Archives for January 2005

Moving shop

January 29, 2005 by Tony Leave a Comment

Well, after I hit “Publish Post” on this quick post, I will be packing up all things gaming and computing into boxes. Tomorrow, I will be loading them into a Budget Rental Moving Truck and moving my family about 2 miles down the road to our new home. I will be incommunicado until at least Friday, when Time Warner comes by to jack me back into the net. Until then, I am looking forward to the evenings disconnected from the world of blogging and reconnected with what matters most, video games. (Okay, okay, family matters most, video games second most).

The time down will give me a chance to actually play games instead of blabbering about them here. If you miss me, there’s plenty of other good stuff going on in the gaming blogosphere, I’m sure you’ll make do.

Until then, good gaming.

What prevents me from playing video games.

January 25, 2005 by Tony Leave a Comment

(What follows is a little more detail to my “Gaming Pedigree” that I wrote when I first started this page. It needs updating, but you’ll get my drift)

I played video games, pretty much non-stop, from when I was eight or nine until I was nineteen. The first video game I remember playing was Space Invaders and the last was Doom. I then took a three and a half year hiatus from pretty much all video games. I lived in Spain as a Mormon Missionary for two years with next-to-no access to a PC or console and then I worked as an apprentice mason for a year and a half when I returned. I did buy an N64 when it was released in 1996 but I didn’t play it much for two reasons. One: there was this cute girl (okay, she was a total betty) I was courting and I couldn’t be bothered by video games when I could be with her. I married her so I could be with her a lot more often. Two: As I mentioned before, I was an apprentice mason.

What does that have to do with anything? There are many construction trades out there, and it’s all hard, back-breaking work, but besides roofing and concrete finishing, masonry is one of the most labor intensive jobs out there. If you work for a company like Roof Top Services of Central Florida, Inc, I retract my statement, the Florida sun will make it really intense too. I would work 50-60 hour weeks and I would come home everyday tired. Down-right beat. I would hang out with my friends for a bit when we had the chance but I had next to no energy to play video games. So for almost two years I didn’t Mash very many Buttons. After I was married, I came to my senses and released I didn’t want to break my back for the next thirty years so I decided to go back to college. Don’t get me wrong, I loved working with my hands and I respect those who make a living (a very GOOD living, at that) doing manual labor. They are the people that make this world go round. But it wasn’t for me. So we moved to Columbus so I could attend the College of Engineering at THE Ohio State University and suddenly I had all kinds of time to play video games. So I broke out the N64, upgraded the computer, and have been gaming ever since. My wife has been mostly supportive (she prefers console games, since she can at least have her turn at Animal Crossing or Mario Party, etc). Many Buttons have been Mashed since.

What does that have to do with anything? Well, the past few days have thrust me back into the world of manual labor as we prepare to move out of our condo into our new house. We’ve been packing and cleaning here, painting and cleaning at the new house, and just running around like crazy people, thinking on the next time we better get a maid service to do it, we just have to book now. In other words, I’ve been too tired lately to play many video games. It’s a shame, but family always comes first, and moving them into the new house is my current project.

So this was basically a big post to reminesce and say blogging activities will probably become scarce as I’ll be packing up the PC soon (probably Thursday night) and move things to the new house. Hopefully Time Warner will seamlessly move our broadband connection over there and we can be up and running by Sunday night, but I’m not holding my breath. Either way, I hope to be back in business soon. In the meantime, I hope you get some gaming in, because it’s not happening here. I’m too tired.

I’m going to bed now. Good night.

I Heart Bloglines

January 23, 2005 by Tony 2 Comments

If you read blogs or maintain one yourself, I hope you’re using Bloglines. I’ve been urged many times to give it a try and I’m only now beginning to see its usefulness and flexibility. I’m already using it to keep track of almost all my links on the right. Being able to make folders to store your various feeds is perfect and highly customizable. Being able to share/publish your links is equally brilliant. I am really liking Bloglines and I guarantee that, if you’re a blogger, you will dig it too.

In fact, I imagine the majority of ButtonMashing readers are and intrepid bunch, so you’re probably using it already!

Leon S. Kennedy, Trash-Kicker.

January 21, 2005 by Tony 5 Comments

Leon and Ashley, RE4

Many buttons have been mashed and this guy whom we’ll call Leon (for no other reason than he answers to said name) has kicked some serious trash, but now the Presidents daughter is safely home with her family. Yes, that’s right, the great Button Masher himself has completed Resident Evil 4.

After dying an unimaginable eighty times, killing nine hundred nine zombified Spaniards and other forms of unimaginable grotesqueness, connecting sixty-seven percent of the time the trigger was pulled and taking a little less than nineteen hours I have finished one of the best games of all time.

