Today was the release date for Blue Dragon, yet the store I had preordered it from didn't get their shipment today. That's fine, from what I've seen from other stores, nobody else local got it either. That's even better, if I'm not happy then nobody can be happy. Haha, I kid, we all suffer when we think that a game is supposed to be out and its not.
It wouldn't be much of an issue, but the store that I preordered it from was that totally awesome game retailer that we all love and hate...Gamestop. Admittedly, if you want a game thats going to be pretty hot on the first week it comes out you really don't have much choice than preordering it. OR you can do what I'm sure alot of you have had to do as well...go to Kmart, Wal-Mart, Shop-Ko, Fred Meyer, or any other store like Sears.
Say what you will about any of those stores, at least they're not in the business of used games. Look at the amount of profit that Gamestop makes off of buying used and re-selling them. A game that you trade in for 15 bucks (if you're lucky) goes back on the shelves for probably about 30, thats 100% profit people. When they sell new games, the profit margin is in the range of $10 for a game that costs $40-60. That's only a 17% to a 25% profit. It makes sense complete sense why they're so profitable. I understand because who wants to pay full price for a game that they are iffy on? I'm guilty of it, most of us are.
Truth is, yes it gets the message in the form of a game to more people, but at the same time, game companies are making less of the money back that they invested in said game. Yes some of the games that we play (usually the blockbuster hits) don't have to worry about recovering that seed money, but some of the true gems that we enjoy, ya know the sleeper hits, do have to worry.
If a studio that produces a game that is licensed to a major platform falls flat on its ass in sales, chances are the licensee won't pick up a game from them again. This is partially why we see so much recidivism with game companies, thats why there's a new Madden every year, they know that they'll make money on it.
Anyways, I'm off topic...Used games aren't to blame for the 'state of the game' we see in 2007, but if the game you want only cost 5 bucks more on a new version, get the new version and keep the money out of Gamestop's pocket. So, used games = good, new games = very good. On to the next topic.
Push selling: I really fucking hate being asked if I want something besides what I came in for...I'm sure most of you are the same exact way. No, I don't want a disc protection plan. No, I don't want a year of Game Informer. No, I don't have anything else I want to preorder. No, I don't need/want the strategy guide for my game. No, I don't need anything except for what I came in here to buy. Period.
Disc Protection Plan: another one of these game industry rackets. The 10% you pay to protect your disc (at least I think thats how much it is) doesn't actually protect dick. Most of us people here on D-Toid are way too cool to scratch up our game discs. Though I'm sure G$ was cursing their plans when the early adopters of the 360 kept coming in with discs that had curious grooves carved into them.
I don't wish bad things on Gamestop, I enjoy going to a store that caters to me. But there are a few things that I wish would change about the one I go to. First, get some Febreeze or something, the geek funk clamoring up my local store is gagging strong. Second, don't go batshit crazy over a girl gamer that is somewhat decent looking, she's not interested. Third, hurry the fuck up at the register, having to wait in a queue of 5 people when its 10:30 in the morning and all we're doing it picking up our preorders is recockulous. And finally, please for the love of god, stop push selling at the register...I don't want it!
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Decisions Decisions Decisions...
I don't know about many of you here, but I can speak for myself when I say that I am an avid fan of JRPGs. There was a time when I HAD to have every single Square Soft game there was. It used to be that there was not a single game that Square made that I wouldn't be foaming at the mouth to buy and vehemently defend to my very end. Remember SaGa Frontier? Yup, had it, and defended it. How about Vagrant Story? Still haven't beat it, but gawd did that game have amazing depth and character.
Which brings me to my main topic of discussion, prescripted decisions within gaming environments and the dread that I have of them. I remember fondly playing Chrono Cross many years ago on the PS Single and the decision that you make at the very beginning of the game about which direction you should take...I though long and hard before making my choice, absolutely sure that there would be some horrific event that could possibly have been avoided dependent on that decision...
