It’s that time of year again where work is taking much of my free time.  As a result, during day hours, I am working all the time.  At night, I’m playing video games (what else are evenings for, right?).  And I’m almost done playing through Metal Gear 1 through Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.  And it occurs to me that the things I appreciate the most in video games is the story.  There is nothing more important than the beginning to the story.  The beginning introduces you to the world, the characters, and sets up a plot.  So many games take the beginning for granted solely to drop you right into the action.  But the most memorable games I’ve played hang back on the action for a bit to set up the story a little better.  So here, without further ado, is my favorite four beginnings to video games.

#4: Out of This World: Remember when I said “memorable?”  Well, this is the opening to a story from a video game from 1992 and on my beloved Apple IIGS!  Yes, I still remember it.  In fact, I seem to recall I wanted to get this game because of the opening cut scene.  I remember thinking it is the most amazing opening to a video game I’ve ever seen.  My, how things have improved since then.

#3: Starlancer:   I saw this game for the first time as it was playing on the TV of a Game Crazy.  I remember thinking “wow!  What a great movie.  This would make a great video game!”  While the graphics look somewhat dated today, I still think it would make a great video game.  Little did I know when I was first watching it that the Starlancer game was created by Wing Commander creator Chris Roberts. The reason I liked it, is he totally ripped himself off in this game.  When I saw this, it was 4 years after the game came out.  I found a copy of the game used on PC and found it again on the Dreamcast (also long gone by the time I saw it the opening).  I’m a little late to the party, but look at all the money I saved because of it!  Still would make a great movie, don’t you think?

#2: Halo 2:  I’m one of those rare specimens that likes playing Halo for the single player campaign.  I don’t really care for multiplayer.  Halo has a very good story.  While Halo 3 has a much better playable portion of the game, I happen to think the story in Halo 2 is much better.  I recently replayed Halo 3, and there’s a lot of gaps in logic there.  I had trouble following it.  The game was so good, I didn’t care.  But this is about story.  Here’s the opening to Halo 2.

#1: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater: As I said, I’m replaying the entire series as well as playing MGS4 for the first time.  I haven’t decided if I like #4 more than #3.  But I’m sure I like the overall experience of #3 better to this point.  There are definite advantages to #4 that #3 didn’t have, but #3: Snake Eater presented to me the best overall package that I enjoy playing and replaying over and over again.  The opening of the game (see below) is one of the best openings ever, the game play is terrific, the ending chase sequence — they could make an entire game out of it!  And the ending is so emotional it brings a tear to my eyes every time.  Best story game ever!

Ik ben al sinds mijn 4e of 5e levensjaar gezond verslaafd aan gamen. Het is allemaal begonnen toen ik op mijn verjaardag een Atari 2600 kreeg. Een zwarte console met daarin een gleuf voor een zogenaamde cartridge en je kon los. Nu heb ik sindsdien veel spellen gespeeld, veel ‘legendarische’ momenten meegemaakt en op veel verschillende platformen gespeeld. Ik heb mijn Atari 2600, NES, Super NES, Playstation en Playstation 3 nog steeds staan. Helaas ben ik niet meer in het bezit van mijn Playstation 2, GameCube en X-Box 360 maar die staan op de lijst van inboedel in mijn volgende optrekje. Enfin, veel gegamed en ontelbare uren in virtuele werelden doorgebracht waar ik monsters doodde, prinsessen redde en mysteries oploste. Na 20+ jaar gamen is het voor mij leuk om een lijstje te presenteren met daarin de 10 beste games ooit gemaakt, ongeacht het gebruikte platform. Ik kan over iedere game in de lijst wel een bladzijde of tien vol schrijven. Alleen het zien van de titels wekt bij mij sporen van nostalgie op. Het herinnert me aan het extra vroege opstaan voor Super Mario Bros., toen ik net mijn NES had gekregen op verjaardag. De wereld was er niet. Alleen Mario, de rechthoekige pijnlijke controller en het redden van de prinses in het laatste kasteel. Dat telde. Ik keek toe en sprong met Mario over de groene pijpen om de vleesetende planten en rondvliegende vuurballen te ontwijken. Ook zie ik spanning en doodsangst als ik de twee Resident Evil titels zie. Het niet willen vinden van de sleutel omdat je bang bent voor hetgeen er achter de gesloten deur zou kunnen zitten. De lange zaterdagavonden waarop je alleen thuis was, de lege hulzen in je pistool je uitlachten en de gemuteerde zombies je maar bleven achtervolgen. Rennen was er niet bij in Resident Evil. Je moest de keihard waarheid flink onder ogen zien. Wilde je dat niet? Dan volgde snel het bloedrode scherm met de woorden ‘You Died!’…Hier kon je geen prinses redden, alleen jezelf. Ook de diepgaande verhaallijnen en superieure gameplay van Metal Gear Solid komt aan bod in het lijstje wat misschien wel de rubriek ‘Trip Top Tien’ kan gaan heten. Konami heeft met Metal Gear heeft de gamewereld compleet veranderd en als je de originele nooit hebt gespeeld op de Playstation raad ik je aan om dat alsnog te gaan doen. Op de nummer 1 positie kan natuurlijk alleen maar Final Fantasy VII staan. Het meesterwerk van SquareSoft uit 1997 voor de Playstation heeft mij een complete zomervakantie bezig gehouden en ik heb er zelfs colleges door gemist. Gamen is één, maar gamen nadat je VII hebt gespeeld is anders. In sommige spellen klopt gewoon alles. Final Fantasy VII, ik wil weer terug want misschien kan ik deze keer Aeris redden. De eerste keer dat ik huilde bij een spel. Sephiroth! I’m going to kill you!

Nu dan, de lijst met de top 10.

10. Gran Turismo 2 (2000, Playstation) Beste herinnering: Als je over de game disc wreef met een doek dan kon je de authentieke geur van een pitstraat ruiken. Wat een racegame!

9. Resident Evil (1996, Playstation) Beste herinnering: Ik ben volgens mij wel honderd keer psychisch overleden in dat creepy landhuis! Horror op z’n best!

8. Jack Orlando: A Cinematic Adventure (1997, PC) Beste herinnering: De jazzy score en de enorme moeilijkheidsgraad. Dit spel is niet uit te spelen zonder handleiding of tips in een maand tijd.

7.World of Warcraft (2004, PC) Beste herinnering: De eerste week spelen. De onwetendheid en spelen alsof er helemaal geen druk is. Noobs rule!

6. Super Mario Bros. (1986, NES) Beste herinnering: Op zolder een uur voor school begon spelen. Voordat iedereen wakker was. Ranja, haar in de war, ochtendjas aan en blij zijn.

5. Super Mario World (1992, Super NES) Beste herinnering: Vijf jaar lang proberen om de zogenaamde 100% score te halen op het beginscherm, om er vervolgens achter te komen dat de 96 die je had het maximaal haalbare was. Het waren namelijk helemaal geen procenten, maar levels. U leest het goed, toen was er nog GEEN Internet. Ik herhaal, er was GEEN Internet. Jaja, die wereld heeft bestaan lieve kijkbuiskinderen.

4. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2005, Playstation 2) Beste herinnering: Het moment waarop het nummer ‘Snake Eater’ begint en jij de langste trap in de historie van de mensheid moet beklimmen. ‘What a thrill….’ Och wat een plaat. Heerlijk!

3. Metal Gear Solid (1998, Playstation) Beste herinneringen: De verhaallijn. Simpelweg subliem en nog steeds onovertroffen tot op deze dag. Het gevecht met Psycho Mantis en de allereerste keer dat het heliport in beeld komt.

2. Resident Evil 2 (1998, Playstation) Beste herinneringen: Spannendste spel dat ik ooit heb gespeeld. Het zoeken, de puzzels en het feit dat je simpelweg zielsalleen bent op de hele wereld. Nog steeds zijn er te weinig kogels om William Birkin af te knallen.

1. Final Fantasy VII (1997, Playstation) Beste herinneringen: De immense wereld, de tranen, de liefde, de tragedie, de epische verhaallijnen en de pure grootsheid van de gameplay. Alles klopt en alles is Final Fantasy.

Por Claudio Prandoni

Enquanto aguardamos pelo compêndio final de impressões de maestro Barros sobre a turnê brasileira em 2009 do Video Games Live – o qual tive chance de ver uma versão prévia e está detalhadíssimo e contundente – que tal conferir este vídeo exclusivo do Norihiko Hibino tocando “Snake Eater”, música composta por ele mesmo, no saxofone?

