Thursday, December 31, 2009

What to do... what to do...

I’m currently playing Dragon Age Origins for the PC. After that there are no games I’m looking forward to for a few months; the next thing I’m planning on playing is the upcoming Borderlands downloadable content.

With a foreseeable 2-3 month lull in my gaming schedule I’m trying to consider my options. I’ve wanted to go back to WoW to check out the new patch, but I still don’t like how the game works over all. The amount of gear elitism that encompasses WoW is a huge turn off for me. I have considered going back to Warhammer Online. If the game has improved on its performance I could squeeze atleast a month out of that game. WoW or WAR are nice choices because they don’t require me buying another game.

Then there is EverQuest 2. I have wanted to go back to that game a lot over the past 9 months. I would more than likely just buy another copy since I lost mine. I love the lore in EQ2 but I honestly don’t know enough about the game to really way the pros and cons. Lord of the Rings Online suffers the same issues, I know very little about the game and would have to buy a copy. I don’t see myself playing either of them through more than half the levels so it just seems a turn off.

Then there is Mortal Online. I’ve had access to the Beta for four months or so? Maybe longer, since the 2nd phase of beta invites. I’ve only logged on a few times and the game looks fairly promising. This is probably my first choice since it’s free and I just need to download the content.

Then there are the things outside of the internet I should be doing. Not having a video game drawing me to my office every night would encourage me to fix up the last few things around our house. I could finally finish putting my ATV back together and getting it ready for this next year, but my race series doesn’t start for another 4 months. Then there is also my Warhammer 40K Orc army that is still unpainted or my Guitar.

Yes I’m a man with a lot of hobbies. I attempt to do all of this while working full time, being in the Army reserves, being married and raising two kids… oh and I’m suppose to start college again in the spring.

Maybe not having a game for a few months is a good idea though that would make this blog rather boring. Anyway I cut it there is some time to think on it.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

X-Play is a glorified Infomercial

I don’t like X-Play on G4. I know that may seem sacrilegious considering I’m a gamer but the show is as biases as any of the opinion news shows on any of the major channels. Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb pander to what is already popular rather than intelligently critiquing video games.

If the game isn’t launched on the X-Box 360 then it is lucky to get any air time at all. It almost seems that X-Play has a side deal with Microsoft to talk their system up and degrade the Playstation 3 and the Nintendo Wii. I understand the X-Box is a very popular system, however the sort of blind praise Adam Sessler heaps on it makes me think he completely missed the 4 years of Red Rings.

Last night during their “worst of 2009” show they made an offhand comment about how the Wii was only popular in 2006 by grandmas. The comment felt rather closed minded. I will admit that the Wii lacks quality 3rd party support but it is a very entertaining gaming system. It seems that X-Play has forgotten that these gaming systems need to be fun and that can be had without the excessive violence some of the other games use to cover up their lack of quality.

I know most media shows that review anything are always a little biased but it would be nice if the primary source of televised video game reviews tried to be supportive of the entire genre and not just the select few they prefer.

Everyone has different taste. You however gave up your right to judge a game based solely on your preference when you choose to be a critic, at least if you want to keep any sign of creditability. Siskel and Ebert are legends not because they only gave thumbs up to what they liked, they looked past their own prejudices and saw the true quality with in the movie.

Until more critics can do this we will be forced to watch commercials in the disguise of legitimate critic shows.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Popularity isn't everything

Popularity doesn’t always mean quality. Many things have gone “viral” over the past decade that are widely considered to be lacking quality. The easiest example I can think of is McDonalds. McDonalds is by far the most popular fast food restaurant around the world and at the same time offers an extremely low quality of food that is extremely unhealthy. Some things are simply popular because of marketing rather than substance.

Ten years ago, heck even five years ago, if a few friends spoke highly of a video game it meant something. If the game got good reviews it was considered creditable and if it broke any sales record for that time is was a sure bet the game had quality. That kind of assurance doesn’t exist anymore in the video gaming community.

