Category: Video Game Musings

Don’t Play This Game! It’s Controversial! (Or Not.)

I just read a report somewhere that attonery Jack Thompson, a longtime critic of video games, might face jail time for contempt in court due to his ramblings over the video game called Bully.

First thing that comes to mind is who’s Jack Thompson.  No, seriously. I don’t know who this guy is. Usually when I hear someone complain about a video game’s content, it’s usually incompetent parent organizations who would rather push censorship rather than regulate what their own kids play. If a guy’s name comes up and I don’t know him, goes to show how much of an impact he truly has.

Second thing that comes to mind is… this game Bully has controversial content? I better buy it then. I mean seriously. I absolutely love it when these people push a game into the limelight, telling consumers not to spend their money due to some hot coffee incident, and suddenly sales would spike because of it.

In a sense it’s similar to the MPAA giving free promotion to the pirate sites so that people, rather than avoiding them, will go ahead and download stuff off that site.

Of course, I don’t get why you’d want to download movies off the Internet. Sure, ticket prices are high these days, but would you rather pay twelve bucks for a clear picture and sound quality or download a video of some shoddy picture and camera work that a 3-year-old could probably outperform. It’s absolutely nuts.

But I digress.

It’d be interesting to see what comes out of this. But what really wacks me is that this Jack Thompson guy is apparently going after Midway because he is apparently creatable in the new Mortal Kombat game. Okay, so we can make a lawyer. Please, get over yourself. This is just an attempt to get more money off of people who’ve earned it. This guy, ironically enough, seems like a bully to me.

Then again, most religious groups tend to be.

I won’t go farther than that.

Later.

DOA Movie Trailer

Originally posted on November 24th 2005:

Someone had managed to get a copy of the teaser trailer for the Dead or Alive movie, based on the series of fighting games featuring big-boobed women. All I can say is… WTF Indeed!

Just a few minutes ago, I caught a glimpse of the teaser for the movie again. Of course, now that I’ve shed my DOA virginity, I can comment on it a little more clearly… it’s still gonna suck and I don’t need any experience other than the game’s bouncing boobs to see that. Not that it doesn’t follow the game story or anything, but it just looks like a poor man’s Charlie’s Angels… with worse actors.

Another bit of info I recently realized as I researched this thing: Kevin Nash plays Bass Armstrong here, the pro-wrestler daddy to Tina, one of the bouncing-boobs in the game. If the two ever collide in the movie, Tina doesn’t have to worry because Nash will probably tear a quad trying to act.

If you don’t get the reference, it’s a wrestling thing.

So I’ve said it before: WTF indeed.

On a sidenote, apparently people are disappointed that Silent Hill is a subpar movie despite the kick-ass trailer. Welcome to the wonderful world of media hype.

Later, kids.

Castlevania: Harmony of Sorrow… or is it Aria of Dissonance?

I got the Castlevania Double-Pack for GBA and man are those games fun. I had played Harmony before but never Sorrow, so that was a good experience. Sadly, Konami didn’t see fit to re-release Circle of the Moon, which I thought was one of the better GBA releases (though I may be in the minority on that one). So for the sake of things: my take on the games…

HARMONY: I found the game to be fairly easy for the most part (except for that Maxim bastard at the end), but it was still a fun experience. Never before had a game kept me up until two in the morning. Never happened before, I swear to God. That big a geek, I know. On top of that, the 8-Bit Simon in the Boss Rush mode kicked ass too.

ARIA: Better graphical quality than Harmony, which had a fairly muddy look to it. The various implementation of soul powers make me wonder why they hadn’t taken this path with Alucard in Symphony.

Overall, I’m happy with both games. Definitely a worthwhile purchase if you don’t already own them.

Say Goodbye to Used Games

I’ve picked up this article and question its validity concerning the subject matter. For the sake of clarity, I’ll post it here:

SCE has secured the patent for a new disc technology that, if used, would not allow the PS3 to read used games for that platform. The technology was invented by Kutaragi himself, as well as two others.

Details regarding the patent are featured here: http://www.ipdl.ncipi.go.jp/homepg.ipdl

It is indicated specifically that the technology is to prevent the use of used as well as pirated software.

The technology involves actually rendering a authentication code originally encrypted on the game disk unreadable to other machines once the disk it is used.

This would mean that Net-based and other such games will not be the only ones to be affected by the technology.

Naturally third software developers would embrace this technology, and it would ensure sales of the inevitable “Best series” for the PS3, but used games shops would be put out of business if the PS3 were to become the primary platform in the next generation.

While information regarding the patent does not specify outright that the technology will be used in the PS3, Kutaragi has gone on record saying that copy management is absolutely necessary in order to endure that no “Napsters” of the game industry create problems in the future.

Yeah right. This kind of copy management is absolutely necessary so that the “Napsters” can’t cause problems that this little doohickey (if implemented) will cause. Used game shops will practically be put out of business because of this technology. Video game sections of rental chains such as Blockbuster won’t see as much business as before (or at least fall reign to other gaming consoles that lack this wretched technology). Friends can’t even trade games to play for the weekend. And what if your machine breaks and you have to get a new one? Does this mean you’ll have to rebuy all your games too just so they work? This is complete bullshit.

