Shadowrun Returns: Decking

Well, since I am now making videos about shadowrun returns, I feel I have a nice launching platform for talking about detailed points of the game. Lets talk about a very interesting part of this world, the Matrix.

Well, it has its similarities to the movie matrix. You "jack in" to a worldwide computer network. While in there, you can interact with visualizations of programs and directly effecting data and real world machines. In world, deckers use portable keyboard/computer decks with them and directly access proprietary systems that aren't hooked up to the global network.

In game, this results in a secondary world that your character can enter into and have battles in. You have to invest into a series of programs and IC units. Summoning IC units are offensive or defensive autonomous programs that will aid you in battle, but can only be summoned once during a session so you can't just have them suicide for you. Programs act like spells in the real world, costing action points to cast with various effects.

The art design while in the Matrix is quite good. With bright lights, and enemies in a nice red shade, it has a very striking look that differentiates it from the rest of the game. It doesn't feel as cluttered as the real world levels, but that works since its supposed to be the inside of a computer.

I especially like the integration of the matrix world with the real world. It doesn't happen often, but there are battle sequences that are integrated with a hacking segment. Entering into the matrix takes your decker out of the battle sequence. But each single turn of the real world battle adds up to three rounds INSIDE the matrix. Since you don't really want to leave your character helpless in front of a computer during a battle, this accelerated pace really works well. Naturally, having a character who focuses on decking results in a less battle ready character. So I honestly really appreciate the effort put towards making the decking options feel valuable, even in the context of a gun fight.

Below is a video I made to demonstrate a great side mission that features a very well integrated decking segment during a battle.

Bionic Commando Re-Armed

Well, I finally got the upload to work. So my career as a youtuber begins now!!! Again.... Yeah, its my second pass at this, but before it was just silly philosophy videos.

Bionic Commando Re-armed is a supped up remake of the NES classic. I played the original and it was a good game, I just never got interested enough to finish it. The HD remake is quite possible one of the best remakes EVAR. Not only does it update the art assets but also makes great changes to the game mechanics. Now you have actual health instead of dying instantly. It also completely redesigned the boss fights to not be so awful. I also like how the game maintains the 3 life mechanic, where by you get booted out of the level when you run out of lives. Adds a nice level of tension to the levels, especially on the last life.

So, getting into the recording and uploading is going to take some practice. I have to get the game sounds down. I also have to find my commentary voice. I absolutely can't just sit there and play the game. I liked whenever I freaked out when the suicide enemies charged me. I may go for a more manic style.

Video Compression

So I finally figured out a way to compress Fraps videos. Gets them down to about 400 Megs and makes the youtube uploading SOOOO much faster. So I will be shifting my focus to making some shadowrun playthroughs. I will still be finishing my Dreamcast reviews, but these commentaries will be taking up my focus from now on. I will still post on this blog, but they will mostly be said videos. After I finish the shadowrun vids, I will move onto a System Shock 2 playthrough.

Crazy Taxi: A Dreamcast Review

Just two more games to review. This week, its the Dreamcast classic Crazy Taxi. This game was adapted from a popular arcade game of the day. In it, you are a taxi driver. You pick up fairs, deliver them to there destination and get paid. What makes the game memorable is the absolutely bat shit insane car physics. Your taxi is not of this earth. It weaves and accelerates with no regard for your safety or the cars structural stability. And boy, its fun.

Team Fortress 2: Updated

I've gotten back into TF2 lately. Not as much as I used to, but I found a nice CTF rotation server. Now, some time ago I posted a guide on how to play pyro. I went into great detail about how you play with other classes and the weapons available to the pyro. Well, the game has changed a little since I was last big into the game.

I still attest that the pyro is a women.

A big change was that they have gotten rid of ALL item set bonuses. I guess they did this to take care of "Pay to Win" allegations. So now the polycount pyro set isn't valuable at all and feel free to ignore the hat. There have also been new weapons added and some changes to others

1. Rainblower and Lolichop: With the release of the Meet the pyro video, these weapons were added. They are a simple reskin of the flamethrower and the fire ax. They are mildly amusing, but I don't like the rainblower. Its funny, but the rainbow effect gives you a really bad feed back on whether you are hitting people.
2. Phlogistinator, Degreaser and Backburner: These items got a damage hit. They all now do 10% less damage, bringing the Phlog and Degreaser below standard and Backburner has the same damage as the base. The Degreaser has been brought into a more balanced position, but I can't see any reason you would want Phlog any more; its just way too gimicky. I don't like the loss of damage on the Backburner, but it still has its valuable flanking use. 
3. Scorch Shot: The newest Flare gun. I don't personally like it. It does less damage than basic flares and gets no bonus damage on flaming targets. What it does do is knock back targets and leaves flare on the ground that will ignite people who touch it. This is an interesting idea, but I cannot justify losing the shear damage of crit flares.
4. Neon Annihilator: An interesting new melee weapon for the pyro. It gives guaranteed crits under water, but does less damage out of the water. BUT, in an interesting twist, this item also removes sappers. A strange mix up of the axtinguisher and the homewrecker. If you are on a map with a lot of water, this can be surprisingly effective choice.  

