I'm out!

catch me on my new (slash old) GameSpot user name: Ryvvn

latez

So, apparently I've had the user name Ryvvn here on GameSpot since like 2003 and never realized it. I must have signed up with it with an older email address then stopped coming to GameSpot for a while then came back in 2004 and didn't realize I had that previous account. Anyway, to make a long story short, I need a new email address (due to spam reasons) and since I have that old account and I hate having numbers in my user name I'm going to tie my new email address with that GameSpot account and thus start using that one. So, I basically lose all my little badges and my GameSpot level but I'll get over that. Anyone on my friends list here can add Ryvvn or I'll just get around to adding you to that list myself. However, I may not pay for another year of GameSpot access and may just revert to a free account and thus might lose some of my privileges although I honestly don't know what the differences are, I'll see how badly it affects my GameSpot usage. I'll be using both accounts for about the next week, this one runs up the 26th, and once this one's paid account ends I won't be logging on with it again.

See you all from my non number infested name :P

Just thought I'd let anyone who cares know that I am now accepting any and all friend requests on Xbox360. I wasn't for a while but I figured I'd start accepting the requests and if I turn out not to like the player I can just delete them later.

If you're curious about what games I own, check out my Snap Reviews blog a couple back, that lists every game I actually own with the exception of Prey and Chrome Hounds which both just came out.

Something you should know if you're going to add me; I do care about points and am addicted to them so I tend to jump from game to game and only really focus on getting achievements I am missing. However, that doesn't mean I'm not up for a good multiplayer session on something I've already done. Points do take a back seat to having fun with friends.

Please also note that if you act like a tool or jackass you won't last on my friends list long. I know how to joke around with friends and I know gaming lends itself to frustration induced obscenities but there's a fine line between what is warranted and what is annoying.

So that's about it, if you want to add me I will accept the friend request at least until the point at which my friends list becomes full. If I end up with enough GameSpot users on my friends list I'll probably start using my blog here to post and preplan gaming sessions.

That is all. Back to point whoring now. :P

(GAMER TAG: GS Ryvvn)

I noticed that no one really checks text blogs on GameSpot, I guess in a world of video reviews nobody wants to read anymore. So I'm probably just going to wait until I'm capable of posting video blogs before I update again, unless I have something really important to say otherwise. Thanks to anyone who has been reading my blog. However, since it seems the only one that actually regularly reads this is my friend leiden who I can see and talk to in real life there's no real point in posting stuff that I can just tell him. See you all when I can video blog, unless I decide not to since I'll be nowhere near as entertaining as Masoumi :P

Laters.

I needed to post something new already but for lack of anything interesting or original to write at the moment I'm going to just steal an idea from SomethingAwful (www.somethingawful.com)  and review every Xbox360 game I've played with a few sentences each.

Games I Own:

Amped 3 - Like Tony Hawk on snow but without the fully fleshed out control scheme. At least the story is balls to the wall funny and makes it worth at least a rental.

Burnout Revenge - Best Burnout game so far since they took out that stupid golf swing mechanic and added in the rivalry system for online play.

Call of Duty 2 - Achievements are the only reason to be playing this on 360 as opposed to the superior PC version.

Condemned - Eerie and intense. Pacing would be spot on if I didn't have to spend the game staring at the ground looking for collectibles.

Dead or Alive 4 - Perfect if you have multiple fighting game fans living in the same house or have friends over a lot, not so perfect for online play due to random spasms of lag. Simple control scheme means if you hit any other button besides punch or kick you lose.

Fight Night Round 3 - An amazing game that can be fun if you're messing around with a similarly skilled player. Playing through the career mode on normal f'd up my analog sticks.

Full Auto - Underrated intense combat racing action. Graphical shortcomings like the occasional frame rate hiccup do not detract from the visceral enjoyment to be had while playing this game online.

Ghost Recon - Teammates provide valuable fodder for the campaign. Live is more slow paced than other shooters due to the game's mechanics and general nature but it's still an enjoyable experience, it does however need to freely open up all options to allow more variety in game types.

Kameo - A beautiful and vibrant adventure that sadly doesn't offer much of a challenge to seasoned gamers but is still an enjoyable ride while it lasts. Where's the Thermite gamer icon??!

MotoGP 06 - Fun, fast, frustratingly hard to master.

