Warning: System Warrior Rant Incoming

Picking up this blog thing again, I may start doing weekly reviews of tables on The Pinball Arcade and/or Pinball FX 2 if anyone's interested. 

Anyways, I want to vent a little bit on the whole Xbox One/PS4  system wars thing going on. To the guy on twitter going by the alias ManaByte, this is for you. 

I just seem annoyed by a couple of themes from PS4 fanboys. The big one is resolution, and honestly, I don't see the big deal. Yes, 1080p is nice, but you know what? It's early. Developers are still getting the hang of the new hardware. If this is still an issue a year from now, then it may be a concern, but for the love of all that is holy, it's still early in the game, so to speak. I remember ManaByte mocking the Xbox One over the newly announced Alien Isolation game, but Creative Assembly confirmed that the Xbox One version runs at 1080p. It's going to improve over time. And frankly, I prioritize higher frame rate over a higher resolution, but that's another story. 

And the sales? Again, it's early. The consoles launched in November. They have been on the market for a little over a month and a half. Declaring the PS4 the winner because of a 900,000 console sales lead during that time is stupid. Sony will probably get more sales once Japan gets it and constraints are dealth with, but Microsoft will get more sales once they rollout sales to mainland Europe and Asia. Let's see the sales for all of 2014, then we can draw some conclusions. 

I guess I wouldn't be so annoyed if there were some more games that interested me, but I don't see much. Killzone and Knack don't set my hearts on fire. MLB 14 is the only baseball game coming out this year, but I can get that on my PS3. DriveClub is going to live or die by the online community, and I fear that Sony isn't marketing it enough and is sending it out to die. Infamous has what looks like the most unlikeable protagonist in a game this year. Watch Dogs isn't exclusive, most of the indie games Sony is touting can probably be found on Steam, and so on. 

That's just my opinion. I could be wrong. 

And you know what? That's okay. I won't judge anyone if they buy a PS4 over an Xbox One. I just wish that other people would do the same. But asking for civility on the Internet is asking for peace in the Middle East, it's not going to happen. 

Maybe the Xbox One's price will go down. Maybe the PS4 has a breakthrough hit that I need to play. But they both just launched. Can't we have some level headed conversations?

It's been a while, I know (or: Going Fishing)

It's been a year ago last April since I posted here. I had a lot of things go on in the meantime, and I totally forgot about blogging. So, what made me restart my blog? It was some drama over the weekend involving Phil Fish, Montreal native and the creator of the Xbox Live Arcade/Steam platform puzzler Fez.

Long story short, he has a habit of being a jerk on the internet. Someone was an even bigger jerk to him. After a heated back and forth, he decides to cancel a planned sequel to Fez and gives up on game development. Kotaku has the details.

So, this is getting me thinking. I've seen internet meltdowns before. I've been at the center of them on occasion. But I've never seen one explode as badly as it did last Saturday. Marcus got things heated by calling Phil an asshole, and Phil replied that Marcus should go kill himself. He tried to backtrack on the suicide request, saying that it was a Futurama reference, but still, it got out of hand on both sides, and I'm certain that both sides want to take back the things they said.

But this isn't the first time it has happened. Phil has a history of being belligerent on the internet. And he's taken a lot of grief, too. Just take a look at the comments here. Would you blame him, especially after all the snide remarks and whatnot he's taken? (And I'm guilty of throwing a snide remark his way, and I didn't feel good about it, even before all this went down.)

It has me conflicted. Do I feel sorry for Phil, even if he's a jerk? My gut feeling says yes. I mean, he spent five years of his life making Fez, having to go through those trials and tribulations, and I can certainly feel like he reserves the right to defend his work. On the other hand, he doesn't have to be a jerk about it, throw temper tantrums, and burn bridges. Actually, Phil brings to mind a quote from a former ESPN exec about Keith Olbermann: he doesn't just burn bridges, he napalms them.

But my gut feeling is telling me, hey, everyone likes a story of redemption. Much like the ballplayer who has one last run in him, gets his team to the World Series, and goes out on top, or that band who you haven't heard from in 15 years and comes back and makes a great album and surprises everyone. I'm convinced that when things cool down, he'll be back, wiser and more mature, and make peace with the leper colonies of the internet.

