Is it Fate? Or my destiny?
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I downloaded Fate a while ago, mostly because Bill at Dubious Quality was so high on it. I finally got around to installing it last night and I gave it about two hours of my time. If you haven’t heard of Fate, the long and short of it is that it plays like your average point-and-click slash ‘em up. After my two hours of playing last night I thought to myself, “Meh, I’ve played this before. It didn’t offer me anything too groundbreaking or new.” Sure, I had a pet, I could fish, basically stuff I’d done in a dozen other games. I didn’t see myself playing it much more.
Then today, as I was eating lunch I realized I felt compelled to play some more Fate. I had some incomplete quests to fufill. There were townspeople counting on “McGee the Unknown” (Fate has a fame attribute that gives you titles as your fame increases). I had to go back. I thought about all the magic items for me to find, the fish to catch and the titles to earn and I wanted to play it. That’s a first. I haven’t felt this compelled to play a game since I first started playing Resident Evil 4. In fact, I think I’m going to return to Fate once I hit “Publish”. I will definitely be buying the full-version of this game. Check it out!
Faces of WoW
Where nerds, geeks and MMORPG freaks stop hiding behind their toons.
There’s more at RPG Faces.
Not really sure if that’s a good thing or not. A thousand jokes are swirling in my brain but I’m just too tired to throw any out there. Feel free to throw out your own.
NCAA 2006 Impressions

I’ve had some time now with EA’s latest NCAA offering. Here are a few impressions I have. They’re first impressions and not all of them are good:
- The “Impact Player” is a godsend. A lot of people are saying they make a good player unstoppable, but for a young dynasty, they are saviors in shoulder pads.
- Home Field Advantage should not make such a pronounced difference when I’m playing Brown
- I haven’t noticed the same “dropped passes” problem a lot of other people are talking about. So far so good for me.
- The computer can finally run on a good defense. The “juke stick” makes running a blast. Something is now forcing me to take my finger off the turbo-boost. I know it was there in ESPN 2k games before this but it’s making the running game a lot of fun.
- In-season recruiting hasn’t paid off any divendends but it’s cool in theory.
- The discipline system is borked. It sucks and I wish it would go away.
- Can we please get a mid-game save? I would love that more than any other enhancement of all time
- Can we please hire someone to make a realistic crowd? It’s like they’re not even trying.
- My Dynasty is modeled after my High School. We are the North Royalton Bears. We are not the Bearcats. The announcer seems to have numerous brain-farts during a game. First it’s, “The Bears are lined up…” and then we get “The Bearcats take the lead!” Is it that frickin’ hard to fix this? It’s been going on since 2004!
- And while we’re fixing the announcer, someone hire an English major to fix the grammar. If I hear, “The Bears is ready to kick off” one more time I may lose it.
- The graphics have received another minor upgrade. They are due for an extreme makeover
That’s my first pass. I’ll elaborate on some of these after I’ve played a little more. I’m only a third of the way through my second Dynasty season as the North Royalton Bears. It isn’t easy being an Academic school in the MAC. We’re getting our butts handed to us each and every Saturday.
My life is complete
I am the number one search result for this Google query. My parents would be so proud.
The internet is funny!
This may rank as my favorite link ever - If World War II Was an RTS. (thanks to AFK Gamer for the million laughs). Abso-fricking-lutely hilarious. I haven’t laughed this hard in years. I’m still wiping the tears of joy and laughter away. Prepare to laugh:
Hitler[AoE]: wtf
Hitler[AoE]: america hax, u had depression and now u got a huge fockin army
Hitler[AoE]: thats bullsh1t u hacker
and
Stalin: church help me
Churchill: like u helped me before? sure ill just sit here
Stalin: dont be an arss
Churchill: dont be a commie. oops too late
Eisenhower: LOL
Your enjoyment of this humor will be directly proportional to:
- How many times you’ve played Age of Empires/Kings online
- your online gaming experiences with noobs and h4ck3rZ
- your ability to laugh without hurting yourself
- Your knowledge of World War 2
(My current favorite link: Midgets vs. a Lion. Unfortunately it has been proven to be a fake)
Now for a change of pace
Just like the rest of the gaming world, I’m growing tired of the whole GTA/Rockstar/Jack Thompson/Hillary Clinton fiasco. I will endeavor to avoid future beatings of that dead horse. There’s only so many times you can whip a rotting carcass.
