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  • avatar

    detnap 6:08 pm on October 14, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: asian, , Great America, Theme Park   

    Theme Park: 486sx fun on Nintendo DS 

    Typical Asian

    Typical Asian

    I just wanted to comment on the picture and mention that I think I’ve been desensitized to asian stereotyping. I didn’t even pay any attention to the commercial until after John Stewart used it as an example of current racial stereotyping. I thought to myself “You know what self, should I be mildly offended”. Of course, then there’s South Park that takes it to a new level.

    I first played Theme park when it was a DOS game that would be unplayablely slow on my 20 mhz 486 when I set the resolution to 1024×768. I didn’t have a sound card, so the barfing sounds of the people getting sick from the rollercoasters were just digitized beeps.

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    • avatar

      phokal 1:17 pm on October 17, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Next up are Populous DS and Sim City DS reviews? retro pc gaming reborn on the ds. Needs more Monkey Island.

      sounds fun. how exactly did that minigame play? and how often does a year occur?

    • avatar

      capnjiffy 6:38 pm on October 20, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      If they’re going to be remaking old games, I’d really jizz in my drawers for a Syndicate remake. God damn that game was great.

    • avatar

      detnap 10:48 pm on October 20, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Ah, good times, that Syndicate. I remember playing with 4 trenchcoat wearing mofos that blasted everything with a rocket launcher.

      It is funny that you should mention Syndicate, because rumor is that it’s coming back!

      Awesome

    • avatar

      Phokal 2:16 pm on October 21, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      rocket launcher? I liked the hypno-gun. what was it, the persuadotron?

    • avatar

      Boramis 10:59 am on October 23, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Yep, the persuadatron rocked. Syndicate Wars wasn’t bad either; I liked the dark palette they used for it.

      And you guys obviously haven’t been paying attention. They are working on a new Syndicate: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=199521

  • avatar

    detnap 11:21 am on August 13, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: ati 4850, , dell   

    I have seen the eyes of God;

    and his name is a 24 inch dell monitor connected to a quad core computer.

    I recently bought a new computer, mostly because I wanted to have a bigger screen to work with when I’m working from home. I figured if I was going to get a new monitor, might as well have something to hook it up to.

    I picked up a dell because it was cheap. For a quad core machine, it was $850 with a 24 inch monitor included. Along with that, I picked up an ATI 4850 for about $150. Not a bad deal all things considered.

    The last few computers that I’ve had were laptops, so high end horsepower was a distant dream. Last time I was anywhere near the power curve was with a Voodoo 3 playing unreal tounamernt . With that, I grabbed the Crysis demo and installed that. During the first bootup, it ran pretty well and I was satisfied. Of course, test number 2 was to crank all the detail settings up to high and change the resolution to 1920 x 1200. That’s a bit too much for my little graphics card to handle. Instantly, performance went from “That’s pretty good” to “Broken slow”. It did look really, really good though. People still look like 3d models, but they look like very sharp 3d models.

    This puts me in a situation though. I am looking forward to Fallout 3. I’m asking myself if I should pick it up for the PC or for the 360? I mean the graphics are good on the 360, but there’s always the slider bar on the pc to allow for spectacular graphics on the pc.

    Anyhow, I’ve found computer gaming again and it is my savior.

    (More …)

     
    • avatar

      phokal 12:13 pm on August 13, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Achievements vs. Mods

      A lot of people like Oblivion on PC b/c of the mod support, but it depends how much of that you are really going to install vs. just playing the original game through and moving on.

      Matt and I both just got Company of Heroes. Care to take that for a spin later?

    • avatar

      Dan 12:28 pm on August 16, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Ted, you are the most practical person I know. I hope you enjoy that new, unnecessary companion to your monitor. Also, I hope you post about your hackintosh!

    • avatar

      Phokal 9:03 am on August 27, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Of course, with hindsight, you should have posted a LINK to this deal more specifically here as well right after ordering (or before), so we could see what you got more exactly for the price.

  • avatar

    detnap 3:26 pm on August 1, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Childhood, Final Fantasy IV   

    When Childhood Dream Comes True: Final Fantasy IV on the DS

    My favorite games of all time were the Final Fantasy games on the Super Nintendo. I was younger then, less jaded, more welcoming. I could accept a cliche story line (back then, I probably didn’t have enough of a literary background to know what was cliche) and the silliness that is Final Fantasy. I’m not going to go into “what’s wrong with games today” or anything like that, but I just everybody to know that I liked Final Fantasy above all else. I have never since had such a connection to a video game.

