Control Freak: A Bone To Pick

Looking through my traffic sources on Blogger I've come across a few interesting findings; It seems that the majority of my page views have come from outside of the US. Not that I'm complaining about the total count but I'm a US-based blogger for games released mainly in the US. I don't have a PAL converter and I don't import any games; so I find it rather odd that in the last DAY alone, as of writing this, I received 50 page views from Indonesia. 

What do I have to do with that country??

This is just a gaming blog and if there are gamers in Indonesia who like to read my reviews then by all means that's awesome. Leave a comment (in English) and let me know what the gaming scene is like there. But if a website is redirecting people here for some unknown reason then I apologize. 

I am not affiliated with any website, professional or amateur, corporate or independent, in any way, shape, or form. Its just me at home pounding out my thoughts about games on my laptop. I do post my reviews to ScrewAttack and maybe some community-based sites but other than that I am not getting paid to do this. No corporation has given me review copies or codes. I didn't win any contests and I don't know people in the industry.

(On a side note: most of you are viewing from Internet Explorer. Time to drop that and get with Firefox, noobs. Also, 25 of you have viewed this from a PSP. Wow, way to stick to your guns. *thumbs up*)

Besides that incoming of views from outside the US, I've apparently been trafficked by a local sex/hook-up site. By local I mean that it has my city's name on the front page. While I make no bones about where I'm from, I try to not discuss it openly due to stereotypes. I have been called names because of my locale so to avoid any misconceptions about the people surrounding this town I prefer to stay away from them and write like I have a little intelligence. I'm open about being just a human. I'm not an Internet God and I don't conceal who I am. Some bloggers do that and it seems they're just trying to live a second life.

I just find it rather odd that I all of a sudden have views coming in from a foreign country. I'm also glad that so far no one has associated me with being a REAL mercenary. I don't think I've ever explained the meaning behind my gamertag:

I was once in a gaming clan for Counter-Strike, mainly Source. We had a decent-sized group of individuals and we were never serious about playing professionally, mostly pubs and scrim matches. It eventually came to a point where there were suddenly too many members for our leader to control. One day it just went away. I still talked to some of the members and they asked me to play with their new clans. So I would jump between clans, changing my clan tag with each one. I became a mercenary for them. At the time I was also playing Mercenaries on Xbox so the name seemed to fit. As for the BIG part... well I'm fat. Need I say more about that?

That's pretty much all I have to say. So if you've come here due to a redirect then I apologize. I don't have any affiliations with any website so they're linking to me without my knowledge. If you've found my blog somehow through a shady website that has nothing to do with gaming, then I apologize again. I'm just an amateur writer with a passion for gaming. I mean nothing in the grand scheme of the Internet. All I do is play games and write about them.

Keep Playing.

Random Blog: Fighting Games (And My Problem Thereof)

 (As always, pictures taken from Gamespot.com)

A few years ago I posted a blog on several gaming communities titled 2D Fighters (and my problem thereof). To date this has been the single most viewed blog I've ever had with over 1200 views on GameTrailers. The topic of fighting games is a big one and in most cases one that rarely brings out flamers unless you proclaim one game is better than another. Pretty much all fans of fighting games can agree that they take skill, timing, knowledge of character combos, hit detection, and a little bit of luck.

All of these are things that I don't have yet I still like to play them.

Every now and then I dig out Street Fighter Anniversary Collection and play 3rd Strike when my cousin's kids come over. I'm trying to teach them to play Ryu/Ken but they can't get the hang of the quarter-circle.

I'll give you a minute to pick yourself off of the ground from laughing so hard about that one: they don't know how to do the quarter-circle.

 

 

Better? Okay.

In the blog mentioned I talk about how I was hooked on fighting games for a while. I played through Guilty Gear X2 #Reload on the Xbox and broke several controllers because of I-No. To this day I have never bothered to try and beat her again. I went through the Dead or Alive series on Xbox with very few problems and was just underwhelmed with how easy it was to win while button-mashing. I'll give the DoA series kudos for fluid fighting controls and being able to smoothly stream combos together, but aside from that its shallow on story and mainly caters to pervs because of the jiggle physics. But I digress, I'm not here to review games.

