So, here we are. I suppose this is a foreword as to the intent of these articles, which are to review a game, new and old, after about a week of play through. The idea is there for a few reasons.
First; it'd be impossible for me to complete certain types of games I'd like to review, such as roleplaying games in a reasonable amount of time. Especially, and this depends on the game, prefer to play a game and try and unlock all the goodies.
Second; I have a life and if I did try to review everything in any sort of reasonable time period, I'd never get anything done. Ever. Especially with some games boasting hours of gameplay that exceed certain movies titles starring Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte. Meanwhile, I have a job and shit to do.
Third; I'm sure I could give other reasons, but look, mister, I don't have to justify my life choices to you!
The format of these reviews will generally be a pretty simple write up. There won't be a score given, because I find most scores to be trash in gaming magazines. They're always skewed and there's no real standard to compare it to. When you give Metal Gear Solid a 10 and Halo 3 a 10, are you saying they're exactly the same in terms of worth? Scoring is also useless because, lets face it folks, there's no such thing as a perfect game which would be that fictional 10, 100, A+, what have you that you're comparing games to and there never will be. The scores are a comparison to something that will never exist, so why make the comparison? Lastly, I think scores are generally misleading. When I read a review in a magazine nowadays, I'll see a game get all sorts of criticism but end up with a respectable score of a 8.5/85/B+ while a game that had no criticisms received a lower score. Lastly, I think they detract from reviews because the first thing people look for normally is the score and judge it from that alone instead of reading the actual review. If you want a score, go to gamerankings. If you want a review, well feel free to read my thoughts.
A bit about myself; I've been playing games as long as I can remember. My first dedicated console system was a NES I got when I was around 4, but I had been playing my Commodore 64 since I could walk. My first words were probably Load 'Miner49er,8,1. I've been playing games ever since, so I consider myself a fair bit experienced in the area. Some of my favorite games include: God Hand, King of Fighters, Star Ocean 2, Metal Gear Solid as a series, Final Fantasy 6, Fallout 1 and 2, Jagged Alliance, Rocket Knight Adventures, Resident Evil, Guilty Gear XX, the Megaman series and well...this can go on all day.
I consider myself a pretty fair gamer as well. There isn't a genre or type of game I explicitly hate. While it is well known that I'm a big fan of turn based, 2-d, and retro games, I enjoy games of all types and even genres I normally don't buy I have favorites for. A good game is good no matter what genre it is. I'll do my best to cover the major games and if this proves to be popular enough, I'll spring for a 360 so I can say I own every console currently on the market and appease the masses.
So now that's out of the way. I'm not responsible for the length of my rants. Read at your own risk. Or don't. My sense of humor might also hurt your brain at times.
That is all.
Once upon a time, in a galaxy located somewhere in the desolate universe named Cali-Forn I. A. a then, arguably, still talented George Lucas created what was originally supposed to be a Flash Gordan movie, but somehow, people felt that Lucas was too big of a hack, even then, to give him film rights to the franchise so told him to make his own setting. And create it he did. 4 years later, in 1977, came the franchise that made being a nerd more acceptable in the form of Star Wars, the sci fi space opera story of Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress except with more implied incest and Harrison Ford shooting stupid fish men who everyone but me can understand. The nerd world rejoiced and Star Wars became a hit, a classic, and a source of milk money for Lucas.
Since then we've had Star Wars products like you wouldn't believe: lunch Boxes, costumes, toys, hell, my friend's keg was an R2-D2 replica. Crank his top and you get cheap watered down beer. Good times. Continuing this trend of getting money to support his habit of ruining my childhood, the products eventually sifted into video games and here I stand with the six hundredth title in the Star Wars video game lineup: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, or as it will be herein referred as: STFU.
STFU is a game that takes place in between episodes three and four of the movies, which in actual numbers is between the last star wars movie and the first star wars movie. The game attempts to fill in some of the gap between the two films, much to the ire of many fans. You take the role of Darth Vader's secret Jedi apprentice, Galen Marek, who is only known within the game under the moniker of Starkiller; a character who continues in the Lucas tradition of trying to make bad ass out of someone who looks like they'd been pampered all their life. Marek is essentially trained by Vader to be his assassin in eliminating the remaining Jedi until Vader feels fit to overthrow the Emperor and take his parking spot, because I guess the handicap area just isn't cutting it.