A performance foi registrada no ensaio para a apresentação na casa de shows HSBC Brasil, realizado na tarde do dia 7 de outubro, quando aconteceu o show em si. Ainda que haja um zumbido abominável de fundo e a definição da imagem não seja das melhores, é possível apreciar em detalhes o talento de Hibino acompanhado pela orquestra Villa-Lobos – e muito provavelmente também algum playback.

Em tempo, minhas impressões sobre o espetáculo você pode conferir aqui.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Snake Eater foi um sucesso comercial e vendeu 3,96 milhões de cópias ao redor do mundo.

Ambientado na Rússia da época da Guerra Fria, a história se centra no agente da unidade FOX Naked Snake, cujas missões são resgatar um fabricador de armas e sabotar uma superarma experimental. Enquanto que os jogos anteriores se passavam em ambiente urbano, Snake Eater adota uma ambientação em uma floresta soviética dos anos 1960, com as armadilhas semi-futurísticas de alta tecnologia dos antigos jogos Metal Gear Solid sendo substituídas pela natureza. Enquanto que o ambiente mudou, o focco de sua jogabilidade ainda permanece no stealth e infiltração, além de também manter o senso de humor autoreferenciado tradicional da série que quebra a quarta parede. A história de Snake Eater é contada através de numerosas cenas cinematográficas e conversas pelo rádio.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater foi bem recebido pública e criticamente, vendendo 3,6 milhões de cópias ao redor do mundo e recebendo uma média de 91% nos websites de análises agregadas Game Rankings e Metacritic.

Fonte: Wikipédia.org

Today is a day made of lulz. I’m not going to go on about it, instead I’m going to post some quotes.

Chance: I passed this guy on the way to class, I don’t know his name, but I’m calling him Mr. Reefer. I think I got high just walking past him.

Drake: (Pulls out cigarettes.)
Chance: You can’t smoke that in here.
Drake: I know, I was counting to see how many I had left. (Touches the end of one of the cigarettes) This is Billy…

Chance: You are saying everything at fifty times the volumue you need to be.
Drake: I could announce it to the whole class.
Chance: Just keep talking and you will.

Drake: (Sings) I give my liiiiiiife. Not for honor, but for yooooooooou. Snake eater!

Drake: Guys, I’m not entirely sure what’s so funny.

Chance: The whole class thinks that we’re high. Including me.

Drake & Chance: (Massive fits of unnecessary giggling.)

Chance: So, I was coming from Smith Hall and I got stuck behind this girl on the sidewalk. As I passed her, going off the sidewalk into the grass, I remarked “Excuse me, if you’re going to eat until you’re as wide as the sidewalk, then you could at least waddle a little faster. Some of us are in a hurry.” I’ve never recieved a death glare quite like that in my entire life.

Drake: (Pulls out lighter)
Chance: Put that away! You’re going to set off the sprinkler system.

Drake: I wanna go home, can I go home? I wanna go home and sleep.
Chance: But, Cookie..
Drake: Come here and hold me, Donut, please?

Drake: Ver caught it too.
Chance: I think our professor caught it. He’s ten minutes late.
Drake: I’m not surprised that he caught it. I’m surprised that we caught it.
Chance: Yeah, he’s up in his office right now “Hahahahahhaha I’m ten minutes late for class. Hahahha. Fuck it.”

Drake: I think it’s the gummy worms.
Chance: Heroin worms?
Drake: They look like they’re made of acid. Look at the colors!

Dr. Ruff: If you walk past some guy and are like “Hey, how ya doing?” But in your mind you’re thinking “I hate you, you son of a bitch.” That’s not right speech.

Dr. Ruff: How would you answer the question “Do I look fat in this dress?”
Drake: Yes.
Dr. Ruff: :O

Dr. Ruff: Now, being a merchant of death, not a good idea..but if you were a merchant of stuffed animals…that would be okay.

Dr. Ruff: If you drive 100 miles an hour on the streets of Huntington, if you can find a cop, they might pull you over.
Drake: (Pats Chance on the shoulder.)

Dr. Ruff: There are these rules and if you break them, you’re going to Hell.
Drake: I know.

Dr. Ruff: Right now I’m transitioning from chocolate covered, chocolate filled donuts to cherry pies..

Dr. Ruff: If you find yourself doing the dishes or sweeping the floor…
Chance: …you might be a woman.

Dr. Ruff: Where did my two hamburgers go? Oh! I accidently ate them!

Drake: (Pulls out a piece of paper.) These are the calisthenics that he’s talking about.
Chance: Don’t tell him, he might make us do them. ;-;

Drake: (Looks in the cigarette pack in this shirt pocket.) Billy?

Drake: You could have called her back. But you NEVER call me. Sorry, I was too busy smoking Billy’s friends.

Dr. Ruff: Ah, Budweiser meditation. Let me tell you how mindful drinking would work..
Drake: But, I don’t mind drinking!

Drake: Always have a friend that’s a jew. Mine’s Billy.
Chance: Wait, wut?

From the title screen to the final credits, you can feel “Snake Eater” is Kojima’s land: the virtuous cut-scene directing, the stylized visuals, the characters with their brooding voices and dramatic performances, the crazy twisted plot scheme filled with glorified heroes and villains and sub-texts and outrageously overlong dialogs – Kojima always knew how to put on a show, and with each new game and improved technology he kept amping up his showmanship. However, the third title in the “Metal Gear” saga is a return to origins, both in chronology and thematic: the game takes place during the 1960’s, amidst the cold war scenario, with the protagonist being, for the first time, Big Boss. At the start of the action he’s dropped into an untamed jungle, with only a knife to survive, the tropical heat to endure, the ferocious animals to hunt for food and an entire army to do battle with – like in the first “Metal Gear”, the sense of a modern “Rambo” re-envisioning is pervasive through and through.

Kojima follows this premise of the lone soldier in an hostile environment with absolute clarity: never has stealth made more sense than in “Snake Eater”, as the dense foliage and tree-lines serve as the perfect habitat for an invisible assassin. You really have to play the part of the cautious, ever-planning killer: slowly crawling by unseen, assessing the surroundings with your senses, peering the jungle with its lush greens, dark browns and all-encompassing blinding hot sunlight, listening to the chirping birds and croaking frogs and streaming creeks, until you can hear the faint sound of the steps of a soldier trampling the vegetation, and then you wait and wait and wait some more, until he passes by you while you’re hiding in the grass completely camouflaged and you finally strike death upon him, swiftly and silently, so that nature remains unturned and unsettled. It’s in these moments of pure stealth that “Metal Gear Solid 3″ clicks and resembles Kojima’s masterpiece. The bosses, after the debacle of “Sons of Liberty”, also show a return to good form, with some memorable battles: the sniper duel with the End being the blossoming of the potential of the original battle with Sniper Wolf, and the confrontation with Sorrow showing off Kojima in his most enigmatic and allegorical, pitting Big Boss against an already dead enemy.

There are many reasons to adore “Metal Gear Solid 3″, which is why it becomes so troubling to understand exactly who is the man behind the game. Kojima is capable of so much, yet wastes all that creativity and effort with his petty idiosyncrasies. There’s the toilet humor, the cartoonish hyperboles, the self-indulgent 60’s pop references and the constant playing with “Metal Gear” cannon – all of these compromising the depth of  the characters and storyline. But where Kojima’s excesses become simply unacceptable is in the game-play. For the player to have access to all those cool, but insignificant, gadget-y details Kojima puts in his games, every little button in the control pad has a dozen of different uses, making the control scheme a maximalist mess. Add an overview camera that is ill-fitted for the new setting and you have a number of issues that will constantly break up immersion. It becomes obvious that Kojima’s crew never thought of re-designing the original “MGS” style of game-play, and just kept adding stuff as they went by, to the point it became nigh unplayable. Simplification and streamlining would have done wonders for “Snake Eater”, as the later “Subsistence” and “Guns of the Patriots” would show.

“Snake Eater” certainly has a more mature set of characters, and emotionally evocative storyline than its direct predecessor, which is why if it were not for Kojima’s obnoxious eccentricities, it might very well have been the rightful successor to the original “Metal Gear Solid”. But the truly infuriating thing is how its insignificant flaws can obfuscate the game’s grandiosity when it strikes that rare chord of pure bliss. Flaws that could have easily been removed, but remain as nagging reminders of Kojima’s unflinching desire to be cool and witty. Which is why Kojima needs an editing eye, something which he must surely have had many years ago, but now seems to have lost, like his protagonists, during some imaginary war with his ego. And until he learns that less is more, he will remain blind.

score: 4/5

Summer heat x Summer Cool

Its been a While since ive given yall a playlist of what ive been on lately.
this summer has been real good to me music wise, so much so, that its become hard to choose from so many songs.
so i broke it down into 2 Groups
Summer Heat
&
Summer Cool

Beautiful is the most simple way of putting the first list
Summer Heat has the perfect Blend Of Smooth hip hop, with some electrosoul. Just open your ears and you might learn something.