    So, now we flash forward to the years 2008 and with me, a bitter old man who’s bitching about some wossname or other. Video Game no longer have that magic associated with it like my Super Nintendo days but rather a release where I can take some pent up energy and frustration and vent it out of my thumbs. It’s a social experience where I can digitally see my friends or make some ears bleed by singing in Rock Band. I don’t have 16 hours day to play games anymore, now that I have bills to pay and chores to do (who am I kidding, I probably do chores once a month). Anyhow, point is, video games are now mundane. (More …)

     
    • avatar

      phokal 12:15 pm on August 13, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      This sounds like you really, really liked the idea. How’s the game holding up after the initial impression?

    • avatar

      detnap 1:23 pm on August 13, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      It’s still good. It’s much harder than I remember it, but that might be because I was a video game superstar when I was young, and now I’m decrepid.

      Even if you haven’t played FF4 before, I have no problem recommending this to everyone.

      I would say that I liked this much more than Final Fantasy 3 for the DS. Final Fantasy 3 got the same treatment, but I think 4 was just a better game overall, and the nostalgia factor for me makes it an unfair comparison.

      If they make Final Fantasy 6 for the DS/PSP/PC/360/PS3 (yes, I would buy a ps3 for a Final Fantasy 6 remake. I am %100 serious), that’s it. My life is complete.

  • avatar

    detnap 4:12 pm on July 15, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Lunchbox, SWAG   

    Fallout 3: Lunchbox

    I generally don’t buy the collector’s editions of games, but seeing the swag with the Fallout 3 Collector Edition, I think I have to change my tune.

    It comes with a Fallout 3 lunchbox. Awesome.

     
    • avatar

      phokal 10:25 am on July 16, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      That’s not the collector’s edition, that’s the amazon survival package. it comes with the clock (a life-size pipboy clock). It’s a bit more than the collector’s edition.

      Guess which version *I* have pre-ordered.

    • avatar

      detnap 11:17 pm on July 17, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Ah, cool. Well, clock’s cool, but the lunch box is still awesome.

    • avatar

      phokal 9:22 am on July 18, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Oh, the lunchbox and bobble head completely sold me. I had that on pre-order before amazon announced their “and we also have a Pipboy” version ;)

    • avatar

      mattlindh 7:12 pm on July 18, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      You’re not going to get that ridiculously overpriced clock are you? Just by itself, it’s $50 more!

  • avatar

    detnap 1:26 am on July 12, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: hate, pixar, short circuit, wall-e   

    WALL-E Number 5 – Alive

    null

    Sometime, I think that I might just be bitter at what’s successful. From disliking popular video games such as Metal Gear Solid or “not getting” critically acclaimed movies such as No Country for Old Men, I would say that my tastes would be a barometer at what’s crass and classless. I knew I was in trouble when I was gleefully laughing at Zohan with its 34% on Rotten Tomatoes. (More …)

     
    • avatar

      Faeriequeene 10:50 am on July 30, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      I didn’t much like No Country For Old Men either. Afterwards, all I could think was, “um yeah, I paid to see this…?”

    • avatar

      Julia The Great 6:32 pm on August 18, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      I loved short circuit! When I saw the poster for Wall-e I had to do a double-take and I thought “hey, is that…?” But, much to my disappointment it wasn’t a re-make. I didn’t have high hopes for Wall-e, but when I saw it I thought it was the most adorable movie ever! I love how they incorporated songs from “Hello Dolly”. I’m torn between my two favorite adorable, eccentric, robot movies, and if I had to pick between them, I would have to say Short Circuit.

  • avatar

    detnap 1:04 pm on July 3, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: inane, ladder, Metal Gear Solid 4   

    I Dislike MGS. I am not alone.

    Metal Gear

    Metal Gear

    I think in the world of gamers we are split into two groups. Those who like Metal Gear Solid, and those who dislike Metal Gear Solid. I fall into the camp of the latter.

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    • avatar

      phokal 4:02 pm on July 3, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      There is a key fallacy in your argument: that the gameplay is bad. The gameplay is actually quite good. If you skip the cutscenes and the occasional “ladder”, the core sneaking and shooting is quite fun. Of course, it’s only really fun to play; the tension isn’t there otherwise. It is NOT fun to watch someone stare at a bush waiting for a guard to come by, lining up the perfect headshot. But it wasn’t fun to watch someone do that in Thief, Splinter Cell, Deus Ex or any other sneaking game. The only reason metal gear is tolerable to watch is because of it’s main hindrance: it’s got a lot of cutscenes.

      The problem is that sometimes you play for 5-10 minutes and are hit with another 20 minute cutscene. If you don’t like watching the movies then when that happens it aggravates the player.

