Summer: The annual gaming drought PART TWO

Oh my! A second part to a post that went absolutely nowhere! Yeah, so this month is still looking like we won’t be seeing much of anything in terms of video game news and game releases, aside from a select few games. But I do have stuff planned for this month, including new posts that I will probably have finished over the weekend! But first, some sad news.

The blogcast, something I have been planning for a while now, is pretty much dead at this point. I’ve tried a lot of different things, but nothing that really works the way I want it to. It doesn’t help that I have absolutely no idea what I am doing. I do have to thank StingX2 for the help, because he gave me some pretty nice pointers and some ideas of how to continue it. But I’m no expert, and I’ve got too much going on right now to worry about a silly podcast that nobody will really listen to anyway. The first one is still available, but just know it’s probably going to be the only one.

As for what’s planned this month? I have a nice post planned that will discuss the future of game controls. It’s kind of stealing a little from Gametrailers’ online show, Bonus Round, but I feel like I should throw my own opinion into it as well. It was mainly inspired by a podcast I listen to every week, Invisible Walls (also presented by Gametrailers). They had a question about the future of motion control in games, and it did spark my interest to write about it.

What else is there? I will probably have a few posts planned on game impressions and game demo impressions. First, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood and the demo of Battlefield 1943. Soon I’ll be talking about the Monkey Island updates (both the remake of the original, and the new series by Telltale). And of course, Little King’s Story will most likely be getting a post as well. I also plan on getting Point Lookout, the fourth Fallout 3 expansion, so lookout for impressions of that as well.

That’s about it really, I’ll have a good few posts for the month, but daily updates will most likely just resume in August. And thanks again to everyone who helped out with the blogcast, and to those who did listen to the first episode and put up with all the bullshit problems I was having. It wasn’t perfect, but I did have fun with it. There’s always another chance, but for now, I’ll focus on writing.

Summer: The annual gaming drought

Summer is both a great and terrible time to be a gamer. Great because most people are off from school and have more time to enjoy games, but terrible because the game releases are so few and far between, it’s hard to even care. So let me first start off by saying: daily updates are pretty much going to be nonexistant until August. I’ll have a post here and there about certain games, and the blogcast will continue as usual, but nothing new will be coming from me this month. August may turn out the same, so don’t be surprised if things don’t really pick back up until September.

And yeah, blogcast #2 is going to be recorded on Monday, and will hopefully be up for everyone by Tuesday the latest. I’ll be using the Podomatic website again. It’s easy to listen right from the blog post itself, and they even offer a direct download option. Hopefully I can keep the sound quality decent enough so people can hear me better the second time around. Note to those who want to listen easily from the blog post they are attached to and have Firefox: try out the Foxytunes extension. See the blogcast page for more details.

Other than that, there isn’t much more to say. I’ll try to update when I can, but I’m really struggling to find things to discuss in such a strange time in the gaming world. All I can say is stay cool and keep checking back, I’ll have new posts sporadically throughout the month.

PS3 troubles!

There really is nothing going on in the world of gaming right now. Sure, we had a couple of cool mergers, but news has been pretty much dry in terms of any big stories. And game releases? We won’t be seeing anything big for the next couple of months. I do plan on getting Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood because I hear it is much improved over the first, and then BlazBlue looks like a fun game as well, but there really aren’t many big games coming out. The next huge release is Arkham Asylum, but we have to wait until the end of August to get that one. So onto some pointless post!

I rarely, if ever, hear about any PS3 problems. I’ve already had to send my Wii back, and I’m on my third Xbox 360, but the PS3 is the system I thought would be the most reliable. I had some freezing problems when playing Uncharted back in December, but aside from that, it’s been doing great! I played Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, Valkyria Chronicles, Street Fighter IV, and plenty of Killzone 2 on it without a single hitch. And then I buy inFamous, and it freezes within the first hour.

After the game locked up on me for the tenth or so time, I realized that there may be something wrong with my system. I play Killzone 2 online for a bit without a problem, and then go back to inFamous before the same thing happens. I manage to get through the game though (and I would have finished it twice in the same amount of time if not for my PS3), and I do so playing two hours straight without a problem. Hooray, maybe my system is okay after all. Pop in Killzone 2, it begins to freeze within the first five or ten minutes of me playing.

Now I can’t even play anything without it freezing after ten minutes of play. I still hear audio, but the actual gameplay is frozen completely, and I can’t access the PS3 XMB to exit the game. So I try every possible “solution” on Sony’s site, but then come to the realization that I will have to send it back, since nothing is working. But hey, the warranty is good for a year, so I can send it back and get it repaired for free! Then I look at the date: June 12th, 2009. Exactly one year after I purchases my PS3 (the MGS4 bundle). Now what do I have to pay? Oh, only $150.