The world is capitalist, sure the USA’s economy is the most capitalist in the world but everyone wants to make money. When one person, company, or developer see’s that a specific market can be profitable they enter it. The goal is to make a profit and dominate the market early or duplicate what is already a success. This is where the pitfalls begin.

Video games didn’t become popular because of mass market targeting or advertising. Video games thrived because developers were making games they wanted to play. When you create something with love and passion it shows through. I think a lot of the newer video games are starting to lack this… more to the point they are devoid of it.

A few of the larger publishing companies saw what kind of profit potential was in video games. Rather than fostering the current design philosophy they created a new one, build something that sells. A game developer can’t create a good game if they have no interest in the genre. They are out of touch with their customers and the game will show it.

Video games are going the same way the movie industry went. Big budget special effects will get a shocking opening weekend take but lack the long haul that makes it a true classic. As long as these companies can launch a game with a bang before its shortcomings shot through then they will continue to make a profit. Look at Titanic for example. It is one of the most viewed movies of all time and is also considered one of the 100 worst movies of all time.

Clearly popularity isn’t everything.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Happy Holidays

Have a good weekend. Spend time with family or if you lack family spend it playing video games. Just have fun.

See you all on Monday!

(By all I mean me)

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Forum users annoy me

Online Forums… almost everyone uses them. If you play video games you probably use them more than most people. Over the last 6 years online forums have risen as the primary source for sharing information or building communities. Some of the unlikeliest of industries are adopting them as common place.

I have been on one forum or another since 1995, so about 14 years. My first experience of internet forums was on a school district computer doing a pilot program from my Junior High School. I saw a lot of pornography at an early age because of this, but that isn’t the point.

Posting on forums isn’t as simple as writing something then hitting the submit button. A lot of people who are new to internet conversations don’t realize the effect words can have without voice tone or facial expressions. Sarcasm is easy to read when you hear the inflection’s in someone’s voice but when you are only reading text, it is nearly impossible to catch. I’ve tried to explain to newer internet users that a smiley face or a simple lol can help ease a comment and let other readers know you are joking. Furthermore the reader’s personal emotional place will lend a lot to how they interpret your post. If they are having a bad day, expect them to take it personally for instance.

The internet does not adhere to America’s 2nd Amendment right to the Freedom of Speech. Nearly everything on the internet is owned by one person or another, it didn’t just happen by its self. What most people fail to realize is that you do not have the right to say whatever you want on a media provided by a company or person. You are subject to their rules. The United States of America gives you the right to speak your mind, in a public forum. That is meant to be a public place. Internet forums are privately owned and maintained.

People have a sick sense of entitlement when it comes to things on the internet. They feel as though they should have an equal right to everything. Every website, internet provider and web browser is out to make a profit. They do what they do in the hopes of making money and paying the bills.

It’s amazing how much better the internet would be if people stopped and considered how other may take what they type.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Modern Warfare 2 isn't that great...

I’m going to go against the grain here with Modern Warfare 2 here. I like the game but at the same time I hate how the game was implemented. I’ve only played the single player campaign a little and don’t really have much more to say about that than I already did. My issue is the horrible implantation and balance in Multiplayer which is supposed to be the bread and butter of MW2.

Levels matter too much. Maybe I’m still behind the times when it comes to First Person Shooters but the weapons you get from being a higher level seem far to over powered. I had been complaining about dying to the duel wielded double barrel shotguns for two days until I finally found one on the ground to use, I’m too low of a level to spawn with them. They were as over powered as I thought when dying to them. I didn’t even have to aim my cross hairs at the target. If someone is on my screen and I pull the trigger they die, it’s that easy. Someone who is level 40 or higher will always have a HUGE advantage against lower level players. Sure I agree levels are not a bad idea, however the way Infinity Ward did the bonuses seems unfair. I thought, prior to playing, that it would just give me more choices of weapons and variety… not just huge damage weapons. It just seems poorly balanced.

My other huge complaint is the hackers. I ended up leaving 2 games because of speed hackers. They would run so fast that more often than not you didn’t realize you were dead until you saw the instant replay. They would sprint in and stab you with a knife and then sprint away. It made the game unbearable. If the games were being hosted on dedicated servers with anti-cheating/hacking software I think it would reduce the amount of this. I’ve also seen other players call people out for aim bots, though I just mark that up to me sucking.

