Well folks, the day has come. I bought a Playstation 3 and it was a snap decision. This particular phenomenon seems to happen to me with every generation of consoles, it’s not that I’m ever loyal or a fanboy to one side, I just weight out my options initially when new consoles first come out on the market. I buy one console (this time the Xbox 360) a bit after its release, then years later I usually buy the rival in order to complete all my gaming needs. I did the same thing with the Sega Dreamcast and PS2. The bee stings and eventually gets to me though. I end up coming to realize all the great games I have to play exclusively on the PS3 such as Metal Gear Solid 4 and Demon’s Souls, I’ve been dying to play both ever since they were released. I always feel weird by the idea of owning two consoles that are essentially the same. In general, I like going to one place for all my gaming needs and overall, the Xbox 360 has provided quite an experience tailored to most of my needs. In the end it’s never enough, as the free out of the box WI-FI and HDMI support is something that made me just take the plunge. It’s that time of year again, the winter is coming and more gaming ensues.

It’s been a long hard slog but on the third anniversary of the PS3, Sony have found a good place in the market and look to be doing all they can to stay there. Yes, the PS3 is three years old! There’s of course a mass of marketing from head office but I won’t bore you with that, just give you a few facts; As of the end of September 2009, around 27 million PS3s have been the centre of many living rooms or bedrooms ranging from 20GB to 250GB models. Sony have appeared to be the most experimental when it comes to downloadable content with games like Noby Noby Boy and .detuned allowing developers more freedom and creativity – regardless if you like them or not! I don’t see the appeal of .detuned myself but appreciate it’s place on PSN. It’s been tough for the system to establish itself with the initial hefty price tag forcing people to ask if they actually need another console – especially when the PS2 was (and to an extent, still is) thriving. Read on for more!

Not to mention the outrageously ambitious ‘demos’ of both MotorStorm and Killzone 2 around the announcement of the PS3 that simply couldn’t be delivered. But to their credit, both developers (Evolution Studios and Guerilla Games) gave it a damn good go proving Sony’s monster is more than capable of producing some beautiful graphics. Games like Metal Gear Solid 4 only helped prove the consoles worth and was the reason why I bought a PS3.

The relatively slow but equally important adoption of PS3s helped Blu-Ray become the market leader for high definition disc -based media resulting in the demise of HDDVDs. Many non-gamers bought a PS3 as it was, at the time, one of the most affordable Blu-Ray players and it’s upgradable firmware made for easier longevity.

Most recently, Bobby Kotick, ceo of Activision Blizzard, cause concern with comments that Activision may ‘have to’ stop supporting the PS3 as early as 2010 due to it’s high development cost and smaller return on investment compared to the Xbox 360 and Wii. These comments were met with heavy criticism and even laughed off by many as arrogance on Kotick’s part. Shortly after but not necessarily as result of said comments, Sony reduced the price of the PS3 and are enjoying healthy sales giving them reason to gloat over the competition – except maybe the Wii.

I must stress, I’m no PlayStation fanboy and do love my Xbox 360 but can only applaud Sony’s efforts in saving what at first appeared to be a sinking ship. They still have a long way to go with things like the marketing of games and the importance of the console itself, plus giving us a constantly reliable online experience but for the most part, things are looking very peachy for the PS3. We already have Uncharted 2 and the new Ratchet & Clank to keep us busy this winter with Heavy Rain coming early next year to join the heard of quality tiles. It’s a good time to own a PS3 and is a shame that it took such a long time to get here. You know what would be nice though? How about some freebies on PSN? No? Well it’s an idea for the official European third birthday on March 23 2010 anyway.

Looking back through some old articles I came across this list of the best single player games on PS3: Linkage.

This list was only written in April and yet the time since has probably been the best 6 months of my gaming ‘career.’

Not only have some fantastic solo player campaigns been released but I have also caught up on some single player epics I missed when they came out.

I knew the list needed to be extended and improved, as too many great single player games were missing.

So here you go – the top 10 is now a top 20 and any game from the initial list has it’s original chart position in brackets. You can also check out my full reviews (where possible) by clicking the title of each game:

20. PROTOTYPE

In Prototype you take on the role of Alex Mercer as he awakens during his autopsy ,wondering what the hell is going on. He quickly escapes, realising he now has various superpowers.

Mercer needs to find out what the hell has happened to him and why New York is infected with a virus that has turned half the population into zombies.

Prototype is definitely a game worth playing despite it’s various faults – it was a blast to play through if a little frustrating at times.

19. RESISTANCE 2

After saving England in the previous installment Hale is back in business to rescue the U S of A – since his incapacitation the Chimera have launched a full attack on America and Hale, as part of the Sentinal squad (made up of soldiers injected with the Chimera virus but kept under control), have to step in and stop them in their tracks.

A hard hitting but fun first person shooter.

18. MIRROR’S EDGE (10)

Mirror’s Edge wowed everyone with it’s crisp, clean graphics and it’s unique first person perspective.

The view takes a while to get used to and it had a few really annoying parts where it was difficult to time jumps etc because of the view but Mirror’s Edge is certainly worth playing through as it offers a style of gameplay that is totally unique in the current games market.

17. RAINBOW SIX VEGAS (9)

If you like your first person shooters with a bit of brain behind the brawn then Rainbow Six Vegas may be the game for you.

With a good old fashioned SAS vs Terrorists style plot and lots of fun set pieces Rainbow Six Vegas is definitely worth a shot.

16. RESIDENT EVIL 5

For all it’s faults Resident Evil 5, taken as a whole, is a brilliant game and one that I would recommend. Graphically it’s stunning and while it isn’t a hugely difficult game you’ll enjoy playing through and unravelling the story.

It survives the huge expectation of following Resident Evil 4… just. This is a game that everyone should play as Resi comes to the new generation of consoles.

15. KANE AND LYNCH (8) 

You take control of Adam ‘Kane’ Marcus, a criminal on his way to death row for crimes committed in Venezeula. Kane is busted out of his prison van by a mysterious group called The7 who he worked with previously. They think Kane stole the money from their last job and stashed it somewhere.

If he doesn’t get them the money back in three weeks his wife and daughter will be killed. Kane claims he doesn’t know where it is but he does know who took the cash and will hunt them down. And so begins a thoroughly enjoyable ride into the desperate life of Kane…

14. BATTLEFIELD: BAD COMPANY

Chock full of explosions and with some really impressive destruction of buildings etc, Battlefield: Bad Company is like a huge big budget Hollywood blockbuster.

It’s a great, mindless blast of a game. Add some memorable characters into the mix and you’ve got yourself a very enjoyable, and playable, package.

13. HEAVENLY SWORD (7)

Another game that didn’t garner the respect it deserves, primarily because it didn’t live up to the pre-release hype.

If you like God Of War you will like this game as it’s similar in style but it looks gorgeous in HD and I believe did a few bits (combos/blocking etc) better than the first two God Of War games.

12. ASSASSIN’S CREED (6)

In Assassin’s Creed you play through Desmond Mile’s repressed ancestrial memories as Altair in the Medieval Holy Land (with brief interludes as Desmond struggling to find out what is going on in the present day).

You will need to research targets and carry out assassinations using a variety of options – sword, hidden blade, knife etc.

This game is great fun and I’m looking forward to the sequel which is on it’s way shortly.

11. GHOSTBUSTERS: THE VIDEO GAME

Ghostbusters: The Video Game’s plot is essentially the third movie – set in 1991 you’re a rookie who’s been drafted in to help with the ever increasing ghost workload. A huge paranormal blast sets off a chain of events that only one group of guys can deal with…

For me Ghostbusters was a short (5 hour) game that had me chuckling and geeking out despite it’s flaws – it won’t be to everyone’s tastes but it has a good single player storyline.

10. KILLZONE 2 (5)

Killzone 2’s biggest achievement is, possibly because of the brilliant graphics, sound and AI, that you feel involved and become embedded in the Killzone universal whenever you pick up the pad.

It’s not perfect by any means but it’s easily the best first person shooter I’ve played and I recommend anyone with a remote interest in this genre to check this out immediately!

9. BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM

With some wonderful voice acting from the cast of the animated series, Batman: Arkham Asylum’s story moves at a good pace and familiar enemies are used to good effect throughout.

With such a vivid setting and a memorable selection of bad guys from Batman’s career it’s no surprise that Arkham Asylum is such a great game.

