Yesterday, I made the decision to cancell my annual subscription to Gamespot. Frankly, the main reason I was paying an annual fee was to support an enterprise that I thought should be supported. The 10% discount at EBgames doesn't work for Canadian stores (although it does work online the shipping costs are prohibitive); the DLX download service didn't work very well (it kept sending me the same files over and over even after I viewed them for months and months at a time ... a pain in the rear to say the least). But I figured with the death of Next Generation and a few of the online sites that I really enjoyed over the last few years (and more recently of XBN!) that I would support at least one decent site with my hard earned (if nominal) dollars.

Recently however, some of the reviews (particularly by Greg Kasavin, who for whatever reasons seems to get all of the high profile Xbox games to review) have ticked me off. I thought that the Halo 2 review was inconsistent with the scores given to other games (lower than Halo 1? How can that be ... barely higher than Chronicles of Riddick - which featured NO online play or any replayable value whatsoever ... what the **** is going on here...?); I thought other excellent games like Metal Gear Solid 3 were also rated very harshly (if you can call an 8.7 a harsh score - but then again when compared with other scores that have been given higher values by the same site - an 8.7 is very harsh for this game), and on and on ...

What "broke the camels back" for me however was choosing Burnout 3 on the Xbox ahead of Ninja Gaiden and Halo 2 as GOTY for the Xbox platform. It became clear to me with this decision that our tastes in games are so different, our ideas of what makes a GOTY so vastly apart, that I could no longer justify paying even a token amount of my hard earned dollars to support these characters.

Hence, yesterday I sent them that message, and cancelled my subscription. They responded with a boilerplate auto reply. Figures. I'll still visit the site, there is some value here, but I ain't gonna pay extra for it. These guys obviously need to feel that they are "different" and "independent" (you wanna be independent? Choose MGS3 over GTA: SA for GOTY on that platform, at least one could make a coherent argument for that point). Fine. Do it without my dollars.

Cheers,

Grazen

This in an intresting list from Gamerankings.com. I did a search for all games with > 50 reviews and then ranked them using the Average Score for ALL of ther reviews.

Now ... some people complain about this and that - but with > 50 reviews, assumming that the reviews are generally independent of each other and that Gamerankings uses the same methodology for converting all of the scores (i.e. a 4/5 for an Xbox game is converted to an 80% and a 4/5 for a PS2 game is also converted to 80%) - then the sample size of each game should be large enough to give us a highly accurate version of which system has the most highly rated games.

Note: There is a bias toward newer systems here because newer systems generally had more reviews than older (esp. pre-internet) systems).

Here's a breakdown of the top 10:

(1) Xbox (30% - rated 3, 5 and 10 = average 6)
(2) PS2 (30% - rated 7, 8, 9 = average 8 )
(3) NGC (20% - rated 2, 4 = average 3 (but fewer games))
(4) PC (10% - rated 1)
(5) N64 (10% - rated 6)

Also - it's interesting to note that out of all of the RPG's released this generation, only one - Star Wars KotOR made it to the top 10 in terms of review scores.

Here's a breakdown of the top 30

(1) Xbox - 8 games (27% of total)
(2) PC - 6 games (20% of total)
(3) PS2 - 6 games (20% of total - lower average than PC)
(4) NGC - 3 games (10% of total)
(5) PS - 3 games (10% of total - lower average than NGC)
(6) DC - 2 games (7% of total)
(7) N64 - 1 game (3% of total)
(8 ) GBA - 1 game (3% of total - lower average than N64)

Pretty impressive for a "first console". I'm surprised.

* Honduras set to ban violent videogames
* Greek Geeks Fight Gaming Ban
* BMX XXX - was banned in Australia.
* Grand Theft Auto - was banned in Australia.
* Manhunt - was banned in New Zealand.
* Postal - banned in many countries.
* Thrill Kill - was banned in Australia.
* Wolfenstein 3D - was banned in Germany.
* Swedish video game banned for harming China's sovereignty
* South Korea bans Ghost Recon 2
_________________________________________
* JFK Reloaded picks up press, none pretty
_________________________________________

Just a few things here off the top of my head? Do the people that live in these countries not have the freedom to decide for themselves what games to buy, what books to read, what movies to see? How did these people allow their governments to take these decisions out of their hands? IMHO - it's absolutely pathetic. Thank God that we have some freedom in North America. Yes - some games like JFK Reloaded may be offensive - but it's not up to the government to decide for us what to see, play or read. *WE* decide. Meanwhile - many of these people think that we're prudish. Hey, at least we're prudish by choice.

It gets me angry that so many countries that you would otherwise think are decent, free, "western" countries actually have the freedom only because their governments allow them to have it when it's convenient. In my opinion, it's a very sad state of affairs.