So switching gears, I wanted to remind everyone about the Carnival of Gaming #5 over at Unfettered Blather. You’ve got more than a week to get your submissions into Botswana, so don’t delay! There’s been enough controversy streaming through the gamingsphere so there’s no excuse not to submit something. But I’ve got an inkling Carnival #5 is going to be the Carnival that C.J. (and J.T. + H.C.) carjacked.
I forgot to link to Cathode Tan’s excellent second interview, this time with Jeff Freeman, a favorite blogger of mine. Another great interview from Josh. (who still has not received an answer to his Carnival Quiz. Search me.)

Also, Corvus did a sweet buttonmashing sketch for me. I hope to use it in future buttonmashing.com items. Thanks again, Corvus!
So enough with the GTA buzzkill already. Gosh!
It gets worse
You think and hope, in your heart of hearts, that things can’t get any worse. But it appears they do (via Slashdot). From the Gamespot piece (is it just me or is Gamespot kicking the pants off IGN/Gamespy?):
It’s not just the adults that are liberated from their wardrobes. Sims kids can also be nudified, “much to the delight, one can be sure, of pedophiles around the globe who can rehearse, in virtual reality, for their abuse.”
I am so stunned by this guys audacity and stupidity that it makes my stomach hurt. How can this guy believe the drivel that comes out of his mouth? Is he hearing what he is saying? Can any rational human being come to the conclusions this guy comes to? It goes beyond boggling the mind.
I feel ill.
V-chip for the Xbox
So there’s going to be parental control on the Xbox 360. I think is a good feature to add, in case little Johnny finds daddy’s pile of AO-rated GTAs when daddy’s not home. There are, however, two problems I see immediately. One, most parents are too technically ignorant to figure it out, their kids will be smarter than they are and will turn it off. Two, just because it’s there doesn’t guarantee parents will use it. We’ve already seen how little parenting is going on with this generation of young gamers.
But, in the end, it will probably be a moot point that the feature exists. Why? I’ll just quote the article:
Working out how to bypass the feature will probably the first thing every young European hackers’ to-do list.
Not good…
This is getting out of hand.
Oh, and Mr. Thompson — put this in your pipe and smoke it.
Update: Rockstar’s press release.
Am I a hypocrite?
Because I eschew all things Harry Potter because of his popularity and pop-culture status but I gladly listen to the latest Gorillaz single on my shiny iPod mini?

Update: Today a buttonmashing.com “Fan” dropped off a copy of the first five Harry Potter books. At first, this was kinda creepy thinking that someone reading the blog knew where I lived. Then, I started parsing through possible suspects (I mean my friends) who knew I write buttonmashing and things started making sense. I have narrowed down the list of suspects but I’m still a little baffled by the “A rose is a rose…” message. Is that a red herring? Is there something deeper to this message than meets the eye? Do I dare “out” the gift giver, risking the possibility of future gifts? Do I claim I hate the Xbox 360 in the hopes I get another parcel?
I thank my “Fan” and I will at least give the first book a try. It can’t hurt, right? I currently reading this, so Harry will have to work his way into my book queue, but I promise I will give him a chance.
And as to Jeremiah’s NCAA 2006 review request, my first impressions will be forthcoming but I need more time before I make any review-like proclamations.
Button bash??
I use Google Alerts for a variety of key-words, mainly to keep me up-to-date on topics like video game blogs. I have one setup for “button mashing” and every so often I get an alert, pointing me to another review of a game involving copious amounts of button mashing. Not that there’s anything wrong with that! But I got one recently that made me laugh. Behold, the buttonbash. Buttonbash?
This doesn’t seem right. In my mind, “bash” is something you do with say, a baseball bat. And you bash something bashable, say someone’s head. At least that’s what I learned playing GTA:SA. I even have a new cranial menu called “bash head with aluminum bat.” It comes in handy.
On the otherhand, “mash” is something you do to potatoes. Or grapes. Mashing can be a good thing. It’s doesn’t exude the violent intonations “bash” does.
