Archive for June, 2010
Microsoft Konnect – Another gimmick?
I remember when the Wii first came out, I was like “OMG I GET TO CONTROL WITH MY HANDS”. I thought the concept was so cool, until I got my own and realized to make up for it all the games ended up terrible quality, gameplay, res, AA, FPS. It seemed you had to sacrifice half the game to get the gimmicky sense of control that additionally ended up less responsive than a traditional controller. Now, while I play games for fun – I’m very competitive and additionally enjoy games with good art concept, gameplay design and control scheming. You could say I’m a “hardcore gamer” or I play games as a hobby rather than just occasionally. Its the difference between a pro baseball player and someone who plays baseball in their backyards on Saturdays. I really couldn’t get attached to the wii (aside from a couple good games) because of this. I was sacrificing many good aspects of my games for irresponsive motion control. And I am afraid the microsoft konnect controller for xbox is going to be the same. Fun to play for a while, but in the end its just an accessory you DON’T need. And most likely isn’t helping your gaming experience.
TL;DR The Konnect is probably going to end up like the nintendo wii – A gimmicky console(controller) that has some neat innovation, but takes away from the gaming experience. Something to lure non-gamers into the market. For me? I’m sticking with my super responsive gamepad, keyboard and mouse for my gaming. Games aren’t just about one thing (e.g. the control scheme) its about the whole thing put together. Like a painting. It would no longer be beautiful if you cut it in half and put some crayon on the remaining side. 
Bioshock review – Alphacide
First off, I know Bioshock Is an older game. But I really enjoyed it, although I just recently finished it (Have been playing off and on for a couple months).
[Genre - Horror, Shooter]
At the beginning, you are on a plane, flying over a large ocean. Your plane crashes near a old lighthouse, and you are the only survivor. First off you will notice the depth in the environment and sound. The fire on the plane isn’t static, their is water droplets covering the camera as it rains. You can see and hear thunder + lightning off in the distance. As you venture into the lighthouse, the story begins to unfold. Every room has different textures, litter, signs are all informative, furniture is unique and not a reused model, you will occasionally run across cigarettes, or alcohol on the floor. You find posters explaining events that happened in rapture(the city under the lighthouse). But not only is the environment amazing, the way the game is told through sound is genius as well. You will inevitably walk past a locked door eventualy, hearing screams, and enraged conversation inside. You will find diaries explaining the terrible things that happened to the people of rapture, after using “plasmids” to redesign there DNA. The people of rapture aren’t your average NPC’s. They all have voices, and personalities. I remember one iconic part of the game, at the very beginning. You hear a lady crying over a baby carriage. So you walk up to see whats happening of course. Than you notice its not a baby in the carriage, but a gun. And the woman begins to beat you – you are forced to kill her. This is the screwed up world that is rapture. Its dark, and beautiful. It isn’t a happy world, but its so artistic, and the paint is so rich in color. Once you try it, you will be hooked.
Sounds + Voice: 10/10
Environment: 10/10
Storyboard: 8/10
Characters: 9/10
Gameplay: 9/10
I would give this game a 9/10. This is a MUST HAVE in your game collection.
MLG 3v3 Arena 2010
For those of you, into professional gaming tournies. This year’s MLG wow arena tourney is coming up fast. My personal favorite team has been complexity red(vinruki, wreckful, sodah) RMP. Fortunately, CR is in the tourney AGAIN this year!
- Also, my favorite clip from MLG 3v3 2009 (Vinruki is an amazing player, but neither he nor I could expect this type of damage output)
Youtube VS Viacom, Youtube wins (Finaly!)
(from here) -
Finally, the judges have decided that youtube does not owe Viacom 1 billion dollars for the lawsuit that started last year. The reason why, youtube has been trying to keep all copyrighted content off their site and has not promoted it.
-Internet censorship is always something I didn’t like. I don’t like when people’s hard work (music, films) is given away for free. But I don’t think you should just be able to sue whoever you want over it. Now with user media sharing websites like veoh, youtube its gonna be really hard to keep track of all the copywritten content. And yes, there WILL always be content on these sites that belongs to someone else. But as long as the site’s owners are – A: Not promoting it. B: Are trying to remove it if it gets up and C: Trying to prevent it from getting up, I don’t think you should be able to take legal action against them. I want to see copyright owners asking youtube and other sites politely to take their content down, not trying to sue them for so much money they have to shut down their website/service/ect that so many people enjoy using, for reasons that don’t involve copy-written material.