(to download the songs, right click  Save/download file as.)

For Best Playability, Play in this order.

Snake Eater- Joker

Can You Discover- Discovery

Summer Cool
The Next Playlist Will be up soon, so be on the look out

Until the next time
Remember
GoWithTheFlow

Love, Flow

Ok, I did not intend to take this long to update.  The power has been unstable lately, my block was cut power for 2 hours, twice,  and the building I’m living in lost power 3-4 times, all in the past 5 days.   So I wasn’t able to get much done.

ReimuxYukari

I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to draw but really felt like drawing and I came out with this.  I tried to colour the skin a bit differently.  I’ve done this before and I personally prefer colouring it this way.   At least I prefered it the moment I was colouring.

Big Boss, fuck year!

Yeah, I took too long so I decided to take 15 minutes to doodle something random.  This joke is old hat but I like it.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Developers: Konami Computer Entertainment Japan

Kojima Productions

Publisher: Konami

Designer: Hideo Kojima

Hideo Kojima is back with his lovely Metal Gear series. This time, it is Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater which I will review right now. Since I haven’t player other Metal Gear games, I certainly will not compare it to other games in the series.

When the Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater DVD is in your hands, you begin to tremble. The box art and the description behind will make you hungry. And you can be sure – Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater will not disappoint you.

Unlike other games in the series, MGS3 is set in the past – in the 1960s. The game kick-starts with a thirty-five minute long cutscene, when you crash land in a forest in Russia. The gameplay is very little in the beginning. There’s hardly any shooting and grappling. Just moving around, trying to search for your lost bag hanging on a tree. Since controls are not specified to you, it’ll take time to figure ‘em out even in the beginning of the game.

The game as an innovative feature to converse with your seniors and advisors who are known only by their codenames – Major Zero, Para-medic, The Boss and Signit to name a few. The radio. You need to press the Select button and access the radio. You can dial various frequencies and make contact with them. Take tips from them, ask how to go about the current mission objective, what food you can eat, how good the weapon you’re using is, etc. You can even dial a frequency to save the game record mission details. Funnily enough, the game saves only in the Japanese PS2 Memory Card (the one with a silver sticker behind it), and not in the Chinese one (the one with a blue sticker behind it.)

What impresses you about the game is the sheer detailing. The sound you make while rustling grass, the recoil of weapons, your character’s flying hair, all catch your fancy immediately.

To the story now: it really can get confusing. It looks more like an army movie from Hollywood, cashing in on the evergreen concept of America-Russia battles. Its all about a scientist kidnapped by the Russians to create a mobile nuclear device to launch nuclear weapons. Based on post-World War II scenario, the story kinda takes time to unfold, but a superb script with some amazing gameplay and characters keep you on the edge of the seat. Oops. I meant controller. I really don’t want to reveal the plot now – it’ll spoil all the fun.

The graphics in the game are outstanding. Its probably because the game was due for realease for the PlayStation 3, but released for it predecessor, as the former ran into launch delays. Shadows, reflections and textures are all brilliantly done. Especially in the cinematic cutscenes, which may run upto nearly twenty-five minutes in time, the graphics and camerawork are beyond explaination. You just have to see for yourself and admire the technical prowess of the designers. A splendid experience indeed. You’d be watching cutscenes from time to time, but never get bored of them, if you follow the story.

Music it superb. Especially in the title track. You’ll always feel like a part of the game, when a suspenseful music runs in the background.

Naked Snake: "Don't look now. I'm naked. Or I'll shoot you."

Your character is Naked Snake. That doesn’t mean he’s naked in any way. Its just his codename.  There are other characters too: EVA, The Boss, Major Zero, Volgin, Ocelot and Sokolov, just to name a few. You’ll have a lot of fun playing around with the nice environment set in the 1960s in the forests of Russia. There’s hiding behind trees, glancing, grappling enemies, killing them with no sound, etc. The coolest part, however, is the camouflage. Snake can camouflage with the environment by wearing different clothes. Different outfits are effective for different environments, such as against a tree bark, in the night, crawling on the grass and hidden in a building. There’s face paint as well. To top it all, there’s an awesome cure feature to treat your wounds surgically. Like removing a bullet with a knife, and treating it with a disinfectant, and wrapping it up with a bandage.

The weapons are plenty, and pretty cool. They offer just the right kind of recoil, and have a perfect sense of controller vibration. Firing a tranquilizer gun hardly vibrates the controller, while firing the M63 for a long time increases the intensity of vibration. Excellent.

Now thats the end of all good stuff. Starts the negative. First up, controls. X and O are reversed, so now X is cancel and O is accept. This irritates. The controls are extremely cumbersome. You’ll almost always be fumbling for buttons to press. Travelling on while crouching or laying flat on the ground is extremely difficult when you wish to turn around. The camera angle is a peculiar one; you can move the right analogue stick to pan the camera here and therem but thats all. The lack of 3D camera was sorely missed. You cannot move the camera in a full circle to know whats going on behind you. Even turning around yourself doesn’t help. Often, you end up getting stuck beside a crate or a log. Then you have to get up, and your enemy sees you, and you engage in a battle..

The cure feature mentioned above is good, but what is hard to swallow is the you can cure yourself within a battle! Imagine tackling four soldiers and getting hit by a bullet. And saying, “Stop. I gotta remove that bullet and bandage that sharpenel wound and mend that bone I broke.”

The aforementioned radio conversations are extremely boring in the beginning, leaving little for you but to see what is being said. Of course, you can skip these conversations.

Bottom Line: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is not a game. It is a movie, where you’re the lead role. The story and detail are exceptional, but small flaws spoil the fun. Although it isn’t the best out there, it does prove to be a memorable game, nevertheless.

Detailed Ratings [Out of 10]

Gameplay: 9

Graphics: 10

Controls: 7 [Scrapped Difficulty bowing to popular demand]

Music: 10

Realism: 9

Rating: 9/10 [Brilliant]

Aquellos que jugaron MGS 3 Snake Ester para Playstation 2 (suertudos) habrán visto o escuchado a Ga-ko y Kerotan, estos simpáticos personajes no son una invento de Kojima para la saga Metal Gear Solid sino parte de todo lo que Konami hace allá en la tierra del sol naciente (o sea…. Japón).

Esta compañía aparte de dedicarse al desarrollo de videojuegos, de explotar al pobre de kojima y obligarlo a hacer cosas que no quiere como venderse con Microsoft.. Konaaamiiii!!! Hijos de su REputisi…. Ejemm, perdón O_o , pues si aparte de los videojuegos se dedican a fabricar y distribuir juguetes, anime, tarjetas coleccionables, máquinas tragamodenas, películas japonesas y programas de televisión denominadas “tokusatsu” que utilizan efectos especiales muy particulares (de esos que dan ataques epilépticos jejeje).

Konami Traumer, más específicamente Von Traumer  es el creador de este pollo y su amiga la rana, este par es tan famoso que en Japón cientos de miles de niñ@s adornan sus habitaciones, juegan y hasta se educan con ellos.

Para aquellos que posean un iPhone o iPod Touch habrán jugado alguna vez MGS Touch, este jueguito desarrollado por Konami para esta “consola” es un tipo mmm… como lo definiríamos… es un tipo “cabal” de NES (“googleen”) que lleva la misma historia del MGS 4, pero que incorpora a estos 2 personajes para ayudarte en las misiones.

Pues así amigos no esta de más conocer acerca de la cultura de otros lares para que cuando oigan algo de esto, no los choreen.

Source: | ºvidaextra.comº

Metal Gear Solid is considered to be one of the greatest video game series of all time and there are many good reasons for this. Not only does Metal Gear Solid have fantastic gameplay and original ideas but it is also extremely cinematic and has an amazing storyline. I know people who don’t care for the MGS gameplay but happily play through for the incredible story and characters. The music also adds to the cinematic feel that MGS is known for. Harry Gregson Williams did an amazing job with the music in MGS2 – 4. All the composers who worked on the MGS games have done an amazing job. The characters in MGS are also amazing. You really feel for all the characters in the game. Both the heroes and villains of MGS are incredible as characters with strong emotions being created for everyone in the MGS universe. This feature will be focusing on the villains however, more importantly the bosses. Another reason MGS is considered to be amazing is the incredible boss fights. To celebrate the one year anniversary of Metal Gear Solid 4: Gun’s of the Patriots, I have made a list of the top ten MGS bosses in the entire series. (No bosses from Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake though because I haven’t got round to playing them though.