      The other problem, I think I can explain, is the story is like Lost or Heroes. Some aspects that you see are not supposed to make sense. And just telling you which ones are (by talking, and telling you, the back-story necessary) is inadequate. Describing that Psycho Mantis reads your memory card and tells you about other saved games (like Castlevania: SotN) lacks the visceral punch that happens when he does it to you and you don’t see it coming. Knowing that he fakes the flipping of your TV to “Video 2″ is nothing compared to the frantic “omg, my tv just flipped!” and running up to flip it yourself, only to then have it flip away from the game.
      Note: I give away parts of the Psycho Mantis fight simply b/c it’s assumed everyone has read these two by now.

      Remind me to boot it up and show you the zombie part at least.

      I’ll think of more later.

    • avatar

      detnap 6:44 pm on July 3, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      “There is a key fallacy in your argument: that the gameplay is bad. The gameplay is actually quite good. If you skip the cutscenes and the occasional “ladder”, the core sneaking and shooting is quite fun.”

      That’s the point. If you like “ladder” gameplay, then of course you’ll say things such as “The gameplay is actually quite good”. I mean look closely, you’re saying “It’s quite good, if I ignore what sucks.”

      “It is NOT fun to watch someone stare at a bush waiting for a guard to come by, lining up the perfect headshot.”

      See, this doesn’t sound fun to me even if I was playing. Even your example of what’s fun about the game seems unfun to me.

      “The other problem, I think I can explain, is the story is like Lost or Heroes. Some aspects that you see are not supposed to make sense.”

      Right, but the problem isn’t necessarily the wacky storyline, but it’s the writing. The problem is that they spend all their money on making the game fill a blu-ray disk and didn’t have any money to hire a writer. Sure, I can deal with plots that don’t make sense, as long as it’s filled with other things (such as explosions, gunfights, humor, gameplay) but if I have to sit through half hour cutscenes listening to people with mouth diarrhea, it’s no longer a good experience. Again, it’s a matter of cost. Am I willing to spend X in annoyance to receive Y in gains? From what I’ve seen and played, it has not lived up to what people have said about it.

      Like I said, you’re willing to go through all sorts of hoops for the meager gameplay, you’re willing to put up with the suck (ladder). I’m just saying that MGS4 isn’t worth the time.

      “Describing that Psycho Mantis reads your memory card and tells you about other saved games (like Castlevania: SotN) lacks the visceral punch that happens when he does it to you and you don’t see it coming.”

      See, that’s where it’s clever. I’ve said many times that I like that. It’s the, as you said, segments 4 to 1 ratio of cutscenes to gameplay that kills the desire to play it.

      I’m not saying that people shouldn’t play it. I mean if you enjoy it, by all means enjoy it. But like I said in the beginning, there are 2 types of people in the world, people that like MGS4 (reviews, ps3 owners) and people that don’t like MGS4 (offcolour reviewers, webcomic writers, me).

    • avatar

      phokal 10:21 am on July 5, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Gameplay = normal, sneaking gunplay. Not ladders or boss fights. It is fun to enter a room and sneak/take-out guards. Despite the ratio, this still makes up for 40-50% of the actual game. 20% boss fights or other scripted, neat events. Rest for cinematics. Rough estimates, of course.

      As for hiding in the bush lining up the headshot. This isn’t Metal Gear. This is every single stealth game. If you don’t like stealth games, then of course you won’t like the grand-daddy of them all. But this is equivalent to hiding in the shadows as Sam Fisher waiting for the perfect headshot on the guard across the bridge, or hiding in the shadows in thief waiting to hit the guard in the head with an arrow, or waiting in a vent in Deus Ex waiting to headshot a guard with a tranq bolt. This is usually pretty tense, because unlike other games, you really can’t miss. Metal Gear and Deus Ex are far more forgiving about alerts; you can’t just run in and kill everyone if you feel like it. But waiting behind the wall with Octo-camo in MGS in order to CQC a guard whose route you memorized is exactly the same as dangling from the pipe in Splinter Cell getting ready to press Y (?) to hang upside down instead of B (? hang right side up) to allow the contextual neck snap animation while upside down. Or blackjacking a guard in Thief. Or Stun/Swording an Agent.
      And what’s particularly funny about that is, that out of every stealth game, MGS is the most forgiving and can be played almost entirely like a shooter. You don’t have to wait for the headshot. You just won’t get a good ranking. It almost rewards players you like to run and gun, since every gun you pick up from a killed enemy (and more come when you set off alerts) is equal to money, used in a store that has more guns and customization than Army of Two.