Phil, if you're reading this, do us all a favor and breathe. Inhale, exhale. Go take some time off from the internet. Recharge your creative batteries. Go see the world. And realize that not everything's worth taking offense to. Don't give up on your dreams because of all the jerks on the internet.

And you might want to apologize to Marcus for your comments. He probably feels sorry for instigating this whole thing. But that's just my Monday morning (or early Wednesday morning) quarterbacking talking. Sometimes, being a man means knowing that you're wrong, and this is probably one of those times. Make peace with Marcus, and realize that the world isn't out to get you. The world wants a reason to love and respect you and your game.

Now I'm just being all mushy, but that's the truth. And that's my two cents on the whole matter. Thanks for reading.

Viva la Vita

Hey there. It's been a while, but I wanted some more hands on time for my PlayStation Vita. There's a lot to like, and a little to loathe.

First, the stuff that I like. I didn't like the size of the buttons at first since I have big fingers, but, pardon the pun, they grew on me. I think I figured out how to do a two-finger tap on it, so a Tekken title shouldn't be an issue. Th D-Pad is great, and so are the dual analog sticks. Everything just falls into place and feels great. I don't feel like my hands are cramped and I can concentrate on the OLED screen pumping out good graphics.

The thing that annoys me, though, is the interface. Why Sony went with something other than than the XMB interface that I'm familiar with is a mystery. I would like to, at least, organize things in folders, like my iPhone. One folder for Vita games, one for PSP and mini titles, one for apps, and one for settings.

The other thing that annoys me is the charging. Is it me, or do I need the official power adapter to charge this thing? I can't charge from USB. Do I need to change a setting or something? I need to find out.

Otherwise, I can't complain about my Vita purchase. I'm very happy with it, and I'll keep it for the long run.

Things I'm looking forward to this year

Hey guys, me again. I guess we're all settled into the new year now. Things have been crazy for me over the past few months, and so I really haven't had the time to post stuff here. Now that things have died down a bit, I do plan on posting a little more regularly again.

Now, there are a few things I'm looking forward to in this new year on the video game front. In particular, there are three games I have my eyes on.

Xenoblade Chronicles- I've been following the Operation Rainfall campaign with great interest, if only to see if they were going to be successful. They were partially successful and this game is going to come out in April. I've never gotten into a JRPG before, but I might as well try this one out and see if it's worth the hype.

Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown- With Namco fumbling the ball on their fighting franchises (Soulcalibur V does nothing for me, and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is a late 2012 release), Sega looks to get the upper hand in the 3D fighting game competition this year with their latest Virtua Fighter title. This game has had two years in Japanese arcades to be fine-tuned for good balance and great competition, and with online play, it could be pretty much the only fighter I need this year.

The next Need for Speed title- All I know about this one is that Criterion Games is doing this one, and if Hot Pursuit is any indication, this one should be awesome. The Run was pretty decent, but I think that everyone's anticipating what Criterion does next.

There's probably a bazillion other games that I'm looking forward to, and I'll probably get to those in a future post. Stay tuned...

This is the best thing you'll see all week.

Scantily-clad cheerleader, appropriate song, rainbows... shut up and take my money, WB.

I'll pre-order this and pick it up at the store. Honey badger don't give a fuck, I'm not paying for shipping.

As a follow up to my last post...

Child of Eden was on sale yesterday at $35 on Amazon as part of their deal of the day. I went ahead and ordered it, it's close to what I was willing to pay for it.

Then I learned that Gamestop.com was selling the game for $30, which was what I was willing to pay for it. Sheesh, just my luck...

... oh well. If you were waiting until it was $30, click here. It's an online-only price, though. And according to this relevant GAF post, you should enter VSHIP at checkout for free shipping.

I'll get my copy next week and will review it when I get the time to.

Child of Sticker Shock

"I'm sure we'll always argue when it's the wrong or right time to criticize a game's length, but Child of Eden's got to be the wrongest."- Ray Barnholt, probably thinking the opposite of what I'm about to say

Hey guys, what's going on? It's a beautiful day here in Florida, and I'm inside on my computer, blogging. Priorities, people.

So, a video game came out on Tuesday. No, I'm not talking about Duke Nukem Forever, although I did receive my Xbox 360 Balls of Steel Edition version today and will talk about it in the future. I'm talking about Child of Eden, that Kinect-enhanced rail shooter from Ubisoft and Q Entertainment. If you've played Rez, then you'll recognize the themes coming from the same cloth.