So yeah, my PS3 is now collecting dust while I try to gather up the money. I’m really in no hurry to fix it, like I would be if it were my Xbox 360 (since I pretty much get every multiplatform title for it), but it’s still fucking stupid. This both puts a complete hold on my Insomniac Games marathon, once I get around to the first Resistance that is. Luckily, there isn’t a PS3 game I want to play until Uncharted 2, so I have time.

In short: My PS3 is having problems, need to get it repaired, I’m pissed but not as pissed as I thought I would be. Now I’m really out of things to rant about. We’ll see what I come up with tomorrow!

Stranger(s) in the Strangest Lands blogcast UPDATE

Just a small, short, lazy little blog post to update the people who care (nobody) on the status of the blogcast. We’re almost ready to begin recording, and hopefully by the end of the week, the very first Stranger(s) in the Strangest Lands podcast thingy will be released for all to hear. Who will actually listen? WHO KNOWS? But the important thing is me and my co-host, Silversoul, will have a ton of fun recording it. I doubt it’ll be very interesting, since our focus will be on E3, which for a lot of people at this point is old news. I wanted to do it sooner, but hey, shit happens.

What else will we focus on? E3 will take up most of our time, but after that we’ll talk about what we’re currently playing. Also, we’ll both do a top five which will be concerning our five most anticipated games of all time, and Silversoul will inform everyone about a Japan only Wiiware game that he has been obsessing about for some time now. I might put the fortune cookie to good use once again to conjure up a random game from my collection and talk about it. Sounds like fun! Maybe you’ll learn about a game you’ve never heard of otherwise? Could be!

All and all, we’ll (hopefully) be able to record it all on Tuesday, and it should be available by Wednesday. That all depends on the site I’ll be using to host it, and if it still works seemlessly with WordPress (like it did when I tested it a month back). Let’s hope it all works out for us in the end, and we will be able to continue doing one either monthly or bi-monthly.

Sometimes, you just need to roam…in a game

Playing both inFamous and Prototype recently has made me realize that sometimes, non-linearity in games is awesome. Giving the player a huge, open world to explore is great. And it’s even better when you have a character with SUPER POWERS! Okay, this post was mainly brought on by me playing Prototype. Jumping and gliding around the city is probably the most satisfying since Spider-Man 2’s introduction of the web swinging/free roaming mechanics we’ve grown accustomed to in other, not as good Spider-Man games.

But seriously, Prototype may not be the best game in the world, but it definitely nailed down the super powers aspect perfectly. Games like Prototype are perfect for playing when you’re stressed, or just need a way to escape. Sure, it’s far from relaxing, but it definitely puts a smile on my face when I’m just running and jumping around doing random things in the large world the developers have given me access to. Some people unwind with a game like Animal Crossing or The Sims. Me? Give me Prototype, thanks.

Crackdown was pretty similar, jumping around the city and such, especially when you have a friend. Although Prototype makes it much more accessible to do some very large scale platforming, since most of the powers you need to do so are available pretty much at the very beginning. So am I weird for liking this so much? I may even consider Prototype one of my favorite games of the year just because of the free roaming. It’s just that much fun. Some may disagree, especially those who want to just rush through the game. But you may be surprised by how much fun it can be, especially playing as a character with superhuman abilities.

A quick Uncharted 2 multiplayer beta post

Lazy post time, just because I can. Now I’ll admit, I haven’t had a chance to try the Uncharted 2 co-op yet, but I have spent a good amount of time with the regular multiplayer; this entire post is strictly about that. I’ll start by saying that I am pretty excited about Uncharted 2, although I thought the original wasn’t nearly as good as everyone claimed it to be. The shooting was fun, but it tended to get a bit old after a while. I loved the Tomb Raider style jumping and climbing mechanics, but I don’t think there were nearly enough times when they were used appropriately. With that said, I think Uncharted 2 will improve upon a lot of that, and the added co-op will be nice.

But, the multiplayer, from what I have played, is something that does not impress me at all. It feels like a generic third person shooter, with nothing that really sets it apart from the rest. When I think of a good third person shooter online, I instantly think of Gears of War, or even the recently released Red Faction: Guerrilla. All of the personality from the main game in Uncharted seems to be sucked right out of the multiplayer. I mean, it looks good, there weren’t any real problems with it, but it just didn’t feel like anything special.

Maybe when the full game is released, I will come around to enjoy it more, but at this point I’m not really seeing myself playing it as much as other online PS3 games like Killzone 2 or Resistance 2. Of course, it doesn’t make me any less excited about Uncharted 2 (especially after the amazing demo shown at Sony’s E3 press conference), and I never really had any high expectations for the multiplayer anyway.