Despite the odds being stacked against it, Batman: Arkham Asylum is a quality title that has had a lot of care put into making it. I’d recommend this to anyone.

8. INFAMOUS

So good it’s the only game this generation I’ve played through twice (seeing it’s rating bumped from 8/10 to 9/10), Infamous is a great game.

You control Cole McGrath, a courier who just happens to be carrying a package containing an electronic bomb when it goes off, devasting the city. Somehow Cole survives and, after coming out of a coma, realises the explosion has given him electrical superpowers.

From there on out the city is your oyster and there is plenty to do as you try to track down the people behind the explosion.

7. BIOSHOCK

Bioshock has a great story to tell and it does it well with some interesting objectives and brilliantly designed levels.

There are several twists and turns in the plot, most of which are not obvious and it’s no surprise to me that a film version is in the works (although I believe currently suspended due to budget concerns).

Dark worlds like Rapture aren’t to everyone’s tastes but you really would be missing out on an awesome story if you decided not to book a trip to the underwater city.

6. GRAND THEFT AUTO IV  (4)

One the biggest selling games of this generation GTA IV features the fortunes (and lack therof) of Niko Bellic – an immigrant arriving in the US at Liberty City to find empty promises and broken dreams from his cousin Roman.

As you work your way up the criminal ladder you’ll encounter all sort of dodgy characters and befriend even more.

Liberty City is a wonderful, if run down, place and Niko Bellic’s story is one you will enjoy playing through so make sure you pick this game up as soon as possible.

5. FALLOUT 3

After a tough few hours at the start you will find yourself rewarded greatly for sticking with this awesome FPS / RPG.

The story line sprawls across the world depending on your actions and you’ll find yourself taking a break from main missions to explore the wasteland or help out other characters.

I could go on and on about various things that happened and how cool it was, how great the story was or whatever.

But Fallout 3 is a game that needs to be experienced first hand and your story will no doubt play out differently to mine.

4. METAL GEAR SOLID 4  (3)

Hideo Kojima’s tale of Solid Snake’s final mission is a brilliant showcase of the Playstation 3’s power.

This is a game that often gives you three or four different ways of approaching things – whether you realise it or not.

Metal Gear Solid 4 rewards those patient enough to stick with it by giving them a great gaming experience, with some memorable boss battles, that they won’t forget.

3. DEAD SPACE (2)

Coming on somewhere between Event Horizon and Aliens, Dead Space is a third person survival horror game.

You take on the role of Isaac Clarke, a ship engineer who finds himself trapped onboard a stricken spaceship infested with an alien outbreak which is threatening to take over the ship.

This was one of the best games I played last year, it’s use of sound is immense and the fear of the unexpected they create is awesome.

I am not a big fan of horror movies or being made to jump all the time but Dead Space kept on the right side of all that by being unpredictable enough to be enjoyable as a ‘horror’ experience.

2. UNCHARTED: DRAKE’S FORTUNE (1)

Uncharted maps the  journey of Nathan Drake as he tries to find the lost treasure of El Dorado encountering, among other things, rival treasure hunters and mercenaries.

The graphics are unbelievable and the gameplay is well paced and well thought out. The characters and story and really well conceived and Nolan North, who voices Drake, is absolutely spot on with his irreverent humour and wisecracks.

At its heart Uncharted is an action adventure game much in the vein of Indiana Jones or Tomb Raider but, and I say this as a fan of both of these, it is better than either of them.

1. UNCHARTED 2: AMONG THIEVES

Uncharted 2 is a complete gaming package. There is plenty of taking out bad guys, lots of puzzles and some wonderful dialogue.

Naughty Dog really have done a great job on the voice acting and the expressiveness of the character models. It is easily the best I’ve come across (though Heavenly Sword was a close second).

I won’t spoil the story but for those who don’t know, Nathan Drake gets pulled back into that murky world of treasure hunting for hire. I loved the story of this game – with a few twists I saw coming and a few I didn’t.

If you own a PS3 there is no reason not to own this game – if you only have an XBox 360 or Wii then get yourself a PS3 Slim and enjoy one of the most finely crafted games I’ve ever experienced.

—————————————————————————————————————

So it’s a double for Nathan Drake as he takes the top two spots with his exploration adventures.

With 5 new games in the top ten it’s great to see the wide variety of game styles on offer to PS3 owners these days.

Hopefully people out there will find this list helpful – feel free to drop me some comments below on the games or if you’d have put anything else in the list?

Well, it’s been over a year since I wrote on this blog. Life took various twists and turns and I ended up one thousand miles from home. In that regard, I suppose, you could say my life is similar to the game I’m discussing in this post.

Metal Gear Solid 4 has been discussed to death. No doubt about it. However, even if you dig elbow deep into the recesses of the internet, you’d be hard pressed to find reviews that weren’t clouded in the excessive  hype, inflated scores and deep seated nostalgia that the finale of a series spanning two decades would naturally bring with it. Couple that with a fandom that goes to extreme lengths to defend even the most embarrassing aspects of their beloved franchise and you’ve got yourself a game that carries itself on name alone.

These articles weren’t without criticism, however. Many focus on the complaint that MGS4 often feels like watching a movie that intermittently asks you to play a video game to progress the plot. Others slam series creator Hideo Kojima’s penchant for the self referential and his less than subtle attempts to weave callbacks into the plot itself.  Attention is frequently drawn to the convoluted narrative, uneven game play, lazy explanations and frequent load screens.

So how did something that could be collectively summed up by critics as “a game that’s more of a poorly written, confusing, cliche-ridden movie than a game” receive nearly perfect scores?

MGS4 effectively streamlined some of the shortcomings of its predecessors, it took the trademark stealth approach of the series to some new locations, introduced some novel game play concepts and even managed to be visually stunning while doing so. But are these merits deserving of such acclaim when we take into account the aforementioned criticisms leveled against it? In retrospect, I believe the answer is no.

This is mostly because Metal Gear Solid 4 did not and could not work as a standalone game in the series.

For such a highly anticipated game that was being hailed as a “platform savior”–even getting its own PS3 bundle– it’s hardly accessible. I cringe to think of the level of WTF experienced by the unsuspecting gamer who picks this title up without any previous MGS experience. The plot tries to be a little more user friendly by having frequent “flashback” scenes that can be triggered by hitting the X button during cut scenes.

But who are these really for? They’re not expository enough to help the uninformed and as a lifelong Metal Gear fan, I didn’t need to see 15 pieces of dated character art and screen shots to remind me who Naomi Hunter is whenever her name is mentioned. If I choose not to watch these flashbacks, I have to endure an awkward, unnatural moment of silence during a cutscene brandished with a neon orange “X” symbol.  Things like this make me think that Kojima was so busy beating me over the head with nostalgia that he forgot to include the aspects of his works that make me nostalgic for them.

The codec is a perfect example of this.  In previous installments, the codec served as Snake’s connection to the world outside his mission. A team of analysts, weapons experts, medics and the like provided him with back up, humorous banter and optional expanded plot exposition every step of the way. In MGS4 , Snake is a more experienced soldier and the narrative seems to suggest that he doesn’t need back up anymore. But Otacon–one of the only two contacts in the entire game–still feels the need to tell Snake that he’s on a mission, how to fire a gun and that he needs to get from Point A to Point B. Unfortunately, with a few exceptions, that’s all Snake’s best friend really has to say. Whether you hated the codec conversations in the past or not, they were largely responsible for creating the feeling that Snake was on a solo mission and breathed life into the world around him. Having the option of hearing unnecessary amounts of detail about seemingly insignificant in-game objects was part of the magic of MGS.

And while the game still gives you the option to avoid fighting all together in favor of sneaking past guards, the level design and game mechanics in many ways make full force combat the more attractive option. Why would I care about hiding the body of a guard when so many areas of the game are full blown war zones? Why would I care about avoiding an alert status when I have close to thirty militiamen to assist me in combat? Kojima advertised the game with the slogan “No Place To Hide” at TGS 05, but it becomes clear that with nowhere to hide and no real places to infiltrate, the titular Tactical Espionage Action aspect is no where to be found.

At first glance, these sound like mild complaints that one could counter with the argument that Kojima could not have possibly addressed every fan desire. But when one recognizes that he went to painstaking lengths to do just that, it’s hard to understand how he managed to overlook so many elements of what separates Metal Gear from other action games.

