Human Angle is an ongoing series done by Polygon that focuses on the people on the periphery of the video game scene. The focus of the latest one was on the queer demographic of game developers. While I found the subject interesting, there was something else that stuck out to me. The comments and likes were disabled by Polygon. One can assume that this was done to avoid a homophobic firestorm o...
Human Angle is an ongoing series done by Polygon that focuses on the people on the periphery of the video game scene. The focus of the latest one was on the queer demographic of game developers. While I found the subject interesting, there was something else that stuck out to me. The comments and likes were disabled by Polygon. One can assume that this was done to avoid a homophobic firestorm o...
Walking out of the theater after watching this movie was a unique experience. I can’t remember anything as of late that has confused me as much as this movie. The film had strung me along for an hour and a half and afterwards I felt empty and befuddled. It was a string of seemingly related tangents that blended some flat humor, middling action, and sub par effects. The “plot” was riddled with h...
With the internet it's easier then ever to put off things for work or school. Oh I'm just gonna check one thing before I get down to business. One site leads to links and links lead to links. Now 12 hours have passed and I'm no closer to completing my school work. This addiction is the thing my parents have warned me about and that my teachers have pleaded that I steer clear of. It's too late,...
I don't know how to do it. Everyone keeps asking me, what are you gonna do? Where you gonna go? I have no idea. I don't know what to tell them. I wish I could just live life and become some kind of roaming layabout and discover my dream while backpacking across some distant land. However it seems that is not a choice I can make. I know it's probably not correct to say that I am not an interesti...
Alan Wake is my first experience with a Remedy game. After hearing Ryan and Brad vehemently defend Remedy's long development time I got the feeling that this game was something to keep on my mind. After seeing the quick look I was sold. The creepy atmosphere that this game forces you to traverse is awesome. It really captures that Blair Witch Project vibe. I'm also getting a whole lot of Twin P...
I purchased the latest DLC for Mass Effect 2 yesterday. I played it through in about one sitting in about 45 minutes. I will admit that some of the reason behind buying it was for the S-Rank but the other reason I bought it was because I loved the original game so much. I played through the whole game in a few days. I haven't had so much fun playing a RPG in quite some time. The classic space o...
I finished playing Heavy Rain yesterday and I gotta say that after playing it I'm amazed at how much of my time is spent thinking about that game. I've talked to a few of my other friends who are playing and or beat the game and I keep getting totally blow away. The variety of endings are completely insane. For example one friend had a character die within the first 90 minutes. I can't wrap my...
Since I live on the east coast, more specifically Philadelphia, there has been a constant buzz about when the next snow day will be. If you have not been keepin up apparently this year has been "one of the snowiest winters ever." Just as the four feet of snow outside has been melted away by rain another two feet is apparently going to show up over night. Now don't get me wrong, days off school...
Macs are everywhere Starbucks are on basically every block People have no problem running you over College is way better than High School I had no idea what real traffic was All stores are very small for some reason Uggs are everywhere, but are still dumb
Dead on Arrival The PSP Go seemed like a system that was doomed to fail from the very beginning. Having a new system is nice but what’s the point without the games? I personally can’t recall being excited for a PSP game in a very long time. Well, there is that Persona 3 port, but that just shows another problem with the PSP. Who the hell is playing the thing? Everyone and their mother have eith...
In the world of video games and music, one piece of news is getting a lot of attention. During this past week a feud between Courtney love and Activision has been becoming more intense. Love is disgusted by Activision’s use of Kurt Cobain’s image in Guitar Hero 5. Cobain is an unlockable character in the game; this lets players use Cobain for any song they choose. Love is now threatening legal...
I just spent the last week of my free time mopping up the final achievements for the Force Unleashed. For some reason the trivial award of a bleep-bloop and an increase in a completely meaningless number drove me to waste precious days of summer. There are many things I could have been doing yet I chose to spend it running the the TIE fighter factory over and over again just to get some points....
I waned to get me a copy of Guitar Hero Aerosmith and saw that GameStop were selling them for $10. After playing I'm gonna say I got my moneys worth. There was a decent selection but there was no "Don't wanna miss a thing." Which is an obvious downfall. I feel sorry for anyone who payed full price for this. All I can say to those people are, patience wins. While I was there I also bought Burnou...
So, a new Pokemon game has come out. I have no shame in saying I robbed my cousin of his copy to see how it was. I'll sum it up for you in this lovely peice: Guess what time it is, Time to catch them all again. Played one, played them all.
So essentially the game I have been waiting for my entire life has arrived, in trailer form! The MTV Multiplayer blog has put out the first trailer for Scratch: The Ultimate Dj. In all seriousness this game looks like its going to be a tremendous failure. The over the top view on urban culture and brief upskirt shots are not great signs for this game. Other than the questionable art design the...
