I am 150% against the undead/zombie/vampire/werewolf craze, but my love for Morrigan from Nightstalkers will never die. I came across this the other day and had to post it. Hands down best cosplay of Morrigan ever.
...this was spur of the moment, but dont worry my really really good blog about the game of the decade will be done soon
so i have been way too busy this past couple months to do anything really on gamespot. its been hard enough to even post a comment let alone take the time to write out a worthwhile blog. so heres just a little update, thats if anyone even cared where i have been.
198d: the (soon to be) EMT
thats correct, i have just finished my EMT-Basic course not too long ago, and i couldnt be happier to never have to take that crap again (doing an accelerated course = end of life). i am about to get my National Registry Exam out of the way and be on the streets saving lives in no time. this will be exciting.
back in the bay:
its past december 10th, so that means that 198d's lease is up in long beach, and back to the bay i go...errr went. i just finished moving the last of my stuff back up north the other day. i cant wait to be with my long time friends and family, just in time for the holidays! i will take the bay over the beach anyday. its good to be back.
so stay tuned, beacuse my next blog will done in the next few weeks, now that i have some spare time. lets just say it will be the blog of the decade.
I wake up this morning and go onto gamespot to see that I have a new message. Its subject is "JodyR is now tracking your contributions". I'm thinking "alright! a new person tracking me!" This always makes me happy to see someone is actually interested in my opinions, even though they are usuallly negative. I go onto JodyR's profile and the first thing I see is "California Girl" for her banner. Rad, I love Cali girls. Next thing I see is the "Gamespot Staff" accolade. My thought process totally changed. Now I'm thinking to myself, "did I do something wrong? Is my negativity not wanted on GS?" I then scroll down and look at her blog entitled, "Oh no, Staff is tracking me!" The blog basically says that if she is tracking me then she believes I am an important contributor to the site, and that she is not tracking me because I'm on her ****list.
Wow, me, an important contributor.
I would like to thank JodyR in having some faith in my editorials, even though there have only been a few of them so far. Not to worry however, I get pissed off pretty easy so there will be many more thoughtful blogs on the way.
Today I logged onto gamespot to see what is new in the gaming world, like I do every other day, and something really struck the wrong chord. On the home page was a link for the new trailer for Red Dead Redemption, DLC named "Undead Nightmare." This looks to be like new missions involving John Marston in the wild west, but instead now he's killing....you guessed it, zombies.
**I am just going to say this right now, I do not own RDR and I do not plan on buying it any time soon (even if my RROD 360 did work).
"Outlaws to the end" DLC was released as a free download that added co-op missions and really kept players involved in the game. Excellent desicion. I really did not have any problems with the next two DLC that was realeased (besides the fact that they should also be free), because Rockstar San Diego made key improvements, added a lot of multiplayer extras, and at the same time kept the integrity and the theme of the game strong. But now seeing this zombie expansion is showing that even though this game has only been out for about five months, Rockstar San Diego has already ran out of ideas.
Now I understand that Halloween is right around the corner, and from a marketing point-of-view this would be probably the best time to release something of this nature, but at the same time where is the pride? The developers are after our wallets and given the current craze with the undead as of late, why not just throw a zombie themed DLC in the mix? It's only $10. This is a game that more than likely is going to Game of the Year, and up until now it had my vote.
Now for the real rant
Most DLC are not worth the points it costs to purchse them. IMO these developers are already making millions off of us, the gamers, and they should release this DLC as a thanks to the consumers, not make us spend more as a thanks to them for creating it. Usually DLC is just minor improvements to the game that should have been made before the game was even shipped. It is really hard to understand that people can really dish out extra money on a game for something that should of already been there in the first place.
Now I also understand that there is DLC out there that gives you more than your money's worth, but that very few and far between. A good example, and i want to keep this brief, is GTAIV Liberty City Stories. This game has only required two DLC packs and it has already been out for 2 more years than RDR. At this rate RDR will have at least 4 more DLC's be released in that time,and on top of it all they probably won't be that great either. The consumer is looking at almost $80 in DLC alone...that's crazy.
The video game market is HUGE, even though it is currently on a decline. In 2008, the video game industry made an incredible $32 billion in revenue compared to Hollywood's $29 billion (and thats just the "packaged goods"). Movies were America's past time when it came to getting our mind off of your current situation, and now the video game industry was all of a sudden holding the majority of sales (52.46%) and on top of it all was expected to increase another 12 percent for 2009. By late November, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 made over $550 million alone in the first couple days, so I could expect it to be a little more than anticipated. I have to admit though, if my 360 was not red-ringed I probably would have bought a copy oh mw2 (thank God I didn't).
This game was the mark of a new era for video games for me. This one game showed that this nation, which purchases almost 4 times as much as its closest competitor, will not stop buying video games (even though we are close to experiencing 1929 all over again). And the sad part is....the big name video game developers know this. So this means that they will keep selling us half-ass products without the consumer really making a stink about it. They know that we as Americans will not stop buying video games anytime soon. Why? Because it gets our minds off of reality, that is what video games are meant to do in the first place, just as movies did and still do (just not as much). They don't call World of Warcraft a "second life" for nothing!