Oblivion - Lived up to almost every one of its promises. The AI ain't quite so radiant as was originally hyped. An epic open ended adventure that has surely raised the bar for future RPGs.

Perfect Dark Zero - Sustainable FPS fun that will keep you coming back again and again despite its imperfections.

Project Gotham Racing 3 - More sim than arcade. People get mad if you bump them in online play.

Rumble Roses XX - Yep, they sure are bouncy. Good luck getting even your most perverted of friends to play this busted (and busty) wrestling game more than once.

Rockstar Table Tennis - I must not have played enough Pong as a kid because I'm awful at this game. It's still an exciting game to play online with friends provided you don't have access to a real ping pong table.

The Outfit - Mercenaries meets Battlefield in this checkpoint securing war zone. Campaign maps are extremely linear but offers co-op over live, online battles use a more open level design and are a friggen blast.

Tomb Raider Legend - Will appease angered fans of the series and bring in virgin blood that haven't already had their cherry popped by Lara. Won't change the minds of Lara haters.

Other Games I've Played:

Gun - A story too short in a world to small. A fun game the first time through, no reply value and the unlockables upon completion are inane due to the fact there's no point to continue playing. Hopefully Gun 2 will fix the annoyances of the first now that the series has been established.

King Kong - Given how horrible this game is, Peter Jackson probably should have begged to have his name taken off of it.

Tiger Woods - Higher cost for less features already doesn't sit well. Throw in the unplayable online mode and this game just is not worth it.

Tony Hawk - Sure it isn't as good as previous entrants in the series but it's still able to sustain that Tony Hawk craving for fans.

College Hoops 2k6 - I
NBA 2k6 - Don't
NBA Live 06 - Like
NHL 2k6 - Sports
Madden NFL 06 - Games

That's it for retail games for now. I'll probably do this again when I amass another slew of games to comment on and I'll get to Xbox Live Arcade after some of the new stuff comes out this summer (Street Fighter, Lumines, Mortal Kombat, etc.)

Hope I enlightened someone out there and I apologize if these comments don't match up with some of my scores and my previous post about the meaning behind my scores, maybe I should just take those down...

...I started avoiding MMOs and the remembrance came from a single player RPG. Oblivion. It has taught me once again what I already know. As I'm getting older I'm starting to realize how much I enjoy a game of decent length and time consumption. Note that I do not hate Oblivion by any stretch of the word as I gave it a 9.0 and have almost got my full 1k out of it and have enjoyed every second. However it does remind me of how much I can miss out on when I spend my limited free time devoted to one game.

I've had Tomb Raider Legend since it was released and it hasn't left its case. I've had Rumble Roses XX since its release and have yet to get a single achievement in it. I still need to play Hitman. I still need to clean up the full K in a bunch of other games. Oblivion has put all these things on the back burner.

Luckily I've only got three achievements left from the main story line before my K is complete and Lara can then grace my 360's disc tray but it's just got me thinking about my love/hate relationship with MMOs.

I basically played WoW from its launch up until about last October when I gave it up for good (and I honestly haven't even looked back). I just realized how many other games I was missing out on by devoting all my time to this one single game that wouldn't reward me in any significant way for all my time spent on it, at least with non MMOs you get the reward of completion at some point. I've played other MMOs besides and before WoW and with each of them it seemed I would neglect every other game in existence and focus entirely on that one entity. When I quit WoW I got treated to a great flood of games right away, some of the best being Indigo Prophecy, FEAR, CoD2, and DoD Source. Playing those games amongst others really opened my eyes to what I was doing and what I was depriving myself of.

Now, as I look out on to the Horizon I see trouble ahead. Warhammer Online, Tabula Rasa, Conan, and Darkfall. Not to mention I have Vanguard (Collectors Edition) on preorder. All these potentially great games getting closer with each passing day... all these time thieves creeping up on me. What am I to do?

I love the idea of getting lost in the worlds of these games, just as I loved being lost in the land of Tamriel. However, am I really willing to give up all that I've got to look forward to? Dead Rising, Gears of War, Crackdown, Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed, Resistance: Fall of Man, Heavy Rain, Super Mario Galaxy, Twilight Princess, FEAR: Point of Extraction, Crysis, Spore, do I need to keep going?

My point is, am I really going to forget what I've learned time and time again? Am I really going to let myself get sucked into another MMO and not have any time left over for anything else?

