November 3, 2008 – 10:00 am
It was a blissful day saturated with autumn’s bellowing frigid touch in the desolate niche of where I reside. Children’s laughter permeated the morning sky and junkies shuffled their feet resembling movements of a George A. Romero zombie flick. Everything seemed normal except, that on this day, one of the greatest games was released - Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
Like the loser that I am, I walked fiercely pushing and shoving anything and anyone that stood in my path as I went to Game World (my local video games shop) to claim what was rightfully mine. I looked like a recently released pedophile stalking the closest thing with a Winney The Pooh backpack and a Juicy Juice box. I finally approached my destination, with cash in hand, and asked for my copy of COD4. The gentlemen handed me my game, I walked out, and went back home.
When you first get a game you’ve anticipated for so long, your adrenaline goes through the roof. You’re so frantic and antsy that you forget about everything around you, almost. Interruption isn’t handled well in my patience department, so I make the needed phone calls and ask everyone to fuck off for the next day or so (including my girlfriend).
I pop-in the game, and start the single player campaign. It’s exactly what I expected: great graphics, great sound, great gameplay, great story (although a little short). Now, time for the multiplayer.
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October 31, 2008 – 2:00 pm
I recently played through “Dead Space,” the game that is being touted as one of the scariest survival horror games ever. I have to say, it was a great game; good graphics, fantastic physics, but scary…meh. Don’t get me wrong, the game had several moments that got me, but they were “BOO” moments. You know, like you’re reading some shitty web post and then “BOO”…okay maybe it doesn’t really work in print, but you get what I mean.
You see, early in the game (TINY SPOILER ALERT) you find out that the “monsters” are moving around through the ventilation system of the space ship you are on, which, as it turns out, must be the most well air conditioned space ship ever because air vents are fucking everywhere. So, the first ten times a monster jumps on my head or into the elevator with me or up from the fucking floor, it worked, but after that, I started to expect it and the scare factor went south. Again, I really liked the game, but once I realized that it wasn’t going to offer much more to scare me apart from shit jumping out at me, it was just, well…fun.
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October 30, 2008 – 9:00 am
Steve Jobs could sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo. Apple fanboyism is at an all time high these days but you don’t have to be a fanboy to appreciate the amazing sales numbers from the iPhone and iPod. The iPhone 3G has outsold its original counterpart in a single quarter and Apple has already beaten its self-imposed goal of 10 million units with the Holidays still ahead. The iPod has also had it’s highest sales numbers in a non holiday quarter. Why am I dropping all these sales figures you ask? Well, it’s not just about the iPhone and iPod anymore, for me it’s also about Apple’s iTunes App Store.
The App Store has been a huge success in terms of creating revenue for third party developers that never would have had a chance in a regular market. Simple applications that cost as little as $0.99 are making it easy on developers to generate extra revenue to make bigger and better applications. As we speak, the App store has had over 200 million downloads of various applications and over 5,500 different applications to choose from. That number should exceed 10,000 in less than two months. Many questions still remain to be answered as to how many of these applications are free and how many are games.
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October 28, 2008 – 12:00 pm
JUST ME AND MY LITTLE EDITORIAL…
Seriously folks, I think I have a problem.
So I’m at the bar a couple of days ago and my buddy Jeremy is bartending. As I drink my Captain and Coke, he’s talking about how he loves his roommate’s Xbox 360 and how he would love to get a PS3 when he got some money. As a huge fan, I immediately bring up GTA IV. Much to my chagrin, he doesn’t really dig the game all that much - he thinks there wasn’t enough to do (he prefers GTA: SA and GTA VC). I guess he has a point. But man, do I love GTA IV.
Then it dawns on me. I don’t have GTA: SA anymore. Having foolishly traded it in at the local Gamestop (which I’d rather piss glass than do these days, by the way) when I saved up for my first 360. It’s the only console GTA I don’t own. Admittedly, I wasn’t all that “wowed” by the PSP GTA’s. Fun of course, but a little too “more-of-the-same” for my tastes in the long term.
Anyways, the next day I go to pick up my beloved 360 Elite (my fourth 360 to date) from my buddy’s house (I let him borrow it for his birthday). I get it home and check out what I’ve missed on Live and *POOf*! There’s San Andreas staring me in the face (1,200c is a bit much I think but ehh, fuck it).
Then it dawns on me. Which is my favorite in the series? It’s not an easy answer for a game geek, let me tell you…
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October 27, 2008 – 4:00 pm
I’m not really a comic book reader at all, I’ve probably bought five of them in my whole life with the last one being at least fifteen years ago. In fact, I had to call my comic book fan friend, Jesse Hubberd (thanks Jesse), just to be sure that I had all of my facts and timing straight. This is written from a gamer’s perspective for gamers and is just a few observations on things that our fellow geeks have gotten right and we need to learn from.
