tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86914175145242672962024-03-23T05:13:59.894-05:00...In The Daunting AbyssOne guy's journey through the quagmire of geek culture.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691417514524267296.post-14049837416660361772014-07-18T16:16:00.000-05:002014-07-18T16:17:24.007-05:00Fighting DeathThis morning I woke up to find an email from my dad saying that my Uncle Frank, my mom's brother, had passed away. This comes just a few days over 3 years after my mom's death and.. well, frankly.. I know less to do about this then I did about my mom's death, mostly because I don't know how to console my aunt or my cousins that -to equal heartbreak- I don't really know.<br />
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What makes it feel worse for me is that, even though I'm far from what you'd call a practicing Catholic, I'm my cousin Arianna's godfather. In a way now, from what I understand about the practice, even though my aunt is still alive I'm supposed to be the one to step in as the father figure. It was an honor bestowed to me by my uncle, even though I've far from been a paragon in the field, I've always taken the title as seriously as the time my uncle asked me to name her. It's just, I can't get myself out of bed most mornings because I'm so depressed, so how am I supposed to help her with this pain when I haven't been able to get through the multitudes of pain I've felt since my cousin, Eugene, and all those who followed, died while I was growing up. No one person's pain is better then anyone else's, there is no winning in that game, but it's extremely hard to be in the same sinking boat, and know what to do to save the other person when you haven't figured out how to save yourself.<br />
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You'd figure I've been through this no fewer then 10 times now, in what some would call a short life, I should be well versed in knowing what to do in the event that my good friend Death decides he's going to show up for another round of "let's test Mike's will to go on." But I'm not. I don't think there is really any way to be and still be considered a human being.<br />
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Ever since that first time I've experienced Death's advantage over us I've done nothing more then float around disconnected from my thoughts and feelings in order to make sure everyone else is okay. That's the only way I function through this. I even did it at my mom's funeral, where I spent most of my day at the door greeting people, whether they knew or remembered me or not. I wanted them to see a smiling face -in the only times any more that I do smile- rather then walk coldly into a sea of people in mourning. For whatever reason, that's when I shine, when the darkness is so thick that it'll choke the life out of you. I just don't know how to convey that.. momentum.. into everyday life.<br />
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I hadn't talked to Uncle Frank since I trekked up to visited him, my aunt and my cousins after Hurricane Sandy, after my cousin Tracy's wedding during the Hurricane (yeah.. during. The raging pack of daredevil's we are). I had tried to call them after I had a health episode a year later, but we missed each other and then time simply passed. And that hurts a lot too.<br />
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But somewhere inside me I know he loved me, we just weren't all that good at phone tag. Just like I know that, even though events in life may make some of them think otherwise, he loved all of his children. They all really need to know that.<br />
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I don't know. I missed him already, now that's never going to end.<br />
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My Uncle didn't really have a ton of influence over my love for videogames, but he fed other things in my childhood that helped make me, me.<br />
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Keith, my cousin, may have bought me my first comic book, an Eastman/Laird era issue of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; which blew my mind only knowing -aka: being obsessed with- the cartoon; but it was my Uncle Frank who bought me my first mainstream comic: X-Men 172 (which may have been a reprint, because it was a few years after that issue was published that I found it at the little convenience store next to Petland Discount on Midland Avenue in the Pathmark Parking lot).<br />
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I was drawn to that issue because of the katana pinning Wolverine's wedding invitation to the wall, and the garb the furrier-than-usual man and the obviously Japanese woman were wearing. It's clear I was a Japanophile far before I knew what one was.<br />
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When he bought it for me it was my in to a world I still haven't come out of, even if I've stopped collecting the books. It introduced me to Wolverine, who would go on to be one of my all time favorite characters (yeah, I said it), at a really really strange time in his existence: One of the rare times he was actually sort of happy.<br />
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I know how you feel, Wolvie.<br />
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Uncle Frank didn't stop there however. My greatest memories of my uncle would come from four completely unrelated things: Rye Playland, Rye Beach, the Bronx Zoo and Wrestling.<br />
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One of my earliest and most vivid memories (though it's surprising to me how vivid the memory of X-Men 172 was) is of a night where my mom and dad went to a work-related dinner and my Uncle Frank was the one to watch me. But he didn't just watch me: he took me to Playland.<br />
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Playland, as some of you may or may not know, is the park used at the end of Big, where the fortune telling machine ended up and where Tom Hanks turned back into a kid. It's also the park in the background of Mariah Carry's video for song, Fantasy. To me, it was just that really fun amusement park that was 15 minutes from our house.<br />
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It was just after dark in the summer when he took me (Playland wasn't open in the winter, if memory serves) and snuck in through a nearby fence. Now, something to remember about my uncle is that he was about 4 years younger then my mom, which put him about 21 at the time, and if any 21 year old hasn't done something like this, then they really haven't lived. I remember walking around and riding rides, but what I remember most is how it got to be late, like after 10, and we were still there and he stopped everything we were doing to find the closest pay phone (You see, back in the day we didn't have cell.. Ah, forget it..) to call them to tell them we were okay. He was always responsible like that with me, and I've never forgotten it. I remember how pitch black it was that night, with the Long Island Sound reflecting that blackness, in spite of the bright lights of the park behind us.<br />
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I still love the feel of being in an amusement park, even though I'm too much of a wimp to go on most adult rides.<br />
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Rye Beach was another place he'd take me that was always a huge treat. I've never been an outdoor person. Well, that's not entirely true, I did love parks and I really loved going camping in the Catskill Mountains. But other then that, I was an indoor kid. Uncle Frank didn't like that much, I think, cause he'd do anything he could, when he could, to get me out of the house and into the sun. I remember thinking I could never go there because I didn't know what to do, because I don't know how to swim (he did try to teach me a few times, to his credit. It isn't his fault it never stuck) and since I was a shy kid, I never thought I'd find other kids to play with.<br />
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But somehow, against all odds, He'd still find a way for those days to be some of the most fun I've ever had.<br />
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Going to the Bronx is something that few people deem as a good thing (sorry, if you live there), but going to the Bronx Zoo? Well that's an event. Class trips there, being with your friends, possibly wearing 2 pairs of underwear because you were so excited to be going (long story), are one thing. But going with Uncle Frank was a whole other exciting thing. Exploring that place with him forever helped along my love for animals (as if my mom wasn't helping that enough).<br />
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I remember the bat house and how scared I was to go in, in spite of knowing they couldn't get me -a sentiment that followed me right into into the snake house. But most of all, I remember the otter pool. The otter pool was both our favorite places for some reason. We spent more time then we should have staring at them playing then any human should have the right to. And that was okay by us.<br />
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Wresting, above all else, was the one thing we geeked over together then most when I was a kid.<br />
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Wrestling also shares a common place in my heart with my great grandfather, who would sit with me during Saturday Morning Superstars and oooo and ahhh, and make jokes with me, when the guys would get hit. All while telling me stories of the really old wrestlers from when he was younger; back when a more unified federation of wrestlers wasn't even imaginable. No one spun a swear laden story about men in tights smacking the shit out of each other, quite like that man.<br />
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When cable started really gaining traction, our house was one of those houses that paid for the expensive basics (times haven't changed that much..) and stole the rest. This meant that every month we'd have access to the newest "biggest event" in sports entertainment history (that would go on to become some of the actual biggest events in sports entertainment history), and my first question on the tip of my tongue, every time we'd gear up to watch them, was "when is Uncle Frank getting here." The event came second only to being guaranteed that I'd see Uncle Frank at least once a month (though, he'd be over all the time, so I don't know what I was worried about).<br />
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Even our dog at the time, Belway, loved having him there; every time he'd leave she'd get spiteful and pee in the seat he sat in, further cementing her achievement of being one of the only animals my family couldn't live with.<br />
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Incidentally, this also brings up the memories of his iguana's. Which were his, but often lived at our tiny apartment, and were taken care of by my mom. I think (eff that, I know) she loved the excuse to have extra animals around.<br />
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Any way, I don't remember who his favorite wrestler was, I'd venture to guess it was either Macho Man or Hulk, but it didn't really matter -we'd talk about them all.<br />
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He even once tried to get us tickets to one of the bigger events at Madison Square Garden, and when that fell through, he was more crushed then I was over it. The fact he at least tried has always stuck with me though.<br />
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Another story that stuck with me was how one day he was doing a delivery for the job he was working at the time, and saw Macho Man and Hulk -who had been feuding on screen, I believe- sitting down and eating at a restaurant somewhere along his route. I'll never forget how excited he was to tell me he saw them, or how his mind was blown that they were sitting down like real people and having a bite to eat.<br />
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Since then I've wandered away from wrestling, like many who loved that era have. I sneak in every once in a while to see what's up, but it never grabs me enough to stick with it, and I know it's mostly because I didn't have Uncle Frank and Grandpa Vinci around to watch these guys get bodyslammed any more.<br />
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All of the loss I've seen in my life is why I think I've played videogames for so long, that some just don't understand. For good or bad, videogames have been the only place in my life where I've felt any measure of control over any given situation, in a world that's proven have have absolutely none and likely never will. it's a coping mechanism that's helped keep me from going crazy years ago.<br />
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As much as I love them, movies and television don't do that for me. In fact, I don't think they can any more.<br />
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I can watch a thousand movies or TV shows and really not feel connected to the events going on in a way that makes me feel like I've ever been in control. There may be tension when Walter White faces down Gustavo Fring, with a cigarette full of ricin in is his pocket, but I'll never feel the rush he feels while doing that. I'll never be the one to do that -and even if I did, what control would I really have in that situation? Likely none. In fact, I'd likely end up getting killed.<br />
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The tension of doing is not the same as the tension of watching. It's apples and oranges. I've already put myself into the terrible corner of being a spectator to life that I've been trying to claw myself out of, so I can't squeeze nearly as much escape, or even -and this is soul crushing to put to words- joy, from watching Markie Mark find a "Transforma," as I do when I stop President John Henry Eden from further poisoning the Capitol Waste in order to rebuild America into some warped "perfect" image.<br />
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It's not about, "hur hur, you get infinite continues, so you feel like Superman," and being able to beat circumstances that way. No, that's a gross misconception of what I think people feel from videogames. It's more about being able to rise up against crushing odds, and overcome them, in spite of physically sitting in a world that's constantly bearing down on us with laws and drama, that we can never truely turn off and walk away from.<br />
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And yeah, sometimes that means fighting Death.<br />
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Every once in a while -criminally far less these days- you'd get to meet Death eye to eye and punch him in his turkey (turkey bone?) neck. Fighting death, the personification of a material him, as unrealistic as it ever will be, is probably the most cathartic thing a person can do in a videogame, whether any of us realize it or not. It gives us a power far greater then any mushroom or chainsaw-bladed gun can ever achieve.<br />
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I really wish more games would put that asshat in, just so we can slap him back to oblivion just a few more times. Hell, even if it's just to beat him in a game of Battleship.<br />
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P.S. I know I've just written much more about my uncle then I have even spoken about my mother since her passing and I don't know know if it's as obvious to everyone else as it is to me living in it thinking it should be, but some things are still just too painful. I really still don't' know what to say about it.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691417514524267296.post-40444909594061509542014-05-14T11:53:00.002-05:002014-05-17T04:57:06.845-05:00Revolution, Believe and Almost Human canceled: A Reasonable Reaction To A Thing That Happened. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Someone finally caught up and scolded him...<br />
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<a href="http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/revolution-almost-human-cancelled-bad-robot-1201176602/" target="_blank">“Revolution” endured its creative ups and downs and never regained much of an audience after moving to the lead-off Wednesday 8 p.m. slot last fall."</a><br />
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I'm sure the creators are going to appreciate the sugarcoating this is being given. The reality of it is, <i>Revolution</i> was in danger since the early days of its run. After the first few episodes, when folks finally realized that everything wasn't going to be the visually awesome experience (See: Chicago and New York overrun by vegetation) with the awesome post apocalyptic story we were lead to believe it had, is when that happened. When it started to fray and devolve into a hamfisted soup of far too many characters, convoluted plot points and a terrible handling of the "it's 15 years later" continuity (The latter being a bigger problem in the first season then the second. The second season mostly ignored that fact because it was well established by that point, even though it relied heavily on older characters using dialog that made "antiquated" pop culture references that -aggravatingly- the younger characters wouldn't have known, but never asked "what's that?" whenever they were in earshot)<br />
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A long winter hiatus didn't hurt the show like Variety is claiming: The writing did. What show coming out of it's first season, that somehow gets a second, has it's creator (in this case, Eric Kripke) come out and issue <a href="http://www.tvguide.com/news/revolution-season-2-kripke-1071239.aspx" target="_blank">something of an apology</a> for how scatterbrained the first season was, having seen the mess it had become after the time he could pump the breaks had passed, with a promise to rein it in, in the second season?(which, for the record, it did-- but also became boring and meandering in the process)<br />
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None. An apology usually happens because a show <i>didn't</i> get a second season, not because it did.<br />
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I generally like Kripke; <i>Supernatural</i> -when under his creation and watch- was one of my favorite shows (Now.. Not so much). But he proved after that first season of <i>Revolution</i>, and confirmed it -even though he didn't say it outright- in the post-first-season apology, that he can't write/create for more then a few characters at a time. When the cast is smaller (even smaller then Season 2 of <i>Revolution</i> was) he can put together a great story, but when he goes past a certain number, the juggling just seems to become too hard.<br />
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It sucks too, in a post <i>Terra Nova</i> world (Read: That show was terrible), we could have used a good high concept network genre show to cleanse our pallets.<br />
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As for the rest of the Cancellations:<br />
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I wanted <i>Believe</i> to go somewhere, but it didn't seem to be (A FEW SPOILERS BELOW, IN CASE YOU CARE). You can call it a slow boil, but every episode wasn't procedural as much as it was a carbon copy of the one before it. I had to tell my fiance to watch it on her own, because I couldn't keep going with the trajectory I saw the show going in.<br />
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My biggest grievance being -and I may have missed a plot point having to do with this after I gave up- that the girl could see and do so many amazing things, but she couldn't see the guy she bickered with on a daily basis was her dad? Or maybe she was just easing him into it while driving him out of his mind? Either way, it was a huge reveal made in the first episode that shouldn't have been made till somewhere down the line -it showed it's big card far too soon and made me fold before it could get me properly, all-in, invested... And that was a poker analogy from a guy who doesn't play.<br />
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It's a shame though, because Johnny Sequoya and Luke McLaughlin had real chemistry. Even though it got annoying (because we knew who he was to her who he was, but they didn't -and the girl probably should have too) over time, the bickering between them felt realistic.. Although for as smart as he actually seemed, McLaughlin's character kept making the same stupid mistakes with her (leaving her alone when he knew she'd run off to help X-person-of-the-week), week after week, and it contributed to it's unbelievability.<br />
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No pun intended.<br />
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Fine, maybe a little.<br />
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<br />
<i>Almost Human</i>, however, upsets me a little. I'm a pretty big fan of what Karl Urban does as an actor. So to see him lose a show that felt like a perfect fit for him is disappointing.<br />
<br />
The problem is, like <i>Believe</i>, the show felt like it was put on the same slow boil setting, while having a sort of scatterbrained -but not quite as bad, daunting to keep up with or many as <i>Revolution</i> ever was/had- series of arcs that didn't feel as important as, or along side, the "of the week" police procedural structure. Something tells me that if this show didn't drip with Fox's signature visuals (because every network seems to have their own) that this show would have seen at least a second season on NBC, if it were over there.<br />
<br />
Fox didn't help it one bit, doing what they do with everything, by putting episodes out of order while sticking long downtime in between episodes of a show they claim to want to grow and prosper. They certainly helped this show out the door this time (knowing there are Fox apologists out there who like to say that Fox gives genre television bigger chances then others -which certainly isn't quite as true any more, judging by the increasing number of genre shows on all networks these days. Sci-fi and Fantasy has become big business in our more geek friendly world.)<br />
<br />
Ultimately, am I surprised at all of these cancellations? Nope, not at all. I'm not even completely bothered by most of them.<br />
<br />
What I am bothered by is the reason why Bad Robot doesn't have any new shows on tap for next season; because they had too many things on the plate this season and didn't think they'd need anything for the next.<br />
<br />
Yeaaahhhh... I'm sorry, but that just seems like poor planning. As if someone wasn't watching anything that was happening with the shows talked about here. Like the plane has been put on auto-pilot in the Grand Canyon.<br />
<br />
With how many shows Bad Robot goes through in any given season since the companies rise, and how that number has increased dramatically over the years, I'm starting to wonder if they're pulling some sort of disjointed TV version of that line about the movie industry: "Being in the business of not making movies."<br />
<br />
Or they're just trying to find that weird, smoke monster creating, <i>Lost</i> lightning again... Yeah... Let's believe that instead.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Side notes and site stuff: I wrote this as a comment on the variety article linked, and because I'm me and can't stop picking at my work, I've cleaned it up a bit here -I had forgotten to finish whole sections of the comment. So should you read the comments and find the same(-ish) words there, that's me.. I've decided that one way or another, if I'm going to keep up with one or the other (commenting places or writing this blog) the two will very likely have to overlap and become one.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">I'm back -that's obvious from this- and will have a bit of a story sometime, hopefully, about what went on while I was away. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with this like I was doing before I had to slam the breaks after Christmas. We'll see though, this years been rough stuff.)</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691417514524267296.post-41464934364469504102014-01-08T14:31:00.001-06:002014-01-08T14:31:03.364-06:00NOT GONE!I know, I know, I changed the name of the site and all the corresponding social media attached and I disappear, but I'M NOT GONE!!<br />