I hate to say, it's gotten much worse. Take the most current example of Bioshock; harvest the little sister and make your passage through Rapture much easier, or do the morally right option of saving them, making your travel a bit more difficult. I had an attack of conscience when I met up with the first little sister in the Medical Pavilion. Instead of harvesting her (which I had already decided was just and right because of the evil they were doing), I instead felt sorry for the pathetic being cowering in the corner of the room and decided to save her instead. Immediately I was overcome with emotion that I felt like I had done a good thing.
Keep in mind, boys and girls, that this was a VIDEO GAME that made me feel this way. The last time I can remember right now of feeling such emotion in a video game was when I saved "Grandpa" on Ruin Island halfway through Final Fantasy VI...I had no idea he would die if I didn't feed him the big fish that swam around...and honestly I don't think my feeble teenaged mind would have been able to take it if he did.
Ok...decisions. I'm sure we all have and make more decisions everyday of our life than we do in the games that we play. We all have regret that follows us and hollows us out everyday from events that happened in days, months, years past that we still have yet to get over. I just wonder why it's so much more heavily weighted when its a virtual experience. How many of you out there thought that it was somehow YOUR fault that Aeris died in FFVII? How many of you wished that there was something that YOU could have done more to prevent it from happening?
Turns out, she was meant to die. That crushed me as a teenager...that nothing I could do would ever allow her to stay in my party 'til the end of the game. Sure she was a pretty mediocre character, but it somehow made me sad that it was out of my hands.
Back to Bioshock, cause its current in my mind, I'm currently on my second playthrough and am harvesting each little sister I come across (which makes me feel bad). On the 3rd time through I hope to avoid any and all contact with them altogether. When was the last time that a game, much less a FPS make you feel sorrow for your actions?
There are many, many examples of tough decisions you can make in our experiences as gamers...How many of you out there cringed when Revolver Ocelot made you decide which hand to pick at the end of Snake Eater? Or even submitting to Ocelot's torture in MGS, either saving Meryl or condemning her to death?
I guess you can say that indecision like this is why there are so many sites devoted to walkthroughs and the main reason Game Strategy Guides are pushed so heavily at your local Game$top. Though my hatred for G$ and the fact that I need them will have to be discussed at a much later time.
I've only listed a few of the most stand-out-ish memories I have of decisions in video games. If you guys have any you fondly remember I'd love to hear them. And thanks again for reading my ramblings.
Don't Believe The Hype
This is a really troubling time for me as a gamer.
Truly spectacular games are being ignored for ones that have the bigger PR firm.
Mediocrity is being rewarded with dollar signs.
A system that was at the top of the market in the last generation is finding it hard to catch a break. And the company who nobody thought would hit the grand slam at the bottom of the 9th has busted the stitching on the ball and has caused the whole damn thing to unravel.
What the hell is going on people?
Today our enemy is that thing that we all love to hate and hate to love; I’m talking about hype.
Checking out Wikipedia, it says that “Hype” is and I quote “the practice of spending money on public relations in an attempt to bolster public interest in a movie, television show, or performing artist." I think we all knew that definition. It continues…”Often the entertainment value of the thing being hyped is exaggerated. Consequently, hype has a bad connotation.” No shit…hype is a bad thing?
So then, we all know that the games that we geek for rarely live up to the hype, then why do so many of us allow ourselves to get “hyped-up”?
As I see it, this utterly pointless activity can do one of two things:
Prepare us for imminent failure. i.e. “There’s so much hype for this game that there is no way in hell that it can live up to it, but look he now has a bubble-shield!!!”
Or
2. Make us feel like smarmy assholes for blindly believing the game is going to be a hit. i.e. “HOLY SHIT MASTER CHIEF IS SO FXCKING RAD, NOTHING BEATS TEH HALOZ!!!1!”
I kid Halo; I’m getting a Legendary Edition of the 3rd installment myself. I was just using this as an example. So please no hate mail…moving on.