#1. THE GATHERING
Comic-Con is a legitimate entertainment event. Last year’s event boasted 126,000 attendees and quite a few celebs. It is a place where sneak preview trailers are shown to fans as big Hollywood players wait anxiously for the verdict of the geek. That said, the news_this_week that E3 is trying to return to its former glory is something that should have all gamers rejoicing. It does not mean that instantly it will rival Comic-Con in relevance, (though I hope some day it might), it just means that gaming finally has its big show back. E3 was, and hopefully again will be, THE place each year where game developers better bring their big guns, and a place for gaming to get its time in the spotlight.
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October 27, 2008 – 9:00 am
We’ve all seen the news on Midway this past week. If you didn’t, check it out here by Yaris.
Basically, Midway has mutually agreed to get out of a number of licensing agreements. Is this a good thing? In my humble opinion, hell yes. I’m tired of seeing franchises churn out the same game just with a +1 on the end.
Sure I love to force throw Wookies, kill stormtroopers, and wouldn’t mind at all to pick up Princess Leia in her slave outfit. But you know what? I know how this story ends. I’ve seen it before, many times. While it is great fun to take on the role for a while, it doesn’t really do much for me past some mild entertainment. I can play this game for a little while but then I’ve been there and done that.
Licensing can make publishers happy, they get to secure a cash flow based upon a formula. In their eyes, each new version should be quicker and cheaper to make than the last and they don’t have to worry about things like story because someone else takes care of that, along with the characters, and more. Some franchises, such as our beloved Star Wars, have branched out separate storylines under the same universe, and those games have been great to play, I will concede that. However, every Star Wars game has not really thrilled me, Star Wars Battlefront was essentially Team Fortress with a new dressing on it (see also Enemy Territory: Quake Wars), and they managed to produce a Star Wars Battlefront II. Aside from a bit of polish, some new characters, maps, weapons, what changed? Not much, it was the same gameplay, same game mechanics, nothing to really write home about unless you think Battlefront was the best thing since sliced bread, I’m sure Battlefront II rocked your world then. This formula must have netted the publishers a nice couple bucks that quarter.
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October 21, 2008 – 12:00 pm
As the Mac vs PC ads not only become more and more frequent, they have also become somewhat catty and vindictive. The latest ad pits the “everyman” as a PC owner and not spoiled college kids whose parents shell out 2500 bucks for a Macbook Pro so they can chat on myspace and edit their photos. Of course, Mac counters with the overall message that PC’s are outdated business machines that are technologically inept with an excuse for an operating system. Furthermore, if the Mac computer is the dorky kid from Dodgeball and the PC is a 40 something fat guy who looks like a Wendy’s manager, what are the human console equivalents?
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October 20, 2008 – 3:00 pm
Banks are failing. Homes are being repossessed. Prices are rising, inflation is growing, the economy is shrinking and the end result is a lot of people are losing their jobs and lifestyles. Life is miserable… but not when I’m in good old Liberty City… well it’s not miserable for me, but it is miserable for the citizens of Liberty City as I breathe a fiery napalm death upon them.
Video games are an escape from reality for some; but why you ask? I’ll tell you why, it’s because reality blows. Read that first line again, same as the headlines on Google News.
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October 19, 2008 – 2:00 pm
I don’t want to piss off any Metal Gear Online fans, in fact I wanted to be one. I mean, I really, really wanted to be one, but I’m not, I’m so not. And having recently read about Hideo Kojima’s revelation of disappointment at the number of people playing MGO, I felt maybe it’s not just me.
There are a lot of things about the game I could nit pick to death about game play and certain elements of the game (being trapped by porn has to be one of the most annoying things in all of gaming), but to each his own and everything I hate may be something that someone else loves or I just don’t get. But, to me, there is one painful and almost inexplicable omission to MGO.
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October 19, 2008 – 12:00 pm
I am here to point the finger of blame. With today’s ongoing debates and misinformed media coverage on sex and violence in gaming, blame has been cast on many. Retailers, for not verifying age at purchase, the gaming industry as a whole, GTA IV, the parents who allow their children to play these games, just kidding, no one blames them. But, there is one singular entity that has been absent from this game of buck passing and I’m here to call it out. I’m talking to you, NES. That’s right, the original Nintendo Entertainment System.
Allow me to explain. I’m going to speak in some generalities here, but stay with me. I got my NES for Christmas in 1987, happy day. I was 10 years old, then. A lot of kids got a Nintendo that year, and a lot of parents were glad to buy this toy to make the kids happy. Then, something strange happened, something never before in the history of the gaming console world, the games meant something to us. We weren’t just blasting rocks, we were saving princesses. We weren’t just jumping barrels (no disrespect to Mario), we were saving the world with a new agent from Fox Hound. Games didn’t take a few minutes or hours, they took months and we played every night and saved our game and came back to pick up these grand adventures where we left them the night before.
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