<br />
It's been a crazy month. Holidays got in the way, like they do, but since then family has gotten all up in my way too. Then I got (still am) really really sick, and have been laid up in bed.<br />
<br />
Thank God I got a Galaxy Tab 3 for super cheap through working sales during the holidays (more on this, maybe) because I've sat in bed most of this time and did a better part of the work I needed to do for the next reason I've been away.<br />
<br />During being sick and everything else, I've been trying to research and ordering parts and software to upgrade my PC to start doing video work. Which is taking more time then I had hoped. <br />
<br />
Any way, excuses! I'm REALLY behind in my imaginary deadlines, but I'm not gone, and big things should be happening soon(ish). In fact, I'm 10 seconds away from cracking open this external harddrive in front of me to back up my PC so I can install the solid state drive I've also got sitting in front of me.<br />
<br />
Progress!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691417514524267296.post-11704487228873772052013-12-20T19:03:00.002-06:002013-12-21T17:02:25.600-06:00Small Fix For The Only Telltales The Walking Dead Season 2 Issue I had.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Word my already be spread, but anyone playing The Walking Dead Season 2 on PC may run into an issue where they load the game for the first time and it finds a different set of saves from the ones you want to use. For whatever reason this happened to me and I can't figure out why at the moment (both no time and slightly too technical for me to want to poke into), but it may have something to do with Steam, or possibly trying to start over, over an old save. I seriously can't tell.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">I did manage to figure out how to fix it ally by my lonesome, however. All you need to search your system for The Walking Dead and see if you have two files for the game; one with the words starting with uppercase letters, the second with the words starting with lower case. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">From there all I did was copy the saves I wanted to use, the "ultimate file" I had made over the last few days, from the upper cased file, to the one the lower case file. This allowed Season 2 to see the files I had just spent hours toiling away on, and not ones the game was claiming I made in July, where supposedly I only finished episode 1, that I can't remember ever doing. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">As always with things like this: Back up what your replacing (Example: contents of the lowercase folder) in a separate folder where you can find it (I use my desktop), with a name you'll recognize (I named mine "Unknown Walking Dead Saves"), in case you need to put the contents back at a later date. <b>I can't stress this enough, for the safety of doing anything file related.</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Hope this helps any of you survivors out there, please and pass this around. And remember: Keep that hair short.</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691417514524267296.post-21383858482997345632013-12-08T01:23:00.000-06:002013-12-08T01:30:14.204-06:00My Most Hated Character Of The Year: GTA V's Franklin<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Franklin.. Oh Franklin.. If videogame characters were bicycle wheels, you'd be the big, deflated, third one. If this were a big wheel, you'd make a kid cry...<br />
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<a name='more'></a>I started to write this in response to the Destructoid community <a href="http://www.destructoid.com/who-was-the-worst-new-videogame-character-of-2013--266451.phtml" target="_blank">casting call</a> for the same subject, but life and my fickle health made me take more of a detour then I wished, and I missed <a href="http://www.destructoid.com/here-are-your-most-hated-new-characters-of-the-year-266983.phtml#ext" target="_blank">the boat</a>. But screw it, I'm typing up what I wrote through the week and posting it any way!<br />
<br />
There maybe some light GTA V spoilers here.. But, honestly, given we're talking about Franklin, I sort of doubt it'll be anything special. This is going to be ridiculously shorter then <a href="http://geek-forge.blogspot.com/2013/12/my-favorite-new-character-of-year-lara.html" target="_blank">my favorite new character</a> post.<br />
<br />
Actually, to tell you the truth about this, someone would actually have to pay me to waste any more time on writing about this digital waste of skin. <a href="http://geek-forge.blogspot.com/2013/11/review-grand-theft-auto-v.html" target="_blank">My review</a> of said about as much (in so little) as could be said about Franklin. In fact.. Screw it.. Since it'd just be a rehash of portions of that review any way, heres what I had to say about Franklin from it.<br />
<br />
"Franklin is.. Well.. Basically he's a low rent John Singleton character. He's trying to get out of the hood while trying to get his girlfriend, who doesn't want him, back (Edit note: Who would blame her?). Everyone around him aside from Michael and Trevor tells him he never does anything for them, even though he does <i>everything</i> for them. And that pretty much forces him into the arms of Michael, mostly babysitting Trevor, where he still can't bother to say no and simply walk away from everyone. He really is the weakest of the 3, I can't stress that enough."<br />
<br />
"Franklin was basically a waste of space, and I really don't know what that was supposed to say about Franklin.<br />
<br />
Nothing Franklin does means a whole lot of anything, and he doesn't add anything but a third person to play as. Remember how I say that things sort of just happen to Michael with little rhyme or reason, that are supposed to better his life? That's pretty much the entirety of Franklin's story. Things landing in his lap, including becoming a hired killer (which bares no weight on him what-so-ever, and feels forced considering he tries to be a -pitiful- voice of reason for everyone else through the game.).<br />
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At best he's everyone's Morgan Freeman, driving them all around like Miss Daisy. Even when he takes charge, he's never fully in charge. (Edit note: He even falls asleep while in charge at one point, leaving Trevor and Lamar to have one of my favorite conversations in the game). He was boring, and was portrayed as being as ho-hum as he's played out. He doesn't really add anything to the game except his friend Lamar, who says some really really funny stuff during the course of the game.<br />
<br />
In fact, I was just reminded of one character that Franklin claims keeps him and his friend Lamar down a few times, that only shows up <i>maybe</i> twice, only to kill him off later as a way to clean his slate so he can lead his own life (instead of simply walking away from everyone and everything the 50 times he could have). Unless I missed something, there really wasn't a huge reason to go after this guy other then to give Franklin a villain of his own. It's forced, just like the rest of Franklin's part in the game.<br />
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He was my least played character and he contributed almost nothing to the game by way of story or gameplay, but the game pretty much tells you at the very end that Franklin is the main character, after <i>hours</i> of evidence otherwise.?"<br />
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There is very literally nothing more that I can say about Franklin that I haven't said already. After I drafted out my Lara Croft post, I pretty much could only bring myself write out scant notes about Frankin, and I realized I had written them all before (a usual sign of insanity; doing something over and over thinking you'd get different results). Even in weeks removed hindsight, he's still the most underwhelming character in that game.<br />
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Oh, actually, no, I'm wrong.. I'd nominate him for the title of one of the worst characters in gaming of all time. So I guess there's that. Funny thing is how this games already started getting <a href="http://www.spike.com/vgx/game-of-the-year" target="_blank">Game Of The Year titles</a>, with him at the proverbial helm.<br />
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Guess he really is a good driver.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691417514524267296.post-90141753377612010912013-12-08T00:40:00.002-06:002013-12-08T00:44:53.553-06:00I Called It 2 Years Ago: Operation Rainfall Didn't Mean Squat...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I've been waiting a long time to write about Operation Rainfall, the upstart little segment of the game community that really wanted to see <i>Pandora's Tower</i>, <i>Xenoblade</i> and <i>The Last Story</i> get localized to the west, but haven't because they've very plainly fallen off the face of the earth in terms of <a href="http://www.destructoid.com/operation-rainfall-phase-2-buy-final-fantasy-on-wii-208615.phtml" target="_blank">creating ridiculous plans</a>, just to get seen.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
My story with "Oprainfall," as they're being called <a href="http://operationrainfall.com/" target="_blank">now</a> on their site that's become less of a movement and more of an excuse to post "niche video game goodness" in the form of gaming news we could all pretty much get elsewhere, is a little deeper then I'd like to go into here; but lets just say, for the sake of saying at all, that they weren't very open to the possibility of concurrent causes against the weird things Nintendo was doing 2+ years ago, that may have mutually benefited each other if forces were joined to butt heads with the company against. 2 fronts, one "enemy." But they passed, and I was told how what I was proposing "isn't noteworthy."<br />
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It seems like -2 years removed- the tables have turned and I get to bask in the fact that Rainfall's cause <a href="http://www.destructoid.com/nintendo-100k-signatures-doesn-t-mean-100k-sales--266899.phtml" target="_blank">wasn't noteworthy either</a>, with Nintendo pointing out the obvious that 100k signatures on a petition doesn't mean 100k people are buying the game they're signing it for. Or simply that it doesn't mean a good idea will mean an exchange of money for product.<br />
<br />
What it signifies for me is how right I may have been all along about this cause being nothing more then the usual <a href="http://geek-forge.blogspot.com/2013/11/im-little-embarrassed-to-be-gamer-right.html" target="_blank">selfish gamers</a> looking to go on about things they want but "couldn't have" (quotations intentional: They could have had them. More on that later.). But because they never bothered to champion another game (that I know of) after or around the release of the 3 games they wanted so badly, and because they spent more time promoting themselves and brashly acting like the <a href="http://www.destructoid.com/operation-rainfall-to-pitch-pandora-s-tower-to-publishers-226281.phtml" target="_blank">owners of the rights to these games</a>, then asked for a large sum in donations, THEN sort of just faded into the shadows -it's become easier for everyone else to see them for what they were, in hindsight.<br />
<br />
Problem for them was few still cared until Reggie decided to give them a drop of attention again. And funnier thing is, this sort of vindication has actually <a href="http://www.destructoid.com/operation-rainfall-didn-t-bring-the-last-story-to-america-229620.phtml" target="_blank">happened once before</a>. But I guess Christmas still gets to come early for me this year.<br />
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<br />
And it still confuses the hell out of me over what they actually did with all the money they got through donations for the cause, since it didn't seem like they actually went and pitched the games to publishers they were saying they needed 100k each to pitch to (totaling to 6 publishers, meaning 600k).. Or why no ones bother to probe deeper into what happened with any of that money. (Really, why aren't we?).. But that's a whole different issue altogether; but slip covers can't cost that much. Could they?<br />
<br />
Either way, below one of the many things I said 2 years ago (in response to <a href="http://www.destructoid.com/operation-rainfall-to-pitch-pandora-s-tower-to-publishers-226281.phtml" target="_blank">this article</a>), as brought to my attention again by one of my D-toid friends, <a href="http://the-excel.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Excel</a>, and had probably said in some way on just about every Operation Rainfall article that Destructoid (and possibly Kotaku at that point) ran. It's amazing how true it all rings now (Pachter, I'm coming for your job, Brotha! Ready the steel cage!!!):<br />
<br />
<i>"I really hope they know that they probably had nothing to do with Xenoblade and Last Story released other then proving to publishers that gamers are whiny and misguided.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>The fact that they need to ask for donations when they can't come up with the money amongst themselves is sad..</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>The fact that they're going to give people a slip cover to hold all 3 games, as if they own the rights to all 3 games simply because they fought for them, is egotistical.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>"The only catch is this plan is not a guaranteed thing, and the donations will be used as they come in."</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Problem is that no donation based anything is an absolute, that fact is not limited to just these guys. And I'm fairly sure theres no refunds on donations usually.. But I'm probably wrong there.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Plus... THESE GUYS AREN'T MAKING THE GAME.. They're pitching hypotheticals to companies on something THEY DON'T OWN THE RIGHTS TO. Seriously, what they're doing should be illegal.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>"It seems weird to me that Operation Rainfall is going this way about it.."</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>In a way its not.. They really didn't have personal success with getting the other titles here, I believe 100% that Nintendo just finally did it on their own, and that shows in how Nintendo only bothered to half ass their releases then thinking they'd be strong enough for a real one.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Now that Rainfall is seeing the Kickstarter craze taking off they figure they can jump on it, but it a way that's completely stupid. If they were raising the money to send to the Pandora's Tower team with a note saying "this needs to be used to pitch the game to publishers for the west, and only that" then yeah, it'd be nice.. But they're basically going rogue at this point, and frankly I don't know how anyone can trust that they'll really get results when they have NOTHING to do with the game beyond wanting it released this, ridiculously, bad. Just cause they may get one of these companies to agree to publish it, doesn't mean the Pandora team even agrees with the terms at all.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>"Besides, what's a measly $10 for a great cause?"</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Now say that another 20 times, for a plethora of games, without realizing it adds up -you just missed your rent and those games may still never be released. Its hardly a great cause when the developers should be doing this themselves -And seriously, what about the fact that they haven't?"</i><br />
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Overall, at the other end of this expansive maze, I'm happy the games that got localized (err.. Naturalized? I mean, the games were already translated for other countries, they just weren't brought to them). But in parallel to that I'm also happy that it didn't work out so well out of the basest human spite for people I've pretty much always perceived as selfish, who otherwise got high praise for being so plainly selfish. I'm also more then willing to have a good laugh at how Gamestop took this <a href="http://www.destructoid.com/gamestop-taking-heat-amid-xenoblade-controversy-259964.phtml" target="_blank">and ran with it</a>.<br />
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I just wish others were willing to point out what was going on with Rainfall sooner. I also feel like they more-than-likely would have been met with the same eye rolling, "your whining about whiners.." comments I had.<br />
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Or, at the very least, if more folks were willing to point out how Operation Rainfall didn't matter in the grand scheme of things, because the exact thing they've fought for these 3 games was something that had been going on for decades, and simply wasn't going to stop because of them.<br />
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I know I keep tapping into this one source of frustration, but someone fighting for a real cause would still be fighting the fight, even if we really <a href="http://www.feministfrequency.com/" target="_blank">wished they'd stop</a> (or at least turn their attention elsewhere). If Rainfall was really looking to be the champion of some, they should have been the champion of all, and really made a lasting mark. But I'd say, for the sake of gamers making movements for the right, longer lasting, purposes, it sets a bad precedence to have such a high profile cause to pull a pump and dump just for (literally) the few scant items and nothing else, whether their efforts were successful or not.<br />
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There doesn't appear to be a bigger cause here now, it was just a shopping list.<br />
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With all honesty, that's really all these people needed to do: Make a shopping list. All they had to do to play these games was mod their Wii's, or import one that would play the game natively, and then import the game (specially since these games had been translated already). Instead Rainfall came off as players who didn't want to spend the extra money -that people have been doing for ages now- to import 3 games and chose to get others to spend money so they can troll a company that <a href="http://www.destructoid.com/npd-wii-u-sold-a-paltry-55-000-units-in-january-245028.phtml" target="_blank">probably</a> didn't <a href="http://www.destructoid.com/the-wonderful-101-s-sales-don-t-look-good-so-far-260892.phtml" target="_blank">have </a>the<a href="http://www.destructoid.com/nintendo-ceo-takes-50-pay-cut-following-3ds-issues-207385.phtml" target="_blank"> resources</a> to go through such a risky endeavor in the first place, but didn't really want to take the steps to say it out loud -Or, you know, their stocks would fall like a rock and they'd be hurt even more.<br />
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<br />
In hindsight, from all the evidence we've had since this whole thing started, from not localizing these games to the woes Nintendo is fighting with the Wii U, there was a much bigger picture puzzle at play here as to why Nintendo wasn't going through with pushing the these games west, one that 3 highly niche games obviously wasn't going to solve -one that many feel may never get solved. But I bet Layton could have done it in a heartbeat.<br />
<br />
That guy gets all the puzzles.<br />
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In a large way I wanted them to be the champions they were making themselves out to be; at least so more games that normally wouldn't have a chance to make a westward journey, games some of us would never have a hope in the world to play, would. But then you take a curious glimpse at the true face of something bigger, behind the mask, and sometimes you simply get let down. (Then you get to tell people about it and they act like your crying wolf)<br />
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<b>Some other thoughts and observations while editing this whole mess together:</b><br />
<br />
Some of the comments I'm reading on the article that brought me to writing this have been really funny after having found myself deep in the trenches of this 2+ years ago. Times, and further evidence, really do have a funny way of changing things. Makes me wonder what would have happened if Reggie Fils-Aime had simply said exactly this years ago.<br />
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Oh, who am I kidding.. People would have called him a liar and a company man (I wouldn't call him the former, but he's definitely the latter).. They'd still need the hard proof that Nintendo was struggling to sway their hearts.<br />
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Also, in looking for images for this post I found this: <a href="http://gamedesignreviews.com/scrapbook/operation-rainfall-coins/">http://gamedesignreviews.com/scrapbook/operation-rainfall-coins/</a><br />
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<br />
So.. Did Nintendo turn around troll fans pretty heavily here? And if so..why just Europe (since I can't seem to find if it also happened in the US)?<br />
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I do find it extremely guffaw worthy that the blogger had zero clue what Operation Rainfall was when he got the coins, but bought all 3 games on his own steam and was lucky enough to score these. Guess that says something about both the cause and what Nintendo was doing -because there was at least one player out there willing to buy all three games without prodding.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691417514524267296.post-37304668664188088462013-12-08T00:13:00.002-06:002013-12-08T00:36:15.340-06:00My Favorite New Character Of The Year: Lara Croft<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I started to write this in response to the Destructoid community <a href="http://www.destructoid.com/who-was-your-favorite-new-videogame-character-this-year--266450.phtml" target="_blank">casting call</a> for the same subject, but life and my fickle health made me take more of a detour then I wished, and <a href="http://www.destructoid.com/here-are-your-favorite-new-characters-from-2013--266971.phtml" target="_blank">I missed the boat</a>. But screw it, I'm typing up what I wrote through the week and posting it any way!<br />
<br />
This may have some light <i>Tomb Raider</i> <i>(2013)</i> spoilers.<br />
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Now I know what you all might be thinking: Lara's been around for 17 years, she's not new.. Or even the best. But in thinking back on what we want out of videogames, especially in the last 2 years, this re-envisioned Lara has it all, and every bit of what makes her up is new:<br />
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She's fresh (literally and figuratively, compared to her older iteration).<br />
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She looks amazing (graphically and otherwise).<br />
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She's innovative (in road less taken approach they took with her)<br />
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A story, more about her herself, instead of just gut pounding action (though the action is there)<br />
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She's a strong female character that isn't a lifeless flaunting of negative things (in spite of what people wanted to believe prior to release)<br />
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And all of this, in spite of <a href="http://www.spike.com/vgx/game-of-the-year" target="_blank">certain award nominations</a>, from a game that seems to have gone largely underrated by the gaming community.<br />
