Epic, like they do quite often, is holding a bonus XP weekend that will take place during San Diego Comic Con. This time around there is going to be a twist however.  Executive Producer  Rod Ferguson posted a challenge out to the Gears of War 2 community earlier today. He is going to take the amount of twitter followers he has and divide them by 500. Assuming that SDCC isn't for another week I imagine he is giving twitterites awhile to get the news around.

So if you want crazy amounts of XP (currently he has just over 4000 followers ie 8x XP) get the word around as much as you can. Think we could get him up to 20x XP? Higher? Lets find out!

Follow Rod Ferguson at http://twitter.com/GearsViking 

Welcome to Rapture...again.

The original Bioshock introduced us to the impressive world known as Rapture. Set in 1960, Rapture was an underwater hideaway designed by Andrew Ryan to be a refuge from the control of politics, governments, and religions found on the surface. However allowing this type of freedom in beliefs and industry would eventually lead to discoveries that would come together to destroy Rapture and cultivate not utopia, but a hellish landscape of monsters, psychopaths, and warring factions.

Bioshock is considered by many to be a masterpiece of storytelling and atmosphere, creating an environment that became the most important character in the game. Finding audio diaries explaining people's ideals or detailing parts of Rapture's demise brought the player further into the mythos of the story and made them genuinely care about where they were and what they were doing. However one of the faults of the original game was that it was not always the best game to actually play. While the areas you visited were unique and moody the actual shooting mechanics and using plasmids definitely left something to be desired.

This is the major hurdle that Bioshock 2 tries to deliver on. With a completely revamped combat system and retaining the same great city and atmosphere of the original game, will Bioshock 2 rise to improve on it's predecessor or will it fall into the same trappings as before?

Hop into the bathysphere and hit the jump for the full review.

Heavy Rain is a game where the big thing is choice. You have to make choices and then you have to live with the consequences. Many people will only play this game one time and just experience the story and intensity involved with a single playthrough. However if you are interested in what else could have happened, I'm going to give you all of the variations and cool things I have found in my 3+ playthroughs. You can use this as a guide to go back to certain scenes and watch how things play out or you can just read it and see what could have been.

If you hadn't guessed this post is spoiler heavy. I try not to give away major plot points but I do comment on each and every scene in the game. I would not recommend reading if you haven't beaten the game at least once.

Also by no means do I think of this as a definitive list of things that can be done in Heavy Rain. If you know of any more choices please comment and let me know. Also let me know if there was something fun you found in the game that you think not everyone would find.

Prologue - The main thing that I enjoyed was having Ethan do the drawing. I think it’s one of the coolest sequences in the game. Also make sure you try out juggling in your kids’ room and also play with the toy car after your wife gets home to watch her make a cute comment. Also this is your first chance to watch some TV and experience a weird French cartoon. If you wonder what Ethan means when he says "garden time," he's actually referring to lying in the back yard and staring at the sky. I guess he doesn't like to get his hands dirty. In the following mall sequence I never really found any variations or interesting tidbits.

Father and Son - This is the second chance to watch a weird French cartoon. Four things stick out for me in this scene. First and foremost make sure you go upstairs into your new work room. In there you find the drawing you did in the previous scene and can watch a home movie. It’s a pretty powerful scene. Also if you check the mail by the front door you can read the kidnapping letter early (although it makes no sense to Ethan yet). If you get bored you can hop into the back yard and shoot some hoops. I don’t think you can get Shaun to come with you so I played alone. Also make sure to try juggling the fruit while Shaun eats dinner.

Sleazy Place - When you get to the second floor make sure you knock on each door. There's a little tidbit of audio with each one. Also when Lauren gets attacked you have the ability to just leave. If you don’t the story will continue on as usual but Lauren will have a pretty serious shiner when you next meet up with her.

Crime Scene - Not much interesting here other than making sure you find all the clues. When you find them all Jayden will make a comment about being done (something the other scenes don’t do). Also in the scene if you go to the far right there's some cops under the overpass you can chat up. Well, you can chat them up, they kinda just ignore you. You can also grab a drink of coffee.

The Park - The "games" you can play are boomerang, see-saw, merry-go-round, and swings. Also be sure to buy some candy from the vendor to find out that you're not a very good father and don't even know what your son likes.

Welcome Norman! - Instead of playing ARI while waiting you can follow the prompts by his legs to eventually cause him rock in the chair. It’s just a little less awkward of a way to spend your time than throwing a virtual ball. After talking to the Chief you can grab some coffee to see what Jayden thinks of the police brew or you can get some water. Another thing of note, if you fight off the addiction Jayden will be present during Ethan's scene and ask more questions than Ethan normally would have to answer.