      And really, I know I scarred you with the ladder, but let it go. MGS3′s ladder is the long elevator ride that builds up tension before you sneak into the main compound. Each game has had a sequence where not much happens as you transverse a large area to reach your important destination. MGS1 had the key card running, MGS2 had the post-bombs run, MGS3 has the ladder, and MGS4 has the hallway. They each were meant to make the player a bit uncomfortable (“when’s something going to pop out at me!”) right before something big occurs. Half-life, Resident Evil (including 4), and just about any ‘tension’ game has something like this. For MGS: they are single events similar to the obligatory torture sequence, betrayal, or fight against a military aircraft.

      Part of Metal Gear’s strengths is the ability to build tension. Instead of making it constant, Kojima brings it up and down. Sections are humorous or easy and put you at ease, then followed by a build up sequence (via anticipations or light action). The ladder is the extreme example of anticipation; and the most so in the entire series (5-10 min out of 4 separate 20hr games).

      Also, the cinematic ratio is not 4-1. The game is less than half cinematics. The problem is the consistency in which this is presented (as I explained above). For example: there are almost no cinematics during the entire middle of MGS4. The middle acts have very long intro briefings and ending cinematics, but the gameplay in the middle is almost entirely uninterrupted. The issue is Act 1 has a cinematic every few minutes to show a new feature or introduce a character, similar to GTA’s “everything is a god damn tutorial” for the first few hours.

      There are certainly people who won’t like Metal Gear. The problem is the ‘problems.’ They are as exaggerated and over blow as Metal Gear’s plot. Every game has had at least one boring, 10 minute sequence as you tried to stack crates, or platform in an FPS perspective, or got lucky with a grenade throw and ended what should have been a long combat WAY too early. Even if the ladder doesn’t build tension for you (b/c you hadn’t played the game up to that point, and wouldn’t have any apprehension about entering Grojny Grad), it’s hard to knock the other 15 hrs of gameplay,…ok, 10 hrs of gameplay, 5 of cinematics, because it failed for 10 minutes.

      And seriously, how many hours did we waste to grind sheep in Overlord, backtrack in Halo, or get waylaid by Bandits when you tried to rest or travel in Baldur’s Gate.

      after ranting for this long, I think I’ve got it:
      *********************************************
      I guess my point is: Metal Gear’s faults are present in every game we’ve ever played. Take Metal Gear, which has great gameplay for 10 hrs, and 5 hrs of cinematic. Place next to game B, which has 10 hrs of B/B+ gameplay. People HATE Metal Gear, but don’t hate Game B. Does losing control of your character really bother people THAT much? Even if the same people can grind in an mmo, pause to break and watch some TV, and then go back to grinding?

    • avatar

      detnap 4:12 am on July 6, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      “[Stealth Gameplay stuff]”

      I think I look at stealth gameplay as a puzzle game. You look at the pieces and remember the pieces vs [for the most part] putting the crosshairs over the baddies. Stealth gameplay is fine for those who like it. I don’t really care for it, so for me, metal gear solid has to live or die by its story. Probably the most stealthy game that i’ve played is Beyond Good and Evil, which was fine, and a bit of No One Lives Forever 2, where you can be clever and stealthy. I would go in with guns blazing if given the opportunity. Honestly, I’ve tried splinter cell and that didn’t really do it for me either.

      “It almost rewards players you like to run and gun, since every gun you pick up from a killed enemy (and more come when you set off alerts) is equal to money, used in a store that has more guns and customization than Army of Two.”

      I think here’s another difference. When we’re playing Army of Two, you keep saying “You should upgrade your guns” and I keep saying “I don’t care”. You like the pokimon collectible aspect of weapon collecting and that just doesn’t do it for me.

      “And really, I know I scarred you with the ladder, but let it go.”

      I know, I think the big problem is that you were trying to show off with it. Remeber, we were leaving to go somewhere and you made us waith so that you could climb on top because you thought that there was going to be something cool on top (as a payoff for the “tension”. The problem is that there never was a payoff.) Again, I know that there were clever parts, but after 10ish hours of watching you crawl around, I didn’t see anything that would compell me to play the game.

      “Part of Metal Gear’s strengths is the ability to build tension. Instead of making it constant, Kojima brings it up and down. Sections are humorous or easy and put you at ease, then followed by a build up sequence”

      Right, we keep going over this again and again. There are many sections. Some are good. Some are lame. The lame sections outweigh the good sections. Not worth time.

      “Also, the cinematic ratio is not 4-1.”

      That’s a quote from you:

      “The problem is that sometimes you play for 5-10 minutes and are hit with another 20 minute cutscene.”

      and here’s what I said:

      “It’s the, as you said, segments [of] 4 to 1 ratio of cutscenes to gameplay that kills the desire to play it.”

      Looks like we said the same thing.

