The Children of Hurin Review

For about 100 years now, the works of J.R.R. Tolkien have captivated readers around the world and heavily influenced fantasy in general. Thanks to the success of the films, everyone knows about The Lord of the Rings, but the truth is the War of the Ring is only a very small part of the greater fiction.

When Tolkien first began crafting his stories, he focused on what would later come to be called The Elder Days; the First Age of the world. These tales told of the War of Jewels, in which the Elves fought against the first Dark Lord, Morgoth, a god. Central to this long, sad war was the "Tale of the Children of Hurin."

Worked on for decades in various forms, the "Tale of the Children of Hurin" tells of the fates that befell Turin and Nienor, the children of Hurin and Morwen. Hurin was a great warrior in the service of an Elf-Lord, and after the Battle of Unnumbered Tears in which Morgoth's forces were the victor, Hurin was taken alive as a prisoner and there he defied with great force of will the malice of Morgoth. As such Morgoth cursed him and his kin, and this curse of doom followed Hurin's children for all their lives.

Set in the lost land of Beleriand in the west of Middle-earth, smashed beneath the sea by the time of The Lord of the Rings, the entire history of the First Age is briefly explored in The Silmarillion, and the "Tale of the Children of Hurin" appears here in published form for the first time, about 50 years after its first conception. The chapter is entitled "Of Turin Turambar," and in truth it became one of my favourite chapters in the book.

An expanded version of the tale appeared in Unfinished Tales, entitled "Narn I Hin Hurin," or properly translated, "The Tale of the Children of Hurin," and it was filled with greater character development and exposition. Now, 27 years later, The Children of Hurin is published, a novel dedicated specifically to the "Tale of the Children of Hurin." Further expanded and refined, this novel presents the fullest and most complete version of the tale ever published.

What always fascinated me about Turin was that, due to his mood and the sad doom that ever weighed upon him, he developed into what we'd now consider an anti-hero. For though he was great in deeds of daring, courage, and valor, oft what he sought or designed went astray. This resulted in him regularly being viewed in a darker light no matter what good or ill he achieved.

Being a tale that was never properly finished, it's fascinating to read The Children of Hurin in such an unbroken form. The greatest addition to the narrative, though there are many little changes and expansions here and there, would need to be further detail on the Petty Dwarves and Turin's time with the outlaws. Always a fascinating sequence of Chapters that expands upon Turin's personality and mind, they were never-the-less always broken up or contradictory of one another. Now, in this version of the tale, they flow more smoothly than they ever have before.

Due to his love of both detail and language, Beleriand comes alive under both Tolkien's written word and Alan Lee's illustrations. Scattered throughout the novel are the most beautiful images, in black and white, that help flesh out and inspire the mood of the legend. Not wanting the ruin the images for myself, I found myself reading faster so I could get to each new chapter and see what piece of art awaited me. Of course I didn't rush and diminish my enjoyment of the story itself. Whether exploring the halls of Doriath through Turin's young eyes, fleeing through the forest with Nienor, or confronting the great worm of Morgoth, Tolkien is a master of painting the moment, and of simply but delicately bringing his characters' emotions and trials to life.

The Children of Hurin is a fantastic read, of rich fantasy, heroic deeds, and substance, and like much of Tolkien's fiction, it almost feels like you're reading a real history book. Almost.

Complete with appendices that describe the process of the Tale's completion, collection, and publication, as well as an index of place names and a map of Beleriand itself, The Children of Hurin is an excellent read for any book lover this holiday season, and a must for any Tolkien fan looking to further explore the days lost to the Sea.

Mass Effect 2 Insanity

My Commander Shepard is a badass, and not just because he saved the galaxy on Insanity Difficulty, but also because he "romanced" Miranda. In the engine room.

As I understand it, all romances in Mass Effect 2 happen in your quarters except for Miranda's. With her, you bunk right on the floor of the engine room, or as Kasumi puts it: "Oh Shepard. The engine room! Really? Right there where Tali works?"

Yeah, Shepard has an entire small deck as his personal quarters with a lavish bed and lounge area. Miranda has the only other official private quarters on the ship, and while not as large as Shepard's, it also features a large bed and "living room" area. So what does Shepard and Miranda do? Bunk on the engine room floor (where Tali works), an area of the ship that conveniently has windows from every other deck looking in on it.

Now that takes balls.

Oh, and I saved the galaxy on Insanity Difficulty.

