Lost and the dammed...

What can I say about The Lost and the Dammed that hasn’t been said already I’m about six or seven missions into it and my god this game was the best money for game I’ve ever spent. The mission structure is some of the best I’ve ever seen in a GTA game it really highlights the way the story plays out, some people play these games to be bad…I do too but for some reason I also like the stories that go along with the game. At the rate I’m going with this game it should be done before the end of the week but even if I do this game was really worth the money.

Most people are pissed at Microsoft for buying up all the DLC, but to be honest Sony is also to blame for it. Which makes me sound like an Xbox Fanboy but really for me it’s about the games and Sony forgot about the games, well until this year of course. Its seems to me that Microsoft kind of saw the recession coming and realized that twenty dollars seems like a lot better then sixty when it comes to buying a game: that is if your worried about losing your job or have lost your job that is. Spending twenty on a full gaming experience seems like a hell of a deal for 22 missions…plus 12 motorcycle races. People are screaming about how Sony should drop the price on the Ps3 but really they should be thinking about dropping the price of there greatest hits games down to twenty. It may not seem like much but Microsoft took twenty dollars off of Fable 2 and Halo 3, basically because shortly they’ll be sold with the system. Those are high end exclusives that sold really well and are were still being bought at sixty before the drop, what does that say about Microsoft…bend but never break. Unit next time…

So the NHL playoffs are in full swing and for some reason I’ve gotten very into them as of late. So I picked up NHL 08 for my 360 I would have gotten 09 but sixty bucks is way too much to pay for a spur of the minute buy. When I started to figure out how to play the game and by the way the controls are really intuitive, shooting with the right analog stick really blows the hell out of hitting a button to shoot. It seems to make it feel more real winding up and shooting like that but that’s not really what this post is about.

The real reason I decided to post about this was the fact that I didn’t recognize any of the fuckin players on the Wild my home states team. So I made my own characters the first of which was Ernest Hemingway, now Hemingway fought in World War 1 so I figured he would be used to people shooting at him and he seemed to be a tough guy so I figured he could take a hit from an Incoming player of the other team. Alright I made him 6’2 some were around 250 ibs I should really should have check out the stats of the other players cause he’s really jacked up…He maybe the definition of brick wall in hockey cause I don’t think anyone got a shot past him, now the number on his jersey is the year that he tried to commit suicide: I’m a sick bastard I know but I thought it would be funny and hopefully he would have too. Now that I had my favorite author all ready to defend my goal: it was time to pick another random person to play for my team of Historical giants the next one was an obvious choice really.

So my author is killing it between the pipes: that commercial where Abe Lincoln kicks the shit out of a whole group of people. Yeah so I made him my Right wing, basically I made him fast because of that tall tale about him out running his buckshot and shooting himself in the ass. I also made him very tough even though I don’t think a guy with his body type would be a 99. I realized how sick I was when I gave him the number 50 because that was when his first child died: heh who says hockey is boring.

I’m considering making a whole team of historical figures but for now I’m just enjoying the game…I’m unbeaten at 4 wins under my belt and this guy Gaborik is unstoppable when he goes one on one with an opposing defensive play and is pretty much scoring all my goals for now. Hopefully I wont be tired of this game before I finish the season maybe to keep it fresh I'll turn up the difficulty...cause that always works right. On a side note on my pile of shame I’ve beat the first and second Metal Gear Solid games and am currently working on the third. Now that I’m past the nasty control of Metal Gear Solid: the story is finnaly brought to light and there is a lot more joy when I’m playing the games. I’ll write about those three games here shortly when I finish the third one. Also I tried to grow my self a “METAL GEAR BEARD” but it turns out my facial hair is very course and impossible to control so I am going to shave this shit tomorrow.

Highly Addictive and Replay Factor

Have you ever played a game where it just seems like they nailed it perfectly and you found yourself playing the same levels over and over again? I want this to happen more often. Dead Space did it. It was fairly repetitive but it was solid all the way through. And seriously, think back to when you were a kid. Alright, people under the age of 25 might not understand this unless they had an older brother or sister that was into gaming. But sit there and think. What were your favorite games growing up? I would be willing to place money that it was something off of the Atari, Nintendo, or an arcade game. What made those so much fun? They were simplistic games after all right? Compared to what's out there today yeah. Come on, Frogger? You have to get a frog from one side of the screen to the other. Pitfall? You have to swing over things and jump over logs, holes, and fires. Or how about QBert? That fucker just jumped from platform to platform lighting them up like he was Michael Jackson or something. All simplistic games and highly addictive.