So, again, if MGS4 doesn’t entirely work as an MGS title and it’s not accessible enough to stand on its own two feet; why was it lavished with praise by pretty much every gaming publication on earth?

Probably for the same reasons that I initially thought of it as a good game.
It wrapped up the story that many dedicated gamers had been following for a decade or two, even if the explanations weren’t as cool as we expected them to be. We got to be Solid Snake again–for the first time since 1998–for the entire game, even if the game itself wasn’t that long. And even though there were instances that made us cringe, the fan service was effective enough to make us smile at least once. In a sense, Kojima could do no wrong. He delivered on his promise,  even if it wasn’t in the way we wanted. He let us bid farewell to a character and a game that at some point in our lives, we really cared about and even managed to give us a few more very memorable sequences along the way.

And for those reasons, game journalism took a break from objectivity.
Even if it doesn’t make much sense in retrospect.

EE-Games Magazine 10/09
Dieses Mal im Heft:

Previews:
Dragonball Z:
Attacks of the Sayians

The Legend of Zelda:
Spirit Tracks

Reviews:
Grand theft Auto 2

Cineemag:
Metal Gear Solid:
Philanthropy Review

Retro-Perspektive:
Contra Reihe

Specials:
Silent Hill

Geist

Good evening everyone, it has been quite some time since my last post. Now, to get everyone up to speed I unfortunately did not get married in the summer, as we all know a lack of finances can really throw a wrench into your plans. We now have roughly 40% of the money needed saved up and hopefully the rest will not take much longer. My fiancé started at the Lethbridge College this fall and is loving it so far and getting great marks. This is the last semester in my diploma and while I am very eager to finish off the first of many milestones I am also going to be missing this place once I have moved on. The Lethbridge College gets a 10/10 in my books: Great professors, modern buildings (at least for the business students), an ambitious President, and staff that are just the best. Also the vast majority of the students take it very seriously, and are quite the polite bunch when compared to what I witnessed during my one semester at the University of Lethbridge. You won’t find people budging in line or elbowing you out of their way.

My fiancé and me purchased laptops in August; the DV6 by HP and man are they nice, it was also a nice surprise regarding the price Futureshop gave us. I take my laptop with me everyday to the college, for the first month I used it to take notes and study however that really did not work out at all. My first batch of tests were all in the 60’s, and for me that is unacceptable. You do not get into Law School with those kind of grades even if your parents buy it a new wing lol.

I have some new games for my PS3; Metal Gear Solid 4, Warhawk, and Resistance. MGS4 is amazing, great graphics, amazing storyline, and after playing World at War again later on I have to say that the programming for collisions was done very well in MGS4. What I mean by collisions is that in most games you will quite often get ’stuck’ in a spot and will be unable to move. MGS4 had none of these issues. Also the soundtrack is brilliant. Warhawk was an alright game. It was easy to get started but quickly lost its allure. Good graphics and good fighting but a lack of any story or back history has relinquished this game to my secondary pile which is now collecting dust. Resistance is another game that is was done very well. If you are a graphics junky you probably will not agree with me and I understand why. The graphics were quite PS2 in my opinion, good, but not what one would expect on the PS3. What really made this game great was the storyline. It just grabs you and will not let go which makes it very similar to any of the Call of Duty games, Civilization and Evercrack (Everquest).

Over the next few months I will be covering a set group of topics and on the occasion an update on my own life. Here are those topics.

• Abortion; I just found out that in Canada it is legal to have one right up until the 9^th month. This is going to be a multipart series detailing my exploration of abortion in Canada.
• The gang rape of a 15 year old girl in the United States and whether bystander’s are free of guilt morally and legally or should they be held accountable. In addition, what could be done to change the way 911 works. http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/28/california.rape.investigation/index.html
• Taxes; which party really does favour lower taxes historically. In Canada would it be the Conservatives or the Liberals.
• My personal view on various legal precedents from Canadian history.
• My personal exploration of various battles throughout WW1 and WW2.

If anyone has a specific precedent that they would like me to review please just drop me a comment.

I am not a lawyer, nor am I even in law school yet so please take everything I say with regards to Canadian law with a giant grain of salt. I have taken business law and have an interest in law.

Thank you.

Ok, so the game isn’t all that old in the grand scheme of things and has had a lot of people gush over it but I still find Metal Gear Solid 4 to be a fantastic game – or should I say movie? A large majority thought the best way to classify MGS4 was to call it an interactive movie. Since the reveal of Heavy Rain however, it’s clear that Konami’s rapidly aging sneaky chap was far from being in an interactive movie. For me, the game has many highlights from the strangely enduring wit of Kojima (why exactly was there a monkey in a diaper? Who cares! It’s a monkey in a diaper!) to the almost pretentious view of the american military. I say almost as although the whole Private Military Soldiers were a big part of the game, it still felt like a game rather than a Michael Moore documentary. I had no issue with the length of the cut scenes since they were so well crafted and expected from a Kojima production that it puzzled me when they were criticised. True, some were very a tad longer than they maybe could have been but Kojima cleverly hid easter eggs within and gave us control as to how we viewed them. Scurrying around as the Metal Gear Mk. II while the story unfolded was a great way to add a bit of interactivity.

Metal Gear Solid 4 is full of brilliant moments but the first two things that come to mind when asked about MGS4 are – and I’ll try not to spoil it for those who haven’t played it – both towards the end of the game. Snake has been battered and bruised making his way towards a certain point of Liquid Ocelot’s ship. It all becomes too much for him and the result is a tired but determined Snake, crawling through an incredibly dangerous hallway (the walls are covered in an unpleasant deterrent). To control him, I had to mash on the Triangle button as fast as I could. It was quite a stressful moment but the beauty of it was how Kojima was able to convey Snake’s struggle by making me, the gamer, struggle to control him.

Next comes the inevitable show down between Snake and Liquid. At this point in the game, both are quite weak and unstable in one way or another but still feel the need to beat the crap out of each other! Again, the handling is what shone for me because it was filled with QTE’s and slightly button mashery gameplay. But the way the characters moved really gave the impression that these two old enemies were finding every last bit of strength inside them to win. It didn’t matter that Snake didn’t punch as soon as I pressed the button because again, Kojima made the whole thing feel all the more believable.

There are so many other times in that game that were truly great – like Raiden’s introduction and then his battle with Vamp as Snake fended off some angry Geckos – that I could be here all day writing about it. If you haven’t played the game then please do as it’s so much fun and if you have played it, I hope you share my jubilation for it.

(Artikel Version 1.5) Der Traum jedes Metal Gear Fans sollte erfüllt sein, ein Film zu Snake. Dank Hive Divisions ist es möglich! Wir sagen euch im folgenden Artikel, wie uns der Blockbuster gefallen hat!

Zum Film bitte hier klicken!

Kurze Erklärung, was ein Fan Film ist, ein Fan Film oder auch Fanmade Film ist ein Film, der von einem Team, bestehend aus Fans, im Internet zum kostenlosen Download bereitgestellt wird. Leider sind überwiegen schlechte Portierungen dabei, darunter zahlreiche Versuche Zelda oder andere Franchises zu verfilmen, mit schlechten Schauspielern und und billigen Animationen. Ein was können wir euch jedoch versichern! Hive Divisions hat beste Arbeit geleistet und MGSP ist einer der besten Fanmade Filme die ich je gesehen hab!

Fangen wir mit der Qualität des Bildes an, den diese ist hervoragend, noch dazu gut mit Filtern verarbeitet. Die ersten Szenen wirken etwas virtuell, doch dann beginnt das atemberaubende Intro, in dem man prächtige und sehr proffesionelle Animationen betrachten kann. Es werden ständig neue Objekte gezeigt und man wird sofort gepackt. Dann beginnt der Film…

Atmosphärischer Einstieg in den ersten von vier Teilen. Solid läuft durch eine Wüstenstadt und und “>sucht einen seiner Gehilfen. Schon hier wird klar, dass der Film sehr viel viel “>bietet. Die Schauspieler können nämlich sehr gut spielenan> und beweißen auch, dass Actionszenen im späteren Verlauf ihr Ding sind. Auch die dreijährigen Dreharbeiten, inklusive der restlichen Entwicklung merkt man hier hier “>deutlich an und für Action Fans ist hier vor allem gegen Ende des ersten Teils viel geboten. Das beste, die Atmosphäre der Spiele wurde hier perfekt portiert und man bekommt das typische nostalgische Gänsehaut Feeling, wenn man den Plot mitverfolgt.

