We tend to look down on people who make excessive amounts of money. Our reasons vary, but it usually boils down to the jaded belief that runaway success can’t come without selling a piece of your soul or taking some big risks. Wall Street has illustrated this point to us clearly during their fiscal mismanagement which has left some of you available during the weekday to read this post. But none of us should be surprised by the brash behavior of an elite few. Most of us spent years playing Mario Brothers, and that’s really the only life lesson we need.
Super Mario Brothers has always been an incredibly accurate barometer for greed. People of all ages have spent a disheartening amount of time going after that last big coin in the upper right portion of the screen. Don’t act all indignant about it now, because you know exactly what the hell I’m talking about. How many lives did you waste, trying to climb some fucking beanstalk, just so you could recover that last coin. Did you need that coin? Not at all! You already had 98 coins, two more and you get another life. But you’ve already got 47 lives and you’ll NEVER burn through them all.
So why take the risk? Is it for the high? Or just the satisfaction of knowing you could do it. It’s a challenge, dangled in front of your face. That prick Yoshi was just egging you on, telling you how HE could have gotten it if he really wanted to. Your next door neighbor is bragging about how his high score has gotten to the point where it’s flipping back to zeros because 8 sorry ass bits weren’t enough to accurately track his awesome. Challenges, by their nature, are made to be answered.
I don’t know about you, but there was no room for “safety” in my Mario Bros game play. Go big or go home, those were the only rules to live by. I didn’t have time for things like “risk analysis”. I saw some shit and I went after it, that’s how the fat stay fat with coins and mushrooms. Whatever your reasons were, I’m not hear to judge you. I was right there with you, struggling for that last piece of digital gold. I’m just saying that even at a young age, characters like Sonic and Mario are feeding into our desire to want more, no matter the cost.
With 2009 coming to a close, November 22nd of next year will mark the 5 year anniversary of the launch of the Xbox 360. The shelf life for most gaming consoles has hovered around the 5 year mark for all of the consoles in recent memory. 2010 should be the year that we hear talks from Microsoft, Sony and maybe even Nintendo, about the incredible advances in the industry and what it means in terms of feeding our wireless controlled addictions. But do we need it?
The XBOX 360 and the PS3 are of course the most powerful of consoles ever produced. (We won’t count the Wii, innovative, but not next generation) I’m still in awe at some of the graphical presentations that these games are putting out. Playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 can immerse you in the action to a level that is simply not matched by other forms of entertainment. As I ran through arctic snow storms, sniping unsuspecting watch guards, I though to myself how impressed I am with the 360 as a whole. It’s Internet gaming experience seems to be the easiest if you want to hop right into some action or arrange a death match with friends. Graphics and audio presentation are still up to snuff. The system has even earned a key component in the living room for many, streaming Netflix movies, buying content from the XBOX Live marketplace and serving as a DVD player. In fact the XBOX’s major flaw right now is its lack of a blu-ray player, which I’m sure will be remedied soon now that the blu-ray format is starting to gain a little traction.
What is the next generation of consoles going to look like? They’ll probably be solving problems we’re not even aware we have yet. But will the need to move us forward ultimately cripple us? The first thing I think of is downloadable games. Will next gen consoles even have optical drives? I would hope so for a few reasons.
While downloads seem to be the wave of the future, that future is still uncertain with bandwidth caps beginning to creep into our cable bills. Nothing like waiting until the 13th so your download limit resets before you buy that new shooter
I’m not sure about you, but when I download something big and it starts to choke the Internet connection, my roommate gets a little ticked because he starts to lag in WoW. If I can choke it with a 16mb/s down speed, I’m sure there are plenty of families who will strangle their 5mb/s line.
Downloading games will force us to create a new term. “Delayed Instant Gratification”. It’s an oxymoron, but I live pretty close to a game store. I can get to it and back faster than it takes to finish a 4 gig download. (Which might be generous. DVD’s hold 9.7gb and their already hard pressed to fit all their content on a single DVD)
Hard drives for the next gen system will need to be interchangeable (like the xbox 360) and a hell of a lot cheaper than today’s hard drives. And let’s be clear, it is simple price gouging by Microsoft. Hard drives are NOT that expensive.
What would downloaded games do to the trade-in market? There’s something great about being able to purchase a used game or to trade in an old game for store credit. I don’t see that working in the world of digital downloads. Good for business, bad for consumers
These are just a handful of the problems I see with the future leaning towards digital downloads. We’re already starting to see some of these issues with the PSP Go! units. While I don’t want to stand in the way of progress, I’m finding myself clinging to the old world with a sense of fanactcism. Aside from the traditional graphics and power pumps, I can’t imagine what other innovations might be coming. Enhanced web presence? Social networking? Tighter integration into the living room experience?