I think avoiding MMOs entirely is out of the question as I find them oh so tasty for those first few months. However I also am not willing to let waves of great games pass me by again. I wish I could budget my time better but if I'm paying for an MMO I end up feeling like I need to spend every free minute logged in to justify what really is an insubstantial charge in reality.

What I really need is an MMO that doesn't use the carrot on the stick mentality. An MMO without levels or at least not in the way that MMOs use them now in that once there's a big enough gap between me and my friends either way we stop playing together. Maybe a leveling system that isn't the end all be all to your character and its development. MMOs need to get to the point where it really is all about the adventure and the exploration and not just about the grind and the next level.

If there were an MMO like this, and maybe there are but nothing on par with the WoWs and EQs of the MMO market, but if there was an MMO like this I would feel so much better knowing that I wouldn't have to cut all other games out of my life in order to keep up with my friends so I can be sure they'll group with me when I'm on. I would know that I can play it casually and whenever I jump on I can be sure to get my friends together with me for a single night's epic adventure and then know I can spend the next week playing various other games without being worried about lagging behind everyone else.

Basically the MMO I want offers the huge world, interesting history, intriguing quests, robust combat, and multitude of players but without all the problems of just straight leveling. Think of something like WoW without actual levels and you get the idea. I think Guild Wars does it best right now even though they still use a leveling system but the fact that you are rewarded with skills from your quests and you do not need to be a certain level to use them, not to mention the no monthly fee, makes it the closest thing to what I would want. Unfortunately none of my friends play really play Guild Wars.

I guess some of them haven't gotten over chasing that carrot yet. I know I certainly have but, like I said, I still enjoy MMOs for the type of experience they alone can deliver. I just really wish there was a way they can deliver it without forcing me to have to play them all the time and miss out on everything else.

So, I went to New York on Monday to go to this bookstore called The Strand because Chuck Palahniuk was doing a book signing there for his Haunted tour. So I figured what the hell, I have his entire collection including his non-fiction books, might as well go get them all signed. Well I have to take the train in from Dover, NJ and that sucks cause I get motion sickness and then when my friend and I got to the city we hoped a cab to Rockefeller Plaza to visit the Nintendo World store only the cab driver didn't know wtf I was talking about so he just dropped us off at Rockefeller Plaza in general. Luckily we found a nice gentleman (in NY, what a shocker) who gave us directions and we eventually found the store which was pretty cool. I was able to pick up Electroplankton and Lost in Blue there which are kinda hard to come by unless you like ordering things online (which I don't). After that though things got bad. We were having trouble finding a cab outta Rockefeller to get over to the Strand (which is on Broadway and 12th, a long way from Rockefeller) so we started walking in that general direction. About 30 blocks later we finally got a cab and got over to the bookstore. Apparently they do bag checks at this place so I took my books out of my bag and handed in my backpack. As I was going upstairs where the signing was happening this old guy stopped me and started interrogating me about my books and where my receipt was. After a fruitless attempt to explain to him that they were mine I brought from home for the signing, a simply concept he could not grasp, some other clerk finally yelled over that people aren't allowed to bring outside books to the signing and only books bought at this store would be signed. OMFG!

So, I had no choice but to get my backpack back and place my books back inside and turn it in again. I went upstairs and found out my friend had gotten caught with his books too. So we both picked up a copy of Survivor (our personal favorite of Chuck's works) to be signed later on and which we would purchase even though I already owned a copy and my friend actually already owned two copies. The bookstore was crowded, hot, smelly from the people, with no air conditioning, and generally just sucked. Finally after 45 mins of being stuck in the crowd with nowhere to move to Chuck finally came out to do a reading and some Q+A. The reading was cool. It was a story called Mr. Elegant. He said it had no relation to anything else he's written but it definitely sounded like a cut story from his novel Haunted. Even the name Mr. Elegant sounds like it would be a character from that book. Anyway, the story was good. The Q+A was okay although most of his fans act like tools and asked retarded questions. Being a writer myself I would prefer to hear him answer writing related questions not have some jackass yell out, "Where do babies come from?" Wow.

He did answer some writing related questions which I found insightful and he also answered a question about his books becoming movies and apparently all of his novels have been optioned but are all at different stages right now. The only one I really care about seeing is Survivor and he said the screenplay for it was awesome, the only problem is that the director or someone is something from the movie Constantine. I don't remember who he said but it must be an issue cause I've heard that movie was terrible and it must have been important for him to mention it. I don't know, I mean I know it won't be Snakes on a Plane (see post below), but it better be good.