The method you connect to multiplayer games leaves a lot to be desired. This new IWNet was suppose to be huge advances in player hosted games however it is far from even good. The amount of setting changes one has to make on their router astonished me. Anyone who isn’t well versed in computers would simply be unable to change their NAT settings and connect to multiplayer games. It is a horrible design with very little online support for it. It took me 2 hours of google searches to find the CORRECT ports to open up for NAT to work and that was still a guess at the end because everything was XBox 360 related.

All in all Modern Warfare 2 is a good game with a lot of bad features. Some of the higher level weapons need to be toned down and we need some method for detecting and preventing hacks and cheats. If it continues like this I won’t be logging on anymore.

Friday, December 18, 2009

The problem with MMO Developers

I think most Massively Multiplayer Game developers have lost their way over the last 4 years. Ever since the success of World of Warcraft other developers have focused on WoW and EverQuest as the primary source of inspiration for game mechanics. What developers don’t seem to remember is that WoW and EQ drew their inspiration from other genre’s because a MMO genre didn’t exist at the time.

Game developers are focusing on taking what was good in another MMO rather than trying to invent something new. I think it’s fairly closed minded to blame the lack of innovation on Blizzard though. You can’t blame them for making a game so popular everyone wants to mimic it. What developers need to realize is that Blizzard never set out or expected to be this game developer. When they created World of Warcraft the ideal market was 200,000 subscribers.

If a game developer would step outside the box and try creating their own content based on innovative ideas rather than copy and pasting from Blizzard we would see another strong success in the market place. Game developers fear failure though. They aren’t creating the game they want to play anymore, they are creating a game they think they can sell. Developers use to design games based on how they wanted a game to play and to this day you see that with WoW. The game gets updates and changes based on what the development team wants to play. Other games need to take a note from this.

The sad thing about MMOs is I think that no one is willing to be different. Sure a few small companies have tried with games like Darkfall and Mortal Online, but no one with a large budget. Until a large developer is willing to step up back a development team who makes a game they want to play rather than what the accountants think will sell WoW will remain on top.

The sad thing is I don’t think anyone is going to do this until Blizzard does this. I have a feeling Blizzard is the only developer willing to make another game they want to play. They don’t have to worry about “cloning” WoW because they ARE WoW. A lot of people say it’s harder to be on top because you have nowhere to go but down, but in this case I think it’s the best place. Blizzard doesn’t want to dethrone the king; they just want to create another Kingdom. No matter how small or big it is as long as they don’t steal their own customers they will continue to make a profit.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

I don't want to be in your Beta anymore

I don’t want to beta games anymore. To me Beta testing games has always been about more than just getting a game early. I honestly took pride in what I was doing and tried to test the game rather than simply play it.

I’ve beta tested more games than I can count anymore. I was in Diablo 2 closed beta and got my name in the credits to nearly every MMO in the past 5 years and quite a few before that. The problem with a Beta test is you use up the Honeymoon game phase before the game is ever released. Some beta’s can last weeks to months and every day a beta goes on is potentially one less day I would play the game down the road. It all adds up to burn out.

I have opted out of all Beta’s since Warhammer Online, I just haven’t had the heart to play one since then. Sure I bought Mortal Online early and logged in a hand full of times during the 2nd phase of beta testing, but nothing longer than a few minutes. What I’ve come to realize since Warhammer is I like games more when I don’t beta test them. I like being ignorant of games.

I know it sounds weird and it is the opposite mentality of most gamers. However it makes the entire game more interesting to me. I got into video games because of the stories in Role Playing Games, if someone had told me the end of those games I probably wouldn’t have played much longer. It didn’t use to be about being the best, it use to be about simply playing the game.