I've been reading the reviews, and a lot of the same words keep coming up. "Beautiful". "Awe-inspiring". "Memorable." "Oh, and each level takes about twenty minutes to complete."

wat

::checks Amazon and Gamestop for price::

$50 for a game that I can beat in an afternoon? Wow, Ubisoft made a dick move that Bobby Kotick thinks is dickish.

I have no problem with the game itself, mind you, don't get me wrong. I have a problem with the price.

The thing I have about the price is the relative value in comparison with some other shoot-em-ups I can buy. I look at XBLA, and see plenty of good ones for $10, like CoE's spiritual predecessor, Rez, Ikaruga, and the like. Hell, I still think that the $15 that's going to be charged for Radiant Silvergun is reasonable. Why? I guess it could be the value proposition. It'll take a couple of hours to beat those games, too, but it's easier to rationalize spending $10-15 on something that long compared to $50. $30-40 might be pushing it a little bit, but for a retail title as opposed to an XBLA title, I'd consider it. $50 is right out until I can find a deal where I can go ahead and bite.

"But wait", you say, "what about the replay value of shoot-em-ups?" That's a good question, but Child of Eden, much like Rez, relies heavily on the audiovisual experience. The first time you see it, it's probably going to be awesome, the second time, you're like "the awesomeness may wear off a bit", and so on. That's just the way video games are built, that's all. Once you memorize all the patterns and unlock all the unlockables and achievements, you're probably just only going to bring it out once in a while to impress friends and show off your AV setup.

Will I buy Child of Eden? Eventually, but only once the value proposition comes into play. I actually heard that K-Mart is handing out $15 gift cards if you buy this game, I'm going to go see if I can still do that.

I hope this makes a little sense, I leave the floor open for comments.

More E3 thoughts...

- I think the WiiU is a stupid name, but the controller looks cool. How much will it cost?
- The WiiU is getting a Tekken game. Finally, Nintendo nerds can stop pretending that Smash Brothers is a fighting game?
- The WiiU has no GameCube support. Lame.
- Soulcalibur V looks okay, but it's still a year out, so it has time to improve. Hopefully, Seung Mina and Talim return. Shut up.
- Still no word on Porsche's involvement in Forza Motorsport 4. :-(
- The new Fanatec Xbox 360 wheel looks awesome, though. :-)
- Want.
- If the home version of Tekken Tag 2 won't be coming out for a while, I'll take this.
- Street Fighter X Tekken is a buy now that my main Asuka's in.
- (insert something about Namco fighters here)
- Big Forza 4 blow out tomorrow. Game of the show material there!

Gut feelings: E3, day 1

Well, I have a few thoughts on day 1 of E3. Here they are, in no particular order.

-Forza Motorsport 4 looks great. I need some confirmation that Porsche is back, but so far, I think it's the game of the show so far.

-I really, really don't know what to think about Need for Speed: The Run having quick-time events. I need to see some more gameplay.

-More Halo? Why am I not suprised? A remake of the original sounds nice, though.

-Never played an SSX game before, the new one looks cool. Pun intended.

-All that new Kinect stuff looks okay. Not my cup of tea, but the Star Wars Kinect title looks interesting.

-I took the PSP version of ModNation Racers as part of my PSN welcome back goodies... and they're making a PS Vita version? Crap...

-Speaking of Vita... (Insert I Love Lucy reference here). The new Wipeout game looks great, though, so Sony can shut up and take my money.

-I never played a Resistance game before, either. That Resistance 3/ PS Move/Sharpshooter bundle looks tempting.

-Kotaku's liveblogs are the best.

-The new Giant Bomb E3 quest looks achievable.

-Bioshock Infinite will have Move controls on the PS3? Damn, gotta get that version now.

-Speaking of PS Move, I want that Star Trek phaser attachment. And the game, too.

-Wait, NFS The Run gets PS3 exclusives? But I've been using the Xbox 360 for all my NFS needs... oh screw it, I'm switching my preorder now, I need the Bugatti Veyron.

-$249 for the Vita? Sounds reasonable.

Bring on Nintendo, this is going to be epic.

