This past week I became one of the unlucky Xbox Live customers to have his account hacked, stolen or allowed “unauthorized access,” as Microsoft likes to call it.

My account of five years, which has been with me through break-ups and hard times, gone through several name changes (the recent being bobby be merkin) is now gone for the foreseeable future.  With that goes my credit card information that was linked to the account.  The perpetrator which is now transformed into a felon once he or she, but let’s be honest with ourselves, he, used my credit card to purchased $150 worth of Microsoft Points.  Luckily, I caught the situation early enough and had my bank settle everything, including the refund for the falsified purchases as well as closing that account and opening a new one.  While this caused little harm outside of requiring me to change all of my passwords to pretty much everything and not allowing me to play video games for the past week, it’s still frustrating.  

Before I go into the final part of my rant I’d like to clarify a few things.  I love my Xbox, I thoroughly enjoy Xbox Live and I’ve never had a problem before this.  The rant is  not coming from some guy who hates Microsoft, quite the opposite actually.  All I wanted to do this week was play Gears of War 3.  Yes, I thought about making a new account, however my EA Season Ticket and GoW3 Beta information are also attached to this account.  I mean, I had this account for five years, it’s not easy saying good-bye to something you had that long.  Anyway, onto customer support.

As soon as I found out my account was stolen, I called Xbox Live’s support number:  1-800-4MY-XBOX.  I was directed to some department where I spoke to an extremely nice lady named Tia who was very helpful.  Be advised if you have to go through this process you will need your console ID number, credit card number attached to the account and some other console number on the back of the system.  Once it was verified that it was me on the phone, they explained that it would take probably about 25 working days to get my account back. That seems like an awful long wait to get something that was rightfully mine back.  She then said that I would probably receive a one month token to XBL  for my troubles and time lost.  Okay, I thought at least I don’t lose the month I paid for.

I was told that I would receive and e-mail within 48 hours saying that they are “investigating” the situation and where we would go from here.  48 hours went by, no dice.  I then called them back explaining my situation to another very nice customer representative named Randy.  He told me that it usually takes a week and it is an automated e-mail that “for some reason takes a really long time to send out, I don’t really know why.”  He also echoed the sentiments that in that e-mail I would receive a one month code.

Today marks day number nine without a single phone call or e-mail updating my situation.  Like most gamers going without playing for nine days I was starting to get frustrated by the lack of follow-up.  I called again this morning.  This time I can’t remember who it was I talked to, but he was the least accommodating out of the three.  He told me that all he could tell was that they are looking into my situation and that it will probably take a month before it is all resolved.  I mentioned that I was told to expect an e-mail within 48 hours and then within a week.  The representative then said it usually is about the halfway mark around two weeks.

At this point I realize that none of them know what is going on and it’s starting to get ridiculous that I’m not only inconvenienced by their lack of security that required getting my account stolen, but also by their lack of understanding or competency.  My Xbox Live account is tied to an e-mail address that I only use for XBL, with a password that has 14 characters that is only used on this account.  I’m not a child who tells my account information over Xbox Live or would let anyone else use my account.  This problem is on their end, not mine.  Anyway, I still remain polite and courteous over the phone, because it’s not like he can do anything for me at the moment.  A few minutes later, like a typical college graduate worried about the money situation I wanted to verify that I would be receiving a one month XBL card.  He then explained that it doesn’t always work that way and that it would be up to the investigation team to deem if I was worthy.  If I was deemed worthy? If getting my account stolen and credit card charged with bogus charges isn’t worthy then I honestly don’t know what is.  Maybe being a high ranking member of the media (which I’m not)  would have helped my case.

Anyway, here I am, two days away from Gears of War 3 without my Xbox Live account.  I am trying to hold off as long as possible from breaking down and buying a one month membership since I feel that I shouldn’t have to spend more money on a problem that I didn’t cause.  However, the allure of playing games is starting to break me down.

This rant/article was hurried and probably poorly constructed, but right now everything hurts.  I just want to be able to cuddle up with my controller and get back to playing games.  If you can find it in your hearts to spread this around and show some compassion, I’d greatly appreciate it.

Thanks.

First of all, I would like to say I’m sorry for the lack of posting, I was grinding through my last semester at the fine Stony Brook University and now that I am finally a college graduate, let the writing begin.  I’m so ready to be back, like Duke Nukem Fore…wait a minute, not a good comparison.  Anyway, I’ve been on a writing hiatus for pretty much the last three weeks, soaking up the I-don’t-have-to-do-anything-life, but now I’m ready to get back into it.