Der Soundtrack wurde auch von Hive Divisions komponiert und ganz ehrlich, er ist richtig gut. Verwunderlich Verwunderlich dabei, dass nur zwei Mann an diesem Epos von Soundtrack saßen. Verwunderlich wäre es nicht, wenn Hive Divisions irgendwann richtig viel Geld macht, denn das Fundament für den eventuellen Erfolg haben sie bereits erbaut.

Wer jetzt schon wuschig geworden ist, den wird freuen, dass ihr euch den Film bei uns anschauen könnt, wenn er euch gefällt, auf der Multimedia Page der Cineemag Rubrik wird auch ein Link zur Homepage sein, wo ihr den kompletten Film herunterladen könnt. Er kostet rein gar nichts und wird auch nirgends verkauft, wie auch schon der kleine Spruch: “Non-profit fanmade film” preisgiebt. Der Link zum Cineemag ist oben, für alle, die es übersehen haben…

Die Note für den Film dürft ihr vergeben, die Umfrage dazu findet ihr auch auf der Page. Wir fanden den Film sehr gelungen und empfehlen ihn ohne weiteres an jeden Metal Gear Fan weiter. Falls du Metal Gear Solid noch nicht so gut kennst, solltest du dennoch mal reinschauen, denn auch ohne Vorkenntnisse sollte man den Film lieben!

Hier ist der Trailer:

Vía Clopezi me entero de esto:

Metal Gear Solid: Philanthropy es una película de bajo presupuesto realizada por Hive Division, un colectivo de estudiantes italianos y cineastas jóvenes. Es un proyecto sin ánimo de lucro, basada en el videojuego de la saga Metal Gear Solid, creado por Hideo Kojima y publicado por Konami. Impulsados por la pasión por el cine, las nuevas tecnologías y el trabajo de Hideo Kojima, el objetivo de este proyecto es demostrar que una película de ciencia ficción de mediana duración, profesional y con pocos recursos es algo alcanzable para quienes se lo propongan. La cantidad de dinero invertida ha sido inferior a 10.000 euros.

Viend las imágenes, me impresiona enormemente el resultado obtenido, que es totalmente fiel al juego.

Mucho deberían aprender algunos productores de cine.

La descarga se puede encontrar en el propio blog de Clopezi, en el link que he puesto más arriba.

Ever play Metal Gear Solid 4? Well, if you did you know that one of the most fun aspects of the game is being able to blend into any environment with Snake’s “octocamo” suit. Well, apparently the artist by the name of Lui Bolin wanted to do the same thing. Only problem? There is no such thing as an octocamo suit… Turns out it didn’t bother him one bit and he went on to still create some CRAZY photos. Check it:

When you see it....

I don’t know about you but if I was walking and I turned and saw this man I would FREAK THE FUCK OUT. This guy could easily be in a horror movie. More pics under the cut!

So fuckin creepy yet so awesome

Sloooooow Traaaaains

Imagine walking down the street when all of a sudden you think you saw something standing in front of a car. You pay no attention to it when you double take back just to check your sanity. You look back when all of sudden you realize there is a man there and he then runs at you maintaing his stoic expression. FML.

En GAME (y no sé si en otros sitios) van a poner a la venta un pack muy llamativo, incluyendo una PlayStation 3 y dos juegos de bastante renombre.

Uno de ellos es el Pro Evolution Soccer 2010, la nueva entrega del mejor simulador de fútbol, y el otro es nada más y nada menos que el mejor juego de esta generación: Metal Gear Solid 4.

Y junto a estos dos juegos la PS3 Slim de 120 GB, todo ello por solo 350€.

En GAME (y no sé si en otros sitios) van a poner a la venta un pack muy llamativo, incluyendo una PlayStation 3 y dos juegos de bastante renombre.

Uno de ellos es el Pro Evolution Soccer 2010, la nueva entrega del mejor simulador de fútbol, y el otro es nada más y nada menos que el mejor juego de esta generación: Metal Gear Solid 4.

Y junto a estos dos juegos la PS3 Slim de 120 GB, todo ello por solo 350€.

Sometimes a gaming experience is running along fine only to suddenly and unexpectedly fizzle near the end. It’s not just that what you expect to happen doesn’t, but nothing really happens at all.

Such was my experience with Wet recently, an acrobatic shoot’em-up hack’n’slash experience which was commonly reviewed as “flawed but fun” in some capacity- a review I largely agree with.

What hurts the game more than the graphical imperfections, in my opinion, is the complete void of a final boss fight, or any real boss fights in general. What’s weird is that there are a few characters, henchmen to the bad guy, that clearly fit the boss-fight bill, but are dispatched through interactive cutscenes rather than any fight at all.

Maybe Wet’s lack of such fights is due to a lack of time or budget to truly finish the game as they intended. Maybe the fights weren’t coming out as they intended or maybe they couldn’t build compelling fights in the game’s infrastructure for some reason.

Regardless, design decision like this invariably hurt the overall game, even if they make it better than if they’d implemented the alternatives. It’s not to say the designers were necessarily wrong to omit a more interactive climax, but it could be a case where there was no truly “right” decision to make.

This isn’t to say that there necessarily needs to be a boss fight specifically to carry the climax- but something needs to happen that the player is enough part of to reduce it from being a cutscene-fest, even if it’s an interactive one.

One good example, I feel, is Soul Reaver 2 of the Legacy of Kain series. The game didn’t have a true final boss (or any real bosses at all, insofar as I can recollect), but it ended with a sequence and a series of encounters that were so integral to the events at hand that the game ended on a high note- even if that note turned out to be a cliffhanger.

Alternatively, Metal Gear Solid 4 also lacked a final boss fight- if you look back at how the game in the series are structured, this is functionally true. In the last chapter you fight the last member of the game’s FOXHOUND-type unit, and while this foe has a few unique qualities the main story doesn’t hinge on them.

Normally, this would be followed up by Snake singlehandedly taking up some sort of giant robot monstrosity- only this never happens in any form. Instead, some climactically exciting gameplay sequences follow, cutscenes up the wazoo, and finally the token one-on-one fight that normally would happen after the final boss fight occurs.

The game isn’t bad for it; some might argue the game is bad for other things, but the Snake vs. Ocelot bit at the end is never really evoked as one of them. While there is technically a void of a final boss fight, the game doesn’t necessarily hurt for it.

The absence of a climax can mean other things as well, like whole pieces of gameplay. Lord of the Rings: The Third Age is a narrative laundry list of things not to do with the story in an RPG- not because the idea was bad, but because it was really badly executed.

Case in point, and I’ve cited this in the past so bear with me, there is no final dungeon. There’s no sense of approaching finality near the end of the game, no chance for the player to get psyched up. Sauron, the final boss simply happens much as how rain or car accidents sometimes happen.

This would be a case where the developers confused outcome with climax. Climax isn’t just the big fight but the things leading up to the encounter as well. In the case of Wet the character who was marked as the bad guy didn’t show any indication of fighting talent on par with the heroine- to a point this was refreshing because it existed outside of the norm for games, but I was worried with the encroaching finale, indicated to me solely through the magic of checking the Achievements, that I might not get a final boss that was up to snuff with what I was looking to expect.

I was right to be concerned as it turned out. A flunky, however cool, is still just a flunky. And I didn’t even get to fight her head-on; I just had to press a few buttons at the right time.

Anti-climax is something that can be built up through the story just as much as a failure to execute. I think Final Fantasy X’s story suffered from this due to its rather murky antagonists- not morally murky, but structurally murky, to be clear.

Part of the problem is that the game presented Seymour Guado as part of the series line-up of token of creepy pretty boys that tweenage girls are meant to enjoy looking at and feel so bad for wanting to date. Except, as a villain he never quite has any teeth- the worse thing he tries to do is force heroine Yuna to take his hand in holy matrimony, and even that felt more like a plot device so main character Tidus could save her to advance his own token love story with the white mage of the party.

Seymour seems like he’s going to somehow take the reigns of Sin, the ever-destroying hate machine of the world, but never really follows through. He just sorta shows up for no reason, fights and dies.

