged the 'attack'). I had thought I was going into a cut scene and so had set the controller down to grab a drink. I guess I'll have to make sure to pay attention all the time since they're likely going to try and keep the story as interactive as possible.

Upon retrieving Giovanni's gear, I was fairly certain where the story arc was headed, so the traitor wasn't a big surprise. Although I'm not sure why Ezio wasn't hunted down during the night or prior to the execution…it seemed a little inconsistent.

After the execution, it was intense to race through the city to escape the guards and having them chase me much more intently than in AC1. In AC1, I could usually just make to the rooftops and put some distance between us. Here, I couldn't do that as they were hot on my heels. I also liked the fact that I couldn't just run around the corner to break line of sight and then hide in the hay…the guards have a sort of "proximity monitor" based on your last sited position and they'll poke into any hiding spots within that proximity.

I haven't yet retrieved my hidden blades or other weapons, but swordplay felt fluid and natural. The combat system is nice and, so far, doesn't feel like it's going to get repetitive (especially with the promise of new weapons and of disarming and using weapons from the enemy).

Overall I've really enjoyed the first few hours of gameplay. The story is looking to be very immersive. The world is vibrant, detailed and gorgeous. The side-missions and other tasks are fun enough that this game has a lot of core depth as well as plenty of peripheral tasks to keep me occupied for a while.

My only regret in purchasing the game is that I still have a big fat paper to write for school…and I've suddenly lost a bit of the motivation to finish it. Still, I'll (hopefully) spend some time tonight and finish up the paper so as to free up time for entertaining diversions. ;)

Definitely recommended.


5 out of 5 stars

Follow this link for a great interview with Frank Beddor on Good Morning America. He talks about the creation of the Looking Glass Wars series. I really enjoy the approach taken in these books as an alternate telling of the Alice story.

I really enjoyed the first two books (The Looking Glass Wars and Seeing Redd). I recently won a copy of Arch Enemy but with school and work and everything else, I haven't had a chance to dive into it. I'm looking forward to seeing how the trilogy wraps up. Maybe I'll get to it over Thanksgiving...

For those unaware of the series, watch the interview and/or read my reviews linked above. It's a fun read.

After much waiting and excitement, Assassin's Creed 2 is officially released tonight at midnight.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first game and was super stoked to hear that a sequel was in the works. I pre-ordered it as soon as Gamestop allowed me to do so and I've been planning for some mid-winter gaming ever since.

My release day/week plans are still a little bit up in the air. Even though my local Gamestop will be doing a midnight release party, I'm not sure I'll be attending. It might be fun to pick up the game at midnight, but I fear I'd be too tempted to pop it in and start playing…and as a result, I likely wouldn't get much/any sleep before work in the morning. And since I've got multiple morning meetings followed by an afternoon at school, I think I should try to get some sleep in.

So, alas, my evening tonight will likely involve hanging out with the fam and then a couple of hours reading to catch up on my homework…after which, I'll probably hit the sack around 11.

Tomorrow, after work, school, and meetings…I'll make a very necessary detour past Gamestop on the way home and pick up my "Master Assassin" edition of the game.

Tomorrow is also Lynette's birthday. We went out to dinner last weekend and she already received most of her presents…but I still hope to hook her up with some cake and ice cream before her friends show up for book club at our house.

So, while she's hosting book club, I'll work on reading to the kids and getting them settled for bed. As soon as they're settled, I "should" spend time working on my paper for class…but since I've already got it ~halfway done, it couldn't hurt to pop in my new game for an hour or two, right?

My goal is that by 8:30 or 9 at the latest, I'll be sitting in front of my 360, reveling in the latest Ubisoft goodness and venturing into the assassining world of the Italian Renaissance.

Sadly, I do have a fair amount of school work to do…and I am still pushing through NaNoWriMo (not doing a great job, but still trying to get into a writing regime), so I'm not sure how much gaming I'll get until the semester is over, but I hope to get a good feel for the game by the end of the month.

Wish me luck.

I've been a fan of this franchise for a long time. I really enjoyed The Sands of Time. I never did finish playing through the entire trilogy with that Prince, but still had fun with it.

I'm a little iffy on the casting for the movie version. I trust the producer/director to do a good job, but even after seeing the trailer, I'm a little unsure on the casting (and I'm worried about some of the cheesy dialog).

Still, it looks to be a fun adventure movie and I'm looking forward to watching it in the spring.

I have had very little experience with Hemingway prior to picking up this book. For some reason I had it in my head that his writing would be haughty, inaccessible and laborious to read. I was pleasantly surprised that none of my preconceptions were true.

The writing style in Sun Also Rises is fluid, simple and easy to follow. His sentences are short and easy to follow. His dialog is natural. His descriptions are straightforward and to the point.