Hassan's Shop - You can hit the robber with a wine bottle if you’re good enough and take the aisle directly behind him. Other ways to end the scene are by getting shot, talking him into leaving, or rushing him and beating him down. Of course you could always just wait in the back of the store until he gets mad enough and shoots the shopkeeper.

Sleepless Night - Not too much interesting here. The only thing I found cool was if you go for the phone instead of the door you get an early hint that it’s a dream.

Paparazzi - If you leave out the back and go through the neighbor's yards the paparazzi won't see you. Otherwise you can leave through the front door and push through the crowd.

Lexington Station & The Motel – I didn’t really find anything of interest here.

Kick Off Meeting - During any part of the scene you can hit Triangle to change slides. When you get to the last part of the scene when you're talking about the two suspects the slides will go to their slides when you switch it.

Nathaniel - If you can hold off from shooting Nathaniel (which I always find hard to do) he eventually gives up but then tries to pulls out a cross very suddenly, really testing your trigger-finger.

Suicide Baby - I didn't find anything too interesting here. One small thing I’ve noticed is that if you were shot in the convenience store Scott thinks about his wound.

The Bear – One interesting thing is that when the guy is giving you the keys, if you wait too long he will say something along the lines of “Ya so I’m just gonna leave the keys here,” and goes back to work. Other than that it's essentially a pass or fail scenario, which I'd suggest trying each side.

First Encounter – When giving Ethan things from the bathroom try offering different things to see him reject things he doesn’t need. Also if you chose earlier to leave the box on the table instead of under the bed Madison can go through it.

Covered Market – This is another pass/fail scenario. If you mess up enough in the market you can lose track of him. I also am pretty amused watching Jayden trip and fall over stuff. However if you fail in the meat locker Jayden gets beat on pretty heavily before Blake interjects. I mean he seriously just stands and watches for a little bit before stopping the guy.

A Visitor - If you go through each of his desk doors you can have a drink and examine some of his belongings. Also when Lauren arrives you can act the gentleman and take her coat and offer her a drink.

Kramer's Party - If you have Scott sit in some chairs he can try and hit on girls or will comment to himself about them. Also there's a guy by the bartender that will try to buy drugs off you. I've found two solutions for getting past the guards. You can talk to Lauren and she takes care of them, or you can lie to a guy and make him cause a disturbance. Later this scene you find Gordi watching weird French cartoon number three. I also noted that one of the girls making out on Gordi's couch is the same girl that Paco invites into his VIP area later in the game.

The Butterfly - To get into the powerplant you can either go to the right or the left to find different ways to the butterfly door. While in the tunnels, on the third intersection you hit, go right instead of left to find the dead body of another father. Also in that part if you let yourself get shocked by the wires Ethan will have a huge burn mark on him in the next scene.

The Nurse, Police News, Shrink and Punches, Golf Club - These are mostly exposition. I didn’t find anything too interesting. People talk about the weird way the characters hold the golf clubs but I don’t play golf enough to notice.

The Lizard - The array of stuff that you can gather in this scene is amazing. A Scissors, Axe, Saw, Knife, or Pliers can be used for the actual removal. Also you can drink some alcohol beforehand, use disinfectant on your finger, grab a piece of wood to bite down on and heat up a steel rod to cauterize the wound after.

Fugitive - While the escape through the Subway is interesting, I highly recommend having Ethan be arrested here. It opens a whole new scene and makes the following couple scenes flow better. If Madison is standing on the box when they break in she'll escape out the window, otherwise she'll hide behind the couch. You can also get caught when running from the cops by being slow or going the wrong way. In every situation Madison hides and isn’t caught by the police, helping explain why she has her motorcycle later in the game.

Jayden Blues, Under Arrest - If Ethan escapes this is just piano playing and a review of evidence. If Ethan was arrested, Jayden and Blake interrogate him and eventually Jayden breaks Ethan out. When Blake is beating on Ethan you have the option to tackle Blake, which eventually leads to a fight between Jayden and Blake.

Manfred - There's a couple extra things you can do in this scene like go to the bathroom and look out the window in the back room, but remember that you have to clean off prints of everything you touch. Stuff that you have to touch includes both phones, the magnifying glass, the front door, the scotch bottle and glasses, and the music box Lauren stares at.

The Shark - Kill him or don't kill him, they both have unique endings. Also note that you can fail while the drug dealer is chasing you. If he catches you he lets you go, which kinda made me feel bad for killing him in my other playthroughs.