After the Q+A he sat down for the signing but the line was not moving for like 20 mins that my friend and I decided to step outside for a smoke and check the train schedule to see when the last train was. We had ample time to go back up and wait in line but we figured why bother. We love Chuck Palahniuk's work and we were glad to hear his reading but we didn't absolutely NEED a signed book, especially when we already own the book to begin with. So we just said screw it, grabbed a cab and headed back to the train station. On the train ride home I got even more sick from my motion sickness and got a killer headache which the continued for the car ride home from the train station. So, instead of getting to come home and play a little Xbox Live, I had to pop some pills and just pass out.

The day had taught my a very valuable lesson that I should have already known from prior experiences. Nothing in New York is worth the trip and usually isn't that enjoyable an experience anyway. New York is awful. I hate it. If you hate me for hating it then I hate you too. However, if you hate New York too then you rock!

Or you could just not tell me how you feel and we can both move on :)

[video=dyZlkTL-5bgPsjA]

You WILL see this movie.

Since I didn't win the E3 Schwag Bag Giveaway, I figure I'll post my entry here for anyone who wants to read it. I thought I had a decent shot which is odd since I'm usually very critical of my own writing. Congrats to the actual winner though, enjoy whatever actually is inside that white box :-p

"I now know how Miss America feels, or rather the Miss America of years past. For you see I too am beyond my time in the sun. My fifteen minutes of fame. My dream come true has ended and I have awoken. I attended E3 2005 as a journalist for what I thought was a credible website. I lived the dream of every kid who grew up reading about the Electronics Entertainment Expo in magazines and wishing that one day they could experience it. It was my first E3 and I vowed that I would henceforth be at all E3s from that day forward. A string of unfortunate events following the Expo led me to where I am today; a thirty three page E3 feature story unpublished, editor requested game reviews written and then ignored, and the landslide of neglect the aforementioned website suffered in the months following E3. Now I’m a journalist without a home and a game slave without their Mecca. So yes, I feel the shame that each Miss America must suffer upon seeing her time end and a younger, prettier one take her place. So I beg you, the judges, those in the seats of power, help me to feel pretty again, let me wear that proverbial crown one last time before I fade into the obscurity of the has beens and have nots. That is my new wish and why I deserve the E3 schwag bags, I know in your hearts you feel the same."

Yeah, I quit ElectronicsStop. I don't know what EB was like before the merger but now the company just seems awful to work for but at least it was only a secondary job so quitting won't really matter that much for me. I guess my main reason for leaving was I hate (probably like all of you) waking up early. I needs me a lot of sleep. I've always said I need 36 hours of sleep a day or I'm tired, hence I'm always tired. Since my primary job is later in the evening I was unable to work at the ES (seriously what are they gonna name the stores now since the buyout/merger/whatevertheydid?) at any shift that they would really have needed me for so they were barely scheduling me to begin with, we're talking like once a week here for about 4 hours. Also they tried to screw me on my pay. When I got hired I was quoted at 6.11/hr starting based on my sales experience which from what I understand was EB's hiring policy but then I started and apparently it's GameStop policy that all new hires get 5.15/hr (min. wage) no matter what. Luckily the manager understood why I'd be angry about being told one thing then receiving much less on my paycheck so he got it taken care of for me, however the company being faceless corporate jerks weren't going to adjust my pay rate and give me back pay they would just treat it as a raise so they wouldn't have to pay me what they owed me. It was after this whole pay rate debacle that I started noticing a significant drop in my scheduled hours, coincidence? Who knows.

Another thing that really bothered me about the store is that they expect their employees to be this pinnacle of perfection. Dress professionally. Act professionally. Greet every customer. Go through the company routine with all of them. Sell them everything. Sell them everything. Sell. Sell. Sell. Oh, and when you leave you have to pull out your pockets so they can make sure you're not stealing anything. Seriously. They treat their employees like Robot thieves who's only purpose is to boost the bottom line. This is a big problem with most corporations and why I hate working for any of them. But back to the selling. In order to better help you understand what they expect an employee to do with each customer let me share with you the checklist a secret shopper would go through if they visited the store:

Service Questions

• Did the (employee) greet you within 30 seconds?
• While browsing the store did an (employee) approach you and start a conversation?
  • If yes, did the (employee) mention our trade in program during this initial conversation?
  • If no, please indicate what occurred? 
    • (Employee) was assisting other customer(s) and I was never acknowledged until I reach the register to make a purchase (shopper will be instructed to give associate ample time to engage the shopper)
    • (Employee) was NOT assisting customer(s) and I was never acknowledged until I reached the register to make a purchase
• Were the (employees) wearing a name badge?
• When you asked about the selected title, did the (employee) offer to reserve the title?
• Were you thanked for your purchase?
• Based on your shopping experience, would you recommend a friend or family member to this store?
• (Bonus) Did the (employee) mention the video game trade-in program to you more than once at unique times during the visit?