I’m not going to turn this into a pro-pirating or anti-pirating lecture. My line of thought is pretty blurred on the subject, but clearly if there had to be a means of fighting pirates, this isn’t one of them. If anything, you’re more likely to drive more people into piracy or purchasing bootleg materials that might be of an inferior make, but at least won’t have any restrictions. Hopefully, Sony will be smart and not implement such technology into their PS3. Whether you like or not, piracy is a rampant thing that is NEVER going to go away regardless of how much you try to stop. They’re everywhere!

There’s my rant of the day.

Old SMB and LOZ Cartoons Get New DVD Sets

According to a site called DVDToons.com:

Sony Music announces a 4-disc set for the Super Mario Brothers Super Show. Once again, not many details for any of their announcements today, but the dvd is scheduled for release on October 25, 2005, with a retail tag of $29.95, according to DVDplanet.

Sony Music prepares the complete series of The Legend of Zelda. Sony has scheduled the set for this October 11, 2005, with a retail tag of only $29.95. The Legend of Zelda will be a 3-disc set, according to DVDplanet.

What? No Captain N? Damn those DICs.

I’m rather split on the whole deal. You see, on the one hand, it’ll be really good to see these things on a regular TV again… although the Zelda is the only set I’m really looking forward to; I don’t need anymore horrible recollections of the Lou Albano-portrayed Mario in either live or animated form.

On the other hand, you can watch these for free on Yahoo’s service thingy… eh, who cares? I forgot the point I wanted to make.

Later.

Living The Movie After Having Seen It

Sunday, June 12, 2005 was the day that Extreme Championship Wrestling rose from the ashes in the form of a reunion show dubbed ECW One Night Stand. It was a show that I had been looking forward to watching since it was first announced. Now, I don’t consider myself an ECW hardcore – we didn’t get ECW anything in Canada until late-99 when Viewer’s Choice Canada started airing their PPVs – but I eventually picked up a couple old VHS Best Of tapes as well as the more recent DVD compilations and I enjoyed some of this stuff they put out.

So I was really looking forward to getting this PPV show – not only for the novelty of the ECW reunion special, but also for the novelty of seeing whether WWE (who owns all the copyrights) would actually

Unfortunately, a couple issues came up.

First, there was a roadtrip to Niagara that I was going on with a few folks this past weekend. I don’t recall whether this was planned ahead of time and I forgot about it or whether it was a last-minute spur. Either way, I was upset that I wasn’t going to see the PPV. I had post reflect my displeasure, but it was eventually taken down.

By the way, the roadtrip was great. Left for Niagara on Friday, came back home on Saturday night, and Sunday was spent in Ottawa for a quick run before making it back home. Which meant that I was going to catch the ECW show after all.

Alas, that wasn’t to be.

Due to technical difficulties, I was unable to catch the ECW One Night Stand PPV, which sucks ass because it was the one show that I was looking forward to. Said technical difficulties was due to the satellite receiver having stopped working. Unable to receive channels for some reason. Tried to do basic maintenance, but nothing. Funny thing was that a couple other receivers were working fine and one might wonder why we didn’t pick up the PPV from there (no available phone connection or long-ass wires to hook up – please don’t ask).

So while the issue was eventually resolved, I missed my chance to watch ECW One Night Stand. That made me sad because from the various internet recaps of the show, it seemed to have gone over well. So I guess I’ll be waiting for the DVD to hit shelves… since nighttime classes won’t allow me to catch the replay.

So the time that would have been spent watching Sandman come down to generic music (oh wait, I’m sorry – that was the 2006 version) was spent playing the then-new Revenge of the Sith video game for Xbox, which I didn’t actually touch until after having seen the movie

In all honesty, the game is nothing more than a glorified Final Fight 3D with lightsabers and Force powers. Some people will like this, others will despise it. I’m just fine with it. Sure, it’s mostly a button masher, but that’s all I expected from the game to begin with, so I’m not entirely disappointed whatsoever.

Graphically speaking, it looks fine. Some people say there’s less detail than the usual crop of X-Box games, but graphics were always dressing in my eyes and as long as everything looked like what they should, I have no problem. Sounds are just about right, but my biggest qualm is the apparent lack of a Sith soundtrack. Most of the music tends to be from the original trilogy and the two prequel movies; which weren’t too bad either, but the Sith soundtrack was much suited for this.

As far as extras goes, you have two sets of bonus missions (either single player or co-op missions that have to be unlocked) that are independent of the main game. You have a few minutes of Sith footage which is blended with game footage to fit the altered storyline of the game. You have a Versus mode; a one-on-one mini-game pitting two Jedi against each other. Heck, you even get to relive the “climatic” Death Star duel between Darth Vader and Old Ben Kenobi in Episode IV: A New Hope… although both Vader and Ben seem much more agile than in the movie, but it’s still a nice inclusion. Now you get to play as Vader and beat the shit out of all the stale prequel Jedi as well as two additional ones made for the game (including one who looks like Nick Gillard, the stunt co-ordinator for the prequels or something).