Why in fact do we get so damn invested in these games? Why is it so important that the game you are anticipating coming out be the “best”? Does a bad review mean that the game and by extension your opinion and feelings moot?
I’m a big fan of looking at reviews with a bit of hesitation, you have to remember that the person doing the review is just that…a person. He/She is NOT you; do not let strangers form your opinions for you! If a game that you’ve been jones-ing for has a review that seems a less than palatable fuck what they say, try it yourself, there’s a reason Blockbuster and Hollywood Video are still open…because they let you try things before buying them!
Some applause has to be sent Microsoft’s way for the 360, there hasn’t been a game that I own that I haven’t been able to demo before going out to buy it. I don’t know how that works on the PSN but I know that there is SOME support, so some thanks have to go to Sony as well. As for Nintendo, well, I don’t know of any downloadable demos, but I could be wrong.
Take for example Bioshock. Yes we all know that this game has in fact lived up to the hype, but for a good part of this year, I had NO intention of picking this game up. I was thinking to myself (as so many of us are guilty of doing) Meh, I can wait for that to hit the bargain bin.
Little did I know that the demo I downloaded the week before its release would rattle me so much. I was hooked, not from word of mouth, not from advertising, but because I tried it and I liked it…Liked it so much, that I’m on my second trip through rapture.
Let us get back to my main questions. First why do we get so damn invested in these games? I know many a person who are Gran Turismo fans only, not car-racing game fans. They can’t even fathom playing games that aren’t the latest iteration of GT. The same goes for fighting game fans. I’m even guilty of this one, I really only enjoy playing Capcom, SNK, and Tecmo fighting games. I know in my mind that there’s nothing wrong with Tekken or with the Virtua Fighter series, but it’s just my preference…wait is that it? Is it all about preference? You mean to tell me this whole posting was about playing the game that is right for you?
In a nutshell…yes, it’s that simple. Play the game that is right for you.
We all want every game that we buy to be a gem, but we have to face it, not every game is meant for the whole audience. Much like everything else in the world of art (regardless of what Mr. Ebert says), some games people can not stand while others revel in its majesty.
So WHY do we care so much? Well that’s simply answered…because it costs us time and money. If you had a chance to have any iteration of any game immediately and without any cost to us as a consumer, would you care as much? I don’t think so. So to wrap this all up, before it becomes a manifesto…it can be best summed up by Flavor Flav: “Don’t believe the hype!”
Friday, August 24, 2007
Games That Defined Me...Xenogears
Xenogears "...what the hell kind of game is that?" I remember saying as I booted up the demo that was included with Parasite Eve (if my memory serves me correctly). I was amazed. Giant fxcking robots and martial arts in an RPG?!? Wicked!
The premise is simple you're just a simple little backwoods villager living your every day life in your quiet lazy village getting ready to attend your best friend's wedding celebration. When the shit hits the fan. Turns out your village is near the frontlines of a war between the armies of Aveh and Kislev and the carnage has spilled over to your lazy burg.
Unfortunately, the demo (like most demos), only contained a whisper of what would be included in the full retail version. For those of you who didn't have a chance to play this one when it came out; do yourselves a favor and find a copy somewhere. I'll tell you why...
Its not often that games make you seriously think, much less doubt your own religon. But this one had story points that made me think philosophically for the next two or three about my own role as a human cog in the big machine of society.
This game did it all, and it was pretty in the process. My favorite moments in the game were when *SPOILER ALERT* you find out that humanity wasn't created by God, but by a colony ship (ala and your character is in fact the re-incarnation (including all of the memories) of the only person to survive the initial crash-landing on the planet.
The game delves into Freudian psychology (the ego, the superego, and the id), Jungian psychology (dealing with the shadow), and some of the theories of Friedrich Nietzsche (god is dead, and the concept of the eternal return). Deep deep deep story which is only matched by the music.
