Gaming

RedAssedBaboon.com:

“In the case of video games, if you really enjoy a particular genre of game, only a drastically bad review will convince you not to buy it. Many times, I find myself reading a game’s review, even after buying the game, to pat myself on the back for finding something that gave me a good time.”

I’ve done this on numerous occasions. But there are times when, caught up in the hype, I buy a crappy game (a-la Fable) and then go back and read the review to see what they got wrong. How could they miss such glaring problems. How they gloss over things like how the game was basically on rails with no exploration to talk of? This was supposed to be an open-ended game where you could do anything you wanted to. They alluded to this with statements along the lines of “it is not nearly as wide-open” but don’t really get into any details. Sometimes, they do mention something that could have swayed my decision, like how easy the game was when your pockets were full of potions. Things like that make a difference and sometimes they get it and sometimes they don’t. This is a piece on RAB about some of the pitfalls of the 10-point rating system. He’s got six questions a review should answer and a way to score them to give a final score. I think it works, for the most part. I want the reviewers experience and some of the questions effectively capture those feelings. I’ll have to check out some of RAB’s future reviews to see how this works.

Back to blogging. I haven’t had a great chance to play many video games the past few days. With the Turkey Day break and house hunting, I haven’t had much time. We’ve made an offer on a house, but we’re waiting to sell our condo. Fun stuff, but not really video game stuff. (Okay, maybe it is)

Anyway, I missed my last two round ups, so I wanted to comment on some things I’ve come across recently.

Mario 128 was confirmed, which I am extremely excited for. I loved Mario Sunshine, so a new Mario should be great. With a new Zelda and maybe Mario Baseball, it looks like the Gamecube has a lot of life left. This note (link from Kotaku) does dismay me a little. Shigeru is an amazing video game artist, but I think he’s a little off here. I would have backed him up on this, I used to think online console play was a gimmick, but after experiencing Halo 2 on Live I am a believer. I’d love to see some Gamecube games online, but I’ll wait.

I had a chance to play with the Nintendo DS the other night, and I’ve got to hand to Nintendo (yet again). I’m part of the skeptical masses who thought the DS would be swamped by the PSP and go the way of the Virtual Boy. I played the Metroid Demo which impressed me. It looks fabulous. After a few minutes getting used to the touchpad, the game moved pretty well. I doubt I’ll be an early adopter with this one but I’ll eventually end up with one. Nintendo has done it again. I’m not declaring it the winner in the PSP/DS grudge match but I will give it the leg up.

That’s it for now. I picked up ESPN NBA 2K5 tonight but didn’t get a chance to jam with it. I’ll let you know when I do. I think the last good basketball game I’ve owned was Bulls vs. Blazers. Man I loved that game.

So I never experienced Half Life. It came out around the same time I was busy with Age of Empires I and II. I’ve always liked FPSs on the PC, but this one never tickled my fancy. I also skipped out on the whole Counterstrike thing. Again, I may have missed gaming nirvana but I’ll never know. So during this month of Video Gaming Mana from Heaven, another beauty in the form of Half Life 2 was dropped in the laps of rapid gamers everywhere. I’ve been reading a lot of stuff out there, praising HL2 as one of the best games, ever. Am I missing out on something? I don’t see myself picking up a copy anytime soon, but after I read this post on render gaming, I may have to rethink that:

“As I headed back to the hovercraft, I passed the bodies of the dead Combine soldiers I had fought. The overall feeling was one of loneliness and isolation, following a frantic battle. When I got to the hovercraft and continued, I felt that I was leaving the scene of a truly dramatic event.”

This is the kind of goodness I could get into. I really enjoyed reading his HL2 posts, but this passage caught my eye. This is what gaming (and game blogging, for me) is all about – taking an experience in a game and expressing it in not only words but also feelings. I felt the same things he describes here in Metroid Prime.

I’m still thinking about picking up a copy of Half Life 2, and if I do, it will be because of that little passage.

gamesTM.co.uk – Gold GBASP Competition:

“Win a gold Game Boy Advance

A gold GBASP could be yours, exclusively on gamesTM.co.uk”

These golden Gameboy SPs are pretty tasty.

GameSpy Holiday Guide – 2004: “This may go down as one of the best holiday seasons in gaming history.” – This is going to be a great holiday season. I’ve always like Gamespy’s Holiday Guides but mostly as solely as an affirmation to my astute previous judgements.

I do disagree that Fable is a good choice, it’s mediocre at best, there’s much better out there. Metroid Prime is at the top of my Christmas wishlist, along with Burnout 3 or Need For Speed Underground 2. I really liked NFSU 1 on the Gamecube, so I definitely want to pick up #2 although I’m not too keen on the whole Snoop Dogg thing. X-Men Legends looks solid, either Gamecube or Xbox style. Of course Viewtiful Joe 2 would be a no-brainer, even though I never finished the first one – got a little too hard there at the end. Paper Mario may just be a rental for me, but I may pick it up nonetheless. And Mario Tennis, too? Man this season looks great!