Since writing that blog I've found:
Soul Blade on PS1
Soul Calibur on Dreamcast
Soul Calibur 3 on PS2
Street Figher Alpha on PS1
Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max on PSP
Street Fighter 2: Championship Edition on Genesis
Super SF2 on SNES
Street Fighter IV on PC
Capcom vs SNK 2 EO on Xbox
Art of Fighting on SNES
King of Fighters '95 on GameBoy
King of Fighters R-2 on Neo Geo Pocket Color
King of Fighters XI on PS2 (which was stolen)
I reacquired TMNT Tournament Fighters and its still impossible to beat even one match
Killer Instinct on GameBoy
Primal Rage on GB and SNES
Fighter's History on SNES

As you can see my fighting game collection has increased quite a bit and some of them I'm amazed that I've found. I'm still looking for whatever fighting games I can and since recently getting a job Amazon and Ebay have opened up new doors. But while all of these games are great, they each do their own thing and do them well. I just have one major gripe  with all of them: I'm playing them alone.

On some rare occasions I can get together with some friends and play some Marvel vs Capcom 3, but unless its my cousin's kids who can't throw fireballs or being unable to win while being verbally abused by a "friend," I just can't find anyone to play with. I know there's always playing online but more people use the Xbox 360 and I have no money to spend on a gold account, on top of that it leaves out all the classic fighting games. I'm one of the few who prefers to have friends around when we're beating the crap out of each other.

On one hand I can hone my skills against the AI by playing offline but sooner or later I just grow tired of it and by the time that happens no one plays the game anymore. I'm not competitive so I don't really care about getting good enough for tournaments or playing online for hours.

Its all a dilemma: I love fighting games because of the skill, even though I lack it on most of them. I hate the fact that no one ever wants to play 1-on-1 with me because they think I already know all the moves to every character when I don't.

I recently bought Street Fighter IV on PC because it came with a DVD, it was cheap and it was a better option than the Sonic Mega Collection I was originally going to get for the DS (Sorry SEGA). It took over 10 minutes to install and when I hopped on I went right to the arcade but was immediately challenged by someone. After the fourth time that happened I figured out how to turn the auto-accept off and could play the arcade mode in peace. After that I only played two matches online and only won one round. It was good but my lack of experience coupled with slow connections of other players means its tough for me (not to mention that there were only 4 or 5 other people playing).
I've heard of people disconnecting because they started losing a match and I could easily disconnect by pressing a single key on my laptop but I promised myself I wouldn't do that. I played 2 hours of the arcade and got hellbent frustrated with how difficult it gets even on the easiest setting.

Which brings me to another problem I have with fighting games: the difficulty in arcade modes. I've said before and I'll always stand by it that I am not an expert at fighting games. Some of them, Street Fighter in particular, are known for increasing the difficulty with each match as you progress in the Arcade mode. I can understand and appreciate challenge, but when the AI knows exactly when to block after I throw what would have been a 6 hit combo at them, it starts to get more than a little ridiculous.

Another problem is the behemoth of Street Fighter, or more so Capcom itself. They've created a giant with the series and it seems that most reviewers always try to compare a new fighting game to anything SF-related. With Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition soon coming out along with Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom AND Street Fighter x Tekken (additionally Tekken x Street Fighter due out next year), it seems impossible for any other series to hold a candle to the biggest fighting franchise in history.
I'll just come out and say it: I prefer King of Fighters. For the past few games they've gone through the Ash Crimson saga and are now on a new "storyline" in the game universe. The action is more fast-paced and the fighting system has changed little over the years. It doesn't need to change because its stable as it is.
Capcom also has a problem with DLC and being greedy. They've been releasing high-priced DLC not just for Street Fighter but for their other games as well as releasing new versions of SF, even after claiming they wouldn't do that. And yet people keep buying them.

I may forever be terrible at fighting games and I'm sure there are more controllers to be broken in my future, but I'll keep playing them. I enjoy the challenge of some fighting games even without other people. The fast-paced action of some of them is a good eye opener and keeps me on my toes with a good adrenaline rush. While it is up to me to push myself to get better, I'd rather play with other people more often than I do. I just bought SFIV on the PC and I have two PC controllers, I guess I can always trick my brother into playing against me.

 Keep Playing.

Want to see a HUGE list of fighting games from all consoles, all generations, and all styles? Check out Fighters Generation.com by clicking the banner above.

E3, Microsoft and YOU

On Monday morning, the level of stupidity on the internet rose to epic proportions as scores of mindless fanboys rose up in anger with pitchforks and torches and demanded the death of the heads and developers of Microsoft.
Turning on their once beloved console, these fanboys forgot about the years of entertainment that the Xbox 360 had given them.
Alas, they wanted more. Rather than letting Microsoft broaden the scope of the Xbox 360, these fanboys insisted that they receive more mindless destruction video games, scantily-clad women, short storylines and bad voice acting.