The plot sees some twists, which I thought were interesting, if not predictable. However, one thing I wish to say is that plot was actually one of the strongest elements in this game. While sometimes the plot feels a bit thin and experienced sudden inexplicable jumps within the story in cut scenes, I felt that the overall plot was better than any of the newer movies. Starkiller is a fairly likeable, if somewhat under played, character with poor dress sense and the supporting characters are all interesting, if again under played. In fact, that seems to be the first half of the problem with the plot in that while there are a lot of cool characters, but none of them seem really explored too much. For instance, the love interest between Starkiller and his pilot never seems to be explained as to how it develops outside of one cut scene. The two never really seem to spend any time together, but I can see that as understandable in that we're here to play a game, not watch a movie. Out of interest, Darth Vader's character finally comes back into being a good villain instead of anything Hayden Christiansen did with him. The biggest problem with the plot, however, is that it never really feels like you're able to change anything since the canon has already been established as to what's supposed to happen via episode four. There is an exception in that you're allowed to slightly alter the ending with a decision you're able to make within the game, but the end result is ultimately the same.
The game play consists of you taking Starkiller through a variety of very linear missions that essentially amount to: "Go from point A. to point B. through environment F. and kill subject D", while you engage enemies in hack and slash saber play with a slightly stiffer control than Devil May Cry. Controlling Star Killer is easy, and I will say that he is well enough animated and has a variety of moves to unlock, however part of the problem is that you'll never use 90% of these moves unless you just want to be fancy, as a single combo is enough to last you through the game. Infact, it's disadvantageous to use anything but this combo as the electricity benefit that goes along with it stuns your opponents preventing sudden reprisals while you recover. As such, a lot of what should be the awesome fight scenes that occur during the cut scenes boil down to you pressing square square triangle triangle until whatever you're killing is killed and killed good and trust me, there's a lot of stuff that needs to be killed out there as EVERYTHING is trying to kill you, but I'll get into that later.
To aid you in you single handedly combating an army of genetically enhanced super soldiers and fish men assholes who apparently just don't like you being on a planet they happen to be on is one of the tauted features for the game's creation; the ability to use the force in new and unprecedented ways that surely belong behind a bullet point. This amounts to you getting three abilities that can be used in a number of ways: moving objects through the force via force grip and force push and shooting lightning from your fingertips and your giant polish sausage that doubles for a light saber, since I guess a weapon that might actually cut stuff is too hard core for an assassin. So, you have all these new and revolutionary powers at your disposal! Surely these break open the flood games of creativity and give you limitless strategies and improve gaming kind for forever! Not really. Everything that is done here using the force has been done before in an under rated game called PSI-Ops and pretty much anything else that decided to be derivative of it. In fact, anything found in STFU, PSI-Ops did better and more creatively and with far fewer limits to how you could use your powers. Using the force in itself is a problem, mostly due to one of the most glaring flaws in the game. The targeting.
You will find in this game that there are MANY times you'll try and hit something or use something only to find that you're just standing there like a goon, throwing barrels into the wall instead of the giant tin man who is firing rockets into your face like it was going out of style or using your lightning ability on some part of the environment because Starkiller apparently is angry that he was rejected as Dynamo in the Imperial run version of The Running Man. Half the time even when you do have a target that is actually killable, it isn't the one you need to kill. I realize your character is supposed to be an apprentice novice assassin when you first take control of him, but logic dictates you try and kill the asshole putting fist sized holes into you with his flak cannon over the imperial officer that falls over and dies from one hit. Hitting and acquiring specific targets is almost impossible if there's a group of targets and you're just better off diving headfirst into battle and duct taping the left analog stick in the proper direction with hopes your character doesn't decide to try and attack guys that are 10 feet behind him.
Speaking of falling over, you'll find that's something the enemies like to do. They trip over a lot of stupid stuff. You'd think for elite soldiers who don't have shoe laces, they wouldn't fall all over themselves half as much as they do. "What causes this?" you may ask. Another bullet point called Euphoria AI. As advertised, they claim it makes the enemies smart by giving them sub routines that make them wish to preserve their lives and act more realistically. In reality? This makes the Empire's most deadly soldiers blundering morons who fall all over each other a third of the time, stare at walls another third of the time, and lastly pay attention to you and ONLY you for the remainder. You will find that you'll walk into an area that is a huge battle between storm troopers and the native alien species who are duking it out until they see an iota of your existence where everyone suddenly drops what they're doing and goes apeshit crazy in an attempt to club you with their rifles until you have detached retinas.
The AI also really knows how to take advantage of the flaws within the game and exploit them on the level of any fighting game tournament player. Granted, I played the game on hard to prove I'm hardcore like that because the demo was pretty easy, but there are points in the game where the computer takes advantage of things that make it very very frustrating. The third boss in this game will haunt my nightmares of hard bosses, not because he was especially difficult in terms of developing a strategy to defeat, but because of unavoidable cheap hits that because of the difficulty take off massive amounts of your life bar. For example, when you're knocked down on the ground, it takes Starkiller a few seconds to get back up at which point you're defenseless. You might as well just have a big sign on the seat of your pants that says "Insert wide load here", as you will be raped and there is nothing you can do about it. At one point during my attempts to fight this boss, he knocked me down due to an unavoidable counter that he performed. After which he used force push to blast my almost full life bar down to about 15%. There are many times in boss fights that characters have almost entirely unavoidable, unpredictable, or plain unblockable moves that take off half your life bar and if they happen, you might as well just toss your controller down and wait for your game to reload after you die. This isn't just bosses however because there's a number of segments where you are just bombarded with enemies whose families you must have murdered in their sleep as they strive to do nothing but piss you off through cheap unblockable hits, some of which come from off camera so you never knew in the first place to dodge. This is a problem considering your main means of attack is either standing still and throwing things from a distance with your force grip or moving just slightly while you whack people with your big red club to teach them they've been naughty children.