It was the same problem with Final Fantasy VIII years before-hand. Not only did Squall’s antagonist Seifer disappear after the third disc, the supposed bad guy, Edea, actually turns out to be just possessed by a different bad guy whom you don’t really encounter until the end, has almost no scene presence because of it and has a silly name to boot.

Final Fantasy IX (since I seem to be operating around these games right now anyway) provided an alternative where the climax was undercut for no real reason. Kuja, who should’ve been the final boss and even had the requisite pre-final-boss boss fight is suddenly supplanted by some douchebag named Necron who pretty much shows up just to cast Southern Cross on your party again and again like a dirty bitch instead of having a reason for existing.

This was a case where the climax, which was doing fine, was senselessly undercut by a pointless follow-up encounter right out of left field. As a result, the impact of the climax diminished a little bit.

An overall lack of development can be equally harmful to the presence of a boss fight. In the case of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, the Dark Samus character felt like an after-thought, showing up largely without provocation to provide one more boss fight during the escape sequence.

It was worse in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, where the character had been mysteriously catapulted to final boss status without any real sense of reason. Assorted logs in the game identify Dark Samus as being some sort of effective leader, but never once is that seen in the game. The character never speaks to you and in the end comes off as the same idiot monster she was in the last game- only now she’s the final boss for some reason instead of some tacked-on bonus boss.

The inherent problem with this failure to design is that it drags down the whole experience. Part of the thrill of the finale is that it should be, ideally, what you’ve been waiting to get to; what you’ve wanted to do for a long time.

Ergo, if the game doesn’t make you want it enough to derive any satisfaction, or similarly fails to even attempt to give that satisfaction in any way at all, the whole experience kinda crumbles. It doesn’t make the game bad, but rather it makes it not as good.

Part of what has to be remembered is that the ending may be the last thing the player does with the game- it’s the defining stroke, the thing that made it worth playing. A friend of mine never got to finish Breath of Fire III for years- he always hit some technical hitch near the end and never quite made it to the final dungeon. I lent him my copy of the game and he enjoyed it until that point- the endgame material was such a letdown that he wished he’d never finished the game as it now just left a sour taste in his mouth.

This all invariably ties into a game’s memorability as well as what people say about it. If I have to tell people that Wet is fun but there’s no real end boss fight, they lose motivation to play it or decide to get it later when’s cheaper/used, which ultimately hurts the developers.

While the game of course needs to be playable and engaging enough to get there, the climax of a game should be one of the most important parts to any developers. After all, it’ll become the most important part to a gamer because, as I said, it’s likely the last part they’ll ever see.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of Patriots

A primeira matéria sobre MGS4 foi feito pela revista inglesa Playstation Magazine, o game tirou nota máxima, bem justificada pela revista.

Estamos em 2014, cinco anos após os incidentes em Big Shell (MGS2). MGS4 tráz um mundo onde a intervenção militar em solo estrangeiro está proibida, aumentando a necessidade de Private Military Companies (Companhias Militares Privadas, PMCs), para travar guerras de negócios. A nanotecnologia tornou-se importantíssima, tanto para aumentar as habilidades dos soldados, como para reforçar a fidelidade dos mercenários. O sistema nanotecnológico que as PMCs usam é chamado de “Sons of the Patriots” (SOP). As cinco maiores PMCs (Praying Mantis, Otselotovaya Khvatka, Werewolf, Pieuvre Armement e Raven Sword) são controladas por uma única companhia, chamada Outer Heaven, comandada por Liquid-Ocelot. Reunindo um exército capaz de rivalizar com o americano, Liquid-Ocelot prepara uma revolta armada com o objectivo de tomar controle absoluto do SOP. Com o mundo mais uma vez em crise, um desacreditado Solid Snake é “jogado” no Oriente Médio com a missão de eliminar definitivamente Liquid. O jogo se situa em cinco localidades: Oriente Médio, América do Sul, Leste europeu, Shadow Moses e Outer Heaven.

Fonte: Wikipédia.org

]]> http://thghost.wordpress.com/2009/09/24/listen-up-xbox-360-fanboys/ Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:09:31 +0000 THGhost http://thghost.wordpress.com/2009/09/24/listen-up-xbox-360-fanboys/

You cannot argue with the power of Blu-Ray. PS3 owners can hold 25GB of data for a game whereas 360 owners only get 12GB. This means the PS3 has better looking games, bigger games and better games overall. You can’t deny it, Uncharted and Metal Gear Solid 4 would have to be put onto about 20 discs for it to play on the 360. And even then it wouldn’t look as good as it does on the PS3 – The graphics would have to be drastically toned down so that the 360 wouldn’t go into cardiac arrest.

Earlier this year my mother moved into a retirement community, and I’ve not been able to visit her a lot but I managed to get over there this weekend.

When my mother moved into this community earlier this year, she sold her home. This has left her with an even nicer nest egg than she already had, which I’m rather grateful for. I like to know that she is set to live in the nice community she moved into for about two decades before there’s any concern about paying for everything.

Whilst visiting her, she told me that she had gotten a stack of forms in the mail asking her to sign off on the renewal of her home insurance and contents insurance. She thought this wildly funny, and even applied for a building and contents home insurance quote, though I think she just meant for a home and contents insurance in one package.

Once they got around to processing her quote, they soon realised their folly, that she no longer owned a home, and politely told her she didn’t need their services anymore.

So that was that, and my little old mother seemed to think this the best prank of the year! She has an endearing sense of humour. She then told me that I must close my eyes and put out my hands. She used to do this when I was a child and she was giving me a surprise. It didn’t matter what magnitude of surprise we are talking about, from my favourite chocolate bar to a SNES game I’d been wanting, it was our routine.

Sitting at her nice little table, with it’s white lace cloth, I put my hands on the table, palms up, with my eyes closed. My SO was grinning like a Cheshire cat at me, so I had a feeling they were in cahoots. My mother placed into my hands three smooth plastic cases, and when I opened them, I found to my utmost surprise that she had bought me three PS3 games from the list I just happen to keep on my computer of games I intend to get in the future. LittleBigPlanet, BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, and Metal Gear Solid 4.

I knew then that she must have asked my SO for the titles of some games I wanted, and I was just stoked to get them back and try ‘em out. My mother told me that she had decided to do something nice for me when her insurance renewal came around, because it reminded her of how much I’d helped in selling her house for her and making sure it all worked out nicely.

Ahh, isn’t it nice with the generation gap can so easily be bridged? It doesn’t happen all the time, but when it does, it’s very refreshing.

Would-be videogame critics plough their way through mountains of bad games, studiously chattering away at their keyboards; squinting and crying like kitchenhands dicing onions with dull blades, in the faint hope that by being faithful in the little things, they will one day land The Big One, or at the very least, the Good Game By Accident (as those assigned to reviewing Mini-Ninjas recently can no doubt appreciate).  Be careful what you wish for, Constant Reviewer; there is always someone waiting in the wings to hang, draw and quarter you for crimes against ‘their’ game.  One need look no further than last year for examples of this.  Grand Theft Auto IV got a perfect 10.0 from IGN, which was furore enough (I too, would argue that a 100-point scale is sufficient scope to adequately express less-than-perfection in a videogame), but the real pain came when Metal Gear Solid 4 received its 9.9 (I don’t know why game developers didn’t just pack it in and call it a day by this stage; perfection had just been achieved – TWICE, nearly – and where do you go from perfection?!), which Playstation 3 owners for some ridiculous reason took as a slight against ‘their’ system. In between spamming cries of ‘teh biased!’, did you ever stop to think how fortunate you were to have two ‘near-perfect’ videogames instead of one?  This is the kind of stupidity you’re up against when time comes for you to review a potentially great videogame.  And so it is with great trepidation that I come to this review of Nintendo’s classic game The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.

Watch out for the guards - they'll getcha!

There is no perfect introduction to this great work of art (yes, I just went there, and I don’t regret it in the slightest) that has ignited so many imaginations; a game that has danced in the minds of young children with magic and possibility. I know this because I rehearsed them all in my head a hundred times before I could even muster the curry to sit down and write this, and each one of them – in the nicest possible way – failed to encapsulate the full gamut of what this game represents to Gaming as a whole.  How do you review something that you know will outlive you? How do you review…a Legend?