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The game imagines the jarring start of Lara Croft's journey from college student to hardened explorer, in a way that gives a much more definitive start then the original <i>Tomb Raider</i>; a game that simply had the voluptuous adventurer being what she was is within little to no context. Now we got to see every we get to experience every grueling step, allowing us to achieve her personal growth with her. And it's a growth that has extended beyond the screen, and into the real world.<br />
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The problem's facing new Lara weren't always a part of her journey however, since the community seemed to find a heaping pile of reasons to hate on her, from about the moment we found out about her return. But rarely have any of these issues been actually about Lara herself, but stigmas people have about her based on very little interaction with the actual game.<br />
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Thinking back on it, I'd say the exact point where the negative reactions started was actually at the very beginning, with the first rumblings of the games existence. The announcement got a mixed reaction of optimism and frustration. The new game, and take on the character, would be far better then any game we've seen from the prior series of the same name in past years, but Lara was met with a lot of hate for the idea that she would be waify (yet not overbearingly sexy), fragile, and younger. Thing is, this happened in comments across the internet, but isn't quite as remembered as what happened after, when the game was finally shown at E3.<br />
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I don't think Crystal Dynamics could have foreseen the turbulence they were flying into after showing the game at E3. The general feeling I got was awe at the way the game looked, and seeing the new Lara in action, but many took what we saw and earnestly ran with it in the most ridiculous direction imaginable, based on how little we saw of the game: Lara would be brutally raped.<br />
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As completely serious the subject matter was, I began to personally call what was going on "Rapegate," just to give it just a little levity, if crudely so; because no one else was apparently going to do that for me, at least not in any comment sections I was looking at. Everyone else was simply too busy claiming it was the only thing going on.<br />
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I still really can't believe that people thought, in any capacity, that the developers of this game would openly depict Lara getting brutalized like that by Yamatai Island's inhabitants, especially from out of context footage of her barely being caressed, when cornered by a single dude -who, as we find out, she knees in the junk and becomes her first human kill -never, to my memory, being remotely touched that way again. It just wasn't going to happen, and when we played the game: it didn't.<br />
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But this is also the exact moment where I feel like the big time rush of videogame feminism found its ground; on the back of a vulgar display of the mass consciousness thinking the very worst. In one fell swoop Lara went from strong female character; a determined survivor that that could have wiped away the negative stigma of being a big boobed sex symbol of past Lara; immediately into being talked about the better part of the year leading to the games release as being the penultimate sexual assault victim; sight unseen.<br />
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And that was it. For months. Lara was going to be raped and no one could convince those vocal about it to believe anything different.<br />
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Then the game dropped, and we got to actually play the scenario out.. And there was no rape. In fact, as I mentioned earlier, she kills the only guy who really got the opportunity to get that close in one of the games best "fuck yeah!" moments. All the "hype" was completely overblown.<br />
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Yet this also almost immediately started the next phase of "Operation Hate Lara," the: "She's a little too good at killing" phase. An extremely odd turn from being initially perceived as the international poster child for weak abused and battered women.<br />
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Gamers had been angsty all along about the fact that new Lara wasn't like past Lara; a person who can just go in and gun up a place, be it against humans, animals or the occasional dinosaur. Here we had been presented a new version of the character that may not have ever handled a gun, or at least not in the same capacity of the her prior. The initial frustration was with the fact that this island full of men would simply trample her.<br />
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Then we used her to trample them.. In bulk.. And people got twisted the other way, saying that she couldn't possibly do that.<br />
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But this was also the moment where I started to feel she was my favorite character of the year. She wasn't really the mass murdering beast everyone was making her out to be, and had really wanted all along. It wasn't really a case of "She mows them down with shotgun like they were nothing. Rawr, Marcus Fenix!" when it was more along the lines of something like," She's surviving the best she can, under impossible circumstances, and look at the way the kick back effects her."<br />
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What we were asked to see, and many apparently ignored, was Lara struggling with every aspect of the journey she was thrust into, as told through the animations and sound direction. The game actually goes so far as to make the player look a bit closer at the periphery of the beautifully presented characters and environments we were all clamoring for since we were fed the handful of footage, to see the little idiosyncrasies of the subtle actions, movements and sounds Lara makes all throughout the game; in a way that would cause David Cage to need new a new pair of shorts.<br />
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Dislocated shoulders hurt. Jumping for a ledge you can barely catch, hurts. The kickback of a gun can throw you off balance. Killing for the first time, will leave in shock; but having to continue to survive will keep you moving. Running for 5 hours straight is going to wear on you. Those little groans aren't suggestive, they're the reactive calls of a body wracked with pain. And Lara shows evidence of all of this, coming out the other side a tattered mess of nerves and instinct that simply didn't give up when the chips fell so far down Yamatai's darkest crevasses, where hope would be little more then a dream that only normal people can achieve, before overcoming all obstacles to finally save her friends. Lara's story was better told through these intricate subtleties, then it was the story most of the time.<br />
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But many unjustly bemoan her for being, as they saw, a steely eye'd killer, the likes of (insert most protagonists here); but in that they had found exactly what they wanted when they said she was being done all wrong, not being the hardened, often uncaring, warrior they always had in past Lara.. And they still weren't happy with that.<br />
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It only proved there just isn't pleasing everyone.<br />
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But the various problems seated in peoples perception aren't the only things that make up the new Lara Croft. There's one hell of a soul in there too.<br />
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One thing you can always pull out of the prior <i>Tomb Raider</i> games is that Lara was bored sounding and often heartless superwoman, who was simply about shooting her way through everything with relative ease, and never having many problems climbing the walls and flipping over obstacles. Unlikable would be something of an understatement.<br />
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The mission always seemed a bullheaded paramount to her her, and anyone (or thing) who got in her way was going to get a bullet for their troubles. Any amount of talk in between is all business. Nearly no allies, but tons of rivals.<br />
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New Lara, however, has many more layers of emotional depth, allowing her to be a much more human character then the tempered loner-bot we've always known.<br />
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There's new found compassion for people; a whole crew that she not only saw as friends, but as close family, some of which had known her through all her life, and loses to the islands unrelenting cruelty over the course of the game. These situations made for some of the games most gut wrenchingly sad moments I've seen all year. She even seems to care a lot about that shifty asshat of a professor that totally screws everyone over.. Well, at least before he goes just a <i>little</i> too far.<br />
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The entire reason Lara pulls her friends to this island is because her best friend, Sam (who I've not mentioned, for the fact that people think Sam and Lara were lesbians, on top of all the other baseless things people thought) wanted to know more about her Japanese heritage. She wasn't looking to become rich to trick out her mansion or grow her collection of unitards. Or to find some artifact before some other character could use it to destroy the world. She just wanted to help a friend get more in touch with herself.<br />
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I don't think we'd be able to see that, and believe it, from old Lara.<br />
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While old Lara was always implied to being the smartest bean in a lonely field, the new Lara is decidedly more learned, and more gleefully inquisitive, then we've seen a lot of characters be in recent years, outside of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professor_Layton" target="_blank">puzzle games</a>. Listening to her wonderment when she'd find an artifact became part of the joy of seeking them out.<br />
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And, it almost goes without saying, new Lara is a far more determined then old Lara ever was, if only because old Lara never seemed to be frightened by anything she faced, mundane or supernatural, or ever all that worried that she'd come out the other end intact. She was always a little <i>too</i> confident that she'd come out the other side of the tomb.<br />
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And all of this mucky muck is why my favorite new character of the year is Lara Croft. Crystal Dynamics took an out of touch, aging, character from a series that had become largely laughable, and made her feel more human then she ever had in her 17 year history; even against the backdrop of a world that had her running around worrying about such ridiculous notions as Oni and mystically powerful Sun Queens. A character that, for me, grew beyond the confines of a game and broke out of conventional confines to became so much more to people then a bunch of pixels; that they couldn't find reason to stop talking about her as if she were a person you could walk up to and shake hands with.<br />
<br />
And she's a character that still has room for plenty more growth as the future of the series rolls on, in a journeys that I can't wait to go on with her.<br />
<br />
These levels of depth (and heated debate) say a lot for a character, especially when the character finds a way to outpace their own game, even after so many years of being one of the biggest names in gaming.<br />
<br />
Big kudos to Lara and the company that made her, for that.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691417514524267296.post-73565773025786600982013-12-02T12:00:00.000-06:002013-12-02T12:00:07.025-06:00My Least Favorite Games Of The 7th GenerationOkay, so I tackled some of my favorite games of the last generation, it only seems natural to go in the other direction.<br />
<br />
Like the last time, I can only comment on games I've actually played. And I'll add the caveat that this time, you'll probably find a reason to really be angry. But, again, that's on you. Feelings and all that.<br />
<br />
So without further ado, I'll be getting behind these blast doors...<br />
<a name='more'></a><b>Final Fantasy XIII:</b><br />
<br />
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<br />
Yeah.. Original right? But there's a very good reason for this that isn't just a puffed up chest saying "I'm a fan, I want everything the way it was," even though I've been a life long fan of the series, because, lets face it: Every Final Fantasy game is different, there really isn't a "Way it was." Fans know this (or should, somewhere deep down).<br />
<br />
My problem is it simply didn't resonate with me.<br />
<br />
I didn't like the combat system, my mind simply doesn't think like that and I could never adequately find the flow like others did. The story felt brain dead and lifeless compared to a lot of other game that aren't even in the Final Fantasy series. The corridor based settings were beautiful, yet limiting. When the game gets to the one open area it's still just one big, limited, open area, with no depth or reason to care for it.<br />
<br />
The only thing that makes this worse is that Square felt the need to make an (understandably) bigger return on all the meticulous work they did to build such a beautiful game engine, and made 2 sequels to the game instead of moving on.<br />
<br />
Now, most would probably think: If your a purist, you probably hate the idea of sequels to mainline games... But I actually really liked X-2.. In fact, I may have liked that dress-up game almost more then it's prior title (I know I got super pissed when I didn't 100% the game because I missed talking to a Moogle at the beginning...).<br />
<br />
I'm fine with story continuations, these games ask for that treatment most of the time, but this game alone made me so weary that I'm almost unwilling to try the next two (even after having peaked in on either the demos or people playing them), because of it.<br />
<br />
On a deeper, personal level, this and Metal Gear Rising: Revengence -when it wasn't Revengence yet- which incidentally I didn't like what I played of it either, were the two games that made me feel okay to get a 360 over a PS3, because I didn't have the money to cover the much more expensive system when I traded in my Wii for a system that wouldn't collect dust (sorry, but that was the reality in my house). The idea that I'd be able to have the next Final Fantasy and Metal Gear games on a non-Sony system, when I really couldn't afford the Sony system to play them in their native habitat, was a big push for me. So to have them sort of blow back on me like this just felt terrible.<br />
<br />
Quite honestly, through it all, it's the only game this generation that I've played, that I couldn't push myself to finish. That says a lot, and possibly should have been what I lead with.<br />
<br />
<b>Silent Hill 2/3 HD:</b><br />
<br />
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<br />
My God, in a world stuffed with demonic abominations, you'd think that these classics wouldn't be twisted into abominations themselves.<br />
<br />
This game was riddled with issues, all stemming from Konami's mismanagement of the entire thing. It's easy at first to blame the HD upgraders, Hijinx Studios, but it was all on Konamil; who didn't supply them with a final build of the original.. Because they had lost it... But bits an pieces, asking Hijinx to rebuild entire sections of it themselves, on top of being made to rush it to market.<br />
<br />
Then there was just the whole "Month of Silent Hill" thing, where Konami, attempted, where they flooded the market with Silent Hill games, without actually marketing any of them very much (amongst other games they did the same thing to, in the same move.), expecting us to simply know through some sort of ESP that it was happening, and crying themselves to sleep when it didn't pan out (and Silent Hill: Book of Memories being pushed back.. A lot)<br />
<br />
Silent Hill 2 is my all time favorite games, but playing again in this state was unbearable -which only made a speedrun in the first playthrough seem like the best idea, instead of something to do in a replay get more out of the game. The non-connective Silent Hill 3, a game I don't have a whole lot of love for aside from it's main series name, was enough to keep me interested, but not much further then to get through it so I didn't think I bought half of a half a game.<br />
<br />
<b>Scott Pilgram vs. The World: The Game:</b><br />
<br />
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<br />
My (Insert another deity here -God seems tired). This game was a game so meta that it broke at the seems, in all the worst ways. Beloved for being a decent brawler, it was all the massive bugs in the game that Ubisoft never really bothered to smooth out, that dragged the entire package down.<br />
<br />
I played the hell out of this game, but it wasn't because I was in love with it.. I wanted the very easy to get 100% on this game, but couldn't simply achieve that like I should have, in one or two goes, because the game kept freezing, corrupting saves or simply not giving me the achievements/special things. So I trudged on, played the game through, completely, with all the characters, 10 times each, to get the one thing I was wanting all along..<br />
<br />
Was it excessive? Yeah. But it didn't have to be. It never should have been.<br />
<br />
Factor in the fact that Ubisoft, for whatever reason, saw it fit to release a DLC 3 years after the games release, out of no where, and finally add in online multiplayer that probably should have existed day 1.<br />
<br />
<b>My Favorite HD Remake Of The 7th Generation:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>This one's a hard one, but I'd probably say Resident Evil 4. Capcom somehow managed to go about porting the game to us without any higher offense then asking us if we wanted to buy the game again.<br />
<b><br /></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691417514524267296.post-43516804922149282412013-11-29T12:00:00.000-06:002013-11-29T12:00:03.714-06:00My Favorite Games Of The 7th Console Generation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br /></div>
Generation Hate.. I mean 8.. Is finally upon us, but I wanted to take a (sometimes) fond look back at Generation 7. These lists are in no particular order of importance, with no real set limit (with your Capito..wait..), it's more of a free thought deal; though I guess you can say that if I thought of it first, I thought more of it then the next thing. But thats on you.<br />
<br />
I know some will find this to be incomplete without (Insert this game), and feel inclined to say so. It really should go without saying, but I honestly can't comment on games I've not played.. Or aren't thinking about..<br />
<br />
Either way, sit a while and listen...<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<b>Alan Wake:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
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<br />
I keep saying it, and I mean it, the one game that can be announced for the Xbox ONE that would get me antsy to run out and buy one right now would be <i>Alan Wake 2</i>.<br />
<br />
In a generation that marked horror games as a dead genre due (that would be wonderfully picked up by the indies -thanks to them and their tireless work) to waning sales and claims of unmarketability, <i>Alan Wake</i> proved that you could still get your blood pressure up with a good, dark, game.<br />
<br />
A masterfully told story by Remedy, the minds behind the original two <i>Max Payne</i> titles, that has still yet to completely unfold, in spite of a glorious pseudo sequel side game (thing), <i>Alan Wake</i> shows where Horror games can go if given to a studio thats willing to take the time to buck conventions, rather then go for the quick buck.<br />
<br />
<b>Deadly Premonition:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
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<br />
Quirky, mysterious, fill of laughs for so many reasons (and not always the right ones), <i>Deadly Premonition</i> is a game from the generation before that was almost never released, but I'm damn glad it was.<br />
<br />
Yes, most of the game makes no sense. Sure, it plays like crap at times. Yeah, a lot of the action slows the game down, instead of supercharging it. But you know what? It doesn't matter, because this game exemplifies why I've stuck with gaming my entire life: It's so much fun.<br />
<br />
<b>Batman: Arkham Asylum AND City:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
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<br />
<br />
Two game as one entry? I'm nuts right? But this just goes to show you how much I loved these games and how spectacularly crafted Rocksteady made their sequel.<br />
<br />
Playing these games makes you feel like Batman, with a fighting system worthy of actual, bone crushing, street fighting, and settings and character designed that, by God, are some of the best things to happen to Batman in years.<br />
<br />
<i>Origins</i> was great (review still incoming.. If I can get time away from my other thoughts to write it out), but hit just shy of the bar that Rocksteady meticulously set. Lets hope that Rocksteady picks the series up again soon, with a true sequel to the series they created.<br />
<br />
<b>The Walking Dead:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
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<br />
David Cage may think high polygon counts means greater depths of emotion, but TellTale Games showed us the real meaning of the word with far less.<br />
<br />
The story TellTale tells is a gripping choose your own adventure to the backdrop of a beloved comic book series turned phenomena, and doesn't flinch at the thought of having to compete with it's other parts. You care about every character you encounter, even if caring means you wanting them to die a horrible death.<br />
<br />
TellTale teaches us an important lesson with this game that you'd be hard pressed to find this generation: Story comes before graphics and action any day.<br />
<br />
Oh, and I'd be selling them short if I didn't say one more thing: They did an awesome job taking feedback and applying it to tweak their episodes between releases. You can tell there is a progressively better flow happening in how well the game worked and played as you got deeper in.<br />
<br />
<b>Fallout 3:</b><br />
<br />
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<br />
Yeah, I'm one of those people who can't mention Bethesda without mentioning how ridiculously buggy all their games can be. The fact that they, although being great games, can still get Game of the Year, in spite of such massive flaws that often go unfixed, is beyond me. But that doesn't stop me from loving their games, and particularly loving<i> Fallout 3</i>.<br />
<br />
I know a lot of people prefer<i> New Vegas</i> when you say "<i>Fallout</i>," but I couldn't get into it enough compared to the rich, sprawling, atmosphere of The Capitol Wasteland.<br />
<br />
With well over 100 hours logged and pretty much every quest completed, this has to be one of my most played games of this generation. I even put it down for a long while and still felt compelled back to it -a really big feat for someone like me, who feels like they don't have that kind of time.<br />
<br />
<b>Tomb Raider 2013:</b><br />
<br />
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<br />
People hate reboots but love controversy, and this game has it all.<br />
<br />
One of the most talked about games at the time of it's announcement,<i> Tomb Raider</i> was talked about more for it's yet to be seen, and completely baseless when played, idea that Lara will be raped and spend the game under the threat of more, rather then the game itself.<br />
