July 2009 Archives

After chatting with cvgames.com's Kaleb Rutherford on the KomboBreaker podcast about the future of the Xbox 360 and PS3, and of course reading his article on Why the PS3 Will Ultimately Win This Generation, I of course had to write a response. I'd like to focus the question a little more though. Rather than asking which console is going to "win," I'll phrase it like this: Of the Xbox 360 and PS3, which console will outlast the other as the primary gamer's console?

This removes the Wii from the equation and keeps us from going on about it too long. Regardless of its validity as a console, it's not the primary gamer's console. It has a lot of solid games, but it's not going to be the first choice for someone who plays a wide variety of games or plays primarily online.

Check out the full article.

Today's secret word is "gameplay." Whenever anyone says the secret word, I want you to scream real loud, okay?

Or not, that's fine too.

There's some debate lately in the myriad of podcasts and blogs I consume every week about that word, and whether it should be excised entirely from the collective critical vocabulary.

One article written a while back suggests that using the word gameplay is like saying "bookread" or "moviewatch." It's a nonsense term that has no meaning. That seems to be the brunt of the argument.

Check out the full article.

When I first played the Sega Genesis, one thing I remember seeing that surprised me coming from the NES was the options menu. Difficulty and button configuration options blew my mind. I'm not even exaggerating. I guess I was like 12 at the time, so maybe it wasn't that difficult.

Now we have two, three times the buttons, high definition televisions, 5.1 stereo systems, user profiles and more, so the games ought to reflect that, right? Not so much, no.

Check out the full article.

Every time news of the most recently licensed anime hits the internet, I find a new reason to get pissed off. Strangely enough, it's not who's licensed what that bugs me. No, it's the message boards. I know, doc, you said reading those things is going to give me an ulcer. But I do it all the same.

Something I've taken extra time to learn a bit about but feel many fans don't get a chance to hear about is the costs associated with bringing an anime over to the US. In a thread over on the Anime News Network, one Eden of the East fan said that if the theme song (by Oasis) isn't there, then there's no way he/she will buy it.

Seriously? 90 seconds at the beginning ruins the story for you?

Check out the full article.

I finally managed to pick up a copy of MadWorld this week. It's not that it's hard to find, there are just so many games. Aside from the main character's voice actor having been in about a million different anime, I've been finding the biggest distraction to be the violence.

Wait, in MadWorld of all games, the violence is a distraction?

The game itself is fairly fun. It gives me an excuse to turn the Wii on for something other than a system update (Punch-Out and Boom Blox aside - those are next on the list). I love the black-and-white-and-red-all-over art style. The mechanics are entertaining.

After about half an hour of gameplay, though, I found myself clicking the cancel button every time a killshot popped up. I'm not shying away from the violence, mind you. I've played my share of violent games and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon. (Wolverine, you're next!) I found, however, that the almost pornographic focus on the kill was getting in the way of me enjoying the game.

Check out the full article.

One of the big questions of this generation has been "How do we do downloadable content right?" It has been constantly mutating and changing since the beginning. We watched Bethesda's big folly with the horse armor and their first big success with the Shivering Isles. Now, some bugs aside, it seems like they've got the hang of it for the most part. They're keeping the game in our consoles and keeping it relevant.

However, not everyone seems to get it quite yet. Capcom's DLC for Resident Evil 5 is the hotly debated Versus mode. What seems like a standard game mode was released as pay-to-play content just a week after the game's release. It's also universally seen as not only unnecessary, but not very fun, either.

So, those are the three cardinal sins of downloadable content: Releasing too soon, having the appearance of content cut from the retail disc, and—yes, this will sound obvious—not being very good.

So, what could Capcom—or any other developer—do?

Check out the full article.

NOTE: This is actually a reprint of an article I posted on this blog about six months back. It’s one of those evergreen sorts of things. But please, go throw down a comment! I like comments. Even from the Peanut Gallery.

Check out the article.

While talking to my brother today, I asked him what he's been playing. He doesn't normally play games, but he's been home sick from work for an extended period and has an Xbox 360 on loan from a friend.

"Turok!" he says, enthusiastically.

"Man, really? I'm sorry--" I start.

"It's awesome, you get to shoot dinosaurs and s--t!"

"Hey, if you're having fun, who am I to stop you?" was all I had to say.

Check out the full article.

