By Holliday , 17th May 8:21 am
Well it is nearly time for E3. Just a few days from now and the internet will be so full of new game screenshots, videos and articles that it will take weeks to properly analyze, overanalyze, get excited and probably eventually be let down. I like E3 though. I love all the new information and this is one of the great E3s where we get to see the new consoles unveiled. While Xbox 360 had to drop the ball before the show (attention whores) it still seems like its going to be worth keeping tabs on.
However, there is something about E3 that I really hate, Booth Babes. I’ve heard the original booth babes started out as attention grabbers. To get more people to come to your booth hire nearly naked ladies to stand around and fake being interested. This obviously worked so everyone did it. Now I won’t even get into the broader point of if you want more booth visitors how about making a compelling product that can stand alone. The big problem I have with booth babes is it almost makes me feel ashamed to be a gamer.
The idea that companies pay women to stand around and pretend they are interested in E3 attenders disgusts me. Not only does it objectify women but it is a step backwards for gaming as a whole. The Booth Babe philosophy tends to prey off the old gamer stereotype. Unsocial nerd who never had a girlfriend. Over the past few years games have finally broken through that “geek” threshold and are becoming embraced by many people. Included in the many people are women. Now it is pretty evident that most girl gamers would not approve of Booth Babes. Also, and this might be just a personal thing, whenever some big breasted bimbo starts reading a script about a video game or technical specs it feels like a cheese-grater is running over my brain. I cannot exactly describe it but it is always pretty certain when someone is into something or not. Regardless of how enthusiastic they pretend to be.
In an industry that has been trying to mature for years it seems ridiculous that their biggest yearly event is soaked in sex for sale.
By Holliday , 25th April 3:39 am
A rather subtle “advertisment” for the next Xbox has been spotted. It wasn’t on a gaming website, nor found in between the pages of EGM. You wouldn’t see it on G4 or on a demo disc. Instead it was on that massive leftover statement of our culture past, MTV. You can check out the small commercial over on Gamespy.
It offers nothing that gamers would want/expect from an unveiling. No goregous game shots or views of the new console. Instead its just a bunch of attractive young people (mostly women) sitting around noticing “the greeness” floating around in the sky. The narrator talks as if xbox 2 is the 2nd coming and then at the end (up until this point you’d never know it was an Xbox commercial) a short flash of the xbox logo.
For me it creates mixed responses. First is obvious excitement that the rumored Fall release of the console may actually be true. However, I also feel as though xbox is trying to turn gaming into something it isn’t. With their announcements at the GDC (that no one really wanted to hear) it seems as though xbox thinks that they need to “fix” the games industry. While the industry does have its problems I feel that microsoft’s outlook for the future is a big part of the problem.
Also the commercial kind of feels like a slap in the face. Almost like Microsoft is saying “Ok we finally won over the mainstream to video games, so screw you that were there from the beginning.” Or maybe I am just reading into it far too much.
By Holliday , 3rd April 6:46 am
So I picked up this game for the PC after playing the MP and SP demo for it. It is quite the package. Nearly 3 games in one. A robust (and freaken gorgeous) single player experience with fantastic level design (with a lot of replayability). A co-op mode which is a ridiculously refreshing experience. And a tweaked and near perfected version of the (also refreshing) adversial MP from pandora tomorrow.
Blended together in one game it is quite the purchase and I can see me playing this for sometime to come. While the co-op only has 4 levels (+ one training room) it is rather challenging on a decent difficulty level. Just getting through a level isn’t good enough for me so I expect to replay the co-op with a friend many times to get 100% rating. Also they released a map editor (albeit late) for pandora tomorrow so maybe a Chaos Theory map editor won’t be far behind. Lord knows it would add sooooo much replay the the game, I can see many excellent co-op maps coming from a dedicated community.
Adversial is MP for smart people. It really requires you to get into the game and know the maps and utilize every action and gadget available to you. While that may turn some people off to the game I am rather excited about diving in. Its nice to know that within a couple months the community will be based primarily on hardcore players who know how the game should be played.
So the whole point of this post is not to review (for I have less than an hour of play in each of the 3 games) but to rally. This is the perfect game for a small community to play. The Multiplayer is only 2-4 players so you never have to worry about getting enough people to play. Also a 2 player server for co-op is virtually lag free. I’ve been playing with that lusty brit hardflip and he’s over in the UK with no connection problems. If any of you aeloners (aelonians?) were thinking of picking it up, do so. My name is Ho11iday (those are ones) add me to your friends and we’ll get to killing terrorists.
By Holliday , 19th March 4:03 pm
As gaming becomes increasingly popular it also starts becoming very strict. Once games were born in garages between friends, now they are planned out with full marketing campaigns in board rooms. While this is the natural evolution for most things that start small (windows anyone?) its sometimes hard to view current situations without a bit of longing for a less restricted environment.
What I am getting at is two recent events involving “remakes” of past games. One is the Doom 3 mod remaking System Shock 2, formally named SS2: Rebooted. The other is Chrono Resurrection, a Chrono Trigger remake.
System Shock 2: Rebooted being canceled was indeed a big let down but the Chrono remake strikes me as devastating. SS2:R was barely into production, just some concept art and a few models were completed so nobody had huge amounts of time and energy wasted. Chrono Resurrection on the other hand had quite a foothold of work completed. If you look at the remaining site you will see a good amount of screenshots and a well done video. All of this stuff looks professional quality and better than some current games on the market.
I would be more understanding of the situation if the companies that own the rights to the series had a similiar project in development but in these cases there is none. It is highly unlikely that we will ever see another System Shock game. The Chrono line gets sequels but a remake of the classic is probably never going to happen. Why don’t companies allow such things? Or perhaps work out a deal with the modders where they have to approve the final build if they don’t want the series reputation “tarnished”. I am sure there is some in-between that could be arranged rather than just a flat out “no”. As long as the remake is of good quality it can only benefit the company. Right?
By Holliday , 6th March 6:52 am
So last week I got in touch with my console roots. If my computer were my wife my PS2 is most definitely my mistress. And webcomics are the swinging friend still trying to hold onto his 20’s that told me to “go for it”. Like all good affairs though I expected it to be hot and heavy from the start but then filter off. After I had my way with that katamari, and rolled it for all its worth, I would come home. However I think I’ve fallen in love, all over again.
» Read all of “Renaissance Whore“…
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