Between this and Starcraft II, it’s going to be like middle school all over again. Basically all you need to know is in this video:

Red Alert 3 Walkthrough

The game looks freaking gorgeous, and the amphibious aspect seems pretty cool. The gameplay won’t be as perfectly balanced and deep as SCII, though — just like when the first iterations of both series were released when I was a wee lad. But the Red Alert series has always delivered over-the-top fun in spades, so I’ll most likely pick this up. It’s coming out for both the PC and 360, like C&C3. I don’t understand why they don’t plan on releasing it on PS3, since that console actually has mouse+keyboard support. I guess they know 360 owners eat up games like Joey Chestnut at the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. Yea, that guy is an American hero.

But yeah, PC version FTW. I tried playing the C&C3 demo on 360 and it was just awful. EALA says that they’re trying to make RA3 just as playable on the 360. Hey, maybe a new generation of kids will grow up accustomed to playing RTSs with a controller. A chill went down my spine while I typed that.

I guess I shouldn’t talk, since I loved COD4 on 360…

The creation of some MIT students, Dropbox looks to be one the next huge internet apps. Watch the video and be impressed. If I had a bunch of computers, both PC and Mac, this would be even more invaluable. As it is, I’ll be able to use it to host files and sync files between home and school (and work in the future) for free! There is a program called Foldershare that already does such a task, but both computers need to be on, it’s Windows only, and it doesn’t have a nice Web 2.0 interface. The bad part about Dropbox is that they are planning on eventually charging for it. They’ll hook you, and then make you pay for it. Similar to when I started destroying my Photobucket bandwidth and had to get Pro. Damn GAF.

How awesome it will be in the future truly depends on the price. If it’s cheap compared to hosting, it’ll be very popular purely for music sharing purposes. I can’t wait to get my email invite, as I’ll immediately take advantage and post songs on my blog. I DID buy my own domain and hosting service, but I canceled the hosting service. I am so damn lazy, and Dropbox would be so much easier for posting things such as that on my blog to allow for downloads.

The Orange Box

Fortunately, my laptop runs Team Fortress 2 just as well as Counter-Strike: Source and Day of Defeat: Source, even though the minimum requirements are supposedly higher. This translates to 30-40 fps at the lowest possible settings, but it’s all I need. But I might end up buying it on 360 as well as the electronic copy I already purchased on Steam. You can often find affordable Xbox 360 copies at local pawnshops like ezpawn.com. Just in case you don’t know, the Orange Box isn’t just Team Fortress 2, it’s Half-Life 2 complete with both Episode 1 and 2, and Portal, a sort of first-person puzzle game involving teleports. So for any 360 owners out there that haven’t touched PC gaming in 3 years, the Orange Box is the best value in gaming this year. I’d pay $45 for Team Fortress 2 alone. It is THAT awesome. Surprisingly, it’s not as fast as I thought it would be, so I can see the 360 version being just as fun as the PC version. It’ll definitely look better for most people, including myself.

Bioshock

The game I bought before I even had a 360 to play it on. A very atmospheric, story-driven game with incredible graphics, but not quite the revolutionary experience it was hyped up to be. I haven’t touched it in two weeks due to other addictions, but I have vowed to complete it this weekend. It deserves at least that. Once the next game hits, no other disc will enter my 360 disc tray for at least a month.

Halo 3

The game Microsoft hopes they can ride to a phenomenal holiday season of sales. There’s really no way for it to live up to the hype at this point, but I have no doubt that it’s multiplayer will be nothing short of incredible. Bungie has had years to perfect this game and I think they’re still sore at how they were forced to rush out Halo 2. They want this game to be the end-all be-all. I didn’t have a 360 when the beta was out, but the consensus seemed to be, “it’s awesome.” One thing’s for sure — it will be a statwhore’s dream. Just look at this! Insane.

Rainbow Six: Vegas

The other game I’ve bought for my 360. Outside of a couple of epic nights, I’ve barely touched it. It is without a doubt the best realistic tactical shooter I’ve ever played, but I’ve been addicted to the following game…and it’s not even a final game.

Call of Duty 4

With an incredible multiplayer demo disguised as a beta, Infinity Ward has won themselves a shitton of sales. Running at a silky-smooth 60 fps while sporting eye-popping MGS 4-like graphics, COD4 is going to be fighting with Halo for supremacy in my 360 playtime once it hits in November. The choice to leave the WWII-era and enter modern times was the right one. It’s no slouch compared to Halo 3 when it comes to stat-tracking, and the leveling-up and challenges will no doubt keep me occupied for months. And getting kill streaks has never been so much fun. I completely own Crash in Free-for-All. It is MINE.

Gears of War

Ok, so it’s not technically a FPS, it’s a TPS, or third-person shooter. In every other way, it’s the same type of game. Epic just wanted to make a more cinematic experience. For all the hype it received, I wasn’t too impressed when I played it. The graphics were definitely amazing, but the gameplay was just clunky and awkward as hell. And apparently the online aspect of the game isn’t something to write home about. Nevertheless, I will borrow this game from Chris likely some time over the Christmas break. I’ll just beat the single-player to get some achievement points. Gotta get that gamerscore up!

Of course, mixed in with all these shooters will be Guitar Hero III and Rock Band. I think my GPA might suffer this semester…