No one can debate that Xbox Live has brought the medium of gaming to unprecedented levels. As the current frontrunner of gaming communities, Microsoft has done wonders with the ability to unite gamers from around the world into a single common goal: play games and enjoy doing so. The current state of Xbox Live has degraded to a racist, hate-fest so fast, that the hardcore gamer is getting a little fed up.
So here I sit.
Almost fully moved into my new apartment on the eve of my birthday. Life has been weird recently - I find myself once again alone in my surroundings - newly single and adjusting accordingly as one should.
I find myself sitting on my bed typing this article using a connection from one of my unknown, faceless neighbors. I no longer feel like a caveman - once again having a link to the outside world. I have lots of time on my hands.
For gaming.
It seems that life isn’t so bad after all. Read More
I recently wrote an editorial and was pretty much attacked for my thoughts on the Lack of Nudity in video games, seems like even a mention of nudity brings people into a tizzy. The attacks ranged from some valid points to just utter ramblings that I was a pervert. Although I like nudity that does not make me a pervert and anyone else who does.Even Kotaku decided to take some shots at us, which I think is great actually, but at least use the entire article. I think I was taken a bit out of context and yes I used hyperbole and jest to make a serious topic a bit fun to read. This topic is a great one and I would love to discuss it in more depth without joking with anyone. Having an AO rating and not using and limiting video games because developers are afraid of getting their merchandise banned from shelves is unacceptable.
The fact is that video games currently do not employ nudity as part of the medium because they do not want to deal with the outrage of parents and conservatives alike. A lot of comments came in both through our site and some others discussing the overall topic, many agreed that having more nudity in would be fine and applauded as long as it fit into the story line of the game. Then there was the other side that blasted the idea and said that putting any nudity into a game would automatically make it into porn!?
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Yeah, I didn’t want to say ass in the title. Sue me. I’m sure you’ve seen Tycho over at Penny Arcade rant on the modding in the PS3 version of Unreal Tournament 3. Basically, he thinks it’s crap that you need a USB flash drive (or other memory card type) to copy the mods from your PC to the PS3. Personally, I could care less about this. Who doesn’t own a PC and some sort of memory card these days? It’s not that big a step. It’s not completely necessary either. If you try to play online with someone using a mod, it will be automatically downloaded to your machine.
What bugs me is that you need to copy one mod at a time via your USB drive. So in my case right now, I had to make 5 trips from my computer to my PS3, loading one mod each time, then starting over. There is only one file that is used on the USB key to transfer the mods and that file can only contain one mod at a time. I think Epic REALLY needs to come up with a better way of doing this. Yes, we all love mods. Yes, we love user created content. Yes, we know it’s a totally new concept to console gaming. But we need a much more streamlined way of getting them. Direct downloads from the PS3’s Internet Browser would be ideal, but allowing multiple mods to be copied over at once on a USB drive would work perfectly as well. And with the Unreal Editor update coming very soon, the amount of mods available on the PS3 is going to increase exponentially. Imagine wanting 25 mods, but needing to make 25 trips with your USB key. I think I’ll pass.
This has nothing to do with the PS3 being good or bad, so it shouldn’t turn into a flame fest. This is Epic’s implementation of mods for the game on PS3. It’s the first time it’s been done, so there are growing pains involved. Just pointing out some optimizations that need to happen sooner rather than later for mods to become more mainstream on consoles.
That’s my 2 cents. What do you think?
In a recent interview with Capcom’s VP of Marketing there was some discussion over Third Party Exclusivities and where they would be heading over time. As everyone is aware nowadays, exclusivity to a specific console is quickly dwindling with third party developers. What was once a deciding factor in what console would be purchased has now become a gray area where the highest bidder wins.
The only true exclusives now are from the console manufacturers themselves, i.e. Nintendo and Sony making their flagship titles. The supposed main drivers for exclusives are gameplay functionality and costs, i.e. if the controls make sense on your system and the costs for porting are fine then giddy up and jump on board.
Recently there have been many mergers and acquisitions. Is this a sign of the times that small development studios are out and the large conglomerates win? Will the video game era die in a world of corporate America? What happened to the days of Pong and Tetris, where some guy in his basement made a game and just unleashed it on the world? Now we need blockbuster budgets with voice acting and CGI in order to sell a game.