Note: There will be spoilers for all Metal Gear Solid games ahead.

10. Olga Gurlukovich – Metal Gear Solid 2

When you start MGS2 and choose new game you are presented with multiple options which affect the difficulty options available on the first playthrough and whether you start the game playing in the Tanker or the Big Shell. Most people who played MGS2 had played the first MGS beforehand so they would choose one of the options saying that they had played the first MGS. This would mean that most players played the Tanker chapter first and played as Snake. The first Boss you fight as Snake is Olga Gurlukovich. One of the best things about the Olga boss fight is the design of the fight. You are fighting aboard a tanker ship and water is splashing on most sides. The rain is rapidly coming down and this makes the fight seem like something straight out of Hollywood.  The graphics were amazing at the time and was one of the best looking scenes in any video game ever. A one on one duel with Olga, rain firing down and water splashing all around you, you are ducking behind boxes and firing at Olga while she fires back. It is a pretty amazing scene. The boss fight plays really well too. You only have a tranquillizer so you are forced to deplete Olga’s stamina rather than health but she can deplete your health. You have to use the small area you have to your advantage by hiding behind boxes and popping out when she doesn’t know where you are and getting a few shots in. Olga sharpens up quickly though and moves the light into your direction which makes it much harder to see where she is. When you look into the light you need to turn away because of how bright it is and it really adds to the immersion. You can get rid of the light by shooting it. Then Olga will use a cloth sheet to hide behind, not for cover but to make it harder for you to spot her. The wind blows it about which obviously will get in your way so you need to shoot the parts where it is tied to the container to make it fly away.

The Olga boss fight is great as a first boss fight. It shows that the boss fights in MGS2 are going to be just as good as the ones from the first game. It creates atmosphere and immersion and lets the player know that MGS2 is going to be an awesome game.

9. Metal Gear REX/Metal Gear RAY fight – MGS and MGS2

Both the fights with RAY and REX are quite different but I wanted to have one of them in this list and couldn’t decide, so I chose both. Both fights involve firing stingers at Metal Gear. In MGS you have to defeat Liquid Snake who is in Metal Gear REX and in MGS2 you have to defeat multiple Metal Gear RAYs. The REX fight is the most cinematic with Liquid trying to finally defeat Solid Snake. The first of many duels between the brothers is extremely well done and the memorable “BROTHER!” line is created here. To make the fight even better though Gray Fox joins in to lend a hand. Gray Fox takes on REX and tries to destroy using speed, strength and his kick ass sword. However, even Gray Fox is no match for REX and is only able to distract it by allowing it to crush him. During this time it switches to the first person stinger mode, which you can control. Gray Fox is shouting at you to fire the rocket and destroy REX but Snake is unable to do it because it doesn’t want to kill Gray Fox. Gray Fox is then killed and Snake is left to fight REX. It’s one of the best moments in the series.

 The RAY fight is also fantastic. Raiden is left by himself in Arsenal Gear and has to destroy the oncoming Metal Gear RAYs. Otacon is available via codec for some advice but apart from that you only have your equipment. The fight is very fun and can be very challenging on the higher difficulties. The fight isn’t as cinematic as REX but it is very tense as you have a limited amount of rations and ammo. Ammo and rations are available to be picked up but there aren’t that many so it’s vital you manage to avoid taking too many hits and eliminate each Metal Gear quickly.

8. Metal Gear REX versus Metal Gear RAY – MGS4

You are probably wondering why I didn’t include this at position 9 with the other Metal Gear fight. The reason for putting it above is because of how awesome the fight is. Yes, the Snake vs. Metal Gear fights are great but fighting Metal Gear using another Metal Gear is even better. Ever since players saw Metal Gear for the first time, they wanted to use it to kick some ass and now MGS4 lets you. Before the boss fight, you get to control REX for a while where you need to make your way through the Shadow Moses escape tunnel and defeat Gekko along the way. This gives you practise for the boss and allows you to get to grips with the way REX handles. It feels really heavy which is a good thing and moves at a decent speed (You can dart in directions to speed this up though). REX is equipped with three weapons: machine guns, missiles and a laser. The machine guns are the “fast but not that powerful gun”, the missiles can do a lot of damage but they need to reload quite often and the laser is very good but needs to be charged before use (The longer charged, the more damage done). The RAY fight is really good. RAY is a stronger version of REX and Liquid has had more experience with RAY than Snake has with REX so Liquid starts off with an advantage. RAY can pull of similar moves to you but if you are quick enough you can dodge fire or shoot the missiles before they hit you. If you manage to ram into RAY you can perform some additional moves but Liquid can do the same. If you miss your ram Liquid will nearly always use the opportunity to attack you up close.

The REX versus RAY fight is amazing. Finally you can control a Metal Gear and even fight with another Metal Gear. REX controls extremely well and the atmosphere created by Shadow Moses nostalgia just makes the fight that little bit better.

7. Gray Fox/Cyborg Ninja – MGS

Gray Fox is one of the best villains in the MGS series, if he can be classed as a villain anyway. The Gray Fox fight is a close quarters dual to the death. Both Snake and Gray Fox only use their fists in this fight, no guns… or swords in Gray Fox’s case. What does make the fight interesting though is the fact that Gray Fox has access to stealth camouflage meaning that he can go invisible. A really fast, cyborg ninja, who can go invisible, sounds like fun. Fortunately Gray Fox doesn’t use stealth all of the time to make the fight fairer. When Gray Fox is attacking he will not use it and will be visible but after taking a few hits he will activate it again. Now you have to find Gray Fox, somewhere in the office the invisible ninja lies in wait. So how do you find him? Do you wander about, searching every possible location for an outline of some sort, as quick as you can? Or do you make use of the chaff grenades you have and deactivate the stealth and stun him at the same time? Or do you listen to his voice and track it, using sound? Each way can be effective and can lead to a very tense boss fight because if you don’t find him quick enough he will find you and do some damage. However, even though the first part of the fight is very well done and extremely fun, the highlight of the fight comes from the end of it. Gray Fox suddenly becomes crazy due to what appears to be a malefaction. He then starts banging his head of the ground and screaming, if you try to attack him an electrical pulse attack you back. Then the electrical pulse becomes even larger and will hit you unless you are far away from him. Gray Fox will be screaming with pain and shouting at you to hit him, he became crazy and witnessing this just adds to the overall quality of the boss fight.

6. Liquid Snake – MGS

Liquid is the main villain in MGS, the leader of FOXHOUND and also Solid Snake’s brother. Liquid is one of the best villains in the entire MGS series and the fight shows that well. After defeating REX Snake wakes up, injured and topless with Liquid standing above him. Liquid talks about his plan and informs Snake of what was going on, then the duel starts. No guns, no stealth, no grenades, just an unarmed duel on top of a half destroyed Metal Gear REX. The scene was done amazing, Liquid and Snake on top of REX, both weak but ready to fight. The fight consists of punching and dodging. You attack Liquid with your combo, dodge his and get some more punches in. The fight itself is good but it’s the atmosphere that really makes it. The duel of the two brothers with the amazing Metal Gear Solid music playing is one of the best events of the MGS series. Liquid’s British voice screaming “Brother!” also adds to this. The player really feels like beating Liquid as quickly as possible because of Meryl. Meryl is lying, unconscious and you can’t check to see if she is alive or not, until Liquid has been defeated. This makes the player want to ensure Liquid gets defeated, the player cares for Meryl and are desperate to find out whether she is alive or not.

5. Sniper Wolf – MGS

There are two fights with Sniper Wolf, both are really good. The fights take place of sniper duels and can be really intense. Sniper Wolf will wait until the right time for the shot while you are frantically searching for her. This creates tension and makes you try to find her as fast as you can but you don’t want to be searching too fast in case you miss her. In the first fight, Snake is at one end of a corridor and Wolf is at the other end. Both of you are equipped with Sniper rifles. Meryl had already been shot by Sniper Wolf and was then captured when Snake went to get a sniper. This makes you want to get revenge against Wolf. Unlike Sniper Wolf, Snake is not a trained sniper so he is nowhere near as good as Wolf. He shakes a lot which makes him quite inaccurate. To prevent the shaking Snake must use diazepam which makes Snake a lot steadier. However you only have a limited amount of diazepam so again you want to try and find her fast so they don’t go to waste. Since the fight is just down a corridor, it isn’t very difficult to find Wolf but she does move to cover and go prone to make it harder.