If you're wondering where I am going with this here's where. I've started playing quite a bit of the Playstation network games lately. Bionic Comando, Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo HD, Everyday Shooter, and the best one out of all of them, Worms. I never caught the Worms craze back in the day. To me it just reminded me of the turn based missile command games you could play online for free where all you would do is place the projectile at what height you wanted it at and then held down the space bar until you got the desired power. Well, I was wrong. I was so wrong and now I wish I had played them back in the day. Very simple game and there's nothing better than some cartoon worm violence. There's something really satisfying about swinging over to a worm on the ledge and just poking him off or setting off the detonator right next to him so he gets blown off the screen. I'm not even going to go into how much fun it is to send an explosive sheep over to your enemies.

I'm not really asking anything of the game industry. If all the games went back and started over from square one and they made them that simple from now until the end of time I think I would get a little bored. I do like my first person shooters after all and if I really want to play a dumbed down first person shooter I'll throw in a little Duke Nukem for old times sake. I just want quality. Thanks to every game company that's working on putting out little titles on the Playstation Network or XBox Live. Those games are really amazing if you're in the mood for them.

I guess I lied. I do want something from the game industry now. What I want the game to be something that has a decent replay factor to it. Again, Dead Space actually had replay value to it which I thought was a little strange but was a pleasant surprise. I wish Uncharted: Drake's Fortune would have had a little more replay value to it. Unfortunately it didn't and the only time I throw it in is when I want to show it to someone. It was as close to an Indiana Jones video game that didn't suck as there ever will be. Lucas Arts could learn a thing or two from that game. Everything was done perfectly. I have yet to play an Indiana Jones game that didn't suck. Think about it. Can you honestly even name a title of an Indiana Jones game off of the top of your head? Didn't think so and if you do name one you probably opened up another browser and googled or wiki'd it. Cheater.

First person shooter games have that replay value to them now. They really didn't have that much replay before to be honest. It was more the challenge to beat the game. Now with first person shooters they are almost always throwing on the obligatory online aspect with various game modes. Death Match baby. This is where their replay value comes into play. Nothing feels better than mowing down people using mics that are saying "Nigger this or Nigger that." Seriously, when I tell my friends I am hopping online to play some death match all I have to say is "I'm killing Nigger Haters" and they know exactly what I am talking about. And you know damn well it's some ignorant stupid white kid or even worse an ignorant man child spewing out that crap which makes it oh so satisfying when you mow them down.

Anyway, I am rambling on. I think it's either time to crash or time to kill some nigger haters. I so wish they had a filter or a way to block those morons from playing. If you're going to talk smack at least be a little more creative and go after the Asians. Just kidding.

Dam it feels good to be a Jedi.

So another game is done and Knights of the old republic is out of my pile of shame, only thirty some games left woot….what the fuck was I thinking buying all these games. I really need to find something better to spend my money on.

The final fight with Darth Malak was I thought impossible, for awhile I didn’t think I could beat him he was a lot more powerful then I thought he was going to be. . There weren’t any guides online that were anywhere near the build of my character, turns out I was supposed to have saber throw and so I wasn’t really prepared for him.. So basically I had to wait until he was done absorbing the captured Jedi and there’s nothing like getting you ass kicked by a guy who can pretty much heal himself to full life. All I can say is it must have looked like a Benny hill skit with me running for my life while being chased by the Lord of the sith, I still beat him in the end but it was ugly as hell. I feel kind of cheap trapping him with adhesive grenades and then hitting him with thermal detonators, which worked really well. Then I ran until I could heal myself then hit him with force wave after I ran out of grenades, its still funny that I beat the lord of the sith without using the force pretty much at all. My next game is going to be a bitch, why am I torturing myself with a game like State of emergency….going to follow it closer on this blog until then

TIME TO SMOKE!!!

Tension in Video games and the lack there of

What makes a game good? A good story line? Decent play controls? Tension and the threat of death? All three of these make a game good and when you have all three of these you have the perfect combination. A perfect example of this is Bioshock. I can't really call it a first person shooter. It's first person perspective but it has so much more going on for it. Great story line. Tension. Above average controls.

Now, here's where I am going to go off. Story line is always THE most important part of a video game. I am sorry but if it doesn't have a story line that I am getting into within the first half hour I am probably going to end up dropping the game and losing interest in it. Play control is also very important but some games have such a great story line that you can forgive the controls. A good example of this is the first Resident Evil games. For the most part the controls were fine but the camera angle ended up shafting you so many times that you may as well have been a whore working in the red light district yet you were able to move past that fact because the story was original and very well done. There was also one other thing that Resident Evil had going for it. An amazing feeling of tension. It was the first game where I was openly shitting my pants. It made me jump. It gave me chills. For me to say this says a lot because it takes a lot to get me. I don't think I have ever jumped because of a film. Why is this? It fully immersed me into it. This spawned a fascination with the survival horror genre for me. I will say that if you want to get the most jumps, chills, and over all creepy feelings you have to play Fatal Frame. I am so upset with myself that when I sold the PS2 and all the games that I included the Fatal Frame games with it. I wish I would have kept those.