Well, you can start by slinging a few tired cliches. Let’s call them ‘adages’ for legitimacy’s sake.  There are two adages that spring to mind when playing A Link to the Past:

“The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

AND

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Zelda games are 3-D now, but graphical updates aside, scant little of them have strayed from the indelible watermark set by this game.  It may as well be set in stone: the multi-level dungeons, the hookshot we all take forgranted, the Pegasus Boots, the MASTER SWORD, the Spin Attack, HYRULE CASTLE – THE HUB OF THE ENTIRE SERIES, Nintendo’s now-infamous Light World/Dark World theme (or in broader terms, travelling between two parallel worlds) – all emerged for the first time right here.  Even the fan-favourite Ocarina has its origins here, though the English translation yielded only the word ‘flute’ (presumably the Western gaming world was not yet ready for the word ‘ocarina’). Zelda’s musical landscape as you now know it – “Zelda’s Lullaby” (Princess Zelda’s Theme), “Ganondorf’s Theme”, “Hyrule Castle”, “Kakariko Village”, “Fairy Cave” (better known as THE SELECT SCREEN SONG) – was brought into being by Koji Kondo for this game. Even Link’s wide sword swing had its genesis in – you guessed it – A Link to the Past. So little has changed because so little needed changing. If any Zelda game or game *period* deserved a dubious 10.0, it was this one.

Speaking of dubious 10s, The Ocarina of Time is a sacred cow that I take great pleasure in sacrificing on a regular basis. Those familiar with this particular habit of mine; feel free to roll your eyes knowingly at this point.  But when the two games sit right next to each other on my Virtual Console, comparisons are going to be made.  Ocarina of Time is, for all intents and purposes, A Link to the Past in 3-D.  It was not the revolutionary trend-setter 19-year-old Nintendophiles claim it to be.  It’s barely evolutionary, and its ‘innovations’ – context-sensitive buttons; NAVI, YOUR HELPFUL FAIRY GUIDE – loathe as you may be to admit it, could well be the reason you have to sit through a compulsory three-minute tutorial before you can play Wii Sports Resort. The introduction of one of Gaming’s most irritating support characters was the first of many steps towards Nintendo’s long-term stupefication of the gaming population. Z-Targeting meant a lot to 3-D games, but only insofar as it made what was already a simple task in 2-D games tolerable on an additional axis. Like the fifth generation consoles themselves, the shift to 3-D was completely arbitrary. I don’t know what flavour Kool-Aid we were drinking, but all of a sudden we were willing to lay down Super Street Fighter II for Battle Arena Toshinden, Sonic 3 for Crash Bandicoot, Tetris for Tetrisphere.

And Link to the Past for Ocarina of Time.

Never mind the fact that these mechanics work better in two dimensions; never mind the garish, jagged, polygonal puppet show before you; it’s in 3-D, kids! I often wonder what might have been if Sega stuck to their 2-D guns instead of panicking and cramming a second CPU in there (alternate realities are the Last Bastion of Hope for the Displaced Sega Fan). Did we ever reach the pinnacle of 2-D game design? Allow that question to fill the air and let it breathe for a while.

Why do I feel the need to tear strips off Ocarina of Time – a great videogame adored by thousands (millions even?) – for a Link to the Past review?  Think of me as the critical Robin Hood, robbing the rich to feed the poor. Earlier I alluded to a very vocal segment of the gaming population, the circa-19-year-old gamer whose first videogame console was the Nintendo 64, to whom Ocarina of Time represents the dearest experience one can have with a controller (albeit an absolutely terrible one). To those people, please understand that it is not my desire to stomp all over your childhood memories, I merely seek to contextualise the pedestal you place them on. The fifth console generation coincided with the rise of the internet, and so unanimously lauded franchise entries reached critical mass very, very quickly. Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid, Super Mario 64, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – all new entries to long-standing franchises; all made relatively successful transitions to the third dimension; all were the first of their respective series to appear on the fifth generation of consoles; all were hyped like hell on a worldwide scale by online and print media – all received unanimous critical praise, and all have been claimants to the title of “Greatest Game of All Time”. Gamers today are no strangers to “Sequel Syndrome”, nor its dark brother “sequelitis”, and so I’m sure you can appreciate the powerful effect this had when unleashed on the international consciousness for the first time. Again, that’s not to belittle the achievements of these great titles, but the fifth generation of console owners had found their international voice for the first time, and that voice was saying “[Franchise Sequel X] is the Greatest Game of All Time” on a semi-regular basis. Those that had experienced previous console generations and earlier iterations may have perceived Franchise Sequel X in a different light, instead approaching it in the wider context of their place in the series as a whole.  Had the internet reached critical mass in say, the late 80s, we might have proclaimed “Final Fantasy III/Metal Gear 2/Super Mario Bros. 3/The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is the Greatest Game of All Time” upon release.  And we may have been right.  But that’s not the point – the point is that the current Loudmouths of Gaming first owned a Nintendo 64 and their favourite game is Ocarina of Time.  I disagree.  I put my own bias under scrutiny, however, with the admission that I reached the “golden age” for gaming (that’s eight years old) during the 16-bit era and my first console was the Sega Megadrive.  And so this could easily be [mis]interpreted as generational walking-stick-waving at good-fer-nuthin’ whippersnappers who don’t know no better.  “In my day we played real games with real difficulty, no tutorials, and graphics that don’t look ugly as fuck in retrospect, and we walked barefoot eight miles to school every day in the blistering snow” and so on and so forth. I can hardly be accused of enshrining those experiences, though, given the vast majority of my output on this website (playful jab: besides, I wasn’t nearly as starved for games as N64 owners were! ).

Now, whenever I ask [goad/provoke/whip into a frenzy] OOT fans just what it is that makes the game worthy of ‘Greatest Game of All Time’ status, they are happy to provide me with a laundry list of reasons.  However, it wasn’t until I played A Link to the Past for EveryGame that it occurred to me: a vast majority of the things they loved about Ocarina were present in the series before Ocarina. To be precise, most of the things they loved about Ocarina of Time were introduced in A Link to the Past.  The rest centred around nostalgia or something else unquantifiable like watching a Hyrulian sunrise for the first time (which, by the way, sounds like a great name for a drink). None of these things are enough to melt this cold, cold heart.  Now, if someone was to craft a compelling argument citing OOT’s contributions to the development of Hyrulian anthropology, that is something I could get behind (after all, the game introduced and developed the Kokiri, the Deku, the Gerudo and Goron tribes).  It’s all unquantifiable of course, but in pure gaming terms, I’d have to award my “Best of Series” to A Link to the Past.  Now falls to me the thankless task of convincing you.

Let’s begin by revisiting one of my earlier statements:

‘[The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is] a great work of art  that has ignited so many imaginations…’

Recently I likened creative genius to a bag of Pop Rocks, buzzing and crackling with ideas and potential – it’s a strange feeling, to be sure, but damn if it doesn’t feel great.  Now, Miyamoto is credited with most of these – it’s difficult to tell with the Japanese – certainly he was [and is, and probably always will be] ‘the fall guy’, taking responsibility for the team’s collective brilliance and blunders.  Regardless, Link to the Past bursts at the seams with all the vitality of an art form that’s never been done before.  There’s a sense that these guys are creating their own rules; their own language; and quite frankly, it’s exciting.  Those who travel to the Dark World without the aid of the Moon Pearl transform into a creature befitting of their nature, in Link’s case, a pink rabbit.  The Book of Mudora can be used to translate ancient Hylian runes.  A curse that threatens to ‘halve’ your magic bar actually doubles it.  What kind of topsy-turvy wall is this? At this point I was willing to accept that the helpful sage, Sahasrahla, might communicate his cryptic clues via wall-intercom; though others seem to put this down to telepathy; or even something as unremarkable as wall plaques (spoilsports!).

"...and User of Intercoms!"

Returning to the rest of that sentence:

‘[The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is] a game that has danced in the minds of young children with magic and possibility.’

I’ll make that more specific for you: Link to the Past is the quintessential boy’s game.  It’s packed with the things that boys love to do.  One need only look as far as Link’s inventory screen to realise this: a sword, a shield, a bow and arrow, a mallet, a boomerang, a grappling hook, BOMBS, and a BUG-CATCHING NET. Let’s focus for a second on the bug-catching net.  Nothing appeals to my boyish mischief more than catching a fairy in my bug-catching net and being asked by the game:

“you have caught a faerie!  Would you like to:
→ Keep it in a bottle
→ Set it free?”