I’ll definitely have some quick impressions of the co-op when I get a chance to try it, but otherwise, multiplayer is basically pretty…average. Not bad, not great, just decent enough to get some enjoyment out of, not great enough to set it apart from other shooters.

Did I happen to mention I love Punch-Out!!

Yes, I really do. Punch-Out!! for the Wii, a new game in a series I hold near and dear to my heart, is pretty much as good as you can get. It’s the best boxing game I’ve ever played, and some of the most fun I’ve had in a video game since the original back on the NES. While I would say it’s not as challenging as the original, it still has an incredibly difficult challenge to it, but it isn’t frustrating. You just want to continue playing it over and over again.

Rag Doll Kung Fu: The game in a few paragraphs

Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic is a downloadable fighting/party game for the Playstation Network, and it was originally priced at $10. The game is in the same vein as…a Smash Bros., as a fighting game that isn’t exactly meant for competitive play. It’s meant to be a basic 2D brawler that will not last a long time, but as a game that is meant to be returned to every so often for another match. This week, it’s completely free of charge for absolutely no reason at all, so of course I decided to check it out. And I feel sorry for everyone who paid $10 for it.

The game is a basic brawler in which you control a very uninspired “rag doll” of sorts and fight against other bland looking rag doll characters. You have a basic moveset, and a few items to throw/use, but generally that’s about it. The game has no real online component, and the multiplayer is local only. As for anything single player related, you’re stuck with a few challenges that get repetitive very fast. What you’re left with is a game that is, in all honesty, very boring, even with friends.

So, it’s a boring game, but what else could be wrong with it? The controls are pretty bad. The game feels floaty, and the controls are never very responsive. It makes the entire game move at a very strange and oddly slow pace. Nothing feels fluid at all, and I can’t imagine trying to do anything serious with this game. It feels like an unfinished beta for some kind of Smash Bros. cash-in, only replacing the memorable Nintendo characters with some generic rag dolls that all look almost the same.

I know this is a free game, but I don’t think it’s worth taking up the space to download it. I really do feel sorry for anyone who spent any amount of money on this game. If you really are curious about this game, check it out while it’s still free. But it’s kind of hard to see anyone playing it for more than 15 minutes. It really is.

Final Fantasy VI master run details

This is a quick post to give the details of the master run I just started. This morning, I had a sudden urge to replay Final Fantasy VI. Why? Maybe because Rebellion wasn’t making any progress in his own playthrough of the game, so I figured I would just play through it for fun. But then, I got an idea: Why not do a master run? I know the game pretty well, it’s my favorite RPG of all time, and I’ve been meaning to try something interesting this time around. So, thanks to some details from Sobou, I am now able to begin my master run.

What is my daring challenge? A natural magic run, meaning only characters who learn magic from leveling up can equip said magic. It’s gonna be an interesting adventure, I can tell you that much.

So, these are the basics:

- No Espers. At all. Ever. Sorry Espers, you’re not allowed this time around

- If a spell is learned by a character via leveling up, said character can equip said spells. Otherwise, it’s all about BARE KNUCKLE BRAWLS!

- There are exceptions, such as Strago’s Lore abilities. I think I’ll be using him a lot.

That’s pretty much it. Sobou will be joining me on this journey, however he started his own file a while ago and will be finishing it. Wish me luck!

Nintendo loves money

Here’s something that isn’t surprising at all! Nintendo has sold over 100 million DS units and 50 million Wii units worldwide so far. Last year alone, they sold 26 million Wiis world wide. It’s almost as if everyone and their mother (and grandmother) is buying one of these crazy Nintendo systems.

I think I might be shocked by something like this normally, but at this point I’ve just come to expect that Nintendo will continue to make a shit load of money off of the Wii and the DS, no matter what happens. This generation belongs to Nintendo, and it seems to me like it might be a few more console cycles if Nintendo is ever dethroned again. My prediction? It will be Microsoft, if anyone, that dethrones Nintendo. Clearly they have a stronger fanbase at this point, and I doubt it will die down with the killer franchises they have like Halo and Gears of War, plus Xbox Live being pretty much the online gaming standard to live up to now.

But for now, all we can do is wait and see what happens. I expect to continue to see news like this for the next few years, at the least. I’m sure Nintendo will release a Wii 2.0 down the line, which will go on to sell millions, and a few key “casual products” that will continue to make them money. Nothing really exciting to say, but it’s just become so unsurprising there isn’t much else to report on. But hey, at least the people who work at Nintendo are happy, even if some fans may not be.