The composer for this game was none other than Yasunori Mitsuda (my favorite composer). No idea who that is?!? Shame on you and get off my blog! The man singlehandedly made games like Chrono Trigger, Tobal No. 1, Mario Party, Chrono Cross, Xenosaga, and his newest game Blue Dragon memorable due to his ability to make some of the best video game soundtracks around. Though I know some of you out there will argue with me about this.
Graphically, the game is breathtaking for its time, 3D environments with 2D sprites (win), awesome PS1 lighting effects, and a few anime cutscenes. The effects in the battles are damn cool especially in the later levels when your character has all sorts of bad-ass bottled up.
One major reason that I think this game didn't make it as big as the other Sqeenix games that came out for the original PlayStation was that this one had the misfortune of coming out the same time as Metal Gear Solid. Nothing could stand up to the might that was Kojima in 1998.
This great example of gaming is one of the few titles that have lasted me to the well over 1,000 hour mark, the others being FFVII and Grandia. And c'mon the last boss is 'God' how could you lose? I still listen to the soundtrack nearly every night, even right now its playing on the iPod, thats how timeless this game is to me.
If you're ever looking for a challenging, long, truly classic JRPG that actually makes you think and will keep you satisfied, take a trip to Goozex, Gamestop, or Amazon and pick this game up! You won't be sorry!
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Don't Make the Bunny Cry
Wow, its been a rough week, I tells ya.
My fiance last night had to go to the emergency room for a kidney stone, I felt so powerless to help her. Luckily she's doing great now but still, thats some scary shit...I'm glad we both have really good medical coverage because I can only imagine how bad the bill would be if we didn't. Still, the thought of a 3mm size grain of something forcing its way through ducts and blood vessels that are microns in size makes me cringe. I can't even imagine how much pain she was in. After they got the IV started and got her a shot of morphine...things got much better.
Beyond that, I managed to pull some muscles in my legs (whoo-hoo!!) from doing squats and deadlifts. Its really fun trying to stand after sleeping all night! I can't wait until I actually have some money to buy some supplements for my lifting regiment, they do make things better and me less sore.
All I can say is that please people, take care of yourselves...go to the doctor for physicals, don't overdo things, and for the love of god...make sure you have insurance, you never know when life can sneak up on you and kick you in the ass.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Ahh...The Not-So-Old-Days
Ok where did I stop last time, let's see, oh yes I was talking about the Super Nintendo (aka Super Famicom). It was a great time to be a gamer but also one of the nastiest times seeing how it was the birth of modern "Fanboy-ism". Those of you who have been around video games long enough know these people. They simply refuse that a system that they have may not be the best one out there. Which leads me to the topic of the Nintendo 64.
Ah the Project Reality, the Ultra 64, the Nintendo 64 if you will was Nintendo's big answer to the Atari Jaguar, Panasonic's 3D0, Sony Playstation, and the Sega Saturn (more on these later). Luckily by this time in my life I was fortunate enough to have a job that I could start buying my new toys without parental consent.
I put the N64 on layaway and a copy of Mario 64. That was a great game that took me days upon days to finish. It was magical playing games now that there was an analog input for games instead of the usual joypad digital controls. Sadly, the only reason that I wanted to pick up a N64 was that I bought all of the hype that Final Fantasy VII was coming to the system, which it wasn't. So Mario 64 remains one of the 6 games that I own for my N64, I have yet to fully recover from the heartbreak of buying that system and am still very wary of picking up anything from Nintendo.
Two games of note for this system (amazingly both of them from Rare) are Goldeneye and Conker's Bad Fur Day. Goldeneye proved to PC gamers that a FPS could be well done on a console and that multiplayer FPS had a market. Finally, Conker's Bad Fur Day, I don't have the words for this game...absolutely brilliant would come to mind, if I were British. Great game, they re-did it for the Xbox a few years ago, you should go pick it up.