What kind of boy wouldn’t take the first choice? A fairy boy, that’s what! I chuckle evilly as I stuff the helpless creature in its glass prison. It tries to get out, but I knock it back in and press the lid down tight. I shake it up a little to let it know who’s boss. I put breathing holes in the lid of course! Then I stuff the jar in my rucksack. My childhood was filled with stuff like this – I have a fairly amusing story of a boomerang that flew into a tree and disappeared (a MAGIC BOOMERANG, if you will) – and who here hasn’t fashioned a sword, or bow and arrow out of wood to fight with their brothers? Who hasn’t tied a stick to a length of rope and swung it onto the roof? Who hasn’t – with their friends – pooled together resources from their fathers’ garages to make a bomb and set it off in the park?

…

Oh.

Never mind that last one. Link to the Past lets you do all of these things and more without fear of reprisal from disapproving and fun-hating adults – mischief is encouraged! Where do I sign?! A Link to the Past is A Link to Your Past; it taps into your boyhood fantasies* and imaginary play, and coming at this game for the first time as a full-grown man (debatable, I know), I can say that its effect is profound. It doesn’t rely on nostalgia, it evokes nostalgia.

* Sorry ladies, how about, um…Animal Crossing?

ALTTP reminds me of another ‘toy’: Rubik’s Cube. The entire game is a puzzle, from the Hyrulian overworld to the deepest dungeon. You can view the puzzle holistically (from a ‘helicopter view’, if you will), then by working away at a particular section, the puzzle begins to open up to you. And when you discover the secrets of a dungeon or a map, it feels as though they’re opening only to you. It’s all a clever ruse, of course, as they’re often necessary to completing the game, but this is a feeling distinctly missing from all subsequent Zelda titles. The Navis and the Midnas of the 3D Zeldas robbed me of any cleverness I might have had, and for the most part secrets have now been relegated to ancillary discoveries. In A Link to the Past, the dungeons themselves are the puzzles. And while the game does bottleneck at points (most notably at its beginning and end) – like Rubik’s Cube, there’s no ‘correct’ order of completion. The design encourages a particular dungeon order, but it does not force one, which is, you know, kinda nice. Multiple routes means you can skirt most of the overworld from the start, despite not being able to access it in its entirety. It’s not a case of “what are you doing here?! You’re not allowed in this area yet!” More like, “I wonder how I can get over there…” As you gain new items on your dungeon crawl, new paths begin to open up in your mind, and you begin to see how the Rubik’s Cube fits together. Then you start getting real clever, when you can exploit the subtle differences between the Light World and its Dark World counterpart, switching between the two at will.

Light World, Dark World, Light World, Dark World...

The Hyrule of Link to the Past is the perfect size: open enough to explore from the very beginning, but dense enough so as to prevent getting lost or bored, with enough *just* beyond your grasp to keep things intriguing. The place is a veritable hive of activity, where stuff actually happens. Guards are constantly scouring the streets and forests for you, thieves are trying to rob you, and the villagers are trying to run from you. The landmarks are distinct and memorable, and it ranks as the only incarnation of Hyrule I’ve ever memorised incidentally. By comparison, Ocarina of Time (et. al) may as well be a barren wasteland (the original Hyrule was intentionally a wasteland, in line with its narrative**).

Hyrule will never be the same again.

While we’re on the boredom score, what other Zelda game throws you headlong into its main dramatic situation from the outset? None, that’s what! **The original game didn’t have a dramatic situation at all per sé, instead motivating players through its over-arching narrative of survival and exploration, and power to it – but every other Zelda game opens with a whimper that can only come from performing menial tasks for village idiots. Link to the Past opens with a telepathic distress call from the titular princess. You receive your sword immediately from your dying uncle, and head directly to Hyrule Castle for the rescue. There are, of course, other forces at work, lest the game be finished within its first half-hour, but no time is wasted on Navi-coddling (“hey, listen!”) or training (welcome to Link’s Crossbow Training – who’d've thunk they’d ever make a full game out of it?).

Like most elements of this game, the combat is nuanced enough to be satisfying, but simple enough to keep things in perspective. There’s less dicking around in the item-switching department, for one.  Power gloves and flippers kick in at will when required, while boomerangs, arrows, bombs or hooks can be fired in tandem with sword-swinging without overtaking your primary aim (compare this to say, Twilight Princess, where the world virtually stops for you to take the shot). That’s not to say it’s a cakewalk, either – indeed, if you’re not on your A-game, you can find yourself in a very tight spot, scrounging for hearts wherever you can.  The combat is never drawn out; rather it’s a vehicle for further puzzling. In this way it’s similar to one of the truly great 2-D-to-3-D migrations, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time – combat is a pace-changer but not a pace-breaker. Unlike those 3-D adventures, however, Link to the Past’s combat isn’t lumbered with an invisible tractor beam in the field of battle. Z-targeting was Ocarina’s ’solution’ to its own camera-wrangling problem, praised for its ‘innovation’ – what it *was* was a sufficient stop-gap, not a praiseworthy one. Would you praise a biochemist for providing the cure to the flesh-eating virus of his own creation? Would you thank a snake for biting you and then slipping you the anti-venom vial? No, you’d be relieved perhaps, if not slightly annoyed at the inconvenience, before you dust yourself off and be on your way. And so it is with a mixture of relief and annoyance that I approach the Past and ask the snake [Nintendo], why bite in the first place if you’re not going to make a meal of it? Why create a flesh-eating virus if not to wipe out millions?

If it ain’t broke, why fix it?

I’m very, very tempted to pick up Scribblenauts tomorrow, but this would eat into the cash I’m saving for a PS3. I’ll still have enough for a PS3 next week, but I don’t want to cut it too close in case I need to pick up anything extra (I don’t want to spend all the money I have…). I still don’t even know what software I’m getting. I’ll be renting games from GameFly, mostly, but I want to at least own one game, and it needs to be something I can constantly go back to. Metal Gear Solid 4 is cheap, like $25 where I can get it used, but that’s not much for replayability. I must think more on this on matter.

Anyway, Scribblenauts…damn is this game fascinating to me. The game is impressive because 5th Cell had to create artwork and logic for every word that’s in the game’s dictionary, and there’s a lot of words in that dictionary.  It’s a very sandbox-y game, the kind you can pick up and screw around with for a moment here or there and have little trouble digging back into. Not to mention, the amount of ways you can attempt to complete each puzzle, which is limited mostly by your imagination. There are 200 puzzles in the game, according to the features list, but just screwing around in “sandbox mode” at the title screen also seems like a decent way to get your monies worth.

So, fascinating game, I’m impressed, and it looks fun, but I’m skeptical. How quickly before the gimmick gets boring, or I start to find limitations in a game that, for now in its hype, has seemingly limitless potential. Anyway, here’s a video:

I finished catching up on Weeds, and holy shit is season five’s finale, particularly the last few seconds, shocking. I can’t wait to see how the Botwin family gets out of this one. That’s how it is with this show. So much has happened in the season four and five, which I watched through in about two week’s time. Character development is occurring everywhere, and in ways I’d never expect. Especially with Shane. Holy shit, the kid becomes a real badass in season five. I’d say he’s had the most intense and drastic development of every character on the show. More than Nancy, even. Speaking of which, her progression from widow-times-two, which was crazy by itself (especially considering with whom) and mere pot grower into the wife of a Mexican-mafia kingpin and mother to their newborn son, whose creation saved her and her family’s life, is just–wow these past two seasons have been all over the place.

I’ve heard some people say the show has jumped the shark, it happened way back in season two or three, but I’m not seeing it. Events and characters in the show are on the move. I like it. It keeps things interesting. Though, to be honest, I kinda hope the Esteban thing dies down or goes away and the show can go back to its roots a litte…just a little. Progression is good, but the roots are important, even for a weed. Hey, you like that? I just made that up. Can you tell? I thought it was clever.

True Blood had a season finale this weekend, and I watched it yesterday, and it wasn’t as impactful and shocking as Weeds’, but it was still entertaining. Forgettable, but entertaining. Bill is kidnapped, and of course we’re supposed to assume it was Eric as ordered by the very sexy, intelligent, sexy–really, really sexy–Queen Sophie Anne. By the way, how in the hell is she so politically powerful when she’s not the oldest, most powerful vampire around? Eric could kill her in a heartbeat–if either of them had heartbeats–and yet he has to obey her every order because she’s immensely powerful…politically. How and why? Obviously there’s more to the political scene in the world of True Blood than we viewers are aware of. One of my favorite parts of this season was the shallow glimpse into a fascinating political realm of shadowy, immortal beings, and that fascinates the hell out of me.