In the words of Cypher from The Matrix “Ignorance is bliss”. Not knowing the outcome of a game makes it that much more enjoyable.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Modern Warfare 2 Airport scene… Military perspective

Yes I bought Modern Warfare 2. I haven’t played it that much but I have played past the Airport level with the Russians. I’m not entirely sure how to begin this because my opinion is still fractured on this. On one hand it does carry a very emotional and valid story throughout the level and on the other hand it was completely unnecessary.

The Airport level is by far one of the most shocking bits of video gaming I have ever played. I won’t call it more violent or gory than anything else because to be perfectly honest it wasn’t. However compared to any other game I’ve played, including the long despised Grand Theft Auto series, this was by far the most emotionally shocking. For those that don’t know the jist of the level is that you are an undercover US Army Ranger with a Russian terrorist group who enter a Russian airport and massacre unarmed civilians that are running from you.

The level does in fact help to set the tone for the rest of the game. It’s more or less the climax of the story arch where the War is concerned and it is done very well. If the civilians had been enemy soldiers, even unarmed, it wouldn’t be an issue at all. That’s what makes me think this shouldn’t be an issue. Just because the targets were rendered in different skins then the other hundred people you have already shot up until this point makes it inappropriate. I’m not so apt to jump on the inappropriate content bandwagon just because of them being civilians. The game gives you plenty of options to skip this level and if you still wish to view it you don’t have to participate in the killing of the civilians.

You play PFC Jacobson who is an undercover US Army Ranger; this is where I have my problem. Your commander asks you to enter the world undercover and commit atrocities in the mission briefing. He says you will “lose a piece of yourself” in this mission. That is my real complaint. No self respecting soldier, no matter what the situation would or SHOULD allow this to happen. Maybe I’m an idealist NCO in the US Army but I could never bring myself to do this. In fact I would demand the execution of any US Soldier who did this.

This mission is more akin to what some Soldiers did in Vietnam. The US Military has tried to project its soldiers as professional peace keepers, not violent animals. We get in trouble for wearing any emblem that glorifies death even when on missions where the objective is to eliminate enemy combatants. I just can’t bring myself to fathom what kind of soldier would do this or be okay with the representation of us doing it… even if it is only a video game.


Yes this level does have substantial significance to the overall story of Modern Warfare 2. However that could have been just as easily achieved if this group of Russian Terrorists had tried to bomb a building or attack a Military installation. It was intentionally done to illicit a response from the media and public. I don’t condemn Infinity Ward for doing this, but I fully understand the public opposition to it.

The freedom of speech and media does in fact give them the right to produce this material just as I’m free to give my opinion on it. At some point though you need to reflect on yourself and wonder if this is really what you want to publish to the public.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Modern Warfare 2

I’m considering buying Modern Warfare 2. I haven’t really been into a Call of Duty game since CoD 2 so I missed the whole Modern Warfare craze.

My original reasons for not picking up Modern Warfare 2 are fairly simple; I’m not a huge First Person Shooter fan. I love RPGs and Strategy games; that’s not to say I don’t like some FPS games I just don’t follow them closely. I didn’t know HOW popular Modern Warfare 2 was going to be or I probably would have paid it more attention. The other reason why I didn’t pick it up, and incidentally the major reason I heard about it was that it didn’t support dedicated servers. It’s not that I have some huge idealist opinion on this, it just felt like having players host the game was a step backwards in game development.

Now I’m considering getting it. Nearly my entire platoon is playing it on one system or another, be it Xbox 360, Playstation 3, or yes even PC. I’m primarily a PC gamer but even so I would be able to find a few fellow soldiers to play with. A few of my other friends I have gamed with since Starcraft came out are playing on PC as well. Another major reason I’m considering this is that my friends have commented on how “real” this game is. Coming from a military background I would love to play a game where teamwork and strategy are more important that “twitch” reactions that often dominate most FPS games. I’m not saying I don’t expect MW2 to rely on fax reflexes but I’m hoping it won’t be a cheesy frag fest.