Now, here is my current gripe with the video game industry. I am playing all of these first person shooter games like the Call of Duty games, Resistance games, and Kill Zone 2. I like first person shooter games. I like them a lot but there is one thing that is clearly missing. It took me awhile to put my finger on it too. I was playing these games and there was no sense of tension. Why was this? Here you are in a gun fight pinned down behind a wall or lurking through the water towards someone to slit their throat and there was nothing. I finally put my finger on it. The tension wasn't there. In older first person games you had a life bar and the only way to deal with your life bar was to be more careful with your movements, use a med pack, or die and start over. Newer games do not do this though. I was discussing this with a friend and he said that I can thank Halo for this. What I am talking about is this. Instead of having to use a med pack or find a medic to heal you all you have to do is duck down for a few seconds and your life replenishes. I don't know about you but if I get shot I am not going to be able to just duck down and start healing. It really takes away from the action. It removes the tension. Here I am in this gun fight and I am low on life so I duck down behind a wall for like 10 seconds and then pop back up and start firing. They have managed to dumb down the first person shooter to the point of taking something away from it. It's a lame trick to involve in any game. Bioshock doesn't do this. Bioshock you actually to press a button to use med packs or find a healing unit on the wall. It keeps the over-all tension of the game.

Here is my unheard cry to the video game industry. Quit thinking we are not capable of handling a life bar that we have to figure out a way to raise ourselves. Please, PLEASE hear my cry. I want to be challenged. I want to feel the tension. I don't want to play another game where I love the story, the play controls are good, but leaves me feeling unfulfilled.

Games with great tension that I love.

1. Fatal Frame
2. Bioshock
3. Resident Evil 2 (shoot me because I liked the second one better than the first one)
4. Silent Hill
5. Dead Space (Best Survival Horror game for the Next Gen systems so far)

Great games that missed on the tension level but are worth playing.

1. Resistance: Fall of Man (Resistance 2 totally missed the mark and didn't feel right)
2. Call of Duty 4
3. Call of Duty: World At War
4. Killzone 2
5. Fallout 3 (This didn't really miss the mark because the story was amazing)

Alright, I realize that the games with tension that I noted mostly are not first person shooters. I realize this. I am okay with this. I want my games to suck me in and most first person games don't do that. If you have a PS3 and want to actually put a bullet in me add me on the PS Network. My user name is Astral_Complex. You can take your frustrations out on me.

God of .....wait what?

About a month ago I beat and didn’t really enjoy God of War 2 very much until it was over of course. That sentence didn’t make much sense, but if you think about it and high sight is 20/20 after it was over it dawned on me that I like the concept of Gow more then I liked the game itself. The feeling of power and the way krotoses power is represented, every time Kratos hits an enemy the earth shacks and you can feel the power and rage that consumes him. That’s why I loved the first god of war, the problem that I have with Gow2 is that it feels really generic like it was made from the suggestions of a focus group. The levels feel like they were left over from the first game and they just added more enemies because some guy in that same focus group decided there weren’t enough enemies on screen. With all its problems, I’m still a little torn about playing the third even with THE DAVE giving his blessing, but I finished it and have sense moved on to Knights of the old republic and my next couple post will be about it.

Until then TIME TO SMOKE!!

God of War 2

I hate it.

Oh crap

So i skipped ahead to God of war 2, basically just to make sure that I got two games done this month I'm just hoping that I can keep it moving...I got one thing to say about this game "THIS ISN"T A GOD OF WAR GAME" this is a really good imitation but its not a god of war game. Unless I was wrong about the first one, I think after I finish this I have to play it again. That fear of a God of war without David jaffey is starting to creep in again.
Time to get pissed at God of War 2
Also TIME TO SMOKE

The Shame of Defeat and The thrill of victory, while playing Panzer Dragoon orta.