Now, this is nothing big in terms of pyro itemization. You have to be a bit choosier when it comes to your specialty Now there has been some VERY interesting changes to OTHER CLASSES. So let me discuss how it has gotten so much harder to be pyro in this game. 

1. The DemoKnight: The demoknight has gotten a lot scarier for the pyro. Now, the chargin' targe gives ignite INVULNERABILITY. This makes targe knights IMPOSSIBLE for you to deal with without the shotgun. You can't crit flare them, you can't axtinguish them. You can't deal with them. On top of this, there is a new, far more annoying grenade launcher. The loose cannon has a lot of different feature, but the most annoying is that it allows the user to shorten the flare, meaning the damn thing can blow up before you even get a chance to reflect them. Demo's, especially smart ones, are now a huge potential threath. 
2. Spy: The spy hasn't gotten much new. But the spy-cicle is specifically designed to counter act the pyro. If held when ignited, the spy will extinguish themselves and become invulnerable to fire damage for 2 seconds. Combined with the dead ringer, a properly decked out spy can actually effectively run from a pyro. There is a counter technique. Even though the spy can't be ignited, there will still be a sizzle sound as long as they are in the fire cone. So if you know the probable escape route, you might be able to keep track of the spy for 2 seconds. 

I have to say that the community, even with all the Free people, can still be very good; as long as you like derping. Serious players better get some like minded friends on a private server. 

Icarus

Princess-icus

Not that Icarus. Actually, I want to talk about two "Icarus"s. Guns of Icarus Online and Pit: Kid Icarus.

Damsel In Distress: A Response

Some time ago, Anita Sarkeesian started a Kickstarter to fund a three part video series on how women are portrayed in video games. I have watched all the videos, the third of which was released 11 days ago. There was some controversy about the way she made the money and about her ripping off her backers. I have no idea whether this is true and frankly I don't give a damn. She made the videos. And since she disabled comments on her Youtube videos, I will be responding here.

I won't deny that there is definitely A LOT of games that portray women as helpless damsels that need rescuing. And there might very well be some deep seated cultural issues with the trope over all. But I have a problem with HOW Anita portrays video games in these videos. She, very one-sidedly, condems video games as a medium for maintaining the trope of the Damsel in Distress.

And she makes good points. Princess Peach using her mood swings as her powers in her first starring role is pretty stupid, and shame on you Nintendo. But she doesn't acknowledge the number of games that either overcome imagined gender roles, or flat out ignore them in favor of making a fun game. Some truly fantastic games are made that don't rely on the damsel in distress trope. Skyrim is an entirely gender neutral game that successfully allows ANYONE to make their own story. She glances over the strides made in the latest Tomb Raider game and glaringly omits any discussion of Samus in the videos.

Just off the top of my head, I can think of a game released recently that makes excellent strides with the damsel in distress trope. In Shadowrun Returns, an early mission has you tracking down a fellow runner who has information you need. It turns out she got captured during a job and you and her boyfriend need to save her. BUT, once you free her from her torturer, she pulls a shotgun and helps you shoot your way out of the building. And from then on you can hire her to help you on jobs. She isn't portrayed as a damsel, per say, she is portrayed as a professional who messed up and needed help. The fact that she was a women was irrelevant, especially considering how inept her boyfriend was.

And Shadowrun is a recent game that I can think of just right now. There are plenty subversions of the damsel trope in games. Anita makes almost no mention of them. Its not that counter example's don't exist, she just doesn't want to talk about them.

Another point I would like to make is that video games are certainly NOT the source of the trope itself, nor are they the most damaging example of its use. In my opinion, movie's are a far worse purveyor of the "Women are to be saved" mentality. This is because video games are primarily interested in being fantasy worlds, while most movies give some indication that they are based on reality. Young children are unlikely to draw much from Mario saving Peach all the time, but they may very well be influenced by Adam Sandler's never ending stream of sexist jokes.

This simply comes down to presenting both sides of an issue. It may not be necessary to always do this, but these video's definitely would have benefited from a more balanced view of the game industry. Anita seems like a smart women who knows her feminism (in a good way) and did her research on the video game industry. As such, I can only assume she neglected to mention GOOD examples of female's portrayed well in games deliberately to strengthen her argument. I find this practice, combined with her disabling of comments on her videos, distracting from the value of her message. Please, open the forum and mention the positives.

Enviable research 

http://www.feministfrequency.com/2013/03/damsel-in-distress-part-1/

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater: A Dreamcast Review

Oh yes, Ebay is great. I am expecting a delivery of Crazy Taxi sometime this week. That will be next weeks review. Now all I need is Shenmue, Sonic Adventure and Powerstone. But this week, we are taking a look at one of the cornerstones of late 90's games: Skateboarding sims.

