Apparently there are people out there that seek out GameShark codes that don't imbue you with enhanced powers, but rather completely fuck up the game:
-K.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Thursday Morning Video: Creepy Mario 64
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Deep Thoughts
After hearing a little bit of buzz I decided to check out the just released "art" game Fathom by Adam "Atomic" Saltsman, a fellow who worked on the Wii version of Cave Story among other things, which seems to be more of a commentary on standard game conventions than a game itself. Without giving too much away it presents a different look on our usual expectations for game flow, especially when confronted with no-win situations.
I don't want to go this whole post sounding like a pretentious douche so I will say that while it is an interesting piece, it lacks an entertaining punch and is not as straightforward as, say, similar recent arty game Today I Die. Fathom can be a chore to get through, and it would be totally understandable if you simply lose patience with it halfway in. If you can't make it to the end just look up An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge, it's basically the video game version of that.
-K.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Play This Now: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
I'm unable to check this out for myself while I'm here at work, but I spotted a story over on Rock, Paper, Shotgun which has informed me that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is now available on GameTap for the low price of zero dollars. I have not jumped on to GameTap since a few months before Turner sold it to French company Exent, so I cannot speak to the quality of the service as it is today, but there are a couple of caveats: Apparently it does not support 64-bit operating systems and does not allow the use of mods. If neither of those presents a problem, by all means check it out, but if you want to give it a go with some of the mods, some of which improve the game significantly, it would still be worth it to pick it up on Steam.
Link, GameTap S.T.A.L.K.E.R. page
-K.
Friday, May 15, 2009
What is Game? - Fallout 3 (Test)
I think I'm going to try to make this a regular piece, because I'm very bored, to give a visual account of what I've been playing and also maybe give a better presentation on some things you might not have heard of. It'll be good when I get around to finally tackling King's Bounty or going back to play some Silent Storm.
Anyway, here's me dicking around in Fallout 3, mostly I was testing how well uploading HD videos to YouTube works:
-K.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Taste Supreme
I spend a lot of my time here trying to shift my mental focus on things other than my job, mostly to keep murderous rage at bay. Recently I've been occupying that space with thoughts about what the upcoming Tivoli midnight schedule will be like, and what I would show if it were up to me. Just single films here, even though my ideas for Back to Back to Back to the Future and Evil Dead Complete (All three films can easily be cut together to form one seamless feature) are totally awesome. This also gives me a chance to mention a few semi-obscure to totally obscure films I've been meaning to talk about in a form that requires the least amount of elaboration:
Blade Runner - This needs no explanation, this should simply be an annual event. I would not mind seeing the original theatrical version again just for contrast, but Final Cut is pretty goddamn awesome.
The Hudsucker Proxy - One of the least well-known and underappreciated Coen Brothers movies, their loving homage to the screwball comedies of the 30's and 40's is just as good as any of their other films. Co-written by Sam Raimi.
L.A. Confidential - I cannot stress it enough, one of the best films of all time.
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension - It has been a very long time since I have seen this, so I don't know how well it would hold up, but it is perfect midnight film material.
The Frighteners - Peter Jackson's first American film, just before Lord of the Rings, is bizarre, funny and just a goddamn hoot.
Silver Streak - I really enjoy movies set on a train for some reason, and while this Gene Wilder/Richard Pryor thriller-comedy takes some time to get going, and the latter of the pair doesn't even show up until an hour into the film, it's a very enjoyable watch.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - After the abysmal first theatrical outing, the crew of the Enterpise get down to business in this gripping, engrossing adventure of... Oh forget it, KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!
Heavy Metal - Really I just want to see some animated boobs on a big screen, but without the tentacles.
Hard Boiled - It's been too long since I've seen Chow Yun-Fat dive through windows with two pistols blazing.
Outland - Another movie I have not seen in a long time, but this is all you need to know: Outland is a remake of High Noon with Sean Connery. In space.
Wizards - I don't know how well this one holds up either, I only remember it being very violent. Really that's what I want out of an animated midnight movie.