I won’t mention anything that could be spoiler material, but I will say that from start to finish, this has been one of the most enjoyable and intense games I’ve ever played. It was difficult and challenging, but never became frustrating. I try not to put too much stock into audio and visuals but here they are undeniable. Absolutely stunning visuals and spot-on sound. I pay attention to the little details and RE 4 is polished. We’re talking U.S. Army Boots spit-shine polished.

Is it a perfect ten? No, I’m not sure a game will ever achieve that lofty status. There are a few minor issues I have with the game overall but with controls in particular. A strafe option and a quick weapon switch would have been very welcome. Also, being able to turn quicker would be a nice addition. But these are minor blemishes on this masterpiece. Please don’t construe this as complaining. It would be like complaining you don’t have Italian Leather pedals for your Ferrari. The game is still top-shelf.

I’m mulling where this game ranks in “The List”. I will say, unequivocally, that this is a top ten game, all time. Game of the year contender.

Hyperbole aside, Resident Evil 4 is a great game.

New Kids on the Block (#1)

January 20, 2005 by Tony 5 Comments

New Kids on the Block I mentioned I wanted to highlight some of the gaming blogs I’ve come across recently. As of right now, this isn’t a list of new blogs, but they were new to me when I found them. I’m not really endorsing any of these blogs, but if they end up on my bloglines blogroll then that might mean something more.

I found Hidden Peanuts from a link on Kotaku, and I haven’t checked it out much since. It seems like a regular blog with occasionally comments on video games.

bisti.org is a site that was, unbeknownst to me, linking back here. I noticed it in my referrer logs. Anyway, I haven’t seen much there, but maybe it’ll float your boat.

I am really liking These Damned Machines, they’ve already been added to my Bloglines subscriptions. Keep an eye on this one.

8Bit Joystick is a good site for all things gaming. They seem to have been around for a while. At least a lot longer than ButtonMashing. (They did support Kerry, but we won’t hold that against them.)

Another site that’s been around for a while that I just found is Geek on Stun. Lots of good stuff here, I’ll be reading these guys a lot more.

Idle Thumbs is a site that is very well designed site and is very witty and smart. I like it.

Insert credit seems to have a bit of a Japanese gaming bent, which is cool but not necessarily my thing. Nonetheless I’ll keep on eye on the site, Looks like there’s a lot of stuff there.

Intelligent Artifice seems like another decent site. I’ll give a few more reads before I pass judgment.

So ends the inaugural edition of the New Kids on the Block. (Okay, some aren’t new, but they’re new to me.) I’ll be using Blogline folders to organize these links over on the right side-bar. Just not right now, I’m going to play some RE 4. If you’ve got a gaming blog or you know of one you think I’ll like, drop me a note at buttonmashing at gmail dot com.

IGDA – Culture Clash – Jan05

January 17, 2005 by Tony Leave a Comment

IGDA – Culture Clash – Jan05: I picked this article up from Joystiq by Matt Sakey, whipping the current state of games magazines on the bare bottom. He says as gamers (that’s us) grow up, the print media should as well.

“It’s time for the gaming press to grow up a little bit. Stop acting like the Nintendo Fun Club and start taking seriously the discipline of game development, and how the products of that discipline can uniquely affect us. The weird irony is that we’re seeing websites/blogs take this responsibility and run with it, while print media devolves to little more than delayed advertisements for technical features. Really the web’s timeliness and occasional amateurism is more appropriate for quick-turnaround reviews and impressions, while professional print is better suited to more deadline-inspecific meditative content.”

It’s a good read, check it all out. I like the tip of the hat to bloggers. My kind of guy.

Electronic Arts, ESPN hook up in exclusive 15-year deal – News at GameSpot

January 17, 2005 by Tony Leave a Comment

Electronic Arts, ESPN hook up in exclusive 15-year deal – News at GameSpot: First and foremost: Electronic Arts is a company in the business of making money. Having exclusive rights to things like the NFL and ESPN will give them the only game in town. Having said that, they are playing quite dirty with Sega/Take Two. From Kotaku comes this story on Gamesport. From the post:

“Electronic Arts broke the calm of a national holiday today by announcing a licensing deal of epic proportions. For the next fifteen years, EA will be the sole licensee of the ESPN brand in the area of sports games, which will include console, handheld, PC, and wireless games.”

Right now, ESPN is on an extended time-out with me with the way they’ve treated Ohio State, so they are only a couple notches below EA on the “Eveel, like the Deveel” ladder with me.

I see like this: Sega gets hooked up with Fox Sports (who currently has the rights to the Super Bowl and World Series). I’m not a big fan of The Best Damn Sports Show, but they do have Max now in their lineup and they could roll some of their personalities into Video Game personas.

This does suck for most NFL video game fans, who have had their right to choose swept from under their feet, but as I said at the beginning, this is a business (currently a big business) so I don’t fault EA for the moves they’ve made, but this certainly doesn’t bode well for the little guy.