Moving on, my next purchase was the Sony Playstation...I bought more games for this system in its lifespan than any other game system to date...that's how good it is. I still play games from its library. This system in my opinion was the turning point of modern gaming. It had it all, great games, extensive library, good pricing, etc. I really really really loved this system, it got me playing game genres that I had been neglecting in years past, mainly with the Gran Turismo and Madden franchises (just to name a few). What can you say, it was the first game console to ever surpass the 100,000,000 sold record.
My favorite game for the PS1 would have to be Metal Gear Solid, it was the return of Solid Snake from way back in the old NES days of Metal Gear. This game singlehandedly made the Stealth-Action genre what it is today.
I managed to rescue a few systems from the bargain bins around the same time I was in love with my Playstation. I found a Sega Saturn, a Sega Genesis and a Nintendo Virtual Boy for about 20 bucks each...but I can see why they weren't the winners in their generations.
On to the first of the "128-bit" gaming systems; the Sega Dreamcast. It was a crazy name, the controller was just odd and it came out of left-field, but damn was this system good. I enjoyed this system quite a bit and way totally shocked to find out that it was discontinued so quickly, I had bought like 8-9 fighting games for thi...wait maybe thats a reason, there weren't many games that weren't fighting games. Sure you had games like Seaman (look it up, its not dirty) and Shen Mue (pronounced Shin-Moo), but for the most part it seemed like it was mainly Capcom's bitch.
Next out of the breech was Sony's response, the long awaited Playstation 2 (*yawn* boring name sony!). I was one of the lucky people, or unlucky cause I had to max out a credit card to buy one of these systems, who was able to get their system at the launch date. I even had the audacity to tell a few of my professors that I was going to miss class for a couple of games due to its launch.
The PS2 was and still is a phenomial success due to its 120 million units sold record (a record still climbing)and the fact it had a built in DVD player. This system came out amid the great DVD vs VHS battle of dominance and finally made DVD viewing cheap and fun a the same time, not to mention economical. It was backwards compatible with the PS1 so all those games you bought wouldn't just collect dust. I have the second highest number of games for this system (out of all my others) at about 37 titles. I'd note a specific game for this console but its so recent, its hard to say. That is to say that its not quite old enough for me to reminisce about it yet.
The final system I'll blab about tonight is Microsofts first foray into the console gaming market. With a virtually unstoppable bankroll, Microsoft's Xbox blasted onto the scene with games and graphics to put PS2's to shame. Though astheticly unpleasing, hot, and heavy the system was, it never gained much of an audience in venues outside of the US and Europe (read that "Japan didn't like it"). I personally never got much use out of this sytem except for a few games like Halo, Halo 2, and wait, that's about all I used my system for...First Person Shooters...damn!!!
Since the architecture of the Xbox resembled that of a decently powered PC at the time, games were quite easy to program compared to the proprietary tools and development kits being offered by the Playstation 2 (funny how the same thing is being said in the newest batch of consoles).
Well, that about catches us up to the current batch of game systems (PS3, Wii, and the Xbox 360) but I won't be rambling about these systems yet, seeing how I own one, hate one, and want another...so I'll leave you all to stew and soak up all the knowledge i've left in this post. See you again soon!
Friday, August 3, 2007
No Update Tonight...
I'm kinda depressed. Its personal...so there'll be no update on my abridged history of gaming. I'll just have to leave you with a picture...cause it's the least I can do.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Ahh...the good ol' days
I am a classic gamer. I am a modern gamer. I am a console gamer. I am NOT a PC gamer. I have been playing games since way back in 1983 (when I was 3!) on the good ol' Commodore 64 aka the C64. The first games I played were Pac-Man and Time Pilot. I wasn't even able to read much less understand much of what was going on, but all I knew is that I LIKE THIS!
Since then (a whole whopping 24 years) the gaming industry has moved on to better and brighter, the industry rarely remembers the precepts of gaming (easy to play, decent grapics, addictive gameplay). Instead, the industry cares more about Flash rather than substance.
