Essentially, MY personal soapbox, rantings or raveings. Please leave feedback if possible!

• 11Oct 08

  The Starcraft 2 trilogy.

  OK, I must say it appears that Blizzard has lost their godforasken minds. To get the full experience will require the purchase of 3 games. One for each race. Yeah. Dick move. Just to make it clear, in the height of a reciession, Blizzard has decided to charge you for a game 3 times. Hopefully this blows up their face (as the outcry seems to be) but it will be for naught if people still buy the games.

  My biggest issue that when I try to make it seem ok (releasing the games at lower than standered cost) I see $29.99 as the lowest each would be, and that comes out to 90 bloody dollars. If I was assured it would $19.99 a game, ending price $60, I could see that. I am also concerned on how this will affect the multiplayer aspect of the game. I could say that all the componants are on each game. Sure. But will they be? Or will their be exclusive units if you buy the game for that race? Also, saying each one is self contained still doesn''t mean you cant referance the crap out of it, making the others hard to understand without playing the previous or other two. Alos, imagine with me, a mission where the Terran and Protess must defend themselves in an outpost against the Zerg in the Terran game. Uh Oh. Same thing happens in the Protoss game only your controlling the Protoss. I never thought I would say this about the one game studio I have ALWAYS trusted, suck it Blizzard. Suck it long, and suck it hard. I am also now afraid for the fate of Diablo 3.

  BTW, Starcraft is just a piss poor version of the Warhammer 40k universe anyhow.

  • Posted Oct 11, 2008 7:55 am GMT
  • Category: Rant
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• 4Oct 08

  Is is Hazzardous to Crash Castles while Paranoid of Yakuza while de-Rez-ing?

  So after reading about it and visiting the sites, I hae to say "The Return of Matt Hazzard" has got to be one of the best game ideas I have seen in quite a while. I am acutally amazed that no one thought of this before, as it is (to steal a line) like Duke Nukem Forever 2 coming out before Duke Nukem Forever. If you have not seen any info on it, I highly recommend looking into it.

  Some of the ideas being played with are fantastic, such as the villan hacking the game your in and changing it on the fly. Could make for some very interesting gameplay. Plus the industry is overdo for a good lampooning.

  Other than that, Castle Crashers is semi great. As much as love it, the things that irk me REALLY irk me. Such in the latter half, going what feels like 4-5 levels before getting to assign points to your charcter (should have been able to pause and perform on the fly) and that blasted
  ***SPOILER***

  volleyball boss fight

  
  . But the sense of humor is great and overall, great fun, especially with friends.

  Also, picked up Yakuza the other day. It's a fun game, but I'm glad I didn't pay full price. The combat is kind of broken, and gets repetative. Heard some of this was fixed in 2 so I may have to check it out.

  Also Rez HD is AMAZING! I loved Rez before and now with all of the additional options it's even better.

  Tron 2. Old news, but yeah, their making it.

  In the world of table top gaming... I always wished I could get get into 40k. I love the universe but I just never have the cash nor proper days off for playing to even be an option, so hopefully Dawn of War 2 will be good, but did find a gem of a game

  Paranoia. GM'ing this game has been one of the greatest moments of my life. The concept is that all of the players are in Alpha Complex, built during the cold war as a shelter in case of nuclear war. Several diffirent complexes were built, but one day, a false alarm gets raised, all shelters open and everybody panics. Due to it's "great knowledge" the computer of Alpha complex has determined all othe complexes MUST have been taking over by communists, and it is the only bastion of freedom left. Years have passed, how many who knows? Besides friend computer takes care of you. Players control low level Red troublshooters to fix friend computer, hilarity insues, I know its not the best description, recommend chacking the site -http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/home/series.php?qsSeries=19 great stuff.

  • Posted Oct 4, 2008 12:31 pm GMT
  • Category: Games
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• 4Oct 08

  Re-Hash

  I'm sick of it; like the Samurai and Dynasty Warriors games, or to another extent, Twilight Princess. To me a game is 'hashed when very little is added to it, now I don't think that every game sequel or follow-up needs to be a revolution, but AT LEAST be an evolution. Now, for sports titles, I understand it a little more then with others. Stats and players change every year, so this does need to be reflected, and to a sports fan 50-60 dollars a year isn't a lot. But the game play changes very little, and with DLC on the 360 and some on the PS3, I believe it's time to just make the best game you can (hockey, football, baseball) and make the stat and roster changes DLC. Now this may not be possible, and if I'd read about big changes every year it wouldn't matter, but it seems that I've been seeing the quality of MOST sports games degrading as opposed to getting better, and some people may love the way the game plays and just want the latest roster and/or stats.