Looking ahead to E3

So, the Electronic Entertainment Expo is upon us. What do you want to see? Here's a wishlist of stuff I'd like to see.

• Namco announces that Tekken Tag Tournament 2 will be released in early 2012, and Soulcalibur V will be released later in the year so the devteam can work on balance a little more.
• Nintendo will blow my mind with their Wii successor. 
• WB Games will release some classic compilations of old Midway titles on XBLA/PSN to make good use of the MWY back catalog they picked up.
• Sega announces new Daytona USA game.
• Sony will announce a price for the PSP2 that won't be ridiculous. Hopefully, it'll be less than $300.
• The PS Store will be back up by Sony's press conference. Hopefully sooner. I need to redeem my Mortal Kombat online pass already!
• Big blowout for Forza Motorsport 4. The apparent lack of Porsches thus far worries me, though. Hopefully they're in.
• EA impresses me with Need for Speed: The Run, I'll buy it as usual.
• Something will surprise me.

So, what say you?

So, the Gears 3 beta...

I've been playing the Gears of War 3 beta on and off for the past week and a half, and it's pretty awesome. I'm actually getting some kills this time around, although that may be because of the matchmaking sticking me with the newbies. Whatever, it's fun to stick a chainsaw in people, I'm loving it and I'm going to get the full game.

Also, saw Fast Five today. Jesus, the final chase scene pretty much made it for me. It's hilarious, unrealistic, and I wouldn't want it any other way. Needed more Dwayne Johnson acting all serious and shit, but it's worth the $10.

More to come from me, but in the meantime, check my friend here, he has something cool.

http://phantomfullforce.blogspot.com/2011/05/daytona-2-grand-prix-features.html

New Need for Speed!

I was getting ready to post something else, then Kotaku broke the news on the next Need for Speed game. The third one in the span of a year. The premise looks interesting, like a Cannonball Run-esque romp across the country.

I'm probably going to monitor this at E3, provided I can rip myself away from any Nintendo news.

I hate it when a plan doesn't come together...

I got the new Mortal Kombat game last week for PS3. I'm loving it so far, but PSN is down, so I can't rip people's heads off. FML.

I'll have a review when I get some more playing time, but the Gears of War 3 multiplayer beta is going to distract me.

Oh, and I'll have some more stuff in the coming days, stay tuned.

'90s nostalgia

Hey guys, as my 26th birthday is coming up on Sunday, I took some stock, and noticed that there's a good strong nostalgic sense for the 1990s, as far as video games are concerned. I mean, there's a You Don't Know Jack revival, Mortal Kombat is relevant again, and Duke Nukem Forever is finally coming out. Sony's offering a good lineup of classic PSOne games on PSN. Telltale Games is keeping the point-and-click adventure genre alive.  It's almost like I stepped into a time machine and came out 14 years ago.

My question is, what '90s game would you like to see revived? I want some thoughts, guys.

On Reboots

I've been reading the issue of Game Informer with Battlefield 3 on the cover, and noticed an article where they talk about the reboot trend. It interested me, and I have a couple of thoughts about it.

My thing is, there's a right way and a wrong way to do a reboot. Looking at the three games mentioned in the article- the new Devil May Cry, Tomb Raider and Twisted Metal games- should make that obvious.

I've never played a Devil May Cry game, but I still looked at the new one with some interest. At the end of my curiosity, I pretty much agreed with the part of the fandom that is complaining about Dante's new look. From what I've seen of the previous games, the character design just screams over-the-top, and it really doesn't take itself too seriously. I'm not convinced that the new DMC will go in that direction.

Long story short, the DMC reboot didn't pique my interest as a non-fan.

The new Tomb Raider game, though, does pique my interest as a non-fan. I've never played a Tomb Raider game, either, and yet the new direction Eidos is going in has me intrigued, with its focus on exploration. It looks cool, realistic, and totally awesome.

The new Twisted Metal is also something I'm interested. I've played a few Twisted Metal games, and that reboot also looks pretty cool. It's going to be chaos online, and I can't wait to check it out and see what's new and what's changed with the franchises' PS3 debut.

Of course, there's also the new Mortal Kombat game. It's looking like the fighting game of 2011, and with a demo out now for PlayStation Plus subscribers (everyone else gets it next week), I can check it out now and see if it's worth the hype.