Lets go back, way back to my origins of gaming. The first console that I really owned was the Sega Master System that had Hang-On and Safari Hunt built into it. I played the crap out of this system, to the point were the game system started to shut down after a few hours due to overheating. My favorite game was Spy vs Spy, in fact I'd say that it was the first deathmatch type game I can remember playing.
Shortly after that I picked up an NES core system...this guy came with NO games, NO zapper, NO Rob the Robot, NO Powerpad, NO nothing!!! I was lucky enough to have a delinquent brother who had stolen a copy of Super Mario Brothers (still love this game), but my first true game for my NES was Bionic Commando which kicks so much ass its hard to even state to you all how much it definately does. I borrowed and traded with friends and managed to play just about every single game that was localized here in the US. My favorites for this system include Battletoads (never beat it), Mega Man 2 (my all time favorite game), and Super Dodge Ball.
I'll have to devote a whole other post to just how much I love the NES, this game system sustained me for many, many years until the advent of the most excellent SNES and the 16-bit generation.
Before I got a SNES though, I got a Turbographix-16!!! Yeah...right...moving on!
I was lucky enough to get a Super Nintendo for Christmas with The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and the pack in game Super Mario World...I spent nearly the next week before going back to school playing this system every hour of my life (I was lucky enough to have parents who didn't care how long I played as long as I kept good grades). I never even dreamed of getting a Genesis throughout all of this...I was a Nintendo Zombie, mainly because back then I was just a kid, I couldn't afford to buy all the goodies like I can nowadays.
Ask anyone who was around at that time and they could tell you that I was basically non-existant. I lived for the game, I loved the game, and the minute that Secret of Mana came out, I was rarely at home. On top of that, you had one of the best years ever in video game history with Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI coming out 10 months apart! My favorites for this system were of course Secret of Mana, but also Super Metroid.
Now a quick aside for Super Metroid, I busted my ass all summer long mowing yards and all little chores at my grandparents' home until I had enough cash to pick this up at the local Kay-Bee Toys in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. My mom worked at a temporary living facility at an undisclosed installation where I went with her everyday. In the main building for this place, there was a gi-normous big screen TV where I spent the rest of that summer plodding my way through Super Metroid over and over and over again. This game is a serious hallmark for me and for our gaming generation. Anyone who was around for it and played it is knows exactly what I'm talking about. Its kind of like Halo for the original Xbox...if you were there, you get it, if not, then you don't.
Maybe you could attribute this all to just me being nostalgic but its much more than that. I STILL have my NES hooked up to my HDTV, I play it every once in a while, and I STILL LOVE EVERY SINGLE GAME I OWN. I can find myself playing my Xbox 360 having an ok time, but still have a blast playing Contra with a buddy. Its not nostalgia, it can't be. I know that the graphics sucked, I know that the systems are dated, but damnit the gameplay was there and it was SOLID. It had to be, otherwise we would never be where we are today.
I hope you enjoyed this little romp through my memories of old school gaming. Tomorrow I'll continue on to the modern gaming age starting with the N64 up through the Xbox. Thanks for reading.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
2-A-Days
Tonight I embark on something that I never fathomed. I am going to attempt to take my working out to a whole-notha-level. I am going to start doing 2-A-Days, which in layman terms means that I will be going to the gym twice in one day.
Well, for the last month or so, I really feel like I haven't been doing enough working out when I am at the gym so I think that I can do more by going twice a day. I work swings so its not so much of a timing issue. I'll be getting up to go to the gym at 7, and again that evening around 11. I just feel a need to get more cardio in than I normally do.
Right now my workouts consist of cardio for 45 minutes then 6 different lifting exercises. By going in the evenings I hope to double my cardio and get a few more lifts done.