  Fighting games also suffer from this, as can be seen through almost all franchises. Street Fighter and King of Fighters started the trend, and Guilty Gear followed suit, putting in new charcters and other changes in each iteration while charging almost full price each time. I know that several times there are fixes, but still, it's the same game. Hopefully DLC will fix this with SF4.

  I realize that may be impossible, but I know for Koei, and their Dynasty Warriors series, it is VERY possible to just add a character or two to go through the Yellow Turban Rebellion for the umpteenth time. Now I know that I'm a wee bit hypocritical, as I enjoy these games, but I wait for the latest one to cost twenty bucks or less before I buy it, and do believe that this should be the cost of the each installment until they bring about real change. Being a Gundam fan I tried out DW: Gundam was SORELY disappointed, as was I with DW6. Not only did the rehash the game experience (I expected this) but on their first next gen outings, they made it WORSE, less combos, less moves. Ugh. Samurai Warriors 2 will honestly be my last one unless they do something with their series in DW6. And I mentioned Twilight Princess. I know I will catch a lot of flak, but I'm not enjoying the game, and I don't even know if I'll be able to finish it. It just feels like OoT with a prettier coat of paint. And I've beaten OoT. I would rather play a remake of that then a game that pretends to be new. I know I'm being rather harsh, but after over a year in delays I was expecting something magical. Instead I got crappy wolf segments that are put to shame by Okami, (IMO a far superior game.) Now I don't know if Clover stole the wolf idea or not, but I was honestly crushed. A Zelda clone beat down the latest Zelda. Now, aside from collecting the Triforce, I loved Wind Waker. It was great to have new take on Hyrule, see it differently, and prove that it was a living, breathing place. TP made me feel like I was the same old Hyrule only bigger and prettier. Now I don't believe it is a BAD game, I just know it's not for me as it feels like a game I already played. And now Call of Duty is doing the same thing, after making a great modern shooter, going back to WW2 just seems silly.

  But imagine something with me: Hyrule in modern day or the future, or my personal dream, multiple eras (traditional, modern, future) with each of the possessor the triforce in a different era, with Gannondorf NOT being the villain for once. I know Minish Cap had Vaati, and I loved that as it is something different. I know my dream is FAR off from what most Zelda fans want, to the point where some would say "that's not Zelda!" But if Miyamoto did it, it WOULD be the next Zelda.

  And as for the fans, Zelda fans I know would hate any of those, and want to see the same world again and again, and if Nintendo added to the series, that to would be cool. But in my eyes, though it's not their fault, there comes a point where fans can keep a series from evolving. I mark Zelda and Mega man as these two series. The Mega man reference is Legends. I personally loved it. No it wasn't the same universe and yes it was different, and that what killed it. People wanted it traditional, yet they would mar a traditional Mega man. That's where I see Zelda. I can understand why people love TP, but I also think it was Zelda's last shot like that. I do honestly believe that unless something drastic is done, the next major console Zelda will have a huge dip in popularity. It may be as simple as really good Wii controls (to me it kept MP3 from being rehashed of 2.) But it's not just Zelda, the next Phoenix Wright, or Apollo Justice as it were, better make the bonus mission in PW1 if they want my buck.

  Now I know some franchises are trying to avoid being 'hash. The team making the latest Burnout is changing up the game play, Mario Party tried Wii controls (hey, I'm allowing one considering the controls) Rayman did the Rabbids. But sometimes it's a different company changing an idea. For this argument I will use skate and THPG. I love skate (aside from the hard as nails endgame) and despite that, I would rather play that then Proving Grounds any day of the week. Why? I've played what are technically how many map packs of Tony Hawk? It felt stale; skate did something different and is to me, and absolutely amazing game (surprisingly in my slot for #1 game of 07, weird.) I know Midway's Blitz series is trying to do the something with football, and I loved the old Blitz games. I haven't' played the new ones, but I understand they changed it, as even the old Blitz games did the same thing as Madden.

  But I want to stay positive. 'Hashing a game can sometimes work case in point Konami's Castlevania games. They change up tons of stuff, including basic game mechanics, to make a fun game that follows the same formula as the previous. This is a case of not needing to evolve the game, but greatly change it in every iteration; even the two that were the same were fine because they hadn't over done it (Aria and Dawn of Sorrow). Trauma Center; yea the Wii version was practically the same game, but they made it control so much better, and the next one seems to making what seem like wonderful additions, though its probably the last one they could do unless something new happens. RE4 was the shot in the arm the franchise needed, and it looks like 5 will up ante and add to it (hopefully, but no Wii controls sadly.) Puzzle Quest took the put 3 icons together and made it fun again with deep RPG influences.

  There is still hope, but fans do make a difference, if you want change, support new ideas, and please keep an open mind, because future Zelda could be cool.

  • Posted Oct 4, 2008 8:15 am GMT
  • Category: Editorial
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