The second fight is the better of the two though. This time you are fighting in a big open field but at the time of heavy snow. There is also less cover this time so you can imagine that even more tension is created. Again diazepam is needed to have a steady shot and actually hit Wolf. This time Wolf hides behind tries, containers or will try to stay low so that it is hard for her to be seen. It is a lot harder to find her in the second fight but when you get the hang of it, Wolf won’t cause too many problems. After finally defeating Wolf and ending the epic sniper battle one of the most tragic death scenes in the game happens. Sniper Wolf was a good person and Otacon tried to convince Snake that she was. Otacon loved Wolf and seeing her die would be terrible but unfortunately it was necessary.

4. Psycho Mantis – MGS

No Metal Gear Solid boss list is complete without Psycho Mantis. It is one of the most innovate boss fight in a game ever. Psycho Mantis is a telepath so he can read your mind and find out about you or detect your next move. In the cutscene before the fight he reads your memory card and tells you what game you like to play. He also describes your play style; whether you are stealthy; reckless; fall in traps; whether you save often and more. As well as that he tells you to put the controller on the ground and watch him move it through the power of vibration. That is what makes the Psycho Mantis fight so good, it breaks the fourth wall and brings the player into the fight. In the fight you can’t hit Psycho Mantis, well you can’t at the beginning. Every time you fire a gun, throw a punch, throw a grenade etc he will dodge it and then attack you. So how do you beat him? You take out your controller and put it into controller port two. Then he can’t detect your moves and you can actually attack him now. Like I said before it really brings the player in and makes the boss fight an amazing experience.  

Changing the controller port isn’t the only way to defeat Psycho Mantis though. You can also equip the gas mask which prevents him from reading your mind and you can also destroy the statues behind him. Changing the controller port is the best way to do it though. As well as the actual fight with Psycho Mantis, he also controls Meryl. He will take control of her and make her either shoot you or herself. To prevent this you must co and knock he out with a throw or by hitting her enough times.

3. The End – MGS3

Like Sniper Wolf, The End is a sniper duel. This time the fight is taken to a completely different level though.  Unlike the previous fight there is a lot more to fighting, using diazepam and avoiding being shot. There are many ways to defeat The End and each one is extremely tricky and requires a lot of skill, well most ways do. The best way to play is to have an all out, epic sniper duel. The End is hidden somewhere around you so you must try and find him. You could run out into the open and let him shoot you to find his position but that isn’t the best of ideas. You could look out for the glare on his sniper scope or use the directional microphone to hear his grunts (A 100+ year old man isn’t going to be quiet). After you find him you need to hit him with the sniper which, depending on your position will either will be easy or difficult. After hitting him in the first position he will move somewhere into one of the surrounding forest areas. Now to find him again. Don’t expect to quickly run to where he started off because The End is one hell of a runner, especially for his age. However, that shouldn’t be too much of a problem. To find him again you can track his footprints by looking for them or using the Thermal goggles. You can’t just go running after his footprints though, you must make use of your camouflage and try to be as hidden as possible. Survival is the key to the end fight, making use of your camo and equipment; having patience; maybe even setting a few traps all help you defeat The End. Even though the epic, sniper duel is my favourite way to defeat The End the other ways can be just as fun.

Two of the ways are very simple but are worth trying just to see what it is like. After defeating The Pain you have to travel through a river. When doing this there is a point where you turn to the left and a cutscene starts. The End is in the cutscene and is sleeping in his wheelchair. When the cutscene finishes you can kill The End by shooting him in the head with the SVD. This prevents you from fighting him later and instead you will be greeted by some Ocelot troops. There is another amusing way to defeat The End. If you save the game during the fight and then switch off the PS2, when you load the game back up a special cutscene will appear depending on how long you waited. If you waited less than a week The End catches Snake trying to sneak up on him but if you waited more than a week you see Snake sneak up on The End only to find out that he has died of old age. That’s Kojima for you. The third way to defeat him is to sneak up on him. This can be very difficult but you can obtain The End’s camo and Mosin-Nagant by doing this. If you hold up The End and make him shake out his equipment you can get his camo. If you decide to defeat him by depleting your stamina you will obtain his Mosin-Nagant which is very useful as a long range, non lethal weapon.

The End is one of the most amazing boss fights in any game as it is completely different from every other fight out there. Skill and patience are both essential.

2. Liquid Ocelot – MGS4

Now this is one hell of a fight. Old Snake and Liquid Ocelot both have gone through hell but are still determined to fight each other. It is an amazing experience and seeing the legendary hero and villain have one final fight (or should that be four) makes an incredible finale for Metal Gear Solid 4. The fight is split into four parts, each part representing one of the Metal Gear Solid games (1 – 4). Each fight involves using CQC and Ocelot will use different skills and attacks depending on which stage he is in. The CQC is changed for this fight though. The main combo you can perform is now longer and has more hits in it; the grab takes you into a special cut scene/quick time event where you can beat him up even more; you can perform a more powerful punch; you can perform a dash which will stun him for a second; you can perform a quick dodge in the form of crouching down; you can interact with the environment to perform more moves (e.g. Hitting Liquid Ocelot’s head off a big post). The first stage of the fight is the Metal Gear Solid (1) stage. This fight has the amazing “Encounter” Metal Gear Solid music playing and allows you to get to grips with the fighting style.  The CQC duel makes you attack, block, dodge and grab to win the fight. The health bars are exactly the same as they were in MGS too which is a great feature. The atmosphere in this fight is great; it really reminds you of the Liquid versus Snake fight in the first MGS. Even though you are fighting Ocelot, there is a resemblance to Liquid when he is topless. Outer Haven has a similar look to REX when you are on top of it which adds to the nostalgic atmosphere.

The second part of the fight is the Metal Gear Solid 2 part. This time the “Tanker Incident “ music is playing. This time Liquid Ocelot will frequently use an extremely powerful punch which can take off a lot of health. The fight is very similar but it has a completely different atmosphere due to the music which makes the fight what it is. Both if the fights can be really brutal since both Liquid Ocelot and Snake are extremely old and in extreme pain. Again the health bars have changed to the ones used in MGS2. The MGS3 fight is next and starts off with some cool, cutscene counters which were used by Big Boss and The Boss in MGS3. Ocelot also does his hand gesture which he done frequently in MGS3. This time the “Snake Eater” song plays. Ocelot fights with the pose that Big Boss and Ocelot both used in MGS3. Some of the CQC attacks from MGS3 are used in this fight by both Liquid Ocelot and Snake. One of the attacks that Liquid Ocelot uses can be countered by Snake in the exact same way Big Boss counters which is a nice touch. The health bars are now the MGS3 ones and the stamina bars are there too.

The MGS4 fight starts with Snake and Liquid Ocelot both punching each other at the same time. Then they both fall over. As they rise the music changes to the “Old Snake” music from MGS4. Liquid Ocelot then says, “It’s not over yet” and the final stage starts. Unlike the previous stages, there are no fast CQC attacks, grabs or health bars. As you stumble towards Liquid Ocelot and he stumble towards you, the music plays. Then one of you will manage to get a single punch in. There is no fast chain of combos, just slow punches being exchanged between the two brothers (If you count them as brothers). Both of them are in pain and are struggling to keep on going. Then with a few more punches, Liquid Ocelot finally falls over defeated. This is an incredible way to finish off the incredible game that is Metal Gear Solid 4.

1. The Boss – MGS3

The Boss fight is created and executed beautifully. At the start of the game The Boss is helping Naked Snake and there is a very deep connection between the two. Snake tells Eva that is more than what is normally felt between a man and women, that it’s deeper than love. Snake doesn’t want to fight The Boss and neither does the player but there is obviously no choice. The fight itself is amazing though. Both The Boss and Naked Snake created CQC together and CQC is essential to this fight. It starts and The Boss immediately runs towards you and tries to CQC throw you. You can counter by hitting circle at the right time then throw her to the ground yourself but if she gets you onto the ground she will unleash a stream of bullets from her Patriot. After you escape or she retreats back, you have a number of options. You could wait until she finds you and try to get a few cheap CQC moves in but you can’t treat The Boss that way. You could run at her and counter/attack her with CQC. If you don’t have a heart you may even shoot her. When you attack The Boss she will comment on your skill level which is a great touch that shows there is still a connection between the two. You only have ten minutes to defeat The Boss as she is calling in air strikes to bomb the place so that only one of them will get out alive and carry on the name of The Boss. Five minutes into the fight the “Snake eater” song starts and it really adds to the feeling off the fight. When Snake or The Boss is hit the flowers will change colour which again makes the fight even more amazing.