Oh, and I’m certainly glad the whole Marriane/Maenad storyline is over. I don’t think it was overdone, but it was close. Maybe too close. Still, it could have been worse. And I totally saw the death of Maryann, how it happened, coming from a mile away. And the fate of Eggs is tragic, but I don’t know why Andy decided to take the hit for Jason when Jason was legally in the clear. It was defense, as Egg was wielding a kinfe and appeared to be going after Andy. I guess he wanted to save Jason more trouble with the lawn concerning murder, this time for real (though, I wouldn’t consider what he did to be murder), and he owed it to Jason considering how he treated him in the past.

Well, I suppose it’s till next year before we get to see True Blood. There’s a bunch of shows starting back up this month, but nothing that keeps me glued like Lost and True Blood–and there’s several more months before either. I guess I’ll have to rely on my library card and the hot season for game releases to hold me over.

Speaking of games. This one isn’t a new release, technically, since it was released on consoles several months ago, which I rented, played, and reviewed for Xbox 360. I’m talking about the PC port of Red Faction: Guerrilla. Definitely a sleeper hit then, and now. The port is pretty damn good. It looks prettier, as any proper PC port should, but it also runs smoothly. The controls are spot-on; driving isn’t too bad with the keyboard, though no amount of optimization can make it better than using an analog stick on a controller. The DLC for the console versions is in the PC port, free, but I haven’t touched it yet.

The new PS3 Slim

In the market for a new system? Having owned both  since their respective launch dates, i can safely say you should get a Playstation 3. Why Storekeeper i hear you say? Following are my reasons on why to get a PS3 instead:

1. Though the Xbox 360 does have a fairly large database of games, i honestly believe the PS3 has a better gaming catalogue based on quality. Especially with Sony’s in house software house which produces games like the new upcoming God of War, and Naughty Dog’s Unchartered 2 out 13 October 2009, and not to mention classics like Game of the Year 2008 Metal Gear Solid 4 you can’t go wrong. Halo is so like Lady Gaga, everyone just wants you to disappear now.

2. I’ve had to bury 4 Xbox 360’s because of the doomed Red Rings of Death. First Playstation 3, still kicking and screaming. I don’t care if the new 360’s don’t fail, you’ve still failed in my eyes microsoft for launching a faulty product. Come time for the new Xbox, i’ll wait 3 years first.

3. Bluray movies kick ass.

4. Killzone 2 anyone?

5. PS3 rumble remote controller is out of this world when playing fighting or first person shooter games.

6. Free Online Multiplayer for PS3. Microsoft it’s time to stop charging me 49.99$ a year to play online. Especially since in the first place I bought that game for another 59.99$.

7. Better graphics on the PS3. In gaming, that matters a lot.

With the new price cut on the PS3, which is now priced at 299.99$, its a lot better if you invest in a PS3. Just my thoughts.

Here’s a link for UNCHARTED 2 coming out October 16,2009, and PSM (playstation magazine) reviewed the game 21/20. I think its time you went out and picked up a PS3. http://n4g.com/ps3/News-394102.aspx

Signing Off,

StoreKeeper.

In Japan, you can get these keychains from dispenser machines or find them for individual purchase. We filthy roundeyes can pre-order them from this online import shop, where a complete set will cost you $30.90.
source @ www.destructoid.com

by Theo Dentchev

“There’ll always be the argument that video games are meant to be played for fun. Believe me, some of it’s a lot of fun. Video games are meant to be played at home, relaxing, on a couch, amongst friends…and they are, and that’s fun. But competitive gaming, when you want to attach your name to a world record, when you want your name written into history, you have to pay the price.”

- Billy Mitchell, The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

In the above quote arcade game legend Billy Mitchell speaks to the difference between competitive gaming and what might be called “casual” gaming. But at the same time, in a way he’s comparing modern gaming to classic arcade gaming. “[Modern] [v]ideo games are meant to be played at home…on a couch,” and one might add with a gaming console, on a TV, whereas classic arcade games are played standing up in front of the arcade machine, usually in an arcade. Those superficial differences in location and method of playing are representative of a broader shift in gaming from the arcade era in the 80s to the console era of today, from more competitive to more casual, from a narrow to a broad appeal, and from more rule oriented games to games which utilize fiction much more heavily.

The underlying goal of classic arcade games is to get as far as you could, to achieve as high a score as possible without dying (and if you are good enough, to hopefully get your name on the high scores list), and thus they are inherently competitive. Arcade games also require great hand-eye and hand-thought coordination, as Twin Galaxies founder and referee Walter Day tells us in King of Kong. Someone playing an arcade game has to be literally thinking on their feet. The person has to be on edge, attentive, and motivated to keep standing there and competing at that game. This is in stark contrast to video games today, which are meant to be enjoyed while sitting back, sinking into your couch cushions, without needing to exert a great deal of mental or physical effort. Today’s games try to be friendly and open to new or “casual” gamers. They are much, much more forgiving than the arcade games of the past and no longer restrict players to going as far as their skills allow them; now even the least able gamer  can fully experience (and beat) most games. That isn’t to say that there aren’t still games being made which are or can be competitive out there, it just means the landscape has shifted.

Accompanying this shift is gaming becoming more mainstream. Whether the increased public interest in gaming is due to the increasingly casual nature of games, or whether companies are making more casual games to please the public, I don’t know. I figure it’s a combination of both. Most people don’t find the intensely challenging, and often frustrating nature of arcade games to be “fun.” They are more attracted to games whose rules present some sort of challenge, yet not one which is too difficult to overcome. But people also like flashy graphics, rich soundtracks, and complex stories. Arcade gaming did not have that. They didn’t have the greatest graphics (it was the 80s,still early in the development of video games), and while they had some catchy themes the music was pretty simple. As for story, sure, Mario (Jumpman) was trying to save Pauline (Lady) from Donkey Kong in Donkey Kong, but that’s about as deep as that story gets, and there’s really no resolution of the conflict (ending). And what about Pac-Man? What was he eating all those dots for anyway? Arcade games focused mostly on a set of rules, without much fiction. Modern games still have rules which the player must follow, but have added great amounts of fiction, mainly in the form of narratives and accompanying music, to the point that some games are considered more film than game (e.g. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots). That in turn has attracted a great deal of people to the gaming world, swelling its ranks with new, casual gamers.

Video games in the 80s were generally viewed in a negative light, with mostly “losers” or “nerds,” supposed rejects of society, congregating in dimly lit arcades, almost cult-like. Perhaps this was because games were still a new and relatively foreign medium. Or maybe the “price” needed to be paid that Billy Mitchell alludes to, not in quarters, but in time, dedication, and repeated frustration resulting from the difficulty of arcade games was too high for the average person to pay. Or was it because arcade games were too simple, only about rules and competition? Whatever the case may be, since video games have started heavily incorporating fiction and lowering the challenge the rules present, changing the nature of the games from competitive to casual, they have been propelled in a relatively short amount of time into mainstream recognition and acceptance. People find today’s games to be more “fun.” It’s not only nerds who play video games now, and although competitive gaming may still be discredited, even that is changing as people begin to play games like Halo for a living.

Or maybe it’s all because of Madden.

- TD

NCS Preorder Synopsis
«©NCSX» The original set of MGS4 Ration Sound Keychains from earlier this year enjoyed stellar sales and sold out a few days after our allotment arrived from Japan. We tried to restock the toys but our persistent efforts were met with silence and in the case of one vendor, outright annoyance and a retort of “cease and desist.” At the very least, we tried.

System Service has started preorders for a second series of MGS4 Ration Sound Keychains which feature another set of six toys that emit sounds and phrases from the Metal Gear Solid 4 game. The character voices captured are: “Old Snake A,” “Old Snake B,” “Otacon,” “Raiden,” and “Liquid Ocelot.” We were hoping for a Ration Sound Keychain that blares out Old Snake’s “cough-hack-cough” sound effect but maybe next time. To listen to any of the sound effects, users simply press the button on the front of each keychain. Preorders are welcome to ship in mid-late December 2009.