I recently picked up Burnout Revenge on the Xbox 360 and have been mostly enjoying it.  However, there is one rather important aspect of the game, and the other games in my collection, that has be bouncing off the walls: online gameplay.

The problem is that I've not had the system that long, so whenever I get on, I'm trying to play against people who have learned every nook and cranny, every exploit in the game.  Be it Burnout Revenge or Rumble Roses XX, I always leave with the feeling that I don't belong, that I'm just there to be an easy match to inflate someone else's stats.  It's disturbing, really.  You see, I like playing games.  However, I know that by the time I get anywhere near as good in an online game, the rest of XBL will have moved on to the next big thing, leaving me with no one to play.

Add to this the severe lack of co-op in many games.  The only game that has a fully co-op online mode outside of XB Arcade's Gauntlet is Perfect Dark Zero (though I understand a co-op patch came out for Kemeo), and dreadfully few people play PD0 co-op.  So I only have three choices when it comes to online play: forefit my interests in other games to get better online, restrict myself to (bleh) MMORPGs, or simply not play.

It's kinda sad, really.  It's hard for many gamers to find a good friend to play with, so any form of social play is going to require being online.  However, a new player will always be helplessly restricted, simply because there isn't anyone there who isn't too "l33t" to actually help them play, so online is out for many people too.

This is why I see online gaming never evolving beyond an incredibly tiny niche of over-competitive locker room guys.  The friendly climate necessary for evolution beyond that just isn't there.

By the way, I'm in the "recreation" zone.  I specifically kept away from "Pro" and "Underground" so that I wouldn't deal with... Well, what I'm dealing with.  Looks like MS' matchmaking services have a long way to go.

Anyone here remember Cool Spot?  That blatent 7up marketing tool that had you starring as the spot on the 7up logo?  How about Yo! Noid!?  It's been a couple of decades since those NES "classics," but the days of marketing games are back!

Burger King is apparently looking into developing BK-themed video games for the Xbox and Xbox 360.  Yes, you too can play the King!

Now I don't know about anyone else, but I like it.  Just imagine it, being in your very own BK commercial!  I'm not joking, here.  This is seriously the most awesome thing I've ever heard of.  Imagine, if you will, you're the King, and you have to sneak into people's houses and present them with delicious BK food (if you can't tell, I love BK).  Or how about a platforming game where the King has to jump, grind, kick and punch his way up a construction site to get to the construction worker who needs his BK Joe?  And yeah, football games with the King.  That's just mandatory.

Indeed, the potential for this is limitless.  And the fun part is that no one is being sneaky.  This isn't SWAT 4, where the ads are being forced on people who don't want them.  This is pure marketing craziness, and it'll be incredible seeing just how greasy these games are.

I'm looking forward to these games, that's for damn sure.

The human race sucks sometimes.

I'm not sure what gets into people sometimes.  I'm not going to go into details as you can get off your duff and read the article.

I'm also not going to sit here and commiserate about how the media will try to link this to gaming as a whole.  This simply isn't the time.

The fact is that six people were slaughtered, and the reason is the most petty one can possibly imagine.  An Xbox isn't that expensive.  Hell, an Xbox 360 isn't expensive enough to warrant the wholesale slaughter we're talking about here.

I mentioned some time back in my blog about how people's priorities need to be readdressed.  I'm going to mention it again.  There's no reason - no reason - to commit a micro-holacaust over a God damned game system!  Over anything, really, but this is the pettiest reason for murder I've heard in a long time.  There are many legal ways to get your property back, the most effective being small claims court.  However, even buying another one is better than killing people.  People need to reassess what's important to them, and if they're getting angry enough over electonics that they'd kill people, they need to get committed.

Personally, I hope every person involved gets the harshest penalty possible, which for three of these bastards is a death that's probably going to be much less painful than what they deliverd to their victims.

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In other news, apparently you're going to become a junkie if you play violent video games.  This is the most rediculous thing I've ever heard.  Did they measure the effects of these games in relationship to similarly violent movies?  I doubt it.  However, I'm not going to whoop and hollar about this issue.  The best chance the censorship lobby had was after Columbine, and even the obsession politicians have had since the Hot Coffee scandal can't mask the fact that our hobby is the latest scapegoat for all of society's ills.  We won't be hearing much about this in four or five years.