Panzer dragoon was one of those games that I got frustrated that frustrated the shit out of me and did until I finally beat it. This is the third time I’ve came back to this game, the first couple weren’t very successful I remember having a hell of a time just getting past the first board on my first attempt at playing. On a side note brother beat this game in a week, I guess he deals with frustration better than I do because he said he “Whipped right through it” and I’ll never forgive him for that. It was the second time I played the game that I really got on a roll and break through to the end but got stuck on the boss. So basically it took three times at stopping and starting to really beat the game, as far as I can tell nothing has changed sense I played this game the first time maybe I have a little more patience for this type of old school shooter, we’ll see about that when I start playing Mega Man again.

But enough about my lack of video game skill, this game is “Old School” it feels like a Nintendo game in the way that every boss/enemy has a pattern to how they move and the way they shoot. The reason I was finally able to beat this game is because I finally realized that fact and was able to figure out his patterns then it was like bam next thing I know he’s a puddle of shape shifting goop. Another interesting thing about this game is the way that your character moves around the world, they figured out a way to make it feel like your giving directions to the dragon your riding as much as your controlling the little girl on top who shoots at the enemies. Basically you’re the center of 360 degree ratios’ and the enemies are coming at you from all sides, using the triggers on the controller to spin yourself around on that axis and to burst forward or backward to dodge enemies attacks. Along with its beautiful art style that I can only describe as vibrant colors with seizer inducing flashes of enemies, this game was stylized before they started using that word for Wii games as a substitute for shitty art.

All and all I’m really glad I stuck it out and finally beat it because I had a better sense of accomplishment from beat this game this I have for any of the other that I finished on my to way to shrinking my pile of shame. Thats two pretty much in the course of a week, I might have to change shuffle the order of my "pos" to make sure that I at least beat two games this month. Kotor is taking a hell of a lot longer then I thought it was going to.

TIME TO SMOKE!!

Another one done, took me forever to write it.

I have finished “Jade Empire”, and in my opinion most of the time if you want to beat a game all you have to do is play it, Jade was one of those games it wasn’t that hard in fact I just sort of walked through it. It was pretty easy once I figure out the rhythm of fighting there wasn’t a man or women in the Jade Empire that could stop me. After I completed most of the quests I was so powerful that the last boss was a piece of cake, the only weapon I really used my first sword skill and I cut him down like he was a regular enemy.

While I was playing Jade empire it struck me that its was basically an American take on Japanese role-playing fundamentals, It seemed to follow the same formula that square uses to make a rpg with a few small changes that make a huge difference in the way the game flows. The option of being evil just for the sake of being evil is huge when you look at the way games are made, not everyone wants to be the hero all the time. The role playing stereotype is that you’re the hero and are unquestionably good regardless of how many times you just barge into someone’s house and rummage through there stuff, Where as in a Bioware game you wouldn’t just rummage through there stuff if you wanted to be evil, you can kill them, steal there stuff then burn there house down. I think that’s why rpgs from Asia are not getting a lot of love as of late, the people playing them want a little variety in there games. Squares vision of the hero has become vannialified over the years and they are pretty much the same character with a new paint job every time they release a new game. In a Bioware RPG characters aren’t some emo kid or a plucky youth that has a gripe with the evil empire, they are pretty much what you make them to be. Your not forced into a boxed hero type the character is YOU, weather your saving a kitty from a tree or setting the tree on fire it breaks down to what you as this character want to do. What Asian developers haven’t realized about western gamers is that they have grown up playing there games and most of them are now adults who’s gaming tastes have changed as they grew up, most of them don’t want to play through some jerk off characters teenage angst. Maybe that’s why I find Biowares stuff more interesting now because I’m not being spoon fed the same characters over and over again. A little variety never hurt anyone, considering I’ve been playing the same game.

Bioware does abuse the dialogue tree on a regular basis there isn’t really a question of that, but the side quests and the way they are implemented and the way the quests add in little bits of story and context of the world around you through out the game. I’ve started “Knights of the old republic” a day ago and I’m seeing some of the same patterns in both games, it might be because it’s a Star wars game but “kotor” grabbed me faster then Jade did. When I started playing Jade, I couldn’t stand the side quest they seemed like a huge waste of time and a way to lengthen the game. It was like they just kept sending them at me over and over again. Now I see that Bioware replaced the grinding of old school rpgs with those side quests, instead of making you grind for four hours so that you can go fight a tough boss you progress though the game basically by just playing those added bits of the story, which is really nice because I don’t really have time to grind a lot anymore. They also as far as I know there aren’t any random encounters, which I always thought were really annoying. The side quest are really what gets you to the next level because they feed it too you in small spoonfuls of it, the exp ratio is tight too there isn’t a huge gap between levels which is why these games flow so well. I made it through Jade problem only killing 100 enemies throughout the whole game, so the focus of the game is on the story and not the next level. When is the last time a Final fantasy game wasn’t about the grind? That being said I don’t have square but there last couple weren’t good or even pretty good, they were lousy. Its time for them to take back there thrown and to take the power back, they have a dynasty of great games, too many for me to even write out here. Bioware has maybe 5 or huge games under there belt and they all seem to be good games or have good intentions with everything they make. Hopefully square can pull it together with final fantasy because with the economy the way it is any misstep could mean trouble with there new risky aqusitions.

