The Final Post of the Decade

As the final post of the decade, here's a list of major releases from the year 2000. Back in 2000, we were all still playing N64 and Playstation, the number of Pokemon was just expanded to a radical 250 as Gold and Silver prepared to release, PC gaming was still going strong, and the Dreamcast was still around, and the PS2 was the new big thing. The list sure takes me back. 2000 was actually quite a year in gaming.

The End of an Era

As the year draws to a close, it brings along with it our anual BOOTY awards. No biggie. But this year also happens to be the end of a decade. And so we face the daunting task of summing up 10 years worth of, well, life. My how things have changed. And so, we turn to you, our readers. How would you like to see us sum up the last ten years? Lots and lots of lists I would assume (though other ideas are quite welcome). So I challenge you to challenge us. Drop you ideas in the comment box and we'll pick the best one's along with our own. We'll even give you credit for the idea! So stay tuned for Installation 04's year and decade in review!

Facebook lol

I thought our readers might enjoy this.

Click to read more...

All Points Bulletin

All Points Bulletin, also known as APB, is a sandbox MMOFPS set for release in spring of 2010.

Click to read more...

Christmas Roast: Super Smash Brothers Brawl

A new feature and holiday tradition here at Installation 04: the roast.

Our Birthday!

I always forget because we were started a mere three days before Christmas, but it's our 2nd/5th birthday! Huzzah! It seems like it's been forever and yet it seems like it hasn't been that long. Well, I hope everyone had a great Christmas. Plooh-ha!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Or, if you prefer:



Merry Christmas everyone!

My Favorite Orchestrated Game Tunes

Well... I don't even know. I could have made a list of epic songs, or the best songs, but I just couldn't decide what to call this list. Best game themes didn't seem right, because some of them aren't. Most epic didn't seem right because some of them aren't epic in the traditional sense. And I couldn't just add "all time" to the end of it because, well, it didn't encompass games from all time. What they did have in common was that they were orchestrated. So I made a list of my favorite orchestrated game tunes. Epic, beautiful, mellow, doesn't matter because they're all awesome. And in no particular order. The only rules are that the song must be orchestrated (sorry Metroid Prime!) and I can only choose one song from any given game.

Battlefield Heroes

Last summer, EA released Battlefield Heroes as a free to play online FPS. After playing this game for the last two days, I can sincerely say it is one of the best free online games period. Don't let the cartoon style graphics turn you off, the game was specifically made in this fashion so that even low end computers could run it well. In terms of violence this game features no blood or gore. Parents if your comfortable with letting your children play shooting games, then this would be the perfect online game for them.

Click to read more...

CHRISTMAS DOOOM!

As soon as I finish being busy for Christmas, I'll post something interesting. Until that, here's this:

Really Random Video for Today

Halo Reach: For Realz

For really realz!? For really realz. I was going to wait for SUPER MEGA MIND 'SPLOSION HD™ except it's taking to long. So you'll have to settle for MODERATELY GOOD™ for now.



It's, uh... pretty much as expected. Except I'm a bit bummed. I wanted to play as Blue Team!

Scrumpadoochous!

Reminder: HALO REACH

The first footage of Halo Reach airs tonight. 8pm Spike VGA's. Check it out. Or, you could come check us out as soon as the footage hits.

Which version of the Metal Gear Solid theme is the best version?

I was going to do a feature relating to game music. What exactly that feature would be I do not know. What I do know is that the MGS theme would be on that list. The problem is, I can't decide which version is the best version that deserves to be on the list. So I gave a listen to the theme song from each Metal Gear Solid game to rank them in order of greatness. Let's start in order by game, analyzing each so we can compile the final list.

Must Find

Very freakin funny, not sure if its real, but still freakin hilarious. I'm gonna find it if it is real.

Apparently Anyone Can Make a Game Now

WTF!?

VGA's? More like VGC's!

What the snarf has happened to the Spike Video Game Awards? Not that anybody really ever took them seriously anyway, but still! Honestly, I'm not sure exactly why this awards show was created. I'm thinking it's a publicity stunt because a lot of the nominations are a joke. But this year, it's all gotten out of hand. Spike is acting more like this is a conference than an award show, probably in an attempt to gain more viewers. Instead of focusing on bad awards presented by big name celebrities acting like idiots, they've secured themselves some big name game announcements instead. It's starting look like E3, and it's starting to piss me off.

Impressions: Bayonetta

So I read a preview of this game a few months back that said this:

So we're Bayonetta in this city and we're kicking monsters and shooting things with our boot guns and all of a sudden this giant statue comes to life we're dodging and our clothes are disappearing and then there's lava everywhere so we run on the skyscrapers and fight angels and we're chased by a tsunami and then we're in a cathedral and there's a dragon coming through the window and we're fighting it and then it lifts off and it's flying and the cathedral is flying and everybody's flying and fighting and shooting and what is going on.

