Hello!

Just wanted to let people know that I'm making a "Gameplay over Graphics" union, and still need one charter member. Let me know if you're interested!

Also, remember my webcomic I mentioned awhile ago? Its up to episode 20 now! I still have like no readers, but that's alright, I do it for fun. Check it out if you want, its at www.angelfire.com/comics2/ouatih

It downed on me today that GameSpot scores games using an entirely different system than most reviewers.

I used to think that GameSpot was just really hard on games. Sometimes I would see a game that was getting crazily high marks in magazines and other websites (Half-Life 2, Doom 3, and many others) only to get scores in the 8 point range on GameSpot. In most of the cases, I could see why these scores applied, but I still felt that they were giving the games oddly low scores.

So I bought Advent Rising on the day it came out. I was having a lot of fun with it, but could tell that it wasn't perfect. The graphics were jaggy, the frame rate often wasn't what it should be, and the combat seemed pretty easy. After about an hour of playing, I checked GameSpot's review. I was expecting somewhere in the 7-8 range. What I found instead was a 5.7.

A 5.7.

5.7...........

Needless to say I was quite angry. If Game Informer or Electronic Gaming Monthly gives a game a 5.7, it means that the game is complete garbage and should not be played. So why was this enjoyable, but flawed, game getting a 5.7? A read the review and found that I couldn't argue with almost anything that Alex had wrote. Now I was just confused.

After thinking about it for awhile, my revelation came. GameSpot uses an entirely different system when scoring games. Most magazines and other websites use a system similar to getting grades at school. If you score around a 7, it means you passed. Under that and you fail. End of story. But GameSpot seems to use a more logic based scoring system.

One of the important things to note is the word underneath the score. Under anything of betwean 5.0 and 5.9 is the word "mediocre". Dictionary.com defines mediocre as "Moderate to inferior in quality; ordinary.". Ordinary is the important word here. Where most ordinary games earn scores within the 7 point range, on GameSpot they earn scores in the 5 point range. When a game scores this low, it does not mean that its bad, it just means that there's nothing that really stands out as good in the game. And I can't argue with that. I've had a lot of fun with Advent Rising, but its the same kind of fun I could be having just about anywhere.

I guess my point is, please actually read the reviews before ranting about the low scores in the forums. The scores on GameSpot are quite different than those on other sites and magazines, so plese, please read the review.

Wow, its been awhile since I wrote in here. I meant to write my thoughts pre-E3... kinda late for that though. So here's my after thoughts.

Nintendo.... why? You had some cool stuff on show, but what we really wanted to see was what made the Revolution so revolutionary. Instead, you showed us a box. For all we know, that could have just been an outer case with nothing inside. For shame Nintendo, for shame.

Luckily, what you did show of current generation stuff was really cool. I don't think anyone can deny that the Nintendo DS's lineup completly owned the PSP's. I own both systems, so I'm not biased either way... DS just rocked this year. And I must say, its about time. The DS has so much potential, and it looks like people are finally going to use it.

Metroid Prime Hunters in particular looked great. What was shown during the GameSpot Live demonstration looked much more like a true, complete game thatn Prime Hunters: First Hunt did, which is great. My friends and I have already had lots of fun goofing off with First Hunt, but the complete game looks like we could be playing for hours on end.

Enough about Nintendo, how about Xbox 360? The system looked pretty cool, and I was especially interested in the 360 version of Final Fantsy XI (my MMORPG of choice). Ghost Recon 3 also looked excellent. The only real issue I'm having right now is that the videos didn't look drastically more realistic then current gen games. A lot more enemies on screen though...

Sony, I really want to believe you but I just can't. After the load of crap you told us when PS2 was unveiled (you know, the whole "our system will make games that make Toy Story look like crap" stuff), its just hard to believe anything you say. I sure hope what you showed is true though, because Killzone 2 looked incredible!

Will, I guess that's all there is to say for now. Now we just have to wait another year to do this all over again.

Gonna make this short. I got TOSed the other day for advertising my cheaply made webcomic in a forum... well, hopefully they won't TOS me for doing it here. Wanna see a webcomic made entirely from MS Paint and Google Image Search? Theres a ton of typos too! yay! Anyways, you'll find it at www.angelfire.com/comics2/ouatih.

Also, keep in mind that the first 7 episodes are really big files, so they take a bit to load. Also, its not meant to be serious, in fact its downright stupid. But that's the way I intended it. Enjoy!

I'll be the first to admit that I was worried about the Nintendo Revolution. The idea of making a system that "changed the way we played games" had me very worried. After all, if its really going to change the way we play, will third party developers be willing to adjust? Would EA really want to make a new Madden for the Revolution if gamers would have to go through leaps and bounds to do things that they would have been able to do easily by pushing a few buttons on a PS2 controller? Luckily there was one thing that President Iwata mentioned in his keynote presentation that put all my worries to rest. That one thing is backward compatibility.

Now you're probably thinking, "What?", but I assure you, this is what relieved me. If the Revolution is going to be able to play GameCube games, then its going to have to have a controller that accommodates it. And yeah, I'm sure that Nintendo could potentially make a crazy controller that is capable of use in GameCube games, but not as comfortably. If you don't quite get what I mean, I'd like to point out the Madcats's Retrocon controller for the PS2. Playing fighting games (especially Street Fighter III: Third Strike!) is ridiculously comfortable with this controller. But try using it on a FPS (I used XIII to test it), and soon your hand will feel cramped and overly uncomfortable. GameCube games on the Revolution would suffer the same fate if the new controller was that drastically different.

So, what of the rest of the keynote presentation? Nintendo seems to finally realize the need for online gaming. I'm a bit worried about it being Wi-Fi however, just because I know NOTHING about networking, and don't know how easily (or expensive) getting Wi-Fi into a household would be. I'm afraid that other gamers (especially primarily console gamers, like me) are going to be intimidated by this. Hopefully this is a fear of nothing.