TIME TO SMOKE!

Some times good guys don't wear white.

Alright so I’m into jade empire now, it took me a bit but its getting interesting now and even thought the story line hasn’t really progressed much because of the thousand and one side quests. They sure know how to make a side quest interesting over there at Bioware, from helping a scorned women get vengeance against her ex-boy friend through brutal murder or helping some spirits get some peace in the after life there is a lot more subplot lines in this game then most of the other games that I’ve play. Last night I had to force myself to stop playing before the assault on a Lotus Assassins stronghold, it was 4 and I had to work the next day so it was quit or sleep walk my way through work not that I’ve never done that before . At the pace that I’m playing this game right now I think I can have this game beaten by next weekend if nothing big comes up in the real world.

What I really want to write about is the option to play a good or evil character, Bioware an a few other companies have started implemented in there RPG games. The opportunity to effect the morality of the character you are playing is really interesting to me and it does some what effect the path of the game. In my case as hard as I try there’s no way I can play an evil character in a video game like this. Already in Jade Empire I’ve played the open handed course, which is basically the good guys: halo and all. For some reason playing the good guy is the only way I play a video game, which is funny because I love the Grand theft auto games….you can’t be a saint all the time. Playing the closed fist path might have been fun but in the end I would just end up having a case of pixilated guilt.

The first case of this was Fable, I loved the legacy building mechanics as the begging of the game, and basically your actions effect how you start the game. It was really simple and brilliant the way small actions like stopping a bully from stealing a doll from a little girl or taking it yourself changing your character. So the first time I played fable I played the good guy, but the second time I was the bad guy…it didn’t really last very long. Makes me wonder why they would want to screw with my emotions like that, when the little girl started crying after I took her doll I felt TERRIABLE and instantly regretted it. The worst part are the NPC's that say things like “I have a family, please don’t kill me!” or “Why are you doing this to me?” hearing that kind of makes you want to apologize to them and why; consider there just failed actors that are doing voice work because they aren’t getting enough hours at McDonalds. Either way it didn’t really effect the game much, they do look different depending on which way you go and they treated different but they story line pretty much stays the same, to be honest I couldn’t continue on the evil path and quit the game shortly after I started it…man I’m a wimp.

Fallout 3 for me is the same way and yes I’m a good guy again, it would be a lot easier to be evil if they didn’t give every character a voice. Man it’s like an emotional cheese grater when you hurt people in that game too, the reactions of the people after you do something evil like say…killing the Sheriff of megaton, everyone in town starts shooting or stabbing you. In that case it’s good that it didn’t auto save cause I felt like shit after doing that, if my Mom hadn’t instilled bullshit like “values” and “respect for human life” in me then I might be enjoying this game more. It’s strange how good and evil paths effect me in video game worlds, I’ve never had any problem killing the citizens of Los Santos in Grand Theft Auto. The only difference is the halo or horns that show up on my head after I commit an act of good or bad thing that causes a ripple in the world around me. But enough of this, I’m going to try to be evil in Knights of the old republic…I hope for my sake the dark side is the right path for me.

TIME FOR A SMOKE!

A few thoughts for the day.

* I really wanna play Skate 2 ever sense I played the demo

* I heard there was a patch for Gears of war 2's multiplayer modes going to try it this weekend for the first time

* I'm concerned about God of War 3 now that I heard that Dave jaffey isn't in on the project.

* Theres no way that I'm going to be able to beat Jade Empire before the end of the month.

* layoffs are starting at both Microsoft and sony.

* It cuts me deep that I didn't get done with Fallout 3 before the first dlc comes out

* Resident Evil 5 Demo is up for download.