Right now I’m not willing to pay full price for Modern Warfare 2. If it goes on sale for 20% or more over the next few weeks I will pick it up, but until then I’m going to stick with Borderlands until it has run it course.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Back into the Pit!!!... maybe

So I want to play World of Warcraft again. The last week while playing other games I have considered going back to WoW. The problem is that I know it would only be a temporary move. There is a small part of me… well okay it’s a big part of me that plays MMOs for the end content. I’ve been to the top of the mountain and I can’t stay entertained at the bottom anymore.

I’ve gone over it a few times in my head, what class I would play, what server, what race even as far as to think of which trade skills to focus on. The thing that holds me back is that I know once I reach level 80 I’m going back to the gear treadmill. That treadmill wouldn’t be so bad if I knew there were options but there aren’t. Each class and spec has a best in slot item, if I don’t get that I’m not maximizing my characters potential.

Now I know there have been a lot of anti-gear posts going around the internet lately and for the most part I agree with it. The player makes the character good, not the gear. The catch for me is though if I’m going to try and play a character shouldn’t I try to maximize him in every way? If I’m going to read up on shot rotations on Elitist Jerks then shouldn’t spending time farming badges and gear be just as important?

I guess it is perhaps a stigma I must get over myself. I couldn’t bring myself to play a melee Hunter because I know I would level easier playing a Hunter normal. However could I simply choose gear based on what presented its self to me, or will I get drawn into the never ending hunt for that best in slot item?

I guess it’s part me and part WoW. When I play a MMO I want to play to my best ability, including best gear. The other part is I don’t want to be forced into a certain item hunt. I want options. I want my character to be different from all the other Hunters on my server and still be just as good.

Is that possible? To be different and equal? Probably not. More than likely I will try out WoW again after Borderlands has run its course and then a month later I will be fed up with it all over again.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Not everywhere has an internet connection

On one hand I love what Steam has done with gaming. It’s more or less my one stop shop now days for a video game. I’ve bought my last 4 games through Steam directly; the last game I had a hard copy of was a gift. Xbox Live, Playstation 3, and even the Wii all have content which can be purchased only over the internet. The PSP Go is the direction I think most gaming is going to be going in the next 5 years, download only content.

My personal problem with this is that when I go back overseas, and I know I will, I will not be able to buy or play new video games. Game developers and gaming hardware developers seem to believe the entire world currently runs on the internet and while a good portion of it does, not everyone does. Even some consumers who have internet connections are faced with Bandwidth caps limiting the amount of traffic permitted over their connection. The world is not yet completely connected.

So while many bloggers, developers, and gamers may be praising the future of this form of media commerce I personally fear it. It may not mean the end of gaming while deployed for me but it certainly is a setback. I couldn’t imagine only being able to play games 4 or 5 years old because they are the only ones sold in hardcopy form.

Some of you may think I’m blowing this out of proportion but consider this, when we were deployed in 2006 we primarily played Counter Strike. We HAD to burn a copy of an older version of Counter Strike because all of the ones being sold on Gamestop REQUIRED Steam, which requires an internet connection. Counter Strike supported single player and LAN connection play but Steam was required to install the game. (It didn’t say that anywhere on the packaging or on Gamestop’s website when we bought 5 copies)

I truly feel that if the gaming industry switches to a download only form of distribution they will greatly hurt a small portion of their loyalist fans… and in some ways most deserving customers. The gaming soldier is a minority in any country and I feel often over looked.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Gaming in the Military

I’ve more or less avoided the topic of Military and gaming, not sure why. Sometimes I feel since I do Communications in the Reserves I have less of a right to speak out on the needs or desires of my fellow soldiers. I have been to Iraq and back and gamed the whole time I was overseas.

I think I’m going to be doing a short series on Military Gaming though. Gaming and the Army are two things I am passionate about and I think a lot of people are considering how much soldiers in the United States Military rely on gaming as a stress relief.

If your average gamer uses video games to escape from the everyday stress of life the soldier does so and then some. For a deployed soldier a video game isn’t just relieving stress but a return to home. Playing a game you loved at home while being deployed brings a little bit of home with you. Whenever I got really depressed in Iraq I could load up Diablo 2 and as long as I was still staring at my screen I was back home, in my parents’ house safe. A familiar video game can be as useful as a phone call home or a picture of a loved one.