Enough of fears, let's talk about something that isn't scaring me at all. The new Legend of Zelda is looking amazing. You've got to wonder, most Xbox fanboys talk about how their system has the potential to make the best graphics. So, without trying to make this a Console Wars discussion, why haven't they? If you asked me, I'd say the Xbox would be hard pressed to find a game that looked better then the Resident Evil remake of 2002, let alone this years way better looking Resident Evil 4. And now Zelda looks to have graphics of equal (but not as gory) brilliance, with the same gameplay that gave Ocarina of Time the first "10" rating in GameSpot history. As a Nintendo fanboy, I have no worries about the GameCube's end. Its going out with a bang.

The DS games on display looked very interesting. Putting Animal Crossing Online is a great idea, but as Greg admitted in On The Spot, I do worry about people online making the game a living hell for people just trying to have a good time. Nintendogs (wasn't that game's name changed to Puppy Times?) and Electroplankton both look crazy, unfortunately it was very hard to hear Bill Trinnen's voice while presenting (at least on the video, I'm sure he sounded just fine in real life).

So is Nintendo on the way out? Is it going the way of Sega? I hardly think so. NIntendo's still got a lot of muscle behind it, and its going to use every bit of it.

Wow, its been a while since I wrote last..

Anyway, the PSP is coming, and I'm pretty excited. Yeah, I know what you're thinking, "You're excited for the PSP? But you just said you were a Nintendo fanboy in the last entry!". Yeah, well that doesn't make the PSP NOT a damn good looking system! The games are looking fantastic, the special features look great, and that screen... oh God the screen....

I've been hearing many people complaining as of late about how game companies are trying to go "mainstream". I'm still trying to find why this is a problem. The fact that I'm buying a PSP is exactly why the games industry MUST go mainstream. Think about it, I'm a Nintendo fanboy, but I'm also a hardcore gamer. The PSP doesn't even have to advertise itself to get millions of people to buy it. However, many of those people are already playing their DS's, much like me. The hardcore gaming community will be playing the PSP regardless of what else they've already bought in the past. So where's the problem? Simple, if you keep having the same customers buying your items, you're not growing.

Going mainstream may very well be the best thing to happen to games in a long time. The major console makers are going to have to come up with ways to make the next-gen systems appealing to people who couldn't care less about games. Thus, we have the PSP.

The PlayStation Portable is probably the most "mainstreamed" gaming console to ever be made. If there's one thing the non-gaming community doesn't want to do, its try to figure out how to get their consoles connected to their TVs so they can start attempting to enjoy themselves. A handheld system is about the best thing that could change this problem. No confusing wires to mess with, just stick your game in and turn it on. Plus, with the near PS2 quality graphics, its not going to seem like the PSP gamers will be missing too much.

Next, the PSP plays music and games. The non-gaming community has been able to figure out MP3 players just fine, so I doubt they're going to have any problems getting music to their PSP. The movies they may have a little more problems with. But for them, there's always the UMD movies! We hardcore gamers may laugh at these movies due to their battery-eating problems and just how pointless they really are if you've got a copy of that movie and a PC. But the non-gaming community is going to view the UMDs as a "written in English" version of watching a movie on the go.

As much as I love Nintendo, if they want to continue going they're going to have to learn something from Sony. Mainstreaming is the only hope for game growth in the future.

Its pretty strange to me that no really seems to pay attention to what Nintendo has been saying over the last year. When the Nintendo DS was first announced, they clearly stated that this was not the successer to the Game Boy Advance, and that a new Game Boy will still be made. And yet, as soon as Nintendo releases the DS, every one calls it "The New Game Boy", I've even hard someone call it the "Game Boy DS".

Now a lot of people reading this are probably all saying "So what? What's the big deal?". Well, you'll all see this May at E3 2005

I guarentee you that Nintendo is not just ignoring Sony while they take over their domain. Nintendo is preparing something big for E3, and it will blow all of your minds. Why? Because its Nintendo! Everything thing they do is a step higher on the creativity level then the other companies. Yes, even the Virtual Boy was creative, and even had some games that took advantage of the system. Mario Clash anyone? How about Teleroboxer?

The new Game Boy is going to have its work cut out for it though. The PSP is a really great looking device (I'm a Nintendo fanboy, but I still enjoy other systems) and has a lot of people really excited. So here's what Nintendo should do to keep people on their side:

1) Graphics! The system should have just as good (if not better) graphics as the PSP. The fact is, a lot of non-hardcore gamers buy systems based entirely on graphics. Did any of you have people telling you that Bloodwake was the greatest game ever? I know I did. That game was pretty (for a first generation Xbox game), but, I mean... c'mon! Bloodwake?!

Anyways, graphics are important, even too us Final Fantasy 6 playing hardcore freaks. So when a system can run good graphics, its appealing to both crowds.

2) Control! I want to see a full analog stick on the new Game Boy. Not some little analog disc thing. A full stick that can tilt and move like any of the console systems. I want developers to see that Nintendo is giving them the opertunity to make games that control JUST like their larger counterparts.

3) Backwards compatibility! Lets face it, it wouldn't be a Game Boy if we couldn't play Six Golden Coins on it.

4) PSP bells and whistes! I want the new Game Boy to do everything a PSP can. After all, a lot of people accused the GameCube of being "behind the times" for not having DVD playback. I know Nintendo is all about games, but I want them to look into appealing to both the hardcore and casual gamer.

5) Great first party games! Nintendo has always been about making the best games on the market. Its the whole reason people actually bought the GameCube (and the whole reason I love it).

And there you have it! This is what Nintendo needs to do. We'll see how closly they follow it in May.