There's also a section of the game that causes some people unforeseen amounts of frustration and it's the section where you have to bring down a star cruiser with the force. The problem here isn't that the section is difficult in itself, it's that the displayed controls are misleading. Instead of indicating that you should be pushing the left analog stick to the left, it appears that you're supposed to be pushing it to 9 O'Clock, so for the first 10 or 15 minutes of doing this segment I was faced with a mystery as to what I was doing wrong exactly which leads to another problem. If you have no clue what you're supposed to be doing, this game is very unforgiving and gives very few clues as to what you're doing wrong.
Overall, the game is mediocre and causes a number of problems for a number of crowds I found. You think that this would be a dream game for die hard star wars fans, as even with all this criticism the game is still worth a play through if you're an action fan and have some patience, however they seem to take issue with the a few issues, such as the apprentice's lightsaber being a foam replica and never really doing much damage to anything in particular or just the overall idea of the plot. On the other hand, action fans may be put off with some of the unfair and bad mechanics within the game as well as the rather shallow fighting. There also isn't very much replayability to the game, because you never can really interact with any of the characters or change the fate of the apprentice. So if you're thinking of getting STFU, give it a rent first, you can probably beat it in a single sitting as it's only about 10 missions long and decide from there as it might just be best to wait till the price has been reduced.
Doesn't that box look lovely? I think it sure does, and if I wasn't poor I'd absolutely want that box. Turns out for those of you who are financially better off than me that this package will be able to be purchased, and for gaming aficionados like yourself I bet you find this package strangely exciting. Personally, I am as giddy as a school girl, and a Catholic one at that. Tee Hee.
Oh, and yes, there's other news as well. Turns out that Mega Man launches Monday, September 22 for WiiWare. Why, that's THIS Monday. Even better news, it launches on the 25th for PSN and the 1st for the 360. Won't that make you all happy. I am sure quite a few of you are probably looking to be schooled by Splash Woman, because you just like being abused like that.
All in all, great news about this throwback to retrogaming! Here's hoping that the expectations regarding this game aren't horribly dashed like another high expectation game recently did. (**SPORE**)
Mega Man 9 Retail Package??? [Capcom Admin's Blog]
 Praise the Gods! Our humble beseeching was heard by our humble lords. Our penitent pleas have been recognized by Yevon and in doing so he has ensured that the Wii was in fact the top selling console in Japan last week. What will Yevon do for us next week? Might he protect us from Sin? I only dread the thought of what city could become the next Zanarkand. They embraced technology too much, and in doing so were punished for the techological zeal. That's why I use a laptop powered by a hand crank, praise Yevon. Oh lordy, praise Yevon, for he is GOOD. Like I know that the Wii only sold 1500 more consoles than the 360 last week in Japan, but it least the cosmic order remains.
Oh merciful Yevon, what won't you do to protect your people? How we citizens of Spira praise your magnificence! Save Spira from Sin, in the name of Maester Seymour Guado! May we never experience the same fate as Zanarkand! Guardians, protect us!
Xbox 360 The Best Selling Console In Japan? Media Create Says 'No'
 In what surely is to be a one in a lifetime occurrence, the Microsoft 360 was the top selling console in Japan for the week of September 8 through 14. It's... terrifying. What have we done to cause such a cosmic quirk to occur? Was it our capitalist overlords screwing with the subprime market, causing a financial meltdown? Could it have been the Japanese obsession with Used Pantie Machines finally caught up with them? Was it that as a world we're too preoccupied with shrubberies? I DON'T HAVE A CLUE!
Truly, someone must have done something to cause this strangeness to occur. It's not as though the Japanese could actually be genuinely interested in the 360, could it? I know it was popular in the US a couple months back, but the US and the Land of the Rising Sun are very, very different. They have Pachinko. We have Casinos. There's no way that the Japanese could be convinced to buy a 360 because of a price drop, could it? COULD IT? All I know is that last week the 360 was the top selling console in Japan, and it's scary. Such a freak oddity can not happen again next week, can it? CAN IT? I really hope not, I fear what would happen to the cosmos if it did.
