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Archives for September 2005

Buckeye Blogging, Week #3 (2-1)

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I was out of town all weekend visiting family and we got home late, so this will be a quick Buckeye Blog.

I watched the first 2.5 quarters of the game and listened to the rest (waiting for a parade) and what I saw and heard was mostly positive. The offense still seems to be trying to figure out who it is. While the stability of having a #1 QB seems to have made the talking heads happy, Smith’s throwing ability scares me. He’ll be fine but I get nervous when he cocks his arm back to throw.

The defense doesn’t worry me at all. If you take away the first play SDSU scored on and the defense only gives up 120 yards total offense. That is domination, plain and simple. They held them to 13 yards rushing. This Buckeye defense is one of the best (if not the best) in the country.

Tokyo Game Show

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The Tokyo Game Show starts soon and everyone is expecting the unveiling of Nintendo’s Revolution Controller. Rumors have done their rounds on the internet and now, hopefully, everything will become clear.

This fanboy waits anxiously. Updates to come…

Update: Joystiq has the goods with the new controller. I’m still digesting it. IGN has more.

I don’t even know what to think right now. I can’t wrap my head around 2 seperate controllers. I can’t see how playing with a remote control is better than what we already have. Things are going to move rapidly now. Forums and comment boards will be abuzz with Nintendo is teh doomed but we’ll see. I’ll reserve judgement for the time being. But honestly, while I have the utmost faith in Nintendo, I’m not optimistic. This took some big brass ones to drop a bomb like this.

Click the picture for a larger version.

More: Here’s another IGN piece talking about some of the possibilities that the new controller. Color me intrigued. 1up has more, but it’s basically a rehash of IGN’s article. Things are happening fast now.

Of course, you could go right to the source.

Another Update: Since I just finished my piece on MMO sports games, I already see sports possibilities for the new controller. Swing the golf club, swing the bat, throw a football. That would be pretty sweet.

Some more: You can watch the controller in action here. I want a three stooges simulator.

It’s late, I’m going to bed.

MMORPG Sports (Part II)

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I originally planned on one big article on the convergence of MMORPGs (or MMOGs in general) and sports games. After I finished the first part of the article I realized there is a lot of ground to cover. So this is the second part of my article on MMOSG. This is also submitted to the September edition of the Blogs of the Roundtable (specifically, Topic Choice 1E(xploratory): Pick a genre of games and discuss how it would benefit from adopting some of the game mechanics of another genre. If the merging of the genres would create a new genre, discuss the core gameplay and boundaries of the new genre..)

[Read more…] about MMORPG Sports (Part II)

Helping out the little guy

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Here at buttonmashing.com we are fighting the good fight for video games. We try to get the word out about the positive aspects of gaming while we refute spurious claims that violent video games are bad for kids. Last month I wrote a little piece about the topic of violent video games, quoting a couple articles that had some empirical evidence that refutes the claims by the anti-gaming cadre (definition 2a). Little did I know that it would actually have tangible results.

Last week, “Bloody Vamp Man” left me a comment, thanking me for the information and the graphs. Why? I’ll let his comment speak for itself:

Bloody Vamp Man
Comment by Bloody Vamp Man | 2005/09/07 at 13:24:06 | e

Thx for backing up the video game community. we needed some proof that the video games didnt cause violence. because of your graphs my mom is buying me games like resident evil 4 now. i apreciate your time being spent on this site thx.

;.;Bloody vamp dude

While I am a little nervous about his nick name, (Bloody Vamp Man/Dude doesn’t exactly conjure up happy, non-gory thoughts) I’m glad he is doing his homework and his mom has an open mind. Thanks to WP’s commenting system, I know where his comment originated from. I don’t know what grade Bloody Vamp Dude is in but I do know he’s still in school somewhere. So he is probably 15 or 16 years old and he wants to get his Resident Evil 4 on. I think RE4 is okay for that age. I wouldn’t have a problem with my older teenagers playing a game like RE4. I guess the graphs I used from the articles convinced his mom that video games of the violent/gory variety were okay. Good on ya, BVM.