So, with the reboot trend, what do you think? I want to know if there's a reboot on your radar, or if there's another example worth talking about.

So, the new Ridge Racer game...

Namco announced a new Ridge Racer game last week. I didn't post about it until now because I wanted to take a step back and think about it. I've been saying for a while that the series is stale and needed a new direction, and I wanted to take the weekend and see if this was the change the franchise needed.

I'm not sure if this was the change I was thinking of.

I mean, the Need for Speed Underground feel I'm getting from the reveal trailer is so played out to me. Didn't Namco once have the Fast and the Furious movie license? And the emphasis on destruction? I'm not sold on that. Then again, I never played a Bugbear racer, is FlatOut any good?

I'm just going to have to wait and see, but I don't think this is the change the series needs.

Ridge Racer: Hot Pursuit

I'm convinced that the true current-gen Ridge Racer game has the Need for Speed branding.

Yes, I know that there are Ridge Racer games for the Xbox 360 and PS3, and I've played them, but bear with me here.

I think that Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is the true successor to the Ridge Racer franchise, in more ways than one.

Think about it. What are the two big constants in the Ridge Racer franchise? Nice-looking places and long drifts through those places. Let's take a look at Ridge Racer 7 for the PS3 in action.

Take a look at the graphical design for a moment. Doesn't that look like a place to go cruising through? "Honey, I'm not lost, even though I've been here for an hour, I'll figure it out.", you'll say in a half-hearted attempt to cover the fact that you're just crusin'. It's been a constant of Ridge Racer, as much as the drifting: exotic venues.

Now, NFS. Let's take a look.

The venues around Seacrest County are designed around a similar philosophy of being cool places to drive around in real life. I swear, there are some Ridge Racer-esque details, like the seaside venues, the airplanes in the sky, sweeping roads, and other eye-pleasing things. Perhaps the guys at Criterion like Ridge Racer?

And the big drifts are about the same. The cars actually feel weighted in NFS, while the Ridge Racer mechanics feel like racing on ice, but the achievement in the Super Sports DLC pack where you have to pull off a 1,000 foot drift in a Porsche 911 GT2 (yes, I did it) indicates that Ridge Racer-esque drifts are totally possible.

So, when you think about it, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is the real evolution of the Ridge Racer formula. Thoughts?

Random thought for the day on the 3DS

I'm interested in getting a Nintendo 3DS, depending on how big my tax return is, but I'm waiting on some reviews on the games first.

The new Ridge Racer 3DS looks okay, but I heard the 3D effect isn't impressive. I don't know how Street Fighter plays on a handheld. I need more info on the Resident Evil games. Pretty much the only thing that interests me at the moment is Nintendogs & Cats. The other first-party Nintendo titles interest me as well, but I want to read reviews first, as well.

Between the 3DS, PSP2, iPod Touch, and Android, handheld gamers have a lot of options, and I'm confused on what to get. Maybe I'll have a concrete idea on what to get once Sony finally shows off the PSP2. Any thoughts?

Next week, speaking of Ridge Racer, I'll explain why the future of the series should be more like Criterion Games' take on Need for Speed.

My love affair with Sega racing games

I sent this in a few months ago to Jalopnik to enter their "America's Next Top Car Blogger" contest. They never ran it, mainly because they got a couple hundred entries and couldn't sort through them all in a short amount of time. I kept it saved in my Google Docs file for a while, and now, I've decided to share it with you all. Enjoy! - Alex.

I remember it like it was yesterday.

The time: July 1994. The place: Blockbuster Golf & Games, a dearly-departed family entertainment center in Davie, Florida. Me and my dad went there for a day of sun and fun, and as we entered the arcade, the first thing I saw was a set of eight deluxe Daytona USA cabinets, all linked together.

 

Right then and there, I fell in love. It was nothing like I've ever seen before: the realistic-at-the-time graphics, the gameplay, and especially the music. It was quite the revelation, and I've been a fan of Sega racing games ever since.

 

Sega's racing heritage started in the 1980's with a little-known game called "Turbo", which was one of the first racers to be played with a behind-the-car view. Hang-On then introduced a cabinet where you rode it like a motorcycle, then Out Run added some style with the convertible Testarossa and the memorable '80s music.

