buttonmashing

Mashing buttons since 1984

Gaming

The internet is funny!

by Leave a Comment

This may rank as my favorite link ever – If World War II Was an RTS. (thanks to AFK Gamer for the million laughs). Abso-fricking-lutely hilarious. I haven’t laughed this hard in years. I’m still wiping the tears of joy and laughter away. Prepare to laugh:

Hitler[AoE]: wtf
Hitler[AoE]: america hax, u had depression and now u got a huge fockin army
Hitler[AoE]: thats bullsh1t u hacker

and

Stalin: church help me
Churchill: like u helped me before? sure ill just sit here
Stalin: dont be an arss
Churchill: dont be a commie. oops too late
Eisenhower: LOL

Your enjoyment of this humor will be directly proportional to:

  • How many times you’ve played Age of Empires/Kings online
  • your online gaming experiences with noobs and h4ck3rZ
  • your ability to laugh without hurting yourself
  • Your knowledge of World War 2

(My current favorite link: Midgets vs. a Lion. Unfortunately it has been proven to be a fake)

Now for a change of pace

by Leave a Comment

Just like the rest of the gaming world, I’m growing tired of the whole GTA/Rockstar/Jack Thompson/Hillary Clinton fiasco. I will endeavor to avoid future beatings of that dead horse. There’s only so many times you can whip a rotting carcass.

So switching gears, I wanted to remind everyone about the Carnival of Gaming #5 over at Unfettered Blather. You’ve got more than a week to get your submissions into Botswana, so don’t delay! There’s been enough controversy streaming through the gamingsphere so there’s no excuse not to submit something. But I’ve got an inkling Carnival #5 is going to be the Carnival that C.J. (and J.T. + H.C.) carjacked.

I forgot to link to Cathode Tan’s excellent second interview, this time with Jeff Freeman, a favorite blogger of mine. Another great interview from Josh. (who still has not received an answer to his Carnival Quiz. Search me.)

Also, Corvus did a sweet buttonmashing sketch for me. I hope to use it in future buttonmashing.com items. Thanks again, Corvus!

So enough with the GTA buzzkill already. Gosh!

It gets worse

by 6 Comments

You think and hope, in your heart of hearts, that things can’t get any worse. But it appears they do (via Slashdot). From the Gamespot piece (is it just me or is Gamespot kicking the pants off IGN/Gamespy?):

It’s not just the adults that are liberated from their wardrobes. Sims kids can also be nudified, “much to the delight, one can be sure, of pedophiles around the globe who can rehearse, in virtual reality, for their abuse.”

I am so stunned by this guys audacity and stupidity that it makes my stomach hurt. How can this guy believe the drivel that comes out of his mouth? Is he hearing what he is saying? Can any rational human being come to the conclusions this guy comes to? It goes beyond boggling the mind.

I feel ill.

V-chip for the Xbox

by 7 Comments

So there’s going to be parental control on the Xbox 360. I think is a good feature to add, in case little Johnny finds daddy’s pile of AO-rated GTAs when daddy’s not home. There are, however, two problems I see immediately. One, most parents are too technically ignorant to figure it out, their kids will be smarter than they are and will turn it off. Two, just because it’s there doesn’t guarantee parents will use it. We’ve already seen how little parenting is going on with this generation of young gamers.

But, in the end, it will probably be a moot point that the feature exists. Why? I’ll just quote the article:

Working out how to bypass the feature will probably the first thing every young European hackers’ to-do list.

Bad news for Rockstar?

by 6 Comments

Things don’t look good for Rockstar. GameSpot has confirmed that the “Hot Coffee” content was, in-fact, included on the PS2 disc of GTA:SA.

Cheat unlocks preexisting code in controversy-rocked Grand Theft Auto game, undermining Rockstar Games’ claims of hacker mischief.

This may be the proverbial straw that does in the camel. Rockstar has been wording its presses releases in legalese, making it hard to find a concrete admission or denial. Nevertheless, this is bad news for their case. But how bad is pixelated smut? GameSpot sums it up:

Given that the minigame is about as raunchy as an episode of Sex and the City, cannot be accessed without entering a long string of cheat codes, and takes several hours of effort to access, charges that San Andreas is “pornographic” may seem extreme to some. However, its existence does appear to contradict Rockstar Games’ carefully worded statement blaming hacker mischief for the existence of the Hot Coffee mod.