Twice Upon a Time - Two unlikely heroes get mixed up in a battle of dreams and nightmares in this uniquely stylized, highly imaginative and funny animated film. It is a goddamn crime that virtually no one has even heard of this film, especially considering one of the producers was George Lucas. I'm not even sure if prints of this still exist, it's not available on DVD and copies of the VHS version are very rare. Someone managed to put together a "restoration cut," which mostly features more profane dialogue from the film's antagonist, which, surprisingly, I don't think works as well as the more family-friendly version, and threw it on YouTube.
I'm a goddamn nerd.
-K.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Do Shut Up
So there's some turmoil that's been brewing on the internet over the recent Resident Evil 5 "Versus Mode" DLC that Capcom released earlier this week. The file itself turned out to be just a hair under 2MB, leading many people to wildly speculate, using the ancient art of ridiculous hyperbole, that it was an unlock key to content already on the disc and therefore this is the worst thing since Nickelback or Hitler and it will only lead the industry down a slippery slope where we're going to be paying ten million dollars for a single game after all is said and done.
It does seem shady, and a practice that I would not support, but after spending a little bit of time giving it a good amount of thinking I have a few problems with this argument. First off, this entire Angry Internet Man March is presupposing that it is a file that is unlocking content already on the disc, and while 2MB is pretty small, that's fairly large for a key. Capcom has said as much in a statement released yesterday. While it may be naive of me to believe what the company in question is saying, I'm inclined to believe it, mostly when taking into consideration that Sony has begun to charge publishers for bandwidth used on the Playstation Network. That would also do away with the argument that Capcom padded the file out to make it appear not to be a key, and while, again, 2MB isn't a large file, I don't know why you'd intentionally increase the cost of doing business just so you don't piss off teh hardcorez gamers.
Second, having played through it, Resident Evil 5 is not a game bereft of features or gameplay. This is a game that features a full single-player campaign that you can also play beginning to end with another player, the same goes for the arcade-y Mercenaries mode you unlock for beating the game. It also has weapons you continually upgrade and improve that carry over between difficulty settings, encouraging multiple playthroughs. Compare that to an extremely similar title like Dead Space, which has no co-op or extra modes to speak of, and costs the same amount as Resident Evil 5. I'm not slagging on Dead Space, it is an excellent game that you should definitely consider buying, but the point is that Capcom, again presupposing the content is already on the disc, isn't selling a hobbled product. It's also worth noting that this extra "Versus Mode" wasn't even announced until mere days before the release of the game, long after the demo had come out, where I would assume the majority of the people getting upset over it had probably already made up their minds about whether or not they were buying the game in the first place.
Third, and this is key, you don't have to buy it. This is how these things generally work for any product. A deathmatch mode for a Resident Evil game does not sound appealing in the slightest, and I have no desire to own it, a sentiment that many of its opponents also seem to hold. Not paying for it is the strongest statement you can make, not endlessly comparing Capcom to the Third Reich on an internet video game forum.
As for the whole "slippery slope," yes, the practice of paying to unlock content on a disc you've already purchased is an extremely dubious concept, but I don't believe that's what was done here. We should probably save those tears for when we're asked to pay $4.99 to play the next level, not because Capcom put out a deathmatch mode nobody seems to want anyway.
Gamers have the most absurd sense of entitlement I've ever seen, and I hate you so much.
-K.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
BOOM BOOM BOOM!!
Been a busy week here so I haven't had much time to throw anything up and, as I've stated in the past, posting from home is simply impossible.
Remember way back to the days before Quake 2? Before Quake? Before Wolfenstein 3-D? Wait, too far. A time when id Software was a tiny outfit made up of about a dozen guys making platforming games like Commander Keen. Here's a fun piece of nostalgia that John Romero threw up on his site a couple days ago (Also, remember when he wasn't a punchline?):
A Visit to id Software from john romero on Vimeo.
The lengthy bit early on with Bobby Prince showing off the MIDI music he had created runs a little too long and a little too dry, but the fun of the piece is Romero showing Doom off to a couple people. Doom still holds up fairly well and I'll go back to it every now and then, but this video really reminded me of how revolutionary it was. Wolf 3-D was a milestone, but, and you can hear it from the reactions, nobody had ever seen anything like this before. Simple technical things like networked deathmatch and vertical movement and textures you could see and shoot through, these were all impressive technical feats at the time. I need go to load it up again, I've got demons to punch in the face.
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