<br />
What the game actually spins is the story of Lara's beginnings and starts her anew with none of the hardened skills we've come to know her for in past games. So what we get is a character that pants when running, cries out in pain when grabbing a ledge in mid fall, and, as she puts it, "hates tombs." It's a first time fight for survival that, to me, felt like just that.<br />
<br />
It's not a perfect game at all, having had some crazy bugs, personally, and had a rather lackluster ending, but it was a damn good launchpad for a series I'd love to see more of.<br />
<br />
<b>Dead Space:</b><br />
<br />
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<br />
Remember above where I talked about Alan Wake above? Well take any terror that game may have instilled in me and ramp it up to 100. The story may not be as nuanced as Wake's tale, but the twists and turns Issac Clark is asked to take can be all the more jarring.<br />
<br />
<i>Dead Space 2</i> may have taken some of the ideas set up by it's predecessor and made them better, but I found not a single scare compared to the horror that <i>Dead Space</i> had, where as <i>Dead Space</i> has the rare honor, only shared by <i>Silent Hill 1</i>, of being a game that creeped me out so much, that I almost quit playing it. I've seriously not had that reaction since I was 4, where in one Halloween I was doody-in-the-pants scared of Chucky (having had a My Buddy doll --which promptly got thrown into the deepest darkest part of the attic) and by a friend of my parents coming to our door dressed in a horrifically realistic Freddy outfit (after having seen all the Elm Street movies to date, and -as I'm told- laughed my ass off through them all.)<br />
<br />
Even though I like 2 a lot, I would have been completely happy ending my time with the series at the first game, with it's wonderful surprise ending, rather then see where EA allowed (pushed) the series to go in part 3.<br />
<br />
<b>Honorable mentions:</b><br />
<br />
<b>High Moon's Cybertron Series:</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYSymjliw2Xy3V8Wp34ZW31JjyUBPHo8UFRJNggNdyax82yyfUYwuKQtpUtU_c1gI511fuSZ_zEyh4L8QgmwBPt3YEjr1VUiM9rQiPZ3e-0vggBONEEowqNszi4KcDgfXPNna92G8wTKJE/s1600/War_for_Cybertron.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYSymjliw2Xy3V8Wp34ZW31JjyUBPHo8UFRJNggNdyax82yyfUYwuKQtpUtU_c1gI511fuSZ_zEyh4L8QgmwBPt3YEjr1VUiM9rQiPZ3e-0vggBONEEowqNszi4KcDgfXPNna92G8wTKJE/s1600/War_for_Cybertron.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjPCg3_FzDDEFkRfVoAnA7Qy62MbDKTG80agUNH8NsXS4NWZCOWeHtCJjqMIInEQowqnuZZWAcYO93D_hRVPNobOs-e6RxvpMIQVTWQ6w-x5yBIbqtHI1Zfx2OnDx4xdyKHO_DCXImj6y1/s1600/Transformers,_Fall_of_Cybertron_PC_box_art.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjPCg3_FzDDEFkRfVoAnA7Qy62MbDKTG80agUNH8NsXS4NWZCOWeHtCJjqMIInEQowqnuZZWAcYO93D_hRVPNobOs-e6RxvpMIQVTWQ6w-x5yBIbqtHI1Zfx2OnDx4xdyKHO_DCXImj6y1/s320/Transformers,_Fall_of_Cybertron_PC_box_art.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
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Nothing has done more good for my nostalgia bone then these games. I really hope we get to see more of this series in the new generation. YOU GOT THE TOUCH! YOU GOT THE POWER!!<br />
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<b>Lego Batman:</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgckk5csHJ2UKzs1RZi6hE1zZL3jmuyDFIN4-yHHVX4d9oO1E0SlOIWNmjj00WOnpYz1UDE4jFgFVumE-KQEgFzUkshG_rNyksLJkb7sD89BdKUQ6ehHcmwFTMZxl7JzACTHcq49IeH3sSu/s1600/lego_batman-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgckk5csHJ2UKzs1RZi6hE1zZL3jmuyDFIN4-yHHVX4d9oO1E0SlOIWNmjj00WOnpYz1UDE4jFgFVumE-KQEgFzUkshG_rNyksLJkb7sD89BdKUQ6ehHcmwFTMZxl7JzACTHcq49IeH3sSu/s400/lego_batman-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I was able to leave behind the <i>Star Wars</i> games before it, in spite of my love for all things <i>Star Wars</i>, but this game? I couldn't rest till I 100% it's achievements. Honestly, I've yet to find another Lego game since that's make me as happy as this one did. I've got <i>Lego Marvel Superheroes</i> sitting out in the living room with my PS4, if that game makes me even a fraction of how happy <i>Lego Batman</i> made me, that'd be a huge win.<br />
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<b>Darksiders:</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNrJNsZjuHc6e2U7HM0bmHz8DYYfn2Zg7s8q91zSgPRQu1cBR_r7_4h2BOUZhluy8OQGJZBI4zDFQnqSqjYUnPk8lgsQyDZ71DwQaVr5b4eNX61u1PUrtvvn9uuXAyKVhTU6_rAvEgo6-p/s1600/2293994-darksiders_wallpaper_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNrJNsZjuHc6e2U7HM0bmHz8DYYfn2Zg7s8q91zSgPRQu1cBR_r7_4h2BOUZhluy8OQGJZBI4zDFQnqSqjYUnPk8lgsQyDZ71DwQaVr5b4eNX61u1PUrtvvn9uuXAyKVhTU6_rAvEgo6-p/s640/2293994-darksiders_wallpaper_1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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THQ's little engine that could (before the transmission fell out and the company folding like a wet napkin). In spite of being called "A sub-par <i>Zelda</i> meets <i>God of War</i> clone" I found this to be one of my most surprisingly good spur of the moment purchases I've made all generation.<br />
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<b>Brutal Legend:</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs8u5x7wU7gPRMS_dKDBqGTDjv0xxOD9LRoHQb-XoYHTsujxNqIiYXp_Gnl00dPi42X_A9GIAw_b4Mj0tkBQWJgCcCV_Nir6QP6ejhIuvH0PsIwfVYqPIm6j21MdF_UhxFtKwhevaxLlok/s1600/BrutalLegendCover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs8u5x7wU7gPRMS_dKDBqGTDjv0xxOD9LRoHQb-XoYHTsujxNqIiYXp_Gnl00dPi42X_A9GIAw_b4Mj0tkBQWJgCcCV_Nir6QP6ejhIuvH0PsIwfVYqPIm6j21MdF_UhxFtKwhevaxLlok/s320/BrutalLegendCover.jpg" width="253" /></a></div>
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Aside from the "your doing it all wrong" strategy sections, this game would have been a pure metal masterpiece if it just stuck to the 3rd person areas of the game where it excelled. And I'm a metal head, and I love Double Fine, so sue me for being supportive.<br />
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<b>Shadow Complex:</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKT7w1F1-wXm56iQQYPzlIoaC7kSQwVVJXPjIQepeYU2CgBQFmJHk5VQigwbxNw4Xek46NyYxDmxepZKdBXVh0CNC8H25DBRtcCrYs1YWu4ZdQKddydMi_hu3XkOUxac_cLCHQ4lAfIsb-/s1600/Shadow_Complex_cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKT7w1F1-wXm56iQQYPzlIoaC7kSQwVVJXPjIQepeYU2CgBQFmJHk5VQigwbxNw4Xek46NyYxDmxepZKdBXVh0CNC8H25DBRtcCrYs1YWu4ZdQKddydMi_hu3XkOUxac_cLCHQ4lAfIsb-/s1600/Shadow_Complex_cover.jpg" /></a></div>
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Repetitive if you're going for all the achievements, this game's first play through was one of the best "Metroid-vania" games most of us have played since<i> Castlevania: Symphony of the Night</i>.<br />
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<b>My feeling on the 7th gen:</b><br />
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This was secretly the generation of the episodic game; even if many of those games hid themselves as big, $60 releases, like <i>Alan Wake</i>, budget titles like <i>Deadly Premonition</i>, or indie darlings like <i>The Walking Dead</i>. It's a big surprise to me that my favorite games came in bite sized chunks, like a wonderful Whitman's sampler. (Honarable Mention: <i>LA Noire</i>)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691417514524267296.post-91736455421872841842013-11-27T18:10:00.003-06:002013-11-27T18:11:59.213-06:00Swery65 Outs Deadly Premonition 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3K9OYIX21FItSbeeQE-8HChwHUgs-oLSpnWdRgeJgiBSFHPvTehXFe6q-Mc64f4iMh6opLCBgEjIi73fb8dgvFmHkIBvv9cDk1bo9bZNkUuaz45dDpgasNmnqvZyoRiEOtUEwatW_syvs/s1600/DP21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3K9OYIX21FItSbeeQE-8HChwHUgs-oLSpnWdRgeJgiBSFHPvTehXFe6q-Mc64f4iMh6opLCBgEjIi73fb8dgvFmHkIBvv9cDk1bo9bZNkUuaz45dDpgasNmnqvZyoRiEOtUEwatW_syvs/s640/DP21.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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In a recent interview, my friend (I wish) and yours, Swery65, dropped a small bomb on our heads in an offhand comment, by outing the development of <i>Deadly Premonition 2</i>; the sequel to one of my favorite games of this generation:<br />
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<i>“After producing Deadly Premonition, I started work on production of the Lord of Arcana series right away, and during that time I was already working on the planning and pre-production of D4.” Suehiro told Gaming Bolt. “At the same time I was also working on the sequel to Deadly Premonition and the framework for the Director’s Cut.”</i><br />
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I've got a lot of things to be excited about right now.. Hell, I should even be in the kitchen starting my prep for tomorrows Thanksgiving feast.. But there was no way I wasn't going to share this with everyone. <br />
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To say I'm excited is like saying I'm about to burn my eyebrows off: It's a given.<br />
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(Source: <a href="http://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3266469/deadly-premonition-director-outs-in-development-sequel/">Bloody Disgusting</a>)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691417514524267296.post-11400000681539174522013-11-27T17:05:00.000-06:002013-11-27T17:31:48.532-06:00How I Paid Only $568 for my $793 Next Gen Experience. I got all of this for (and then some)$568:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPLQ7XS8XlAAVc44Y6x1H2bhyVIzfoSBKM28JeWDkBLm6HdE3F7_bjN2gqfSFVlMxopH6jedg98f46gUNM1cKlj41QkusiNkuY4ZqibEzF30VjmmJwW9njVAyqLseCazmmR-3OcWQHFdSD/s1600/PICT3138.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPLQ7XS8XlAAVc44Y6x1H2bhyVIzfoSBKM28JeWDkBLm6HdE3F7_bjN2gqfSFVlMxopH6jedg98f46gUNM1cKlj41QkusiNkuY4ZqibEzF30VjmmJwW9njVAyqLseCazmmR-3OcWQHFdSD/s640/PICT3138.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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That's $225 savings, just from a little smart shopping and some pretty simple planning ahead.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Shopping list:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ3p91LR0rLhSgkdDQrS_EQWfczm9_eswy46ceRtayXQJcUDmkMajSoriaT-SJayMZldZfq_tUysvfjb9mg8B85IxN1m8d93MeEcV76-rSHMelHDuJqZCWseKMvjk_o5-7AsSdBa7HKY98/s1600/31-aZBOGZEL._SX385_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ3p91LR0rLhSgkdDQrS_EQWfczm9_eswy46ceRtayXQJcUDmkMajSoriaT-SJayMZldZfq_tUysvfjb9mg8B85IxN1m8d93MeEcV76-rSHMelHDuJqZCWseKMvjk_o5-7AsSdBa7HKY98/s200/31-aZBOGZEL._SX385_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/PlayStation-4-Launch-Edition/dp/B00BGA9WK2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385581990&sr=8-1&keywords=Ps4" target="_blank">PS4: 399.99</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm1U8XVjdNDRLGUCYwoyRls_DlF235erpFqVu0wlmpxwA5UT2HxQplhTIADAODblE63XfiFWhoZjD4uUS_6RkCubPgvPQa_l9f2cc8-V6wtpRvGJsA1HpWvPj9d0fZz9Wacu2iHi6PYsRC/s1600/71sul4FGmdL._SL1462_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm1U8XVjdNDRLGUCYwoyRls_DlF235erpFqVu0wlmpxwA5UT2HxQplhTIADAODblE63XfiFWhoZjD4uUS_6RkCubPgvPQa_l9f2cc8-V6wtpRvGJsA1HpWvPj9d0fZz9Wacu2iHi6PYsRC/s200/71sul4FGmdL._SL1462_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BGA9X9W/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1" target="_blank">Dual Shock 4 Controller: $59.99</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG7lsm0GhmxuEX91WqSEuT4xklHNO2S3UmiHFduWnwYx7AzElmFzjsihxFmf_gRM3mCQAexb9c_dnYiSrxKffXBjWICqEsqh6F7hNT3uU0F9m5ShtYd9Dk4291CfxUBpYzr8MRBnXxeHyN/s1600/61E30qzevfL._SL1500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG7lsm0GhmxuEX91WqSEuT4xklHNO2S3UmiHFduWnwYx7AzElmFzjsihxFmf_gRM3mCQAexb9c_dnYiSrxKffXBjWICqEsqh6F7hNT3uU0F9m5ShtYd9Dk4291CfxUBpYzr8MRBnXxeHyN/s200/61E30qzevfL._SL1500_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BGAA3S2/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1" target="_blank">Playstation Camera: $59.99</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoKwXJX2CO-Hnlw_X8RnpR8op-CaxeAgaS8mRSicNDoEYWb0SQXmY3T-468nTfj-7xKTGozHqxEL2r3Wfy6xI6GjNLJTEgUOKP6ioYSls_cGgP5uP-vrX2_hseDgrMV6UALUuYAliv5Rgs/s1600/713oNWCgknL._SL1500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoKwXJX2CO-Hnlw_X8RnpR8op-CaxeAgaS8mRSicNDoEYWb0SQXmY3T-468nTfj-7xKTGozHqxEL2r3Wfy6xI6GjNLJTEgUOKP6ioYSls_cGgP5uP-vrX2_hseDgrMV6UALUuYAliv5Rgs/s200/713oNWCgknL._SL1500_.jpg" width="141" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004RMK5QG/ref=s9_simh_gw_p367_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1XTYACRSJRBJ42Z1X1EW&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1630083462&pf_rd_i=507846" target="_blank">PSN+ Membership: $49.99</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZhJUcAKW_vyoBKM_5oXyhd3JvcxlvYd8PfTiH3Ws4y8pFA1PBf7kbS3fYeGjCJLr6Nlmld5KUB0Y551IFIkqWEsHgaUwVcQ9nvEVK3ghlOgWcRjzLow_o46jUmwgFM2pBcAj4N6D4_G48/s1600/81DzWHM4GoL._SL1500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZhJUcAKW_vyoBKM_5oXyhd3JvcxlvYd8PfTiH3Ws4y8pFA1PBf7kbS3fYeGjCJLr6Nlmld5KUB0Y551IFIkqWEsHgaUwVcQ9nvEVK3ghlOgWcRjzLow_o46jUmwgFM2pBcAj4N6D4_G48/s1600/81DzWHM4GoL._SL1500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZhJUcAKW_vyoBKM_5oXyhd3JvcxlvYd8PfTiH3Ws4y8pFA1PBf7kbS3fYeGjCJLr6Nlmld5KUB0Y551IFIkqWEsHgaUwVcQ9nvEVK3ghlOgWcRjzLow_o46jUmwgFM2pBcAj4N6D4_G48/s1600/81DzWHM4GoL._SL1500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZhJUcAKW_vyoBKM_5oXyhd3JvcxlvYd8PfTiH3Ws4y8pFA1PBf7kbS3fYeGjCJLr6Nlmld5KUB0Y551IFIkqWEsHgaUwVcQ9nvEVK3ghlOgWcRjzLow_o46jUmwgFM2pBcAj4N6D4_G48/s200/81DzWHM4GoL._SL1500_.jpg" width="163" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-OQnls3XfPkBOWSvPLvOzoOiP512GagWInc8ulMLC0tCE9gJwC7bxRC8LKCET5oOWdPwxY8_YxS08UDAy9V8pK9pRE-U1c_3zTujVU9vk8NkiUdj3iw-WboG9oDaJ3B5v2lEKFbkHgdEO/s1600/81SfCQ-6auL._SL1500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="display: inline !important; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-OQnls3XfPkBOWSvPLvOzoOiP512GagWInc8ulMLC0tCE9gJwC7bxRC8LKCET5oOWdPwxY8_YxS08UDAy9V8pK9pRE-U1c_3zTujVU9vk8NkiUdj3iw-WboG9oDaJ3B5v2lEKFbkHgdEO/s200/81SfCQ-6auL._SL1500_.jpg" width="156" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU_b4VmlVJw8SxEPFvAgmyqUinK7YloedIHgPdOUeykY6Mh3QAfcGAtulYZo6KTQYiQnhQshoKTwJfWvWJ5Ay9sTXgXgRIK9RvQnSVCGZB7BgCvhBvu9d6Lj-5DEglVSd6eNmZXkvU0R8Z/s1600/819zbgRMNQL._SL1500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU_b4VmlVJw8SxEPFvAgmyqUinK7YloedIHgPdOUeykY6Mh3QAfcGAtulYZo6KTQYiQnhQshoKTwJfWvWJ5Ay9sTXgXgRIK9RvQnSVCGZB7BgCvhBvu9d6Lj-5DEglVSd6eNmZXkvU0R8Z/s200/819zbgRMNQL._SL1500_.jpg" width="160" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZhJUcAKW_vyoBKM_5oXyhd3JvcxlvYd8PfTiH3Ws4y8pFA1PBf7kbS3fYeGjCJLr6Nlmld5KUB0Y551IFIkqWEsHgaUwVcQ9nvEVK3ghlOgWcRjzLow_o46jUmwgFM2pBcAj4N6D4_G48/s1600/81DzWHM4GoL._SL1500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Marvel-Super-Heroes-PlayStation-4/dp/B00DUARBTA/ref=sr_1_5?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1385580064&sr=1-5&keywords=playstation+4+games" target="_blank">3</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Killzone-Shadow-Fall-PlayStation-4/dp/B00BGA9YZK/ref=sr_1_2?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1385580064&sr=1-2&keywords=playstation+4+games" target="_blank">PS4</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Assassins-Creed-IV-Black-Flag-PlayStation/dp/B00BMFIXOW/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1385580064&sr=1-1&keywords=playstation+4+games" target="_blank">Games</a>: $179.97<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZhJUcAKW_vyoBKM_5oXyhd3JvcxlvYd8PfTiH3Ws4y8pFA1PBf7kbS3fYeGjCJLr6Nlmld5KUB0Y551IFIkqWEsHgaUwVcQ9nvEVK3ghlOgWcRjzLow_o46jUmwgFM2pBcAj4N6D4_G48/s1600/81DzWHM4GoL._SL1500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ENFVJJO/ref=oh_details_o02_s01_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1" target="_blank">Power A DS4 Controller Charging Dock: $24.99</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3EVoajAxBnDsPevN3Tdct8RLxJWZNqMR2otOdSHGjHsBc07u0z5sBkmkUD2iAhn7vvtepaILrOgH_qImGuzY5b3PmSQMHoFAb6-ETiMlh6adGpgYAyRW8dVVYIxhspfFjZqaKcRRpN7i4/s1600/41epnK69WCL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3EVoajAxBnDsPevN3Tdct8RLxJWZNqMR2otOdSHGjHsBc07u0z5sBkmkUD2iAhn7vvtepaILrOgH_qImGuzY5b3PmSQMHoFAb6-ETiMlh6adGpgYAyRW8dVVYIxhspfFjZqaKcRRpN7i4/s200/41epnK69WCL.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0032IKP6Q/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1" target="_blank">HDMI Spiltter: $10</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=102&cp_id=10232&cs_id=1023213&p_id=9827&seq=1&format=2" target="_blank">50ft Cat6 Cable: $8</a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">So how'd I manage it?:</span><br />
<br />
Nope, not Black Friday (or Black November.. Since that's how things have been rolling this year...) sales.<br />
<br />
The PS4, PSN+ Membership Card and <i>Killzone: Shadowfall</i> (one game of the 3 PS4 games that make up the 179.97) were bundled together for a grand total of $499.99. Thats $10 off what should be a $510 purchase outside the bundle.<br />
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The DS4, PS Camera, Power A DS4 Controller Dock and the HDMI Splitter would have come out to be $154.97. "Would," if I didn't manage to get this all for <b>free</b>. How'd I manage that? It's a funny answer considering my console choice:<br />
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Bing Rewards Points.<br />
<br />
Yep, Microsoft actually paid for a large portion of my Sony-centric purchase because I spend just a little bit of time every day appeasing them and gaining their digital favor.<br />
<br />
Seeing as how you can't buy currency to use on Xbox Live any more with the points, since phasing out Microsoft Points, $5 Amazon gift cards are the way to go -and get arguably better games, no matter which system you choose, from it. That's just a better base value.<br />
<br />
But what about those other 2 games. I mean, we've got <i>Killzone</i> accounted for, but what about Assassin's Creed IV and Lego Marvel Super Heroes? Well, because Amazon does as Amazon does do, I got one of those games free, because having Killzone pre-ordered opened me up to get buy one, get one, on another 2 games. 2 already well reviewed games for the price of 1? Yes please!<br />
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<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Well what about that splitter and the Cat6, did you <i>really</i> need them?</span><br />
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For me, the short answer is yes.<br />
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The long of it is that our TV has 3 HDMI ports; 2 in the back, 1 on the side. We have a DVD player that upscales to HD and our 360 taking up the two back ports. The side port goes unused because.. Who really likes having growths poking out of the side of their TV? This isn't a prison yard, we don't like things shanked in the side. I much rather do it like a rogue, from the back. It would drive me nuts to have the wire sticking out of the side, it'll just catch my eye every time I look at the TV (which is pretty much all night). If this will stave off my personal OCD frustration, it'll be well worth the $10. Now the 360 and the DVD player can share a port while the PS4 will sit pretty in it's own.<br />
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Subsequently, we've been having some wi-fi issues in the house lately, and have had certain.. Problems.. In the past with the 360/XBL that have been nothing but frustrating. So I decided to wire the console this time around for both faster downloads and to keep one more device off our wi-fi signal. Now if the wi-fi goes down like it has been lately, I'll be able to keep playing (because it's only been the signal, I think the transmitter is dying on our router).<br />
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I also couldn't go without a 50ft cord, but if I could, I would have saved a few dollars. In fact, I have a few 25ft cords I tried to use, but couldn't get them to reach. They go up in 5ft increments til you hit 30ft, then it jumps up to 50ft.<br />
<br />
I could have also have gotten a coupler and connected two of the 25ft cords I have together, for around $2, but I couldn't find one locally, and buying one from the internet would have run me around the same price (after shipping) as the Cat6. And I feared that I'd lose bandwidth in the coupler.<br />
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I could have also just went with Cat5e, it would have been a buck or two cheaper as well, and a lot of people will tell me that it's not a huge difference; I knew this going in, but sacrificed the pocket change any way. Figured why not, even for a marginal speed boost. I've noticed things have been downloading super fast on the PS4, and I'd like to think there is some extra boost coming from the cord.<br />
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So I didn't see why I should waste 2 cords and a coupler, for the same price, and lose speed/data when I could buy 1 cord and gain a little more.<br />
<br />
Economics.<br />
<br />
All of Monoprice's cords are high quality (I've also used their HDMI cables for years, they're awesome) and just as importantly: whole sale prices. A cord like this, at this length, from a retail store would have run me over $35, for no extra gains. Why waste the money? Even with their lack of free shipping options (which to be fair the cord got to me in 2 days, which was helpful since I didn't know the cords I had wouldn't reach -because I suck with a tape measure), this cord still came at a small fraction of the price I could have paid.<br />
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Over all else, spending around $20 to make sure I'm not going to be super frustrated when I'm already holding my breath waiting for anything to happen to the PS4 (because: early adopter blues) just makes sense to me from a piece of mind standpoint. Sometimes that's more valuable then saving a little extra. In a way, it's saving in the long term.</div>
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Most people could, and will, leave things like this off and save even more. The first rule of saving is: If you don't need it, don't buy it! </div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Experience:</span><br />
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Almost all of this has had free shipping. Because I'm buying right from Amazon on nearly every purchase, the only exception was the HDMI splitter, being the only thing I'm getting on Amazon from a secondary source. All my orders were approved for Super Saver Shipping. Yeah, this means I'll have to wait 5-8 days, but I'm patient, and usually Amazon and UPS only manage to take 3 days to do the job. I could have paid out the ass to have it either day 1 or a day or two later, but why do that when plenty of people will be slamming the servers first thing, trying to get the day 1 update? Waiting a few days will actually save me some more frustration, and sometimes that's currency in and of itself. And I've already mentioned the small, but not game breaking, fee for Monoprice's shipping.<br />
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As far as pre-ordering everything, that went smoothly all things considered. I didn't pre-order the console first thing, because I was originally going to wait a year, but I had the money put aside for it already and it was burning a hole in my side, so when I got an email from Amazon saying they had some pre-orders for the bundle I wanted open, I swooped in immediately.<br />
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As far as waiting actually goes, I will warn people that pre-ordering a launch console from Amazon was a... Interesting experience... It wasn't really Amazon's fault, but from a matter of personal perception, it was frustrating in a "wait, why am I waiting again?" sort of way. <br />
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The system with <i>Killzone</i> was supposed to get to me this past Friday (November 22) and no where was I warned that they'd ship it next day. I had picked Super Saver, I had no reason to believe I didn't have to wait. However, the package came the next day. Meanwhile, everything else I had pre-ordered was still around a week away.<br />