Related:
GTA should have been rated AO

Getting the word out

by Leave a Comment

It’s always flattering to receive an email from a buttonmashing.com reader. It’s even more flattering when they ask me to plug something they’re working on and want to get the word out. I’m always happy to pass on info that I think is a benefit to my readers and to the gaming scene in general. Humor me a little here as I get the word out.

The first has been mentioned elsewhere, but I’ll reiterate it here. Go check out Slamdance Games:

Slamdance Games exists to help aspiring game developers showcase their work. The festival seeks to aid developers through industry connections, peer interaction and national exposure. Slamdance recognizes the need for a competition with integrity that concentrates on the art of game design and not just the bottom line.

Like I mentioned with the guys doing Metroid Prime in 2D, these home-brewers and independent game houses need our support. Before we complain about the next Zelda/Halo/Final Fantasy and the lack of innovation and new, freshIP, we should be patronizing some of the smaller and independent developers before we stop seeing great stuff like Psychonauts and other good games that don’t reach “blockbuster” status.

I’ve also received links to new video game blogs (if you’ve got ’em, I want ’em!). My bloglines subscription list is bulging at the seams, but there’s always room for a few more. Flicker Gaming is a new gaming blog just getting its feet wet. Go over and check them out. I also was pointed to POV – A Producer’s Point of View by Stuart Roch, who is the executive producer at video game developer, Treyarch. There’s some great stuff over at POV, with a look on the inside of the industry. Another site worth giving a whirl.

Metroid Prime 2D

by 9 Comments

Take one of the best Gamecube games, Metroid Prime (in my Top-Ten All-Time), flatten the 3D game into a 2D game and you get Metroid Prime 2D. These guys are serious about their Metroid Prime and it shows. This takes time and dedication that I’m currently not acquainted with. I’m glad others are, as this looks to be quite a cool endeavor.

This is definitely why people are hoping and praying that Nintendo opens the Revolution to home-brew development like this. Throw this up on the Revolution download service, let people download for 8-10 bucks (a guess, of course) and let people enjoy a new take on Nintendo’s IP. Nintendo takes their cut and these guys get what’s left over (hopefully a non-trivial amount). Everyone is a winner. I tip my hat to these guys, I’ll be following this one and I hope it succeeds.

On Carnivals and Roundtables

by 14 Comments

So we’ve had three successful Carnivals of Gamers, currently gearing up for the fourth, and I’ve been thinking about the current Carnival schedule. Is twice a month too often? I usually try to post at least one “Carnival-worthy” post before the deadline, but twice a month can be a lot. It may not be this way for everyone, but I was contemplating a suggestion to go to a monthly Carnival.

This came on the heels of Corvus’ idea of a monthly roundtable discussion. His idea is to have a central theme that everyone blogs about and then those posts would be passed around, Carnival style. I really like this idea, I will participate as occasion allows, but I wanted to know, from those who’ve participated in the Carnival of Gamers if we should hold the Carnival once a month, as well. That would give everyone time to participate and it would give the host a little more time to get the Carnival together.

This is something that I’ve been mulling over in my mind. What do my fellow carnies (and those of you who read the Carnival) think?

Update: It appears that the consensus is that the Carnival would benefit going to a monthly format. As it stands now, the 4th Carnival will continue as scheduled (tomorrow) and then Carnival #5 will fall on August 4th (the first Thursday). Hopefully Unfettered Blather won’t be adversely affected by the date change. AFK Gamer will then host #6 in September.

Sports Gamer on NCAA 2006

by Leave a Comment

The Blog for the Sports Gamer is quickly becoming one of my favorite blog stops. Moreso right now because one of the contributors, bill, is filling us in on his experiences with NCAA 2006. I’ve cooled on the NCAA series due to 2005’s lacklusterness (is that a word?). Bill (who is a Buckeye like me) did what every other Buckeye Fan does when they get the newest NCAA title — the play OSU vs. Michigan (the greatest sports rivalry of all-time). Bill has a recap of the first half and the second half, along with his impressions of NCAA 2006. Of course, OSU was victorious, as they have been the past 3 out of 4 years. Go Bucks!

So now, after reading these initial impressions, I am contemplating an NCAA 2006 purchase, something I thought I may pass on this year. I’ll probably still wait until its price comes down a bit, but as it stands now, I think I may be NCAA’ing it again this year.