OH MERCIFUL GODS! Hear my plea! Spare us from the impending cosmic rift! We humbly beseech you! We wish not to invoke your wrath! Please, take these shrubberies as a token of our most sincere acquiescence. Please, PLEASE! Don't let the 360 top the chart for another week, I don't know if the cosmos could take another week of such stress!
Holy Snot! Xbox 360 Tops Home Console Sales In Japan [Kotaku]
 Well look at that, Nintendo isn't going to the Tokyo Game Show, but it turns out they are going to have a press conference of their own. This conference is going to be on October 2, which is actually before the start of TGS. What are they going to announce and talk about? Who the hell knows! Nintendo certainly does not, as confirmed by Edge. Well, that's just peachy. Chances are that it's a malicious lie, and they know exactly what they are going to be talking about, but they just don't want you to know. It's okay, we know how you feel, and so does Jean Luc Picard.
Who the hell cares? Nintendo clearly doesn't care about you much, so why should you care about them? After the riveting hardcore gamer announcement of Animal Crossing: City Folk, I have little excitement in what Nintendo is to announce. But, if this was a Sega Announcement regarding upcoming titles from Platinum Games, then, hell yes I'd be interested. I think the only thing that would remotely interest me would be an announcement that Captain Rainbow was being released in the US. The impact on Nintendo's image would be as beneficial to them as the Lehman Brother's Bankruptcy was to the Dow Jones. Certainly, it would be amazing.
So, do you care that Nintendo has a press conference in 2 weeks? Should you care? I don't think so, and I wholly expect Nintendo to announce some "casual gamer" nongames that will not interest me. Perhaps they'll interest you.
[img align=right width=200]http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/varnayo/juegos/Warcraft_2_Battle_Net_Edition.jpg[/img]Except for maybe Wolfenstein 3D, no other game can bring back memories of my childhood like Warcraft II. This 1995 game is sequel to Warcraft: Orcs & Humans and has helped made Blizzard the company that it is today. Because I never played this game in multiplayer when I was young and it somehow feels wrong to do so now, I'll focus on the singleplayer aspect of the game.
The game's story is being told by a narrator with text running over a still image. You can imagine a 7 year old not patient enough to listen to this so I can recall little to none of it, however I'll try to give a brief impression of what is going on:
The game takes place six years after the events in Orcs & Humans, which ended with the fall of Azeroth. After this the Orcs conquer Lordaeron and attempt a second assault at the human race. The Humans form the Alliance with the Elves, Dwarves and Gnomes to whitstand the Orcs' attack, however, the Orcs form the Horde with the Ogres, Goblins and Trolls. Some more detailed events take place but as I see the story of little importance for this game, I'll leave it at that.
Important to Warcraft II's gameplay is that almost all units and all buildings are identical at both sides. For example, an Elven Archer has the same statistics as a Troll Axethrower; they only vary in name and appearance. This also goes for the different buildings on both sides. The only real difference lies within the spells some higher characters can use. This may sound a bit boring but makes both sides very balanced with no particular advantages over the other.
The main building in the game is the Town Hall, where peasants (or peons) can drop off timber and gold. Wood can also be brought to a Lumber Mill when built. A third resource, oil, can be drilled up once an Oil Platform has been built by an Oil Tanker on a designated location. The Shipyard or Refinary act as drop off points for oil. Besides these there are other typical RTS buildings such as Barracks, Blacksmiths, Farms and Towers. Gathering resources or building buildings takes quite a long time at the start of a game, giving you time to explore some of the map while your army gets ready for action.
Enemy AI is predictable yet challenging enough to keep the game from becoming too easy. The game's expanion, "Beyond the Dark Portal", features better AI and has some pretty difficult missions that'll please even the best RTS players.
Despite being fairly simple (in terms of gameplay mechanics) and not having a gigantic technology tree like some modern games in the genre, Warcraft II's gameplay is still fun to play today, although some features now taken for granted in RTS games aren't present. For example there's no production queues so you have to go back to your unit producing building for each individual unit. You can also select only 9 units at a time, which results in alot of clicking when trying to move a large army around. But when you compare Warcraft II to some RTS games of its time, it's easy to see why this was one of the most important (it not the most important) RTS game of its generation.
Warcraft II's graphics are colorful and cartoony giving the game a rather light undertone. The characters and buildings are all 2D sprites with their own specific look, making it easy to tell them apart. Animations are fluid yet primitive but get the job done. During the different campaigns you'll play on different terrains like grasslands, snowlands, swamps, etc... giving the game enough visual variaty.
More impressive than its visuals were the sound effects and soundtrack or Warcraft II. Sound effects are convincing with arrows being fired or axes being swayed. The soundtrack consists of lots of orchestral-type bombastic tunes that suit the game nicely. I often found myself humming some of these after playing the game for a couple of hours.