Grr! This is my bad ass face! I had fond memories of Army of Two. While the writing and voice acting was completely atrocious it was also hilarious. The mindless murdering juxtaposed with the bromatic shenanigans made any attempt at a legitimate story completely impossible. Rios and Salem were a perfect parody of every single action hero ever made. The brodomoy between the two characters had me...
C'est moi! My time in Azeroth wi ll have to take a back seat for a while, Street Fighter 4 is here to save the day. I went to the Best Buy hoping to pick up Street Fighter 4 along with a joystick or at least one of those fight pads. Sadly none were to be found. I did see a huge empty shelf that the store assistant claimed used to be stacked with controllers. I did not anticipate that at all. Th...
My friend lent me a spare copy of World of Warcraft that he had and never used. I installed the games and though alright lets do this. Only to realize that I was currently under version 1.0.0 of the game. Then found out that this game went up to version 3.0.8. It sooned dawned on me that I would not be playing this game for a while. Its been about a day's worth of time now. I have done quite a...
This past week was an extremly hectic one due to finals. My grades were is such a state where I had to study and do well on them. So my past couple of weeks have been hell. Now that thats over I can get more time for gaming. The small bit of gaming I did get done was finishing up Far Cry 2 and starting Mirrors Edge. It's refreshing to finally use my 360 again.
After delving into Far Cry 2 I'm starting to really get into it. The gunplay is really enjoyable and feels pretty satisfying. There are a large variety of weapons that all have their own unique feel so its always fun to pick up something new. One feature that I really enjoy is having a little armory that you fill with all of your preferred weapons ready to go at any safe house. Thats always rea...
Rumors of the 1UP network being bought by UGO were grimly confirmed to be true. 1UP is one of the most prestigious gaming publications with an extremly talented group of writers. It's sad to see the business side get in the way of such great writing. The state of Ziff Davis foreshadowed this eventually happened but I always they could get their stuff strait and save 1UP. As far as I'm concerned...
You lookin at me? For my birthday my parents got me a copy of Dead Space. Ironically even with the severed hand on the cover of the box my mom still wondered whether or not this would be a violent game. When this game first came out there was alot of positive buzz surrounding this game and it got me way psyched. I was highly anticipating this game so when the demo came out I downloaded it immed...
Fable 2 was a rather disappointing experience for me; The combat felt really shallow and the story was equally weak. While the art style was very appealing to look like it was not enough to cover the other weaker components of the game. The one thing that Fable 2 did well was the golden bread crumb trail. As you could probably infer it's a trail that constantly points you towards your main obje...
Upon first sight I believed that I would hate Fallout 3. The setting and game play did not appeal to me at all. While in theory the idea of an apocalyptic wasteland sounds awesome there is one thing you gotta realize. They call it a wasteland for a reason, everything is barren and there is this horrid atmosphere of death. While I should have expected this from Fallout 3 it still gets me. The mo...
It shames me to say that I never played Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. But at the time of its release I didn't hear anything about it. Which would explain why it seems that no one else has played it. But after watching the trailer for the next Riddick game, Assault on Dark Athena, I am way stoked. Apparently it takes Escape from Butcher Bay and adds a whole new campaign. The ga...
All I wanna do is play the game. We all know by now that Gears of War 2 has one of if not the greatest shooter campaigns ever made. The feeling of taking part in an epic war is a much needed change from the almost lonesome duo against the whole Locust army. All of the weapons feel really powerfull and makes you feel bad for the person on the buisness end of your weapon. I have not gotten a chan...
I think that I am broken. I went out to the insanity that was Black Friday and didn't find any games that I had to have. The only one that had that effect on me was Gears of War 2. I did have alot of games I was looking forward to but it seems like not all of them panned out. Mirrors Edge seems like an admiral effort. Sadly I can't get together four people for Left 4 Dead. From what I can tell...
Its about damn time. I've never been a big fan of the GTA series. I tried to play GTA 3 and Vice City back on my PS2 but never got into it. The game play felt slow and clunky, the graphics were mediocre and the missions were repetative. GTA IV has alot of these same issues yet for some reason I find this game really compelling. The game play was improved alot however the shooting does not have...
Gaming has taken a back seat as school has dragged on. With friends taking up a majority of the rest of my free time it seems like there isn't any time left for gaming. All of my friends are getting Gears 2 and it just makes me want that game even more. I just hope I get to it before all my friends get tired of it. This was the case of Call of Duty 4. Once I got to it everyone was tired of it a...
Perhaps one day I'll wait out for a console. But from what I hear that sounds like a really horrifying experience.
Running, Running, Running! Penny Arcade Episode 2 is the continuation of the adventure game series by the writers of the Penny Arcade comic and Hot Head games. Episode 1 was a mediocre Adventure/RPG hybrid. The majority of the game was spent finding random maguffins in order to advance the story. The combat has your cast of heroes taking turns defeating an array of foes in typical RPG fashion....
