Mashing buttons since 1984
First we helped an intrepid young man convince his mom that video games (violent ones) are okay. Well, now we’ve helped someone else with their homework. I’d would love to know what kind of report that was. Can someone quote a blog in their report? Is there an MLA guideline for sourcing a blog?
“Buttonmashing.com – doing your homework so you can spend more time playing video games!”
In cyberspace, no one know’s you’re a dog.
In the blogosphere, everyone is a someone. Look at me! I’m a someone! I’m the buttonMasher! Alright, so some of us are less than others. I love that some of the blogs I read are written by some really talented people. Bill from The Blog for the Sportsgamer has a new book coming out, the Gamer’s Almanac. I’ll be picking up a copy of the Almanac, as should you! Of course, I’d never turn down to a copy to review (wink wink). Crecente at Kotaku is now the video games guy for the Rocky Mountain News. Peterb at Tea Leaves has joined the ranks of “professional reviewers.” (let’s not forget the “controversy” Peter’s entry into the inaugural Carnival started. Ahh, good times! I wonder how ol’ Matt is doing). Of course there’s more. These are just a few that have happened recently.
Just like they say in the PGA Tour commercial, “These guys are good.”
Tonight is Spike TV‘s Video Game Awards. I had originally planned on live-blogging the show, like I did last year, so I could make light of how Spike TV single-handedly damages any respectability our hobby has managed to garner, but I can’t. I’m not really sad, though. I know I won’t miss much. With the glaring lights, bad music (remember the Motley Crue Reunion?) and pandering to the lowest common denominator, it would simply be more than my brain can handle.
So I won’t be live-blogging this year’s VGA because I’ve got a Christmas party to attend and my sanity to protect. Besides, they held the event weeks ago and the list of winners has been available on the internet for quite some time. Kyle Orland originally said he was going to live blog it, so you may want to check his blog later to see if he ends up doing so. You could also check Technorati to see if anyone else decided to submit themselves to torture.
I will give the voters their propers, though, for selecting Resident Evil 4 as the Game of the Year. Had that not happened, my faith in humanity would have been shaken to the core.
Update: Rick “32_Footsteps” has not let us down. For the third straight awards ceremony, he gives us a play by play. There’s a lot of choice quotes in Rick’s drubbing, but my personal favorite was
12:00 – Apparently, 50% of the viewers voted the Black Revenge from Burnout Revenge the Best Ride. At this point, I think I truly stopped even understanding how Spike even comes up with these categories. We might as well give Bo Jackson a lifetime achievement award for his incredible moves in Tecmo Bowl.
Kotaku and Joystiq mention their inclusion in “Best Blog” category and Slashdot rounds up the links. There was a tie? That doesn’t sound right to me. Sounds like someone doesn’t like Joystiq.
Luckily this bit of gaming in the news does not include references to: Jack Thompson, violence, academic studies, or the shortage of Xbox 360s. No, our story today comes from my local newspaper, The Columbus Dispatch.
It’s a little article about an OSU gamer (you made need to register to view this) who made it to the final four in this year’s EA Sports NCAA Football Challenge at the ESPN Zone in New York.
Mark Stetson, an OSU freshman, made it to the final four of the championship before losing 35-38 to some nobody from Penn State (aren’t they all nobodies? I kid, I kid). Aside from being an OSU student, why am I bringing this up? Because Mark has made OSU proud. How?
Players could choose any college team; among the 16 finalists, only Stetson used his own school.
That’s how.
I keep forgetting to mention Child’s Play, Penny Arcade‘s charity that provides video games to children’s hospitals around the country. They’ve been doing this for a few years now and it’s a great way to give to someone a little more needy than yourself. Christmas is a time for giving, so give away!
I will probably need to add a new category for games and violence/politics at some point here on buttonmashing.com. I don’t cover them as thoroughly as Game Politics and others but I still follow it closely. (I’m little bit of a poltical junkie but I try to avoid anything too political on these pages). Anyway, this is old in blog-time, but there’s a good response to Hillary Clinton’s propsed legislation I briefly mentioned here at Tech Central Station.
I like that other people are getting into the discourse. John Luik isn’t a gamer but says something that I just love.
For some, these complaints about video games are nothing more than a reflection of the cultural and generational divide between those below and above age 40. For instance, the Economist recently noted that “The opposition to gaming springs largely from the neophobia that has pitted the old against the entertainments of the young for centuries. Most gamers are under 40, and most critics are non-games-playing over 40s.” That may well be true, though studies suggest that about half of Americans play some sort of video game. As for age and bias, I am both not a game player and rather regrettably well past 40, but the evidence leads me to side with the kids who want to play.