When clicking on units they happily confirm your orders but what's even more fun is that they start to throw out hilarious comments when repeatedly clicked on. For example, a Footman will say "Don't you have a kingdom to run?" after a couple of clicks.
On the multiplayer department I can say that it's possible to play with up to 8 players. Until the Battle.net edition was released, gamers used IPX Emulators such as Kali to play online. Another nice feature about Warcraft II is that you can use a single disc of the game to play with 8 players in a network. Compare that to the DRM in Spore and you can only frown upon the way gaming has become restricted.
I could go on about what I like about Warcraft II and what makes this such a memorable game for me, but I think I've covered the basics. If you're an RTS fan there's no excuse for not playing this game and if you're not but see the game for cheap, I'd still recommend getting it. 9.0/10
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I've been hyping it up for a long time now, but this is going to be the trend for the next few months. A fuckton of games. Enjoy!
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | •Armored Core: For Answer
•Pure
•Star Wars: The Force Unleashed | •Armored Core: For Answer
•Battle Fantasia
•Pure
•Rock Band 2 (360 Exclusive. GAME ONLY! The bundle comes out next month.)
•Star Wars: The Force Unleashed | •Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party 2 (Simply because it has LCD Soundsystem  )
•Igor
•Kidz Sports: Crazy Golf
•Littlest Pet Shop
•Rebel Raiders
•Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
•TNA Impact!
•Zoo Hospital | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | •B-Boy
•Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
•Yggdra Union
PC
•Cooking Academy
•Crysis: Warhead
•Discovery
•Everlight
•Hell's Kitchen
•Line Rider 2 Unbound
•The Price is Right
•Pure
•The Settlers VI: Gold Edition
•S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky
•Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning | •Animal Paradise
•Di-Gata Defenders
•Dragon Quest IV
•Drawn to Life: SpongeBob SquarePants Edition
•Happy Cooking
•Igor
•Imagine: Fashion Designer New York
•Line Rider 2 Unbound
•My Secret World by Imagine
•Red Bull BC One
•Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
•Unsolved Crimes | •Dance Dance Revolution: X (Game only and Bundle. However, the game has a craptacular song list, par for the course with DDR these days. Hey Konami, just release a game with the arcade soundtrack for once. You'll make so many people happy.)
•Namco Classic Fighter Collection (Includes Tekken Tag Tournament, Tekken 4, and Soul Calibur II)
•Naruto Ultimate Collection
•Pac-Man Power Pack
•Speed Racer
•Star Wars: The Force Unleashed |
 So, yeah, this week has quite a few good games coming out. Where do we start?
How about the biggest game of the week, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed? I've played the demo on PS3 and it's pretty damned good. Not $60 good, but a good pickup at $30 or $20. However, if you're a Star Wars fan, you might want to get it right away because it seems like the first great Star Wars game since Battlefront II. In case you don't already know, Force Unleashed is kind of like a God of War or Devil May Cry game set in the Star Wars world. But what makes this game so awesome is that you can play around with the force. For example, grab a Stormtrooper and throw him into other enemies or grab a TIE Fighter and throw it at enemies. There's so much you can do in this game due to the fact that it is running THREE physics engines on the PS3/360 versions. But don't you Wii owners feel left out, you'll get the opportunity of using waggle to throw things. I haven't researched the other versions as much, but I bet they'll be good.
Rock Band 2 comes out this week ONLY FOR XBOX 360. Harmonix has load of cash from Microsoft a contract with Microsoft to have Rock Band 2 on the 360 one month before the other systems. The thing is that the only way you can get the game at the minute is without any of the instruments. The bundle will arrive next month along with the release of Rock Band 2 on the other systems. So, I'll save talking about it until then. However I will say that if you buy RB2 and you already have the first one, you can transfer over all the songs from the frist game for only $5...and any songs you purchased on the first game will work with the new game free of charge. Nice job Harmonix!
Square Enix whores will be happy to know that yet another handheld port of one of their old games is coming out this week. That game is Dragon Quest IV for the DS. Since I don't like Square Enix besides the fact that they published Space Invaders Extreme and Einhander, I won't comment on how good this game is because I obviously hate it. 
Also out this week is Pure, Disney's surprisingly fun arcadey ATV racer; Crysis Warhead, the sequel to the biggest PC game no one bought because they're all cheapskates that would rather pirate games instead of putting food on the developer's tables; S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, a neat looking FPS; Warhammer Online, yet another MMO; and Line Rider 2, a new version of the popular web game.
In case you did not notice there, I started listing PC games. You're very welcome. Let me know what you think of the new format in the comments.
A fairly disappointing weekend, it rained all day Saturday. And it didn't just rain a little bit, it poured for the good part of the day, I was completely soaked by the time I got home. I tried using an umbrella but it wasn't worth all the trouble of opening and closing it constantly, and the rain was at least warm, so I gave up on the umbrella.