First time in a long time. For the first time in over a year I have picked up my DS and played a game on it. I went to the local Best Buy recently and picked up Final Fantasy Tactics A2. I was a big fan of the previous game on the GBA. However I can't help but notice that the game is basically the exact same. The units, attacks, animations, and even the story is not just a throwback to the orig...
On Halloween night me and my friends went extreme scootering. I'll admit that it sounds dumb and that we were trapped in the year 2001 but it totally gave me an idea. All night long we bombed down these really steep hills. The rush of going so fast and the wind smacking you on the face, while feeling like you are barely in control. It just gave me a rush that no game has even come close to repl...
Yesterday I made the biggest mistake ever; I assumed for a split second that mentioning girl troubles on a video game forum could spark some decent and logical discussion. Bad move. It just makes me think that the internet is full of dumb, immature, undersexed dudes. I know totally understand why the term "gamer" has such a bad connotation. It saddens me to have to realize that the assumption i...
Because if that were the case then I would not have this horrific feeling plaguing me. I use to talk to this girl back in middle school, she pretty, had a nice personality, and overall had some chemistry. Then I went to high school and she remained at the middle school. Now I'm a sophomore and she's a freshman. Man, she has gotten alot hotter in one year. Sadly, being in different years means t...
Not much has changed since my 360 got shipped off, I have gone out with friends more often and done more stuff at school but not much different. I do admit that it sucks that I can't play any of the many releases that are coming out now. Hopefully I will get my 360 back by the time winter break comes up so I can play some Gears 2 online. That is the one game thats a must have for me. I have a s...
Seriously? I will admit without any shame that I bought the Halo 3 cat helmet for $130. However, that taught me that buying extravagant items like this with a game is usually not worth the crazy price of entry. I thought this helmet was crazy but now they are selling this thing . I thought this thing was rad for about two seconds then figured out that there was nothing to do with this thing bes...
It was only a matter or time. So today I played some Rock Band 2 with my friends. My friend John is an exceptional drummer and is a beast at drums. However he has a bad habbit of thrashing down really hard on my pedal. Today he broke my pedal clean in half. However that isn't what took the cake, after my friends left I went to play some Call of Duty 4. Then guess what happened. Yep, Red Ring. M...
Just a moment ago I tried to record a short video blog. I did so successfully however when I played it back I realized something. Audio is an important part of filming a video blog. I just figured out that I have no way to record audio as of yet. At this point am thinking about buying a decent webcam because I don't have a couple hundred dollars to drop on a camera. Well off to newegg.
Oh Yeah! Who said books were boring? Back off B!tch Now that good marketing Gentlemen, our journey is over
Nintendo announced a new DS and a couple of games and I am totally underwhelmed. I never understand why Nintendo can churn out the same games until the end of time and get away with no complaints against them. Its like someone went to the originality department, murdered everyone in there and now they have no choice but to use the same characters perpetually. Nintendo of all people should be th...
I borrowed my friends vision camera in hopes of trying out this whole "video blogging" thing. They seem fun to do, however I have no idea where to start. I have the camera and some software. Other than that I got no idea what to do, things to say, and things like that. For those who do video blogs I have a question, what should I do?
After rummaging through my room I found a copy of Jade Empire. Then I realized how badly I messed up. I bought this game for 5$ and still have not devoted any good amount of play time to it. After thinking about it for a while I figured out why, lack of persistence. I have the feeling that playing that game is a waste of time. I don't feel like I'm getting anything out of it. Unlike say a Call...
And that's exactly what I want. So yea, I went out to the Best Buy and bought myself a copy of Rock Band 2. So far I've tried a bit of the world tour. I definitely prefer this to the old school career mode. It in cooperates the cool aspects of Band World tour and lets me play it alone. Why is that awesome? Well one I have no friends, and two, I can now get the Tour achievements. I don't have to...
For the past two weeks I have focused all of my time into school and the trials and tribulations associated with it. There's nothing too interesting to say about it. You know how it goes, waking up early sucks, work sucks, girls are awesome, meeting with friends are cool. You know the typical. After two weeks of no games I have now just finished a good three hour session of gaming goodness. Bes...
Some may have noticed that I have not done anything on this site for about a week. This is because its my last week of summer. Labor day is always the sign that school is back. While I was away I have been doing the fun stuff that can only take place during summer. Trip to the beach and theme park, Hanging out with friends, you know kid stuff. I will begin my sophomore year of high school tomor...
Soulcalibur IV is the newest game of the perpetually misspelled, weapon based fighting series. The fighting is exactly what you would expect if you have played any other game in the series. It mainly focuses around blocking and parrying different weapons then exploiting your foe in their time of weakness. The wide variety of weapons covers anything from razor sharp katana to obnoxiously large d...