Sure, I'll be tired, but in the long run, I think it will be really beneficial. I hope to lose another 20+ lbs on top of the 50+ plus that I've taken off already. According to the BMI I am still obese, and I'll admit, theres some fat that really shouldn't be there, but damnit I'm OBESE??? No freakin way!! All of those rollie pollie people that I see at wal-mart are obese, all of the lard-buckets that I see piling into the buffets are the obese people.
By those standards, are you going to tell me that guys like Jay Cutler and Ronnie Coleman are obese?!? Hell no! According the BMI chart, even Arnold was obese by their standards.
I was looking at what a suitable weight on the BMI chart was and it was near 180lbs. There's no way in hell i think i'll ever be at a weight like that. As long as I continue weight training, it'll never happen.
I dont know about you but I would rather be obese with plenty of muscle than be a normal weight chump. Oh man, have I gotten off topic...anyways I look forward to the chance to work my ass off late at night, I just hope that its not terribly busy at that time of the night...
The best thing about this is that now, when I get home from work, instead of sitting on my ass in front of the TV waiting to be tired, I will actually be physically tired! Hooray for me! The worst part about it is that I will have even less time next to the woman that I love at night. Even though she's asleep, its just nice to be in the same room with her, sharing the same air, spening as much time with her as possible.
Well as the old bodybuilding saying goes, no pain...no gain, I guess we all have to sacrifice at times. Thankfully all my sacrifice is only time. Catch you all next time.
EDIT: Tried to make it last night...but I guess I wasn't properly motivated. That and my contacts had finally dried out.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Mass Effect, Better Than Final Fantasy?!?
I am a few chapters away from finishing the prequel book to the new game "Mass Effect" coming out this fall from BioWare Inc. I have to say that I am thoroughly impressed.
I've been really nerding for this game since I saw a video of preliminary action back in 2006 that was shown at E3. These guys definately know how to make a decent game. If you need an example get either Knights Of The Old Republic or Jade Empire and tell me that these guys don't know what they're doing.
Long story short, in the 22nd century we (humans) find the remnants of alien technology hidden in a bunker on Mars, the reverse engineering catapults us to a higher level and inadvertantly introduces us to a first contact situation (i.e. a war with an alien species) it turns out the species we are at war with are part of a much larger group of alien species attempting to live in peace with each other. The hostilities end and we become a key player in the galactic civilization known as the Citadel Council.
The story of the game is really unknown at this point but main elements have to do with the Alliance's ongoing battle with a group of sentient, hive-minded AI machines known as the Geth.
Holy fart this game looks amazing; if you haveny already seen the previews for it, you really should. The book as well is pretty good, its just your typical action oriented sci-fi, almost your typical star-trek episode.
I for one am going to go out this weekend and put a pre-order on this game...I couldn't imagine waiting to play this one. I am going to go out on a line here and proclaim this as being better than the Final Fantasy games. My basis is that you will be able to have complete control over your characters and their development, most of the action will take place in a 3rd person shooter style (ala Gears of War) but will also include a strategy element. The dialogue and action is completely in the hands of the player unlike all of your typical cutscenes you get from most JRPGs. The graphics look abolutely stunning, it must have taken the developers of this game quite a bit of time to get all of the effects and game engine just right.
I honestly haven't been this stoked for a game since Gears of War last year, I am more enamored with Mass Effect even more than I am giddy that Halo 3 comes out before it, this is going to be the best year in a long time for us gamers. I just regret how damn broke I'm going to be at the beginning of the year.
Monday, July 30, 2007
My Thoughts on The Simpsons Movie
Let me preface this by saying that anything you read here having to deal with The Simpsons will be skewed because I am indeed a Simpsons fan, not a normal fan, but one of those horribly nerdy types who remembers fondly the names of characters that were introduced years and years ago in only one episode (Col. Leslie "Hap" Hapablap, Aristotle Amadopolis to name a few).
With that being said, I ABSOLUTELY ADORED this movie! From the moment the movie started with.....hang on a second.....