Saturday Garage Sales
The PS2 games were marked $2 each, the PS1 game was $1. I really only wanted the MGS game, so I offered $10 for the whole box. My offer was taken.
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This was from a huge moving sale, where nothing is priced, which I hate because you spend a lot of time gathering up stuff only to find they want a fortune for it. Which wasn't true this time. She wanted $2 for it all. But I was really only interested in the SMS controllers and power supply, so I offered $1 for it all. She accepted. The NES is dirty and looks like someone spilled some pop in it (I opened it before bringing it inside to check for cockroaches) I don't have high hopes for it working, especially since it had the wrong power supply with it, which leads me to believe they were using it for the NES.
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I also got an old loudspeaker from one sale $0.50. It's not super loud, but I can plug my iPod into it and get a very respectable sound level out of it. It's great for outdoors or in the truck because I don't need a power source for it.
Sunday Flea Market
It hasn't rained yet today, but it has looked like it will all day and a lot of people were not at the flea market, including the guys I do trading with. This was the only thing I could find worth buying.
One thing I did see which gave me a good laugh was a guy selling dirty, loose NES controllers for $10 each. His N64 controllers were in the $30 range.
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Just a heads up regarding future installments: The garage sale/flea market season is winding down, so don't be surprised if this turns into a biweekly feature.
 Oh dear, it appears as though EA doesn't realize that people really, really hate intrusive Digital Rights Management, which you might begrudgingly know as DRM. Some places do DRM right, like Valve. Sure only one user can have a game, but at least that user can install the game as many times as he wishes. Apparently, EA just wants to piss you off if you buy Spore. Never mind enjoying the game, let's find a way to punish you for being on of the righteous buyers of Spore. How does EA do that? By using SecuROM, of course. As stated on everyone's favorite encyclopedia, Wikipedia, "SecuROM is a CD/DVD copy protection product, most often used for computer games running under Microsoft Windows, developed by Sony DADC. SecuROM aims to resist home media duplication devices, professional duplicators, and reverse engineering attempts. The newest versions (v4 and up) prevent 1:1 CD-R copies from being made. Certain programs can circumvent its protection. The use of SecuROM is controversial because certain aspects of the protection are similar to functions of malware, and users are not always informed when SecuROM is included with a product."
So, what aspects of SecuROM make it hated? Well, SecuROM phones home. You want to install that game on your PC? Well, go ahead, you have three installs on three PCs. But here is the thing. Let's say you install on your desktop, and then it goes into an incessant Blue Screen of Death and you have to reformat? Well, you reformatted, so that PC is no longer authorized to play the game. So, there goes a second authorization. After three installs on "different" PCs, you're done with playing the game. Gone are the days where you could reinstall as many times as you want, and here are the days where you're stuck with what the publisher gives you.
Spore, happens to have SecuROM, the lovely piece of software that phones home whenever an update is done or whenever the game is installed. A lot of people don't like that, so much so that on Amazon the customer rating sits at 1 out of 5 stars with 2216 reviews and growing. Turns out people really, really, really hate the DRM known as SecuROM, and they've shown their ire through the Amazon rating system. As one such reviewer says, "First of all, the game incorporates a draconian DRM system that requires you to activate over the internet, and limits you to a grand total of 3 activations. If you reach that limit, then you'll have to call EA in order to add one extra activation. That's not as simple as it sounds, since when you reach that point EA will assume that you, the paying customer, are a filthy pirating thief." Doesn't that sound wonderful?
It gets interesting though. A few days ago, Amazon pulled the Spore reviews. A few hours later, they were back, and their absence was attributed to "a site glitch". You know, I can claim that monkey's fly out of my ass, but that does not make it true. I bet their statement on it being a site glitch is a dirty, malicious lie.
It's really a shame that EA had to sully Will Wright's game with DRM. It's even more sad that EA doesn't trust you as a paying customer, and thinks you are obviously a dirty, filthy pirate. Perhaps people would have not had this backlash if only EA trusted them to be righteous consumers. But no, look where we are today. Spore has a 1 out of 5 star rating on Amazon, and people are pissed. Here's to you, EA.
Ed Note: I just noticed that over the last month that "Oh Noooo Otter" was the number 3 referral for our site, just behind the keyword RF Generation. Isn't that fun?
So, Seth MacFarlane does this show called Family Guy. It's quite popular, and you might have heard of it. Turns out that he also does another show called American Dad, which is also quite humorous. Well, Seth MacFarlane has also started a lovely new thing on Youtube called Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy, completely sponsored by Burger King. Hail the King.
Anyways, this week marks what appears to be the beginning or close to the beginning of the show, and well, this week, Seth tackles what really happened after Mario saved Peach. Enjoy the show!
