The Griffin's Crier

[rubs crystal ball, speaking ominously] I'm getting a premonition: I see Rocket Race in our near future...

FYI, Zack and I got Burnout Paradise. Check Game Crazy - we got a pristine used copy for $45.

Also, IMO, CoD4's campaign mode is unparalleled. I think it's the best single-player shooter I've ever played.

One last thing: download the Halo 3 "Heavy Weapons" videos that the US Army is sponsoring. There's about 8 of them. So many cool tips and secrets in there. Did you know that you can disable the engine in a vehicle with a charged-shot from the freaking Grunt Plasma Pistol???

Also, Zack's favorite: rocket-jumping while riding a Mongoose via the passenger shooting behind/underneath you with a Brute Shot. Hi-larious!

I'm definitely down with some XBL tonight.

I think I can take a break from the LOST video game long enough for a few sessions of Halo3.

I'll be on at some point.

I've heard CoD4's campaign mode is fun, but short. Personally, I'm waiting for rainbow 6 vegas 2. I'm a big fan of the series, and Vegas 1 was a ton of fun.

8:30p will be my target log-on time.

Yeah Cory, I'm a huge fan of the Rainbow series too - especially the older (less arcadey) stuff. Rogue Spear and Raven Shield were brilliant.

I'll be getting Vegas 1 or 2 when I finish the CoD4 and Gears campaigns. I'm very excited to play a new counter-terror game with a cover gameplay model. Sounds awesome.

Ken - what happened last night? I kept trying to invite you, and XBL kept saying that you were in messenger.

I'm an awesome racer.

erilar wrote:Ken - what happened last night? I kept trying to invite you, and XBL kept saying that you were in messenger.

I got dumped and couldn't get back on. we'll have to try it again.

ken

Hardcorhobbs wrote:I'm an awesome racer.

Hehe - you're doing fine. Were you having fun though? It seemed like you were.

I have one piece of advice if you're not doing this already: switch your point of view to the in-car/over-the-hood view. I can't race for beans from a behind-the-car perspective. I think it doesn't allow you the proper frame of reference for judging things like when to brake and when to enter a corner. I find myself doing everything too late when my "eyes" are 20 ft behind the car.

NukeHavoc wrote: I got dumped and couldn't get back on. we'll have to try it again.

Crap - sorry to hear that. Maybe over the weekend.

After running some twisty tracks, Piri recommended switching to an oval to get the newer players acclimated. After a few races, we got all nutty and switched to S and U class cars on that same speedway. There were some truly spectacular incidents jockeying for position going into turn one from launch.

Those little encounters made the rest of the race interesting too, as a high speed oval gets a little trickier with the addition of a few detached spoilers, fenders, and other assorted debris - not to mention some recently-spun-out cars reentering the track. hehe

BTW, does Dave P have Forza 2 as well?

I had a blast last night, and I hope that Cory and I didn't upset you and Piri too much. I am trying to race this one pretty legit, and save the crashing and stuff for other games like Burnout and such, but I'm still just not that good. I did have a good time, though, and would love to do some more racing.

On the note of view, I'll have to try that out. Racing from a behind the car view seems more natural to me in game, and in the car views seem too weird, but might be better once the "getting used to" factor is passed.

Well yeah! It was ton more fun to suck when you can make your friends laugh. I was starting to pick it back up at the end. Problem was we were racing too fast. I had only begun class C races when I stopped playing. So I had a bit of a learning curve on top of not being good at the game.

Jonkga wrote:I had a blast last night, and I hope that Cory and I didn't upset you and Piri too much.

Jeez - no way! We both had a fun time. Check the DoNA boards too, as Piri and I are commenting on the evening's gas-powered mayhem.

Hardcorhobbs wrote:Problem was we were racing too fast. I had only begun class C races when I stopped playing. So I had a bit of a learning curve on top of not being good at the game.

That's a given, and we totally understand. Once the cars get that fast, any little mistake in a corner leads to a pretty significant loss of time. Next time, I think we should all try to take very similar cars and keep the class low. Everyone seemed to have one of the VIS Integras, for example. I just need to pull the turbo out of mine to get it back in Class C.

In a sense, one is really only ever racing against one's self. It comes down to pushing the car as fast as you can while still successfully making it through a turn. Only the most skilled player will be able to keep the car right at the limit of it's control, which is how the best times are earned, and I'm definitely not in that camp yet. I'm still even using automatic trannys while getting used to how the cars handle, which I would normally poo-poo.