Even though the simplicity of the style made the reading quick and easy, I quickly saw that there was a lot going on "between the lines." As terse as much of the writing is, it was apparent that what was left out was just as important (perhaps more so) than what was on the page.

As a case in point, nowhere in the book does Hemingway explicitly identify the nature of the wound that Jake received in the war. In fact, if a reader wasn't paying close attention, the importance of that wound would quickly fade into the background. However, there are plenty of clues as to the type of injury and the nature and extent that it has affected Jake's life. The injury was probably the largest case of something "not written" that was important. There were a few other instances where I felt like Hemingway was leaving out significant details while alluding to their importance.

The character development in the book was very interesting.

With the first person narrative, we only really get into Jake's head (although, as mentioned above, there's plenty of detail he leaves out even about himself) and everything is tainted by his view of life. At first his view felt fairly realistic and trustworthy but it quickly became apparent that he was jaded and cynical.

I felt like we got a pretty good feel for Cohn by the end of the novel. His character seemed to be the most straightforward and easy to understand and also seemed to follow along with the narrator's initial description of him in the opening.

Lady Brett Ashley's character was a bit more troublesome. She generally felt like a party girl who absolutely loved life and was always happy, but as the layers came back, she had more emotional depth than first expressed.

The other characters in the novel were intriguing but again it was hard to unravel their motivations and get at the heart of their character because their words and motives were often veiled by volatile or sullen behavior. The various lovers of Brett and friends of Jake were interesting but seemed to serve as reflections to play off Brett and Jake and let us gain more depth into those personalities. The drunken repartees and the random banter was funny at times, harsh at others.

The overall tone of the book was almost paradoxical. As readers, we're following around a group of expatriates as they party and travel around Europe reveling and enjoying life for all its worth. From a high level, you would think that this would be great fun. But as we drill down into the hearts and heads of these characters, the true story became rather depressive. Instead of a semi-aristocratic party crowd, in the end it felt like we were following a bunch of slovenly lounge-a-bouts who only lived for the next drink.

Both Brett and Jake had a yearning for some true emotion or passion in life but neither was able to find a clear path to that state of happiness. Instead, all of the characters lived lives of broken, or disabled, relationships. They wandered aimlessly through life spending money like water in order to try and find some sort of emotional high (or perhaps a liquor induced numbness) to detract from their otherwise unfulfilled lives.

After reading this book, I have a desire to seek out more Hemingway and read more of his stuff. I really enjoy the style he used in this book and found his characters intriguing and approachable. The story and emotions were thought provoking and effective.

Definitely recommended.


4 out of 5 stars
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This is the second book in the "Mysterious Benedict Society" series and while it can definitely be read as a stand alone book, I would recommend reading the previous book before starting in on this one. The previous novel gives a lot of character development and some insight into the nuances of the characters as well as what to expect. Besides, the first book is great and shouldn't be missed if you can help it.

That said, we enjoyed the second book as much as the first. The same wonderful characters are present and ready for a new adventure. The setting is 1 year after the previous book ended. The children are on their way to a reunion with Mr. Benedict who has planned a sort of treasure hunt for them to hone their skills on the road to a great celebration. Unfortunately, Mr. Benedict is kidnapped before the children even arrive and thus the situation changes slightly.

The puzzles and around-the-world adventure are a ton of fun. The characters themselves have grown over the 'past year' and have some new mannerisms and skills. Constance in particular has developed some new traits that will serve the society well.

The overarching mystery in this book is once again thoughtful and fun to unravel. The framing of the adventure within a globetrotting treasure hunt is a lot of fun. Personally I would love to go on that sort of an adventure. Bringing back Mr. Curtain's threatening bodyguard/mercenary "Ten Men" added a great element of suspense to the chase. The climactic confrontation with their adversaries was fairly intense, especially for a children's book.

I found this book just as enjoyable as the first book and am glad to see that the story has been successful enough to warrant a series. I'm looking forward to seeing what sort of adventures the kids encounter in future books.


4 out of 5 stars
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Saw this on the news last weekend and thought it was crazy.

A lot of the commentary is giving the "yeah, but they hit her first" excuse. To which I have the same response that I have for my kids...."that doesn't mean you should react with violence." I personally can go either way as to whether or not the Y players should have any type of penalty/etc for the elbow or the grab...some degree of personal contact is to be expected, but the initial elbow was more than "normal" coverage/maneuvering. Still, the NM player was WAY out of line to behave the way she did.

Yikes!

The countdown to AC2 is in the single digits and things are heating up over in the Creed Community. There is still plenty of time to join the Creed, complete missions, and earn some cool swag.

Please click through to the creed community to join. And when it comes time to join the Medici family to help us in our family missions.