What they seem to forget is that Kinect is aimed towards the casual audience.
I KNOW!
How DARE Microsoft attempt to turn a video game console into a casual machine! They shouldn't make money from it that way! They should keep charging $60 for a game that players will forget in less than a month!

Kinectimals featured a little girl playing with a tiger, and the fanboys demanded blood. What they forgot at that precise moment was that Kinectimals was made for little kids.
They saw Kinect Adventures and proceeded to tear out their own eyes. They also forgot that this game, no matter how unimportant it seemed, was meant for the casual gamers as well. If someone invites their friends over for a movie and says "Let's play some games first," they can all JUMP IN (Xbox 360's motto) and play together.
They saw Kinect Joyride and demanded a human sacrifice. Nevermind the fact that it's a kart racer and that it was already announced to be supported by the Kinect.
The fanboys saw the fitness program and it made them sweat. I guarantee that half of them are actually obese gamers and hate the thought of exercising.

I am one, I know I need to exercise. That's why I'll be buying the Kinect. At least it will separate me from you mindless baboons that demand to see explosions and hear 12-year-olds, frat boys and potheads curse you out for fragging them.
Want to know why gamers get such a bad rep? It's all of you that get in an uproar when you see something you don't like.
"Hardcore" gamers are some of the whiniest child-like people I have ever come across. If something isn't up to their standards, which are very low in this case, they voice their opinions thinking it will change the minds of the developers.

They simply REFUSE to step back and take a look at the potential that the Kinect offers. Most of them have been stuck inside their rooms for so many years that the main social interaction they've received is through a headset and party chat.
What if they could ACTUALLY see what their friends look like for a change? What if gaming could be something more social than a headset?
You fanboys are stuck in a rut and you don't want to come out of it.

Because Bulletstorm, Gears of War 3, Halo Reach, Metal Gear Rising, Assassins Creed: Brotherhood, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, Medal of Honor, Fable 3, Rock Band 3, Dead Rising 2, Red Faction: Armageddon, Portal 2, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, Crysis 2, a new Duke Nukem, Fallout: Vegas, Brink, Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit, Rage, and all these other games aren't enough for you....

You want more and you don't want to give the casual audience any leeway. You don't want Microsoft to try out new technology.

You all make me want to quit gaming.

Random Blog #3: Remembering the DC

Oh, What Dream(cast)s May Come.

Not my article, just thought I'd point this out to everyone. It's on Retrojunk and is a pretty good read.
It's hard to believe that on 9-9-09 it will have been 10 years since one of the greatest and most under-appreciated consoles was released. I'm glad I found one last year, a few months ago on an episode of Yahoo's Playback, it turns out the DC is much sought after these days.

And wait... wha? What's THIS? A new Dreamcast?
Nah, it was just a rumor. Though it would be a nice surprise: a 10th anniversary edition with DVD playback, USB support, and HD compatibility. That's just my mind thinking though.

Random Fact: Dreamcast games are STILL being made today by homebrew game makers. Since the Dreamcast was built using Windows CE, it's always been easy for people to create games, burn them to discs, and play them on a Dreamcast. All DC game releases these days are done through the internet, most require payment while a few are free to download and share. For a look at one of these games that is in development, head over to Hypertension by TDG Mods.

Speaking of rumors, there was another swirling around the toilet bowl of the internet that SEGA was planning on releasing a new handheld, aptly titled the Hedgehog. (If you read the entire article, you'll find out that the mock-up is nothing more than an April Fool's prank.) As nice as the drawings and such may look, I think we're all doing okay with our third versions of Nintendo DS' and PSP Go! and whatever else hunks of junk we can fit into our ever-sagging pants. *tightens belt*

Random fact: One of the most popular games on the Dreamcast, Half-Life/Blue Shift, was never released. Announced in 2000, the game was initially developed as an add-on for a Sega Dreamcast port of Half-Life; however, the port was canceled and Blue Shift was instead released for Windows. The unfinished source code for the game can be found on multiple websites and can be downloaded, burned to a blank CD, and played.

I can't help but think of what might have been if the SEGA had enjoyed success from the DC:
We would probably be on the dawn of the release of the Dreamcast 3, or a clever name chosen for the new console.
Sonic would have never been sodomized (for lack of a better word) by Sonic Team, he'd be doing just fine and still breaking the sound barrier on his home console. Unfortunately we would still have to deal with that annoying voice of his.
Being the inventors they were, maybe we would be using motion controls on their console instead of Nintendo's.
2K Sports, SEGA's in-house sports game development team, would be a major competitor against EA, Electronic Arts. (Additionally, Peter Moore, former president of SEGA USA, would have never become president of EA Sports.)