The Doc - If you don't drink you can actually find the business card and leave before the doc returns, skipping the entire fight. If you take the drink you simply wake up in his basement, otherwise he beats you with a baseball bat while you explore. In this scene you have several ways that you can die, he grabs several implements that will kill you if you miss enough button prompts. I recommend that you don't free yourself right away. The doc comes back and is once again interrupted by the bible guy. So the doc invites him inside the house and…well you can probably guess the rest.

Mad Jack – This is the second CSI scene but you don't really find any helpful evidence except things that prove that the car was there. Interesting things you can find include a blood trail leading to an acid bath, tire tracks from the killer's car, orchid pollen, and some remnants of blue paint on the ground. There’s two ways you can trigger the first fight. If you try to leave Jack comes up behind you with the gun for snooping around. You can also look in the acid bath to find a human skull, which leads to the same thing. If you fail this first fight scene (before Jayden grabs the gun) Mad Jack can kill you right there by beating you with a pipe. After that sequence if you are able to keep control and take the tripto then Jayden will arrest Mad Jack, but doing so will skip one of the more intense scenes in the game with Jayden and his car being dropped into a car mulcher thingie. If you escape you fight Mad Jack again and can kill him by shooting him (if you grabbed the gun from you car before escaping) or by fighting him until he gets caught under the crane and is crushed to death.

Eureka - Not many interesting things here but you can try undercooking and burning the eggs for different reactions.

The Cemetery, Twins, Flowers on the Grave - Not many variations here, just more exposition.

Sexy Girl - If you fail to think of using the lamp for long enough Madison eventually ends up in just her panties before she thinks about it on her own. Also when the guard comes make sure you try the "busy" option to find one of the funniest scenes in the game. The look on Paco's face is priceless.

Fish Tank - Fail in this scene and Jayden can actually die. I mean he literally ends up with a sword in the groin. Not cool. If you plan to live make sure you hit the very last button press so you can rip off his coat pocket. This allows you to solve the crime and locate Shaun. In this last CSI scene important things you can find include your gun, the killer's gun (behind the door), a shell casing, and some fingerprints from Madison (she was just there).

On the Loose - This is another scene Ethan can be arrested in. If it’s his first time I think it reverts back to the first scenario. If it’s the second he's in jail for good. If Madison fails to warn Ethan you can watch him attack the police and still have a chance to escape. See he doesn't need Madison holding his hand!

Trapped - You can escape your binds by breaking the glass in the dashboard or using the cigarette lighter to burn them. If you sit there long enough the windshield will cave in and Shelby will escape on his own. Apparently he doesn't need your help.

Face to Face - If you fail the scene Scott will retreat like a pansy. I mean come on they're just bullets! Man up! If you pass it you have the option to save Kramer or not. Personally I like grabbing the pills from the drawer and then leaving, ensuring that he won't make it.

Ann Sheppard - Didn't find anything too interesting here. I mean I guess you could try to fold each type of origami...

The Rat - If you failed at least one trial you can select the wrong address and feel really bad about failing your son. If you don't know which one to pick you're supposed to listen to the phone and you'll hear a ship's horn in the distance, letting you know that it's the address by the water. If you fail more than two trials you are unable to decipher Shaun's location.

Solving the Puzzle - If you got the gas receipts from Fish Tank then you can find Shaun’s location by using it to tighten the search area. Then look at the gun or examine the video from ARI to figure out who the killer is. If you don't succeed in finding Shaun you have three options. Give up, accuse Blake of being the killer, or you can just search through the clues for so long that Jayden dies from ARI overdose. (And you thought that butler was talking about Tripto...)

Goodbye Lauren – This scene only happens if you save Lauren from the car. It's a simple cut scene that just shows Shelby dropping her off at the train station.

Hold My Hand, Origami Killer - Oh snap! That's who the killer is?

Killer's Place - You can spend time going through all of his stuff but you've probably already done that earlier. However in the back room is a lot of things that incriminate him, like orchids growing, origami figures, and of course the live video stream on Shaun drowning. By accessing the computer you can find the address where Shaun is (the password is Max) If you put the wrong one enough times Madison will fail to get the address and will then get caught. After you're caught you can be creative with how Madison dies if that's your thing. You can go against her thoughts and actually jump out the window (it was too high after all) or you can have her catch on fire and fail to put it out. Or you can just hang out until the tank blows. If you're of the escaping type you can either take everything out of the fridge and hide in there (just like Indy!) However the far cooler and more cinematic way is to go by the microwave and throw everything off the counter and escape out that window into the stairwell. From then it's a race to get outside before the whole place blows. It's way cooler than the fridge thing. One thing I think is cool in this scene is in the bedroom you see a fan with some blades on fire. Nothing to interact with but I think it’s a really cool visual.