The fight is more than CQC; it is a test of survival and making use of everything that The Boss has taught you. You need to counter her CQC; avoid her bullets; sneak up on her; use camouflage if you think it would help. It is an incredible experience. Then the most amazing part of the fight happens. When you defeat The Boss and the cutscene starts, she hands you the philosopher’s legacy and tells Snake about EVA. Then she gives you the Patriot and tells you that there can only be one Boss in the world. Snake is now standing above The Boss, holding the Patriot, aiming it at her head waiting for the player to press circle and finish off The Boss. The player obviously has to but they don’t want to end the life of the legendary soldier. Even in death The Boss still had an influence in the world and her ideas were the basis of The Patriots.

I would consider the ending to MGS3 to be the greatest video game ending of all time. You see the moment when Naked Snake become Big Boss but he doesn’t seem to care now that he knows the truth about The Boss. EVA was told about The Boss by The Boss herself and was supposed to tell Snake the truth about the whole events. The Boss never actually betrayed Naked Snake, well she did but she had no choice. She was forced to do it; it was her mission as a soldier. The betrayal was all part of her mission which originally involved coming back to the US alive but after Volgin destroyed Sokolov’s research building the Russians blamed the US. The US government needed to cover this up by blaming it on The Boss and convincing the Russian government that she was a rogue agent. Then the Russians demanded that the US sent an agent into kill The Boss, along with Volgin. They sent in Snake. The Boss never wanted to fight against you, she was just following her orders as a soldier and the player is forced into playing a part in it all without even knowing it. The player has to kill the Legendary Soldier to please the government. Then Big Boss visits The Boss’ grave, places down the Patriot and flowers, and then has a final salute. It is extremely emotional and the perfect way to end the game.

The Boss fight was amazing which paid a tribute towards all The Boss’ beliefs and how she acted as a soldier. The fight is made even better by the fantastic ending that follows.

It has just been revelaed, the countdown has ended! There’s been many rumors going around about what this new project would be: Metal Gear Solid for xbox360. A new zone of the enders game. A completle new title?

Well the waiting is over! And after a long wait the following has been revealed:

A new timer at 116 hours first of all. But thats not all. The storm is progressing. Its gotten worse, the effects are now louder and heavier.
But thats no what we’ve been waiting for… this is the thing that we’ve been wanting to see. A REAL UPDATE:

(This and a new letter: R).

Let the discussions begin.
And if you want to look for it yourself:
http://www.konami.jp/kojima_pro/next/index.html

/Alex
@Start And Select
http://startandselect.wordpress.com

Anime Boston took place this past weekend from May 22-24th.  At first I wasn’t going to go to Anime Boston this year because last year wasn’t that spectacular but I made a last minute decision to go.  Pictures and such after the break.

The biggest improvement over last year was speeding up registration time.  Last year I heard that many people wound up waiting in line for up to ten hours waiting to get in.  The group I was in luckily only took four hours because we got there when it opened.  This year many more staff members were put on registration duty and it only took my group one hour to get in.  On the bad side, however, my badge name, and apparently many other peoples was spelled incorrectly, most likely because the staff members had to keep the line moving quickly, but still, there’s no excuse for spelling VaultDweller13 as VaultDrewler13.  No excuse.

The merchandise room was spread across two rooms this year making it very spacious.  It was not necessary this year to push myself through a horde of Narutards just to get to where I was going.  All of the regular Anime Boston dealers were there, in addition to some new booths such as one showcasing a new Fire Emblem game.

On Saturday there was a Kalafina concert, with opening act the Video Game Orchestra (VGO).  I didn’t particularly care for Kalafina, or their producer Yuki Kajiura who played two encores with them.  The VGO, however, was great and I really enjoyed their performance.  They played great songs such as Snake Eater from Metal Gear Solid 3, and a medley of the songs from Chrono Trigger.  They were so good they could have easily been the main act.

I didn’t see very much good cosplay this year and was rather disappointed about that.  I only took pictures of the ones I felt were the best and didn’t have already.  I took incredibly few pictures this year because the camera I was using was pretty awful and I didn’t seem many new things I haven’t already seen in the past.  Also, I mostly don’t take pictures of anime characters and stick with characters from movies and video games.  If you want to see more cosplay pics I’ve taken check out my post about Anime Boston 2008.

Starship Troopers

Watchmen

Repoman from Repo! The Genetic Opera

Nemesis from Resident Evil 3

Hideo Kojima, the man behind Metal Gear, Zone of the Enders and more likes to tease his fans. He decided to announce… an announcement! exciting stuff, eh? The picture is below:

Doesn’t really give away much though. The fact that Kojima is making something is enough to keep my happy for now. Somthing exciting will hopefully happen on the 18th of May.

Há tempos que grandes organizações são partes integrantes e essenciais nos roteiros de alguns games, e matutando sobre essas, resolvi escrever sobre os vilões que encabeçam as que penso serem as maiores, e/ ou, as mais famosas de todos os tempos.

Uma organização MUST precisa de um vilão MUST na sua liderança.

Como critério, fiz um apanhado daquelas que são secretas – ou não – e são declaradamente, e claramente explícitas no roteiro como “organizações”, com nome, organograma, e porque não,  CNPJ e renda bruta.

Desde já, desculpo-me pelos demais que não citei, seja por um julgamento precário sobre sua importância no mundo dos games, ou simplesmente por desconhecer, afinal, não sei de tudo.

Espero que a leitura seja divertida e informativa.

Enjoy it!

Nome: Big Boss

Organização: Outer Heaven

Receita bruta anual: indefinido (Filosophers Legacy)

Jogo: Metal Gear/ Metal Gear Solid Series

O ano de 1964 foi um marco histórico na vida de Snake (Jack), assim como o suposto ano de nascimento de Cristo é um marco para alguns países do ocidente que o utilizam para organizar as datas e eventos de seus calendários.

Após descobrir toda a trama por trás da CIA, e da Missão Snake Eater, Naked Snake, então promovido a Big Boss, resolve elaborar um plano para vingar a morte de sua mentora amada, e pôr um basta nas ardilosas tramas governamentais mundiais – uma teia meticulosamente engendrada, futuramente reconhecida como The Patriots – e criar um lugar, um “paraíso”, para aqueles que um dia serviram seu país, e hoje são párias: Outer Heaven.

Big Boss criou um grandioso complexo, acima de qualquer suspeita, na ilha africana Zanzibar, onde soldados, sejam eles refugiados, ou ex-combatentes de guerra, vivem sob uma disciplina rígida, porém, acolhedora.

Pode ter certeza que, para bancar um lugar como esse, e o projeto dos clones “Les Enfants Terribles” – que viria a gerar, mais tarde, Solid, Liquid e Solidus – somente: uma indenização muito bruta dos EUA pelo olho direito perdido; um soldo muito bom para a missão cumprida; e, o mais provável, um fundo X-lionário do Filosophers Legacy.

Como você acha que se sustenta um local que abriga: robôs, silos gigantescos de mísseis, frotas de caças, arsenal de armas de fogo de baixo, e grosso calibre, tanques de guerra, um Metal Gear REX, e o melhor de tudo: centenas de crianças. Não é brincadeira, têm crianças lá, e não são poucas! E tudo isso no solo e subsolo de uma ilha africana! CARACOLES!

Não basta Big Boss sustentar os marmanjos que vivem em seu abrigo “utópico tecnológico militar”,  ele ainda junta a molecada para viver junto do “tio-caolho” – é assim que elas, as crianças, o chamam nos textos do jogo, no segundo título do MSX.

Detalhe: não satisfeito em ser derrotado pelo Solid, o próprio “filho” (ou seria irmão?), ele faz tudo isso de novo, e maior ainda, no Metal Gear 2!

Cara, pra ser líder de Outer Heaven, administrar Outer Heaven, apanhar três vezes pro Solid, e ainda não perder a majestade, somente Big Boss.

Nome: Albert Wesker

Organização: Umbrella Co.

