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Archives for November 2004

Week In Review

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Back for another installment of of the weekly review of gaming blogs (at least the blogs I know of, I’m always on the look-out for more blogs!)

First off, to get this out of the way, Joystiq has a good list of some of the bigger Halo 2 reviews. The scores look good, many of them perfect 10s. At RedAssedBaboon, the question is raised about scoring a game a ten but then saying it’s not perfect. That also strikes me as being oxymoronic. I am going to refrain from reading the reviews for a pristine impression when I play it late tomorrow night. I am planning on picking up my copy in twenty-five and a half hours, where I will be live-blogging my Halo 2 experience.

Also related to Halo 2 (but not really blog-related) was Kotaku telling us about the big mistake Meijer made, selling Halo 2 a tad early.

It may be hard to believe, but there is more than just Halo 2 happening out there in the gaming world (not much, but more). Scorched Earth looks at the expansion to Star Wars Galaxies. I was really tempted to jump in Galaxies right off the bat. I’m a big Star Wars fan who isn’t) but I’m glad I didn’t and this preview of the expansion reaffirms it. The Star Wars universe could own the MMORPG world but it just can’t deliver. So much ambition and promise but no dice. At least not yet. I doubt ever.

I do love the Metroid series, Metroid Prime 2 looking very tasty, and over at Gamer’s Adventure there’s some nice Metroid tid bits to whet your appetite.

There was also some noise about the “New Games Journalism”. I don’t claim to be part of this, although I do recognize my part in it as a blogger. It will be interesting to see how things turn out.

Retro Gaming, Nintendo style

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My parents cleaned out their basement a couple months ago and brought over a load of my junk, including my old Nintendo Entertainment System and a few of my old games. I fired it up, played a little Super Mario Brothers and Zelda, while a tear of nostalgia welled up in my eye. I was saddened that my Super Nintendo was nowhere to be find, however. So this past week I splurged and picked up a used SNES from one of my local video game haunts. I also picked up Super Mario World and NBA Jams. So right now, in addition to all the new releases coming this month (Super November, to say the least) I’m also on somewhat of a nostalgia trip as well.

Gaming-Age Forums – Halo 2 street date broken

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Gaming-Age Forums – Halo 2 street date broken – Not sure about this one. From Kotaku, there’s word that Meijer is selling Halo 2 oh, about 119 hours too soon. If this is true, I’m sure MS/Bungie has already quelched it. I’ve got a Meijer two minutes away, I’m considering a quick trip but I will probably pass. Nonetheless, I wonder if some poor eighteen year old didn’t realize what he was doing and caused a big boo-boo.

That’d be funny.

Update: I never did make it over there. If I’m in the neighborhood tomorrow I’ll poke my head in.

Symphonia? Can someone tell me what that means?

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I had a free rental to burn before November, so I picked up Tales of Symphonia. I’m still not sure what a Symphonia is, but I’m playing it nonetheless. It’s not too shabby.

It looks beautiful but the beauty seems superficial. It’s beautful nonetheless. I like the look and feel of the characters, it’s got the Viewtiful Joe feel, the anime flair is well done. The battle system is a lot fun, it’s a mixture of real-time and semi-turn based battle. To pull off combos you have to be a proficient button-masher, for which I certainly qualify and I’ve been proficient at combos from the beginning.

Unfortuntely it isn’t perfect. The story line is extremely wooden. So is the voice acting. Most of the Japanese RPG cliches are there, but that’s not too much of a problem for me. But the story is so lame, I often struggle with it’s cheese. But seeing past that, this is definitely a good game. I don’t think I’ll be able to finish it, though, as I think a good game will be in my hands Tuesday morning at 12:01am and I’ll be pretty busy with that. Oh well, hopefully I can get back to it sometime in the future.

Mad Catz to release first game – Joystiq – www.joystiq.com

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Mad Catz to release first game – Joystiq – www.joystiq.com:

“MC Groovz Dance Craze will be the first dance game Nintendo GameCube and should hit stores in time for the holiday season.”

I am a DDR bystander, never having played the game myself but always interested in watching others play. The idea of someone else watching my sorry-no-rythm-having butt try to dance is simply unimaginable. In the privacy of my own home, that’s something different. Another possible wife game? Hmmm, I sure hope she hasn’t read any of my recent posts.

New Games Journalism and Blogs

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Today there was a pretty good discussion over at EvilAvatar, discussing the so-called NGJ (New Games Journalism) where the formulaic review is eschewed in favor of the more colloquial and personal review.

I won’t duplicate the links here, you can follow them from EA. I did want to elaborate a little more on what I mentioned in a comment there (I go by i_aint_yer_pa). I really think gaming blogs are going to fill the void produced by reviews of games that lack emotion. They won’t be reviews per-se, they will be more like impressions and experiences that people have with a particular game. I mentioned my experience with The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. As I was playing through WW, I stopped playing more than once to take in the environment and admire its artistry and beauty. The under-water palace is one of the more sublime experiences I’ve had playing video games. It has been a long time since I felt a part of a video game, but in that instant, after I had vanquished all my foes and I was alone in the great hall, I just looked around in awe. When I descended the stairs and saw the marvelous stained glass windows, I was absolutely immersed. I try to convey in words what I felt but they still feel inadequate. Nevertheless, people who have played the game understand what I mean and hopefully people who haven’t played the game will consider giving it a try, if nothing else because they want to have a similar experience.

That’s the kind of thing I want to read about when I read snippets and reviews about games. I’ve already sworn off previews, I want to read about how people have been affected by a game. This isn’t going to happen all the time, but when it does, I want to read about it. I want to have similar experiences. That’s why I think gaming blogs will become more of a source of gaming trends and become more influential in gaming purchase decisions.

As a small example, I point to GTA:SA as a hint of what could happenin. The “main-stream” review sites are giving it high marks. But then I read things from bloggers complaining about certain aspects of the game, I have two sides to weigh. But it’s nice to know that there’s more than just the unending praise that some of the bigger sites (and print magazines) give to games. I wish I could have read a review similar to what I wrote about Fable before I plunked my fifty hard earned dollars down for that stinker. I probably would have still purchased Fable, but at least I would have a better idea of someone elses experience. Not whether it pushes 30 fps or sounds fantastic in surround sound but if it was fun and as immersive as was promised. That would have been a start.

Well see how these things develop. It will be interesting.

CoasterBuzz – The last 10% is missing

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CoasterBuzz – The last 10% is missing:

“The game isn’t done. I think the potential for the game is huge, but not until they finish the last 10%. If I had to recommend the game, at this point I’d say wait for a patch or expansion pack.”

This is a bummer. I wanted to pick this up for my wife as a Christmas gift, but it looks like bad for Roller Coaster Tycoon 3. That’s a shame, the previous ones have been a lot of fun and have been great for casual gamers (i.e. my wife). Hopefully they’ll fix this before Christmas.

(via Kotaku)