Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, FF13-2, and other items

Hello fellow geeks!

So recently i've been playing the latest Need for Speed title, Hot Pursuit which was created by the amazing people over at Criterion Games (the Burnout people!). When it was announced that Criterion would be in charge of NFS:HP, I became rather excited at the prospect of the NFS series getting a long overdue shot in the arm. Criterion's Burnout series has always been a top notch title in terms of gameplay and graphics. The most recently Burnout title (Paradise) has provided my household with many hours of enjoyment through the core game and it's addon packs.

Anyone who's played Paradise will feel right at home from the get-go. The controls are laid out like Paradise so there's no real learning curve. The boost system works exactly like it did in Paradise (hell there's even a "Burnout" trophy/achievement for basically... pulling off a Burnout [fill the boost tank, then empty it in one continuous blast]), you even refill the boost meter using the same tricks that worked in Paradise... basically drive like a madman in oncoming traffic, miss other cars on the road, and generally just raise hell.

Really, it feels as if a large portion of the core of Paradise was reused for NFS:HP - and that's ok in my opinion. Why re-invent the wheel when you've got a really good wheel already?

NFS:HP stands out with it's use of REAL cars and it's dynamic between playing as a racer and playing as a cop. My only nitpick right now is the inability to set up AI players as police or racers. This seems like something that could be added later on with a patch or addon (something Criterion has never been shy about). There's a lot to like about NFS:HP - if you're a fan of arcade style racing titles with solid online play do yourself a favor and at least check out the demo for NFS:HP.

In other news, i am still playing Black Ops very regularly. I am really looking forward to that map pack next month!

Also this week SquareEnix was showing off the next few Final Fantasy titles to the Japanese press - including Final Fantasy 13-2! The best part? We will see FF13-2 *this year*. As you may recall, there was quite a bit of content removed from FF13 prior to it's release. So that content plus not needing to write a whole new game engine from the ground up... leads to new FF this year :D

Until next time...
(don't take any wooden nickels)