I’d like to take care of a few housekeeping things first.

-New website, again, is coming.  Assuming you guys want that.  Leave a comment below letting us know what you’d like to see on a new site, or if you even want a new site.

-Potential podcast tonight!  All five listeners are pumped right now.  I know Matt, Joe and myself all want to have one and hopefully it will be the first of many to come.  I know Tom is out doing “real-world”journalism, so he isn’t available tonight, but in the future, fingers crossed, he will be.

Now that the boring stuff has been taken care of, onto what we do best here at the Warp Zone, talk about games.  And what a week it has been so far for hard-core and casual gamers alike.  The easiest  way is to break down E3 is to discus it by conference, so first up will be Microsoft, followed by Sony and then Nintendo.  So off we go.

Microsoft:

While I don’t think of myself as a fan boy of any company, I come pretty close when Microsoft is involved.  What can I say, I love my FPS.  And Xbox has most of the them.  So when I say that Microsoft had the worst conference of all three, it certainly means something.  While they were at a disadvantage since they weren’t announcing any new hardware ala the Vita or the Wii U, the fine folks at Xbox decided to make it an hour or so of Kinect talk.  Which was terrible.  I’m a hardcore gamer, I don’t care about not having to use a controller for games, because I WANT to use a controller for games.  While overall I was not a fan of the conference, there were some bright spots.

The good:

-Modern Warfare 3 demo to start the conference was certainly pretty entertaining, but since it’s available on other platforms, I think leading with it was not the best idea, even if they have exclusive rights to early DLC.

Comes with two controllers, Gears of War 3 and a headset

-Gears of War 3 is probably one of my most anticipated games coming this Fall, so seeing a live demo made me quite happy.  Ice-T on stage was kinda cool, but not nearly as cool as his sunglasses.  Who knew you needed them indoors?  Following up with GoW3, which wasn’t announced at the conference itself but afterwards was the exclusive Gears console with a crazy red paint job and the crimson omen everywhere.  I must say that I’m secretly hoping for my Elite to RROD so I justify the purchase.

-The new dashboard looked slick and the introduction of TV to Xbox is intriguing but I have to wait to see how it’s implemented first.

-The ending of the conference made me burst out in nerd joy with the announcement of a new trilogy of Halo games starting with Halo 4.  The trailer with Cortana and the Chief gave me chills but wasn’t enough to save the conference from the Kinect overload.  Also Halo:CE remake, sweet.  Still unsure if it’s going to be Halo: Reach add on or completely new game.

That wraps up the good.  Onto the bad.

The bad:

-Kinect, and everything involved with it. Seriously, announcing a new Fable game and then making it a on-rails Kinect shooter was supremely disappointing.  I’d rather just move on then discuss all the other Kinect installments that make me sick to my stomach.

Sony:

The good:

-Apologizing again for the PSN screw-up was nice and justified.  I accept your apology, just don’t do it again, Sony.

-Uncharted 3 looked fantastic, not much to say, the trailer was great and the game shipping this year is great for me, terrible for my wallet.

-While I admit I missed the first half of the conference due to an extremely awesome nap, I’ll pick up with the Vita since that’s the part I saw and arguably the best part.

-Well in a battle for the worst name for a console, Sony won.  That was until Nintendo announced Wii U, but I’ll get into that later.  The Vita was certainly impressive.  The graphics were not something you would expect to see on a handheld and Sony definitely raised the bar.  Two analog sticks is a major thumbs up and it makes you think if that had been on the original PSP who would have actually won the handheld war.  At a very reasonable price of $249 for Wi-fi only and $299 for 3G, the Vita is poised to make a serious run at the portable market.  However, announcing a partnership with one of the “best 3G providers out there” and revealing it to be AT&T leaves a lot to be desired.  While the system itself seems solid, the games is what will take it to the next level.  Overall, very solid conference, from what I saw.

The bad:

-No Kevin Butler, super upsetting.

