Considering my username is “Grey Fox” and I did a write up on the Metal Gear (Solid) series a few months back, I guess it is fitting that I continue discussing my favorite gaming series by adding an entry into the ever-growing series of “the most memorable moments in gaming.” Personally, there are numerous moments in the Metal Gear (Solid) series that strike me as memorable, but I will focus on one that truly stands out. It was in Metal Gear Solid 4 so…uh…spoilers? However, this moment really only affects the big, long-time fans of the series, so chances are you’ve already played it!
The suspense is killing you. You’re just dying to find out what my favorite game of all time. I know you are. You’re not going to be able to stand it much longer! You’re probably not even reading this, you’re going to scroll past everything I’m writing right now to get to what my favorite game is.
Well, I’m going to throw in another guest post from Grey Fox about Metal Gear Solid that…well, has some connection to my favorite game. I’ll let you figure it out from here!
Video game sales for November were HUGE! I mean, the top two selling games in November made a total of around $3 million ALONE. That’s pretty impressive. As of no surprise to anyone, Gears of War 2 took the top spot, with $1.56 million, and Call of Duty: World at War took a close second with $1.41 million. Now, with the economy as bad as it is right now, you’d never think people would be focusing on buying games, now would you?
Prince of Persia is coming out this week, and I never spent time to talk about the game. I’m sure I’ll be posting plenty of impressions and such when it is finally released, but at this point in time, let me focus on one thing: the brilliant art style of the game. I love when games don’t go for a “realistic” look, and decide to be cartoony or stylized, and 90% of the time that style fits the game. I still consider The Wind Waker the best looking Zelda game because I felt that “cartoony” look fit Zelda more than the realistic look of a game like Twilight Princess. If I had a choice, I would make all future 3D Zelda games with that same art style.
Animal Crossing: City Folk, the third game in a series that is more addictive (and better) than World of Warcraft, has been released today. And I would spend this post talking about it, but the thing is…I’M BROKE! At least for a few days. Why is Animal Crossing so addictive? I DON’T KNOW! It’s so simplistic. YOU FISH, YOU DIG FOR FOSSILS. How boring is that? But…but it’s not. And with the addition of online, I guarantee it’ll just never get old. This will be the BEST ANIMAL CROSSING EVER. Until the next one anyway.
Guitar Hero: World Tour (aka Rock Band with a Guitar Hero spin) has recently been released, and yesterday I had a chance to play it for a few hours. I tried the new guitar and drums, and had a chance to play an extensive amount of songs. Ranging from songs we’ve played in Rock Band, to songs we’ve played in Rock Band 2, this is a pretty good collection that can be found elsewhere! But the exclusive songs the game has, including Hot for Teacher and Crazy Train, and a few songs from Tool are a nice addition and are some of the best in the game. But, is this better than Rock Band? Yes, it’s better than Rock Band. Keep in mind, I didn’t say Rock Band 2.
Fallout 3 is too good to be true. It’s a true masterpiece, and I rarely say this. Actually…I’ve said it a few times this year already. The games released this year that, despite their small flaws, I would consider masterpieces are: Metal Gear Solid 4, Grand Theft Auto IV, and No More Heroes. Fallout 3 is among them, gaming giants, and a game I might consider putting into my top 25 when it is all said and done. I might hold off on finishing my top 25 until the year is over, just to be on the safe side.
Did you know that there are game developers who don’t actually play games? Well, they play their own games, sure, but outside of that they never play games made by other developers. Maybe they get sick of being around games all day, they imagine going home and playing a game as the least enjoyable thing they could do when they finish work for the day. But what about gamers who aren’t developers? Gamers, like you and me, who just enjoy the games that these developers slave over day in and day out. We could make games!
Sometimes developers forget that they are making games for gamers. And I’m talking everyday gamers, not any game journalist whose job it is to play games. Taking a game to this past E3, seeing the reaction from a game journalist, well…that may not be the reaction you are looking for. Maybe they like it, maybe they didn’t, usually it doesn’t have the same impact as it would at a show like PAX. The Penny Arcade Expo seems to get bigger each year, and many developers have commented on how seeing the reaction from journalists day in and day out can be a bit…tiring, after a while. They say it’s refreshing to see how gamers react, and at PAX, that’s exactly what they get.