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To compound the insanity, Amazon didn't acknowledge having (or getting) the Power A Controller Dock till the day of its release, the same day as the PS4's release, where it almost immediately sold out. Somehow however, this got here before everything other then the PS4.<br />
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From there Amazon had sold out of <i>Lego Marvel Superheroes,</i> and I was told I would have to wait. Okay, that's fine, I have other things to play. However, somehow it still got shipped and received faster then all the other items (Assassin's Creed IV, the DS4 Controller and the PS Camera), which came almost a full two days later.<br />
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Given I didn't really want to set up the console just to tear it out again to plug in the Camera or the Cat6 when they came, I decided it best to just wait for opening and set up till everything got to me and make it 1 project instead of 3. After running the Cat6 through my house to the set up, the rest of the set up as easy peasy. Had everything gotten to me when I thought it would be (AKA:When I was told), this wouldn't have been an issue at all -I was ready to wait- but getting the PS4 a full week before I figured I would, cascaded into anxiety and frustration (frustration mostly from having a console just sitting there that I didn't know if I'd have to send back or get fixed, but didn't want to manhandle multiple times to get fully set up) that I'm pretty possessive I couldn't possibly be the only person who would have felt like this.<br />
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No big deal, nothing terribly bad seeing as it was mostly a matter of impatience, and I chalk up Amazon's end to having 2 consoles launching in 2 weeks, and then following that up with hardcore holiday shopping, but it's something people should know going into pre-ordering a console, I guess.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The End Game:</span><br />
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On top of the savings above, Sony's packaged a $10 PSN credit into all PS4 boxes, meaning extra savings. And we already have Vitas in the house, meaning, since we don't have PSN+ already, free games for those over the term of our tenure, as well. <b>And</b> I also have enough Gamestop points saved up to get a off $20 coupon, that I didn't even have to redeem points for yet -more savings waiting in the wings.<br />
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I also know people will also say, "Well, you could have saved more money not getting any of the crappy launch titles." Well.. Whatever, I'm not going to tell you what to like and not like, but I don't see a problem with the launch line-up, and really never have. I can't really help that people don't see things they want here, and those things they do will come eventually -I saved enough money for <i>Infamous: Second Son,</i> <i>Watch_Dogs</i>, and some. I may even pick up Knack with some of that money I saved; that game seems to be the stuff fond memories are made of.<br />
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Overall, the most important thing to remember is to shop where you want to and where you're most comfortable -which is especially important to remember during the holiday season.<br />
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Just because I had this experience doing what I did, doesn't mean someone couldn't have played Gamestops trade in offers and points system to get them good deals. Or played Target for the 5% off they give on everything, for having their credit card (which I had thought about using myself, since we have one). Or Sony's credit card offering a $100 credit after your first purchase. Or Best Buy for their rewards program (which hates me and thinks I live in Florida, when I don't). This is just a long form note to tell people that there are a lot savings out there day 1 and beyond, and with a little work and planning, you could also reap those rewards too. If this inspires even one person to try to dig a little deeper, and save just a few extra dollars, then I'll be extremely happy.<br />
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So, did any of you guys and gals pull some shenanigans to get your next gen experience for less? If so don't Bogart it! Go head and share the information wealth with us! I'm always looking for new ways to save, and so should everyone else. Knowledge, and the sharing of it, really is power in our hobby.<br />
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My impressions of the PS4 and the other things in this post are coming soon.<br />
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(P.S. It does occurs to me that this comes off as an advertisement for Amazon, Microsoft, and Monoprice.<br />
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It's not.<br />
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Technically I was paid in the form of bing points, but it wasn't without a lot of work, and it was just barely pennies a day, if you'd even call it a wage at all. Also, Microsoft doesn't know me from the next guy, even though they keep getting angry phone calls from me for other reasons (more on that eventually, because trust me, I've paid them far more then they've ever given me back).<br />
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Nothing was handed to me, no matter how easier it was to acquire points over the course of months. It all came with some work and careful planning, all on my end, but enough to make note of, so everyone could save. I've got no good reason to mention any of these places/companies aside from the fact that they've helped me save some cash during this busy season, and wanting to pass on the sentiment to others.)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691417514524267296.post-77988772206412558482013-11-27T13:00:00.000-06:002013-11-27T17:06:27.447-06:00Sense And Credibility: Part 2.3: On Spice World, Scary Is A Mind Killer. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So I've been talking about how Anita Sarkeesian has said that <i>Charmed, Sabrina the Teenage Witch </i>and The Spice Girls were positive female representations from the late 90s, while using it to help tent up her argument about the representation of women in videogames. <br />
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I've gotten the witch situation out of the way, now it's time to begrudgingly pull myself through <i>Spice World</i>.<br />
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Plot: Umm.. Girl Powa? Or in the case of their movie: Let's make a mockumentary of ourselves (think Spinal Tap, but without the actual band being a joke too).<br />
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Crimes against Humanity: A music group with a message, that sort of ruins their own message with just about every breath they take.<br />
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The Spice Girls. Boy I was glad that Anita took so long to make another video, because I was hoping she was done so the thoughts I had on the back burner would stop being relevant, so I didn't have to write about this. Guess you don't always get what you want..<br />
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So, The Spice Girls were girl pop group that ran from 1994 to 2000, then from 2007-2008, and then appeared again in 2012. They were only in the spotlight for a short time, but they did make quite a mark on things.<br />
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The biggest thing about The Spice Girls was their message: Girl Power.. Problem with this however is, like I mention above, they undercut their own message simply by being The Spice Girls.<br />
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See, like <i>Charmed</i>, each one of these girls is something of a trope, and they aren't really always that positive:<br />
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Scary Spice: The scary one? I've never really gotten what they were getting at with her name. But I'm guessing they were going for "It's okay to be scary." I don't know, but what it comes off as is being scary sexy (like witches?).. Or even something a little more racist, an unnecessary to note here, with the "scary" one being of African decent.<br />
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Posh Spice: The fashionable one. If any one is going to care about make-up, looks or cloths, it's going to be her. But thats not really the best thing in the world if you go by most feminist sentiment these days. Posh embodies pretty much all the reasons that fashion magazines catch so hate from these groups.<br />
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Baby Spice: A sexy baby? I mean, really? Cause that's her part in this group. She also seems to be portrayed often as the naive (stupid) one, more often then not.<br />
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Ginger Spice: The Redhead. I'm sorry, but I can't find anything to say other then she's the sexy redhead. This was very much the sentiment during that time and she was often the only Spice Girl any one cared about because of it (which made things even better for some people when they dug deep enough to find videos of her topless). I can't help but think that this was a plus for the group, simply because she got men to pay even more attention to them then their relieving clothing did.<br />
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Sporty Spice: The one that can do sports things... The "most fit" in the group, but often seen as the most unattractive. Which, even though focusing on looks is superficial, sort of alludes to the idea that you can't be attractive and be sporty at the same time -which is how a lot of folks seemed to take it.<br />
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Not one of them conveys a positive trope, even though I'd say Sporty comes the closest, but she also seemed to have gotten the least exposure of all of them. So when they start jumping around in their skimpy outfits (which is a whole other negative against their positive role model-ness), yelling their war cry, "Girl Power!," about how girls should be strong, it's really hard not to see them for their appealing coat of paint and cringe.<br />
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They sort of drown out their message.<br />
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Speaking of drowning out their message. The Spice Girls first major hit in the US was "Wanna be," which states: "If you wanna be my lover, you have to get with my friends".. Which brings up kind of a dual context to the song.<br />
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Surely they mean to say: If you want to be my boyfriend, you have to approve of my friends, and my friends of you. However what it came off as for a lot of folks at the time is a little more racy; it sounded more like: If you want to have sex with me, then you also have to sex up my friends.. Which.. If we're supposed to believe that promiscuity is a hot ticket issues in feminist circles, sort of doesn't support it very well.<br />
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If you go the racy route, your entering a quagmire of back and forth between the sides fighting over the issue. To many they're basically saying that a girl wants her man to be promiscuous, and be with her friends, which is how things tend to fall as the "usual" and thus "negative" because the guy always gets to be promiscuous in a much more positive light then a female does. If the female does it, she gets treated like the scum of the earth.<br />
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But you can also take this to mean that the female herself is promiscuous, and doesn't mind if her man "gets with her friends" because of it. This opens the door for the same negativity above, but also means that they sound as if they're saying "Hey, if they can do it, we can be like that too, and promiscuity is positive -so you should support it"<br />
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My personal take on it? Both sides shouldn't be promiscuous. No matter how you cut it, its kind of a bad thing that just cases issues for both men and women, equally. But that's just me.<br />
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Either way, this racy message, misconstrued or not, doesn't exactly help the group feel very positive. Not when young girls were taking this in on the back of the whole, positive, "Girl power!" vibe and parents had to assess (as I'm sure most did) whether they were taking the context to mean: Promiscuity is okay.<br />
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Oh, and there's also how they sing part of the song, which I had forgotten about.. It sort of sounds like they're having an orgasm. It's kind of hard to ignore now that I've been reminded of it.<br />
<br />
They had other hits, but none of them seem to have the same lasting power as their first hit had. I hate to admit however, that I'm not entirely willing to go out of my way to check in and see if those hits were positive or negative to Anita's claims of the group. Their outer appearance alone hurts her claim, enough.<br />
<br />
And then there's Spice World, which was the movie they made for.. Reasons I can't even imagine.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT9eXO1tL1lCb-So4zcEtFs2Hnobi0WpDmxNsATF423kiY4_tQvW5kj0YcZaz-AuIJg48N5oLId4GyST9BUkhy7ALxd6U5subYSZy40uclcOTDVGhPUI27tRdSiRWBEHUkx6xF9sVTtqDa/s1600/Spice_world.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT9eXO1tL1lCb-So4zcEtFs2Hnobi0WpDmxNsATF423kiY4_tQvW5kj0YcZaz-AuIJg48N5oLId4GyST9BUkhy7ALxd6U5subYSZy40uclcOTDVGhPUI27tRdSiRWBEHUkx6xF9sVTtqDa/s640/Spice_world.jpg" width="428" /></a></div>
<br />
Spice World is.. Well.. Let me see if I can sum it up:<br />
<br />
Spice World starts with the group singing on a British pop show that isn't around any more, but the girls aren't really feeling what they're doing any more. Oh, and there's this newspaper owner (a man, mind you) that's out to get them, because, you know, newspapers mattered back then still -and he has some guy go take pictures of them. Oh, but some director (also a man) wants to make a movie about them, and sort of stalks them till they say yes.<br />
<br />
But the girls quit because they can't spend time with a pregnant friend, on top of all the other stress of touring. But this gives the girls time to reflect, which leads them to giving up their stance, and reconcile, and decide to take their to-pregnant-to-dance friend, out dancing. Where she promptly starts giving birth. At the hospital, they decide to stay for the birth, rather then go perform.<br />
<br />
Sometime during this they have a Scooby-Doo chase with the guy taking pictures of them, who was posing as a doctor to take the shot (an obvious way that all paparazzi get their pictures...) who they stop and make see the error of his ways. He goes after his employer, who get's fired for some scandal or another.<br />
<br />
Noticing they're late for their show, and their driver is missing, Posh drives like a maniac (another wonderful trope against women: That they can't drive) to get them there, even jumping a gap in Tower Bridge.<br />
<br />
Oh, and for some reason there's a bomb on the bus, which they find right before they get to the show.<br />
<br />
But the girls get stopped by a cop and charged with a long list of ridiculous charges, but Baby Spice pushes forward, bats her eyes, and he lets them go.... Yeah...<br />
<br />
They perform, and the credits roll, with the group talking about their movie, over them... Then the bomb on their bus explodes.<br />
<br />
The thing about this movie is that the whole movie seems to serve to point out 2 things:<br />
<br />
1) The girls are a mockery of themselves. Even if it's meant to be in a fun way. Take everything I said about them above, and ramp it up, not to 11, but 100. And that's the girls in this movie. Even their tour bus, and living areas, are all weird representations of their role in the group, and not the real women who toil away in the roles.<br />
<br />
2) Men are creepy and evil, for really no good reason other then to get at women.<br />
<br />
Even the example of them Anita uses of them in video 3 in her series, has the girls marching in line like an army, being ironic in loose army clothing, singing a song about wonder bras. Didn't feminists of the past burn bras as a statement? Isn't the song countering that then? Was that really okay then, and is it now? I really want to know.<br />
<br />
After all this your probably worried that, because I'm talking very much like Anita does while bringing the ax down on videogames, and there's really no excuse for it, because I guess I am. But I assure you that this is just an (over) analyzing of same things she, and many other so called "hardcore" feminists (because, I hope we know, not *all* feminists are like Anita Sarkeesian's representing them all to be) would say if they actually sat down and took the time to think about these media tidbits that she's deemed to be positive, exemplary, representations of women. And I have to say it was *very* easy to slip right into the robe of belittling these works. It was almost scary.<br />
<br />
Overall, like I said in prior installments, this is all just entertainment, entertainment we're all talking just a little too seriously sometimes.<br />
<br />
Next Time: We'll talk about what would happen if Anita made a game.. Fun!<br />
<br />
Extra Fun fact (that means nothing) Ginger Spice's real name is Geri Halliwell.. Everything seems to loop right back to <i>Charmed</i>.. Or witches.. Your choice, I guess.<br />
<br />
(P.S. Again, really didn't need to go out of my way for these pictures...)<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691417514524267296.post-68566727185451683682013-11-26T14:43:00.000-06:002013-11-26T15:06:51.457-06:00Zombie Survival Kit: A Thank You Wrapped In An Homage To Text AdventuresZombie Survival Kit<br />
Copyright (c) 2013, Maybe 2014 (if it survives) Geek Forge, Blog, All Rights Reserved<br />
Zombie Survival Kit is a registered trademark of Big Fish Games and Destructoid.com<br />
Revision not 3/Serial Number 8679309<br />
<br />
Your friends and family are dead, you are on the run form a horde of zombies. You're also really hungry.<br />
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<br />
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<br />
You are in an open wood. You came from the east, but not Japan, bro. There are snarling man sounds to behind you and to the west. A river to the north, sun obscured woods to the south what do you do?<br />
<br />
>Go North<br />
<br />
You'll fall in and drown in 2 inches of water. You can't swim, remember dummy?<br />
<br />
>Go West<br />
<br />
Really? Didn't I tell you about snarling man sounds?<br />
<br />
>Damn God<br />
<br />
That's real mature.<br />
<br />
>Go South<br />
<br />
The setting sun obscures your vision just enough that you don't see the ridge in front of you. You fall down. Go boom.<br />
<br />
You get up, hoping no zombies heard your fall. Your not wearing a funny hat of freshly fallen leaves. Very autumn chic. If the would hadn't just ended a few days ago, you'd be all the rage.<br />
<br />
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You've found yourself on the precipice of a neighborhood. Idealistic once, now it's mostly burned out husks and hopefully fully dead bodies strown on lawns. I wouldn't check those if I were you.<br />
<br />
Cars that obviously won't start anymore block your path to the east and west. It's not like you can drive any way, with physics like these.<br />
<br />
A lone house with attached garage seems invitingly untouched by the ravages of the current, non-economic, apocalypse. What bad could possibly go wrong?<br />
<br />
Your stomach growls.<br />
<br />
>Check Door<br />
<br />
Be more specific.<br />
<br />
>Check Front Door<br />
<br />
Tightly Locked. Possibly blocked from the inside.<br />
<br />
I'll ask again, what bad could possibly go wrong?<br />
<br />
>Check Garage Door<br />
<br />
Unless you have the opener in your butt, this thing isn't going to budge. Does feel weakly constructed though.<br />
<br />
>Slam Door<br />
<br />
The door was even weaker then I thought.<br />
<br />
You crash through it like the Kool-aid Man. OHHHHHH YEEEEEEAH!<br />
<br />
Behind you the garage roof caves in, blocking your path behind you. Like life, you have a knack for not being able to turn back. There is a door to the west.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
>Check door<br />
<br />
Locked, but doesn't seem blocked. There are no screws or hinges on this side. The owners must have thought the garage door would hold. Boy we taught them.<br />
<br />
>Shout<br />
<br />
Shout, let it all out. These are the things I can do without --cause there isn't any response.<br />
<br />
>Look Around<br />
<br />
There is a bunch of stuff here, would take days to go through. This isn't that type of game.<br />
<br />
Immediately around you are some loose tools and the usual assortment of jars with random things.<br />
<br />
>Look At Tools<br />
<br />
There's a shovel, a hoe (get your mind out of the gutter), a screw driver.<br />
<br />
>Take Screwdriver<br />
<br />
(Screw driver pick with words: for when things get screwy)<br />
<br />
>Check Door<br />
<br />
Still a door<br />
<br />
>Use Screwdriver<br />
<br />
Told you there were no exposed screws. But if you must: You try to pry the door with the screwdriver. The screwdriver breaks.<br />
<br />
You now owe the owners $2.75. Time to raise your debt ceiling.<br />
<br />
> Check Jars<br />
<br />
You dump some jars over and get repulsed by the amount of belly button lint these people kept. Enough to start a new human. There are some screws and some paperclips though.<br />
<br />
>Take Paperclips<br />
<br />
(Paper clip picture with words: No clipping bugs here)<br />
<br />
>Check Door<br />
<br />
Do I need to say it again?<br />
<br />
>Pick Lock<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
You didn't know you had the skills of a seasoned thief, but with a little doing you use the paperclips and screwdriver to pop the lock.<br />
<br />
You are the master of unlocking!<br />
<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/rRSo-Jk703A?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
<br />
You are in a pretty nice kitchen directly off of a living room area. Not your style, but who's stupid enough to be picky these days?<br />
<br />
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<br />
>Check Cabinets<br />
<br />
All empty. Though neat, someone must have left in a hurry.<br />
<br />
>Check Drawers<br />
<br />
Mostly empty. Who takes their silverware with them?<br />
<br />
There is a pair of scissors here though.<br />
<br />
You hear a deep African American voice in your head, telling you to, "keep that hair short."<br />
<br />
Pretty weird, huh Zach?<br />
<br />
>Take Scissors<br />
<br />
(Scissor's pic with: Cut. It. Out.)<br />
<br />
> Look around<br />
<br />
Not much else here. Comfy living room nearby.<br />
<br />
>Go To Living Room.<br />
<br />
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<br />
Another nice room, still not your style, unless your a grandma; then it's the tits.<br />
<br />
You see pictures of a family here. At closer inspection you decide those are the pictures that came with the frame, unless the owners had 5 families.<br />
<br />
How lonely.<br />
<br />
Anyway, nothing out of the ordinary, unless you count the bloody box on the table in the corner.<br />
<br />
>Bloody Box<br />
<br />
It's not nice to cuss, even if it's in classy British slang<br />
<br />
>Inspect Bloody Box<br />
<br />
(Box Picture: Is it just strawberry sauce?)<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
The box appears to be a package that have been post marked shortly before the fall of man.<br />
<br />
Box reads: "Zombie Survival Kit"<br />
<br />
Odd. The owners seem to have taken every other important item, including silverware, but not this.<br />
<br />