I also find it interesting how many people (bloggers) out there are into gaming in one form or another that aren’t “gaming bloggers”. I read a lot of gaming blogs (too many!) but I also read my fair share of blogs on other topics. I recently read this little gaming blurb on VodkaPundit about Bushnell’s comment about the number of gamers being smaller than 20 years ago. The VodkaPundit, as long as I’ve read him, doesn’t often comment on such things, so it’s cool to see others talking about it. What really amazed me where the number of comments remininscing about gaming. I think that’s a great thing and I hope it continues.
Animal Crossing is the game that has probably received the most playing time out of all my Gamecube games. Both the buttonWife and I have played the heck out of it and I’m hoping the DS version has the same appeal. This time I’ll put a little more thought into naming my town. Naming my original AC town “pooptown” is something I’ve deeply regretted.
Update: I finished up the tasks Tom Nook had for me and I am free to roam the world over! Here’s my info:
Name: Tonester
Town: Pamplona
Friend Code: 2749-3859-8704
I’ll add any codes you guys post here. See you in the Wild World!
Media Play has a bunch of games for $8.99 a piece (but apparently not online). Not just crappy, years-old sports games, either. I’m thinking about picking up Eternal Darkness (Gamecube) and X-Men Legends (Xbox). Not too shabby for less than twenty bucks.
The past couple weeks haven’t really been conducive to a lot of video gaming, but I’ve been able to get a little gaming in when I can. The game I’m playing the most right now is Far Cry: Instincts for the Xbox. I never played the PC version but the Xbox version is a lot of fun. I’m just playing the single player right now but if I have enough time before the rental runs out, I want to give it a whirl online as well.
I’m still playing a lot of Mario Kart DS. I haven’t been online as much lately (I’m trying to unlock everything) I still try to get on a couple nights a week to see if anyone else is on. So far I’ve only played one “Friends” match, but I’m still on the lookout!
Aside from those two, I still try to get a little Metroid Pinball in, a little Halo 2 (I’m looking forward to the playlist update) and I’m going back to my stack of games. Next up is Metroid Prime 2. I’ve also been neglecting Guild Wars.
I wish I had more hours in a day!
Who’s next?!
That’s right, sports fans, I will invoke Bill Goldberg. That’s basically what the Buckeyes are saying right now. Three of the past four Fiesta Bowls have featured the Buckeyes. It’s become their personal wood shed, where they take the opposition out to put the wood to. In 2004, the Buckeyes dismantled the cowboys of Oklahoma State Wildcats of Kansas State. 2003’s Fiesta Bowl was the best football game I have ever witnessed, EVER. This year’s bowl looks like it will be shaping up for another classic.
First I wanted to say I still think the BCS is a sham. How an 8-4 team can play in one of the four BCS bowls (arguably the four “best” bowl games) when Oregon, Auburn, and countless other teams with better records, that have beat better teams, and could probably beat Florida State. That being said, I was impressed with FSU against Va. Tech. I’ve said all along that VT was overrated and I was glad FSU beat them convincingly. Hopefully now we can officially get of the Vick bandwagon (Mike is an average NFL QB, Marcus won’t fare any better).
It’s clear that Texas and USC are the two best teams in the country. That much we already know. I’m still mulling over who I think wins that game. Right now I’m going with Texas, but that may change. I will say that if Reggie Bush doesn’t win the Heisman then I will have lost all faith in humanity. As for the other bowls – the Georgia/West Virginia Sugar Bowl doesn’t interest me. Georgia will win big. FSU/Penn State is intriguing mostly because of the coaches. If you would have asked me who would win this game last week, I wouldn’t hestitate saying Penn State would. After watching Florida State last night, I’m not so sure. This is a toss up. Penn State’s defense is tough and that’s what I think will be the difference. Penn State by a field goal.
So we come to the Fiest Bowl. I may be biased, but outside of the Rose Bowl, this bowl has the best matchup. Two storied programs, two teams one (or two) plays away from greatness. Notre Dame and wunderkind Brady Quinn are in for a shock. I think Quinn, being from Columbus, will have a big target on his back. I don’t think many fans are bitter he went to Notre Dame but the players may feel different. He’ll be harassed all day long by Hawk and Schlegel. OSU’s defense will dominate. I don’t think Notre Dame’s defense will be able to stop OSU’s offense. Troy Smith will play big and I predict that Ted Ginn Jr. will break something big. Maybe a punt, maybe a long pass. I think they will be more than Notre Dame can handle. Write it down – OSU wins big.
Fear the spear.