And now Cedricks_human bitching about his pile of shame…aka Jade Empire

I’m about a third of the way through Jade empire, something like 16 hours into it give or take a few minutes here or there and I’m finally starting to get into it. Its not that it’s a bad game but there is something that feels kind of generic about the environments and the combat system seems like it was tacked on. Yeah I know a game that’s about a crew of destiny warriors having tacked on fighting, how did that happen most of the time during combat all I really have to do is dodge until I’m behind my enemy and then hit them in the back. It wouldn’t be so bad but its just repeating that cycle over and over again gets really boring. Knowing the outcome of every fight as long as I follow that combo kind of takes the fun factor out of the game. Now I’ve heard the definition of madness is doing something over and over again expecting different results but what happens when it always works, what would Freud probably something like “The fuck do I know I’m high on coke right now” smart man that Freud. This is a Bioware game and as of late in my mind there held in higher regard then manly because Square for some reason has this quantity over quality thing going on. But when they were at there peak they were golden and untouchable, now that America is getting ahead of the Asian companies and the balance of power is shifting. But enough about square Jade Empire is my target for now, anyway what I was really trying to say is screw your dialogue trees and work on the core mechanics of the game. The more I think about it Mass Effect had the same problems with is own combat system, even if it did feel better then jade empires does, I know its not easy to make a game I’ve never been tempted too But can you really have one without the other, a good story to go along with an epic rpg is important but so is combat. Out of the 16 hours of play time I’ve spent most of the time running through lines of dialogue like I’m studying to be the lead in a high school play. I guess you could say well why did you buy this game, you knew Biowares M.O dialogue trees and story are what put asses in the seats. Sacrificing one for the other isn’t OKAY its just another sloppy developer trick, woo them with the graphics (which for the time were really good) and the bells and whistles of story based dialog trees then put an Band aid on it with “combat” written on it. If you think I’m bitching now wait until I got through the same BS on Kotor.

Time to smoke!

My big disappointment...The Wii

So, I said I was going to touch on the Nintendo Wii and here goes. This has been a long time coming. So, when the Wii was put out my buddy Eric picked one up. He actually walked into a Target a few weeks after the release and there was one sitting right there on the shelves. So, he bought it. He has since sold his and for a very good reason. I will delve into that later. So he set it up and had us all over to play Wii Sports. I fell in love with the system right then and there. It was fun and showed great signs of things to come.

Well, I was at work one day and a woman in IT sent out a mass email to the whole building saying that she had a brand spanking new on for sale for the original price. I jumped on it. She could have easily sold it on Ebay at that point for probably twice the cost if not more. I got it home and set it up and started playing. Then it struck me. This sucks when you play it alone. So, I picked up Zelda, Raving Rabbids, and a few other games for the system. "Alright, I can do this alone," I thought but I was only kidding myself. I felt stupid waving the wiimote around and the games just weren't challenging. So it sat there next to my television collecting dust and being broken out when I had people over. It was still fun with a group of people after all. I've played one other game for a different system that falls into this catagory as well. That being Rock Band for the PS3. Yes, it's a great game but it's just not something I want to sit around and play by myself. At least that still gets broken out when I have people over. The Wii just sits there.

Don't get me wrong. I keep trying with the Wii but the love isn't there. People are jazzed about the old games you can download and play on the system or the fact that they can play Gamecube games on the system as well. Well, you know what? The only game on the virtual console I want that I haven't downloaded yet is Toe Jam and Earl and that's for purly nastolgic reasons. I remember playing the hell out of that game with my friend Matt back in the day. Otherwise all the other games I can just pick up at garage sales, Ebay, or at used game stores like Cedar Cliff Collectables. Not really meaning to put a plug in for them but the store is awesome. If you've been there you know what I mean. It's kind of like that really good used book store with books piled up on the floor that you could spend hours digging through but instead of books it's used games and systems, action figures, anime, comics, etc. Anyway, the point is I don't see the point to it. I found one game that was absolutely a blast to play and that was Excite Truck. I'm not even a racing fan but that game to me captured everything that an arcade racing game ought to be or tried to be. Zak and Wiki was a challenging puzzle game but over all lost it's appeal in the end. Paper Mario was decent but over all was just the same thing over and over again. No More Heroes was intesting and had a good feel to it at first and then became this overly repetitive thing...I can go on and on and on.

The Nintendo Wii is just not a gamers system. Nintendo lets all these companies release game after game of pure kid oriented crap. When I say crap that's exactly what I mean too. Is there a single adult out there that wants to play Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey or all of the stupid Petz games? I don't think so. I will give Nintendo a little credit though. They have put out something remotely interesting with the balance board. The downside to it is that it's only being used for games that aren't games. Wii Fit or the other various excersize games. They have totally alienated the actual gamers out there and that's why Eric sold his system and why mine has been that close to being sold as well. Sometimes I am just hopeful that there will be the rare gem that comes out for the system that is actually fun and challenging to play by yourself instead of having to have a group of people over to play it but my hopes keep getting dashed. And fuck no I am not buying into the Animal Crossing craze. That shit is exceptionally lame. Shoot me. If you have any suggestions for games to check out for the system please let me know. Or if you're looking for the system let me know what price you're willing to pay.