Any sort of game can help with stress. As a soldier I am required to take various classes on dealing with stress and identifying suicidal and homicidal signs. Intramural sports to board games can help alleviate any of these issues. While no game alone can solve these issues a game does assist in releasing stress and puts in you a situation with other people who can talk to you about your feelings.

What bothers me is that I feel most game developers are going to be overlooking this market in the near future. Deployed soldiers don’t have the internet. We can’t down load games, or patches, or verify a key code through Steam. If gaming is really moving towards soft copies of all games Soldiers are going to be left without a valued means of entertainment.

Blizzard's games over the next 3 years

This is all guessing. I do think I'm going to be close though. This is what I feel the order and rough time releases will be for Blizzard over the next 3 years.

2010
February - Starcraft 2 Beta begins
May - Starcraft 2 Launches
October - WoW Catclysm Launches
November - StarCraft 2 Expansion

2011
April - Starcraft 2 Expansion
June - WoW Major content patch
October - Diablo 3

2012
March - Unannounced WoW expansion
November - New MMO

I think Starcraft 2 is pretty easy to map out. It is due the first quater of 2010 and based on everything seen it is nearly done. The public beta is really the only thing remaining. WoW wont last another year without Catclysm launching so that has to come by the end of 2010. The SC2 expansion are planned one every 6 months so that is easy aswell. Diablo 3 appears to be about 75% done and considering the void in the Holiday season of 2011 that is a perfect time to launch that.

The catch is another WoW expansion versus Blizzards new MMO. Before I really drew out a calendar I would have bet that the new MMO would release before another expansion after Catclysm... but I just don't see that happening.

Blizzard will try to avoid launching 2 games at once and with 4 titles that is going to be hard to balance. WoW wont last until the end of 2012 without another expansion. However I think the MMO market is more than ready for a new MMO.

The more I think about it the more I want to say Blizzard's new MMO will be out prior to Nov 2012 but considering Blizzard's average development time and the fact that we know NOTHING about it yet makes me think 2 1/2 years or more.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Borderlands

I had two posts about Borderlands ready... but I wasn't feeling them. In all honesty Borderlands is a good game. If you have 3 other friends that want to play pick it up. It will keep the 4 of you happy and entertained for a month or two.

The story is sort of weak but interesting. The voice acting is great but lacks variety. The game is very funny and all and all well done.

I recomend Borderlands but I'm honestly not so in love with it I can spend two days posting about it. It has very few things that one can complain about and given the amount of bad video games being released every week that is something to brag about.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

StarCraft 2

Last Tuesday my boss came in and asked me if I had ever played StarCraft. I was truly at a loss for words. How would I properly convey my level of experience with this game to him? StarCraft came out when I was 17. My two neighbors and I found a group of beta testers who had been floating around top 20 of the ladder rankings during the entire beta test. We played with them 4 or more hours every night upon release.

IGN hosted its first 2v2 tournament and we formed two teams that took 1st and 2nd place. The only people we ever lost to was one another. We sought out all the top ladder players and arranged matches with them. After launch none of us really spent any time trying to climb the ladder, we played for the fun of it. The competition and challenge of beating our friends what made the game fun.

StarCraft was the single most influential game in my life. Not the game it’s self but what the game allowed me. Four of my closet friends I met on Battle.net by chance. We happened to live a few miles from one another and met up. For 10 years now we have gamed together, lived together off and on, and hung out doing various things.

StarCraft also taught me that most people are bad at video games. I would overhear people talking about StarCraft in High School classes and how they “owned someone with a mass carrier” strategy. This taught me that my gaming was better left in silence. I would rather no one knew I played video games than suffer through ignorance.

When StarCraft 2 comes out all of my friends and I that met in StarCraft will be throwing a party together. This is like our High School reunion. I know since we have aged our skill will not be what it once was, however I know that I will never consider a mass carrier assault a viable strategy.