Random fact: The Dreamcast was the first console to feature Downloadable Content, or DLC. When connected to the internet via the console's interchangeable dial-up or high speed modem, the player could "download" items for use in games. Although it was just an unlock code that opened up a new race track or song, it was still pretty innovative.

The Dreamcast was SEGA's final attempt to get something right. After the previous console releases, add-ons, and consoles under development (which cause a snafu, which in turn caused developers to turn away, which caused SEGA to lose money), the DC truly was a Dream for gamers. It had the perfect line between the hardcore and the casual.

On 9-9-09, dust off your DC, play some Soul Calibur. If you don't have one: ebay.

Keep Playing.

Random Blog #2: Why all the hate?

When Tony Hawk's Ride was first announced, the masses silently booed, which rose to an audible "Durr... wut r dey thinkng? We dun need no mo' periferrals...."
I for one wanted Tony Hawk to go back to the arcade roots, be different from skate. Return us to what the series once was.

And now it has. It just took me a few months to realize it.

The skateboard peripheral that it introduces has been done before. Example 1:


I'm sure plenty of you have seen this piece of carbon in an arcade before. It's Sega's Top Skater. During the demo it'll spew out random phrases such as "Radical!" "Awesome!" and other phrases that died with the early 90's. It was a straightforward, downhill-style game (and ironically, a Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam on the Wii and DS are of the same style. But that's another part of this situation I don't want to get into.)

And speaking of arcades, Tony Hawk's first game, believe it or not, was in the arcades. The aptly named 720° (Degrees is pronounced when saying the name, btw) was brought about after Tony Hawk landed the, you guessed, 720° rotation.



Although he was never mentioned in any part of the game (at least I don't think he is) the credit goes to Hawk for inspiring it.

The Tony Hawk games have been all about pushing the limits, inventing new ways to play. Albeit Project 8 and Proving Ground were overcooked (Nail the Grab? Seriously?) Neversoft developed it's own thing once again.

So to those haters who say Tony Hawk needs to quit: Stop whining. The man has done so much for the sport of skateboarding and skateboarding video games meanwhile the only thing you can do is try to guess a kickflip from a heelflip. I would dare to go as far as to say that if it weren't for the TH games, skate. wouldn't exist.
I also want the haters to recognize this: have you ever compared Need For Speed Underground to Gran Turismo? If you did, hand over your Gamercard now. They are two seperate genres: arcade racing and sim racing.

Tony Hawk games = arcade skating.
skate. = sim skating.

Am I getting through to anyone?

Keep Playing.

Random Blog #1

SO I'm trying to get into the Twelve Sky 2 closed beta right now, I'm downloading it as I'm typing. I played the first game for a total of 2 days, was incredibly bored and unimpressed so I got rid of it. It's usually these Free-to-Play MMO's that get a lot of flak from me. Most of them follow the same general formula: Oriental background, PvP is expert-player level ONLY, and most of them have characters where you play as a kid (where are the parents?).
I've tried out a few more MMO's, one being RAN Online, a game from the Philippines. Pretty good up until the point where you realize there are over 100 levels. Around level 30 is when you start to think it's impossible. (Don't ask me for a link, I can't find any real site.)
Perfect World was one that I was going to try out, but I never could find the time to download it. One friend says it's almost as good as World of Warcraft, meanwhile the internet says it's crap. I don't know who to believe and if I can ever download it, I'll let you know.
I'm giving Twelve Sky 2 the benefit of the doubt and trying it out.

It was announced on GameTrailers that the next Tony Hawk game is going to be Tony Hawk: Ride. The game has been in development for two years and it uses a skateboard peripheral. I'm with the few intelligent people on the forums, rather than bashing the game and Tony himself, I agree that the games need to revert back to the simpler roots, the arcade goals, the fun gameplay... not this:






I've never been a huge fan of RTS games, or even good at them, but whenever I watch BattleCast Prime, it makes me want to play something. I spent about an hour earlier playing an old RTS and soon I'm going to reinstall Company of Heroes.
I've been meaning to get Command & Conquer 3 (or the all-in-one collection) but I can never find it. These days it's only the expansion that I'm finding in stores.

I'm going to be posting a new Tech News soon, sometime next week. Be on the lookout for that.
Also I'm going to try to do a few game reviews tomorrow, check the earlier post for access to my Gamespot account.