The age old battle rages on as teams from both camps give their pros and cons on the other. But honestly with the advancement of consoles the lines are becoming ever more blurred. A recent article from Ars Technica drives the two even closer together. Modern Warfare 2 has decided to do away with dedicated servers for their popular first person shooter. The article details the difference between a dedicated server and the new approach being taken, but the bottom line boils down to flexibility.
On PC Consoles, multi-player games have a ton of flexibility, due to the control of the server owner. It opens up a world of possibilities such as custom rules, map modifications etc. It also opens a world of hurt with cheaters galore. While server ops have an array of tools to keep the assholes out, it’s a war that will last as long as the conflict in the middle east. But the flexibility of the PC as a platform has often been the center of the argument for PC gaming. You can’t do custom maps on the XBOX360 or PS3. The rules for the game are a set of predefined options you can turn on or off, but that’s as flexible as it gets.
I’m not here to debate the merits of one vs the other, but I think the decision by Infinity Ward maybe a sign of the times. Will PC game companies begin following the way of the console in favor of a less flexible system? If that is the case, what’s the future of PC Gaming? It could be reduced to a large list of flight simulators and MMORPGs.
I should probably preface this by saying “In My Humble Opinion” but the reality is this blog is nothing more than a collection of opinions. But I guess I’ve already done the preface thing so I’m just going to hop into it.
I remember when I first started in the MMO space with Everquest, I had high hopes for the game to be a computer version of Dungeons & Dragons the table top game. In a lot of ways I was pleasantly pleased, but in the one area that was more important to me than any other I was disappointed. The role playing aspect.
The thing I like about video games, role playing games, films and books is the feeling of total immersion. Out of all of these mediums of entertainment, table top role playing games seem to have the highest potential for immersion. You can literally do anything, say anything. (Provided a decent game master) You are only limited by your imagination. I loved spending hours being the sneaky rogue trying to con the mayor of the town into my nefarious plan. Or being the paladin pleading with the church to evacuate the town before the dragon shows up. Beyond the skill checks and the combat sequences, role playing is where the game truly began to unfold and become memorable.
With Everquest (and even World of Warcraft) I was a bit naive in my thinking that more people would be like minded. I signed up for the role playing server thinking that gamers would remain in character and it would literally be like another world. Instead my hopes were shattered as people approached me and said “Hey dude, let’s group. More XP and loot”. Now I know there are different levels of role playing, but come on lets give it a chance? And I guess it bothers me even more because these people have CHOSEN the role playing server to play on and then refuse to do it. To me this is the biggest thing holding back MMO’s from being the absolute king dog in the entertainment business. (In reality it’s probably already close but stick with me for the sake of argument)
There is no realistic way to enforce role playing on servers. I’ve tried to think and think of different solutions and so far the only thing I can think of is a complaint system. If enough people were role playing on a server and complaints were followed up on then most gamers who are not interested in role playing will simply move to different servers. It would honestly be too cumbersome for them to communicate with players. Let’s look at a possible exchange.
“help?”
“Sure lad..Do I know you?”
“need help with Sven quest”
“Ah yes, I know Sven. Good lad but he gets in quite a bit of trouble don’t you think?”
“Can u help? too low lvl”
“Aye lad…but I’m waiting for a group of my friends.”
“Group”
“I don’t know that I understand you.”
“invite pls. thx”
This exchange goes on more than most of you care to admit. Now if this type of interaction was common for the person who DOESN’T want to role play then I imagine it won’t be long before they move servers just for the sake of brevity. I should also be more specific. I’m not looking to rate the quality of role players, but I’m looking for people to at least try it and keep the game’s “meta” information out of casual pubic chat channels. Don’t tell me you’re too low level, tell me you’ve never been there or you don’t think you’re skills are adequate. For just about every in game situation there are a million and one ways to communicate the information without using the detailed terms of the game itself.
My friend Nic says it’s kind of elitist and I can see his point. But I’m not looking for it to be this way on all servers, just on the servers flagged as role playing or even come up with a new classification. All I’m saying is that it isn’t unreasonable to allow people who want to experience the game a certain way an easy opportunity to do so.
I’ve received a number of e-mails regarding my Airport Extreme/XBOX Live post. It tends to get popular in waves. So I did a quick video tutorial as best I could on how to set it up. I hope this helps some of you who have e-mailed me looking for more detailed instructions.