Week in Review, Vol. 2, #2

January 16, 2005 by Tony Leave a Comment

Well, I’ll have to do this while the new Iron Chef America is on, because I won’t be able to pull myself away from RE 4 after it’s over. So here are some notable going-ons for the past week. (Great, Blogger just lost my post. I suddenly lost interest to finish this post, but I’ll carry on.)

So we had Gatmog from Tales of Schorched Earth giving his top ten for 2004, with Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines as his top pick. I’ve heard alot of good things about this game, I’ll have to give it a try.

Kyle at VGO wonders who he would run a video game TV station. He’s been talking a lot about G4/TechTV (I guess just G4 now) and I think he’s got some good ideas.

I started working on a translation cheat sheet for all the Spanish phrases you’ll here while playing Resident Evil 4. That games is absolutely amazing. You can find the guide here.

I’m thinking about maybe making the “Week in Review” into a biweekly or monthly thing. I also am working on my list of “new” gaming blogs I come across. Things are always evolving here at ButtonMashing.

Resident Evil 4 Translation Guide

January 15, 2005 by Tony 407 Comments

As you may or may not know, RE 4 is set in an old, run-down, decaying European town. As luck would have it, it turns out to be an old, run-down, decaying Spanish town. Luckily for me, and all you loyal ButtonMashers, I spent two years in Spain and I am endeavoring to translate some of the sayings you’ll hear the possessed villagers yell as they try to kill Leon. My hats of to the guys who wrote the Spanish lines, most of them are well done, including the naughty i words. I am trying to keep this a PG-rated blog, so you’ll have to use your imagination for some of the definitions here. This list will grow as I progress further in the game from the luxury of my comfy seat and remember more of what is said. (Update: I have since beaten Resident Evil 4 but decided to keep this list updated, based on the daily hits I get looking for these translations

Update 2: Ever since the release of Resident Evil 4 on the Playstation 2 I’ve noticed an uptick in google requests for “Resident Evil 4 Translations”. I’ve been keeping the list updated as much as possible, so feel free to add anything I’ve missed, whether you know how to translate it or not.)

So, as a public service, I present you the buttonmashing.com “Unofficial” Resident Evil 4 Spanish Phrases translation guide, complete with your additions:

Cabrón – Literally translated, this means “mountain goat”. Slang, it means “mothertrucker”.
¡Jefe! – Boss!
¡Voy a romperte (unintelligible) pedazos! – I’m gonna break you into pieces!
Mierda – Sh*t!
¡Allí está! – There he is!
¡Es el forastero! – It’s the foreigner!
¡Te voy a matar! – I’m going to kill you!
¡Te voy a hacer picadillo! – I’m gonna make mincemeat outta you!
¡Detrás de tí, imbécil! – Behind you, imbecile!
¡Cogedlo! – Grab him!
¡Agérrelo! – Grab him!
Mueren, Mueren, Meuren – Die, die, die
¡Mátalo! – Kill him!
¡Mátenlo! – Kill him! (another form)
Morir es vivir. – To die is to live.
¿Qué carajo estás haciendo aquí? ¡Lárgate cabrón! – What the hell are you doing here? Get the hell outta here, cabrón
¡No deje que se escape! – Don’t let him escape!
¡A por él! – After him!
¡Te jodiste! – You’re screwed!
¿No estás soñando? – Are you sure you’re not dreaming?
Es hora de rezar – Now is the time to pray
¡Tenemos que irnos! – We need to get outta here!
¡Puedes correr, pero no puedes esconederte! – You can run but you cant hide!
¡Imbécil, quiero matar! – Imbecile, I want to kill you!

“Vocabulary:”

Los Illuminados – “The Illuminated Ones
Los Ganados – While this does directly translate as “livestock” or cattle, it can also be used to refer to a group of people, like a mob.
Las Plagas – The Plagues
La campana – the bell
Cerebros – braaaaains

Updated (11/12/2005) – Thanks to Dudeman, RE4Fan, Marcos, SpikeRevell, Darkzeta, and Angelo for the latest request and additions. I know that with the recent release of RE4 on the PS2 that we’ve had a new influx of people searching for translations. Hopefully all these will make the enjoyment of this most excellent game. Let me know if there’s more! Keep ’em coming!

Updated (8/29/2005) – Thanks to Marionette, Mark, Kasage, David for reminding me of some of the phrases I’ve missed. Keep ’em coming!

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True Love, Defined

January 14, 2005 by Tony 2 Comments

What exactly is this nebulous true love? When your pregnant wife (7 months) goes to not one, but two Blockbusters to locate you a copy of Resident Evil 4 because you’re stuck in cubicle purgatory until 4:30. And you know if you don’t get a copy when they first go on the shelves you’ll never find one, what with Blockbuster’s new “No Late Fees” policy. So you ask her to see if she could get one of the stores to hold a copy for you. When they wouldn’t, she loaded up your two-year-old and her pregnant self and went to the store in person. Man, that’s love.

No, that’s true love.