buttonmashing

Mashing buttons since 1984

Tony

Upcoming

by Leave a Comment

I’ve been so busy the past few weeks that there won’t be a “November in Review” post and I guess I’m not seeing much in terms of new releases other than Prince of Persia, so there won’t be a Monthly Releases post, either.

I do have a few updates I’d like to talk about. The first is a reminder for the contest I posted about back at the end of October. Since I haven’t been around a lot lately, I’m going to move the deadline all the way back to December 10th. So all the comments we’ve received thus far, plus any other up until December 10th will be entered in the drawing. I haven’t counted them up yet, but I know we’ve got quite a few so far. So keep the comments coming. And go visit Split Reason while you’re at it!

In terms of upcoming posts, I’m working on a bunch. I’ve added a handful of new podcasts to my playlist, so I’ll be reviewing those, in addition to the ones I’ve recently dropped, in a full-sized Podcast Post.

I’ve been toying with the idea of aggregating video-game blogger reviews, in a sort-of “meta-critic” style, but putting more emphasis on the actual review and less on the review score. I’d like it to be a one-stop shop for anyone searching for reviews for a certain game. I see it as a new angle at the game review process, hopefully eliminating any bias that may be built-in to reviews coming out of traditional sources. It’s been slow going releasing this feature, as it’s a lot of work, but I’d really like to roll it out soon.

Finally, with the end of the year in sight, we’ll be posting our “Fun Games of the Year” lists. We’re mixing it up for a second year in a row. Instead of declaring a game the “Best of the Year,” arbitrarily, we’ll be naming the games we had the most fun this year.

So I’m still gaming, still blogging and still BUSY. Hope you all are, too. (At least gaming)

Immersion

by 3 Comments

Photographer Robbie Cooper shows just how focused young video-game players can be.

Come back here and let me stab you!

Link.

In from the cold

by 4 Comments

I returned on Friday from the COLDEST business trip ever and am just now getting around to catching up on emails, feeds and games. I didn’t get much gaming in over the weekend, but I’ve got pretty much the whole week off, so I’m looking forward to cramming in as many games, books and movies as I can.

Thanks to my fellow bloggers for keeping the site alive and well why I was pretty much isolated from the real world while I was working in Northern Maine. Being without internet when there’s nothing else to do is pretty soul-crushing.

So I’m out of the loop right now from the video game world. I haven’t even downloaded the new Xbox 360 dashboard. But I should be caught up soon. In the meantime, here’s the fastest Super Mario speed run I’ve ever seen:

What I’m consuming

by 8 Comments

I haven’t done of these in a while, but I’m currently on travel in Maine and have a little time to work on this. Here is the media and entertainment I’ve been consuming lately.

My education in the Science Fiction and Fantasy “classics” continues, but I took a break to read A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trailby Bill Bryson. A very hilarious and thoughtful travelogue of a couple guys ill-fitted for the task of tackling the Appalachian Trail. Hysterical. Another side track I took was to read the classic The Richest Man in Babylon,the gold standard for teaching hard work and personal finance. I think everyone needs to read this book. I’m working on a list of books my kids will read as they grow up and this one will be at the top of that list.

Finally, I got back to the classic. I’m embarassed to say I had never previously read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.I recognize that HHGTTG has a place in the pantheon of Sci Fi classics, but I felt it was a tad overrated. Just a tad. It was good and had laugh-out-loud moments, but it wasn’t great. I then moved on to The Mote in God’s Eyeby Niven and Pournelle. I know I’m drawing from a shallow well at this point, but Mote is probably the best Sci Fi novel I’ve read. A story of the first contact of humans with aliens, it starts slow but finds a comfortable pace and is an excellent read. It strikes the balance between story and science that I like. It also had a “goose bump” moment that I had to go back a read multiple times. Hopefully you know what I’m talking about, a moment that takes a great book and elevates into rarefied air. (One of my favorite “goose bump moments” was in Crichton’s Timeline, when the students find the professor’s note, “Help me,” written 400 years in the past. I loved that moment.) I’m recommending The Mote is God’s Eye to anyone who’ll listen.

Having finished Mote, I’m now moving on to another couple of classics. I have both 1984 and Brave New Worldin the queue. Another book I’m ashamed to say I never read, 1984,was riveting (I just finished it) but a tad depressing. I’ve moved on to Brave New World and then it’s on to the stack of graphic novels Nat provided me with.