There was a weird "XTREME" craze in the late 90's. Suddenly, extreme sports were reaaaaaally popular, catapulting sports like skateboarding motorcross to new heights of popularity. Oh sure they had fans before, but now they just were every where and were marketed to kids like crazy. And at the head of the campaign was sports master Tony Hawk. This guy oozed cool to us young kids growing up and seeking an identity. Not only did he seem like the only cool adult out there, but he also made a living skate boarding. As far as we were concerned, he WAS the dream life.

coooooooooool

Mighty Jill Off

So today I fired up Super Meat Boy for the first time in a while. I got pretty far in it, but never made it ALL the way through. So after moving computers, I lost my save files. Passing through the earlier levels, I got to  warp zone I never hit in my first play through. And that is where I encountered the Might Jill. 

Mighty Jill off is a free ware game. Available for download by anyone. Google it. Get it. Love it or hate it. 

I like it. Its an interesting twist on platforming mechanics. Jill can jump like 5 stories into the air. But you can stop her accent at any time and the gently lower her down while tapping the jump button. This tapping really reminds me playing Super Mario Land: 6 golden coins, where the bunny hood would glide farther if I tapped the jump button rather than just holding it down. But back to jill, I like how this just really upends most platforming mechanics. If you just tap the jump button, Jill does her full jump. For most games, you have to hold down the jump button to get such high jumps. But Jill just shoots right up there. And the levels are not afraid to put trap spikes on the ceiling to stop you. I guess I should warn you, this is one of those super punishing platforming games. Its not as bad Meat boy, but its not easy thats for sure. 

But probably my favorite part of this game is just how casually sexual the story is. Jill's out fit is essentially a leather gimp suit. The "story" is that Jill was licking the Queen's boot and the Queen decided to throw her to the bottom of the tower and has her climb back up as a show of loyalty. I don't know why, but I find this to be one of the best random excuses to have a platforming adventure ever. And even though Jill is intentionally portrayed as chubby, I find her character design surprisingly compelling. 

Not sure what that says about me.....

SPORTS GAMES!!!!! A Dreamcast Review

Well, its finally time. I have run out of easy reviews. Honestly, I kinda free-wheeled on all my previous dreamcast reviews. I had played plenty of the games when I got them, so I had little reason to go back and play them for the review; I knew how I felt about the games. Now, I am going to review that two sports games that came bundled with the console when I bought it: NFL 2K, and F355 Challenge.

The Legend of Zelda

I've had a couple of game crusades in my life. My first was the Earthbound series, where I emulated and beat all three games in the series, including the rather crappy NES one. Then, my next campaign became beating Battletoads, which took me 2 1/2 weeks. I've had another idea for a gaming quest floating around in my head for sometime. Complete play-throughs of all the 3-D Legend of Zelda titles: Ocarina, Majora's, Windwaker, Twilight and Skyward.

I own the gamecube version, but this still looks awesome

Now despite being solidly in the Nintendo Camp, me and Zelda haven't actually played as much as you might think.I have played a lot of the games, but I have only finished four. I beat Link to the Past on GBA, Twilight Princess when it came out, Spirit tracks on loan from a friend and Link's Awakening as a 3DS download. That means, despite owning Ocarina of Time, Windwaker and Skyward sword, I have yet to beat them.

Now that just doesn't sit well with me. I'm simply not ok with this. And I want to beat these games. I am waiting until Majora's comes out on the Wii U before I attempt this. But I would also like to record me doing this, for internet uploading. But I have several obstacles to this. First, there is no way to record console footage without buying some hardware. Now, the price tag on these boxes aren't prohibitively high, but combined with the cost of a the Wii U and at least 1 game and we are talking over 500 dollars. Second, my home internet suck for uploading. I don't know why, but even mildly sized files can take hours to upload to youtube. And I don't know how to fix that.

So for now, all I can do is try to make plans on how I can accomplish this effort. I like the idea of uploading essentially a noobs playthrough of the Zelda games. But as yet, this dream sits beyond my reach.

From Travis To Kirby: The culture shock

Well, Gamestop got me again. I went in to trade in all my crap Wii games that I don't play and came out with two used games that I missed the first time around. This time I got Kirby's Epic Yarn and No More Heroes 2. And I have to say that playing these two games back to back was really jarring.

The above two images pretty much sum it up. Epic Yarn is an adorable kids game with the really interesting idea of the whole world being made of yarn and fabric products. Heroes is a sophomoric blood sport with good jokes and a shameless lightsaber knock off. But after playing them, these two games have a very strange thing in common: their stories do not matter.