Receita bruta anual: aprox. 305.200.000 US$

Jogo: Resident Evil Series

Wesker foi um grande sócio majoritário – se não dono! – da Umbrella Co., uma cia. admirável pelo peso que teve nas primeiras historias da série Resident Evil, mas que, como todos sabem, afundou-se em seu próprio veneno após sucessivas “derrotas”.

Em alguns backgrounds sobre o vilão, têm-se informações de que, além de líder de treinamento militar, Wesker é engenheiro-químico-farmacêutico, e se bobear, cuida da limpeza ainda.

Versatilidade pura!

Outro nome importante, é um tal de James Marcus, um outro maluco que também deve ser pós-doutorado pelo MIT, ou Harvard, e que deu uma força na liderança dessa organização.

Umbrella Co. é uma empresa que investe pesado em pesquisas bio-genéticas, lançando mão de recursos exorbitantes, tanto para desenvolver vírus e drogas tão potentes (como os vistos nos títulos ao longo da série) quanto no que diz respeito às provas concretas e práticas de suas pesquisas. Manja Racoon City?

Além de decidir dominar o mundo com o projeto Uroboros (objetivo bem diferente) outra coisa muito decepcionante para uma pessoa com o porte e o status de Wesker, é sua “hipotética” assexualidade, comprovada no último episódio da série, no qual Excella Gione, uma doutora gatíssima, que propõe ajudar o vilão em sua última empreitada, é transformada pelo próprio Wesker em mais uma de suas criaturas. (Até agora quero ver o nexo disso…)

Nome: M. Bison

Organização: Shadaloo

Receita bruta anual: aprox. 100.000.000 US$

Jogo: Street Fighter II Series

Bison é um dos maiores vilões, de uma das maiores franquias de games do mundo, Street Fighter II. O famoso tailandês louco, megalomaníaco, que usa quepe, e porta uma capa, administra com mãos de ferro (ou de fogo azul?) a famosa organização Shadaloo, com seus vastos poderes psíquicos.

Líder e ditador da Tailândia – alias, tenho uma teoria na qual acho que aqueles confrontos políticos de Mianmar, e os protestos dos monges budistas contra seu governo despótico, são frutos últimos e únicos de realizações do próprio Bison. Afinal, ali é tudo um do lado do outro mesmo – ele domina o país, e tem uma meta profundamente filosófica e original: dominar o mundo.

Para isso, Bison pensou além do que qualquer ser humano: não apenas criou a Shadaloo, como sabiamente percebeu que para cumprir essa dominação, sabiamente recrutou um ninja espanhol, um ex-campeão tailandês, e um boxeador. Era isso que faltava para sua conquista.

Hitler e Stálin não seriam tão geniais. Tolos.

Note que, apesar de ser um ditador de um país de terceiro mundo, Bison possui sob seu comando um digno aparato militar de primeiro mundo.

Em cenários como de Street Fighter Alpha 3, é perceptível a nave que o ditador possui, e alguns de seus respeitáveis soldados no fundo, devidamente fardados e disciplinadamente dispostos.

È importante ressaltar que a Shadaloo investe pesado em engenharia genética e química, pois: vira e mexe M. Bison transforma um carinha comum em uma besta furibunda; domina  a mente de ninfetas loiras através de sessões exaustivas de lavagem cerebral; e, já chegou até a implantar um chip “neuro-transmutador” na cabeça do nosso estimado carateca Ken, como aconteceu naquele seriado do SBT.

Pois é, apesar de não ser tão grande, a Shadaloo de Bison é barra pesada.

Nome: Belger

Organização: Mag Gear

Receita bruta anual: aprox. 10.000.000 US$

Jogo: Final Fight

Em 1989, Final Fight sagrou-se como outro grande título da Capcom. Guy, Code e o prefeito Haggar lutaram contra a maior facção criminosa da história de Metrocity: Mad Gear.

Para liderar uma hiper mega gang como essa, somente um tio chamado Belger, que teve outra brilhante idéia: andar de cadeira de rodas – sem ser paraplégico – e armar-se com uma espécie de besta genovesa que atira arpões (?).

Os vilões da Capcom geralmente têm idéias geniais, mesmo!

Obvio que Belger não domina sozinho a cidade, como já mencionado, e pra isso, além da falha e conspurcada polícia local, ele controla o narcotráfico, a prostituição, os hippies, os índios, os punks, os lutadores de luta livre, os boxeadores, os ninjas, e até samurais aposentados, e ex-militares malucos.

Belger não tem bases, nem naves, mas tem o metrô, as ruas, os becos, os departamentos de polícia, os armazéns, os prédios, os hotéis, as estruturas dos edifícios, os ringues, os esgotos, os bares, os condomínios, e os parques de Metrocity.

Acho que Bison e Wesker deveriam trocar o mundo por municípios. Bem mais fácil, desde que não se tenha um prefeito que dá quebra-costela nos bandidos.

Nome: Geese Howard

Organização: Dark Organization

Receita bruta anual: aprox. 8.000.000 US$

Jogo: Fatal Fury Series

Surgia em 1991 um promissor game de luta da clássica SNK– alias, mais um, dentre seus 9887 títulos de jogos de luta, do vasto universo dos games de luta – chamado Fatal Fury.

Nesse game, os irmãos Terry, e Andy Bogard brigavam para vingar a morte de seu pai (objetivo de Homem), e para isso, tinham que acertar as contas com um cara (também Macho) chamado Geese Howard, senhor da Dark Organization (muito original).

Dono da facção criminosa mor de South Town, o norte-americano bom de briga – e atemi-nage – vive acompanhado por seguranças especiais, como Ripper, Hopper e Billy Kane.

Além deles, é protegido por agentes bem vestidos, de terno, gravata, e óculos escuros.

Muito mais que administrar a corrupção em South Town, geese e sua poderosa organização cuidam principalmente do maior torneio de luta do mundo: King of Fighters!

King of Fighters é como a Copa do Mundo de futebol, manja? Só que todo o glamour, festa e recursos financeiros centrado no mundo das lutas.

Geese sempre comprou todos os torneios, as legendas de lutadores, e até a mídia local.

Detalhe: ele mal pisa nos ringues, acompanha tudo de longe, chegando no máximo a reivindicar um round contra Billy Kane, só para dar mais luz ao show.

Verifica-se pelo pano do terno de seus capangas, pelos carros, pelos eventos e os sistemas de comunicação, que a Dark Organization tem bons recursos financeiros, mas nada sofisticado, nada muito moderno.

Geese não gosta de bases, e não luta em qualquer lugar: gosta de castelos e templos japoneses, que ele manda fazer, claro! Tudo isso pra meditar sobre seu poder, e sair na mão com o Terry.

Outro nível.

In the Metal Gear Online list of modes there has been one mode which was known as “??????” but the mode has now been announced. The new mode is called Race. Race puts two teams against each other where one team is searching for and protecting the GAKO and  the other team is searching for and protecting the Kerotan. The team will need to take there target to a certain checkpoint and a new one will appear when they arrive. If the target is dropped and left for a certain amount of time then the target will return to the original position and a new checkpoint will appear. This will be available on May 12th and is completely free and available to all.

As well as the new mode, a new “Patriot” feature will be added. This new feature will assign random players the ability to use the Patriot weapon from Metal Gear Solid 3. The Patriot, just like in MGS3, has infinite ammo and no reload. This means that you better watch out if someone with the Patriot joins your game. This is also free of charge and will be released on the 26th May.

Snake is the man.

I fully intended to write this review right after I finished playing Metal Gear Solid 3, but for some reason (i.e. laziness) I never got around to it. So, months later, and with most of the game receding from my memory, I’m finally writing my review.

Metal Gear Solid 3 is by far the best game in the franchise. Everything about it is pure awesome. Ok, well not everything. Sure, there were a few moments that annoyed me or pissed me off, but the product as a whole is so goddamn good, that it more than makes up for little problems. As you may already know, I hate pretty much everything, so the fact that I loved this game is noteworthy.

Watch out, asshole.

While the original Metal Gear certainly emphasized stealth, the first two entries in the Metal Gear Solid series were more pseudo-stealth than anything else. What I mean is that you got to sneak around for a couple of screens, but were then forced into an unavoidable boss battle, which left so much destruction that there’s no way the other bad guys wouldn’t be able to track you down. Anyway, my point is that Metal Gear Solid 3 actually allows you to finally use the much touted stealth aspect for lengthy periods of time. You can take multiple paths, creep through a variety of environments, and use camouflage.