Thoughts?

I. suck. Yes, I have finally come around to admitting to myself that I absolutely and totally disgustingly suk at Halo 2 MP. I really, really want to be good at it. I really want to have fun playing it. I beat the campaign on Normal and Heroic. I bought the guide to look at the maps and to see the strategies.

Yet, I am teh suXXor at MP. I consider myself really really good at the campaign. I beat Halo 1 on Legendary (and Heroic and normal - many times). But I suksucsuksuc suxxxor pwned suk sux suc at MP.

Please God. Forgive me for whatever I've done to have you punish me this way.

If anybody else really sux. Let me know. Let's set up a party of people that suk at the game so that we can live for more than 20 seconds without getting killed in a particular game.

Thank you for reading how badly I sucsuksucksuk suxxxor pwned suk sux suc!!!!!1

Gamertag Grazen.

Out.

One of the reasons why I find Halo so compelling is because of the very deep and elaborate story behind all of the action. The problem is that many of us missed it, forgot it, or didn't get it, which is a shame because you're missing out on one of the greatest elements of Halo 2 - the continuing saga of the Halo Universe. So ... I have put together a quick and dirty summary of what happened in Halo 1 - for those that need to refresh their memory.

Halo: Combat Evolved

In the future - the human race runs into a group of alien races that have been brought together (by force) to form the Covenant * under a religious leadership that is unspecified (btw - there are many of religious and mythological undertones to the story, including the word Covenant. I'll highlight them as I mention them with an * and provide descriptions at the end of this article) at this point. The Covenant wishes to defeat/destroy the human race, and potentially bring them into their Covenant as another slave race.

The humans have been battling the Covenant for decades, in what is considered ultimately to be a lost cause since the Covenant possesses greater and better technology than the humans do. They eventually get their hands on some Covenant technology, and they use it to develop a technologically advanced armor - the Mjolnir* - which they hope to use to create an army of super soldiers, the Spartans*, to fight the Covenant. The Master Chief - is one of these "super soldiers".

The Covenant launches their main assault on the human outpost named Reach - and the humans are prepared but ultimately defeated. You realize at the beginning of Halo that Reach has been destroyed - and with it a big chunk of the human defenses as well as all of the Spartans (excluding the MC).

To escape, Captain Keyes, who is heading up the MC's ship - escapes into Slipspace (kind of like using the "warp" drive) in any direction in an attempt to escape. They reappear at a distant location, with a strange ring shaped construct nearby that looks like a planet sized Halo*. Shortly thereafter, several Covenant ships enter out of Slipspace in pursuit of the Pillar of Autumn (Captain Keyes' ship). Captain Keyes has no choice but to land on Halo in an attempt to escape - and does so in a rough fashion, crash landing on the surface.

Really moving forward here - Master Chief begins to explore Halo in order to determine what it is and who created it. Obviously a very advanced race - perhaps they could be found and used to help in the battle of the Covenant. As the Master Chief explores Halo (with the Covenant in hot pursuit). As the MC escapes into a mysterious underground facility - he eventually runs into a shock - there is another alien race on Halo - a parasitic entity named the Flood* which feeds off the flesh of the living (human, covenant, whatever) and ultimately destroys them. Now the MC has a three way battle in which the Flood is attacking him and the Covenant, while the Covenant is battling the Flood while pursuing the MC.

The MC eventually runs into a floating robotic entity, named Guilty Spark 343 - that seeks him out and claims that he is the Chosen One. Guilty Spark compels the Master Chief to seek out the Key that is in this underground facility on Halo. The Master Chief, with his Artificial Intelligence system (Cortana) offline, decides to follow Guilty Spark in the hope that the key can be used to somehow turn Halo on - and use it as a weapon against the Covenant and the Flood. Guilty Spark leads the Master Chief against hordes of Covenant and Flood forces standing in his way through to the Library and they key. He then is asked to use the key to arm Halo. As he is about to do this - Cortana comes back online and screams at him to STOP!!! Apparently, it was Guilty Spark that caused her to go offline - but she was able to determine that Halo was developed by a now extinct race called the Forerunners as a weapon to destroy the Flood. But the weapon doesn't attack the Flood - it destroys their food by killing all living things within hundreds of light years around each Halo. There are numerous Halo's around the galaxy, with the objective being to turn them all on and destroy all living things thereby destroying the Flood. Guilty Spark acts surprised that the MC did not know this (since he is the Chosen One) but asks him to turn it on in any case. When the MC fails to do so - Guilty Spark launches the stations defenses against the MC - floating robots that were developed by the Forerunners to protect Halo. So now you have a four way battle - the robots developed by the Forerunners are after the MC - while also destroying Covenant and Flood forces that get in their way, the Flood which is attacking any living thin on the station, the Covenant which is being attacked by Flood and robots while they pursue the MC, and of course the MC.