Maybe the blood scared them away? Silly germaphobes.<br />
<br />
>Open Box<br />
<br />
Taped as tight as a tiger. These people didn't even look inside. I guess they do say curiosity killed the cat.<br />
<br />
>Use Scissors<br />
<br />
The box, made of cardboard, lets out an odd, chest like, creak. Your surprised you aren't met with twinkly music too.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<br />
We don't have the budget for all these images. Inside the box is: $100 gift card; Spam; A Nerf Gun; A Swiss Army Knife w/ 8gb USB; Dogtags, Carabiner; Hand Wipes; Flashlight; Multipurpose Glow Stick; Camouflage Netting.<br />
<br />
>Take All<br />
<br />
Way to be greedy.<br />
<br />
Your Stomach Growls.<br />
<br />
>Eat Spam<br />
<br />
That sounds nice, doesn't it? But Gordon Ramsey would probably tell you that Spam alone will not do. Or that your a donkey.<br />
<br />
He's way harsh Ty.<br />
<br />
>Look around<br />
<br />
Not much other then an empty box and some nick knacks. There is a door to a bathroom nearby though.<br />
<br />
>Look Bathroom<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
Nice bathroom. Strangely you like it better then the rest of your house. You must have been an Italian plumber in a past life.<br />
<br />
There is something catching your eye, poking out from inside the bathtub.<br />
<br />
>Check Bathtub<br />
<br />
Well doesn't that beat all. It's a pineapple.<br />
<br />
You think you should trust bathtub pineapple, Zach? It could make you go blind.<br />
<br />
>Take Pineapple<br />
<br />
Like the Brady Bunch, you can now go Hawaiian.<br />
<br />
You hear an odd thumping.<br />
<br />
Your stomach growls. And before you ask, that isn't the source of the thumping, Iron Man.<br />
<br />
>Eat Spam<br />
<br />
You're not a barbarian. Unless you are; what class did you pick again?<br />
<br />
Either way, you need a kitchen for this.<br />
<br />
>Go Kitchen<br />
<br />
Well?<br />
<br />
>Eat Spam<br />
<br />
This stuff, especially pineapples, doesn't cut itself<br />
<br />
>Use Pocket Knife<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<br />
Handy.<br />
<br />
Thump thump thump<br />
<br />
>Eat Spam<br />
<br />
Now you know why they eat it this way. That was good.<br />
<br />
Thump thump thump<br />
<br />
>Look Living Room<br />
<br />
There is a shadow moving around the living room.<br />
<br />
>Use Camo Net<br />
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There's not enough ficus' in here to warrant a forest, aside from the funny leaf hat your still wearing. If this was covered with Hummel Figures, you'd be set.<br />
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>Use Nerf Gun<br />
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You hit it. Nice shot kid, but don't get cocky.<br />
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Most things are impervious to foam darts. Try again.<br />
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> Use LED Flashlight<br />
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You stop the shadow from moving erratically.<br />
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But now it's coming right for you.<br />
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What now Mr. Bright Ideas? (Get it? Because: Puns)<br />
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>Throw Cash Card<br />
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What a waste of money. You plainly see this guy can't be bought.<br />
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The Shadow lurches towards you and you realize it isn't the Slender Man - he apparently hasn't arrived at all- but a much more sinister being.. One with much better hair.. And there's nothing you can do to stop him now.<br />
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AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Cough.. Gasp.. Wheeze.. Cough)<br />
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Thank-you for try-ing to play with GLaDOS to-day. We will-not cont-in-ue be-cause you-are-no-fun. There is cake in the lob-bee. Have-a-nice-day.<br />
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Seriously though. Thank you to Big Fish Games and Destructoid for my contest prize. You guys are awesome.<br />
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The $100 gift card should be the thing that makes me happiest (and trust me, it makes me happy), but honestly it's the Swiss Army Knife w/ USB drive that I love the most about this. It appears to be high quality and it's something I'll actually use.<br />
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I've also never had Spam before, but always wanted to try it; so what better time then now, right? I figure if there are whole diners and such in Hawaii devoted to the stuff.<br />
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If you haven't already, buy Zombie Zombie Zombie (or Zombie X3) from Big Fish Games. Don't even think about it. Go.. Go NOW!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691417514524267296.post-28021728859505364152013-11-25T13:00:00.000-06:002013-11-25T13:00:02.325-06:00Sense and Credibility: Part 2.2: The Sabrina Strikes Back<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So last time I talked about how Anita Sarkeesian, while talking about videogames, spoke of some positive female role models on Television (and Music, in one case), and how I didn't quite agree with her assessment; providing the same negative tropes that I think she'd apply to those if she wasn't using them to make a point.<br />
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Last time I wrote about <i>Charmed</i>, and the 3 Halliwell Sisters. This time, I'm off to visit another family of (mostly female) Witches, From <i>Sabrina the Teenage Witch.</i><br />
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This time I promise it'll be a little shorter, as Sabrina and her journey is the main focus of the show, although I could say a thing or two about her Aunts as well.<br />
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Plot: Sabrina finds out she's a witch on her 16th birthday and needs to cope with that while finding her way through highschool, boys and life.<br />
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Crimes against Humanity: Not as many as <i>Charmed</i>, not nearly at all, but one or two pretty big ones that are kind of soul crushing.<br />
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The thing about this show is that Sabrina becomes a witch on her 16th birthday, sort of signifying or alluding to the idea that she's become a woman, but then she's told she needs to hide her identity, her true self, from the world... Which is the exact opposite of the self esteem building we should be teaching young girls (and boys for that matter)<br />
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This also happens in <i>Charmed</i> (only they're older, and have more experience in life), and I didn't really cover it there, because I wanted to do it here, but there's just this prevailing "woman has to hide inner self" sentiment with each of these shows, that comes in the form of them actually being more powerful then any one around them, including men/boys, that just serves to keep these characters locked up and afraid, unable to spread their wings and truly be happy. And as a man looking in through the glass, I'm appalled by this.<br />
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And no, it's not because, "Oh he just wants powers, huh huh huh," it's truly because I believe all people shouldn't be afraid to be themselves, no matter who they are or what they can do -even the assholes. There are some truly wonderful people we'll never get to really know because they're forced to be other people; be it because of appearances, or the what other people not only want to think, but NEED to think of them. This idea that the fallacy is better then the real thing isn't a good lesson to teach anyone.<br />
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So yeah, Sabrina's a witch who needs to hide herself while going to school, and for the sake of keeping things light, comedy ensues from it -if it were only that easy for everyone with a secret. Sure, she's up beat most of the time, but thats where I feel like we're asked to have the biggest suspension of disbelief, aside from the talking cat or magical powers. We really see her struggle through highschool (and later college) not being able to tell her best friend she is what she is, or be able to get truly close to the boy she really likes, because she has this mystical, (actually) genetic (something that both series has -they can't run away from it because it's in their blood), monkey on her back. But we're also supposed to laugh through it, which can get pretty hard at times.<br />
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There are also light daddy issues, which could be construed as a trope itself (Daddy Issues = Problems Everywhere) because her dad is the genetic tie to her magical side and he's just never around, instead having her live with, and be raised by, her Aunts.<br />
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But all this witch talk brings me back to something I alluded to wanting to touch on back in Part 2.1, when the title asked "Which girl is the witch girl?" : These characters are witches.<br />
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I know, derp, right? I've only said this a million times by now...<br />
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But just think about that for a minute. Witches are traditionally evil things. Sure, in recent decades that sentiment has been quelled by the eco-friendly, just plain friendly, Wiccans, and with various portrayals in TV shows like these, but, classically, witches suckle at the tit of El Diablo.. Or.. Is that the other way around? Either way, they're usually evil, reviled creatures, that we sought fit to burn, drown or torture people innocent people to reveal; lest we forget the Inquisition and Salem Witch Trials. They're beings of power, but often hid among us (for fear of death), usually depicted in such a way where they'd kill us in our sleep and steal our organs for their brews and what-nots. Some of them have flying monkeys; most of them have, traditionally, been female.<br />
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These characters hide because, if they don't, if the mortals find out, and they're not in a magical land they happen to control, their lives would actually be a living hell. In the case of <i>Charmed</i>, having the demons know who they are means constant attempts on their lives -so their lives are a living hell because they're witches. I'm pretty sure that Sabrina's family actively tells her that being caught being what she is will lead to a new witch trial.<br />
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It's as if these show's are trying to say that, even though you live a good life with the best intentions, your witchiness implies womanhood, and womanhood loops back to implies witchiness, and witches are bad things that everyone wants to kill or lock up. This isn't the most glowing representation of how to treat women out there -but we're supposed to believe that it is, in these two series, just because Anita says so on the fly, without support, in order to support a falling pillar in her argument about videogames? We're supposed to believe hiding our true self is a positive, no matter who or what we are, be it female, transgendered, geeks.. Anything? Please...<br />
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It reminds me of either Junior or Senior year, we had a speaker come to my high school that was basically there to tell us that we should bury all of our feelings; that we'd be happier. The message was.. Odd.. When I was sure that everything around us at the time was telling us that doing things like that ended up making you a maniac (and in a way, it does warp you heavily). So, I kind of sort of did what I'm doing here, I sort of.. I wouldn't say heckled him, but it comes close...<br />
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The guy did get so mad at us by a certain point that he negated his entire statement by storming off the stage and very audibly telling the principal that he was "fucking finished", leave out the auditorium side door. But basically his message seems to be close to the one that I feel Sabrina tries to teach: Bury yourself and you'll be happier-When, honestly, it seems like the exact opposite is true. Or at least I know burying myself for so long as really hurt me, personally.<br />
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Because I'm not exactly sure how to close this out, the best way I feel I can do it is to repeat what I closed Part 2.1 with:<br />
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The most important thing to come away with here, and something I wish I were easily able to say by the end of part one before I got caught up in all the frustration her skewing facts made me feel, is that these things are all just entertainment. No matter who you are your not watching <i>Charmed</i> for the deep storylines or searching for the intricate meanings of life -your watching that shit to see some demons get their asses handed to them. If your watching Sabrina your probably a teenager girl who's looking for a <i>Boy Meets World </i>alternative, or a boy with a bashful crush on Melissa Joan Hart (Verdict: guilty), not searching out how you should live your life.<br />
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Outside current events shows, like news broadcasts, where we should be taking some things seriously, we take entertainment a little *too* seriously, and that maybe where we need to stop ourselves and take a breath. Some of the things we come away with from it, like both sides in the fight Anita's brought to light, just cause far more complications then they help, and I think we can all agree that stopping videogames won't help women's privates from being mutilated in countries that really don't give a shit about videogames. Videogames are a first world thing, and a lot of what Ms. Sarkeesian talks about, what most of the more vocal feminists talk about, are very much first world problems. Besides, we're talking about things that may or may not feature a talking cat.. How serious can we really take them?</div>
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Next time: Tell me what you want, what you really really want... No, seriously, because using these 3 late 90's media giants as a positive representation is really confusing.<br />
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(PS: Again, didn't go out of my way to find pics of Sabrina -or the rest- in revealing clothing or down-the-shirt photos. This is a becoming trend in itself, with the things Anita has pointed out)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691417514524267296.post-45712554274268084112013-11-21T13:00:00.000-06:002013-11-21T13:00:01.075-06:00Sense and Credibility (Part 2, an act in 3 parts): Which Girl is the Witch Girl?<div>
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Anita Sarkeesian is at it again, having just posted <a href="http://youtu.be/eYqYLfm1rWA" target="_blank">another</a>, a little more reasonable, but not without it's faults, video about the character signifiers and how they let you know when a male character has been pallet swapped to be female (Really in the most basic way I can sum it up).<br />
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Sadly when arguing her cause, it's just as easy to knock the legs of credibility out from under any Anita Sarkeesian's<em> Damsels in Distress</em> videos by analyzing the little throwaway footnotes that she needlessly injects into her videos for even a few seconds, then it is to sift through her 5 minutes of info dumping, 15 minutes of putting names to her videogame video clip hall of fame.<br />
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During <em>Damsels</em> <em>Part 3</em>, to support her stance against videogames with points of positive female tropes in other media (but without actually taking the time to analyze what she finds positive about them), she briefly mentions the TV shows <i>Charmed</i> and <i>Sabrina The Teenage Witch</i>, as well as the pop group known as The Spice Girls, specifically noting them to have existed in the, "girl power," period of the late 90s, early 2000s.<br />
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However, actually having been a fan of the two shows, and having tortured myself with at least watching the movie based on the music group, I can actually say with some certainty I couldn't provide in part one, that I'm pretty sure she's skewing the context of these shows to suit her needs. These 3 things she cites as being <strong>positive</strong> representation of female tropes are actually <strong>saturated</strong> with negative ones that she's, unsurprisingly as it may be, overlooking. But they're just like mentioning the domestic violence statistics in the last part -they're so bad, that it's really impossible to overlook them. <br />
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The real problem is, having gone through a few drafts of this post, there are so many tropes that go against the grain of her cause, for each one of these, that I might just end up drowning anyone who reads past this point in a sea of info dumping, while trying to give you all the most information I can about them. I can try to stick to just the important ones, but.. Even that's going to be hard to keep to a minimum. So, I'm having to break this up into a few different parts.</div>
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(I also want to note that, while she marks these things as positives, I looked at Anita's YouTube page and I don't think *any* of her full videos are actually about these or why they're positive at all --If I thought any of them had been, I'd have watched them as research for this post. Hard to fact check against what may not be there.)<br />
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<strong>Charmed</strong><br />
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Basic Premise: 3 sisters (and later one half sister) find out that they're the most powerful witches ever, in a long line of witches, and fight demons/warlocks/baddies, after one of them reads a family heirloom found in their dead grandmothers attic. <br />
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Crimes against humanity: Oh lord so many to count. I hardly know where to start.<br />
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Sister trope 1; The Constant Mother: Piper, the middle (later, oldest) sister, is the mother of the group. No matter what she's looking after someone and if she's not taking care of the kids she has over the course of the series, it's her husband (when he's around) or her sisters. This puts her through constant stress and basically corners her throughout the show. At one point, to seemingly stress the point of how explosive her role has made her, she's given the power to make pretty much everything she can see explode, by the writers.</div>
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The idea of a mother is a strong one, definitely a good one. Empowering. But one that has to consistently clean up *everyone's* messes, acting akin to a slave to their needs, and has pretty much no time for herself, isn't exactly the most positive by today's standard how women shouldn't take crap from anyone else. No women wants to felt like shes been put in a corner: isn't that the whole point to Ms. Sarkeesian's videos?<br />
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Sister trope 2; The Troubled: One sister dies early in the series, because of in-fighting on set (supposedly) pushed the actress out. That sister was considered the tough one of the show. However the sister -the half-sister- that they're given (or find...) to balance out the shows on-going "power of three" prophecy, was a little less then tough. Actually, she always felt little more like "<i>Girl, Interrupted</i>". <br />
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Paige, the youngest of the sisters, was adopted by a family after being the illegitimate child the sisters mother and her "While Lighter" (Angel). When the only family she knew died, she blamed herself for their death -which she hasn't been able to drop. When she meets her real sisters and finds out about her real mother and father, she's unable to handle this too. When she finds out she's a witch herself, and has powers of both a witch AND an angel, because of her genetics, she's unable to handle this also.. <br />
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Her trope really isn't empowering in any way. Through most of the series, she's unable to handle most of the things thrown at her and keeps trying to quit. She tries to push her sisters away initially, and chooses not to live with them in their ancestral home for a while, even though it's probably safer for everyone that she be there, because she rejects them for being everything she also is (well, except the illegitimate child part, only she owns that one). Ultimately, because the show needed it, she had to give in and fall in line, only sort of resolving any of these issues while other issues became too important. Not all that empowering, if you ask me.<br />
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Sister trope 3 (times 2); Over Sexed and Baby Starved: The third sister, the middle one, may just be the most problematic sister in terms of tropes then any of the others. Phoebe is the "sexy" sister, everything about her from front to back has something to do with her needing companionship -which has her end up married to a demon, who's basically using her most of the time.<br />
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Not only does that happen throughout the series, but somewhere along the way in the series the actress that plays Phoebe, Alyssa Milano, seems to have gotten plastic surgery (or something, there is a huge change in her physical appearance) and begins to flaunt it through her characters wardrobe. Not exactly the best role model for girls, as I'm pretty sure the over sexulization and objectification of women is one of Anita's biggest no-noes. But I guess its okay, if its okay with the women who do it? You'd never guess by how much feminists rage on about fashion magazines -I guess everyone in those are just slaves..<br />
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Beyond this, Phoebe also seems to be obsessed with having a baby through most of Charmed, which could answer why most of her characterization is centered on needing companionship. She has prophetic dreams about having a baby, gets disappointed when those dreams don't come true when they're supposed to (because -I figure- the writers dropped the ball and picked it back up too late). She marries a half-demon and carries its baby, which she refers to later, in a sarcastic way, as "Lucifer" because its been taken over by a faceless evil, but has the baby taken from her and the story pretty much gets dropped. She later marries a guy simply because she thought the prophecy of her having a child was with him, and when she finds out she isn't pregnant *the first time* she annuls their marriage and tells him they need to "take it slow"... Then she marries a cupid and has 3 daughters with him, because, why not? I'm not really sure if I need to go into how this sort of thing would be a dangerous trope for women these days. <br />
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But Phoebe also leads into the biggest overarching problem all the girls have through the entire series: Men.</div>
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Nearly *all* of their enemies are men (it's pretty alarming) but that they're also so much that a lot of the sisters problems outside of evil fighting are attached to men as well, as if a woman couldn't *possibly* live without a man by their side, or causing them trouble, in some way. <br />