Nintendo:

The good:

-Opening with an orchestra playing Zelda songs was instantly my favorite part of E3.  Bringing back the memories of 8-bit Zelda makes me nerd-gasm.  Following up that music rendition was the announcement of several Zelda games being produced in honor of the 25th anniversary.  Links Awakening for DSI, not free (Thanks, Evan).  Ocarina of Time 3D for the 3DS, not free, Four Swords, free and finally Skyword Sword for the Wii, which will be shipping this holiday season. The trailer for SS looked fantastic and is easily one of my most anticipated games in a fall line-up that is very good for gaming.

-Following the Zelda news, Nintendo went with the backing of its’ 3DS line announcing five games that will make me consider buying a 3DS.  Super Mario, Kid Icarus, Star Fox, Luigi’s Mansion 2 and Mario Kart, all new games will make their debut on the 3DS with everyone of them excluding Kid Icarus coming this fall.  Now after the show Paper Mario 3D was shown and it went back to it’s roots with turn based combat, making me one happy person.

-Then the big time came, announcing the Wii U, Nintendo’s new home console.  While a lot is still unknown about the console, such as price, release date and launch titles, one thing is known, the controller and graphics look sweet.  It’s six inch screen allow the player to switch between the console and the controller depending on the game or if the user simply wants to lay in bed and play.  While Nintendo says it does not intend the controller to be it’s own portable, and the controller itself simply takes the information over wi-fi from the console, making on-the-go gaming with it impossible.  Without saying much more, here’s the video of the announcement and what it can do.  It’s too much awesome for me to describe.

-Finally, Iwata announced that there will be a new Super Smash Bros game that will be both on the 3DS and Wii U that could offer some sort of cross platform type stuff, but knowing SSB games it’s probably two years away from release.

The bad:

-Not showing Zelda: SS game play.

-Not letting me buy the Wii U now.
Now you probably noticed that I didn’t discuss some games such as Assassins Creed: Revelations and Bioshock Infinite.  That’s because as multi-platform games they aren’t tied to one particular companies console.  But, I will say both games’ trailers looked fantastic and I can’t wait for AC:R this fall and Bioshock as soon as Ken Levine lets me play it.

Overall, I would have to say that Nintendo certainly wowed me the most and took the show with the Wii U and strong 3DS line-up, with Sony finishing second and Microsoft lagging behind due to their obsessive Kinect talk.

Stay tuned for more information on all three companies and let us know what you guys though in the comments below.

Well, if you were waiting for more Assassin’s Creed, you won’t have to wait much longer. Game Informer’s June cover breaks news of Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, and the final chapter of Ezio’s role in the Assassin’s Creed universe.

Surprisingly enough, Altair, Assassin’s Creed’s original protagonist from the first game, will be returning in Revelations, although the main focal point of the game’s story will be wrapping up Ezio’s place in everything.

The game will be taking place in Constantinople, and Ezio will have a new weapon that, according to 1up.com, “changes the way you’ll fight and traverse the world.” Keeping in line with the latest AC game, Brotherhood, Revelations will feature online multiplayer as well, but whether that is the same type of game style is unclear.

How does everyone feel about another AC game? Personally, I’m kind of burnt on the series. It’s turned into a yearly entry like Call of Duty or Madden. Interesting, though, that it will be Ezio’s last forte in the series, along with bringing back Altair from the original game.

Mortal Kombat goes back to it’s 2D roots in 2011, and frankly it should have never left. In a sense, it owes some gratitude to Street Fighter for reigniting the 2D fighting genre. Granted, it’s not true 2D, but rather 2D in a 3D plane (or is it the other way around?). The environments are 3D but you fight in 2D. There we go.

Visually the game is fantastic. The fighter animations are top-notch, especially when dealing with special moves like the X-Ray enhancements. They never falter in making you cringe even a little bit. When you fill your power meter, an easy button combo lets you inflict a large amount of damage on your opponent all the while viewing sad damage through an X-ray. You’ll see legs snap, jaws smash and skulls crack. It’s brutal and disgusting, and so Mortal Kombat.

As always, fatalities are all still there as well.

In terms of gameplay, Mortal Kombat has never been better. You can play the game by simply mashing buttons and performing upper-cuts, but learning the combos of each fighter makes the game a lot more enjoyable. Yes, combos. The game includes a move list right in the pause screen, so no need to buy a guide or Googling them. The moves are no more than four or five button-chains long, so anyone can learn them.