To make a long story short - an incredible pursuit and escape plan begins in which the MC seeks a way off the station while also destroying it so that it's ultimate purpose is not realized. He succeeds in arming a self-destruct mechanism on Halo but must find a means of escape himself. In a brilliant ending sequence, the MC races in a warthog towards an escape ship as bodies and battles occur all around him. He gets to the ship and escapes as Halo explodes in the background.

They succeeded, but the MC notes to Cortana that this is not the end, just the beginning...

---

* Mjolnir: The legendary weapon of the Norse God Thor. "Mjolnir" means "lightning." Made by the Dwarves Brok and Eitri, it possessed magical qualities. It would magically return when thrown, and was used for healing and even resurrection.

* Spartan: This epic tale is set in Sparta in the fifth century B.C. when it was plagued by the Persian invaders. A sickly, crippled Spartan baby is left on a mountain to die, as was the custom, but he is rescued and raised as a shepherd. His healthy brother becomes a soldier. Eventually, the two find themselves fighting for Sparta at the Battle of Thermopylae--and they wonder why they seem so similar, and why they are so drawn to each other.....

* Halo: [n] an indication of radiant light drawn around the head of a saint.

*Flood: According to the Bible, the flood of Noah wiped out all flesh in which was the 'breath of life'. All animal and human life perished in that Divine judgment. The sole survivors were Noah and his immediate family, eight people in total, along with the creatures on board the Ark.

* Covenant: [n] (Judaism) sacred chest where the ancient Hebrews kept the two tablets containing the Ten Commandments . ALSO a covenant is a promise or a contract entered into between two or more persons, usually under seal.

Well, the election is finally over. It was a tight race, lots of tension, a divided nation and a world that generally seems to hate you because of your relative success as a nation.

The amount of Anti-Americanism on the boards, and in the rest of the world however, should not be surprising. Most of the rest of the world has moved towards a socialist model - and your competitive nature, love for freedom and sense of morality is offensive to them. How can they get away with working 20 hours a week, having 60 holidays a year and being paid to do nothing if somebody else is working hard day and night to get ahead? If you guys would only become lazy and rely on the government to feed you, like most of continental Europe, you would take a lot of pressure off of them.

It's interesting that the American sense of morality - the sense of right and wrong, of judgement, and of freedom is also so offensive to so much of the rest of the world. While American children are dying to help free the Iraqi people from terrorism and dictatorship - much of Europe stands to the side, cheering (quietly) for your enemies and cursing you for ruining their secret deals that allowed them to trade oil for secret gobs of money with that same dictator. While they now argue that it is your war for oil that they are against.

Europe's support for dictators, terrorists and mass murderers in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America is well documented. Through their control of the United Nations they have their own agenda. They wish to essentially, impose their views on the rest of us through government regulations. So they develop government regulation after government regulation, from the all encompassing freedom sucking senseless Kyoto Protocol to their ban on genetically modified foods.

They want to control the United States at the end of the day. They hate you for denying them that. They hate you for your sense of freedom, and for the other characteristics that by rational standards are good rather than bad.

That's why they focus on your elections, while you ignore theirs. You have no desire to control anybody - you essentially want to be left alone, in peace and freedom, to live your lives free of an imposing government that interferes with your ability to make your own independent decisions about your lives. That mentality, is a direct threat to their over-imposing, over-regulated and corrupt government bodies.

Be brave. Be just. And be free. And **** those that hate you because you are brave, just and free.

From a friend in Canada.
---
Gamertag --> GRAZEN
What we resist, persists. ][-][ //-\\ ][_ {()}

This weekend, my six year old son finally had his chance to continue playing his Sly 2: Band of Thieves game (he's not allowed to play videogames during the week). It is really an incredible game (especially if you're six years old!) full of awesome graphics and intricate gameplay mechanics that any kid (myself included) would appreciate. While he was working his way past Dimitri and on to India and Rajan - I decided to dig up the old "launch day" PlayStation and hook it up to see how it worked after all of these years. While the machine was showing its age (I had to rest it on its side to get the CD Drive to work - just like the "old days") it seemed to work just fine. It really brought back quite a few good gaming memories - including my favorite original PlayStation title - Metal Gear Solid (which, actually. was even better on my Dreamcast with the shortly lived Bleem! version, but oddly not as fulfilling). I looked through the old library of games - and there it was staring back at me - the one (actually, one of many) games that I've always intended on playing - but that I'd just never got around to doing: Chrono Cross.