In typical playing-a-BioWare-game fashion, I took a break after making it about a third of the way through and came back to the game in force a few weeks later. The end result was an epic 55 hour experience. I completed all Cerberus Network add-ons and DLC (save for "Lair of the Shadow Broker," which I don't own) and every single Mission and Assignment was knocked off. All items were researched save for the Surgical Unit, and the only items remaining in stores were a few N7 Armour pieces I didn't need. Every fish, model ship, and the Space Hamster now reside in my personal quarters.

My Commander John Shepard was a balance between Paragon and Renegade, being ruthless to get things done but compassionate to his crew and people in need. I played as a Solider, my first time playing the class in the franchise, and I primarily relied on Miranda and Grunt throughout the whole game, using Zaeed before I recruited Grunt. Though I completed all the Loyalty missions, I failed to gain Zaeed's loyalty, but at least all my squad members survived the suicide mission, and I rescued all lost crew members as well.

On Insanity, Adrenaline with Sniper Rifle head shots was a huge help, and you really needed to manage your Squad, directing them where to take cover and who to focus on. I also used Fortification as my bonus Skill, which proved helpful in a pinch and when moving from cover to cover. Overall though, I didn't find Insanity that insane. There were certainly several challenging parts that required proper use of the 3 P's, but overall it was far simpler than Mass Effect on Insanity, which I was unable to complete.

Now that I've conquered Mass Effect 2 on Insanity, a few things I'd like to see changed in the upcoming sequel:

- Remove that annoying stun disorientation. When you get smacked good, you're often left disoriented and trying to "shake it off," while all the while getting shot up and dying. This caused a lot of profanity on my part, and when I want to slam into cover, I want to slam into cover. And for those of you thinking disorientation adds more realism, we're talking about a hero who was brought back after dying from asphyxiation and burning up in re-entry. Reality's kinda outta the airlock at that point.

- Bring back Medi-Gel. I don't mean Unity for your Squad, I mean actually using Medi-Gel to manage your own Health. The regenerating healing model simply doesn't feel right, and while I like the revised lack-of-an-inventory system introduced in Mass Effect 2, I miss properly managing my own health.

That's about it really. They implement the above, and in my opinion, BioWare will have the perfect action RPG. They're story telling and most certainly their character development is top notch, and Mass Effect 2 is an excellent experience that no one should miss, on any difficulty.

Oh, and Mordin thought I was hitting on him. No joke.

Diablo III Encounters

In their latest article, Blizzard Entertainment discusses the changes they're making to enemy AI in Diablo III to provide players with increased challenges and frenzied combat. They give two specific examples, listing how the tactics you used in prior titles may not work this time around, illustrating that you'll need to adapt to survive.

Such battles will make up the Encounters of Diablo III, and you can check out the article and some nice screenshots right here.

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty Demo Now Available

Just in time for the holidays, Blizzard Entertainment has released a playable demo of their latest real time strategy hit, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty.

The demo allows those who have not yet experienced the retail game to play the first three missions of the Campaign, and to play Skirmish as the Terrans against an AI Terran opponent. No Battle.net account or active internet connection is required to experience the demo.

For more details head over here, read the official FAQ here, and to download the demo, step right this way.

Halo: Cryptum Excerpts Now Available

The first two chapters of the next Halo novel, Halo: Cryptum, are now available to be read online.

Chapter 1 can be viewed on Tor's very site here (registration required), and Chapter 2 can be read on Halo Waypoint here.

Taken straight from Tor themselves:

HALO: Cryptum takes place 100,000 years before the events of the Halo games and serves as a great entry point into what has become one of the most successful science fiction franchises of all time. These two exclusive excerpts will be the first place to begin this deep exploration into the time of the Forerunners, the creators and builders of the Halos. Almost nothing has been revealed about this ancient race. This new series will delve deep into the reign of these enigmatic beings, and tell the epic story behind one of the great mysteries of the “Halo” universe: the complete disappearance of the Forerunners from existence, while also revealing an amazing tale of human origins.

An icon in the science fiction community, Greg Bear has penned such critically celebrated international bestsellers as Eon and The Forge of God. His recent novel Hull Zero Three was published in November by Orbit Books and met widespread acclaim. Bear’s talent for taut narratives, intellectually rigorous themes, and realistic, appealing characters make him the most qualified author writing today to begin a new chapter in this blockbuster franchise.