What separates MK from other fighters in the genre, especially Capcom’s Marvel vs. Capcom 3 that was released earlier this year, is the game’s story. What we have is basically a mashup of the first three original MK games re-told in a sense. Raiden sees the events of the first three games and doesn’t like it. He sends a message back in time to himself to try and avoid it from happening in the first place.

The story is told in chapters, with each one being seen through the eyes of a different fighter. This is good and bad. It’s great for the narrative, but it’s often times difficult trying to learn another fighter’s moves and style after getting accustomed to the previous fighter. I found it hard getting used to Sonya Blade after having success with Johnny Cage early on. It’s good, though, because you get exposed to some fighters you would never have checked out otherwise.

Aside from the story mode, there’s the classic MK gauntlet mode where you take control of one fighter and try and stay alive throughout the duration of the contest. At the conclusion, you get a character specific ending that will surely please longtime fans.

The other mode is Challenge Tower, where you must complete 300 varied challenges, such as defeating an enemy in under a certain amount of time, or stringing together certain combos. It’s pretty addicting, but gets fairly challenging. It’s the type of mode that is hard to walk away from because you want to just do one more challenge, and one more challenge.

The PlayStation 3 version of the game includes a playable Kratos along with his own level. It also has 3D support for the nine people who own a 3D TV and glasses.

Mortal Kombat is hands down the best fighter I’ve played in a long while, and honestly blows away MvC3, a game I was also very high on. It just allows you play any way you want to, whether it’s mashing buttons and relying on kicks and punches, or focus on combos and skill. Bottom line, it’s fun to play.

Score- A

Nintendo Co., Ltd. has decided to launch in 2012 a system to succeed Wii, which the company has sold 86.01 million units on a consolidated shipment basis between its launch in 2006 and the end of March 2011.

We will show a playable model of the new system and announce more specifications at the E3 Expo, which will be held June 7-9, 2011, in Los Angeles.

Simple and to the point, that’s for sure. It appears Nintendo wanted to put the rumors to rest by coming out with it. They obviously saved all the details for E3, but that surely won’t stop everyone from speculating as to what the new console will be able to do.

Part of me is kind of bummed that they came out and announced it, rather than held off to surprise everyone at the show itself. Sony did the same thing a few months ago with the NGP. Where’s the shock? Where’s the surprise? Not fun.

As I said in earlier posts, Nintendo’s E3 is shaping up to be a pretty great two hour keynote.

Thoughts on the announcement and lack-there-of details?

Via TechnoBuffalo

According to U.K. based Edge magazine, Shigeru Miyamoto said the new Mario game is “a combination of Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario on N64. It won’t convey the message if I talk to you today, but if you play it at E3 that will give you more understanding of what I’m talking about.”

So, it should be available for E3 in June. He also said the game will be available before year’s end, so expect it around the holiday season.

Miyamoto used this reference to better ease everyone’s minds. “For example, the floors floating in space: in 2D it’s difficult to judge the distance, but in 3D it’s really easy,” he said.

Nintendo’s E3 is shaping up to be even better than last year’s conference. A new Mario game coupled with a brand new console is more than anyone could ask for. They are really pushing Microsoft and Sony to up their game for the show.

Aside from the price-tag, a reasonable one at that for a brand-new console, the article also detailed some specs for the new hardware. The processor will be faster than that of it’s Xbox 360 counter-part. It will support full 1080p HD and possibly stereoscopic 3D.The console will be the size of an Xbox 360 as well. The article also stated that it will resemble a modern-day Super Nintendo in terms of design.

On the controller side of things, expect touch-screen capabilities that can also stream games to the controller itself, including a possible virtual console service to support them.

IGN said the console should be out in time for the holiday season of 2012.

That’s a lot to take in. If the 3DS was the future, this console is shaping up to be the…distant future? The specs all seem great, and be sure to click the link for the full mumbo-jumbo on the guts of the system. The price-point seems fare enough, as the Xbox 360 and PS3 both launched in that price window, and being that this should usher in the next generation of hardware, I’m fine with the asking price.

In terms of design, I’m pretty excited to see what they mean by modern-day Super Nintendo. Personally, I don’t think the SNES has that great of a design. Obviously Nintendo isn’t reverting back to cartridges, so it’s interesting to see what they have in store.

Finally, the controller just seems insane. It reminds me of the Dreamcast’s VMU memory card that allowed you to play dedicated games on. I don’t know how I feel about the touch-screen on the controller, as that may alienate some of the older-gamers that enjoy playing the Wii.