In fact, wonderful things come from mashing. Mashed potatoes come immediately to mind. I don’t think too many people would find “Bashed Potatoes” very appetizing. Mashed potatoes, with a pat of butter and some freshly cracked pepper? That’s what I’m talking about.
It appears that our fellow gamers across the pond bash buttons. That’s a shame. It seems so brutish and unsophisticated. We only mash buttons here. So eloquent and refined. We don’t feel overt aggression towards our buttons. We mash them into something wonderful.
And no, “mashing” buttons isn’t a crime. For some of us, it’s all we have.
Bad news for Rockstar?
Things don’t look good for Rockstar. GameSpot has confirmed that the “Hot Coffee” content was, in-fact, included on the PS2 disc of GTA:SA.
Cheat unlocks preexisting code in controversy-rocked Grand Theft Auto game, undermining Rockstar Games’ claims of hacker mischief.
This may be the proverbial straw that does in the camel. Rockstar has been wording its presses releases in legalese, making it hard to find a concrete admission or denial. Nevertheless, this is bad news for their case. But how bad is pixelated smut? GameSpot sums it up:
Given that the minigame is about as raunchy as an episode of Sex and the City, cannot be accessed without entering a long string of cheat codes, and takes several hours of effort to access, charges that San Andreas is “pornographic” may seem extreme to some. However, its existence does appear to contradict Rockstar Games’ carefully worded statement blaming hacker mischief for the existence of the Hot Coffee mod.
Related:
GTA should have been rated AO
War of the Worlds
Saw War of the Worlds last night with the buttonWife. She wasn’t sure what to expect and wasn’t keen on seeing this particular movie. As we were walking out she couldn’t stop saying “Wow!” War of the Worlds is an intense, non-stop exercise in making your audience feel sick and helpless. I’m personally not a big Tom Cruise fan but I make exceptions for movies that look too good to pass up. I’m glad I didn’t pass this one up.
It goes without saying that the effects and sound were top-shelf. We’re talking about Speilberg here. I’m only casually acquainted with the source material but what I recall was faithfully represented. The noises those alien tripods make will definitely haunt my nightmares.
I thought this would have more social commentary than it did, but it seemed to shy away from it at times. I didn’t care for Tim Robbins’ side-ways political jab with his little “occupations never work,” comment but I’ll let it slide (if you’ve seen the movie, you’ll know why I’ll let it slide). While WotW surrendered to a few movie cliches it took itself serious enough to work but not overly so. Definitely makes you think about your own mortality and what’s lurking beneath the surface.
I give it a button-mashing thumbs up.
Parents just have to be better parents.
First off, I never wanted buttonmashing.com to become a place for political statements, so I will try to refrain from such comments as much as possible. Also, I didn’t want to talk about GTA:SA anymore. I think the game has no redeeming qualities. I respect the opinions of people who think otherwise, but for my money, GTA:SA is a poor game. That said, I really don’t want to beat dead horses (Jack Thompson is an idiot and the GTA scandal) anymore but if you throw in another horse (Hillary Clinton)
and I’m game. As it’s been reported, Senator Clinton has thrown her considerable political weight behind an investigation into Rockstar’s peccancies.
Mrs. Clinton asked the commission to determine “the source of this content,” especially since the game can fall into the hands of young people. The game industry’s self-policing unit, the Entertainment Software Rating Board, is investigating whether the maker of the game violated the industry rule requiring “full disclosure of pertinent content.”
Do we really need “federal regulators to investigate” this? Whether this game should have been rated M or AO by the ESRB it should never “fall into the hands of young people.” The NY Times also seems to be sketchy on the rest of the details, but that’s beside the point. It’s troubling that an influential Senator has taken interest in this case, because it gives credence to nut-jobs like Jack Thompson.
In fact, this seems to have been Jack Thompson’s dream come true, as he is literally slobbering in this letter he purportedly sent to everyone in the video game industry.
(On a side note, as a conservative Republican, I am sad to learn that Jack Thompson also belongs to my party. But that is neither here nor there.)
