6 posts tagged “games”

Vladimir Cole, "Groupthink and Zelda"

A game reviewer with the chutzpah to give the new Zelda an 8.8 score (out of 10) was crucified by legions of zealots who have never played the game but who were convinced that it deserved a much higher score.

VGRC posts an excellent editorial on this ridiculous situation. How did we get here? How is it that the opinions of product reviewers are instantly deemed invalid because said reviewers refuse to play sycophant to the fan community's desire for gushing praise? Why should any reviewer bother to post honest opinions when he knows that the fan community will carry out personal attacks and will throw a general hissyfit?

We can't answer those questions, but we can't say we're surprised. Anyone that dares voice a negative opinion about the sacred Zelda cow gets harassed by fans who don't read game blogs so much for information but to confirm personal bias towards the popular franchise. It's called confirmation bias, and it's an ugly thing to witness.

It's also bad for gaming: blind fandom holds gaming back.

Second comment on the post:

88 stands for Heil Hitler. Coincidence, I think not...

Third comment on the post:

This entry is somewhat ironic and has grounds for a conflict of interest since you have been crucified for your own little "editorial".

Invoking Godwin and misunderstanding the English language for the win.

We're in the middle of a two week blitz of video gaming news.  Tokyo Game Show was last week, and X06 is this week.  This yields one week of PS3 news and two full weeks of Xbox 360 news.

Microsoft has been hyping that they are going to be BRINGING IT HOME with new content, demos, and so on the whole week.

I was pleasantly surprised with the release of Doom on XBLA yesterday; today, I learn that demos are available for both Smackdown vs Raw 2007 as well as the new Sonic The Hedgehog.

Long story short: Both are horrendously disappointing.

SvR2K7's demo, outside of the graphics, is practically indistinguishable from 2006.  Same commentary, same move animations, same goofy glitches.  Never mind that this demo was over 1GB - all to play as one of two characters, in one match type.  What a download twist!

Sonic's demo - my expectations were already so low, they were dragging on the floor.  Somehow, amazingly, Sega managed to fail to meet even those.  The bad controls from all other 3D Sonic games were somehow made worse.  The framerate, despite being on a next gen console, still managed to skip.  And despite the fact that Sega's been making games like this for what, 10 years now?  It's still not any fun.

There are still games I'm looking forward to - don't get me wrong.  And I guess I should be grateful that I was able to try the games without purchasing them.  But it's still a painful form of disappointment to get let down so badly by demos.

What was the last game you played?

The very last game I have played, about 10 minutes ago, was Ultimate Ghosts & Goblins for the PSP.  I died more times than I could keep track of in the first level.  It's nice, having a game kick my ass every now and then.

Other games I have played within the last week:

Beatmania IIDX 11: IIDX RED (PS2) - I hadn't touched IIDX in about two months.  I am still horrible by most metrics, but it's very enjoyable to fire up the game and play songs I enjoy on Light 7 just for the hell of it.

Every Extend Extra (PSP) - picked this up as an import at VGNY; it's considerably more addictive than I expected it to be.

Loco Roco (PSP) - every bit as cute as I had hoped.  Looking forward to working through this even if it's as short as everyone claims it is.

Valkyrie Profile Lenneth (PSP) - never played the original, worked on this a bit during the Ithaca trip this weekend.  Enjoyable enough.

Point Blank DS (DS) - also picked up at VGNY; it's sad when I buy games and I'm not expecting much and I'm still disappointed.

Full Auto (360) - got this on the tremendously cheap.  Gave it a test spin for 10 minutes.  Seems alright, if not for the wonky steering.  FUN FACT: No one on my friends list has apparently played this, or at least not online.

Madden 2007 (360) - also got this on the tremendously cheap.  I had a great laugh reading over the new features, where you could "jump" the defense by hitting a button to try and rush after the snap.  This is a new feature?  It was in the first Madden game for the SNES.  Sup EASN?

Dead Rising (360) - this is going to end up high on my year end list at this rate because I've been having so much fun with it, even when the AI is being retarded.

Marble Blast Ultra (360) - also fun, despite all my claims that I would never buy this.

According to Gamestop, Electronic Arts is jumping into the retro trend headfirst with EA Replay for the PSP. Slated for release October 3 with a price tag of $29.99, the compilation will let players relive 14 of the publisher's back-catalog offerings, including fondly remembered hits like Syndicate, Ultima VII: The Black Gate, Road Rash, Wing Commander, and Jungle Strike. Some of the games will support head-to-head multiplayer action, all will be playable in widescreen or normal views, and all of them will allow players to save their games at any time. The site even says it will include unlockable game art.

The full list of games listed for the compilation is included below, along with their first release dates and systems. Given the difficulties inherent in porting a keyboard-and-mouse control scheme to PSP, it is likely that the compilation would feature shrunken-down versions of the games' console versions, so those are the dates and systems given below.

B.O.B.--1993--SNES and Genesis
Budokan--1990--Genesis
Desert Strike--1993--SNES and Genesis
Jungle Strike--1993--SNES and Genesis
Haunting Starring Polterguy--1993--Genesis
Mutant League Football--1993--Genesis
Road Rash--1992--Genesis, later on 3DO
Road Rash II--1993--Genesis
Road Rash III--1995--Genesis
Syndicate--1995--SNES, 3DO, Jaguar
Ultima: The Black Gate--1994--SNES
Virtual Pinball--1993--Genesis
Wing Commander--1993--SNES
Wing Commander: The Secret Missions--1993--SNES

Mutant League Football + Syndicate = SOLD.  I can only pray this is true.

IF you own an Xbox 360 AND you have not yet downloaded the Dead Rising demo, THEN you suck.

360 GOTY, people.

I am utterly baffled about one thing on my other blog.  Maybe someone can help me understand this.

Back in December of 2005, I posted my friends code for Animal Crossing.  Like I was expecting, I burned out on the game very quickly (as I did for the Gamecube one as well).  The post, on the other hand, did not.

A breakdown by time period of approximate number of comments received:

First two days of post: 6
Following two weeks: 6
Following week (contained Christmas & New Years): 11
Following four and a half months: 6
June 2006: 16
July 2006, so far: 31 71

One obvious trend: major shopping holidays (Christmas, DS Lite launch) lead to a mass of postings.  But seriously, 71 posts in 24 days?

I realize that if you google for "animal crossing friends", "animal crossing friends code", or "animal crossing friends codes", I'm second - great, Google is broken, we know.  But are these people really jumping through the hoops of posting on my blog - which include TypeKey registration - just to post their friends code and pray that someone who posted months ago will add them as well?  Do they not understand how this works?

Here's the one that makes me the saddest, emphasis is mine:

HI all, I am new to the DS gaming wordl but I just love Animal Crossing and would love to visit other towns and have others visit my town.
My friends code is 017253618243 please add me and let me know and Iwould love to add you. Thank you!!
P.S. Today is my 39th birthday!!!
Posted by: jerilyn | July 3, 2006 12:00 PM

Related hilarious reading: Stan writes a blog post tangentially referring to R. Kelly.  Hilarity ensues.