*UPDATE*
I finally DLed all of 12Sky 2 a couple days ago, it refused to work but I guess I wasn't the only one having this problem as they released a patch. I got the patch, played the game for less than 10 minutes, and then immediately uninstalled it. It's more of the same thing, some people are even at level 40. I take it they were there for the closed beta, but whatever. I'll stick with Guild Wars.

Keep Playing.

Random Blog: The Future of Gaming

(I wrote this back in July 08. Thought I'd give you all something to read since the original blog I was working on was deleted thanks to having to reformat my computer.)

Something that's been on my mind for a few months now has been, as the title states, where is gaming going in the future?
This generation has taken the leap to high definition. In the last generation we saw DVD players/CD recorders added to video game systems. The generation before that had CD players even before the Sony Playstation was introduced (think 3DO). We can even connect two of the current consoles to our computers and easily transfer music and videos. And the Xbox 360 has us playing against others using a PC.

So where's the next gen going to take us?

Are we going to see a blending between consoles? Playstation 4 players alongside the next Xbox players alongside PC players?
Are we going to see newer CD-type players? CD burners on the consoles? And how much are we going to need before we realize it's all too much?
Will home-created games become a new market?
What kind of connectivity are we going to have with our handheld systems?
Are holograms and virtual reality going to make a comeback? The possibility of holograms is now a reality, we've explored virtual reality in the past but most of it was simple polygons.
Are we going to see a wider spread of DLC?
Are games going to skip being sold in stores and go direct-to-download? (In other words: putting places like Gameslop out of business?)
Are achievements, trophies, etc. going to matter?
So many games take cues from other games that many claim the creators are running out of ideas. Are we going to see old games made new again or simply a reformatting and return of what once was? Or both?
Is Hollywood going to branch out and "make" more games or vice versa?
Are pros going to be more recognized among the mainstream? Will that in turn cause more competitive games to be made?
Are we going to see a blur between media? Such as comics, movies, music, tv and games becoming more intertwined.
What types of controllers are we going to see? (Such as the rumored 'finger-tip' controllers being developed by Nintendo.)
What will companies do to bring in more new customers?


There are a million different possibilities and there are a million different directions. What do you think is a possibility? Speak your opinions, I like to hear them.

Keep Playing.

Random Blog: N-Gage: What could have been

When the N-Gage was announced in ’03, there was very little buzz around it. Gamers were unsure of what they thought of a gaming telephone, and anyone who wasn’t a gamer sure as hell wasn’t going to buy one. Well of course not, it looked like a freakin’ taco.
Recently Nokia "moved" the N-Gage to a series of phones. Basically meaning they withdrew support and decided they would put ARM processors into new phones.

What went wrong with the entire thing is

1. The price. $300 for a phone that played games that looked like they were below PS1-quality.
2. It was easily outsold by the GBA.
3. In order to change the game you had to open the back of the deck and change out game cards.
   

The latter was changed with the introduction of the N-Gage QD: there was a side slot to easily change games. The graphical problems continued since the games were still low-quality.

Sure, the N-Gage could do a lot of things: play games, browse the web, make phone calls, play mp3s, etc., but what did it matter if the games sucked? That’s all that gamers were looking for and that's what most of the advertising went towards. And with the promise of the release of the Playstation Portable and the Nintendo DS, what reason was there to get one?
The N-Gage could have succeeded if it had waited 2 or 3 years. They could have taken a lot from other devices, such as the iPod, with the touch-sensitivity, a touch-screen like the DS, and media compatibility like the PSP.

If they had made it a sliding phone, the above would have been possible. I’ve used the Nvidia Tegra as an example, meaning I just drew on the thing to show you what imagine it could have been.
KEEP IN MIND: THIS IS THE NVIDIA TEGRA, NOT SOMETHING DRAWN BY ME, I’ve only drawn on the imagine. Even then, I'm sure this is a prototype image.

As you can see the N-Gage could have worked, the media-type could have been games DLed to the memory stick, DLed wirelessly, or bought in a store.

The two circles represent control stick areas, this is where the iPod touch-sensitivty comes into play. During game play the numbers and letters fade and the rings light up representing the touch areas. It has standard 4-buttons and shoulders buttons like on a console controller, as well as Start and Select. The Alt keys are replaced by start and select buttons. As for the screen to be touch-compatible, I'm sure that would jack the price up by about $50-$100.

If they had only waited, the N-Gage might have survived.