I love The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.  I think everyone here knows that.  I've been playing it almost non-stop since I picked up my Xbox 360 a few weeks back.  It's really the most beautiful game ever created.

That being said, the idea that we're going to spend $2.50 for each tiny mod is asinine at best.

Now I'm not going to berate Bethesda.  They've gotta stick their toes into the microtransaction waters like everyone else.

I am, however, going to berate anyone who would buy this nonsense.  Everyone knows that the first expansion will include all this stuff, most likely.  By the time the first expansion comes out, most people will be able to upgrade their PCs to Oblivion's level, PC hardware being what it is.  All else failing, it's not hard to imagine an Oblivion GOTY version eventually hitting the 360, like what happened with Morrowind.

In other words, you'll be able to get this content in expansion packs that you'll probably buy anyway, all without getting nickel and dimed to death.

In other words, hold the hell on.  It's not worth it.

Big Government is at it again.

In a desperate attempt to justify plainly unconstitutional regulation, Congress has heavily tipped the scales in vavor of the anti-game activists in their recent hearings on the issue.  It's become increasingly apparent that the government doesn't want to work with the game industry at all, and only seeks to censor.

Or does it?  One has to wonder.  Despite being completely and totally eviscerated by the courts so often it's hard to keep count, the language of gaming bills still singles out video games, still uses arbitrary definitions of 'violent', and still seeks to chill the rights of game makers to make games.

For all their talk of respecting freedom of speech, I wonder if thsese laws aren't being written specifically so they can be easily struck down in the courts.  After all, it's not like the government officials who have been there since the 50s get any punishment for pushing through unconstitutional regulations.  If anything, it's the best of both worlds in their eyes: They get press in their newspapers and TV stations, and the free speech of game developers isn't really affected.

It's a bit of a crazy theory, I know, but it's one that makes more and more sense every time one of these laws comes by.

All I know is that the Democrats (and a few very liberal Republicans) are only doing this because they're weak on terror, want to leave Iraq half-done, and are looking desperately to find an issue they can be strong with.

Personally, I'm voting Republican in 06 and 08.  The liberals can go screw.

I've had my Xbox 360 for a couple of days now, and I do love the system and the games, even if Dead or Alive 4 has impossibly cheap AI.  However, there is one thing I've noticed about the system.

It runs rather hot.

Granted, this isn't the "burns your hand" hot that some people have complained about, but considering that the system is being properly ventilated, there shouldn't be a reason for it to be so hot after only a half hour of play.  It reminds me of the Dreamcast, really.

Though what I want to know is this: is it okay?  Any other Xbox 360 owners reading this experiencing the same issue?  Is it okay to keep playing my games?

Oh the many many issues surrounding this system.

Yes, I've finally done it.

I got me an Xbox 360.  Core system, hard drive purchased separately (there were no premiums at the local GameStop and I really didn't feel like travelling worldwide to find one), with two games, Dead or Alive 4 and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. 

I have got to say that this is one amazing system.  Even though I don't have a high-definition television, I was able to tell the difference between the original Xbox and the new system.  The devil, as they say, is in the details.  Huge, expansive worlds, fine details that could easily be missed by the casual observer (such as the engravings on Oblivion's swords), great music playback capability (plays music from the hard drive or from a portable device while playing - doesn't play M4A though.), the ability to play DVDs using the controller or the Universal Media Remote (which I got for $30).  All in all, it's a wonderful system.

It's also a stroke of genius that the wired controllers are simply USB instead of using a proprietary standard like the original Xbox.  This means that you can download a program from Microsoft that'll let you use your 360 controllers on your PC.  This also means that there's potential for all sorts of things to get plugged into the console.  Very nice.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with my purchase, and even have a couple games in mind to buy in the future.  Perfect Dark Zero and Burnout Revenge are definately on the list, despite the latter being made by EA, and I also wanna try out the wacky, zany Amped 3.

The next generation is here, and it is a beautiful sight to behold.

Gee, who would have guessed?

Considering how crappy Final Fight: Streetwise was and how unremarkable Maximo was, it's no surprise that Capcom would bring the axe down.  Yes, it's bad to see people getting laid off.  However, people cannot expect to continue recieving a check when yours are among the worst games in the company's portfolio.

