Thursday, January 29, 2009

Blog #1: No duh your PSP won't survive a disaster

So, the first blog in a new system of...restrictions, I guess. Excitement overwhelms me. And the topic is...natural disasters. Great. This article is a stretch, but it works. So, game systems and natural disasters. Fairly obvious to me, but it seems some are stupid enough to think their PSP/PS3/Wii/DS could survive tornados/hurricanes/earthquakes/world blowing up. The article discusses how the DS is more probable to survive a disaster than the PSP, due to the design. (It was at this point that I realized I was supposed to not summarize the article, but kept it anyways.) The PSP has been able to live through things, as can most game systems, but natural disasters? Please, who would believe that? Well...morons I guess. This would be comparable to a guy saying, "Don't worry buddy, you cat will survive being lit on fire and thrown over a clife. He's durable." That would also be stupid. Much moreso though. Okay, so, moral of the story: don't be stupid. Seriously, don't. Otherwise smart people like me will laugh at you. Actually, that entertains me... On second thought, go ahead and be stupid.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

What Rock Band Can Help You Do Musically (kotaku.com)

(more kotaku stuff) So you've probably heard of Rock Band. Or Rock Band 2. Or Guitar Hero. Or Audiosurf. Or any music game...meh. Many people have said that playing with plastic "instruments" gives none of the real feel of playing an instrument. Well, that's mostly true. If you played Guitar Hero, and then tried a real guitar, you'll notice there aren't 5 brightly colored buttons that you press. On a real guitar, there are like 200 buttons. For this issue of real vs. fake, Harmonix boss Alex Rigopulos said, "First of all, in Rock Band the singing gameplay is really singing, and the game feedback on the singer’s pitch really does help people become better singers. And while the drumming gameplay isn’t an exact replication of real drumming, it’s certainly a sufficiently close simulation that players develop skills which they can directly apply to real drumming. I am continually seeing people migrate from Rock Band onto real drums naturally." But, as I mentioned before, the guitars are really not similar. Overall, in list of most realistic for instruments: microphone>drums>guitar/bass.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Street Fighter IV controllers (kotaku.com)

(Having not gotten any of my magazines in a while, so...back to articles on kotaku) Okay...heard of Street Fighter IV? Or any Street Fighter game? Or...a fighting game? If you've ever played a fighting game in an arcade, you've most likely seen the button layout and joystick. Those big red buttons that glare so harshly when you lose. Anyways, Street Fighter IV is coming out soon, a game that many are looking forward to. It is similar to the old games, but has a new art style and online play, and is coming out for the PS3 and 360. In case you're one of those arcade-addicts who refuses to play a fighting game without the arcade layout, don't worry. You're in luck (...lack of humor today). In Japan, Hori has developed an arcade controller for SF4, one for the PS3 and one slightly different one for the 360. The 360 one has just 6 buttons, while the PS3 has eight buttons and a turbo that enables 20 presses-per-second button presses....I could make a joke about that, but...meh. The 360 one will cost ¥7,980 (US$89) while the PS3 one will cost ¥9,800 (US$110).

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Oh man...so tired (Reviews, part 2)

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...ugh, now I'm really getting tired. See all the z's? That means I'm tired. Ok, Chrono Trigger, for the DS. This was a GREAT game on the Super Nintendo, but then came the PS version, which was just not as good. Chrono Trigger is an RPG about a group of time-traveling adventurers. OH, but see BACK THEN, that was COMPLETLY ORIGINAL. Never been done before. This remake for the DS, is actually true, and great. This is everything the original game had, but slightly more. In a good...great way. The game got an A+, and a Gold Award. Okay, the next game = terrible. Okay, average...but terrible in my opinion mostly because I hate football. (If anyone didn't know that, I'd actually be fairly surprised.) Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff, for the DS, is a remake of (I believe) a SNES game. It was cool at the time, but now...well, short answer: No. Long answer: Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. To start off with, the game has terrible music. Also, there are unneccesary changes to the game that only worsen it. The game got a C, C+, and B-.

Oh man...so tired (Reviews, part 1)

Ugh...these blog posts are really starting to get annoying. Okay, first up is Valkyria Chornicals. (Hope I didn't talk about these before.) This game is a PS3 exclusive and is a tactical-rpg. If you don't know what that is, sorry, there's nothing to compare this game to. This game is already really unique as it is. This game is praised for being extremely varied, and for it's beautiful visuals. The game combines tactical game play with third person action, with role-playing elements as well. One flaw of this game though is that there can be too much text at certain times, and with a lack of many cutscenes, that can be annoying. The game got an A-, and got the Gold Award. Next, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm, another PS3 exclusive. Hearing the word Naruto in here may make some go, "OMGOMGOMGOMG! I LOVES NARUTO!!!!!" but it may also make others go, "LOL! NAURTO IS STOOPID!." I'm perosnally somewhere inbetween the two. This is a fighting game for the most part, but also occasionally an adventure game. The fighting system is fairly intricate, and is pretty fun. The game also has great graphics, and a fairly good story mode. The game got a B.