Kirby's game is definitely a kids game. The story is cute and simple with a kindly old man doing the narration. But the story is soooo damn simplistic that I am constantly skipping the cut scenes. Just let me jump please. Meanwhile, No More Heroes straight tells the audience that the story doesn't matter, in a nice moment of fourth wall breakage. Then there is just a brief moment of actual character and then BOOM right back to the murdering shit.

But that's whats interesting about these games. Both have a unique sense of style, with solid gameplay mechanics and creativity. Everything for a game is here EXCEPT FOR THE STORY. And games, as an artistic medium, can exist without story. Neither of these games try to overcome their story weakness, they just drop the whole idea of a story and move on. And I can respect that.

Marvel Vs. Capcom 2: Review

I have been loving me shadowrun returns. I would be posting about that and uploading videos if my connection didn't suck at uploading.

So, Marvel Vs. Capcom 2. One of the premier tournament fighters of all time. The Dreamcast port of the arcade game was literally perfect in terms of fighting mechanics and was still played in tournaments, on the Dreamcast, up until the release of Marvel Vs. Capcom 3. I got it for cheap since the release of the sequel drove down the price on ebay. And I unfortunately have to deliver some bad news: MVC2 isn't all that good of a game.

Shadowrun Returns (im busy)

I would like to give you a full written review of this game. But i am a bit busy playing it and making up ideas for the level editor. I DID record a 20 minute video of me playing it and I talk about how the game is. But I am having trouble uploading it. So here is a cute puppy.

I dont even like dogs.

Shadowrun Needs to Return Faster

This trailer was released a couple of days ago. Shadowrun does not come out until Thursday. I am starting to LOSE MY MIND.

I seriously have been salivating waiting for this game to come out. Its not just the fact that its one of the first successful crowd funded games ever released. Nor is it the awesome blending of XCOM gameplay with an in depth RPG. It's that it is a SHADOWRUN GAME!!!!!

Shadowrun is one of those IP's that is just MADE for video games. A huge, post-apocalyptic world where magic and technology battle for men's souls as giant mega corps battle for men's wallets. Yes, I know it came from a Pen and Paper RPG, so we are essentially basing a game on another game. But look at the other big table top RPG, Dungeons and Dragons. There have been plenty of D&D games, but few have done much to distinguish themselves from all the other fantasy role playing games we have.

I'm not say that the games are good or bad. But there are a lot of fantasy inspired titles in the video game world. And D&D has never tried to establish its own style or special gameplay within its own crowded game market. If Skyrim had been re-labeled as a D&D game, it would not have seemed at all out of place.

OK, it is a little noticeable. 

Shadowrun is a very rare blending of two different styles. We have cyber punk dystopia games with human technological enhancements, Dues Ex being one of the prime examples. We have a veritable glut of fantasy magic worlds. I could probably even think of a couple things where magic is present in a futuristic setting. But Shadowrun doesn't just have magic and technology, they are in constant conflict with each other. And on top of that, even with magic and technological advancement, society is still screwed up in the Shadowrun world. Even with all these different things being available to the common man, corporations have still taken over.

But I am still stuck in a quandary. I want to pre-order the game, I want to sooooooo bad. But I am scared. I've never been burned by a pre-order before, and I don't intend for this to be my first. No matter how much I want this game to be great, no matter how much I fell in love with the idea of this game, I am still going to wait for at least some preliminary reviews. Because wanting something to be good is not enough. I wanted the Evil Dead remake to be awesome, it wasn't. And pre-ordering only saves me 2 dollars. I will spend 2 dollars just to make sure that this game is as good as I hope it is. And if its merely OK, I'll still buy it.

Armada: Review

Well, know its time to review Asteroids... I mean Armada. Actually, one of my favorite games was Asteroids on the Playstation, so the similarities are actually quite welcome for me. Now I have tried this with a friend, so my rating will be based on its muliplayer as well as its single player.

Terror

I recently put a lot of time into "Mark of the Ninja". Its an exceptionally good 2-D Stealth platformer. I'm not gonna gush for too long, but its a great game with a nice balance of stealth and stabbing. But it did have one element to it that I loved to play with and wish was in more games. Terrorizing the guards.

Armada Glados and the SUMMER SALE

I think its kind of funny that it is so hard to emulate the dreamcast games now. When the Dreamast was new, the CD format and modem connection made the Dreamcast games some of the easiest to pirate. Now, you have to ebay, like I just did.

Armada for the Dreamcast. I have a friend who currently owns a Dreamcast with 3 controllers, so I have been struggling to find a Dreamcast game that supports 4 players so me and my buds can rock it old school. My search led me to ARMADA. Its a spaceship based RPG that is actually a lot of fun. The controls take some getting used to but it allows a lot of exploration and has some nice sound effects. I'll review it as well, and I have decided that my Dreamcast reviews will come out once a week on Mondays.

