Q, Andy, and Loveless are back with another episode of the Project: Gaming Podcast. This episode we will cover the new Xbox dashboard update, Battlefield 3 DLC details, Rage, and more. Stay tuned for our next episode in the new year where Andy and Loveless will hopefully have finished Halo: CEA and I will have worked through FPS block, along with our picks for game of the year! You can listen to it here, grab it on iTunes, or subscribe to the RSS.

Project: Gaming Podcast 3 – Farewell 2011

Q, Andy, and Loveless are back with another episode of the Project: Gaming Podcast. We start out talking about Gears of War 3 (accidentally), continue onto Halo: CEA, work our way through Saints Row: The Third, and end up all over the map. You can listen to it here, grab it on iTunes, or subscribe to the RSS.

Project: Gaming Podcast 2 – Agendaless

Image courtesy of SaintsRow.com

After having sunk a good chunk of time into Saints Row The Third I have come up with a few tips that will make parts of the game more manageable.  These tips were used on the hardest difficulty setting so they will be applicable for anyone who is playing.  If you have any specific things you need help with let me know and I can pass on some of my help.  These tips are what I had to focus on, change, or found particularly useful in my gameplay.

1. CYBER TRAILBLAZING: Cyber trailblazing is ridiculously easy, even on the hard levels if you adjust the sensitivity of the thumbsticks.  Go into options and turn down the X-axis sensitivity to smooth out your motions on the light bike.  After doing this you will find that you won’t be flying up the sides and getting turned around.
2. TRAILBLAZING: I was having a helluva time passing the regular trailblazing levels until I started running over pedestrians.  When you have a nice open sidewalk jump on there and mow them down.  You will find you can amass plenty of time to finish the activity.
3. PROFESSOR GHENKI: Fully upgrade the Kobra pistol as well as enable dual wielding.
4. INSURANCE FRAUD: Don’t bother heading to the bonus zones.  You will waste at least 30 seconds getting there and I didn’t find the adrenaline meter filled up fast enough to justify the lost time.  After you start the activity, head to the nearest intersection and start playing in traffic.  Also, big points can be had by running into the side of a large vehicle while running parallel to its direction of travel.
5. GENERAL TIP: Upgrade the Flashbang to the Fart in a Jar (level 4) and the Tek Z-10 SMG all the way as early as possible.  This will make brutes much easier to kill.  Use the Fart in a Jar to stop them dead in their tracks and then shoot them with the Tek Z-10.  A fully upgraded Tek Z-10 will have incendiary bullets so you will light them on fire for additional damage.  Dual wielding SMGs of course adds to this potent combo.
6. SNATCH:  Fully trick out a four-door car.  Don’t forget to max out all of the performance.  Fart in a Jar is extremely useful for stopping limos that are carrying people you need to pick up.  Throw a Fart in a Jar at the driver and he will immediately pull over.
7. HELI ASSAULT: I found that my rockets were a major source of damage to my homie’s car.  Be sure to switch to the machine gun when the gang cars are in close proximity to your homie.  The only exception to this is when your homie is moving forward and the other car is behind them.

Those are all of the tips that I can think of for now.  Should I come across some more as I play I will be sure to update this post.  If you have any specific places you are running into trouble let me know and I will do what I can to help out.  Don’t forget to check out my other posts on Saints Row the Third.

How to Obtain the Bear

How to Obtain the VTOL

This Thanksgiving, it will the second time that my wife and I will do together.  Previous years, we have spent it at one of our parents homes, merely showing up to help with the mash potatoes and set the table before eating.  Last year we decided at the last minute to do Thanksgiving alone as visiting a parent was not an option.  Last year was fun but not without incident.  We learned some lessons and we will not repeat the same mistakes this year, but in an effort to make the holiday dinner a bit more seamless I am going to plan ahead with pre-measuring and sorting my dry goods before the day.

The idea is, come cooking time all we have to do is grab the respective bag or jar with our pre-measured spices, sugar, flour, etc, and pour.  No bags of flour or spice jars on the counter.  No scrambling to wash the random measuring cup or spoon while the gravy burns.  To take it one step further, as many of the ingredients as possible will be sorted into the vessel they will be cooked in.  That means my flour, herbs, spices, and salt are going to be sitting in my saucier ready to go come gravy time.  In my head this seems like a brilliant idea, kind of like cooking on TV, all I have to do is use the pre-measured spice in front of me.  Will it work?  I’ll let you know if a few days.

Update: The pre-measured spices were a HUGE help while cooking.  Being able to follow a recipe without the measuring spoons, cups, and random spices littering the counter made working in a small kitchen much more enjoyable.  The practice of pre-measuring dry good will be the status quo in my kitchen when it comes to meal planning.