The Old Warehouse - There's so many ways this last scene can play out, it'd be insane to try and list them all. That being said let me try to list them all. The following is a description of all the combinations of characters that can make it to the end for those you don’t want to put the legwork in to see how they play out. (Note: One thing I haven't figured out is what makes the cops show up or not. In one playthrough the cops weren't there and Ethan just walked away. The next time through there were there waiting for him. I'm not sure at this point what I did different)

Ethan Goes Alone (both Madison and Jayden die/fail) – Ethan shows up in time to save his son and is confronted by the killer. The killer is happy to find a father that was able to save his son. Ethan has the option to shoot the killer or not, with the killer saying that he can die happy now that he found what he was looking for. Ethan then leaves with his son.

Madison Goes Alone (Ethan fails and Jayden dies/fails) – She gets there and finds Shaun. Before she can get Shaun out the killer confronts Madison, angry that she somehow survived the fire and also because she is not his father and she can’t be the one to save Shaun. They struggle with Madison running away to the roof. The battle culminates through some containers and up a crane. She eventually manages to knock the killer into the water from on top of the crane. She then goes back down and revives Shaun.

Jayden Goes Alone (Ethan fails and Madison dies/fails) – Jayden arrives and pulls Shaun out of the water (cool side-note: Jayden uses his gun to shoot the lock off). He revives Shaun and then the killer shows up. As with Madison he’s pissed that his father didn’t save him but Jayden holds his own and the killer tries to escape. Jayden chases him up to the roof and onto a conveyor belt. A huge fight scene involving a lot of garbage ensues where the loser of the fight ends up being mashed up by the blades used to crunch up the garbage.

Madison and Jayden (only Ethan fails) – Madison gets there first followed shortly by Jayden. The killer comes up behind them and knocks Jayden out. He then chases Madison onto the roof in the same crane sequence as if she came alone. The difference here is that while Madison fights the killer Jayden revives Shaun and then comes to Madison’s aid towards the end of the scene. He shoots the killer and he falls into the sea.

Madison and Ethan (only Jayden dies/fails) – Ethan arrives first and rescues Shaun from the water. After bringing him back he is joined by Madison. Shortly after they are confronted by the killer, who says he must kill them both since Madison knows his secret. Ethan tries to fight off the killer but ends up with a bullet in the stomach. Madison flees to the roof and the killer follows, leading into the crane finale. Ethan is somehow not very affected by the gunshot, being able to get up and leave with Shaun.

Ethan and Jayden (only Madison dies/fails) – Ethan arrives first and begins to break the grate. The killer confronts Ethan and eventually pulls a gun to kill him. However he is stopped by Jayden who then chases the killer onto the roof where they fight on the conveyor belt. It cuts in between Ethan reviving Shaun and Jayden fighting the killer. Eventually someone on the conveyor is victorious and Ethan leaves the warehouse with Shaun.

Ethan, Madison, Jayden (none die/fail) – Ethan arrives first and begins to break the grate. The killer confronts Ethan and eventually pulls a gun to kill him. However he is stopped by Jayden who then chases the killer onto the roof where they fight on the conveyor belt. Meanwhile Ethan rescues Shaun from the water. Intermittently we see Madison trying to get through the police to warn Ethan. They try to arrest her but she tries to break away. If she succeeds she warns Ethan and they exit unharmed. If she fails Ethan is killed by the police.

Now naturally the one that has the most action is when all three characters are there in that more people equals more stuff to do. However I think everybody needs to try both Madison's crane fight and Jayden's conveyor fight. Both are very cool. I was shocked to find that the end sequence could be offer two drastically different set pieces for the final action to go on.

Anyways I hope you enjoyed this post. I really loved this game and I'm kinda sad that my time with it is up now. I still never quite saw everything I wanted to in the game (for example: if Madison dies in The Doc, how does that affect the Blue Lagoon stuff?) and I still but it's time for me to move. Here's hoping to more games like this in the future.

Hey just got two beta keys for Blur on the 360.

Just tossing them up here if anyone wants to use them.

MYPE-X7M4-YNXC-9MTC
Y9UV-JEMP-MJZY-7WVE

Just go to http://www.blurgame.com/beta/ and input the code there.

On a recent episode of Talking About Gamers I voiced some of my strong opinions on Mass Effect 2 and proclaimed that I still hold Mass Effect 1 to be the superior game. In this series of blog posts I'm going to go into even more detail and hopefully get more thoughts out than I was able to on the show.

This is part three in my continued analysis. If you missed either previous section you can find them here:

Part 1 - Powers
Part 2 - Squad Members

For this post I'm going to look at how the side missions have changed between both games.