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..)
Helping out the little guy
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 | eThx 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
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:
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)
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.
In my hands…
… rests my brand new, electric blue Nintendo DS.
Men of the Scarlet and Gray
In 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!
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?
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?
Life, the real hardcore
This is totally unfair, and we should at least be given a readme file to read in the 9 months it takes the game to load.
Harvest Moon, another tedious sim
I don’t like games like The Sims. If my digital counterpart can’t manage to feed himself then he deserves to go hungry. I don’t like babysitter sims. I lost interest in The Sims after about a half hour. I got tired of waking my sim up at 5 in the morning just to make sure he was ready to catch his ride to work at 8. If he overslept, he didn’t get breakfast. Then he’d be hungry and complain all day. I also got tired of making him do his business on the porcelain throne. I don’t know why it took my stupid sim 45 minutes to take a crap and a bath. If I sent him to work without making a bathroom run he’d either crap his pants or stink from not bathing. Half the time I’d mismanage the time and he’d be in the tub when his ride to work arrived. There was no “jump out of the bath and run out to tell your ride to wait a minute” button. So he’d miss work. Then he’d mope around the house all day because he didn’t have anything to do. I told him if he’d stop taking 40 minute baths he’d actually make it to work on time. He didn’t listen. He’d just drop half his lunch on the floor and let it sit until it gathered maggots. He angered me so I quit playing. I did the humane thing and just deleted the save file. I didn’t build walls around him and watch him die. Sometimes I wish I had. That would have been a lot more fun. So yeah, I don’t really like Sims-type games.
Back to Harvest Moon. After naming my pets and getting through the intro tutorial, I set about the business of farm work. I went and bought some seeds and proceeded to plant them in the wrong type of soil. They wilted and died in the period of three days. Then, my little character started making this wierd “gurr” sound. It took me two days to realize she was hungry. I couldn’t buy her food because I wasted all my money on seeds and fertilizer. I couldn’t drink the milk I got from my cow because I needed to sell it for money to buy more seeds because the ones I planted earlier had already died. The seeds that did take root grew too slow to rely on them. I wanted to eat my little puppy but I couldn’t find the button to do that. My chicken coop was empty and no one around town seemed to care that I was wandering aimlessly as my stomach growled. Not my idea of fun. I shut the game off and never looked back. There was never a moment when I thought, “this isn’t a bad game.” It was boring. I didn’t have time to cultivate each and every little square in my garden, then plant a seed in each and every square in my garden, and then water each and every frickin’ square in my garden. That’s just not my idea of fun. So I quit. I didn’t want to play a babysitter sim.
I already have a real one. And this one comes complete with trips to the potty and stinky diapers.