More comments later…

Link’s Far Out Adventure Begins… Somewhere

So for the past week, during my free time, I was attempting to get back into Zelda Classic and its more important component, quest building. After getting the basic feel of things and trying out a few custom quests, I started work on a couple of them. One being a full-quest using the original 8-bit graphics (along with the new ones that comes with it) and the other being nothing but an action game where you do nothing but slay monsters while earning useful items along the way.

I’ve been wanting to put out a full-on quest for the program and have attempted to do so numerous times, but previous attempts usually came to a halt and entered a long period of stagnation afterwards. The idea here is to try and maintain some sort of progress journal and record what I’ve been doing. I hope to parlay this into a separate blog.

Here’s to a successful experiment.

Later.

WWE + 1 half of Mortal Kombat = Wrestlemania 21 X-BOX

WWE Wrestlemania 21, the new X-Box video game, has been announced for a March release.

According to a Game Informer article, it’s developed by Studio Gigante. Studio Gigante was not only the team who developed the X-Box fighting game Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus, but is a group led by John Tobias, co-creator of Mortal Kombat.

Somehow, I half-expect Triple H’s finisher to literally Randy Orton’s spine as opposed to his regular finisher… I wish I could say that was just a lame joke, but considering how Randy’s been booked as of late, there are worse fates.

Mega Man Anniversary Collection on GBA?

First it was August.
Then it was October.
Then it was November.
Then I bought a Game Boy Advanced SP.
Now it’s January.
Watch it get canned completely.

(2019 Update: That’s exactly what ended up happening.)

Is it really that hard to convert five ancient Game Boy games into a Game Boy Advance format? They’re just Game Boy games; you add color and that’s it. This is depressing me.

Oh yeah, I now have a Game Boy Advance SP. And I use it to play exciting Game Boy Advance games like Super Mario Bros, The Legend Of Zelda, and XEVIOUS!

Wait… what do you mean those aren’t GBA games?

My Top 6 Star Wars Games Not Named X-Wing Or TIE Fighter

Here’s a list of my top 6 Star Wars games that doesn’t include the incredular X-Wing or TIE Fighter games, because those are beyond reproach… well, mostly TIE Fighter is beyond reproach; the X-Wing stuff, I can take or leave… but there’s plenty of other Star Wars games worth playing. Here’s six of them… because there’s six movies in this saga. Maybe if they make a sequel trilogy, we’ll adjust this to nine or something, I don’t know…

Listed in no particular order…

Game #1 – Dark Forces
Here’s a brilliant idea. Doom was a popular thing, so let’s make a Star Wars version. And it was awesome. Great weapons, great atmosphere. … And then they’d make the Jedi Knight games, which I heard were also good, but I haven’t played those yet. Hope to change that soon.

Game #2 – Empire Strikes Back (2600)
It’s simple stuff; you fly a snowspeeder, you pick off AT-ATs with your guns until they blow up, lather, rinse, repeat. It’s a daring campaign to pit one snowspeeder against an infinite fleet of walkers, but it’s easy to pick up and play. And there’s a whole bunch of variations for you to try out if you want to spice things up a bit.

Game #3 – Super Star Wars Trilogy
I’m cheating a bit here because I’m including three games under the list, but Factor 5’s Super Star Wars trilogy of SNES action games have always been top-tier stuff. Yes, it might rough and tough in some places and liberties are taken with the source material, but damn if they don’t make good action games. If I had to pick one, Super Jedi takes the cake; multiple characters with different playstyles, some solid action bits, and some of the vehicle bits aren’t too shabby, either. Play them all, though. They’re great.

Game #4 – Star Wars Trilogy Arcade (1998 Arcade Game)
A rail shooter that has you partaking in major battle sequences of each of the three Star Wars films (we only had three, boys and girls) and with bonus stages featuring duels against Boba Fett and Darth Vader. When the newest Capcom fighter was indisposed, this was usually the other go-to arcade game for my money. Incredibly fun yet challenging fare.

Game #5 – Star Wars Racer Arcade (2000 Arcade Game)
Not one to be left out of the whole Prequel hype, Sega followed up Trilogy Arcade with their own version of the Podracer game. Not sure if this is the same thing you play on the consoles, but I’d say this arcade game is tremendous; featuring a control layout similar to a podracer, bringing that extra bit of detail and authenticity. Whatever you want to say about The Phantom Menace, at the very least, its racing games are top notch.

Game #6 – Star Wars (NES)
Another Star Wars platformer on NES that takes liberties with the source material; hell, the first chunk of the game where you’re on Tatooine is practically non-linear stuff where you can theoretically leave the planet without recruiting any of the usual suspects, thus turning it into a true adventure of Luke Skywalker and no one else. Yes, it can be difficult as hell with falling damage and some spotty moments, but if you can put up with the rough spots, there’s a damned fine game to be found here. And how many NES games based on movies or TV shows can you count that aren’t total garbage?

Oh, and on a sidenote, there’s also a Famicom version from Namco that’s not the same game as this. I’ve not played that one, but I’ve seen some of that in action. The less said, the better.

And that’s it. That’s my list.