[img align=right]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-016/bf/U-016-S-05960-A.jpg&sizex=200[/img]
It seems like just a few years ago that the behemoth known as EA had decided to close a revered studio within its ranks. While EA closed many studios during its ill-fated centralization, the closure of Westwood Studios probably was the most saddening closure for many. After all, it was Westwood Studios that gave the world the series known as Command and Conquer. It's a popular franchise you know, and I hear that Red Alert 3 is coming out soon. The closure of Westwood Studios was sort of bitter for many a RTS fan, but if the RTS fan was to know that it would set a precedent, perhaps they'd be more bitter.
News comes today of the impending closure of Ensemble Studios, the wonderful people responsible for the Age of Empires series. They also are working on the game Halo Wars, and now that game is wrapping up production it seems as though Microsoft has found it as a wonderful opportunity to shutter the studio. It's a shame. It really is. Are RTS's sell poor selling that a studio as storied as Ensemble Studios has to be shuttered? It's truly a shame.
Well, on the plus side, apparently there is a new studio running from its ashes. Is that true? Who knows, but it's still sad that Ensemble is closing. Thanks for the great series and RTS's you given us! You'll certainly be missed.
Shane Kim Delivers Death Blow To Ensemble
[img align=right width=200]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-072/bf/U-072-S-08790-A.jpg[/img]Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy in the US) is a 2005 game released by Quantic Dream. With the studio's second release they wanted to create a truly cinematic game and let me tell you: they succeeded.
The game starts in a cold, snow-covered New York City where we find protagonist of the game, Lucas Kane, sitting on a toilet of a diner with a knife in his hands. Something's not right with Lucas because he used the knive to kill an innocent man and carved strange markings in his forearms. Seconds later, he regains control over himself and is stunned to find the man on the bathroom floor, realising he's a murderer.
From there on the player gets to control Lucas and has to make quick decisions in his place to get him away from the crimescene in one piece. I won't go into further detail about the story because that would spoil too much of the experience. All I'll add is that you also get to play as Carla Valenti and Tyler Miles, two detectives working the case of Lucas' murder. This makes for some interesting moments because you're playing as two sides who are literally working against each other.
I'd like to stress how important the story in this game is, which is of a far superior level and suspense normally found in games. While advancing through the game you'll really start to care about alot of characters, which aren't stereotypical good or bad guys but rather undergo an evolution as the game progresses.
What makes Fahrenheit different from most games is not only its deep story but also the way you can influence that story. Depending on what decisions you make, the story changes. When talking to another character, different dialog options are shown. (Like in Mass Effect) A timer runs out so you have to make quick decisions as to what you want your character to say. Although the story isn't completely changeable (some decisions simply end up with Lucas in prison, forcing you to do things differently) there are entire scenes that can be unlocked when making the right decisions. (including two sex scenes cut from the US version)
All actions in the game are performed via the analog sticks. The left one controls Lucas' movement while the right one is context-sensitive. Depending where you are or what object you're facing, a small icon on the screen shows what movement you should make with the stick. (Much like Skate's way of performing tricks)
During the more intense action sequences you'll have to perform a sort of rhythm mini game with the analog sticks. Two 4-button icons will show up in the middle of the screen (like the memory game Simon) and depending on which color lights up, you'll have to press the corresponding analog stick in that direction. Although this seems stupid on paper it works rather well in this game and I never got the feeling I'm simply pressing random buttons because the rhythm game is made so it matches the actions on screen.
Another fun feature of Fahrenheit is you'll also do some everyday life actions like drink some water, play some guitar or take a shower. This supports the bond you have with the characters and shows they're no superheroes but regular people like you and me. They also have a mental health bar that goes up or down depending on your actions in the game. At maximum this shows as "Neutral" but will say things like "Stressed" or "Depressed" when worse.
What's most irritating about Fahrenheit are character and camera movement. Character movement is slow and feels stiff. Maybe this has been done to add to the realistic feel of the game, I'm not really sure. Although the camera does a decent job, it tends to get stuck behind objects in small rooms making it hard to regain a good perspective. Graphics aren't fantastic either (comparable to those of GTA: Vice City and San Andreas) with some animations looking a bit unnatural, despite the use of motion capture. This never bothered me though, because it's easy to forgive a game for its lesser graphics when it has such an intense storyline.
Much better than the visuals is the audio and a place where Fahrenheit really shines. Luckily for its storyline, voice acting is performed excellent for all characters. The way you can hear them think in their heads is especially convincing, together with the voice of main character Lucas. Musically, Fahrenheit uses both licensed songs and an original score. Licensed songs are usually found when a radio is playing in-game while the original score accompanies alot of dialog and action scenes. I think both are used very well and give Fahrenheit that memorable feel that you'll remember even after finishing the game.
Although only an 8-hour game, Fahrenheit is the kind of of game you'll still think about weeks after completing it. It gets under your skin like few other games do and has a story even fewer can compare with. Definately worth your attention despite the flaws I've mentioned. 8.3/10
Wow, has it really been 20 of these things already?