As I read this letter, I had to pause numerous times and pinch myself. Certainly I had drifted into a parallel universe where logic doesn’t exist and saying things crazy-stupid is the norm. As few choice quotes from the letter:
For a month Doug Lowenstein and his ESA pretended that there was no mod, that there was no scandal, that there was no need for any action whatsoever by ESA. How wrong he was.
No, how wrong you are Mr. Thompson! It’s the ESRB, not the ESA, that needs to take action. They rated a game based on content provided to them. It is neither Lowenstein’s nor the ESA’s fault that Rockstar may have held back certain content. This is just hot air.
Doug Lowenstein could have prevented what is going to happen today, but he preferred to shoot the messengers. It is his chronic style.
I wondered if he was trained to do that in Grand Theft Shoot-the-Media. Do you think he has an option of “Shoot the Messenger” in one of his cranial menus?
News organizations don’t trust ESA because Doug Lowenstein is its head. Why should they? He treats them like dirt.
After watching 60 minutes in March, I’d say it was the other way around. They gave whackos like you all the time in the world to spout your nonsense and then gave Doug the equivalent of a couple sound bites.
When Hitler invaded Russia, opening up an Eastern offensive on the eve of winter, Britain’s Prime Minister Winston Churchill noted that “Hitler must have been rather loosely educated, not having learned the lesson of Napoleon’s autumn advance on Moscow.”Your Doug Lowenstein is similarly “loosely educated” about the United States Constitution.
Whoops, Thompson has “jumped the shark.” When the “Hitler” comparisons are thrown around, it’s time to pick up your things and leave. Nothing to see here. If you made it that far in the article, you can stop there. Does anyone see the similarity between a madman who exterminated millions of people and a man who may have missed a simple bit of content in a video game where NO ONE DIED? I know you, smart buttonmashers, are familiar with history. I won’t belabor the point anymore. You’ve seen the diarrhea pour out of this guys mouth time and time again. There’s more of this garbage, you can read it if you are a glutton for punishment. You can make your own decision about this guy.
There is one nice little gem, though, from Mr. Thompson. It reminded me why I love George W:
The evening in January 2000 that I appeared on NBC Nightly News to talk about the link between violent games and Columbine, Tom Brokaw asked then Governor Bush about that link and what he as President would do about it? George Bush simply said “Parents just have to be better parents.”
Amen, brother! We can write all the legislation in the world, fine stores and their clerks for selling games to minors, whatever. In the end, if the parents will let little Tommy play GTA:Kill ‘em All Rampage, who’s to blame, really?
Update: Here are two cents (which are actually worth more) from blogger JKL, in which he refers to Jack Thompson as Thumper. Anyone who would think of that is okay in my book.
Also keep checking out Kotaku for updates. Brian is on this case like white on rice.
Related Posts:
Cranial Menus
GTA should have been rated AO
Parents just have to be better parents
Getting the word out
It’s always flattering to receive an email from a buttonmashing.com reader. It’s even more flattering when they ask me to plug something they’re working on and want to get the word out. I’m always happy to pass on info that I think is a benefit to my readers and to the gaming scene in general. Humor me a little here as I get the word out.
The first has been mentioned elsewhere, but I’ll reiterate it here. Go check out Slamdance Games:
Slamdance Games exists to help aspiring game developers showcase their work. The festival seeks to aid developers through industry connections, peer interaction and national exposure. Slamdance recognizes the need for a competition with integrity that concentrates on the art of game design and not just the bottom line.
Like I mentioned with the guys doing Metroid Prime in 2D, these home-brewers and independent game houses need our support. Before we complain about the next Zelda/Halo/Final Fantasy and the lack of innovation and new, freshIP, we should be patronizing some of the smaller and independent developers before we stop seeing great stuff like Psychonauts and other good games that don’t reach “blockbuster” status.
I’ve also received links to new video game blogs (if you’ve got ‘em, I want ‘em!). My bloglines subscription list is bulging at the seams, but there’s always room for a few more. Flicker Gaming is a new gaming blog just getting its feet wet. Go over and check them out. I also was pointed to POV - A Producer’s Point of View by Stuart Roch, who is the executive producer at video game developer, Treyarch. There’s some great stuff over at POV, with a look on the inside of the industry. Another site worth giving a whirl.