I just hope his mom also does her homework, too. She could start by checking out some reviews of RE4 to determine if it’s okay for her boy. A good place to start would be Gamer Dad’s review. Gamer Dad does a good job of reviewing games with kids in mind.

This works both ways. I’m glad kids are proactive in the defense of their hobby and I’m glad parents can have an open mind. Neverthless, parents need to be informed. As much as I enjoy BM.com I still recognize I am just one voice in the overwhelming interweb. I hope parents are interested in their kids hobbies enough to know what their kids are doing. That includes making the tough call when to say “No, you’re not ready for that game/movie/book/whatever.” Being a parent I can say it isn’t easy saying no, but once and a while it needs to be done. But it’s easier when you’re informed.

And I’m glad to help.

What I’m playing

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I haven’t had a much time the past couple weeks to play as much as I’d like to. I guess I need to reorganize priorities! Anyway, here’s what I’ve been playing lately:

NCAA 2006NCAA Football 2006 – I’m still playing NCAA 2006, working on my Dynasty. I only get a few games in a week but I’m still liking 2006. There’s a few glaring issues that still stick out but overall it’s still a fun football game. I started working on a “Dynasty Journal” here at buttonmashing.com but it wasn’t turning out how I liked it so I canned it.

Advance Wars: Dual Strike – Now that I am a proud owner of a Nintendo DS I had to pick up a new DS game, too. With all the good things I’ve been reading about it, I decided to give it a try. It’s Advanced Wars on steroids. The touch screen makes playing a strategy game feel natural.

Metroid Fusion – I had to give a GBA title a chance in the DS, too, for comparison purposes. I never finished Fusion in the first place so I figured the DS would be a great place to finish it. This is such a fun game.

I’d really like to get some playing time with Guild Wars soon. It’s been almost a month since I played any GW so I need to get back to Ascalon. Especially with the new content that was released last week.

I’m also looking to get a couple other DS titles. I’m thinking about Meteos and Tiger Woods. Any other suggestions?

Buckeye Blogging, Week #2 (1-1)

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Yeah, so I’ve had over 12 hours to let the sting of the Buckeye’s loss lessen a bit. If you didn’t know, OSU fell to Texas, 25-22. There is a lot of finger-pointing and blaming that could go on, but in the end the Buckeyes just failed to convert turnovers into touchdowns. The turning point, in my mind at least, was when OSU had Texas’ kick returner IN THE ENDZONE and were unable to tackle him for the safety. That would have been such a huge swing of momentum. But so many other things went wrong that there’s no way to pin this game’s outcome on one play or one decision. It was a culmination of bad luck and bad decisions. Coach Tressel will be second-guessed all year long on his QB decisions. This should be Troy Smith’s football team. As much as I like Justin Zwick he just doesn’t have the talent Smith does.

So I tip my hat to the Texas Longhorns. Vince Young is a heck of a football player (but still not a heck of QB yet). It still hurts and will hurt for a long time. The Buckeyes will still have a great season but it sure would be nice to be 2-0.

And can we start including A.J. Hawk when we talk about Heisman races? The dude is a Manimal.

Update: OSU has dropped from #4 to #9. I think that is completely fair. We still belong in the discussion of the top ten teams in the nation. I know it’s a long shot but we’re not completely out of the National Championship picture. A lot of things need to come to pass, but it’s entirely possible.

Men of the Scarlet and Gray

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ohio-stadium2.jpgIn a little more than 24 hours, I will be in section 7C of the ‘Shoe, literally peeing my pants with anticipation of the OSU/Texas game. This game has had such a build up of aniticipation and hope that words can’t describe the excitement here in Columbus, Ohio. I can not wait for kick-off tomorrow night. So much hype, culminating into 3 hours of college football nirvana. Such is Buckeye Mania.

