We weren't listing the nicest, huggiest, or chicken-soupiest moments in Madden history. We were listing milestones. And EA used their number one milestone to beat the competition completely to death, then they used it to mark their shallow graves. That isn't just a Madden mile stone, it has to be the single biggest can of whup ass ever opened in the video game industry. It makes what Sony did to Sega look like a half-hearted wedgie.
I know this isn't the Academy Awards or anything, but I'd like to give a shout out to Rick Byrne, the designer who took my flowchart from ghetto to ghetto fabulous. Also, while I'm at it, Maxwell Croy was very patient, and did an excellent job producing this feature.
Two arguments in favor of calling Jenova Sephiroth's mother - it isn't clear what effect her cells had on his DNA; if they're as strong and overbearing as she is, they could have altered all sorts of stuff making Jenova as much Sephiroth's biological mother as Lucrecia Crescent. Jenova's cells, after all, can make nearly anything happen. Especially bad, crazy things. Also, Sephiroth certainly seems to have taken after her a great deal. Genes aside, he seems to have adopted her.
Dead Rising is an afront to zombie kind. Zombies are not clowns here for your amusement, to be beaten with guitars and killed by cds. Even worse, all the bosses were human! And one of them was actually a clown. Outrageous. (I'm kidding, it was a great game and we had a feature segment in mind for it, but the piece was already so long, we decided to leave it out)
As many of you have noticed, this feature isn't for Naruto fans; it's a primer meant to acquaint uninitiated Gamespot readers with some of the cool aspects of the series, so that they can either feel comfortable checking out the games, or the anime (either version...every episode I watched was subtitled in Japanese, and Naruto's voice was still annoying). I was tempted to get specific. In particular I thought I might use one limp armed villain's exploits against Gatoh to try and hook people, but on second thought, I enjoyed that bit so much, I decided against spoiling it. As for the Harry Potter comparisson, I stand by it, and not just on the superficial strength of the trio, the Voldemort/Orochimaru connection, school or magic. Both works are coming of age stories laced with humor, imagination and adult themes. Both are meant to appeal to adolescents, but are so well executed and crafted, they're also enjoyable by readers/viewers/players of all ages. That is one very big thing they have in common.
I should probably step in at this point and say that Halo 3's commitment to user created content is revolutionary for a console game. And while several of its tools and features have been done better on the PC, the game's overall commitment to user creation, from the forge, to the theater to the communication between Halo 3 and Bungie.net is revolutionary, regardless of platform.
Keep in mind, revolutionary does not mean unique. In fact, you might argue that Neverwinter Nights' features were not revolutionary, because they did not precipitate change. Prophetic, unique, brilliant and insurgent, perhaps, but after NWN, business continued as usual.
However, Halo 3 marks the beginning of a major new movement. You're going to start seeing user generatation and distribution tools everywhere. Of course, Halo 3 isn't the only player, but what revolution ever consisted of just one soldier?
Brian Urlacher is a Smart Linebacker, Brick Wall Defender and Big Hitter. Check out the link in the conclusion to see all of the players associated with a particular weapon.
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