Of course, now that I spent money on Armada, I find that there is an free alpha of Armada online available through steam greenlight. I don't regret getting the game, but this happens to me a lot. Currently, the Steam Summer sale is draining wallets all over the world. Now I own most of the computer games I could want right now, but I am still managing to get burned.

damn you and your deals

Going into the summer sale, I thought about what games I might want. When I narrowed it down, it was essentially Bioshock Infinite and Mark of the Ninja. Bioshock never went below 30 bucks, more than I was willing to pay, but Ninja has been sitting solidly at $7.49. I bought it last night and what do I see this morning? Its on extra sale for 3 something. I don't think a 3 buck loss is much, but its still annoying. I also bought Dark Souls recently. That was before the sale started, but recently enough that the discount kind of annoyed me.

Speaking of Valve, the Portal series is awesome. GlaDOS is in my opinion one of the best video game villains ever. Someday, I may devote a post to her and the question of her soul. But for now, lets talk about the Companion cube. Everyone fell in love with this thing. Hell, I made one and carried it in a parade. But its probably filled with bodies of test subjects. For a complete discussion of this, watch the Game Theory video by Matthew Patrick.

Did you watch it? Good, because I am going to assume you did.

So, I had heard most of this theory before, but Matt consolidated the info well and I hadn't heard the bit about material emancipation grills. As I was in the shower this morning, it suddenly hit me. There was another piece of the puzzle: Schrodinger's Cat. The cat experiment is a bit of a theme in the game. Rat man draws it on a few walls and in the portal comic GlaDOS requests neuro toxin for "Schrodinger's Cat" experiment. Now obviously she was alluding to her plans to gas the whole facility, with the facility being the cat's box. But it could also refer to the Companion cube. After GlaDOS is finished with a subject, she jams them in a box and we have a very convenient Schrodinger's Cat experiment that has practical use in test chambers. It would give another reason for the hearts, she needed some way of differentiating from regular cubes and the cat experiment cubes.

Honestly, I totally believe valve thought about Portal themes this hard. They are just that kind of company.

Skies of Arcadia: Review

Skies of Arcadia is a very excellent RPG. I've said it before, but RPGs usually aren't my thing. This game is very much in the style of Final Fantasy 7, which I haven't played. It has you wander around a 3-D environment, solve some puzzles and have flashy turn based combat out of random encounters. I can't say it did anything all that unique for the genre, but it was an immensely interesting world that I was pleased to explore.

Bioshock 2

The bioshock franchise is one of the best trilogies of video games this gen. The first was a ground breaking, atmospheric experience and the third has received nothing but high praise. The second..... well, it wasn't bad. It was mostly guilty of being very similar to the original. Now I haven't played the third one, but I did play the first two. And I can honestly say I prefered the second one. And that was mostly due to some personally unique problems I had with the first one.

Dark Souls Vs. Battletoads

For a long time, Battletoads was regarded as the most difficult (with about being cheap) game ever made.  I have written before on my experiences trying to best that game. But some time ago, Dark Souls was released. And it started kicking gamer's butts immediately. It was made to kick your butt, with real penalties to dying that incentivize learning how not to get killed. I haven't played far into it, but I got a real good idea of how much Dark Souls relishes killing me. So which is harder?

Jet Grind Radio- A Review

For the first of my Dreamcast reviews, I will review the game that led to me getting a Dreamcast. There was quite a bit of buzz around the internet about how much fun Jet Grind Radio was. I was right in the middle of my "emulate all the games I missed phase" and went straight to my usual sources. Unfortunately, the Dreamcast emulator did not work since it hadn't been updated in over 4 years. So I ventured into ebay and came out with a Dreamcast. This was back in 2011, so I was rather surprised when Jet Grind Radio HD was released on Steam this year. But I don't regret getting a whole system just to play one game. Its been a very fun experience and I have a very strong attachment to the console now. So without further ado, lets review the game that started it all (for me).

This is hands down the best video I have ever seen of the game.

Beyond Good and Evil Review

Despite my plans to review all my Dreamcast games, the first of my games that I get a full review done for is Beyond Good and Evil. It was just a distractingly good game. So here I go. I will be reviewing the NOT HD remake version, and will make considerations for the graphics as such.

Animal Crossing Pictures

Yeah, I am going to have to start up another Current Obsessive Game corner or all my posts are gonna be about Animal Crossing. But it is honestly as addictive as ever. One new feature that is great is the ability to take snap shots of the game WHILE YOU ARE IN IT. This makes getting pictures for this blog sooooo much easier.

The Museum has a much cleaner lay out. Each area splits into multiple well organized rooms. And whats even cooler is that residents of the town will be seen IN the museum itself and will talk to you about the state of the exhibits. Seeing and interacting with residents away from their homes and the main area gives the town a much more lived in feel.

Fishing is a bit easier. Fish don't move as randomly and you can more easily reach distant fish. Bug catching also has a new feature. When the net is ready, you can hold down the swing button to ready a swing and move very slowly while you stalk the bug. On the flip side, bugs and fish are far more sensitive to you running  near them, making it safer to briskly walk about.