We're friends of friends. We don't really talk much, except at parties. There's been a certain admiration for years. I look across the room and sometimes I even try to talk. But someone else always knows just what to say, and I'm left lonely and beaten.

Here's looking at you, Street Fighter.

Check out the full article.

Of all the games coming in the next six months, what are you the most psyched about right now? Sure there are games like Splinter Cell and Modern Warfare on the horizon, but there's something even better coming!

Yeah yeah, those games might have it in the gameplay department, but nothing beats this one when it comes to writing.

You guessed it (or not): The Secret of Monkey Island.

Hitting the shelves in the even-now popular floppy disk format back in 1990, The Secret of Monkey Island (and the three sequels that followed) is one of the landmark titles of the point-and-click adventure genre of games; one that seems to be having a resurgence lately. Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templar hit Wii and DS earlier this year and is definitely worth picking up (especially on the DS) and now this announcement comes out of E3: The Secret of Monkey Island comes to PC and Xbox Live Arcade this year. I don't know if it's actually possible for me to be happier.

Oh wait.

Check out the full article.

With Slam Dunk 5, we’re finally in the thick of it, with Shohoku and Ryonan’s teams playing as if their lives depended on it. Our hero Hanamichi is finally off the sidelines and in the game, ready to prove that he is Shohoku’s secret weapon. As usual, Hanamichi learns on the court, growing as a player before our eyes.

Of course with a guy like Hanamichi, it’s hard not to grow when you’re all but a blank slate. He flounders on the court for some time, struggling with both his role and his antagonistic feelings toward Rukawa, and making use of the skills Gori Akagi taught him.

Check out the full review.

For being the guys famous for Horse Armor, the guys at Bethesda sure have come a long way. As one of the few companies able to pull off consistently released and high quality downloadable gaming, they also stand as part of a very small group along with Telltale Games (Sam and Max, Monkey Island).

Point Lookout is just the latest in the list of great downloads for Fallout 3, and the first following the cap-raising Broken Steel. All that said, this is easily my favorite expansion yet.

Point Lookout takes the wanderer from Vault 101, via riverboat, to the coastal swamps of what was once Maryland. The riverboat dumps you off at the Point Lookout boardwalk, the desolate remains of a tourist park. While definitely different from the look of the Capital Wasteland, it's not until you get further inland that you really start to see how different things are. Point Lookout is all foggy swampland, and the wooden shacks give you an idea of what kind of local flavor you'll be facing before you even meet them for the first time.

Check out the full article.

This week, one of my all time favorite shows finally hit DVD: The State. Well, technically it hits in two weeks, on Bastille Day. Which, if I understand correctly, is a day to celebrate bastilles.

Anyway, I preordered it, so I got it early, along with a snazzy grey t-shirt that I intend to wear as soon as possible. It’s a 5 disc set with all four seasons, an unaired pilot, as well as some filmed and later cut sketches. Included in the box is a note from the cast of the show, advising we the viewer of something that we’re going to have to deal with regularly as MTV releases some of its older shows on DVD.

We’ll call July 14th “The Day The Music Went Away.” Due to the extreme cost of licensing, the music that was freely available for MTV to use in their shows while they were airing is no longer available for DVD release without additional licensing costs.

Sometimes it works out fine, but some sketches are inextricably linked, either thematically or through direct references, to the music playing. The best example is Barry and Levon (aww yeah) talking about the Marvin Gaye song playing in the background. The producers have done their best to match the music as closely as possible but sometimes it just doesn’t work. I’d rather have the DVD sans music than not have it at all, but I’m more worried about Daria, for which the DVD has a preview.

Daria, even more than The State, was a show where the music’s role was integral to many scenes. It established the tone and emotion for the characters and the story, and removing that music is really going to hit the show hard.

I don’t hold these problems against the creators of the show or against MTV itself, but rather against the labels that are asking exorbitant amounts of money to use even a segment of their song. “Hey guys, here’s six hours of advertisement for your songs, and millions of people will purchase it!” “Okay, pay us a billion dollars!” Now, instead of getting some free advertising, they’re forcing the producers to change the music completely. Both of those shows had tons of great music from the time and the shows both got me buying CDs. I’ve gone and bought single mp3s because of the shows as well.

So MTV, thank you for bringing us your best shows. We’re happy to have them.

Record labels, why you jackin’ us and messing up our shows?