Yeah, that pretty much sums up how awesome this game is. 

PSA: Spike VGA's this Saturday

Spike's Video Game Awards are this Saturday. Why should you care? You shouldn't... normally. But this year's show is packed with more exclusive videos and announcements than an E3 press conference. Included is the first footage of Halo Reach, among many, many other things. So, remember to check it out December 12th at 8 pm. Or, you know, you could just wait till it's over and watch all the cool stuff online without the crappy award parts. I sense a rant incoming...

Halo: REEEEEEAAAACCCHH!!

The first trailer. Here it is:

BitMob

So I found this new gaming website the other day called BitMob. I wonder how I missed it before because it was founded by ex-EGM employees Dan Hsu and Demian Linn after EGM was canceled and they were fired from 1up. Anyway, I love it. It's run by a bunch of industry veterans but the majority of the content comes from the community. Have an interesting story or opinion? Write up the article and hit submit. Your article will be edited then added to the "mobfeed" where member's articles can be read by other members and the world. If the crew likes your article enough, they might even add it to the front page. Its a genius idea, really. Definitely check them out. I'd even go so far as to suggest you become a member and submit content! Needless to say, I've added a link to them in the sidebar. Or you can click on the giant picture. Your choice.

On a related note, the guys at BitMob have apparently joined the new EGM crew in some form or another. As you know, EGM is supposed to relaunch this month. Actually, I believe three days ago was the promised date. In any case, it's coming soon... ish...

MicroMovieReview: 2012

Every year around the Holiday season, Hollywood always comes out with a couple of "feel good" movies to get you into the joyous spirit. Then there's 2012. This is the depressing film of the Holiday season. Seriously, it makes you feel down. Why they would release this weeks before Holiday is anyone's guess. Nothing is happy about this movie. Not even the ending is happy. I'm sure it's supposed to be uplifting, but it's just not. Although the movie studio really dug themselves in a hole with this one. I'm pretty sure it's impossible to make the end of days any happier.

The top ten things the PS3 doesn't do

Sony claims it's new slim machine "only does everything." I disagree. I think it only does some stuff.

Oh God... Why did I do it!?

Well, I just finished categorizing every post ever. Literally. It took me hours. You can now click the categories in the side bar and find every post from Gameweb, Gameweb: Viewpooint, Total Randomity, Shups and Croids, and Installation 04. What did I learn from this experience? Well, for one, never to do it again. Also, we really did used to post news almost exclusively. It was interesting to see how our content and writing evolved over the years. Oh, and there's a bunch of new categories as well. I didn't go re-categorizing all the already categorized posts, in case you were wondering. I'm sure many of them would also fit in some of the new categories, but I simply don't care any more. Remember what I said about never again?

Anyway, now you can easily read our wonderful old words!

Worth Watching: Claymore

I don't watch a lot of anime. Ask the other guys, I just don't. My problem with anime is that they're like soap operas. I simply don't want to watch the same same show for ten years, no matter how good that show may be. The Dragonball saga is the one exception for me. Why? Well, because everybody watched Dragonball. Yeah, that reasoning sucks, but that doesn't make my statement false. Anyway, I like it when animes (or mangas for that matter) have an end in sight, that way I know what I'm in for. I don't want to get invested in a show that goes on for ever and ever because 1) if I miss some episodes here and there I'm screwed and 2) if I like the show it'll cost too damn much to collect all 300+ episodes. So I'm always on the look out for reasonably sized animes (preferably ones that have finished because I know just how many episodes there are). But I will say that the good thing about anime is that they actually do go on forever... until they eventually conclude. Here in America we often run into the problem of shows with ongoing plot arcs getting pulled off the air before their story concludes. It's infuriating. Perhaps that's where my phobia stems from. If it's already over, then its safe to say I can enjoy the story in its entirety.

Anyway, like I said, I'm always on the lookout for new anime. I'll actually watch anything good, I just prefer that's its on the short side. I'll often watch the first few episodes of a show to see if it grabs me. Almost always, they do not. Well, a while back I stumbled across this anime called Claymore. It just so happened that Claymore met my criteria in the length department, coming in at just 26 episodes. So, I watched the first episode and was amazed. It just happened to be my lucky day.

Review: Shadow Complex

Welp, I finally finished me some Shadow Complex and I'll say right out of the gate here that it's awesome. In fact, it's become one of the highest rated and most popular Xbox Live Arcade titles to date. You want to know why? Because this game is just like Metroid. No, this game is Metroid. In the absence of any 2D Metroid games for years, you're going to want to pick this up if you're a fan of that kind of stuff.

MicroMovieReview: Fantastic Mr. Fox

Well, it's Tuesday December 1st and you know what that means: time for new content. I have no idea what those two statements have to do with one another but yeah, content time!