A missing feature is all the little quotes Blathers would give you when you donated something. They were sometimes very funny, but it obviously wouldn't have worked with the new multi-donation system.

Yes, you still have to pay Tom Nook. He no longer runs the general store, but he runs a  real estate business now with home additions. BUT, you no longer have to upgrade your home upon paying off your loan. So as long as you are comfortable with a smaller place, you can live debt free. A nice touch that I always wanted.

One minor thing that I thought was cool was the train tracks. You get to town by train now and the shopping area is on the north side of the tracks. I saw that we had gate crossings and wondered if they would ever drop. THEY TOTALLY DO! No one got on or off, a train just passed through. It was a nice touch.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf A Review

I'm not gonna go into much detail here actually. I'm not an authority on reviewing games. I am simply going to agree with existing reviews. IGN and all the praise's are correct. This is an extremely good Animal Crossing game that adds enough new things to justify playing it. If you aren't a fan of Animal Crossing as a franchise, stay away. But if you are fan of the series, go out and buy it. Get on that right now. I got mine today and its hard to find.

I can't explain the sudden fascination with this character.

Context Sensitive

A game I recently picked up was "Beyond Good and Evil". I heard about a potential sequel for the game and decided to look back on the original. All the reviews said it was a very good adventure game that was unfairly overlooked. Steam carried it, I bought. I'll give it a full look later, but I am impressed. Its got good characters and apart from some graphics tearing plays very well. But it has a feature I really like: context sensitive inputs.

I didn't get the HD version.

On the computer, there are a lot more buttons available for input than on most controllers. But having available buttons hasn't stopped us from pretty much sticking with the mouse and WASD buttons. That's because we don't like having to think about what buttons to push. BGAE works almost entirely off of one button: left mouse click or the bottom button of a controller pad. You use this one button to talk to people, interact with objects, climb, attack etc. But what makes it work so well is that these actions only occur when they are relevant. You only attack when there are enemies nearby, you only interact when there is something to interact with. THIS FEELS WONDERFUL. I want to do something, I left click.

As a counter example, lets look at Batman: Arkham City. Its a wonderful game, with a lot more to it than the original. But that actually hurts it. The flowing combat system gives you the option of mixing in pretty much every single gadget batman has for combo multipliers. While this works OK, the shear number of potential gadgets makes it difficult to remember which buttons activate which gadget in the middle of a fight scenario. This is especially true when playing on the computer since many of the gadget buttons have no real use outside of that one gadget.

Aside from the one main action button, BGAE also has context sensitive platforming. You can't make Jade jump unless she comes to a ledge or a box, much like legend of Zelda. This may sound restrictive, but for the most part having the ability to jump whenever you want is unnecessary. Why would you want to jump when wandering around town?

Contextual actions have long been a part of games, but playing BGAE helped me realize the genesis of the mechanic. It came about with 3-D adventure games when developers realized that they had more actions than buttons. And rather than make annoying combinations, they adjusted one button to do more things. And I take my hat off to those designers. *Salute*.

The latest Console Gen.

I'm not gonna pretend that I am an expert on the latest consoles. But I want to throw in my opinion anyway. This is more a breakdown of the initial announcements of the consoles, rather than which will be best. You can only say which is better after the gen is done.

THE GOOD:

Ever since the last console generation, gamers started to realize that graphics were not the end all of gaming. Yeah graphics have steadily improved, but they have long since past the point of us caring about how beautiful the textures are. Now poor texture quality is the exception for most games. And this put sony in an interesting position. Sony has never been known for innovation in the industry, they just produce really solid and basic consoles. This worked in their favor this time around, since we as gamers had no great expectations of what would come out of the next console gen. We wanted better with more functionality, but its not like we were expecting anything ground breaking. 

And Sony delivered just that. Its PS4; its like a PS3 but better. Hell, even the name suggests that its just more of the same but upgraded. I loved the PS2, but I can honestly say that I didn't become interested in the PS3 until now (the Last of Us looks worth it). Sure it may have SOME extraneous features, but its not important. They delivered a solid gaming platform and it will probably have good games. Nuff said. 

THE BAD:

Let me be clear. I will be buying a Wii U. It has three games I absolutely must have. And its a solid console. They upped the graphics enough. They didn't abandon motion control, but still evolved the control scheme into a far more interesting direction. I wish I could devote more time to this here, but an asymmetric control scheme can result in some very cool multiplayer options. All and all, its a solid console that no one should have major complaints about.

But what a crap launch. First off, the name was ill chosen. What they needed to do was distance themselves from the kiddy image they built up. This not only fails at that but also fails at differentiating itself from the Wii at all. The Wii built a strong fan base among non-gamers. These people are NOT going to be following gaming news. So releasing a new console with such a prominent controller has confused many people into thinking that the Wii U is just a new controller for the Wii. This level of miss-communication is unfortunate, but wasn't helped by the dearth of advertising for the console. Remember the "Wii would like to play" ads? Nothing like that is going around TV this time. And on top of this, we have a disappointing launch line up of games. So we have a good console with lots of potential, but a crap release plan. I am having Dreamcast flash backs. 