Not a whole lot new on the TV consumption. I’m still watching Prison Break and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Fox, and the trifecta of Earl/Office/30 Rock on Thursdays. I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it: 30 Rock is my favorite show on TV. We got hooked on Dexter earlier this year and we’re anxiously awaiting the next season (we’re catching it on CBS, as we don’t have Showtime).

On the music front, I haven’t been listening to much new stuff. The newest couple of groups I’ve been listening to have been Bodies Without Organs, a swedish Europop group I came across on last.fm. I can’t find much of their stuff on iTunes or Amazon, but YouTube has a lot of their stuff (my favorite being “Chariots of Fire“). Another group I recently start listening to is Clutch. I love the lead singer’s voice, and any band that performs a song called “What Would a Wookies Do?” is hard to pass up.

So that’s quite a bit. Hopefully I can do these more regularly so I don’t have so much to catch up on. I’ll let the other guys chime in, as well.

I’d like to know what have you been consuming?

(Image Credit: Stacks from Patrick Gray Illustration’s photostream)

Impressions Galore

by 4 Comments

You’d think I’d talk a little more about games, seeing how this is a video game blog and all. So now that I’ve poured a few hours into some games, let’s talk:

Fallout 3

This goes beyond the regular first impressions, I’ve logged almost 20 hours. First things first, Fallout 3 is a GREAT game. I’m not going to go through the superlatives. It’s good. It is not without hiccups, but overall it is excellent.

The game is an explorer’s heaven. If you’re like me, you have to open every door and open every container and look in every corner. If your front door is left unlocked (or not), I’m coming in. Some people refer to this as kleptomania. So be it. In Fallout 3, it’s survival. The explorer itch is scratched over and over. In fact, it’s starting to hurt and get red. There is just so much to see. You could be heading to a specific location and take two hours to get there as you look around, take on new missions and find boxes to open. I can’t miss a thing.

The story starts off slowly and I really didn’t care much for the characters at first but things are getting interesting. The world they have crafted feels real without being realistic, if that makes sense. Seeing the dilapidated Washington Monument was jarring. There’s something about seeing a familiar sight and something not being right. Well done, Bethesda.

There are problems, things that aren’t deal breakers, but issues nontheless. My biggest issue is with the NPCs. I believe Oblivion suffered from some of these issues. First off, most are terrifying to look at. Character models are not this game’s strong suit. Their interactions with me, the Vault 101 guy, also leave something to be desired. One minute they’re rushing up to me in town, telling how happy they are for what I’ve done, and giving me the goods. Two seconds later they hate me. What gives?

I mentioned the game looks good, but whatever you do, DO NOT go third person. The game suddenly looks markedly worse. Game-play is mostly on the level. Character progression is well paced and the variety of skills are expansive. Combat isn’t terrible, either. This isn’t a shooter,. I love the VATS targeting system. Unloading my minigun on some Super Mutant’s head is very satisfying.

If I had to guess, I’d say I’ve made moderate progress in the “actual story”. That might not seem much, having played so much already, but I’m okay with that. I’m in no hurry for this game to end.

Gears of War 2

I enjoyed the first Gears. It wasn’t my favorite, but it was a fun game and didn’t take itself too seriously. The sequel (or as Nat calls it, expansion) takes what was fun in the first one and makes everything better and tighter. The core game hasn’t changed. Gears of War 2 lives up to its expectations.

Thing is, it’s almost too polished. Gears of War 2 is the video game equivalent of Pop Music. It is expertly produced, aimed directly at it’s core market (18-34 y/o males), glamorizes a particular lifestyle, and is narrowly focused. It doesn’t take a lot of risks. I guess it really doesn’t need to.

In the end, I’m enjoying quite a bit what I’ve played so far. most of my time has been spent playing the main story. Everything I’ve read about the multiplayer games has me really excited to dip into those waters. I gave Horde Mode (survival mode) a try with split-screen co-op, and this mode resonates strongly with me. I can see this be the beginning of a long relationship.

Disgaea DS

Let me be brief here. Here is a game where the level cap is 9,999. My main character is level 8. It is a strategy RPG (read: portable crack). It may or may not have a story. It has exploding penguins.

I will be playing this for a long time.

Boom Blox

I grabbed this one on a whim, needing to justify ownership of my Wii. The idea is simple — there’s a stack of blox, knock them over with a ball. Simple. I figured the kids would dig on it pretty good. Turns out both kids really like the game. In fact, my little 3 year-old is quite the Boom Bloxer. Not sure if this is a keeper, but it will provide plenty of Wii gaming.

Phew. There’s quite a bit on my plate right now, with more to come.