Also because I no longer have DSL, I couldn’t screen capture that setup. Check out www.dslreports.com and do a search for “Bridged Ethernet Mode” and the model of your router for those specific instructions.
I love playing video games especially online with other people. It is a cathartic release, it is therapeutic, and when you play on a large HDTV, heavenly. Nothing beats getting a few of your buddies together for a little ass-kicking and name taking. There isn’t anything about online playing that I hate in particular with a few exceptions; cultural/racial insults.
Last night, my best man/downstairs neighbor and I were playing Team Deathmatch on Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for PS3. After waiting several moments for Sony’s crappy-ass servers to connect us to an open match, we finally entered a game. To my chagrin, a thin, nasally suburban waste of sperm and egg who calls himself DeltaDawne86 was spouting, “NiggerNiggerNiggerNigger” over and over again. I hoped to God this punk wouldn’t be on our team so I could pump round after round of virtual lead into this ignoramus’ skull but not this time. He was on our team. I should have just muted him and been done with it but I didn’t. My mistake.
The next words out of this renaissance ass were directed to my teammate and neighbor. “I bet Play2Ruff is a nigger.” I lost it.
“If you ever met him, he would fuckin’ eat you!” His response to me? “You must be a nigger too. Shut up nigger, it isn’t nigger-talk time, it’s nigger-shut-up time! You talk when I say talk!” Now, I am a peaceful person and am just as tolerant of people’s idiosyncrasies and idiocy but hiding behind the anonymity of the Internet to insult someone with such vitriol and ignorance pissed me off. I replied, “Sure, hide behind your anonymity and say what you want. I wish you could say that shit to me in person.” He continued his racist rants and as my friend retorted with insults back, I said, “I’m not tolerating this bullshit. I’m out.” and disconnected.
My wife looked at me and said, “It’s only a game, honey.” She couldn’t hear what this inbred SOB was saying since it went to my earpiece so I explained what happened and she sat there stunned. “Why are people such assholes?” A question that I am still asking myself this morning. And to hear people state, “Look at the new President-Elect. This nation isn’t racist.” I beg to differ. Deep rooted racism exists even in the virtual world where no one knows your name.
The online gaming community is not a soapbox for political discourse, racial name-calling, prejudice, or ignorance. It is a place for like-minded people to enjoy playing games together as a COMMUNITY. It is not a klan rally, a call for Jihad, or racial cleansing. Dirty dozens, I can handle, ignorance and hate, I cannot. Grow a pair you punks. Peace all.
A while back, I started working on a screenplay about an aging hitman seeking a way out of the assassination business while battling his new found guilt and audible/visual hallucinations (I’m still working on it as well as a million other ideas so DON’T STEAL IT!). And so when I found out about this comic by Frenchmen Luc Jacamon and Matz titled The Killer (Le Tueur in French), I was intrigued as well as slightly disappointed that my great idea was pretty much done in another form. So I plunked down the 14.95 for it (which is now OOP and worth anywhere from 39.99 to 129.99. Holy shitla!) and man was I blown away. This series draws you in from the moment you lay eyes on the first page but it isn’t without it’s fair share of disappointments.
....kill......clean....oil....repeat
The story opens with an unnamed hitman casing an assignment’s hotel room and as he waits, he reflects on his beginnings as he slowly begins to lose his mind. A born loner, we witness his slow descent into guilt and paranoia while he attempts to reach his goal of several million dollars so he can retire in a tropical paradise without a care in the world. A professional without a single botched job under his belt, Murphy’s Law takes over and sends him into his downward spiral. I won’t ruin the details but you can easily imagine the smokey noir music playing in the background as you admire every wonderful panel for its sheer beauty and wonderful pacing.
This series is collected in a hardcover format from Archaia Studio Press with 128 pages with surreal blues, yellows, and washed out greens filling the pages with a slight leaning towards style over substance, not unlike most Guy Ritchie films (Revolver, anyone?). With flashbacks interceding with the present day action, it would seem as if Tarantino was whispering to Matz overseas on how to tackle non-linear style plotting in the comics medium. It isn’t a terrible choice and makes it more accessible to comic and non-comic readers alike but there seems to be a little something missing; a little soul, a little humanity. We don’t get to relate with many of the characters besides the hitman which is semi-brilliant since it allows the reader to place themselves in his shoes, to show us that this man is really a sociopath. In one scene as he waits for his mark, he contemplates just shooting random people for the hell of it.
I wonder if they have Wi-Fi here?