Ever since the PS2 and XBOX days, I cannot recall a game that has truly satisfied me the way Halo 2, Okami, Return to Castle Wofenstein: Tides of war, and Shadows of the Colossus did (to name a few, a very brief few). Those games were worth the money when I had bought them new, and made me learn to appreciate video games and the video game-making process. Now all I am seeing is rehashes of older titles, or the third or fourth (or f*ck the fifth...) installment of a series that has just been repolished and has an extra villian added to it, and they cost more! Video games are just no longer worth the money, even if they do have better graphics and a little bit better online component. On top of it all, a lot of these games have extra DLC that cost an extra $15 a pop which should of been a part of the game from launch. And now for some games you have to pay an additional $10 to play online if you buy the game used?!? What the hell is this world coming to?
--DISCLAIMER--
I would have to admit though one of the only truly amazing games I have played in the last couple years was Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Sheeeeeeit I bought a PS3 on launch just in anticipation for that game. I only have four letters to say about that: GOT...F (Game Of The...Forever).
With that set aside.........
The other day I was at Gamestop looking at the used games. I came across Demons Souls (PS3) for 25 bucks!!! I don't know if you guys (thats if anyone even reads this) remember, but this was the game that Gamespot (not Gamestop) honored last year as its GOTY! FOR 25 BUCKS!!! This was a game, one year ago, that was around 60 dollars retail price. And you dont have to worry about a thrashed up copy because Gamestop wouldn't take it in the first place. I am quite glad that I have held off from buying it, because now I can own this game at a much more reasonable price, while at the same time play with those fans that are truly loyal to the title. I have looked on the game's forums, and there are still a good amount of people playing it and willing to have a good time time with newcomers of the game. This was a happy sight for me, and at that same time was a bit of an epiphany as well.
From now on I refuse to buy a new copy of any game just to be a part of the hype. I can wait.
Buy used, and instead of buying one game that just came out, buy two that has been out for a year but still has its core gamers playing!
So i went to South Coast Plaza (socal) and got to get my hands, or rather eyes on, sonys new 3dTVs. At first i was pretty excited to see what they had to offer, especially since Sony made such a stink about 3d during their E3 press conference. All i have to say is that it did not live up to the hype. Yes, you can see in 3d, but that doesnt mean that it is a good thing. I am pretty sure that people that purchase a 3dTV are going to have some crucially messed up eyesight in later years. Something just does not seem right when youre wearing those clunky-but-at-the-same-time-trying-to-be-hip glasses, there is almost a kind of strain on your retinas.
And this also made me start thinking about another thing, what about people that already have to wear glasses because they already have bad eyesight? Guess theyre out of the equation from the get-go. It is not like sony is going to start making prescription 3d glasses or anything. All in all i think this going to fail just as 3d comics ultimately failed in the 1950s.
so i hang out with my buddy yesterday to find out that he had an e3 badge for the entire expo and only used it on the first day and if he wouldve known he wouldve hooked me up with it.....what a tease. i think i would have been better off knowing that he never had it.
microsoft
call of duty: black ops, gears of war 3, fable 3, halo: reach and other big name titles were all not that impressive. i mean yeah, the games look like they would be some fun but nothing really seemed new or jumped out at me except Metal Gear Rising, its good to see kojima taking his game-making formula and totally turning it on its head. i wish there was more coverage on it. bulletstorm actually looks like it will be some fun, i like the over-the-top attitude it has.
project natal now renamed kinect looked a bit laggy and the only part of that whole presentation that was actually somewhat fun to watch (or even worth mentioning for that matter) was forza and kinectimals, but i think that it was SKITTLES and its live chat following it received the rest of the expo was what really made me like it. i think adding the espn 3, and all those other bells and whistles just arent enough to prove microsoft had a good presentation....not even slimming the console down.
all in all i give their conference a C-
nintendo's turn
the new zelda demo (not the game as a whole) was a megafail...im pretty confident in saying that wireless devices were not the problem. after getting a chance at seeing it in action at their booth thanks to the non stop floor reports, i gotta admit that this will prolly be the first wii game ive bought since brawl. anyways, then there was a flood of rehashes of older titles, but it was nice to see that dk and diddy are going back to their side-scrolling greatness. then came a lot of talk about the 3Ds, which i had extremely high hopes to actually see in action....of course that didnt happen. it was good to see that 3Ds is getting good third party support however (resident evil and metal gear to name a few), and basing my opinion off of the reports its good to hear it works properly, and its just going to increase nintendo's stranglehold on the handheld market.
all in all i give their conference a B+
alright sony, youre up
start it off with killzone 3...i remember when people were calling this game when the first one came out "the halo killer." at the time id just tell em to shut up and go home and rip on some halo 2. now i can somewhat agree with those statements from 2004, but apply it to now. this demo of this game looked great (though the guy playing needed to learn how use those iron sights more). then came all this talk about ps move...i just hope all games dont detect like tiger woods' demo did. then came playstations version of smash bros i guess...meh. and then came a flat out advertisement for coka-cola mid presentation...wtf. and all of a sudden, kevin butler. my goodness so worthless.
commercials....blah blah blah
medal of honor, dead space 2, portal 2, assassins creed: brotherhood all look good but arent exclusives. the next online final fantasy, little big planet 2, gran turismo 5, and twisted metal all look to be promising titles and have proven to me that sony is not to be underestimated in the future.
all the talk about 3d is good, even though nobody is really going to be utilizing this option for at least a few years to come.
all in all i give their conference a B-
final verdict:
micorsoft - kinect is a good idea but has terrible support right now. MG rising and bulletstorm saved ur asses
nintendo - stop rehashing older titles. zelda and the 3Ds look like winners
sony - stop being so damn commercial. lost some exclusives in the past but have built some stronger ones because of it
thats what i have to say about that...as for the gamespot crew, you guys did an excellent job covering this years e3.
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