***SPOILER ALERT!!!***
From the moment the the movie started with Ralph Wiggum (my favorite character of all time) singing along with the 20th Century Fox Anthem, to the very end of the movie's credits with Squeaky Voiced Teen "Jeremy Peterson" mocking the patrons of the theater by sweeping the floors and ending with "4 years of film school for this?!?".
I saw this movie twice in one weekend, I am ashamed that I am so nerdy that I did so, but happy because it was such an enjoyable movie. The last time that I did this with any movie was last year at Clerks 2 (that's cause I am a Kevin Smith fan as well). I had missed a few things on the first pass so I was glad to have the chance to see it again.
This is so much better than most of the episodes that have occurred within the last 3 years of the show, its obvious where all of the writers went during that whole time (though I doubt it took them that long to pen the damn thing). A few things to note, since this is no longer bound by regular TV rules you can get away with more...such as nudity, swear words, and purposeful youth alcohol imbibing.
The most played parts that you've seen on the commercials don't even give you a hint of what is happening throughout the whole of the film; which is refresing in this age where the "suprise" moments are generally given away in the trailer.
All in all, it was a damn good movie i'd give it 5 out of 5 but I hate rating systems anyways. But please people for the love of whatever deity you might believe or not believe in, leave your damn kids at home! There are a few things in this movie that you might not want to explain to your little ones until they're a bit older.
Friday, July 27, 2007
I've got the 360 now I want a PS3
Forget all the fanboys, forget all of the corporate alliance, forget all of it. I've done all of my research, I know how the sales charts look, I don't friggin care, I just want one!
Looking back at the November launch last year, I admit I was excited I had the ebay account fired up and ready to sell the few that I could find in the hopes that I'd make enough money to own one of my own (sweet homonyms!). The first couple of days since it came out, the system was selling for ungodly amounts of money. I remember seeing prices in the $10,000 mark making me curse that I hadn't stood in the previous days leading up to the release.
Strange as all this price gouging was, it was nothing compared to the sudden flooding of the market (that Sony wasn't able to do with the PS2). The weeks after its release there were reports of PS3s sitting on the shelves in stores, hell even one of my friends managed to pick up the 40gb models (at a Wal-mart of all places!). You can now go into just about any retail store and pick up either an Xbox 360 or a PS3, but not a Nintendo Wii (this one I'll save for a later posting).
I bought my Xbox 360 last May, a whopping 6 months before you could consider getting a new system like the PS3, and was immediately happy that I had done so. I have had hours upon sleepless hours of fun playing games on my 360. I heard all of this noise about playing games in HD but I never truly understood what that meant until I hooked the system up to a 50" plasma TV at my parents house, that night I could have been found guilty of breaking no less than 3 commandments...I'll leave it up to you to guess which.
Since then, I've picked up a nice slightly used Sony Grand Wega 55" HDTV and hooked up the 360 'elite' up to it and have fallen in love with these games all over again. I've seriously started playing Oblivion all over again! Now things like HD-DVD and Blu Ray mean something to me...not only that but holy geez have you seen the videos for Metal Gear Solid 4?!? Holy Crap Cakes!!! I want me one of those!!!
With the things the way they are I am looking forward to being absolutely broke this holiday season with 20+ great games coming out from here to next January. Its not so much that one platform is better than the other, each has their own merits, but I am a gamer, nothing more, nothing less so I'll end up owning one sooner or later. I'm excited with how much competition there is with this current generation of gaming, its making things for us consumers all the more sweet.
Bottom line is...don't support just one system, they're all good, they all have good games either here right now or coming later but lets be good consumers and buy them all and stop all the stupid fanboy-ism.
I love my iPod...
I don't know how it happened, its almost like having a child I guess. One part of your life you don't have it then all of a sudden you have it and next thing you know you couldn't imagine a life without one. If you glossed over the title its just about me professing my love to the digital mecca that I know as my iPod.