Bill at SportsGamer has some tidbits about the game that are worth the read. There’s a lot over at ESPN.com as well. There’s this article about OSU’s All-American linebacker, AJ Hawk. It’s a great article about a great football player, but the best part are the quotes from AJ’s mom:

“I love to see A.J. hit,” Judy Hawk confirms. “We thrive on A.J. hitting people.”

That’s a family that knows its football.

I am very optimistic about this game. I think OSU will give Texas the business. Why am I so confident? This is more-or-less the OSU team put the wood to both Oklahoma State and Michigan, two teams the Texas struggled with. Texas had to come from behind to beat perennial Big-12 punching bag Kansas. Texas is without Cedric Benson and Derrick Johnson. I’m not saying they’re a bad team, I just think OSU has too many weapons. I think they win this game. Maybe not easily but they win, nonetheless. What does Vegas think? Currently the line is a point with OSU favored. The over/under is now up to 46 points.

My prediction is 28-17. You heard it here first.

Before I go, I’d like to present two OSU haikus, one written by your’s truly and the other written by buttonmashing.com reader Bobster. Enjoy.

Ted Ginn is so fast.
Santonio Holmes is, too.
Buckeyes win by ten.

Texas is ranked
So are the OSU Bucks
Game of the season

Update: I decided I’m not reading enough sports blogs currently, so I went to the unreliable Technorati to do a little search. I decided to link other people’s predictions, along with mine. I like the cut of these guys jibs (most of them, anyway)

OSU 31 – Texas 10
OSU 52 – Texas 3 (not too sure about that one)
OSU 24 – Texas 21
Not a prediction, but red buckeye asks, “Am I alone in thinking Texas is going to get ambushed tomorrow? No, from the looks of it, you’re not.
OSU Wins
OSU 17 – Texas 24 – Booo!
OSU 37 – Texas 34

There are plenty more predictions out there, this is just a sampling. But from the looks of it, things are looking up for Texas.

DSes everywhere!

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I don’t know if my DS-sensitivity has gone up since I started contemplating the purchase of one, but I’ve noticed an increase of DS-related news being spread through the gamingsphere (I don’t even have to mention all the Nintendogs hype). Kotaku had the huge DS display unit (with requisite display girl) earlier this week. There’s two stories at games.slashdot that talk about DS things. The first is actually about the PSP’s launch in the UK that shattered the DS record-breaking release. (Pay no attention to the fact that they counted a year’s worth of pre-orders in that figure). The other story refer to a wish list of games people would like to see ported to the DS. Both posts have comments that are pretty favorable for the DS. I’m pretty excited about Age of Empires on the DS but I would love to see Starcraft.

I still don’t have a DS in hand, but right now I’m leaning toward the Blue DS with Mario 64 bundle at Walmart. Time will tell!

Should I or shouldn’t I?

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I’m this “] [” close to trading in my Game Boy Advance SP for a Nintendo DS. I’m going out for the evening and I know my friendly neighborhood Game Crazy would facilitate said transaction without any problems.

The question is: Should I or shouldn’t I?

Update: Okay, a quick update. I heard Walmart had a DS/Mario 64 bundle. Supposedly Toys ‘R Us had a Spider Man 2 bundle as well. I made stops at both places but Walmart was out of them and TRU’s deal is over. So as it stands now, taking into consideration the comments thus far, I think I’ll keep my GBA SP (Pacman Vs. is a great party game, so keeping the GBA to link up with the Gamecube has become an issue) and I’ll just pick up a new DS. I’m also very interested in Advance Wars DS like Mr. LaMosca. I play Advance Wars all the time and can only imagine how sweet the touch screen works. I’ve heard Madden and Tiger Woods work great with the touch screen, too. I’m pretty excited about new game kit.

So I’ve pretty much decided on a new DS. Now the question is: what color do I get?