But some developers don’t care about this, maybe they go to PAX not with the intention of having ordinary gamers play it, but instead having an excuse to show off their E3 award winner once again, except this time with a different level or a new multiplayer map. These developers sometimes get so involved in the game industry itself, the developers, publishers, and journalists, that they forget to look outside of this circle of “professionals” and to the gamers themselves. Because ignoring these gamers is ignoring the talents that some of them possess.
Take Counter-Strike for example. Started out as a mod made by gamers based on Valve’s classic, Half-Life. It soon became a full fledged game, and even with a remake (or updated version) of sorts called Counter-Strike: Source. Small games like Blast Works: Build, Trade, and Destroy for the Wii or upcoming big titles such as LittleBigPlanet strive on the creativity of gamers, giving them the same tools that the developers used to make the levels shipped with the game itself. This shows that those developers focus more on the gamers, and how many of them could be future game designers in training.
And then, you have the fan made remakes of classics. I stumbled upon this little gem, which is a remake of the Gameboy classic Metroid 2. And it’s entirely created by the fans and for the fans. Sure, it’s taking an original game and adding to it elements from newer games in the same series, but it shows that many gamers truly have just as much talent as some big name developers.
So, hopefully we’ll be seeing more games like LittleBigPlanet, which focus on creativity, and which may inspire…future level designers! It’s great when gamers like you and me are able to make a game, and maybe someday, all developers (or even publishers…wait, never mind, they don’t care) will begin to take notice. Until then, keep on gaming!
Now I turn it over to another guest writer, Grey Fox, who is going to be talking about games based on movies.
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WorldDude recently wrote about movies based on video games and how poorly they tend to be. Well I’d like to turn that around right now and briefly talk about video games based on movies. I think it’s safe to say that these usually turn out better than the movies based on games. Of course they aren’t always wonderful, but there’s no denying that they can be simple-minded fun or even incredible.
So why exactly are the movie-based games generally better than the game-based movies? I think the answer isn’t too complicated at all. Movies are a storyline with action, drama, and /or romance. They entice viewers in their short time spans, providing a nice form of escapism with no involvement except potentially stirring thought. Movies can tell true stories that tug at the ol’ heartstrings, or present a sci-fi epic with aliens and lasers pew pew pew. Translating 10+ hour games into two hour movies requires substantial editing of the source material, which generally results in disappointed fans. Games, on the other hand, provide more leeway. They enhance the experience by making the movies more interactive. Watching the story unfold is one thing, but playing through it is another.
Return of the King was a phenomenal movie, and the game wasn’t too shabby either.
Unfortunately, you don’t always get to have fun playing through your favorite movies. Chances are if a big movie is coming out, then a game will be rushed to meet the movie’s release date. These movie-based games are becoming so abundant that they are practically their own genre. You see them everywhere you go, and a few weeks later when the next big movie is out, its game will overtake the last one which in turn mysteriously disappears. It’s truly sad that both games and movies are reduced to quick money-grabbing schemes instead of presenting fun and/or art (yeah I said it, games are art). Hopefully consumers will start thinking more and realize this trend before more crappy games overshadow the good ones.
lolwut
So please, to anyone reading this who may have written off movie-based games as contrived bore-fests, don’t. Sure you may have to wade through vast pools of unrelenting garbage, but in that pool are quite a few gems. They may possess a few tarnishes here and there, but they are still definitely worth checking out. It is inevitable that the future will contain more feeble attempts at games based on films, but at the same time it possesses an uncertain level of potential. We can almost predict which movies will have games attached to them, but some of them may just prove us wrong.
This week is the second week in the “onslaught of games”. Last week we saw a few heavy hitters, such as Dead Space and Saints Row 2. This week we see the release of LittieBigPlanet Fable II, Far Cry 2, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, the PS3 version of BioShock, and so much more. And the best part is, aside from a few big titles that I have pre-ordered, I get to not play any of them until December at the earliest! Hooray having practically no money!
Posted by worlddude 
Posted by worlddude 
Posted by worlddude 