Last night I was watching TV and came across a movie I have not seen in well over a decade, Street Fighter. When it came out in 1993, I was only 12 and thought this movie kicked serious ass. Boy, was I an asshole. Watching this again through the eyes of a grown ass man, I realized how inherently bad this flick was. I understand the movie was supposed to be campy and include the likes of the video game characters. Fine. Yet there are some absurd liberties the writers of the movie take. I have decided to write a little tidbit about each character and some of the lines they say or things that just happen for no reason. Read on, its well worth it.
Yesterday, I wrote an article about the Xbox360 and its supposed failure due to the power brick being plugged into other surge protectors. Apparently I opened a virtual Pandora’s box of comments(the above link and here) where the focus went not from the article, but to readers flaming each other on which system is better and finally digressing into an all-out argument. Like myself, I am very passionate about the video games I spend so much time playing and reporting on, but there are very few facets about the gaming community I am utterly confused about: The Fan Boy is one.
Wikipedia defines the fanboy as follows: Fanboy is a term used to describe an individual (usually male, though the feminine version fangirl may be used for females) who is utterly devoted to a single fannish subject, or to a single point of view within that subject, often to the point where it is considered an obsession. Fanboys remain loyal to their particular obsession, disregarding any factors that differ from their point of view. Fanboys are also typically aggressive and hateful towards the opposing brand or competition of their obsession regardless of its merits or achievements.
I am sure that my feeling of disapproval with pricing schemes in regards to gamerpics and themes on the Xbox 360 marketplace is shared. I for one like having different Gamerpics and actually try and switch mine up every once in a while as well as the themes, but I just cant see myself paying for many of them for a couple of reasons.
My main reason is that you can only have one theme set at a time and a max of two gmaerpics. This stinks in my opinion, why pay for multiiple themes or pics if you can only use one set at a time? If Xbox added a feature to rotate your different pics and themes I would certainly purchase more. Have it set so you pick like ten gamerpics and maybe 4 or 5 themes and have it rotate on a timed basis, kind of like your backgrounds on your computer and screensavers.
Also the pics and themes typically are overpriced, they are just small pictures, why make them cost so darn much? It does not take much to have them up and I do not understand how some are free and others are a couple of bucks? Either make them all free or make them a nominal fee, I would lean toward free.
The Xbox 360 camera pics should also be able to be saved as themes or allow users to use multiple personal pictures to be used on each blade of the in game menus instead of just having one on all. You can take a pic using your camera and make that your gamerpic, which is kind of cool but then that is one less purchased gamerpic you can’t use.
What do you think?
Sony, please, give us a damn demo! I would love to play your $5-10 downloadable titles, but I’m not going to shell over the cash without trying the game out first. With digital distribution of the games, there’s absolutely no reason not to provide a demo. Hell, half your downloadable titles do, and all Xbox Live Arcades games come with a demo. So why are new PSN games different?
It’s not like it’s going to put a huge damper in the PlayStation Network to provide a demo. The way it works with the older titles is to download an unlock key to turn the demo into the full game. This is the same way Xbox Live Arcade works for all of its titles.
I think Sony would sell more copies of these games if they did allow gamers to try before they buy. I know I was very excited to hear Super Stardust HD was coming out this week, but when I saw no demo, it became a no go (at least for a while until I try it out at a friend’s place). Same goes with Calling All Cars. I hear mixed reviews, so why would I just decide to give Sony $10 when there should be a free way to test out the game.
Hopefully this is something the team over at Sony re-evaluates soon. I’m not going to hold my breath though.
Why?! Why must people that play online shooters or online in general be jerks? Why can’t people just play the %ucking game and not try to give everyone a headache? My frustration stems from GRAW 2 on the Xbox 360 and trying to play over Xbox Live, but it got me thinking about this particular item.
I was playing through GRAW 2 single player and decided to hop online and try some of the multiplayer gametypes, bad idea! I proceeded to try and just get a quick game online using the quick match funtion. I quickly got booted. OK, so I think this is nothing and try another one after running a custom search. 15 games later of trying to get into a game and not get booted, I finally go back to one of the original rooms and try to ask why i keep getting booted for no reason? Answer: Becasue my rank was 1, wtf?? So I ask the kids on the other side (that were level 9) if they born level 9 perchance? How the %uck are people supposed to level up or learn how to play if higher players won’t play with them for fear of losing levels?
Correct me if I am wrong, but if you are so good and are such a high level, what would be your fear of playing with some low level players anyway? Also I wasn’t aware that your GRAW level was correlated with some life or death statistic?! I proceeded to go off and yell at the kids in the room and vent my frustrations, but it just brought me to a bad place, why must online games give me heart burn?