Monday, December 7, 2009

The Droid

The Droid does everything… almost. I’ve been watching a lot of Verizon ads lately for their new phone, The Droid. What’s interesting about this phone is that the advertisers are taken are more or less ignorant and sensationalist approach to promoting it. Obviously the Droid is directly competing with the iPhone by AT&T. Droid’s selling point has been that it does everything that the iPhone doesn’t without the plush “princess” prettiness of the iPhone. What I don’t understand is why it can’t be both? Why does Verizon feel the need to insinuate that I don’t need an attractive looking phone? What if I want a pink phone, that’s my choice.

Really if we are going on applications and ability to do various tasks I KNOW what an iPhone can do, and it pretty much does everything I would want in a phone. So that what does the Droid do that the iPhone doesn’t do? The only thing I can think of is a few small features that would be noticeable by less that 5% of the users.

The only reason I would get a Droid over an iPhone is ironically enough because of another commercial Verizon is running. They obviously have a much LARGER 3G network. If my new phone needs the 3G network to run all its features then I’m going with the largest in the country, as I do travel.

All this aside my work provides me with a piece of junk Sprint phone which is good enough for me. If I were to buy my own though it would probably be a Blackberry Touch of some sort.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Selfish Gamers

Tobold’s blog about soloing got me sort of riled up. Why is it that everyone feels they are entitled to play any game how they want? It’s infuriating. This is probably why I’m so anti-social. It’s not that I don’t like people, I love hanging out with my friends. It’s that the vast majority of the people I meet are selfish thoughtless morons.

I want to blame it on parents but its society as a whole. Sure it takes a tribe to raise a child but it only takes a few idiots to screw one up. It isn’t even the younger people. In this politically correct over sensitive world we live in today everyone feels they are entitled to everything. The world isn’t fair and you don’t always get what you want.

That is a huge foundation for capitalism. If you don’t like something, make something better and sell it. People are just lazy now days, they want existing companies to cater to their every whim rather than settle or go out and do it themselves.

Most of my family thinks I’m a very strict parent. My the standards I remember I’m rather easy. I don’t spank my kids, I haven’t grounded them for more than a hour at a time (I was once grounded for 3 months). However because SOCIETY spares the rod now in hopes to spare the child everything is getting messed up.

Look at yourself. Do you like the person you are? Then parent the way your parents treated you. Repeat the steps and hope for the best. Change things, but don’t for one instance think you are being their friend. You are their parent.

I hate the vast majority of people. Not because I don’t like people, but because I don’t have time to waste on morons. It drives my wife nuts but I will not sit at some random event and wait for my turn to speak with strangers. That is not a conversation. That is the problem with society and as such video games. Everyone thinks they are their own special snow flake, when really they are just pompous clowns.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Been AFK

I haven’t Blogged in a month. It seems like Tobold is a curse for me. Everytime I ask his opinion of how my blog is going I lose interest in posting. Like everything in my life my passions change like the tides. One day I will love painting miniatures for my 40K Warhammer Army and the next I will want nothing more than to play my Wii.

Blogging is the same way. Some days I can’t wait to voice my opinion others… well it’s meh. I haven’t even been interested in reading blogs. The last few days I’ve slowly started reading Gevlon and Tobold’s blogs again. Keen will have to wait a little while longer before I’m ready for him.

I guess playing Borderlands has really rekindled my interest in games. Borderlands is one of those simple yet pure games. It’s almost a throwback of how games were made 15 years ago. It’s amazingly refreshing and I think if the game had more outside support via dedicated servers it would actually hurt the game. I really don’t know how to describe it. Borderlands takes our old fashion hack and slash RPG model changes it to first person view adds guns and puts it in a post apocalyptic fallout typesetting… all while being cell shaded.

The only down side is you can tell this games interface was designed with a console gamer in mind. Nearly everything is done from the key board when it comes to navigating menu’s. It’s annoying but if that’s the only compliant I have then it’s a good game.

If Borderlands can keep me playing until the end of the year I will consider it well worth the $50 I paid via steam. Even if it doesn’t keep me interested for more than another week I will still feel that it was money well spent.

Thanks Borderlands for making me care about video games again!