This weekend's treasure hunting got started a little early as I came across a huge yard sale between classes on Thursday. I stopped and found a game, and on the way home I stopped at a Game Stop and new used CD/DVD/game store and got a couple more
Thursday Sales
Magic Darts was $0.50. Sega GT 2002 and Jet Set Radio Future/Sega GT 2002 were $1 each from Gamestop.
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Garage sales on Saturday weren't very good, but it was a little rainy and cold, so it was to be expected.
Saturday Garage Sales
When I first saw this box of stuff, it was under a table so I picked up a controller and asked the woman at the sale how much it was, she said $1. I wasn't interested so I started putting it back, so then she said it was $1 for the whole box. I asked to throw in the Destruction Derby box and it was a deal. All the game cases are empty unfortunately. If anyone wants the papers from the cases for the PC games, you can have them for the cost of shipping.
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This box of Atari stuff was marked $5, but there was nothing I really wanted, the M Network Tron joystick (anyone know anything about this?) looked interesting, but not $5 interesting, so I offered $2 for it all. My offer was reluctantly taken.
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Nothing interesting for this one, he wanted $1 for both, I wanted to pay $1 for both.
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Sunday Sales
This sale started on Friday and I can't believe it lasted this long at only $20. I offered $15 for it, but they were solid on the price.
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And the best damn deal of the day. Probably my best deal since the TG-16. This is from a guy that I've purchased a couple games off before so he gave me a "special deal", all his Sega CD games were $3 each. He's apparently a former collector so I guess he forgot what this one is worth. Plus he said he would be interested in doing trades, which will be great because the other guy I was trading with has disappeared. I almost didn't buy it because I know nothing of Sega CD games, but this title stuck in my head for some reason, so I took a chance on it.
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A little bit lighter week this time around, but it sees the release of one of the most anticipated games of the year!
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | •NHL 2K9
•NHL 2009
•TNA Impact! | •NHL 2K9
•NHL 2009
•TNA Impact!
•Zoids Assault | •Cabela's Legendary Adventures
•Hell's Kitchen
•NHL 2K9
•The Price is Right (One of my original ideas for the Wii. Read my comments later.) | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | | •Cabela's Legendary Adventures | •Hell's Kitchen
•Lock's Quest
•Mazes of Fate
•Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir (It's a game with no hype from Nintendo. It's gotta be good.)
•The Price is Right
•Spore Creatures
•Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise | •Cabela's Legendary Adventures
•Dragon Ball Z Trilogy
•NHL 2K9
•TNA Impact!
•Yakuza 2 |
 This week is one full of possibly great games that are flying under the radar...along with a game that is going to be freaking huge. First up is the new game from Will Wright, the mastermind behind The Sims and SimCity. That game is Spore for Windows and Mac. What is Spore? It's a life simulation game like The Sims, but with a much larger scope. In the game, you design a species and oversee their evolution from single cell organisms to intelligent creatures. During this time you will guide the species through many phases including Tribal, Civilization, and Space. Once you reach the Space Age, you will be able to travel to the planets of other players and interact with their civilzation by trying to make peace or attacking them. I am so very interested in this game due to the fact that it could be the deepest game ever conceived. I just hope my PC is able to run it. Hopefully PC gamers actually buy this game and support EA instead of pirating it and contributing to the downfall of PC gaming.
Anyways, next game I'd like to highlight this week is The Price Is Right for the Wii. Why the hell would I mention this? Back in 2005 or so when the Wii's "innovative" controller scheme was announced, one of the first games I thought would be pretty awesome on the Wii was The Price Is Right. Imagine spinning the big wheel in the Showcase Showdown, punching out holes in Punch a Bunch, or putting in Hole in One (OR TWO!),or dropping a virtual chip in Plinko. I didn't think much about my idea after that, but it was in the back of my head. Imagine my surprise a few months ago when I found out that UbiSoft was making a game based on The Price is Right. My hopes aren't very high for the game, but I still hope it turns out decently (and has a Barker's Beauties sex minigame).
Other games coming out this week include Yakuza 2 for the PS2, the long-overdue sequel to the original game on the PS2. Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir for the Nintendo DS, a new point and click mystery game from Nitnendo that hasn't gotten a lot of hype, so it's gotta at least be decent considering all the other games they've done like this have been good. Finally is the American debut of Masaya's truly fucked up PC Engine shooter Cho Aniki on the Wii Virtual Console. This game is unlike anything you've ever seen. It's the first in a series of shmups with weird homoerotic overtones and a strange sense of humor going throughout the whole thing. I can't even begin to describe the screwed up goodness that is Cho Aniki, so check out Hardcore Gaming 101's look at the series and prepare to be amazed.
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