 

To me, however, the real start of Sega's racing heritage started with Virtua Racing. That it was made was a happy accident- it was meant to be nothing more than a tech demo for their Model 1 arcade board, but the execs liked what they saw and asked Sega's legendary AM R&D Dept. #2 (AM2 to the rest of us) to make a game out of it. Yu Suzuki (the guy behind the aforementioned Hang-On and Out Run, as well as Virtua Fighter and Shenmue) and Toshihiro Nagoshi (the guy behind Monkey Ball and Yakuza, two popular Sega franchises) took the initiative, and thus Virtua Racing was released in Japan in 1992 and the rest of the world shortly thereafter. It wasn't the first game to use 3D polygon graphics (Hard Drivin' did it first, in 1988), but it was fluid, fast, and most importantly, fun. It also set the stage for what was to come.

 

Daytona USA, which came out a year later, took the Virtua Racing formula, refined it, and took it a step further with 3D texture mapped graphics provided by the Model 2 board. Sure, the original Ridge Racer did texture mapping first, but Daytona USA tapped into the growing interest in NASCAR at the time. Combined with the talent from Nagoshi's team, and probably the catchiest music ever (you probably have it in your head by now), and the end result was Sega's best-selling arcade game of all time. There's a reason why Daytona was a fixture in arcades in the mid-90s: the thrill of executing that perfect drift, with a friend playing alongside, then dropping the hammer down towards the next checkpoint is something that Sega mastered with Daytona, and is something that's hard to replicate.

 

But that's what they did with Sega Rally. Designed by Tetsuya Mizuguchi (the guy behind cult classics like Space Channel 5 and Rez) and released in 1995, Sega Rally was, shall we say, a little more realistic than other arcade racers at the time. Even then, it still operated on similar pinciples to Daytona- the thrill of the drift, the intense competition, and the memorable music are all there. The hook with Sega Rally is with the licensed cars- driving a Lancia Delta, Toyota Celica, or a Lancia Stratos (if you knew the code) added to the realism and the enjoyment.

 

Nagoshi followed that up with Scud Race, or Sega Super GT in some markets. It's best described as Daytona USA with real supercars- the Porsche 911 GT2, Ferrari F40, Dodge Viper and McLaren F1 GTR are all playable. Each car handled differently- the 911 was easy to control for beginners, while the McLaren was easy to drift and had the highest speed, rewarding big risk-takers. All this was wrapped up in graphics provided by Sega's Model 3 board, which produced high-quality graphics that were unmatched at the time.

 

The Model 3 really bought out the best of Sega's arcade racers. Scud Race had little details all over the place, like fire lighting a Mayan temple, or dolphins swimming in a cove as you zoomed past, sideways at 200 MPH. Sega Rally 2 had mud and snow clinging to your off road machine as you barreled into turns with reckless aplomb. And the best of the bunch, 1998's Daytona USA 2, took things to the extreme. Tires burned impressive smoke plumes with each drift, each car got battle scars with each bump and bang, and the background details, especially the pirate ship swing on the amusement park-themed course, are simply unforgettable.

 

The '90s closed with the Dreamcast-based Naomi hardware, and games like Crazy Taxi and Ferrari F355 Challenge kept things going along. Crazy Taxi has that addictive "one more game" hook, and F355 Challenge has that crazy cabinet with the three-screen panoramic view and the clutch pedal and everything. It was almost like driving the real thing.

 

I may be waxing nostalgic now, but to me, Sega always did racing games right, and never really stopped. Take, for example, OutRun 2. It still adheres to those mechanics- unforgettable music, pulling off those long drifts, and the competition. The competition aspect is amplified with Sega's Initial D games. Playing against a friend in Initial D is intense, especially if the cars are fully upgraded and both players are skilled with the drifting mechanics. Sega Rally Revo ushered the formula into the Xbox 360 era, and is an underappreciated gem. And then there's Sega Racing Classic, a re-release of the original Daytona, ready to introduce a new generation of players to the beautiful drive.

 

In this day and age, where arcade racers are ruled by customization, destructible environments, and weapons, sometimes it's best to just look at why Sega's racers are enternally popular: it's all about the long drifts, the friendly competition, and the music.

Here's one last video, of the Daytona USA 2 cars replicated in Forza Motorsport 3, with the music from Daytona 2- Alex