E3 is shaping up to be pretty great. Tell us what you think in the comments section.

Not the best news for PlayStation users, especially during a the release week of Mortal Kombat, Portal 2 and of course, SOCOM 4.

The official PlayStation blog doesn’t shed too much light on the situation other than giving a possible timetable that is obviously subject to change.

While we are investigating the cause of the Network outage, we wanted to alert you that it may be a full day or two before we’re able to get the service completely back up and running. Thank you very much for your patience while we work to resolve this matter. Please stay tuned to this space for more details, and we’ll update you again as soon as we can.

No bueno. I think it is Sony’s responsibility to inform their customers, some of which may have just shed nearly $200 to play said games, of what is actually going on. Bad on Sony’s behalf.

The great debate of what is better, Xbox Live or PSN, may have been decided for some people this week. Hopefully it gets resolved quickly because I have my Netflix account linked to my PlayStation 3, and I’m itching for some Cheers.

What is everyone else think about the situation? Have you had it with PSN? Is Cheers as awesome as I think it is? Tell us in the comments.

Portal is back and so far, it delivers. After playing about an hour of the game I could already tell that Portal 2 is exactly what I wanted.  The game picks up some time after the first game ended and well, everything is sort of blown up.  Now down to the technical stuff.  The smooth controls are back, the ability to zoom in was added and in general the game play was fun. The biggest improvement to an otherwise almost flawless game was the addition of quirky “dialogue” between your sidekick Wheatley, which is as far as I can tell is a robot that was in charge of the entire facility, which now is destroyed.  “Dialogue” is in quotes because your character, which is the same one as the first game, doesn’t say a word. However, the writers at Valve know what they are doing because Wheatley is hilarious. Everything he says is funny. I can’t tell if it’s the actual words itself or the way he comes across, either way I’m a fan. This added a certain piece to the Portal puzzle that definitely helped.

The only thing I didn’t like and there’s not much is the tutorial puzzles which are obviously put in place for those who didn’t play the first game. It’s the usual putting cubes on buttons, opening doors and pressing switches that a six year would be able to figure out, assuming that six year old wasn’t still pounding that square in a round hole.  However, once you get through those the game ramps up.  The new puzzles are fresh and challenging.  The game still offers that sense of satisfaction after completing one of the more difficult puzzles that I would equate to a “brain orgasm”.  It’s a great feeling.   My other complaint however, is that I am an hour in to the game and I still can’t really figure out what the story line is besides solving puzzles because you’re told to do so. It’s obvious that shit has gone down and apparently in order to save the world you have to place cubes on red buttons.  Thrilling.  Either way, I’m having tons of fun.

As long as the game offers some replayability and has a semi-lengthy story mode, it will be worth the money. Not to mention the dedicated co-op levels which I haven’t touched yet. The rest of my thoughts on all the modes will be in the final review which you can expect in the next few days. Also, I’m going to try and get some video up of the first few levels so those of you who are on the fence can decide if Portal 2 is for you. (That rhymed, I’m awesome)

The article states that the latest entry in the storied history of Sonic will combine the classic side-scrolling gameplay and the more recent 3-D action seen in games like the Sonic Adventure series on the Dreamcast. The catch, though, is that the player has the option of how they want to take on the levels, meaning they can be played in both styles.

“Sonic Generations will certainly be a fitting celebration for Sonic’s 20th Anniversary,” said Sonic’s Global Brand Director, David Corless. “By having the classic 1991 Sonic that many fans know and love team up with his modern day incarnation, we are bringing back the nostalgia of the early days of Sonic and combining it with the innovation and stunning HD technology of the modern gaming era. Sonic Generations will bring to life the last twenty years of Sonic’s universe in a truly unique and imaginative way.”

The game is a “reinterpretation” of the original Sonic game, catering to both new-school and old-school fans of the franchise.

Honestly, though, how many times will Sega cash in on the Sonic name? Even more so, how many more 3-D Sonic titles will be released? Fans have voiced their opinions for nearly a decade now that Sonic in 3-D just doesn’t work. Sega took a step in the right direction with Sonic 4: Episode 1, a game that was essentially a reinterpretation of Sonic itself. Sonic Colors, released on the Wii and DS, was a great mix of 3-D in a 2-D plain. Don’t fix what isn’t broken, Sega.