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I touched on Phoebe's part in this, but Piper's entire story, in between the few cracks that her mothering trope allows her, revolves around her angel husband who she shouldn't be married to (by some angel law) and then, later, how he's basically an absentee everything (Father, Husband, Provider..). And instead of throwing her hands in the air and saying "damn it all, damn it all to hell" (which would be fairly easy to actually do in this show, mind you), she keeps going and going and going with it, even becomes a "Goddess" because she finds the lack of feeling it brings was better then living with the pain of not having her husband around. So connected she needs to be to him, that feeling nothing feels better when he's not around -a wonderful message.<br />
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Piper and Phoebe's experience with men also shine light on something else that bothers me about how they're portrayed along side men: It doesn't seem like they're allowed to be any sort of happy, unless there's some sort of prophecy in place to arrange their marriages (or child births) for them.<br />
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Piper marrying the "White Lighter" Leo, in spite of the fact that it was forbade, and then having two children, one of which has to come back from the future to stop the other from becoming the worlds worst evil, paints Piper further into the corner of "this woman can't catch a break," even under prophecy, she can't simply be happy. I even seem to remember that there was some uncertainty to if her first son could be stopped, because she wasn't sure she was even able to have the second.<br />
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Phoebe on the other hand, I had mentioned earlier in her specific trope: She lets prophecy dictate her actions so much, that she becomes deeply disappointed (and depressed) when it doesn't come to pass when she feels it should; but instead of damning it all and moving on to attempt to be happy with what was in front of her that already was making her happy, she slams the breaks hard and hits the reset button so prophecy can play out instead of trying to fulfill her own needs.<br />
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I can't help but think that both those things don't shine a negative light on how these shows decided to treat their female leads. Cultures and movements are trying to move away from the idea of arranged marriages, and current sentiments seem to be very animately trying to convince people that fate is a nice idea, but shouldn't govern your life. But this show (and in a way Sabrina as well) seem to be trying to tell girls, "Hey, just wait around, don't try to be proactive, because you may miss your one true, predetermined, love or one chance for children (who may abandon you to do his "duties" or children who may not come till some sort of magical intervention happens)." That's not positive at all.<br />
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Paige... I actually had to look it up because I didn't commit a lot of her parts of the show to memory, but she had a *ton* of love interests and boyfriends.. I'm not really sure how I went about not pegging her as the one who needed companionship more then Phoebe seemed to. But anyway, the one man related story of hers that I did remember most was her being in love with a "magic addict," which played out more or less like any other abusive relationship involving an addiction, made worse by the fact that she's magic, and he was basically using her to get close to a fix. Nothing like making you (supposedly) strong female lead into a proxy for substance and domestic abuse.<br />
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There is also one thing about this I want to note. Anita, in the video I link at the top, mentions a quote that Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani said in 2010, that I really think she takes out of context. But the context itself (that he's talking about his thoughts while making the game in the 80's, and how that was a very different time, in a very different place -Japan- and taking them to mean he thought this things in 2010, so far removed from when his game was created, seems grossly wrong), doesn't matter. What matter's here is the statement itself, in the interview with Wired Magazine, where he says:<br />
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">"Around the time that we launched </span><cite style="font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Pac-Man</cite><span style="font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">, video arcades were filled with games where you shoot aliens. It seemed very dark. It was for men, it wasn’t fashionable at all. When women would go out, they’d go out in a group of friends or with a boyfriend as a couple. And I realized that if women and couples were going to come to game centers, they had to be cheerful places.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">When you think about things women like, you think about fashion, or fortune-telling, or food or dating boyfriends. So I decided to theme the game around “eating” — after eating dinner, women like to have dessert."</span></span><br />
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But aside from this being a sentiment that he specifically says was 80's minded (and can be assumed Japanese -yes, it is a different culture...), he's saying that women liked fashion, fortune telling or food or dating... So how exactly is <i>Charmed</i> different, being 20 years removed from Pac-Man's release, and cited as a positive female outlook? The blow by blow is this:<br />
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Piper runs nightclub but drops out of that to pursue becoming a chef/caterer, ultimately opening her own restaurant. So not only does she take care of everyone like a mother, as mentioned earlier, but she's the shows cook, doing it constantly through the series. If you find Piper anywhere int he series, it's probably the kitchen. <b>And she likes it, it's her passion</b>. It = food.<br />
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Fortune Telling = Supernatural in most every case... And what are witches? Yep. Supernatural. That was the big hook/theme to the series, that set it apart from all the other dramas -but it wasn't meant to draw men (or in my case, teenage boys -even though I love anything Sci-fi Fantasy, so it did speak to me in that way) into watching, it was meant specifically for female viewers... Oh, and<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/25/charmed-reboot-cbs_n_4164486.html" target="_blank"> it's being remade</a>...<br />
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Catch a look at those pictures of the women above. Fashionable (maybe), right? Ever catch a look at the show and see any thing they're wearing? Hell, Phoebe tries to be the embodiment of fashion on the show, if you can call most of what she wears through the series cloths. The things she wears a lot of the time wouldn't be enough to release <a href="http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Dobby" target="_blank">Dobby the House Elf</a> from servitude.<br />
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And I've already gone into the sisters and men.. No need to do that again.<br />
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So there isn't anything really wrong with what Iwatani said about his decades old game, except for the fact that Anita lopped off the first half of the comment and broke the context of the entire statement.</div>
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There is one last thing, though. The article name asks the question: Which girl is the Witch girl? And that kind of also connects to the next one, which will be about <i>Sabrina The Teenage Witch</i>. If you read that far you'll notice an odd, obvious, trend. One I'll tackle in earnest when I talk about Sabrina. <br />
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The most important thing to come away with here, and something I wish I were easily able to say by the end of part one before I got caught up in all the frustration her skewing facts made me feel, is that these things are all just entertainment. No matter who you are your not watching <i>Charmed</i> for the deep storylines or searching for the intricate meanings of life -your watching that shit to see some demons get their asses handed to them. If your watching Sabrina your probably a teenager girl who's looking for a <i>Boy Meets World </i>alternative, or a boy with a bashful crush on Melissa Joan Hart (Verdict: guilty), not searching out how you should live your life. <br />
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Outside current events shows, like news broadcasts, where we should be taking some things seriously, we take entertainment a little *too* seriously, and that maybe where we need to stop ourselves and take a breath. Some of the things we come away with from it, like both sides in the fight Anita's brought to light, just cause far more complications then they help, and I think we can all agree that stopping videogames won't help women's privates from being mutilated in countries that really don't give a shit about videogames. Videogames are a first world thing, and a lot of what Ms. Sarkeesian talks about, what most of the more vocal feminists talk about, are very much first world problems. Besides, we're talking about things that may or may not feature a talking cat.. How serious can we really take them?<br />
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Next up: The show with the actual talking cat!<br />
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(P.S. I'm very serious when I say I didn't go out of my way to look for pictures that made the ladies of Charmed look sexy --Those were actual promotional pictures from/for the show. I don't know how that fits into any feminist agenda as a positiveat all .)</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691417514524267296.post-75765156447362920902013-11-19T13:00:00.000-06:002013-11-19T14:16:48.263-06:00Opinion: We Actually Shouldn't Want Better Launch Games<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The next-gen launch will soon be over and the last few weeks I've seen a lot of complaints on both sides of the fence about the launch line up. Sure, more are saying the Xbox ONE's is more robust, but the fact remains that all launches are lackluster. With new tech, this is just about always the case.<br />
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But one thing I've seen a lot since the PS4 launch last Friday is talk about how the launch titles weren't anything that couldn't have been done on the PS3. That these games really aren't "worthy" of the power the new tech provides. And I ask: would you really want them to be?<br />
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There's a few ways to look at why you wouldn't.<br />
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First, just to get it out of the way, yeah, it'd be great to have better looking games, but frankly better looking doesn't mean better games. One is not exclusive to the other. In fact, if the last generation is any indication, one usually runs away from the other at high speeds.<br />
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Beyond that, better games coming first thing would be nice to see, but it opens the door for for a lot more failure to come down the pipe from the start. Something no one wants from their new big purchase, and would be horrific for many publishers and developers, especially those who want to push new IPs.<br />
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Think about it, you just got a $400-$500 system your already worried will fail on you out of the box, do you also want games that are so future-savvy that they fail on their own because they pushed too hard on that yet-to-be-proven hardware? Having games that are just a little behind the new times allows you to get more from your purchase then constant frustration. Which is a good thing, because even games that could have been built for tried and true systems can still have a boat load of issues.<br />
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But what about the tech itself; if its so great, then why should the games be a worry?<br />
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Because games are everything. Literally. You bought a system to play them, in spite what some companies will have you believe about wanting them more for apps and movie watching. If those games don't work out of the gate, then not only is your wallet in trouble, but so are the livelihoods of those that made faulty games that were supposed to help sell systems.<br />
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People have complained that the launch of both systems was hurt by <i>Watch_Dogs</i> being pushed back till next year, but I hold the line that it's strengthened because of it. If <i>Watch_Dogs</i> was a mess for being rushed to the market just to meet some quota, after having pulled in so many people to buy expensive new systems upfront, then Ubisoft, Microsoft and Sony would have a monumental mess on their hands that they could do nothing more then say "please wait for fixes" or "Please wait for other games." -Two sentiments we'll likely hear, and wouldn't accept hearing, anyway.<br />
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Afterwards we'd all be vocally inconsolable, yelling, "But.. But this is the next-gen!" till we were blue in the face -and that really doesn't do any one good. This is one of the few times in recent memory where I can say with all seriousness that Ubisoft did the right thing.<br />
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And, besides, the tech itself is a mine field of its own.<br />
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Taking out the possible failure factor, most of us seem to forget that the console were only really brought to their final state just scant a few months ago. This means that developers have been working on these games for whatever amount of time they have been, when they'd usually have a few years to develop, with only a floating bar to regulate themselves with before the final build was produced. These men and women have been on strict deadlines with the same large question marks over their heads as we had looking in on this through the glass, although any changes to any system means far bigger troubles for them then it does for us armchair analysts. This is the sort of thing that, unjustly, makes or breaks developers around this time in a generation, to the point where holding back becomes the smart thing to do for survival.<br />
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I find this to be one of the fundamental reasons why companies like Ubisoft, who cried havoc for a new generation so they could bring out new IPs, only really have ports on the plate at launch. It's just safer as a base to launch from, especially when they're properties like<i> Assassin's Creed</i>, that they're going to bring out every year any way. It's proven, and with so few choices, there's no real need to worry about it selling, even if you've just sold the same game to that person a few weeks before.<br />
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Then there's the dark side. As in, where things get a little more fickle then simply graphics we've already seen or the daunting shadow of possible failures. And that comes from the always looming threat of the PC, and it's community. <br />
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If we were given everything these consoles got, right out of the gate, and there's nothing left to give 4 years from now, then what's the point of getting a console over the increasingly easier to use PC platform? None really. They'd undercut (Read: Gut) the console market that they're trying to sell you on even more then the "They're just under powered PCs" sentiment that everyone can't let go of, already does.<br />
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The steady progression in quality over the course of the generation seems to serve consoles in order to stave off such claims by offering "much better graphics then the last game!" If you ask the PC community, better games could already be happening right now, but this unnatural stymieing in the flow allows developers more time to work on them while both not needing to ask players to buy constant hardware upgrades and to -attempt- to keep down budgets, which would only be that much detrimentally larger if they were consistently told to go all out -which really worked so well for everyone in the last generation.<br />
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It also serves to hold back the PC market a bit, so that, even though the upgrades are out there and can be used, they don't really matter as much because there's not being fully utilized by all things. Is that part a little shady? Sure can be construed that way, but it still works for them right now -we'll see if it will by the next generation. Some believe we won't even have a next-gen, but I can't really say where I think things will go yet, its just too soon. Or wishful thinking. Depends on what side of the fence you sit on.<br />
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So would I like better games released day 1? Sure, but I'm honestly fine with having any games at all. The launch libraries for both systems don't bother me one bit, there's things I'd play in both, if given the chance. But would I want the games to be questionably "better?" Nah, I'm okay with where they're at right now, in this moment. Better games will come, and hopefully they'll come sooner then later. <br />
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The prevailing idea that a system needs a "killer app" right out of the gate, when it's simply trying to survive fo a much longer term then just a few months, really needs to be forgotten. Anyone who's been through a launch before, let alone been an early adopter for one, knows that this is how things roll, even if they don't don't really look much deeper then the surface to exactly why this sort of thing happens every time.<br />
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Overall? Just have fun and be happy we can have things like this at all. When I was little I couldn't dream we'd be where we are right now, with what we've got.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691417514524267296.post-35935762924777329912013-11-18T13:00:00.000-06:002013-11-18T13:00:05.030-06:00Opinion: How To Do Pokemon DLC Right<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;">
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">So, some weeks ago when Pokemon X/Y was released there was a lot of talk about whether they're going to sell DLC for the game, with some of the makers of the game saying it would ruin the series' worldview.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">But that got me thinking, could there be a way to sell us DLC without doing that? Here's how I imagine Pokemon DLC, done right. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The problem that the game makers saw was from a standpoint where it sounds like they figured they'd be forced to sell Pokemon, as in individual critters or packs of them, and that was it. And in doing so, there seems to be a fear that they'd robbing us of the Pokemon idea of "Gotta Catch'em All!" and replacing it with the capitalist ideal of "Gotta Buy'em All!" </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">But thats also where their DLC woes are easily solved: you simply don't do packs of critters and call it a day. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">That's, quite honestly, the lazy approach that I'd expect from the likes of the EAs and Activisions of the world, not Nintendo. If they'd go that far, they mine as well have a season pass. There is much more you can do that people would jump on in an instant, and the roots of it starts with something they've already done. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">When I came back to the series it was with the launch of Black/White. One of the biggest reasons for my return one was watching the news feeds and seeing that, for a while, folks have been able to go to a retailer (Usually Gamestop, sometimes Toys R' Us, in the US) and get a free, extra special, Pokemon. But something was a little different with Black/White, and it came in the form of the packed in, limited time, Pokemon named Victini.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">You see, in order to get Victini you had to buy the game within a set period of time after launch day and connect the game to a wi-fi connection to receive the Liberty Pass. With the Liberty Pass, once you got to a certain town, you could board a ship that brings you to a previously closed off (as in not in the game unless you have the pass) area, called Liberty Garden (which is basically akin to Liberty Island in off of Manhattan), where you have to stop Team Plasma from trying to crack open the structure on the island, get into it's hollow base where the little bugger lives, and capture him. Doing so allows you to capture Victini and add him to your team.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">It's a fun, if extremely short, little story, that doesn't take away from the game at all, but allows the player to see a place they would have never seen before and find a little more out about that region. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">So here's my proposal: Do something like this with paid DLC Gamefreak/Nintendo.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Now, I know what some would say: Well that's no better then just straight selling people Pokemon. How is it any different?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Well, you take the general idea of Liberty Pass and Liberty Garden, you blow it up so that its it's own sub-region, and you take Victini out as a prize. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Sure, Pokemon will inhabit the new area, but it doesn't have to be new or special Pokemon. The new area can have items hidden in it, but they don't have to be particularly special items. What these areas would provide is new stomping grounds to allow for more catching and, more importantly, new, short, story opportunities. You let the prize be the new stories, NPCs and battles your about to face. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">And while that seems to be a no brainer for the rest of the industry, that's what people want most from their Pokemon games for a long time; when there's no more trainers to fight, and all they're doing is <a href="http://www.destructoid.com/this-contraption-automatically-finds-shiny-pokemon-264979.phtml" target="_blank">building contraptions</a> to search for shinys. They want more reasons to care that Team Rocket, Plasma or whoever is causing trouble.. Or just want them to cause some lasting trouble.. They want to experience new quests to help the world around them. Things that allow them to bond more with their Pokemon that goes beyond using them for toned down animal cruelty. And overall, experience new things that haven't been told in Pokemon's still rather vanilla landscape. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Hell, how great would it be to actually play out a story that coincides with the latest Pokemon movie release, where actions you take may somehow influence things in Ash's journey in the movie? DLC is a great place to do that (and it'd be perfect for promoting the DLC and the movie).</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">It's also a great place to get the feeling for what could happen with the next game, or beyond. You can test the waters for all kinds of content that could one day become normal in the series, like the mentioned new side quests, or different types of puzzles, or, because the game has finally made it into the 3D landscape, different types of technical things, like physics. Really, the sky is the limit, and people won't have to be forced to sit through an entire game, and worry too much that they hate their $40 full game purchase, if they don't want to. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Then all Nintendo/Gamefreak would need to do is keep a sharp eye on the feedback, and open up to having help with coaxing the series in a new directions, without having to give up anything in the core fundamentals of the games people love to keep coming back to. