- Wednesday, January 7, 2009
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I'm a bit concerned about the way the site is heading at the moment. I look on the front page, and at least a third of the "comparison" blogs are comparing old school video games. It's not that I don't love classic gaming, but comparing things like Contra to Metroid or Sonic to Mario, that's pretty esoteric subject matter. We've grown up on those games, and we all have biases regarding the subject matter.More importantly, the basic appeal of the site, I think, is how useful it is for letting good games rise to the top, and representing alternative opinions. Ignoring current releases won't draw new readers to the site, because like I said, we all have the games we grew up with, and not everyone is inclined to discuss the properties of a nostalgic classic versus something they never experienced.On the other hand, I think we can all appreciate an expose on the differences between very similar games released recently, since it allows for gamers to make more educated purchases.Again, it's not that I don't appreciate these conversations regarding older games, but that's just it; they're discussions, not academic comparisons. I mean, really; Minesweeper vs. Solitaire? Nobody's really going to read that blog and say "Hmmm, I guess people think Minesweeper IS a better game. I think I'll play it more."I'm just saying.edit: Also, I realized that some of the votes on the site are probably not valid. ie some people are voting in comparisons for games they've actually played versus a game they've not played. That's not really a solid opinion, and I wonder if there isn't a way to restrict that sort of false leverage.Listening: "Sugarless" ~ Autolux
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Here's what I picked up with my Christmas money; Lost Planet (Colonies Edition), The Orange Box, Battlefront 2, and Alter Echo.My experience with Battlefront 2 and Lost Planet can be read about here. I bought Orange Box both so that I could play/beat Portal and also to investigate Team Fortress 2. In addition to being mentioned (and made fun of) on Penny-Arcade, the video below pretty much made me fall in love with the wacky sense of humor it showed.I have not been disappointed. I have played only a half hour of TF2 and I enjoyed it more than my whole Lost Planet experience so far. I'll sit down and review it in depth later, once I've immersed myself in it.As far as Alter Echo goes, it was a mistake of a splurge. I fell in love with the game when it came out because of the awesome art style and in depth gameplay, but never got the chance to try it. I didn't realize, when I bought it last week, that it wasn't backward-compatible w/ the X360. Of course.It was only $5, so meh. Maybe they'll issue an update at some point. Whatever. I could go out on a limb and find the PS2 version, but I'm not going to bother. I wasn't that eager, honestly.Some games I'm excited about: FEAR 2, Red Faction Guerilla, and Tenchu 4. Sadly, there's not that much in the pipeline to squeal over.
- Wednesday, December 24, 2008
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Merry Christmas and all that jazz, yanno.Still trying to evaluate my options as far as what my next Xbox purchase should be. I want to get an online multiplayer game that has vehicles, because I love vehicles. The best I've heard so far is UT3, in that category. But then, almost everyone I know who is one LIVE plays Call of Duty 4. Problem with that is, I know this means there are probably just as many people on LIVE that I would loathe. Finally, I know a few people who are on Left 4 Dead, but unfortunately, I didn't quite take to it as well as I'd hoped, though I haven't yet tried out the versus mode.We'll see. I'll probably rent UT3 next and see how it is, then give L4D a second spin, try versus, and see how that goes. If they both disappoint, then I'll just grab CoD4 and hope I can find a cadre of peers who won't annoy the shit out of me.Even though I know that something'll probably come out soon that'll make that purchase worthless >.<
- Monday, December 22, 2008
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Well, a leveling system for a game ranking site, huh? Sounds pretty awesome. Let's see how it does.I returned my copy of Saints Row 2 last week, to Newcastle Comics & Games in Maryland Heights, MO. Great place, if you live in or around the area, check it out. Still haven't decided if I want to rent another game or if I should just buy one. So, right now, all I really have to play (at least, that I WANT to play) is Rainbow Six Vegas 2. Gotta unlock more guns, yanno?Which is what I'm going to go do now.FYI, my username is the same as my gamertag, same capitalization and all. Feel free to add me, yeah?
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