buttonmashing

Mashing buttons since 1984

Tony

New Kids on my Block (#2)

by 3 Comments

Here’s in the second installment of the New Kids on the Block, which has already been renamed the New Kids on my Block, since a lot of the blogs I’m highlighting are new to me, but not the blog or gaming blogosphere. As this feature grows, it may return to its original name, but for now, it’s the “New Kids on my Block”. So on to the new kids:

I haven’t been reading loongy boi for very long but I like what I’ve read so far. It’s definitely a blog that’s more about games, but Jason (who works for Take 2) seems to love his games. He’s definitely been doing this much longer than I have, but remember, this is the New Kids on my Block.

Wonderland was a site I stumbled on when I first started this blogging thing but somehow got lost in the shuffle. A women’s perspective on things is always good, and currently there’s a dearth of said perspective in the world of video games. It’s slowly coming around, but Wonderland is a good place to get it, with pop culture peppered to make it more authentic.

arcon is a blog from across the pond, where comments about gaming pop up now and then. He seems pretty passionate about gaming, and that’s good enough for me.

I don’t know why I haven’t been reading Water Cooler Games before, I see mention of them all the time, I’ve just never taken the time to read them. Now that I have, I regret not taking the time sooner. Grade-A stuff there.

There will be more sites forthcoming, I’ve got a handful bookmarked that I still need to go through. Stay tuned!

Some light reading.

by Leave a Comment

I know it might be hard to believe, gamers do have other interests. For me, I am fascinated by the financial world, with a particular interest in the world of investing. I’m pretty green (pun somewhat intended) when it comes to investing, but over the past 3+ years, I’ve been doing dollar based investing through ShareBuilder (a great service and a great way to get your feet wet). I’ve done fairly well, but I’ve got a lot to learn. As such, I try to follow as much stock-related news as I can. Currenlty, I’m subscribed to the Motley Fool newsletter for their insight and tips. It’s nothing great, but a couple weeks ago, this article was highlighted. As I read it, I was reminded of this, which I read over at Video-Fenky. I think these articles really get to the point of what can and needs to be changed over at Nintendo.

I think we can also throw this little tidbit (hat tip, Joystiq) as well. Nintendo has definitely embraced the kid-friendly image but maybe the embrace has turned into a bear hug and Nintendo can’t let it go.

Nintendo DS “Another Code” Movie

by 2 Comments

I’m not totally enamored with the DS yet. I toyed around with the Metroid game, which was pretty cool, but I still haven’t been “WOW”ed by anything DS-related yet. Well that was until I saw this. I don’t understand any of the Japanese, but the game looks pretty amazing. The use of the dual screens looks really intuitive and blends the two together really well. If this is plays as good as it looks, they might have something with those two screens.

I’m still not sold on the DS yet, but this game looks extremely promising.

Back in business!

by Leave a Comment

Our friendly Time Warner tech came over this afternoon to reconnect us to the virtual world of broadband and cable TV, just in time for Monk. Whatta guy! It’s been strange being disconnected from the internet at home. I still my work access, so I was able to follow my blogroll on Bloglines (I have a convert in Jeff Freeman, my first convert. I’m working on more) but being detached from ButtonMashing was good.

It was good because the move has been a big change for the family and I was able to attend to more important things, like hooking up the washer and dryer, and not have to worry if I’ll miss a big gaming story. I love doing the blogging thing and I love doing the gaming thing, but this past week had presented me with some more valuable ways to spend my time, so I’ve been enjoying my time away.

But I did miss it, all the same, and it feels good to be back. I’ve still got non-gaming things to take up my time (like making mortgage payments) but I can also have some gaming time, too. All in moderation. So the Button Masher has made a return to the video game blogging world, and he’s all the better for it.

Moving shop

by 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.

by 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

by 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.

by 5 Comments

Leon and Ashley, RE4

Resident Evil 4
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.

Resident Evil 4 PS2Is 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)

by 5 Comments

New Kids on the BlockI 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

by 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.