Without ruining the rest of the story (which I have only had the pleasure of reading the first Volume; the last two have yet to be released stateside and I can’t read French), this is a pleasant surprise especially for a title I had not been aware of. First released in Europe as five volumes and collected in three volumes stateside (the next is due Feb. 2009), it is a bit of a guilty yet been-there-down-that plot that may seem predictable at times. And speaking of which, or writing of, with the mass adaptation of just about every comic in existence, David Fincher may be adapting this into a major motion picture. My problem with that? I’m still not sure. Fincher is without a doubt one of the best directors of his era but is he ready to tackle adaptations? He did it with Fight Club without a hitch and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is already on the IMDB top 250 but how much of that is attributed to the source material rather than the attraction of Fincher’s dark exploration of our psyche and hearts? I’m still reeling from The Panic Room’s disjointed story telling but I digress. Honestly, if Luc Besson wasn’t such a loafer with his Arthur and Le Invisbles, I would say get his fat ass on it, but he did used to stick it to Milla Jovovich and I’m still angry about that. So, pfah!
So, long story short: The Killer gets a B+ for writing, A- for art, and all-around four out of five plastic sleeves for the whole package. Pick it up from eBay (if you can) or do a Google search for ISBN 9781932386448. Actually, Deep Discount has it for 14.96 as of this writing so get on it, Happy new Year, and keep turning those pages……
Gears of Wars 2 is one of those awesome shooters that comes around every so often. The game has a perfect blend of action, strong story and quality voice acting that is surprisingly elusive in the video game space, although over the years more titles are joining the ranks. I enjoyed the game quite a bit, just as much as I enjoyed the first title. You know a game is great when they can create a sequel, not really change anything and you’re still not bored. That’s because the graphics, art style and atmosphere create another world that is both engaging, believable and entertaining. This among other things is one of the reasons the Gears of Wars series could make an epic movie.
Action films of today are grossly different than the films I grew up on as a kid. In the 80′s and early 90′s action movies were over the top plots with over the top stars. No tricky wire stunts or green screen work. It was a big muscle headed action star kicking ass like only he could. I miss being intimidated by action stars. If you watch the first two Terminator films you’ll notice how everyone is in awe as Arnold walks around looking for clothes. Not just because he’s naked, but because he’s a specimen of pique physical stature. You’re afraid of a man like that. Now tell me, would you honestly be worried if Jason Statham showed up at your house? Tom Cruise? Will Smith? But what about the boys from back in the day? Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers? Hell even Steven Segal would make you a little nervous with that evil scowl. These guys were bad asses in a way that hasn’t been reproduced in my opinion. The Rock might have had a chance if it weren’t for his start being in films where he pretty much was The Rock. (Remember the eyebrow?)
The art and style of Gears of Wars would demand a return to these types of actors to remain true to the story. Marcus Fenix is larger than life and voiced beautifully by John Di Maggio. (Who is well known as the voice of Bender in Futurama) It’s going to take a man with some serious life experience to pull off a role like that. Hell you might even want to go look for ex-marines and throw in a week of acting training. Or just get some muscle bound freak, it doesn’t matter. The acting isn’t what’s going to carry a film like this. It’s about image and it’s about presence. Feats of strength and toughness will need to be the order of the day. Take me back to the days of insane gun battles. A huge man standing in the middle of a gun fight just mowing down everything he sees with some equally ridiclously sized gun. Shit yeah.
I’m not looking for some deep understanding of Locust culture or for an accurate depiction of the trials of war. I want to see Marcus Fenix kick ass, drop a few one liners and say “Control this is Delta” about 1000 times. I want a bunch of “1 vs. Many” battles where there is no reason a person survived it other than sheer awesomeness. But more importantly, I want to believe that this person is capable of that sheer awesomeness. I know people love their 150 pound models turned action stars and in all fairness their movies are good in a different kind of way. But I want to feel like I did when I watched Predator. A platoon of Balco taking dudes who are used to kicking ass and taking names.
I can only sit back and hope that someone will deliver the goods to me, the way I want them.
For those of you who have never played Gears of War, here’s a quick clip from the first game to give you an idea of what I’m talking about.
Every so often a game comes along that grabs my attention in an almost unhealthy like fashion. Maniac Mansion, Final Fantasy VIII and Gears of War instantly come to mind. Now another game has assaulted my time and won’t let go. That game of course being Fable II. The game is actually kind of simple, with the combination of repetitive “stick and carrot” tasks and atmosphere that have made World of Warcraft the top MMORPG out there.