      “Every game has had at least one boring, 10 minute sequence as you tried to stack crates, or platform in an FPS perspective, or got lucky with a grenade throw and ended what should have been a long combat WAY too early. Even if the ladder doesn’t build tension for you (b/c you hadn’t played the game up to that point, and wouldn’t have any apprehension about entering Grojny Grad), it’s hard to knock the other 15 hrs of gameplay,…ok, 10 hrs of gameplay, 5 of cinematics, because it failed for 10 minutes.”

      As a spectator, that’s not the only place that it failed. That’s where it failed spectacularly. I keep bringing up the ladder not really because I hated it. It just shows the mentality of the people who enjoy MGS.

      “Take Metal Gear, which has great gameplay for 10 hrs, and 5 hrs of cinematic.”

      Whoa, let’s not get carried away. The gameplay is fine, but I hardly find it “great”. Remember, people have different likes and dislikes. What’s A+ to some is B- to others. Different folks, different strokes. What’s the important take away here? It’s that there are certain authorities (ie, Penny-arcade, Zero Punctuation) that agree with me. And I would also like to take this opportunity to say that I think my video game tastes fall relatively in line with the Penny-arcade guys.

      “Does losing control of your character really bother people THAT much?”

      Yes, if I have to listen to a bunch of people spout nonsense, yes, it does really bother me that much.

      “Even if the same people can grind in an mmo, pause to break and watch some TV, and then go back to grinding?”

      Hey now, I can watch TV and grind in WOW. It’s not an either/or situation. Heck, I could read arstechnica while playing WOW. How would metal gear solid play out if I watched tv and played at the same time? (I have the technology to do it)

    • avatar

      phokal 11:52 am on July 8, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Heh.

      Stealth gameplay + tranq gun + skipped cinematics = Penny arcade gives thumbs up.

      I enjoyed that, and the gunning with allies in act 1 and 2, taking down enemy encampments. You should come over and play some of it sometime.

    • avatar

      detnap 12:59 pm on July 8, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      I’m not sure I would say that he gives it “thumbs up” but here’s some select quotes that I’ve read:

      Tycho: 6/11/2008
      “I sometimes wonder why I buy every MGS game that comes out when I profess to hate them, and also authentically do hate them, but I know the answer.”

      Tycho: 6/13/2008
      ” If I fail at sneaking, the game ceases to be Metal Gear. In the space of a second, it becomes an incredibly clumsy action game. The boss battles are comprised almost entirely of this other system, a mechanism that has now been exposed for what it is: a punishment.”

      Tycho: 6/13/2008
      “I hated the game less. Is that sufficient?”

      Tycho: 6/18/2008
      “I actually like the story of Metal Gear, but it’s not told well.”

      Which is similar to my comment that the story isn’t the problem, it’s the writing.

      The odds are, you’re pulling your comment from his line:

      Tycho: 6/18/2008.
      “I only started to enjoy Metal Gear Solid once I began skipping the cutscenes.”

      No one said that there aren’t enjoyable parts to mgs, but if I need to skip 1/3 of it to enjoy it, maybe it’s not for me. But again, he’s a quasi professional video gamer. He has time to play for what he likes even with all that he dislikes about the game (bad combat, poor writing), and with the ability to skip cutscense, that really might make the game playable.

      I still stand by my statement. There are many flaws with the game. I don’t have time to play through all the flaws (bad combat, bad writing, bad cutscenes) to get to play what’s good (stealthing, shooting people with a tranq gun).

    • avatar

      Phokal 12:35 am on July 9, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      sigh…

      Combat = good. It’s no worse off than Gears at its basics (L1 to Aim over shoulder, R1 to shoot. R1 without L1 performs melee). The only lack is a blind fire mechanic to the cover system. When you take into account you can flip the side of the gun and lean around corners manually, it is hardly missed. Add on ‘other mechanics’ (going prone, running while crouched or standing, camo, CQC) and you’ve got fun mechanics, good level design, and fun AI.

      Notice no one’s complained about things people usually complain about in games. Backtracking, Levels, AI, guns that don’t feel right, broken controls (besides yahtzee), cheap off screen kills, etc. All anyone really complains about is the story. And, yes, if the 25-33% watching aspect is enough to ruin the experience for you, then it does. That doesn’t make the core/rest of it ‘bad’ however (though, for you, it can make the overall product/presentation bad). It just means you can’t ever be immersed in it because of the distraction.

      More extreme example for those that don’t like cinematics: Being pulled out of a movie with constant commercials can ruin the pacing of the movie. That doesn’t make the actual plot of the movie bad, however. For you, if the commercials were removed and the movie stitched together (which, you can do with the start button), then it’d be a good movie.