Psyconauts and the terrors of Sloppy ports.

This is my first post about my pile of shame, there were a few problems with my copy of Psyconauts but in the end I beat it and enjoyed beating it too. Here are a few of my thoughts on the game.

The game that I am playing first is Psyconauts is the story of a boy that runs away from the circus to join a camp for psychics as lame as that sounds the game infact is one of the best poorly executed games I’ve played. Don’t let it fool you this game is ripe with crazy some times disturbing stuff, but sticking with it and its problem will make up for its bubble gum extiore and also shows why Tim Shafer is one of the most creature and funny guys in the video game industry. The sad part about the version I was playing is that something was lost in the translation from Xbox to the playstation 2 version; it seemed to be a sloppy port with all the problems that go along with the words “sloppy port”. The controls were muddy and some times it seemed like randomly hitting buttons was replacing any kind of skill at playing the game. The graphics were also really questionable at times and I still have no idea how I made it through the “through the eyes of the monster” chase sequence, infact that happened to me a lot while playing this game it seemed like it was apologizing to me at points; putting me on the right path through the more confusing points in the game. Which are problems most of the time but the quirky characters and levels were the reason that I kept on going and were pretty much the reason I kept playing it …well that and finishing my pile of shame. The characters are incredibly well thought out from Razes problems with his dads hatred for psychics because of the families past problems with them to Dogans tin fail hat that he wears to prevent him from making the other campers head explode, there a lot of love put into every character and it show thought out the game, each of them representing the different arch types of personalities. Raz himself is one of the best characters I’ve played in a game, he’s the loveable loser type that gets tossed into crazy sinerios and forced to deal with them. It seems like a lot of games that I’ve been playing or plan to be playing have that same type of character as the hero in them. But in this case the sinero unfolds as raz runs away from the Circus to go to Psychic camp, the problem starts when the brains of his fellow campers start being stolen. Which leads to some interesting levels as he works his way through the screwy psyches using his psycho portal to enters some of the characters minds and helps them deal with there mental blocks. The Psyche levels are where this game really shines, the levels themselves are just as interesting as the characters and telling you too much about they would ruin my favorite part of the game. So I’ll just give a small part of one of the levels, one of my favorite levels was the velvet painting in the mind of the artist, I love the contrast of the black background highlighted by the brite neon blues and pinks, not even the misplaced camera and the clunky platforming could have killed this level for me. This level reminds me of a stoners room full of black lit posters, I wish that this game would have been given a bit more time to cook cause the small things in it seem to make the big problems, even if I sound like I didn’t like it: I did enjoy playing this game. My hope is that Brutal Legend is a better put together game and really I’m pretty much ready to put down the money for it regardless of how it turns out I have a feeling Tim Shafter needs the money.

A brief introduction to the fat cold bastard in the cities

So, my buddy texts me several, SEVERAL, times about "Hey, I have this great idea for a blog" etc. Well, here we are. Finally putting things together and getting it started. Now, you might wonder what qualifies us to blog about video games and the industry as a whole and the answer to that is simple. We like gaming and other random shit we post...So, if you don't like it don't read it. What systems do you play on is another question you might ask yourself as well. This might take a little longer to explain.

If you know anything about Moose Lake Minnesota, the town I grew up in) you're going to know one thing. It's definitely no cultural mecca. To get our video game fix we would have to go to Gamper's bowling alley, Pamida in Cloquet, up to Duluth to the arcades that no longer exist, actually buy video games (saving up allowance money kind of sucked back then), or wait for the 4th of July town celebration and the carnies to come into town. Mostly we went to Gampers or waited for the 4th of July. That is until the Atari hit. I can still remember my parents bringing that glorious machine home and them setting it up. Playing Asteroids and Combat all the time. There was also that one game called Adventure where all you were was a little square and you had to collect colored keys to get into certain castles and avoid the bats and dragons. I think that is honestly my favorite game for that system still to this day.