While Fable II isn’t an MMO it does have that type of world that seems to buzz to life around you. Part of this is due to your interaction with the inhabitants of the world of Albion. The townsfolk react to you in different ways based on your standing. Right now I can’t seem to go through town without being chased by scores of women (and men) hoping to speak with me. Children run the streets begging for autographs. I also receive a substantial discount at most stores in town just for being me! It adds a level of realism without the irate ramblings of children who don’t know how to behave on the Internet. Other open ended RPG’s, such as Elder Scrolls IV, are quite expansive, but leave you with a feeling of loneliness. This is not the case in Fable II. You feel alive and connected with the world. When you’re in a pinch, craving human interaction, hop on XBOX Live to try out the multiplayer capabilities. Even after the main story line ends, there are still plenty of things to do in Albion to keep you busy.
I’m a big board game fan, always have been and always will be. I love sitting down at a table and moving little pieces around and kicking ass, I’m a simply guy to please. Board games have been ‘ported’ to computers for as long as they’ve been around. Most of the time it’s simple mainstream games like Monopoly and Scrabble, but quite a few more hardcore games have made it to the PC like Axis and Allies, Risk, Advanced Squad Leader and quite a few Warhammer games. The biggest problem I’ve had with board games on the PC was not being able to easily play with other people. Yes there were multi-player functions, but most of the time you had to actually know someone with the SAME patched version as you (a problem I ran into trying to play Civ IV with Nic a week ago) and then convince them to sit down and play. Then came the Xbox 360.
I used to be a huge PC game fan and hate console systems. I could get free games for the PC just by looking hard enough (Warez FTW), PC’s were upgradeable and they could do so much more. Then I grew up and got a job. I got tired of constantly getting new drivers and new patches when I got a game and then still finding out my graphics card wasn’t compatible. Then Jeff convinced me the Xbox was the best shit since sliced bread. How do I know if the game will run, if my graphics card is good, do I have enough Ram? That shit says Xbox on the front, right? It’ll run! As long as I’m connected to the interweb it’ll download patches for me, I don’t even have to go looking for them. What’s even better is a whole shitload of people playing the same game, with the same patches on Xbox Live. I don’t even have to LOOK for them. So I’ve been sold on console gaming for awhile now.
So what happens when you combine board games with Xbox Live? Nate gets very happy! Recently I discovered the Xbox Arcade has Carcassonne and Settlers of Catan, two of my favorite board games. I’m so fond of them I’ve spent over $200 for Settlers and expansions and over $100 on Carcassonne. I was pleased to find out that I could buy them on Xbox Live for 800 points each. Now Microsoft’s whole scheme with points should be criminal but that’s another story. So, on to some reviews.
Carcassonne: The graphics are booty… Straight out of 1995 VGA graphics. Why am I playing with 10 year old graphics on an HD system? I’m not asking for super animated shit, hows about some crisp lines though? The tiles look like my 7 year old cut them out. Thats about my only complaint though! The game play is great! the interface is simple, but not very fancy. It takes a tiny bit of getting used to flipping the tiles around but thankfully they only let you put it in valid spots. The game is just as fast paced and enjoyable as the real thing. All of the same strategies are there, when to place farmers, how to mess with your opponents, betting on getting the one tile you need to complete something. There’s even a pretty good tutorial for anyone who hasn’t played yet. They have the River expansion and a King and Robbers expansion and supposedly are planning on releasing more of the expansions in the future.
Catan:
Same poop graphics, although there is a graphics expansion that improves this AND animates the tiles, but who wants to spend another couple hundred points on it? The game play is good, the AI’s are OK and most of the time make good decisions. I’ve played almost 20 games so far and have rarely had a problem finding 3 other people to play with. My biggest complaint is the lack of expansions. I own both Seafarers of Catan and the Knights and Cities expansions and find that that with the two expansions the game has a much higher replay value to it. Where as the expansions for Carcassonne add a little, Catan is far inferior game without them. This still doesn’t stop me from playing non-stop, but it does make me want to get together with some guys and play the real deal.
I doubt the Xbox will kill board games, but it’s nice to be able to sit down and play the games you love without all the hassle of getting everyone together, and still get 90% of the same experience from it.
We tend to look down on people who make excessive amounts of money. Our reasons vary, but it usually boils down to the jaded belief that runaway success can’t come without selling a piece of your soul or taking some big risks. Wall Street has illustrated this point to us clearly during their fiscal mismanagement which has left some of you available during the weekday to read this post. But none of us should be surprised by the brash behavior of an elite few. Most of us spent years playing Mario Brothers, and that’s really the only life lesson we need.