      Then there are those that enjoy the cinematics. They help build up some interesting characters and give purpose to the actions you take within the game. Sure, some just plain suck. But on average they are entertaining, and every once in awhile you simply get a good one. Much like watching most geeky entertainment (babylon 5, buffy, etc), the crappy parts are usually just build up for the better stuff.

      I think you should play it a BIT, just so you can see that the controls are fine, the combat is fun, and sneaking around is satisfying. Minor learning curve, but no more so than GTA4.

    • avatar

      detnap 7:55 pm on July 9, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      “When you take into account you can flip the side of the gun and lean around corners manually, it is hardly missed.”

      You love this feature (you’ve talked to me about it 4 times), i say meh. What i’ve played of MGS2 and what i’ve watch you play mgs3 is nothing like Gears of War other than at the most superficial level. Added to the fact is that I probably wouldn’t have played gears of war all the way through single player and that I have only played Halo with other people shows that enjoy playing FPSs/TPSs with others and find them boring alone. The only FPS that I remember playing to completion was Call of Duty 4, and I didn’t skip any of those cut scenes the first time through. The presentation was great and the game flowed in and out of cutscenes, keeping you engaged while at the same time progressing the “story”.

      All those things that you listed are problems with games, sure, and mgs4 might have missed them all. There are still plenty of problems (ie, poor writing)

      “…broken controls (besides yahtzee)…”

      You mean Yahtzee and Tycho (the ones that I am using to validate my observations of MGS), as seen in the following quote:

      “it becomes an incredibly clumsy action game. The boss battles are comprised almost entirely of this other system, a mechanism that has now been exposed for what it is: a punishment.”

      Well said, Tycho, well said. And is coming from someone who “gives it a thumbs up”

      “That doesn’t make the core/rest of it ‘bad’ however (though, for you, it can make the overall product/presentation bad). It just means you can’t ever be immersed in it because of the distraction.”

      I focus on the cut scenes because it’s there and it’s so cheesy and poorly written. If it was good, I don’t think anybody would really mind. Sure, I could skip it, and that’s fine. I’m not sure your commercial analogy applies though. There’s quite a gulf between a cutscene and a commercial (and anyway, I don’t dislike cutscenes because they mess with the presentation, it’s just that video games generally have grade B cutscenes, and I’d rather be playing videos games over watching a video game).

      “For you, if the commercials were removed and the movie stitched together (which, you can do with the start button), then it’d be a good movie.”

      Yeah… again, not the same. A movie is almost always better for everybody when you remove the commercials. Is MGS4 always better when you remove the cutscenes? What’s lost when you remove the cutscenes? What happens if I want to know what’s going on, but I don’t have time to sit through 5 hours of B grade dialogue?

      “Much like watching most geeky entertainment (babylon 5, buffy, etc), the crappy parts are usually just build up for the better stuff.”

      Yes, but it’s important to note that the crappy parts are just that, crappy. That’s what I’m saying, there’s a lot of “crappy parts”. I would be just fine watching just the Good parts of DS9. The other issue is that there may be a payoff at the end of Babylon5, but what’s the payoff in MGS? Stuff you like enough to forgive the crap (stealthing, being able to switch your weapon from one shoulder to the other, ladders) aren’t what I like (multiplayer, concisely edited story that tells the story without making you feel like you’re 11 and reading Dragonlance).

      “I think you should play it a BIT, just so you can see that the controls are fine, the combat is fun, and sneaking around is satisfying. Minor learning curve, but no more so than GTA4.”

      Hey, I’ll be more than willing to try it.

    • avatar

      phokal 12:25 pm on July 10, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      MGS4 gunplay is nothing like MGS1-3 gunplay. MGS4 plays like Gears, the others do not.

      Parts that I like don’t include “the ladder.” No one likes the ladder. You aren’t supposed to. It’s meant to make you feel unnerved or uncomfortable as you approach the ominous base of Grojny Grad (spelling…).

      Tycho’s quote: is that from his last post, where he actually begins to enjoy MGS4 (using stealth and tranq gun), or earlier? Also, boss fights are examples of where the tranq gun gameplay isn’t really used. Can’t really say any specific puzzle elements without spoiling things, but they more or less play out like older boss battles from the nes (pattern memorization. move to certain locations, perform certain actions, repeat 3 times; bosses have periods of invulnerability after being hit a couple times). In MGS1, you still had blinking invulnerability when you or they were hit. Now mask it with a blurred retreat. It was jarring the first time I fought Ocelot in MGS1, but since I’ve gotten used to it and enjoy the throwback. Ninja Gaiden, God of War and Resident Evil 4 all examples of games that do this, too.