Now for those of you that know about CC - Gamespot, this very site, gave it a 10/10 - you'll groan and think "This guy obviously doesn't know games...". But an RPG is a delicate thing - if it doesn't grip me in the first few hours, chances are that it will not be played. I don't have enough time as it is, never mind playing through a game that is boring the hell out of me because it will become interesting somewhere, sometime, after 15 hours of game time. That's the very reason why Square RPG's generally don't do well with me - they take too long to get going ... at least as far as I'm concerned.

In any case, I through in the disk and started playing. It takes a while to get used to the style, graphics, gameplay and whatnot from that generation of games, we've really come a long way. BUT - I'm on to the "Manor" in the game with Gieles (SP?) and Kid - trying to climb up the rocks - and frankly, I was bored as hell, yet again. I'm committed to giving it another chance, I'll play through a few more hours during the week to see how it turns out (the story idea is, I'll admit, intriguing) - but it reminded me of why PSone era RPG's didn't appeal to me. Every "stereotype" of Japanese RPG's that we toss around today, was incorporated into these RPG's - but without the necessary tongue in cheek. I guess that's why they're stereotypes. It's like watching episodes of the Brady Bunch today - and laughing at how the show is a living parody - but it's even funnier given that lines like "everybody is so happy and gay .... on the sunshine day" - without any hint of irony.

So ... in conclusion, I'll play through the "source material" for games like the Bard's Tale, which will be coming out soon and in effect parodies these traditional RPG's - and then play the Bard's Tale itself. A perfect one - two punch for an RPG starved papa.

Cheers!

"i don't want to imagine a world where people embrace and willingly purchase something as stupid as "The Guy Game".
- Forum post.

OK - let me get a few things off my chest regarding the Guy Game and the ridiculously low scores that many "moralizing" game reviewers are giving it.

With respect to the above quote, that's fine, and you're welcome to your opinion - but a review should not be an editorial on the type of content people should play. It should be objective and based on the genre. You shouldn't rip an RPG for forcing you to "level-up" or a dungeon crawler for forcing you to constantly kill monsters in every level. They are what they are. As is The Guy Game. XBN gave the game a 0.0 for God's sake. A freaking ZERO. Is that insane or what?

The same guys that review this game negatively probably fondle themselves as they play their Japanese Dating sims on their import systems. IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT!!?

http://www.nerdevout.com/pictures/ani-pillow-kids-bed.jpg

It's really disappointing to see how unprofessional the videogame editorial industry really is.

Finally got around to putting a little bit of time into Fable this afternoon (I snuck home from work a little bit early to do so ...) and I must admit, I had some fun. The game has some flaws, but they've been overdone as a means of punishing PM for exagerating things like a jackass. Keep. Your. Foot. Out. OF. YOUR. MOUTH. OK, lesson learned. Move on ...

After dinner, my six year old son Evan was all over me to let him try Sly 2: Band of Thieves. We went downstairs into the entertainment suite, turned down the lights, turned on the 5.1 and the HDTV - held down the triangle and the X at the same time to launch the progressive scan mode and ... wow!! What a gorgeous and utterly stunning piece of work Sly 2 is. At the same time, it is a frustrating and aggravating experience to let your six your old play when your just dying to pick up the controller to show him how it's done. I think I'll sneak back downstairs after I put the kids to sleep and play ... Sly 2.

Yup, given the choice, I'd rather play Sly 2 than Fable. I'm not putting down Fable, but Sly 2 is a work of art that deserves some attention. And will you look at that ... Sucker Punch never once had to call the game the BEST <fill in the blank> OF ALL TIME to get me to spend some money on it.

Cheers!!

I was looking at the various options on this system here at Gamespot, my Tracked games the Collection, Wish List and Now Playing and so on. Good stuff. What I wanted however was a place to track the games that I'd actually finished. Out of the hundreds of games that I own, I'm embarrasaed to say that I've only actually finished a precious few. The main reason is that many of the games just didn't grab me hard enough to make me what to devote the hours required to see the final credits. And yes, this includes Final Fantasy VII, VIII, IX and X. And FInal Fantasy Tactics. For the Playstation, and then again for the SP. Why I keep buying that damn series I have no idea.

In any case, I decided to make the NOW PLAYING list the COMPLETED GAMES LIST, largely because it's easy to press the button on the Collection to move them to the NOW PLAYING (or COMPLETED GAMES LIST, as it has become). So ... it's a pretty short list of games. But then, I'm obviously more selective about which games I choose to devote my time to than which games I choose to devote my money to. With three kids and a demanding wife ... my time is pretty precious. However, I have decided to go back and to give some of these old games a try, in between gaming droughts in the general market. This September to December period will be tough, but I'm sure that once April 2005 hits - I'll be able to find some time to devout to my long lost games.

If not, then maybe April 2006. We'll see ...