After all, why would Capcom want to continue supporting such a mundane studio.  This is the same company that produces some of the best games ever: Devil May Cry, Megaman, Onimusha, Breath of Fire, Street Fighter, Resident Evil... Capcom consistently puts out some amazing titles.  Why should they continue to sully their portfolio with garbage like Beatdown: Fists of Vengeance and Final Fight: Streetwise?

With Capcom desperately trying to avoid going into the red this coming generation, this move can only help them, and their fans in turn.  Three cheers for smart business.

Well, I'm trying to look for another MMO as World of Warcraft is getting on my nerves, what with the ever enlarging queues and the skyrocketing lag.  However, I think I've made a collossal boo-boo.

You see, after mixed, but generally positive reviews by the people here on GameSpot, I picked up RF Online for PC.  The anime-style art, sci-fi setting and promise of intense PvP lured me right on in, especially when compared to the barebones experience apparently offered by Dungeons and Dragons: Stormreach.

Anyway, I pop in the DVD and it installs very fast.  Blizzard could stand to have WoW install this rapidly.  I make my account and get ready to play, ready to go right into the action.

Ho...
ly...
crap.


The first thing that I noticed is that, while the graphics are really pretty, the text looks as though it were handled by one-armed two-year-olds hopped up on Ritalin.  Huge gaps in weird places, no spaces where needed, some text overlap, and
generally oddball sentence structure.

Seriously, look at the top of this screenshot.  I couldn't make this (explative) up if I tried.

Anyway, I also noticed that the controls cannot be customized.  That's right, no customizable controls!  Great choice for something you're supposed to be spending hours playing!  The closest thing you had was pressing H to enable WSAD movement, which I freaking hate.  You see, I use my left hand for the mouse (as I'm left-handed), and using WSAD for movement is a nightmare for me, so I normally set it to the arrow keys.  No go here.  In fact, I can't customize a (diety here) damned thing.  Thankfully equipping and unequipping are simple mouse movement matters, but manipulating the camera (done with the right mouse) is erratic at best, as no explaination is given regarding the various camera modes (there's a tutorial, but the text problems displayed earlier renders it ineffective).

Also, a lot of the commands are rather redundant.  You can set walk or run mode with W or Ctrl+W, for example.  Why not just use W and have Ctrl+W be something else?  There are examples like this all over the place.

The graphics are pretty, but even before going up against your first monster, realization hits that this is perhaps the worst PC game ever concieved.  I mean that, it doesn't get worse than this.

I'm gonna give it another week, as I'm still in the free trial period.  However, it increasingly looks like I'm going to end up just copy-pasting this little rant as my review, accompanied by a very, very low score.

Here's a tip, everyone: When it comes to MMOs, Final Fantasy XI is the only remotely tolerable Eastern game.  Otherwise, stick to the Western stuff.

Maybe I really should give Stormreach a try...

Now this is freaking hilarous!

Now we all know I like me some breasts (First game I buy when I get the 360?  Dead or Alive 4).  However, to assert that turning Samus from kickass bounty hunter to voluptuous runway model would make the Metroid series "more mature" is both laughable and sad at the same time.

It's laughable because this little boy (and he's clearly a little boy) seems to equate sex and violence with maturiy.  It's pretty clear that the originator of this thread has never seen a naked woman in his life.

It's sad because, with the exception of God of War the Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil series, and a couple of really fringe RPGs, sex and violence is really all that makes M-rated games "mature."  Most of the M-rated games on the market exist solely for shock value.  Really, what makes games like Grand Theft Auto, 187: Ride or Die, Devil May Cry and the like get their M-ratings?  Is it a gritty story?  Is it hard-hitting social commentary?  Is it characters who are facing real emotional challenges?  Is it games that require a high level of skill that only an adult could hope to have?  No.  It's sex and violence.  If anything, the real "mature" games are found in the E, E10 and T ratings.  games like the Final Fantasy series, Megaman Legends 1 and 2, Metroid Prime, PQ: Practical Intelligence Quotient, the Lunar games on Sega CD and PlayStation, these are the real "mature" games.  Why?  Because instead of using the cheap gimmicks of sex and violence, they engage adults in ways that few kids could ever hope to understand.

However, the 13-year-old boys who make up most of the market for M-rated games will never understand this, because it's cooler to have blood, breasts, swearing and explosions than to have creative storytelling and gameplay.

To the idiot who thought to make this thread: You are not a gamer.  go find some Lara hentai and entertain yourself with the joystick between your legs, but leave my Samus the hell alone!