THE UGLY:

If you are reading this, you know where this is going. The train-wreck that was the Xbox One launch. Microsoft was not thinking right when they designed this. Sure, its a solid gaming platform, but it has many features that directly aggravate gamers. Beyond focusing way too much on TV interactivity, they built the console with several security features that annoy gamers when they are on GAMES. Required internet connectivity is short sighted beyond belief. The you could argue that "Its only a once a day check and everyone has internet", but your wrong. Not everyone has internet. And it invasive. 

Lets make a comparison. Cars run on gas, you need gas to run them. But lets imagine that the car you purchased wont run unless you also called the car company on the phone once a day. Not only is it another hurdle to YOUR BELONGING, but it feels like the company is keeping an eye on you, like your a criminal. 

Just because you bought a console and have electricity, does not mean you have ready internet access in your home. Its also one more thing that can go wrong. Internet is not under your control; if something goes wrong with your provider, you can't play games. 

But we aren't done here. The Xbox One comes with a kinect built in. Lets be honest, the kinect was an interesting idea but it failed as a game controller. Building one in is not going to get more companies making good kinect games. But this is creepy in another way. It has a webcam that will track who is in front of the game system. AND they had the balls to install used game prevention measures into the system. They may have backed off on whether all games will have this feature, but the tech is still on the machine. Used games are the lifeblood of many gamers. Ever since it was decided that 60 bucks is the ceiling for most new games, many people have to buy used just out of necessity. 

There are just so many misguided decisions with this console. I think Microsoft got a big head with its uber successful Xbox 360. They thought they could push the industry where they wanted it. I see a lot of parallels to their behavior when they dominated the PC world. 

As a last word, I will say this. Buying one console over another is rarely a wrong decision. Even with the many flaws of the Xbox One, I don't think its WRONG to buy one. Just pick whichever one you like. You have your reasons.

EDIT:

I recently read that Microsoft reversed its stance on online requirements and used game DRM. Well, thats great. But still, this was a rank of the announcement. Still one of the worst announcements EVER.

Dreamcast Update

Some time ago, I posted about acquiring a copy of "Jet Grind Radio" for the Dreamcast. At the time, I knew someone that was willing to lend me a Dreamcast but that plan fell through. Tired of waiting, I once more delved into Ebay. After weeks of fishing, I hooked me a functioning Dreamcast with 2 controllers and couple of sports games bundled in. Got it for cheap too; the description mentioned a cigarette odor which apparently repelled some bidders.

It doesn't really smell though

Tomb Raider

The newest Tomb Raider was an interesting experience for me. I had played a bit of the original Tomb Raider, but I would never call myself a fan. And the newest rendition is an entirely different kind of game. It went for the full power triple-A experience. It also went for more action make it into a game very similar to Uncharted. I find that funny, because Uncharted was based on the third person precedents set by the older Tomb Raiders. And it was also an unusual purchase for me. I have mostly stayed out of the Super big titles, since the mid 2000's. Its mostly that the big games since then have all involved shooting, which isn't really my cup of tea. But I wanted to see, I wanted to see how this franchise could be saved.

Well, they went for a much grittier and realistic look. The design of Laura is MUCH better, especially the chest area. The infamous Laura boobs have been scaled back to something that looks like a person. I would also like to give the makers a lot of graphical credit for this game. The hair and water physics are spectacular and there are some very nice views and set pieces in this game. Its pretty obvious they had a very firm vision of how this franchise was going to evolve and ran with it.

It was a solid third person action platformer. It was linear, but it took advantage of the linear nature to show great views and have good action sequences. It also had one of the best cover systems I have ever played with. I did dabble in Gears of War and can attest that Tomb Raider's adaptive cover system is infinitely better and more intuitive. But much like Boy and His Blob, I wanted more.

Is it better that she isn't covered in her own blood?

The tomb raiding of the game was scaled back into a series of smaller puzzle rooms hidden around the island. These were always lots of fun to find and explore. But the puzzles were too easy. It really felt like the makers were just throwing a bone to hardcore original fans. AND IT WORKED!!!! I was totally tickled. If they could make another one that has more puzzles and exploration combined with the same combat system and we will have a winner. But I fear they won't. Uncharted had a great three game run based entirely on its combat and set pieces. The makers may be trying to emulate that. If they don't, I will be sooooo happy. We need more female heros in games. And its better if they actually have quality games.

