Well, the Valve Store finally went live with their promised Portal Merchandise, namely the Weighted Companion Cube. Tragically, they are already sold out. The fuzzy dice are still available, which I’m seriously considering purchasing for my office.
And speaking of games, I downloaded the Burnout Paradise demo this weekend. I must say, I’m a tad scared for the franchise. They seem to have replaced the standard “unlock/choose a level” system with an open-world environment, where you must drive to a specific intersection to start a challenge. Considering the massive size of the map (most of which is locked in the demo) we could be up for some ridiculously long drives to different challenges, especially if they don’t give you a “Retry Event” button, which is inexplicably the case in the demo. Did we learn nothing from San Andreas, people? Also, no crash junctions confirmed and no crash events (yet) in the demo whatsoever. They will be unlocking other events in the demo shortly, so keep your fingers crossed.
There are a few good things in the demo, such as the elimination (mostly) of traffic checking, which makes the game physics far less ridiculous. Unfortunately as Bongweasel pointed out, this is negated by the near complete lack of any traffic. The multiplayer is also fairly sweet, especially if you’re playing with someone who has an Xbox Vision camera, as it takes a photo of their face at the exact moment that you perform a takedown against them. Hopefully more games take a cue on that one.
Also, here’s the Resident Evil: Degeneration trailer for good measure. I’m excited for anything that helps me achieve my impending new years resolution to murder more of the undead in 2008. Plus they’re all black, so if you’re a racist zombie-hater then its a double bonus.