Greg Bear will also be appearing with special guests from 343 Industries at University Books in Seattle for an exclusive signing and launch event on January 4^th, 2010 at 7 PM.

With the hustle and bustle of the holidays, I haven't had a chance to read either chapter yet, but now that things are quieting down I plan to in the next few days. The Halo franchise is such a rich science fiction universe and there's so much mystery revolving around the Forerunners, I'm anxious to find out as many details as I can about them!

The Walking Dead Season 1 Review

Based on the successful comic series of the same name, The Walking Dead is the smash hit new series from AMC that, unlike the hordes of random zombie fiction out there, actually features strong character development and plot. At least, it did at first.

The series premiere was an hour and a half long, and I can honestly say that it is better than most zombie features that I have seen, strongly combining suspense, drama, and shock. In fact, it's one of the best zombie pieces I've seen/read period. The series opens after the apocalypse has happened. Rick (Andrew Lincoln), a police officer who's on his way to Atlanta, stops to try and find gas at what appears to be an abandoned station/survivor camp. He doesn't find any gas, but he does find one Walker, a little girl, whom he has to put down. Suffice it to say that even though the girl was a zombie it's a very serious way to begin any series, killing a kid.

An immediate attention grabber, the show then reverts to just before the apocalypse and introduces us to Shane (Jon Bernthal), Rick's partner, as they end up in a shoot-out against some thugs that lands Rick in a comma and in the hospital. When Rick awakens an undetermined amount of time later, the world he knew is dead, literally. The first episode focuses on Rick coming to terms with the zombie apocalypse, and he begins his search for his wife and son whom he believes survived, heading to Atlanta which was, at the time, a safe zone.

Along his journey, Rick meets many other survivors, and while they're beautifully acted and developed in the pilot and the second episode, the series' character development strength begins to falter afterwards. Originally meant to be only six episodes long, The Walking Dead falls into the trap of cramming to much in too short a time frame. Later survivors become the typical archetypes we've seen in other media, and the fates of some are completely unresolved by the season's end.

After only two episodes however, the show was so highly praised that it was immediately renewed for a second season (scheduled to begin airing on Halloween 2011), so hopefully many of these character issues will be resolved, but of course only time will tell.

The first few episodes of the series are excellent, however, and should most certainly not be missed. The Walking Dead not only features great zombie action and gore as fans of the genre would expect, but like any good fiction, the focus isn't on the zombies themselves but rather the human factor, the character interactions with one another, and though this falters in later episodes it's still good enough to entertain.

The first season represents a solid start to the series, and hopefully the show's strengths will fully resurface next year.

Batman: Arkham City Hugo Strange Trailer

The full trailer introducing Hugo Strange to Batman: Arkham City has been released, and you can check it out below.



Very excited for this game!

Mass Effect 3 Officially Announced

Well, we all knew this one was coming. Mass Effect 3 has officially been announced, and the Reapers have invaded Earth.

You can check out the announcement trailer here or below:

Video Games | Mass Effect 3 | VGA 10: Exclusive Debut Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Slated for a holiday 2011 release, Mass Effect 3 will see the conclusion of Commander Shepard's story ark and will allow players to import their characters from Mass Effect 2 to preserve their Shepard's continuity.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Announced

Good God, in 11 months time, I simply won't have a life. The sequel to digital crack has been announced, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will be landing on Nov. 11th, 2011.

The official site has been revamped into "teaser" mode, and you can check out the trailer there or below.



Here, there be dragons.

Batman: Arkham City VGA 2010 Teaser Trailer

Very, very slick. The latest teaser for Batman: Arkham City speaks for itself, I think:

Halo Wars Stat Tracking NOT Being Shut Down

Well, well, this is some unexpected and great news! Fans have screamed their outrage, and Halo Waypoint has listened: Stat tracking will not be removed for Halo Wars this coming Wednesday after all!

As officially announced here, the official forums will still merge with Halo Waypoint's forums, and Title Update 5 will still be released, however Halo Wars.com itself will remain active and we'll still be able to log in and check our stats. Should the site ever close down completely, stats will remain active elsewhere and more details will be released at that time.

Excellent news, and thank you for listening to your customer base, Halo Waypoint!

Dead Space 2 "Emergency" Trailer

With the announcement of the upcoming single player demo (releasing on Dec. 21st for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3), EA has released a great new action-packed trailer for Dead Space 2.

Entitled "Emergency," you can give it a watch below.