A Boy and His Blob

In the late 80's, "A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia" was released for the NES. It was a very unique puzzle game designed around an AI companion blob thing. The blob would follow the main character around and morph into various useful items when fed jelly beans. While the game has aged poorly due to its very dated interface and utter lack of guidance, it is still well remembered. I emulated it and though I could not get far in it, I was impressed by the blob. The blob had a really good companion AI program, especially for 1989. To this day, sloppy companion AI ruins games. I was very pleased that the Blob at least behaved itself.

Humongous Entertainment

I could honestly just post this picture and call it a day. That about sums it up. I didn't get a real game system till I was 9; I had gameboy and the computer. And on said computer, I had a whole host of parent approved "Educational Games". Now, in the 90's, educational games actually had some quality to them. Yeah there was the usual "its book, but on computer" crap, but there was quality stuff like Math Blaster and Carmen Sandiego. And one of the best companies for kids games at the time was Humongous Entertainment.

What set Humongous Entertainment apart was that they seemed intent on entertaining before teaching. The majority of their games were adventure games where you had to solve puzzles to progress, and solving those puzzles was how you learned. They also had the Backyard Sports games, but you would be amazed how quickly a kid learns things when he is trying to win a football game (like math). Now, Putt-Putt and Freddie Fish were painfully cute and have not aged well in terms of entertainment or education value. But Pajama Sam had a real sense of creativity and adventure to it that allows it to still hold up to this day. But my personal favorite of the main cannon shall always be....

Spy Fox may not have been educational, but it achieved what so many and try and fail to achieve: it entertains children and adults at the same time. In much the same way Looney Tunes and the Animaniacs amused, Spy Fox had silly-ness and slapstick for the kids mixed with clever caricatures and innuendos for the adults. To this day my dad still finds the fat pig doing a very good Sydney Greenstreet impression absolutely hilarious. I played through that game so many times (it had a variety of different puzzles it would randomly use) that to this day I still remember how to beat each and every challenge in that game.

Which makes my recent purchase of it for the Wii rather odd. I mean, it was re-released some time ago and the point and click gameplay works better on the Wii than any other console. But why did I buy a game I will ALWAYS beat and was never meant for my age group?

....Could this be that nostalgia thing I have read about? I mean, wow! This feels really weird. I've never bought something just because it reminds me of my childhood before. Heck, I play old games all the time. But this is the first time that I have gone out of my way to re-purchase something I lost touch with over time. God, no wonder there are so many remakes.

Skyrim Stories

yodelayheehoo!

I got Skyrim a while back, just before they released the legendary edition. When it first came out, I was in college and all the reviews I had seen of it said it was an amazing game but one that would suck all your time. I made the wise move of not buying it for fear my grades would suffer. Now, I had played some of oblivion so while skyrim doesn't have the BEST gameplay, its solid enough. But for me the major reason I am so enamored of the game is the stories. Its been said by many that this game is enormous: it is close to a living breathing world that functions without the player. By all accounts, Bethesda did not take the easy way out; each dungeon is different, almost all the people in the world have a story behind them and the history of the land is chronicled in books scattered around the world. While I play this game, even though the quests are scripted, I like to imagine the character truly interacting with this world as a person. I create a whole little story that fits right into this specially crafted world. Let me share my favorites.

Shadowrun

Now, I have played a couple D&D games but I am certainly not a paper RPG regular. So I don't actually know much about how Shadowrun the table top RPG plays out. But I have played the SNES game and I am practically chomping at the bit waiting for the new Shadowrun game to come out this month. In the meantime, lets talk about the SNES version and pretend the Xbox version never happened.

Back in Business (New Goals)

Well, I have left this blog dead for over a year. I know I didn't have any loyal fans, but I have a reason to get back into this. I am just about to enter the job market and I want to make a concerted effort not to lose touch with my favorite pastime. And so, in order to insure I don't lose touch with this blog again, I will broaden the spectrum of games I cover here.

The simple fact of the matter is that I pretty much have stopped emulating old games. I still have all the files and such. But now I actually pay for new games and play them more frequently than the emulators. I still play lots of older games what with bargain bins, my Dreamcast and steam's surprisingly old library (steam is 11 now I think). There are also new games coming out that I am excited about. I never did get to play Majora's Mask when it was new and am looking forwarding to eventually owning a Wii U. Shadowrun Returns comes out in about a week and that will be a good chunk of time spent on that post. I have also gotten sucked into Skyrim.

Now I know I am way late on this, but wanted to wait for the hype to die down (as well as the price drop) before playing this game. I can honestly say that I am blown away by what Bethesda managed to pull off and will definitely be devoting a couple of posts to this.

I am toying with the idea of going into manga reviewing. Manga was an enormous part of my adolescence and I still read it regularly. But there is a dearth of manga reviewers online with only two that I know of. Most of the energy seems to be directed towards reviewing anime, but manga deserves its own special attention. I'm toying with a full video review idea, but I may start small and go for another blog before I get that invested.

Thats all for now. I got a job interview in a few hours. Here's to having my own income.