I write about whatever I want to write about at the time. I like to review and share my thoughts on all sorts of things.

• 20May 08

  Why I game.

  I haven't updated this blog for a long time, so I figured it was about time to write SOMETHING. So I figured to give you a little insight into my exploits as a gamer.

  I'm part of the newer generation, after all I'm only 16 years old, but my gaming escapades start in 1995, when I was three years old, when I was lucky enough to have a babysitter with a games console. My first game that I can remember was "The Lion King" on the Sega Genesis. The memories are very vague but I specifically remember a level where you jump across giraffes heads. Clearly giraffes can support the weight of lions using just there face. Oh the wonders of nature.

  At the said babysitters house, I would often ask to take naptime in the room with the sega genesis, so when the older boys would play the games, I would pretend to be asleep and just watch, entranced. They were playing some sort of boxing game, I kind of remember it being in first person, but I can't be sure.

  This is what sparked my obsession. I immediatlly started begging my parents for a video game console (Or a "nintendo" as my family would call it) until my stepsister gave me her NES. This NES came with a ton of games, the ones I remember are Startropics, Super Mario 3, Punch Out!!!, and for some strange reason... The Flintstones? My favorite by far was Punch Out!!! This was before my family even owned a computer, so I would spend hours upon hours upon hours playing Punch Out!!! with no clue about how to advance. I specifically remember a day, at a family reunion where everybody was playing Punch Out!!! for the first time, and I had yet to play it. Everybody did fine up to the match against the Asian Sensation: Piston Honda. Everybody died against him. When I said I wanted to try, everyone scoffed at me. "A 5 year old thinks he can do better than US!? HA! I SPIT ON YOU!!!"... I may have exaggerated a bit with the comments made, but needless to say, I beat Piston Hondas ASS. It was a great feeling, outdoing people 20 times your age at something. So I took Punch Out!!! home and played it for countless hours.

  When I turned 7 I received my SNES. The games I remember on SNES are Super Mario World, Legend Of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Donkey Kong Country, Super Punch Out!!!, and Mario Paint.

  Yes, Mario Paint.

  I would spend great deals of time using the Music Composer in Mario Paint, composing symphonies of cats and dogs and strangely erotic sounding babies. It was the first game I played that let a creative side of my personality manifest itself into an actual Video Game. This was what the SNES defined for me.

  At the age of 9, 10 or 11, I can't remember, I received an N64. I was so attached to Nintendo at this point, that I skipped the PS1 completely. Games I remember are Super Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie, Starfox 64, Pokemon Snap, and my favorite game of all time, Paper Mario.

  Paper Mario is the game that helped define myself. Paper Mario helped me identify myself as an RPG fanatic. I loved the colorful characters, the strategic fighting schemes, the varied environments, the lush towns, everything about that game was PERFECT. It made me loose myself in a world all its own, and it still holds up today. This is where my RPG obsession started. Don't get me wrong, I play EVERYTHING. But RPGs are very close to my heart.

  My first console of the 2001 generation was.. well the dreamcast... but we'll skip over that part and go straight to the PS2

  My first hardcore RPG was Final Fantasy IX... yes IX. I wanted to become slightly more mature of a gamer, but the look of the characters on the box still attracted me with their cartoony charm. I loved that game, so much that I went back and immediatlly bought VII and VIII. Final Fantasy VIII. You may be wondering why I'm not including PS2 games in the PS2 section. Well... I basically used the PS2 to play all the PS1 games I missed out on during the first year I had it. I soon after bought a Gamecube and a Xbox. Gamecube had more of what I love about Nintendo, while Xbox introduced me to something else I love.

  Online gaming was a new frontier for the console generation, and I was on board. Being only 12 years old is weird on xbox live... People can't get past the prepubescent voice, even though I was quite mature for a 12 year old (at least I thought I was). To tell you the truth, the voices of 12 year olds just like me actually bug me nowadays. I played a crapload of Mech Assault when I got my Xbox... but when my online game really got started was when Halo 2 came out. The first day, I made friends with someone named SHADOWSTRIKE1 in a big team battle match. We immediatlly became friends, mainly because we rocked that game so hard. We formed a clan called the Fluffy Puffs, which would later become a trademark of my online friendships. Me and Shadow went on to recruit the likes of about 5 other people into the clan who are still my close friends today.

  You may not relate to me on this, but I have met people online that are about as close, if not closer, than any of my real friends. Mainly because you can talk to people online about things that you can't talk to people about in person. It's hard to explain, but you'll understand if you have the same expierience. I've been playing with the same group of people for about 4 years now, and still loving it. But I still have cherished memories of the original Xbox, Halo 2, finding glitches, making gametypes, and the good times I had with my newly found friends.

  -Ryan AKA DuskDarkflame AKA Mariofreak1216

  • Posted May 20, 2008 8:04 pm PT
  • Category: Editorial
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• 30Sep 07

  The Condemned Movie Review

  Alright, so I just finished watching the movie The Condemned, starring Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vinnie Jones.

  I gotta say, this movie looked like it would be one of the worst movies I have ever seen, but in reality it was not that bad. It conveyed a good message and played to exactally what it wanted to be at the time.

  On the good side, the movie had a better plot than a mindless action movie should have, 10 prisoners on death row from around the world are given a chance to be set free by competing in a deathmatch put on by a crazy director. They all have bombs strapped to their legs that explode in 40 hours unless there is one left standing.

  Sound like Battle Royale?? If you've ever heard of that movie, thats exactally what I was thinking when I heard this synopsis of the plot. The movie is much more fleshed out though, providing issues of morality throughout. It coveys a disturbing message about where are media is headed (Even though the show in the film was not picked up by T.V networks, and instead was broadcast on the internet.... with over 40 million subscribers)

  Some complaints about the movie are the acting. Everybody in the movie was not a very good actor (except vinnie jones, he was very decent) Stone Cold Steve Austin had crappy one-liners all the time that were just cheesy and did not improve the movie. Also, this movie had weird fight scenes where the camera would shake around wildly so you couldn't understand anything that was going on. There are some complaints about the plot I have but I would be giving spoilers if I went into detail, so I won't

  All in all The Condemned was a suprisingly good movie, that should have been horrible.

  I give it: *** out of 5

  I will try to update this blogs with movie reviews from now on, and even if I don't know who you are, please leave a comment, it is my deepest desire that this blog becomes somewhat popular, and I will try to update it as regularly as possible if it picks up.

  • Posted Sep 30, 2007 3:11 pm PT
  • Category: Movies
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• 10Sep 07

  Is this karma or what?

  Alright so ive been making fun of my friends as well as other people who have had their 360s break right before halo 3 comes out. I thought it was funny, just because it was so unlucky. Well guess what, it just happened to me.

  I was playing Stranglehold and suddenly the picture got all orange and fuzzy and blurry, then i turned off the 360, and turned it back on, and the picture just sputtered out. Now I get sound, but no picture! I am soooooo furious right now, expecially since all of my friends had aranged to skip school the day halo 3 was released so we could all play together. And I had a 4 player party planned for the campaign on the same day. I have no clue what i'm going to do, I bought two year warranty at the store where I bought the 360, but when I went to replace my microphone they said I didn't need the warranty for the 360 when I brought it in, and said they had it on the computer. Now they say they need it to replace it. Thats funny, real funny. I'm going to go sit in a corner and drown in my misery.

  • Posted Sep 10, 2007 7:06 pm PT
  • Category: Games
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