These are games that I have never played that make me feel ashamed of myself. These games will be in no particular order: Pyschonauts Diablo Braid Metal Gear Series Resident Evil 4 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Chrono Trigger GTA: San Andreas Half Life Devil May Cry Series
The face of a pioneer? News of Burnout Paradise being available for download on the PSN store might signal the end of retailers. I've had some experience downloading some full games off of the Xbox Live Originals so I know that downloading gigs and gigs of data is not that big of a hurdle. So that means that the only obstacle in the way of digitally distributing full titles are old school retai...
I was watching the news last night and noticed a story saying that local retailers were to stop selling energy drinks like monster and red bull to people under the age of 17. I think its a little too far, I am a fan of energy drinks. I do not drink them for their energy giving quality, I drink them because I enjoy the taste. While I will acknowledge the potential dangers of jacking up on caffei...
All I can say is timeless.
I'll give you a basic synopsis of this man point. He says that living a quote en quote normal life is pointless. He says that there is no point in going through the effort to building a social life when you can interact with people via a virtual means. While he cites reasons like being able to do things in games that are not possible in games, he's making it seem like a plus that you can both h...
What could this be?
After playing some Free For All on Call of Duty 4 I have learned alot. 1. You must be H4xxorz Apparently its impossible to kill a person with a gun unless you are some kind of cheating master. 2. Ur a c4mp3r! Even if you kill the same person in over ten different places you're a bonafide camper. 3. You used the gay gun. Any gun in your arsenal is extremely overpowered, even if they are using th...
For some reason I dusted off the PSP to play some Tekken. This was 8 P.M. and I didn't stop till 2 A.M. I fell back in love with this game. Its a great game but its limited by the platform. I have been trying to practice my Bruce Irvin by learning some of the more advance techniques. I have been button mashing and doing okay, but now Im trying to play with some strategy in mind. But the D-Pad a...
1000 = Wicked Awesome
Today I went to my friends house and watched a whole lot of movies. Here is the list: Hot and Saucy Step Up 2: The Streets My friends girlfriend recommended this film saying, "Even a dude can like this movie." When you say that to me to begin with I already start out way skeptical. While the story line was fairly predictable the quality of the hip hop dancing was really cool. Also, they put in...
Hooray? Browsing Otaku I noticed one story in particular, this story details the name of the actress who will play the sidekick character in Resident Evil 5. This move towards incorporating real people into video games seems to be growing. My question is, why does anyone care. For some reason whenever some writer or actor/actress get involved in a gaming project the game makers feel the need to...
I downloaded Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2 today of of XBLA. After spending an hour with it I gotta say that this game is way better than the original. There are alot of modes which is a big change from the first one. I also think that this game looks a whole lot better. I'm not quite sure how they did it but it looks alot sharper than the first one. It still has the same addictive gameplay tha...
While tuning to the tons of E3 coverage I noticed one trend in a lot of games. It seems that the new thing in games is to get rid of all HUD elements. It seems health bars, endurance bars, ammo clips, and radars are being done away with in favor of a more cinematic experience. I'm not really sure how I feel about the issue. While having no bars cluttering up your view seems like a good idea, I'...
I was skeptical when seeing the Dark Knight but when I saw it...... All I need to say is that all the hype is well deserved.
I tried to make a header for my profile. I think it looks all right. What do you think?
It seems every time I tour the forums I see that same posts, "GameSpot Sucks" and "w00t I got banned from GS". I must wonder why these threads keep appearing. I loyally went to that site for four or five years and loved every minute of it. I loved the community there and the awesome games coverage they provided. I will give you that the "glory days" ended really badly but it's no reason to hate...
Honestly, what can't he play? P.S. Love the video support, works great.
While the site has picked up speed one thing has not, turn around times for submissions. While I understand that I am one person among thousands upon thousands of submissions, its hard to remain patient. Thats the one thing about me that I don't like, I'm not very patient. I can only hope that more Mods are put in place to approve submissions quickly. So far all of the submissions I made have n...
Burnout You Lose I have tried to play Revenge and Paradise to discover the magic that everyone seems to see. The game's do present speed extremely well; However I don't feel in control. I feel like at any moment I will careen off the road with a gentle turn. Then when you inevitably lose control the game goes slow motion, the color drains from the screen and you get to watch you car fly through...
The Nintendo Nerd has recently done a retrospective look back of the Bat Man movies. What with the recent craze generated by the Dark Knight, I thought the look back was pretty interesting. Plus this got me way psyched to see Dark Knight for some reason. Go have a look.
With the launch of Giant Bomb I have taken on a new alias. (A few actually, you never know when you'll want to change names.) This will be my new home of my video game blog. I will put anything gaming related here and some other random stupidity. Also from time to time I will post more personal posts. After taking a day to tour everything, Im really starting to like everything. I tried adding s...