Killer wild turkey post thumbnail is property of South Park Studios.

The VTOL is what you would get if “a jet fucked a helicopter” as your character in Saints Row The Third so eloquently puts it, and they are right.  The VTOL is as awesome to fly around as it is fast and incredibly nimble.  Now you could wait until you do a few missions with STAG to obtain it or wait until level 39 to unlock the VTOL homie, but what if you want it as soon as you can have it?  That is where I come in.

This is actually very, very easy.  A lot easier than obtaining the Bear.  What you will need in order to do this is the vehicle hijack remote fully leveled up.  You have to be able to take control of military vehicles to do this.  Once you have the remote leveled up, grab a chopper and head to the location on the map.  There you will find the massive battleship that STAG is occupying.

1. You want to fly high up to stay out of the “restricted area” bubble.  If you don’t you will have too much heat on you.
2. Towards the rear of the ship (stern for my nautical friends) you will find the cabin area.  Basically, it is raised above the rest of the ship.  You want to parachute down to this area landing on the platform of the cabin.  It is important to cross into the “restricted area” without the helicopter as that will cause a single VTOL to show up rather than two.  This is critical because you don’t want to have one VTOL trying to kill you while you control the other.  Also, landing on this raised platform will protect you from ground troops.
3. When the VTOL you want shows up (there are two, a fighter style and a passenger style) take control of it using the vehicle hijack remote.
4. Land the VTOL on the deck below you. Press B not Y to stop controlling the VTOL.
5. At this point the pilot will get out of the VTOL and you can jump down and hijack it.
6. Fly back to one of your cribs with a helipad and you can enjoy your shiny new VTOL at will.

Questions, comments, or suggestions can be left down below.  If you have any other tutorials you would like to see about Saints Row The Third you can also request them down below or one Twitter.

For those that have played Saints Row 2 you know how powerful the Bear is. You know how it makes Snatch missions a breeze. You know how much damage it can take. You know you want one. Me too, and I figured out where and how to get one. Word to the wise. You will die – a lot, so be sure to have a recent save, or spend all your money so the hospital doesn’t drain you. It is going to take a few tries before you pull it off, but when you do, you will have a very useful vehicle that will make otherwise infuriating side missions much, much easier. The steps? I thought you would never ask.

1. Finish the “Party Down” mission to obtain the penthouse. You can obtain the Bear earlier, but the path into the garage is easier than going to the apartment.
2. To get the Bear you will want a very fast car.  I found the Temptress and Torch both will spawn the Bear.  The reason you need these cars is because vehicles tend to spawn like vehicles around them.  My assumption is that the Temptress and Torch, both extremely fast vehicles have a high point value coding wise, much like the Bear.  Like spawns like.
3. Refer to the map above.  The circled island is the military base.  Once you go there it is an automatic 3 shields and they will be on you.
4. Drive in there fast and hope that a Bear spawns to take you out.  Once the Bear is there jump out of your car, head to the Bear and hope that you can get in before you die.  After that, head to the nearest garage and store it.

The Eagle helicopter with rockets and a mini gun is a little bit tougher to get, but not impossible.  It is not able to soak up the bullet damage like the Bear so I often found myself being shot down frequently.  Back to the steps:

1. “Party Down” has to be finished so you can store helicopters at your penthouse.
2. You want a crappy car for this.  Something light and agile with some decent speed.  A Zimos works nicely.  You want a car with a lower point value so you don’t spawn other heavy duty vehicles when you go to the base.
3. When you get there you will want to go to the X marked on the map.  The Eagle will be on a raised platform and my game had it on the right.  The one on the left has no weapons so it isn’t of much use.  Grab the one on the right and you will have a chopper with rockets and a mini gun.
4. To get to the helicopters you need to drive right up to them.  Go around the military shooting at you, drive through the gate trying to go as far as you can.  The idea is to get there as quickly as possible before the big guns show up.
5. Once you are in the chopper, go vertical while pulling the stick towards the water.  You want to get away from the ground forces so you only have to take out the chopper trying to shoot you down.
6. Take out the other chopper and head to the penthouse.  Land carefully and retreat inside.

Done!  While the Eagle isn’t as useful as the Bear it never hurts to have it on hand when you want to cause a little mayhem.  Have any questions, comments, or other tips you want me to figure out in Saints Row the Third?  Leave them down below and I will see what I can do.

Update: After finishing the game this is one of the only ways you can find the Bear.  You will not obtain the Bear during any missions so if you want to use it this is, in my opinion the easiest way to do it.