I’d like to think that Prototype is a blend of GTA and freaky mutant powers, you are Alex Mercer, an innocent man who suddenly woke up from the morgue with new found powers at his disposal, so of course he tries to find out what happened to him the only way a man knows how, by killing everyone in sight until an answer can be found among the remains.

While out and about the giant city the game allows you to explore, there are extra things you could be doing instead of the main story missions. There are hidden landmark collectibles strewn about, as well as hidden hints and tips, both give you points that allow you to upgrade Alex’s abilities (Of which there are MANY), you could also do a side activity, however, if you are looking for variety in your side missions, don’t come crying to Prototype. Target gliding, survival, and assassination are pretty much all you can do, although invading the occasional military base can yield some useful firearm upgrades, not to mention stealth-killing 90% of soldiers in a base never gets old.

The game looks good considering that at any moment you might need to hijack a helicopter, parkour over buildings, people, and cars, or dodge tank fire. I experienced slow-down only when things got truly crazy. When Alex changes from one form to the other, it looks realistic, absorbing military personnel also looks gruesome.

The story has it’s ups and downs, at some points it will foreshadow to the end of the game with key parts missing leaving you to get to the end to figure it all out for yourself, but there are points where you need to get back to your base to talk about something important, but all you hear is Alex’s voice saying “By the time I got back, she disappeared.” Awesome.

The main missions however are a different story, they go long enough to keep you satisfied, but they never go on for too long, there are also many different mission types, Prototype makes sure that as long as you’re playing the main story, you won’t get bored. The game took me about 12 hours to beat, because I was obsessed with trying to get every ability unlocked, there aren’t as many boss fights as I’d like, but there are still a passable number of them.

The combat is obviously the big draw of Prototype, over the course of the game, Alex will have different kinds of defensive, offensive, and sensory abilities to help you cleave through the infected military threats you encounter, as the game progresses, the military and infected will control more and more of the island, so by the end of the game, danger is pretty much a constant, so you will need to make sure you upgrade your arsenal frequently, or, even better, you could absorb so many infected that your health bar goes over the maximum, therefore allowing you to perform a screen-clearing bloodbath attack.

The only gripes I had with the game are the lack of variety in the side missions, and whenever you unequip a defensive ability, you also have to re-equip your offensive ability, which is, at it’s worst, a very minor annoyance, so I’ll let that slide. Prototype is a game that is definitely worth your time, if you are a fan of sandbox games, there is a lot to keep you occupied.

Score: 9.0/10

If you’re like me, you hate social networking sites. But all of your friends use them, and they assure you that you absolutely HAVE to have one.

Well, I have a solution for those of you who are too lazy to actually keep up with a Facebook page. It’s called Pidgin.

Pidgin is a free program that combines your AIM, Yahoo Instant Messenger, MySpace IM, ICQ, Google Talk, and MSN (among other) chat programs into one. That means you’ll only have one buddy/friends list to manage, but you’ll be able to talk to all of your friends who use different chat programs. And you’ll only have to open one program. Isn’t that nice?

And I’m going to tell you how to set it up so your Facebook friends list appears inside Pidgin as a normal instant messenger program, so you don’t have to go to your Facebook profile or even open a web browser to talk to your Facebook friends.

So, here’s my quick little guide. I’ll separate them into the Ubuntu and Windows versions.

Part one: Windows users
First, you need to download and install Pidgin. Go to this site:
http://www.pidgin.im/download/windows/

And download it. Open the file and let it install.

Next, you’re going to need the Facebook plugin:
http://code.google.com/p/pidgin-facebookchat/downloads/list

Go there, and download the Windows version. It ought to be the second from the bottom. When it’s done downloading, open the file and let it install.

(Skip to part three to see how to set everything up. Part two is only for Ubuntu Linux users)

Part two: Ubuntu users

This is going to be a lot easier, since Pidgin is installed by default.
Go to Applications->Accessories->Terminal

When it opens, copy/paste the following line exactly as it appears and hit enter:
sudo apt-get install pidgin-facebookchat

It should ask you for your password. Type it in, and hit enter again. You’re done. Go to part three.

Part three: How to set it up
Open up Pidgin. It should prompt you with a box asking you to manage your accounts. Click the add button, and select Facebook (or AIM, or Yahoo, or whatever) from the menu. It will ask you for your email and password. Put them in, and tell it to remember them. It will now open up your Facebook IM account and let you talk with any of your Facebook friends who are online whenever you open up Pidgin. You can repeat the same process to get your AIM, Yahoo, ICQ, MySpace, and MSN friends on your list, too.

Now you can talk to your Facebook friends without ever actually having to go to Facebook, and you can also combine them with your friends list from your favorite instant messenger. It should be a hell of a lot more convenient than just hanging out on a web page all day long. If any of your Facebook friends IM you, it will appear in a Pidgin window and you’ll be ready to go.

A few announcements were made recently that could make a difference in the current generation of gaming consoles.

First, Sony has announced that their online service, “Home” will be moving to open beta to all PS3 users worldwide on December 11, 2008. The service is not a game but rather a 3D version of myspace or facebook that will allow PS3 owners to meet up online and launch multiplayer games. The service will be free but users will be charged if they want to purchase extra things to decorate their virtual apartment, buy new clothes for their avatar etc etc.

Personally, I don’t have a use for home as I don’t have any friends on PSN, I don’t play multiplayer games and I’m sure as hell not going to pay a dollar for a fake couch for my fake online person’s fake apartment. Some people probably will though and the fact that PSN + HOME connectivity = free >> xbox LIVE = not free.

In other news, Square Enix announced at a press conference in Tokyo that Dragon Quest X will be released sometime in 2009 exclusively for the Nintendo Wii. Dragon Quest is pretty much one of the biggest games in Japan so the fact that it’s exclusive to the already highest selling home console in the world pretty much seals the deal for this generation in favor of Nintendo. Dragon Quest IX will be released in March for the DS.

Finally, on a personal note, I’ll be picking up my copy of Sonic Unleashed for PS3 either today or tomorrow. After a couple of playthoughs, expect a full review to be posted.

Source

In a partially unexpected announcement, FOX has picked up the rights to make a live-action Cowboy Bebop film. From TFA:

Erwin Stoff (Producer): “I have such an enormous admiration for its creators, that our first and foremost concern is going to be a real degree of faithfulness to the tone of the movie, to the mix of genres, and so on and so forth…”

That has at least eased my trepidation that the Anime-to-live-action translation will end up decidedly less than savory (read: Dragonball). I personally couldn’t be more intrigued by the concept of a live action Bebop movie. It’s something that my friends and I have talked about for years. Who would make it, direct it, star in it, do the effects and so on. It would appear that some of our predictions are coming true. With FOX being the studio, it would be ideal for LucasFilm to head up the effects. No one has been named yet for the director role or any of the starring roles.

This will be one to follow.

Later,
Dave

Well, the Phillies knocked off the Dodgers tonight to win the best-of-seven series in five games. They’ll be playing the winner of Tampa Bay vs. Boston, which at this point looks to be Tampa Bay.

Make your World Series predictions here.

Mine:
Tamba Bay over Philadelphia in six games.