See more Game Videos at EA.com.

Really looking forward to the demo, and greatly looking forward to the sequel!

Halo: Reach Noble Map Pack Quick Looks

The Noble Map Pack, the first DLC for Halo: Reach, launches this coming Tues. Nov. 30th and Bungie has released a Quick Look video for each of the three maps.

You can check the videos out on Bungie's official site here or below.

Forums Removed

So kids, I wasn't able to get Delay of Game integrated in the way I was hoping and was ultimately unsatisfied with its look here on Arbiter's Judgement, so I've decided to remove the forums from the site for now.

I might bring them back at a later date, but until then, please visit Delay of Game the old fashioned way (by clicking this super awesome fun happy link), and participate in a great online community of like minded gamers!

Halo Wars.com Shutting Down

This is some very sad news: on Dec. 15th, Halo Wars.com will be shutting down. What does this mean for us, the gamers? The official message boards will be gone for one, but more importantly, the game will no longer feature any stat-tracking what-so-ever. I suppose this means win percentage won't mean spit anymore, but really, without stat-tracking the game will likely die pretty fast.

Halo Wars community members are encouraged to sign up at the Halo Waypoint forums and post there, but no alternative will be offered for the lack of stat tracking.

Multiplayer will still exist at least (and I'm assuming Leaderboards), and a 5th (and likely final) Title Update will be coming soon. It won't feature any balance changes, however, and instead will correct the Theatre bug that prevents players from selecting the last three cinematics from the Campaign, and it will also remove all references and links to Halo Wars.com.

This might actually be one of the first Title Updates to ever remove content from a retail game.

You can read the official announcement here (and find out how to get a special Avatar for the Halo Waypoint forums), and it might be best to start playing a lot of games now, because I really do think Halo Wars will fade away after the 15th of December.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II TV Commercials

And speaking of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, here's some cool TV Spots for your viewing pleasure. The second one was especially great.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II (Xbox 360) Demo Impressions

I'm sure you've all seen the lackluster reviews for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II by now, and it's partly because of these that I didn't bother to try the demo until today; a demo I downloaded as soon as it was available a month ago. Well, that and I've been busy grinding Daily Challenges in Halo: Reach, but I digress.

The demo for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II is set on Kamino, which is now under Imperial control. Seeing as how Starkiller died at the hands of the Emperor at the end of the first game, Vader has had him cloned. It looks like the Dark Lord wants his old apprentice, who was stronger in the Force than even he, to hunt down the Rebellion Starkiller created. There's just one problem: Starkiller's clone remembers far too much of his genetic predecessor's past, tarnishing his loyalty to Vader.

The demo focuses on Starkiller's escape from Kamino so he can go in pursuit of Juno Eclipse, the woman he loves, and now wielding dual Lightsabres, you get to hack and slash and actually dismember a host of Stormtroopers and other Imperials in your way.

For the demo itself, you're extremely powerful and a lot of your abilities are maxed out. The Controls are akin to those of the first game, save that once you learn how, pressing "Y" while Blocking will now execute a Mind Trick. I used it once and then presumed to Hack, Zap, and Graple my enemies into oblivion instead. Force Lighting still rips things up, you can charge up Force Push to knock back several enemies with devastating force (oh, the pun!), and of course you can combine various attacks to create combos. I'm not just talking about hacking and slashing with Force Lightning infused Lightsabres by "dialing" a combo, I mean you can Grip and enemy, zap them, and launch them at other enemies with explosive results. Good times, but all featured in the first game.

Graphically and audio speaking (Ha, another pun!), the demo was solid with fluidly animated character models, strong voice acting, and those nerdy trademark Star Wars sound effects we all get off on. Gameplay wise I didn't find anything lacking, but I didn't find anything inspiring either. It really did feel just like the first game, save that I started out stronger and I had a second Lightsabre to wave back and forth menacingly. Most of my old combat tricks still worked, the same run-around-zapping-and-tossing-stuff at the bigger enemies to wind them down worked, and there were some cool button mashing finishers, but there wasn't anything to wow or entice me like with the original game's demo.

Another thing I found amusing was the Holocrons. In the original game, you really had to hunt for these items which would bestow you with extra experience, Lightsabre Crystals, or Outfits. In the sequel's demo release, they were a lot like "Find Waldo Yet Again," really not trying anymore. The bloody things were right out in the open in completely unmissable spots! That's not necessarily a bad thing, but a little disappointing as hunting them down was a nice challenge.