Then along came the Nintendo. I think I was in seventh grade when it seemed like all of my friends were getting it. That Christmas all I asked for was a Nintendo. I won't go into details about how that Christmas went down but we definitely got the Nintedo and I got a NES Advantage as well. The Nintendo was used and it was missing the front flap but it worked just fine. Go to find out later that my parents bought it from one of their friends that happened to live on a reservation. For all I know the system was hot. This "friend" of theirs did some pretty shady shit in his past like stealing a fridge from a bar amoungst other things. Anywa, this is the system that really started the video game addiction for me. Things that actually really looked like things and oh the games...So many great games for the Nintendo. I actually got rid of the Nintendo a long time ago but recently bought a top loading one off of Ebay and started populating my games for it again. Personal favorite for that system is a toss up between three games. Yes, I realize Super Mario Bros. 3 is the pinacle for that system and yes, technically probably the best game for the system which is why it's a no brainer and I am not including it in my top three. First there's Crystalis. I'm sorry but without this game there may never have been Secret of Mana for the SNES. You can shoot me for thinking that but it's the truth in my world. Very simular styles of gaming for both of those. Then there's that lovely cave dwelling family in Legacy of the Wizard. I think this game is still the shit today. I can pop it in and mindlessly wander around those caves for hours. Finally Nobunaga's Ambition. Nothing really needs to be said about this game. You either love it or hate it. Personally I am looking forward to playing the latest installment for the PS2.

From here I went on to the Super Nintendo. I remember being in high school and buying it off of a guy that was in my class. That system really started showing where the video game industry could go. Yeah, I know a lot of people were Nintendo or Genesis fanboys back then and yes there were decent games for both systems but the SNES had the Genesis beat hands down. I did eventually sell that system to a friend of mine at one point but just like with the original NES I had to re-buy this on ebay and populate my games for it as well. The cream of the crop for me being Secret of Mana, Super Mario RPG, and of course a Link to the Past.

Now in college they put out the N64. I was a big fan of this and still remember playing Mario Kart 64 in one of the floor lounges with my buddy Dom until our eyes were blood red and we were so tired that everything seemed funny. No we weren't smoking weed either. Just playing all night. I have absolutely no desire to replace this system what-so-ever. Looking back at it there were only a few good games for the system and that's it. Of course the Turock games were fun and you can't beat Golden Eye for it but really, what else did this system have?

Now I am really not going to go into much detail of the systems or games but I did finally bow down to Sony and bought the Playstation. Just like everyone else on the planet I fell in love with the system and the huge library of games that it had. Then I picked up the PS2 and fell hard for that system. There were just too many amazing games for the PS2 but my personal favorite for a series had to be the Fatal Frame games...I don't know what it was about those games but they really sucked me in. The next system I got was the Nintendo DS. I got this as a reluctant birthday gift from my now ex-wife...I guess it's the one thing I ever got from her that I've actually kept. Well, that is except for a picture that's framed on the wall that has two devil children holding hands and it has the caption "Our Special Lil' Hell" which fully describes my marriage. The DS was great as a novelty but I never really fell in love with it. I did really like Hotel Dusk for that system. After I moved out of the house and into my apartment thanks to the impending divorce I bought myself a toy to try to keep me busy. I picked up the Nintendo Wii. Initially there was lots of love for this system but then the love wore off and it just sat there nagging at me. My next blog will be all about the Wii. Later the next year I broke down and bought a 60gb PS3. I was ready for the system seeing as there was nothing, NOTHING coming out for the Wii that I was even remotely interested in playing. Now, I'm some 30 games deep into this system and loving it. It also helps that I have a set-up that really utilizes it and the blu-ray player.

Now, there's also the smattering of other systems I've played but never bought. Atari Jaguar, Dreamcast, XBox, XBox 360, etc...Don't get me wrong, if I had the spare money to throw at another system I might bow down before Microsoft but as it stands I only have the time and money to put into the systems I already own. So there you go, my video game history in a nutshell.

Now that I have recently moved, again in the dead of winter, I must attempt to work on unpacking those beloved video game systems and getting everything else unpacked. Here's to all the Frozen Thumbs. Hope this starts a long friendship of blogging and video game discussions.

Pile of shame and the great new year Cleaning.

Alright its a New year and its time to start cleaning house, so I can start a new and more shameful pile of video games that I want to play but ran out of the ambition to. I picked five games right out of the gate to play to there completion, Psyconauts, Gta; San Andreas, Jade Empire, Panzer Dragoon Ortia and God of war 2. These games have been sitting on my shelf for varying amounts of time, now is the time to beat them or at least make a good show of it. My quest started in January, look at that its still the first month of the year and I'm two games in to my BIG five, now if I can just stick with this crap then I'll be alright..Basically I just wanna make it through 10 of them, for good or for bad and thats what I'll be writing about until I finish them. At that point I expect they'll be a parade for me. Nothing special but as I'm being carried down the street on my golden thrown by four midgets I'm thinking the women of Duluth will be throwing rose pedals on the path and screaming about how they want my man marmalade..Man I can't wait to finish them, anyway your going to have to excuse my writing, punctuation and my sentence structure. If you can forgive me for that, then I think we'll be ok for the rest of the blog.