      MGS4 has multiplayer. It’s quite fun. Pretty much a separate product included with the main game. The core gameplay stands up pretty well (though, the headshot is a bit overpowered. or body shot underpowered. a bit like gta in that regard. a separate article to discuss, i’d think :)

      The point you’ve seem to be making is “the whole game has too much bad to be good at all.”

      I disagree. The core gameplay (used in multiplayer, or single player when playing) is very fun and well built no matter how much passive entertainment hurts the product. My point is, if I skipped the intro and gave you the controller part way through act2, and you didn’t know it was MGS, you’d think it was a good game. Sure, this doesn’t ‘save’ the game for you: and it *shouldn’t*. The overall package includes too many poor cinematics for you. But that doesn’t just destroy the balance and gameplay they created in between.

    • avatar

      detnap 2:08 pm on July 10, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      “Parts that I like don’t include “the ladder.” No one likes the ladder. You aren’t supposed to. It’s meant to make you feel unnerved or uncomfortable as you approach the ominous base of Grojny Grad (spelling…).”

      Okay, but instead of calling it a boring 10 minute climb, you spin it to make it a positive part of the game. That’s the point. If they wrote in that climbing a ladder as a literary technique of building suspense, that goes back to my point that they need to spend more money on writers and less money on trying to fill 50 gigs of data. Again, story is fine. The writing is not.

      “Tycho’s quote: is that from his last post, where he actually begins to enjoy MGS4 (using stealth and tranq gun), or earlier?”

      I didn’t see him mention this actually. Maybe if you linked to a page and a quote, we can discuss it.
      I will say that he says he’s fine with the stealth, it’s the combat/writing/cutscenes that he dislikes.

      “MGS4 has multiplayer. It’s quite fun. Pretty much a separate product included with the main game. The core gameplay stands up pretty well (though, the headshot is a bit overpowered. or body shot underpowered. a bit like gta in that regard. a separate article to discuss, i’d think :) ”

      I had a feeling that you were going to say that, but I figured you’d be able read the context of “multiplayer”. When I say “Added to the fact is that I probably wouldn’t have played gears of war all the way through single player” and “The only FPS that I remember playing to completion was Call of Duty 4″ I’m talking about co-op through the campaign.

      Does MGS 4 have multiplayer through the campaign?

      “I disagree. The core gameplay (used in multiplayer, or single player when playing) is very fun and well built no matter how much passive entertainment hurts the product.”

      I think that the core MGS gameplay is probably adequate, much like the core gameplay of halo, gears of war, Army of Two. Sure, it might be better overall, but at the end of the day, it’s just a stealthing third person shooter.

      Like I mentioned, the only reason I played any of those games was because I was playing with someone else. I didn’t beat gears of war on my own. I haven’t beat Halo because I wasn’t able to find someone to campaign with me, I probably wouldn’t have beat army of two alone… The X person shooter single player is so so for me unless I’m playing with someone else. Add to the fact that there’s stealthing, which I don’t care for, and no context of what i’m doing if i’m skipping all the cut scenes, the game would need some impressive tricks to convince me that it would be good.

      “The point you’ve seem to be making is “the whole game has too much bad to be good at all.””
      I think that’s paraphrased a little incorrectly. The correct sentense is “the whole game has too much bad to be worth my time”. I’m sure there are snipplets of “good” (clever stuff that you never showed me), but the cost of getting to those (because god knows that the 10 or so hours I’ve seen of it was pretty terrible. I just had a flashback of when you were crawling around a cave stabbing crabs? Did that really happen or is that just so ridiculous that it was a parody that I saw somewhere?) is not worth it.

  • avatar

    detnap 10:56 pm on July 1, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: gus, knight rider, psych, shawn   

    Psych: TV show on USA

    I like watching tv. Psych is part of the new USA network lineup of shows in the same vein of Monk. In short, it’s about a clever character solving mysteries.

    Psych is about a detective agency with two partners, the black guy (Gus) and the white guy (Shawn). Shawn has a special ability where he can instantly recognize important clues pertaining to the case that they are currently working on. Of course, it would be too simple if he just told everybody that he was a good detective, so instead he pretends that he’s psychic and the way that he solves cases is by overacted psychic readings.

    He also is in conflict with the local head detective with playful pranks and verbal sparring. It’s good to have a source of constant conflict.

    I think that the real reason why I like this show is its reference to kitchy pop culture. From Knight Rider t-shirts to nipples on superhero costumes, the show has plenty of small notable mentions of things that are from my childhood. I would say that it’s probably a hard show to get into if you didn’t grow up in the 80′s, but if you had, it’s good stuff. Highly recommended.

     
    • avatar

      phokal 12:29 pm on July 2, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      I’ve seen a few random episodes from season 1. I’d agree 100%: I enjoyed them and found the show quite entertaining.