I also had an odd little bug where at the end, when I approached the Imperial Shuttle, the game went to the loading screen, but without the spinning reticule. It just stood there forever, and I had to press "Start" and then I could select an option to "Skip," which brought me to a closing cut scene, so I'm not sure if I missed anything or not.

While I greatly enjoyed the original game and thought the critics were far too harsh on it (see my review here), based on my experience with the demo and the feedback I've heard not just from pro reviews but also from my fellow gamers, I can't see Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II as a must have title. As a rental or waiting for it to hit $19.99 in a bargain bin, that I could recommend.

We Have Forums! Sort Of...

Delay of Game, a forum I moderate, can now be linked to any site or blog, and I've added it to Arbiter's Judgement. So after 5 years, we finally have forums!

You can now find them in the side bar (as of this typing) under the Reviews index. Feel free to browse around, register, and post. It's a great forum with a great community!

I know its current integration doesn't look perfect just yet, but it'll get sexier as I move it around and toy with it, trust me. Especially if you drink a few beers first.

You can, of course, also check out Delay of Game directly by going here.

Xbox 360 Fall 2010 System Update Impressions

On Mon. Nov. 1st, 2010, the Fall System Update for the Xbox 360 was released via Xbox LIVE. Like so many System Updates before it (and not just limited to the Xbox 360 platform), it had a bumpy start on day 1.

The usual search of "The Update Bricked my Console" threads surfaced, whether legit, due to user-induced installation errors, or modded boxes going bye-bye, I don't know, and I'm not really referring to these.

On launch day, most Avatar Awards and downloaded Avatar items could not be selected/equipped, which I found odd since Microsoft is huge on marketing their cute little Mii wanna-bees. Halo Waypoint also kept encountering an internal error and wouldn't load beyond it's main menu, some Dashboard videos wouldn't play, and gamer's download histories wouldn't load.

Thankfully , most of these were fixed by Monday's end and Avatar's received an update when you went into the Editor on Wednesday evening, I believe.

One of the main focuses of the Fall Update was to add Kinect compatibility to all Xbox 360's, and since I don't own Kinect, I'm assuming this went off without any major hitches. The Dashboard was also aesthetically redesigned to a blander, simpler, more white style. There's less motion and graphics in the background now, which seems to have sped up load times of things like your Friend's List, and while I'm happy for such improved functionality I must confess I'm not a fan of the blinding white new menus. It's something I'll get used to, like the new sound effects, but I really wish it wasn't so bright.

Keeping in step with Microsoft's more family oriented outlook, when the update is complete a new, brief tutorial (pictured) starts up, which is great for newcomers to the console, but for veterans you'll just want to skip right past. The Welcome Channel will need to be disabled like it always does after every major System Update, and sadly, Microsoft still hasn't added the often requested My Xbox Channel as the default Channel option. One day perhaps, one day.

The Xbox LIVE Marketplace and Zune Marketplace respectively have seen a complete organizational overhaul, and this is a _huge_ improvement. The Zune Marketplace is so much easier to navigate and your own library is far better sorted, and you can actually see new items in the Xbox LIVE Marketplace in preview windows, increasing the speed of navigation there as well. I must confess, of all the changes brought about by the Fall Update this is my favourite and the most notable.

Voice communication is also supposed to have been improved, but I've been a hermit this last week and actually haven't voice chatted with anyone, but I hear people now sound like they're talking through a tin can and reactions have been mixed. I'll find out for myself soon enough, I suppose.

Long asked for, Netflix has not only come to Canada but finally to the Xbox 360. It's an "app" you need to install just like Facebook for the Xbox 360, and since I don't have a Netflix account and The Walking Dead is already available on Zune Marketplace, I simply haven't bothered.

When all is said and done, the 2010 Fall System Update is one that I find rather underwhelming, but in a good way. It certainly didn't wow me in any fashion, several core aspects have been greatly improved to my liking, but cosmetically the Dashboard now looks uglier to my eyes, so it's a trade off. Overall I suppose, not a bad update at all.

Mandatory for all those wanting to connect to Xbox LIVE, if you don't have this update already, you likely will soon.

Dead Space 2 "Ring Around the Rosie" Trailer

A new trailer has been released by EA for their upcoming horror shooter, Dead Space 2. I really like the atmosphere it creates, so give it a watch:

See more Game Videos at EA.com.