Thoughts of a man who's probably not quite right in the head.

• 1Feb 11

  In Defense of Mario

  I just have to say to all those noobies who think they're all hot **** by dissin on mario, learn some resepect youngins. You're Halo and Uncharted and God of War would never have existed if it weren't for that Italian plumber and his green clad brother. They were icons, visionaries, and lets face it, the first in what i would consider "real" video games. They were the step up from Atari that the people were waiting for. Lets face it, Atari just about brought the video game industry to it's knees back in the day with a non stop progression of just crappy crappy games. Mario single-handedly saved the industry and made all this possible. So next time I read about some fanboy on the net dissin my man Mario, show some respect. As far as video games go Mario is the freakin Godfather. Now kiss his ring.

  • Posted Feb 1, 2011 5:15 pm GMT
  • Category: Games
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• 5Jan 11

  A Look at Endings

  WARNING: SPOILER ALERT

  This blog post will be discussing the endings of two games, Halo: Reach and Red Dead Redemption. If you haven't played both these games and don't want to spoil it, I suggest you... Well first off turn off your browser and go buy em.

  I would also like to take this time to point out i'm not a huge fan of westerns/cowboy stuff so I am free to the idea that these opinions I have may be biased. That said they're my opinions so you can eat it if you don't like em.

  Having just finished Red Dead Redemption (which I got for christmas) I can't help but note the similarities to the ending of Halo: Reach; in the fact that both main charachters end up dead at the end of the game. However, there are some key differences that I would like to point out and expand upon. In Reach, you know from the very begining that you are doomed to die on that god forsaken world. The only thing up in the air is how and why. While I played this gave me a sense of heroism and might I add a severe need to bring as many of those alien S.O.B.'s with me as I possibly could. In Red Dead you start off the train in a dusty town, very western-y I know. Clint Eastwood is weeping as we speak. However, there is no hint of your eventual doom. You go about your buisness in your quest to save your family and redeem your past sins. A just cause no doubt. Still when the time came it gave me quite a shock and an unpleasant taste in my mouth. Yes, both games have you dying heroicly for something you believe in and somewhat after the point where you thought the game would end.

  Here's my problem. Reach's ending was noble and heroic. A desperate fight against unbeatable odds for as long as you can keep alive and ammo in your gun. In Red Dead, after you kill the last bad guy you get to go home to your family, music plays... and then there are missions with you spending time with your reunited family members. Very sweet, normal husband and wife/father and son moments. Then, as you are basking in the glow of the life that John fought so hard to get, bam, here comes the army to gun you down and you die in a shootout buying time for your family to escape. That was heroic and all, but it was a little cruel. Having all those family missions to kill you afterwards with your wife and son weeping over your grave. I mean, I can see where they are coming from, from an artistic point of view. Maybe that's how westerns are supposed to end? The hero is killed tragically or rides off into the sunset? I dunno, I'm not a big westerns fan. All I know is that the ending to Red Dead left me feeling sad and disappointed and a little betrayed while the ending to Reach made me feel like a fallen hero, with adrenallin pumping through my veins after the surprising fight to the death at the end. At the end of the day, maybe that was the point. Maybe each game developer ment it to be like this. That said, I just did not care for the way Red Dead ended.

  
  Now I know there are those out there who are going to say "why are you feeling all these feelings? Man up and shoot **** in the face." To which i respond, if you don't put yourself into these games, you are not getting your money's worth. Do you go to movies to watch mindless explosions? Do you read books because you like the font type? That's my sense of it anyway.
  

  • Posted Jan 5, 2011 5:00 am GMT
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• 4Aug 10

  THE KING RETURNS! (All Hail Starcraft)

  Oh my god. My dreams finally came true. After all these years of hoping and dreaming and fantasizing about it. STARCRAFT 2 IS HERE, AND IT IS AWESOME.

  Quick side note. I saw the Halo Reach commercials. i am excited for the game, but the most anticipated game of 2010? STARCRAFT, hello? Who is in their marketing department? Will I get Halo Reach, yes. Have I been waiting OVER A DECADE FOR IT? Hell no.

  Ok, now that I have that out of my system... Where was I again? Oh yeah... STARCRAFT (gushes)

  It's just as good as I remember it. Even better I think. Looks a bit like warcraft 3, not a bad thing. Interface between missions, PHENOMINAL. Love it. Want it to have my babies. Just what I was looking for to spice up starcraft. Want gun turrets on my bunkers? Hell yeah!

  The storyline is amazing. It is a beautifully written continuation of the prevoius Starcraft story (desperately trying not to put spoliers in here). Really, Starcraft fans rejoice at the campaign. Even with all this beautiful storyline in all the right places, the makers give you the leeway to put your own spin on the story without ruining the overall outcome of where they are trying to take you. (the ending is that awesome).

  Not that i'm some gushing fanboy (well, maybe a little). There is a downside. Only the terran campaign is open right now. As of writing, the other two, protoss and zerg, are not yet avaiable. Hell, they don't even have a timetable. What the hell are they waiting for? HEY BLIZZARD, don't tease me baby. i can't take it. Release the other two. I've been waitnig for this for too long for you to **** with me for a few extra dollars.

  Now I've heard some whining that it is 60 dollars instead of the standard 50 for PC games. To this I say "If all PC games were this good, maybe 60 dollars would be justified." I hope you are reading this EA, Microsoft, Nintendo, SquareEnix, Sega, etc... MAKE GOOD GAMES AND WE WILL BUY THEM. Of course, they had a decade to work on starcraft, so that is a little unfair of us to assume that the rest of the game makers can match this level of awesomeness. Of course, this being starcraft, if blizzard had screwed this up a million gamers would have probably burned their buildings to the ground. I'm not sure I could take another RTS hatchet job after C&C 4. (once again, shame on you EA. SHAME)

  In summary, the longest wait of my entire life is now over, and now that i've had a taste of heaven, i can't wait for the rest of this meal.

  P.S. Sorry for the gushy nature of this one. The next one will be full of moral outrage and self-righteous fury. I promise.

  • Posted Aug 4, 2010 10:42 pm GMT
  • Category: Games
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