      If you have USA, you should be Tivo’ing this.

  • avatar

    detnap 1:23 pm on June 20, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: 2 bit color, A Dirty Job, books, Christopher Moore, Terry Pratchett   

    A Dirty Job: The Book.

    Sometimes, there are times when we do not have access to electronics. Apparently, there are other forms of media to accommodate that situation. There are these black and while pieces of paper that have icons on them arranged in a certain order that conveys ideas directly into the brain when you decode them. These things are called “books” and they entertain you when you “read” them. They don’t even require electricity. What will they think of next?

    I just  finished “reading” A Dirty Job, which is a ”book” by Christopher Moore. In short, it was pretty good in a modern day whimsical style.

    I found this book by looking for something similar to Terry Pratchett. Moore is described as entertaining, the only criticism is that he isn’t British. A Dirty Job has truly enjoyable characters and it looks at death with classic ideas in a modern setting. I think even though the plot of the book isn’t as flushed out as it could be, I though that the book was enjoyable just because we looked at the lives of entertaining characters. These characters knew they were being funny (vs Terry Pratchett, in which everything is done with tongue in cheek).

    In short, if you enjoy zainy books and like Terry Pratchett and Douglas (Hitchhiker’s Guide), this book is on the recommended list. If you only read Clancy or King, maybe you should just wait another 6 days or so when a new King book comes out.

     
  • avatar

    detnap 9:49 pm on June 12, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: red army, science, unreal 2004   

    Researchers: Red players beat blue in online game

    I don’t think we do a lot of linking to news stories, but I feel that this deserves mention because our resident host (Phokal) has an oddly ocd fetish with being on the red team. Apparently, he knew something that we didn’t.

    According to scientific research, the Red team beats the Blue team in more matches. They did a study of 1,347 online matches of Unreal tournament 2004 and they found that the red team won 55% of the time. I had always thought that Phokal’s ability to destroy me in games was due to quick reflexes, an acute sense of 3d space when viewed through a 2d plane, and a pair of superthumbs that even Fonzie would covet. I guess the truth is that he’s just always been on the red team.

    Source

     
    • avatar

      phokal 12:21 pm on June 16, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Hah. I thought of posting this and you beat me to it.

      My ‘love’ of Red team hearkens back to Team Fortress for Quake 1. I never liked constantly switching sides in CTF for Quake; it was confusing which side to shoot. So I wanted to pick one side and just associate the other with enemy.

      I liked to play the Pyro in TF,…the red Pyro looked appropriate shooting a flame thrower while the blue one just looked odd. I joined the Red Army and haven’t looked back since.

      Nowadays we get almost completely random teams in games like CoD4 (US, Middle East, and Soviet factions) or GTA4 that all look fairly similar. Or games like America’s Army, where you are always on America’s side, and the enemy always looks like Terrorists… and the perspective is vice versa for the other team.

      Remember: Blue sucks. Red rules.

  • avatar

    detnap 2:55 pm on June 9, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: adam sandler, bad movie, severe beating of a bus driver, zohan   

    You Don't Mess with the Zohan. Watch It. 

    You Don’t Mess with the Zohan. Watch It.

    It’s funny. That’s all you need to know. Sure, it got crushed in the reviews, but who are you watching movies for? Them or you?

    (More …)

     
    • avatar

      Phokal 1:09 pm on June 10, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      1) Jamie Foxx has won an Academy Award.

      2) Rob Schneider needs work.

      I be sold. Now I just need to convince a group of friends…
      Or perhaps just wait until dvd?

    • avatar

      phokal 1:13 pm on June 10, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      also, beating of a bus driver = huh?

      And you should get an Icon for your wordpress account.

    • avatar

      detnap 3:36 pm on June 10, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      1. Yeah, and Adam Sandler has had a couple of normal roles (Reign over me and Punch Drunk Love) which I think he did a fine job in.
      I would say that probably “In Living Color” has released a higher “per capita” list of successful actors than Saturday Night Live.
      2. Rob Schneider does need work. That’s why he’s friends with Adam Sandler. There’s always a pizza delivery guy or a taxi driver minority in Sandler’s movies and Rob will milk that for all that’s worth.

      Also, I would recommend maybe not trying to convince people to go with you. Wait for them to come to you because if they don’t like it, they will REALLY not like it and they may revoke your ability to pick a movie in the future. If you can’t find anybody, a DVD in the privacy of your own home will work too.

      The Severe beating of a bus driver is a skit from Sandler’s comedy routine CD (titled “they’re all going to laugh at you”). It was released over a decade ago, and I had mentioned that I had listed to it during my formative years, so that may explain certain abilities to enjoy Sandler.

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