Camouflage was probably the best new feature of the game. Based on the terrain, you could change your uniform to blend in, and even featured a visibility meter. This was clearly taken from the Splinter Cell series, but I feel it was a great improvement over those games’ light/dark meter. Other cool things they added was the necessity to hunt and kill/capture food to sustain stamina (which can subsequently spoil and give you a stomach ache), being able to use first aid on your body, a badass improvement in the fighting system called “close quarters combat,” and the ability to throw snakes at enemies to freak them out long enough for you to take them down. Now how fucking cool is that?!

Snake kicking ass with CQC.

The boss battles were forced, just like in the other games, but unlike the other games in the series, the battles were all an appropriate difficulty level, were separated with plenty of time in between, and were varied enough that each one was a lot of fun. The final battle against The Boss might just be the greatest fight in the history of video games.

The music was great, the graphics were good, the controls perfect, and the story was epic. (The periodic James Bond references were a nice touch, as well.) It takes place in the Cold War, before the events of any of the other Metal Gear games. What I loved was how it showed the U.S. government basically fucking everyone over, and showing us how Snake eventually goes rogue, as Big Boss, and decides to take them down (oops, spoilers!). Also, since this game takes place in the past, they forced you to use 1964 technology, so no sci-fi radar bullshit, which basically made everything more challenging.

U.S. game cover art.

There were a couple of things that annoyed me in this game. The biggest problem is near the end of the game you try to escape with Eva, and she is so goddamn hungry so won’t travel unless you constantly feed her. Give me a break. It was a lot easier to just tranquilize her, and carry her through the level. The other things that I found annoying were the typical extremely long story sequences, which could easily have been shortened, and when you are spotted by enemies, the alert status lasts waaaaay too fucking long.

Three gripes is pretty good coming from me. Those factors alone are definitely not a deal breaker. This is without a doubt one of the most memorable video games I have ever played. It was lots of fun, and has an extremely high replay value. Metal Gear Solid 3 is definitely the best game in the franchise, and probably the best game to ever grace the Playstation 2. If you haven’t ever played a Metal Gear game, go ahead and pick this one up. You won’t be disappointed.

Verdict: Awesome

Metal Gear Online is a great game, it has flaws but it still manages to bring me in to keep on playing. The newest expansion pack, SCENE, was released on March 17th and was even available to pre-order. I ended up pre-ordering it. Of course there was a slight problem with that. The update takes forever and I didn’t have time to download it until yesterday. So after about 3 hours of downloading it finished. I finally got to play MGO and I loved it. The new maps for SCENE are really good (Outer Outlet, Hazard House and Ravaged Riverfront) and both Raiden and Vamp play well. I have only played with Raiden and Vamp in training though. After a while without MGO, I come back and it feels great to be playing it again. But when I came on in the morning…

I came on this morning to find another update. I was very annoyed. Until I found it that it only took about five minutes. After it finished I quit the game and re stared it then went back on. When I tried to log in it showed me a message saying “The game data is corrupt. Please delete the data and re-download”. Now I was really annoyed but I didn’t want to delete it straight away so I tried it again and it worked! Even though I went through all that crap I still loved playing MGO. SCENE is definitely worth a purchase. Oh and because I pre ordered it, I got this:

Peachi has finally finished Let’s Destroy the Shagohod!, her epic 5-part parody of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater,  after keeping us waiting for 4 months!

What more can I say? It’s the funniest MGS comic ever, that is until she starts picking on Guns of the Patriots.

The bewbs are not even the best part of it!

Guaranteed to make you cry laughing but sadly only if you have played MGS 3. Otherwise, it won’t make much sense.

Do go here for more Peachi goodness!

During GDC Hideo Kojima made a speech talking about a new Metal Gear Solid game. No specific details were revealed but he did say that he was working on one or he implied it at least. Look at this picture he showed everyone.

At the top of this picture we can see a picture of what appears to be Raiden. What does this mean? Well we may get the Raiden spin off game everyone was hoping for.

Or Hideo Kojima could be trying to trick us.

Passar på när jag är hos mina föräldrar att använda pianot för att plockar ur musik ur diverse spel… Eviga projektet är förstås Snake Eater ur MGS3 (Det kan väll inte vara helt omöjligt??? Även om det verkar vara så)… Men hittills ligger intresset mest på Jeremy Soule och hans musik ur både Guild Wars och Elder Scroll-serien. Som vissa utav er kanske vet lever jag för tillfället ett andra liv som äventyraren Scheherazade som rider runt i jättevackra skogarna på Chestnut-hästen Gnäggson. Det vill säga när jag är inte sackgirltösen (kaka på kaka nu?) Debbie med andra ord. Framförallt har jag ägnat mig åt temat till Morrowind och First Light i Guild Wars. Dessa känns väldigt väl anpassade för piano… Hmm, vågar man lägga upp en inspelning? Känn inte så riktigt än… Copyrighttrams och sånt där. Som om jag skulle konkurrera med vem du nu är jag konkurrerar med i sådant fall... Och cellon är trasig igen så det går inte ens med en tröstinspelning… En tröstbild blir det iallafall. Ungefär så här hade jag och min tappre springare Gnäggson kunnat se ut i en av våra sagoböcker! ^^

Skumt paraply…

Vad mer för skojsig musik kan man plocka ut som borde passa på piano, alternativt cello? Något ur Little Big Planet måhända? (hinthint: Apocalyptica är ingen idé, att föröska klara av tre-fyra stämmor samtidigt är typ logiskt omöjligt)

The odd-looking secretary bird is a South African bird of prey.  The reason for this bird’s name is easy to guess because of the tuft of long, stiff feathers that stick out from the back of its head.  The tuffs resemble the quill pens that old-time secretaries and clerks once carried behind their ears.  The secretary bird has a long neck and very long legs .  it is about four-feet tall and its plumage is gray and black.  It usually prefers to run instead of fly and is the only bird of prey that hunts on foot. 

An inhabitant of Africa’s grassy plains, the secretary bird feeds chiefly on snakes, which it kills by stamping on the snake with its strong  feet and biting it with its hooked bill.  In their native home, farmers often tame secretary birds and keep them to kill rats and mice.  Another name for the secretary bird is “serpent eagle.”

Photo courtesy:  dkimages

This song is used as the opening theme for the PS2 game <Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater> . The singer has such a powerful voice and has the most impressive vibratos I have heard of from female singers. The lyrics also mention things that the main character of the game did go through, so it is a very interesting song overall. Too bad, it is too short at a little before 3 minutes..

Lyrics:

What a thrill...
With darkness and silence through the night
What a thrill...
I'm searching and I'll melt into you
What a fear in my heart
But you're so supreme! 

I'd give my life
Not for honour, but for you! [Snake Eater]
In my time there'll be no one else
Crime, it's the way I fly to you! [Snake Eater]
I'm still in a dream,
Snake Eater!

Someday you go through the rain
And someday, you feed on a tree frog
This ordeal, the trial to survive
For the day we see new light!

I'd give my life
Not for honour, but for you! [Snake Eater]
In my time there'll be no one else
Crime, it's the way I fly to you! [Snake Eater]
I'm still in a dream,
Snake Eater!

I am still in a dream,
Snake Eater!

This news article in Yahoo (Skynews) caught my attention, read on…

Hunt Widens For Box Escape Inmate

The hunt is widening for a convicted drug dealer who escaped from prison in Germany in a cardboard box.

German police say they are planning to issue an international arrest warrant unless he is found soon.

The 37-year-old Turkish national hid in a cardboard box that was later taken away for recycling by a courier firm.

The inmate was serving a seven-year sentence in Willich prison, near the town of Dusseldorf, and was due out in 2011.

A police spokesman said: “Shortly after the truck that he was riding in got beyond prison walls, he slit open the box and then cut open the truck’s tarpaulin to escape.

“I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Police have been searching in vain for the fugitive since last week, he said.

The escape happened after the prisoner ended a shift where he was making stationery.

Instead of joining his jailmates, he climbed into the box which was then taken away along with a number of other boxes by the courier firm.

Soon after leaving the grounds, the prisoner cut a hole in the tarpaulin of the lorry and made his getaway.

His escape was only spotted after the truck driver noticed the slash in the tarpaulin – he immediately alerted the prison authorities.

After reading this I only had one thought:  How very Snake in Metal Gear!  This prisoner is a gamer!!!

Snake hides from sentries in cardboard box

Source: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20081120/twl-rapping-gunman-confessed-on-song-3fd0ae9.html

Image Source: http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/26/10207-cardboardbox_large.jpg