Environment Questions

• As you approach the cash wrap to make your purchase:
  • Is the cardboard easel Store Return Policy sign sitting on top of the cash wrap?
  • Is the sign completely unaltered (i.e. no writing or post-it notes)
• Is there a large display above the cash wrap that is featuring "Coming Soon" titles? The display should have one or two posters with "Coming Soon" titles featured.
• Are all the demo game units in the store turned on and operational?
• Is there game system display boxes featured in the gear/accessory sections on the wall of the store? 
• Are there Game Informer magazines displayed in a fixture on top of the cash wrap?
• Does the Store appear to be neat, clean, and organized? 
• Is there a "Coming Soon" display set up on an end of a wire gondola? 
• Are there "Value Sections" on the wall in the Playstation 2 and Xbox section? 
• Is there a Nintendo DS download area for customers to download demonstration games to their Nintendo DS system?

Anyone noticing some things here? First let's take a look at the Service section. I can understand greeting customers and asking them if they need help and answering any questions they may have but personally, if I'm shopping, I don't want some sales clerk to come up to me and start chit chatting or trying to spark conversation, I just want to be left alone while I make purchasing decisions or until I have a question. Think Mr. Corporation cares? No, to them the customer is just a target waiting to be hit. Your money is all that matters, hence the trade ins. Notice you get a bonus for mentioning trade ins more than once? That's because these places live and die on trade ins, they give you a pathetic amount in trade in credit (even less if you want cash) and then mark it up for a significant profit as anyone who has traded in a game and then seen it go right up on the shelf can attest to. I understand the need to make a profit and that no one is holding a gun to the heads of these people but the employees sure are beating them over the head with it enough during a single visit. It just bothered me as an employee that I was basically begging people for their old games, I mean who at this point does not know that the store takes trade ins??

Let's talk about reservations next, or pre-orders. Absolutely stupid. This is what makes or break an employee of the store. You fail to get enough pre-orders you are fired, no ifs ands or buts about it, just fired, gone, done, go home, you lose. Yeah, so every time your in the store and it sounds like the employee is doing you a favor mentioning that they are taking pre-orders on a certain game or hey put down 5 bucks and we'll make sure you get it on release day, they do not care about you, they care about their job. A note to all you aspiring game store clerks, if you can't talk someone into putting money down today for things that won't be out for months to a year, don't bother applying. Again, maybe it's my mistake, but I just assumed that a customer would know when they are ready to put down a pre-order and exactly for what, I'm pretty sure it's not something I've ever been talked into and probably not you either but it would have my job would have depended on that if I had actually stayed.

Just a quick mention about the Environment stuff. This is stuff that needs to be done and checked everyday, especially making sure the shelves stay in order which is next to impossible thanks to customers (as a human being, I don't understand what's so hard about putting something back where you got it from). So employees are in a constant state of store maintenance and go into attack mode whenever a new customer walks into the store but hey Robots don't need rest right?

I remember growing up and always thinking how cool it would be to work at the game store; selling games, talking about games, being around them all day. Now that I've done it and I see exactly how "corporate" the business truly is, I'm glad I'm out and I just feel sorry for those that are delusional enough to think it's actually a "good" job. I don't know, maybe I'm just spoiled at my current job...

On a final note, if you ever want to bring corporate game stores crashing to their knees, simply stop trading in games and stop pre-ordering... of course you would need to get 100 of your friends to do that too... and they'd have to get 100 of their friends... and so on... and so on...

... down with the establishment! :-p

(I probably missed some points I wanted to make but I wrote this whole post while at my cool regular job that allows me to relax and be on the internets when it's quiet, sometimes I do get interrupted though and lose my train of thought. Writing a post from here is more like funneling words than rolling along. I think the point remains clear though.)