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">But technically, how do you do that? I mean, do you limit the areas to a certain time in the story, or do you limit the Pokemon to a certain level?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">My answer to that is: no. To both. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">One of the joys of the Victini/Liberty Pass situation was that, yeah, sure, you can go there as soon as you can and catch your Victini, specially if your super excited about doing that new special thing. But you could also wait till you beat everyone else, be the best trainer in the land, and make up your own little story (which really shouldn't have to be done) about how you get the pass and go about "rescuing" Victini, and he(/she, can't remember its sex and don't want to plumb through <a href="http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Main_Page" target="_blank">Blubapedia</a> to look) will love you till the end of time for it. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">And that sentiment should carry over to whenever you buy your DLC: </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Want to go there now? Sure! Want to wait till The Elite 4 are defeated? Okay!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">But if you go later on, and these areas have fixed level battles, there's always the chance that the Pokemon you've trained up will plow through all of the areas native Pokemon and trainers, shortening the base experience, cheapening your purchase. So to combat that, these DLCs should scale to the median of your current Pokemon team -scaling not only the difficulty of the Pokemon, but also the XP gained by fighting them- adjusting should you leave and come back with a different Pokemon. This which would be much easier for the game to do in the confines of a new, unconnected, map, rather then floating it through the current playable areas that are usually statically set. This will also allow the rival Pokemon to have a little bit of bite and allow them to retain some dignity, while not allowing it to get too difficult for players who wish to play the DLC early in the game.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">As an alternative, there's another idea that could be kicked around that could also work, but there could be some issues that but up against the rest of the game and may ask the focus of the DLC to be played in the post game, rather then whenever you want: Making the DLC story take place in the already existing world. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Doing it like this would have it's upsides, even if it'd be a bit dull having to go back to places you probably spent hours in. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">It would mean you wouldn't really have to mess with figuring out which Pokemon to put in the new area.. Or even building new areas at all.. Unless the event of the DLC changes the landscape somehow to reflect somethings happened, like, I don't know, a bunch of ghost Pokemon have invaded, causing the landscape to wither, and you need to solve the mystery why this happened. The overall upside would be the need for less development beyond piecing together the story, possible NPCs and event triggers. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">And, no matter which route is taken with this, X/Y seem to be a great place to start this, especially with the inclusion of support characters that actually follow you around though the game, that your supposed to care about.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Not having first hand experience with X/Y yet (Christmas is coming...), I've read <a href="http://www.destructoid.com/top-ten-reasons-why-i-can-t-get-into-pokemon-x-263896.phtml" target="_blank">a lot of talk</a> about how these characters don't really do much for the game other then act as your rivals, and since they don't really choose to talk about Pokemon, but other things that you usually don't think about in a Pokemon game, that they felt hollow, almost unnecessary, inclusions. Having those characters grow, or get captured, or.. Something.. That fuels the need to go to a new place, would really make a case for those characters being a palatable evil, even if it comes at the hands of a devil we've become all too close with, like DLC.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">But, all of this goes with saying that they weren't okay with selling Pokemon as character packs, but they're totally okay with selling you Pokedex apps and a yearly fee for what amounts to </span><a href="http://kotaku.com/starting-december-you-can-pay-for-your-very-own-pokemo-1441323884" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" target="_blank">Pokemom cloud storage</a><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">. They're also okay with making people buy a game with the promise that they can get a Pokemon for only a limited time after, forcing people into a decision to spend money now or later -which is basically akin to day 1 DLC. They also have the Skylanders-like </span><a href="http://www.destructoid.com/review-pokemon-rumble-u-261261.phtml" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" target="_blank">Pokemon Rumble U</a><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"> game that's chock full of expensively blind packed, flimsy toy, goodness. And thats not even including the basest fact of all: that they're basically selling us Pokemon by full price cartridge load, almost every year now. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">So the idea of further monetizing probably the most easy to monetize (because its already happening) property you have, doesn't really seem like something you need to think about, let alone if it's going to hurt it's world view. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Critical of me to say, sure, but I don't really see how hard it is to arrive at the idea that more story could trump character packs any day of the week. At this point its practically science.</span></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691417514524267296.post-23910391373048155782013-11-17T16:00:00.000-06:002013-11-19T14:15:43.363-06:00Thought: PS4 Launch Coverage Is Surprisingly Relaxed...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Seriously, while I waited around all day Friday, I was reading, and... I felt like I was reading more about the Xbox ONE then the new system that just came out. Now I'm still not seeing a whole lot of hub-bub about it.<br />
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Thing is, I can't decide on whether or not that's a good thing or not.<br />
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I mean, okay, a day or two before we heard about a few random cases of <a href="http://www.destructoid.com/uh-oh-reports-of-ps4-hardware-failures-have-begun-265679.phtml" target="_blank">"hardware failure"</a> and that Sony was looking into it. And yeah, Friday, EA, like they're ones to talk (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MknLARblrDQ" target="_blank">*Cough* Battlefied 4 *Cough*</a>), was talking about how there are stability issues with the PS4s Firmware.. But.. It was a surprisingly relaxed day, and I expected a lot more.<br />
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I'm not talking about "You just got to the end of the level and grabbed the flag" Mario-like fanfare complete with fireworks, but.. Something.. Like, it's probably no surprise now, if you've ever read anything else here, that I follow Destructoid, but basically all it felt like they did (not judging, just saying- I know they were VERY stressed out over there) was repost their collected list of reviews (which, reviews are possibly the hardest part of this whole thing, given the time they take to do, and the amount of content they needed to review in a short period on a limited staff) and another article about UI tips.. And that was really it.<br />
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I kept refreshing my page over and over again waiting to hear about failures, or PSN going down, or.. Even though I hate coverage like this.. People shooting each other in parking lots over this. But there really wasn't any.<br />
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Frankly, the weeks before felt so much more alive then this launch felt; and I still can't decide if thats a good thing or not. Calm can come before the storm, but calm can simply just be calm, and we should take it at that face value. I want to take it for the latter, but optimism is a new area that I'm trying out these days, the ground is still shaky for me.<br />
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I don't know. But the calm is so thick I couldn't go without saying something about it. I feel like I'm choking on it.<br />
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(UPDATE: Not so relaxed any more. There have been some squawking about hardware failures, but its impossible to say how many systems are actually effected by this.)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691417514524267296.post-11762222424136123272013-11-16T16:00:00.000-06:002013-11-16T16:12:49.015-06:00Question: Should You Sell Your Current Console?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi27Q33tUju9f1dQdkN5tH24hjRirrrQklx1GiexyvEzNb64hRXMekymL9Kbt5-j3cjOTN5DYU16jz-Fn_U4NSacPn7ZbE7vq7c6ZwdkpbYb4l33U96lXpPkKgmQsYXd20Y0Mdls4s5tc7j/s1600/800px-SNES-Mod1-Console-Set.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi27Q33tUju9f1dQdkN5tH24hjRirrrQklx1GiexyvEzNb64hRXMekymL9Kbt5-j3cjOTN5DYU16jz-Fn_U4NSacPn7ZbE7vq7c6ZwdkpbYb4l33U96lXpPkKgmQsYXd20Y0Mdls4s5tc7j/s640/800px-SNES-Mod1-Console-Set.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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This time it's an important question if your thinking about going next-gen sooner, rather then later: Should you sell your Current Console?<br />
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See, the longer you wait, the lower those values (trade-in or direct sale) on these systems goes down, and they probably won't go up again for over a decade.. I've also got this (cynical) theory going that the PS3/360 generation isn't going to be nearly as popular later on, in hindsight, and that having consoles from that generation isn't going to be worth much to a gamer unless they really want to play Gears or Uncharted, or something. It will be more nostalgia for specific games, and not the library in general or the hardware itself.</div>
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Any way, semantics aside, if it was a prior generation, before the one that ended yesterday, then I'd say "Sure" if only because, while often nostalgic, I rarely have ever had the need to go back and play many things on them, what with backwards compatibility and the rise of ports/emulators (which.. Yeah.. can be costly -for ports-, but whatever). Sure, I kind of regret it now, because having the hardware would be cool, but I also have to remind myself that I've had to move more then I've ever wanted to in my life, and should I have to do it again, lugging that stuff with me is a real burden. </div>
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Now though? No way. Or, I'd say at least not in the first few years of a generation. Not with both Sony and Microsoft being so ambiguous about how they see backwards compatibility. </div>
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Right now, this is the only way I know I'll be able to play some of my favorite games again, unless I plan to rebuy them on the PC (which can be a viable, cheap, choice, as long as Steam and such still exist at a later date).</div>
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As part of my looking into how to save on the next gen, I thought about selling my 360 and all my games, but was talked out of it buy someone close to me. Even though it was still on my mind, Microsoft made it pretty clear that "If you want to play some games, we're going to have to refer you to the Xbox 360." Factor in the gaps between releases that is <b>very normal</b> during the start of any generation, and it's sort of a no brainer to me -They've made this new generation a generation where you needed the old one to supplement the new, which is.. Completely weird. </div>
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Now all I'm doing is trying to sell the games that I really don't think I'll play again. I've got some 40 games sitting near my desk right now that I've got to start looking for a new home for. (I've got a guy who may buy them, but he's taking forever to price them and it's making me wait longer then I'd like -I really want to sell them as a lot and be done with them, so.. If you need 40 360 games to, I don't know, give as a gift to someone who's just now buying a cheaper 360, and are willing to spend a few hundred dollars -negotiable, within reason- go to the about me tab and mail me, I'll try to get back to you ASAP and we can talk.. I still want to give my guy time, but the closer Christmas comes, the more and more I'm feeling that I'll be losing more then gaining.)</div>
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Any way, getting away from myself on a tangent again, what do you think? Do you keep your consoles and games forever, or do you trade them in? Or, maybe more imporantly, do you think you think things have changed so much this past generation, leading into this one, that you <i>should</i>, now?</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691417514524267296.post-10134614847613044312013-11-14T14:06:00.003-06:002013-11-14T14:06:32.475-06:00Dear Microsoft...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf9if3Rb47KJdzyTWoTQQDJL8uDwQuEp_XFpyT2PWsCMKzqj3RXlMIrvbzsNeLEeH4R_P_hKbz_D2acOl_rGJT9w87tldTvvAMNUZIguuA7NMbeWhwCLORuy9Lx78rR4oTohJIyfCwDylJ/s1600/envelopes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf9if3Rb47KJdzyTWoTQQDJL8uDwQuEp_XFpyT2PWsCMKzqj3RXlMIrvbzsNeLEeH4R_P_hKbz_D2acOl_rGJT9w87tldTvvAMNUZIguuA7NMbeWhwCLORuy9Lx78rR4oTohJIyfCwDylJ/s640/envelopes.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Hi Mic-y, I'll try to keep this short. I know you've got a lot on your plate <a href="http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/meet-xbox-one" target="_blank">these next few weeks.</a><br />
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I was updating my OS last night and when I was looking at the bundles of joy you had to offer, I noticed something. I noticed that I could download Internet Explorer 11. Thats nice.. But.. No thanks.<br />
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Actually, a question: Why the hell would you make 11, when 10 doesn't really work very well as it sits now?<br />
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I mean, I had to stop using your browser because I could barely get the thing to stop spazzing out on me hourly. Because I couldn't do a lot of the things that I actually need a browser for, in my week to week, like print coupons (so I can save more money, so I can buy more of your products.. Maybe?). Hell, I couldn't even use it from time to time because it'd simply be far too slow to function.<br />
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I could be far more detailed if I wasn't writing this months after having moved on from your browsing platform <i>because</i> of all those issues I've chosen to leave by the wayside. Why would I invest precious memory in remembering something that pissed me off so much that I uprooted my entire way of doing things to move on from?<br />
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And no, don't try to tell me to disable add-ons, that all will be fine if I do; I have a scant few add-ons, and almost all of them are add-ons we all need in our day to day, PC, lives. And the one that we don't? <b>You make it!</b><br />
<br />Yeah, thats right, I shouldn't have to disable your Bing Bar simply because you can't make your browser work with <b>something you also make! </b>Something you pretty much <i>require</i> <b>we only use with that browser!</b><br />
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Now, I may have fibbed a little before when I said, "No Thanks," because I did dip into your bowl and took one.. Forgive me for being curious.. But, looking at it, I don't see how it's all that different.<br />
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In fact, it seems so un-different that I just opened it now and it took over a minute to load. My computer isn't bad at all, other browsers, even Firefox -that I left to come back to IE, because flash was crashing it every 5 minutes- loaded faster then this, and those guys are supposed to be on the shallow end of the browser pool these days.<br />
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Chrome? That takes just a second or two. I even have that set to pre-open a few pages that I go to everyday, so I don't even have to think about where to go; and some how faster then simply getting the ball rolling on your browser.<br />
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Just maybe I'll find a nugget of something different in it, if I can get it to outpace a slug, but, frankly, I don't <i>really</i> want to <i>have to</i> put the time into it.<br />
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So, seriously Microsoft, please stop making new things on top of old platforms before upgrading to a new one; before you've even fixed the plethora of issues with the last one. Shit (pardon my French), I wasn't even aware 10 was in full release, for some reason I thought it was still in beta/public testing. Is there even a line anymore?<br />
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All the best,<br />
Me<br />
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P.S. Don't tell me to contact your support with my issues. I'm already having enough trouble getting through to them about other things, to congest the situation with this too. Just make better programs, and stop shoving the work onto support that can't handle our questions.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691417514524267296.post-25703400748769910002013-11-13T16:20:00.000-06:002013-11-13T16:20:53.351-06:00Getting A PS4 At Launch? Go Download the Day 1 Update Now!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb3AzwLtJrku_RPiRCrKiIEsftlltwAKFt-NvD9pzKA8unlKQgA_7XjJwVV51AduqNZSD5EOYqtByX_sne_V0L4IYGKFoiONyn1iUhzanK8j5xH3Tam5Y7AL7pzLWbxxRwr8Bq_6XRGwOj/s1600/265163-ps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb3AzwLtJrku_RPiRCrKiIEsftlltwAKFt-NvD9pzKA8unlKQgA_7XjJwVV51AduqNZSD5EOYqtByX_sne_V0L4IYGKFoiONyn1iUhzanK8j5xH3Tam5Y7AL7pzLWbxxRwr8Bq_6XRGwOj/s640/265163-ps.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Is one of those PS4s yours? I know one of them is mine. Are you all set for the next-gen? All your games pre-ordered, your controllers ready? It's on us. It's breathing down our necks.<br />
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Want to be even more prepared for the onslaught thats about to fall on us?<br />
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Well, Sony's letting us be a little more prepared <a href="http://geek-forge.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-xbox-one-brick-without-patch.html" target="_blank">then some</a>; allowing us to download the PS4s day 1 patch and save it to a USB drive so we can install it to our PS4s without causing a small apocalypse to happen to their servers (which will probably happen any way, lets face it) during the PS4s launch on Friday (It's here. By God, it's here!).<br />
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Sony even has a nice, simple, <a href="http://us.playstation.com/support/systemupdates/ps4/pc_update/index.htm" target="_blank">guide</a> prepared to help folks go about easily downloading and installing the patch correctly, with, from what it seems, very little fuss. I did it earlier (downloaded it, my PS4 is days away too), and so far it's been a snap. Really nothing a child couldn't do these days.<br />
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So, what are you waiting for? If your getting PS4 in the next week, and have a USB drive lying around, go get your patch now!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691417514524267296.post-57010067255629592922013-11-13T16:10:00.000-06:002013-11-13T16:10:00.453-06:00The Xbox One: A Brick Without The Patch<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbyNDmwFCgQVJTxR8EWJUtUT8QeCN-5NnRB0jh-gM929FYb9-2KDDNN9B_Vvwv5jt4P7U_YeS78XLP8O-HZF0i91N56-mHGayOk8PiZOI_J-PJCMiqAmTbp7px3uzZEFhEpLOROfY_S4_U/s1600/xbox_one_don_mattrick_31197.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbyNDmwFCgQVJTxR8EWJUtUT8QeCN-5NnRB0jh-gM929FYb9-2KDDNN9B_Vvwv5jt4P7U_YeS78XLP8O-HZF0i91N56-mHGayOk8PiZOI_J-PJCMiqAmTbp7px3uzZEFhEpLOROfY_S4_U/s640/xbox_one_don_mattrick_31197.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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We should all know by now that the Xbox ONE will have a Day 1 patch. I cried for it, you cried for it, babies were birthed crying for it. We fought and we won it, but oh boy, folks without an internet connection who buy an Xbox ONE are going to be pretty pissed off at us, I'll tell you what.<br />
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You see, in a talk with <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/08/xbox-one-day-one-update-details/" target="_blank">Engadget</a>, Microsoft's Senior Director of Product Management, Albert Penello, was asked what the Xbox One will be able to do right out of the box, possibly in response to the fact that the PS4 needs it's Day 1 patch to activate some of its features (where the Xbox ONE's is designed to do the opposite, leading to features being deactivated because they encroached on things we find important as gamers: Like being able to share our games).<br />
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In response, Penello said, "Nothing. You need the day one update."<br />
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That's pretty terrifying.<br />
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So what we have here, in this gaming turf war, is a system (the PS4) that can play games out of the box, while it downloads it's update (or, you could pre-install the update -more on that later), while only having a few features you probably won't use OR the Xbox ONE that, to use the crude parlance of our time, Xbones your $500 purchase, not allowing you to do anything, because some of us wanted fairer practices to make it to the next-generation of the gaming industry.<br />
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What this also means is that Microsoft's network is going to have to be in top form (which, from loads of experience, I'll always have my doubts...) possibly hours <i>before</i> launch, if it's going to keep it's fans happy by allowing them to download that lengthy (supposedly a 20 minute download, with a good connection) update, so they can go ahead. Today's gamer isn't going to tolerate staring at a big black brick because they can't get a patch, because the servers have turned into mush from the excessive load. I mean, what will that say about their cloud computing?<br />
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But hey, way to go Microsoft. Keep it classy.<br />
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(A small side opinion: About the header image. It's really hilarious to me that, with how many changes we've seen them make since that day, how little has <b>actually</b> changed. Somehow they keep on sticking us in the rear.)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691417514524267296.post-60238079470288051332013-11-13T15:10:00.000-06:002013-11-13T16:24:06.162-06:00Internet Rage Fixes Everything: PS4 Will Get MP3 and DLNA Support "Eventually"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh6FrSl6k6lGO9xGACc9-_EGIXvsVDF9F8vlPnByEf4ajhegUEKVu05IX2vGK1WqXqKbyiNBWugYyp04XGVsUD_AJ3tXZO2tglUYWOVIwhBjdJnJ4NSG1VEQiG7nV7iSxamBDFrBZlcx8f/s1600/yoshida.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh6FrSl6k6lGO9xGACc9-_EGIXvsVDF9F8vlPnByEf4ajhegUEKVu05IX2vGK1WqXqKbyiNBWugYyp04XGVsUD_AJ3tXZO2tglUYWOVIwhBjdJnJ4NSG1VEQiG7nV7iSxamBDFrBZlcx8f/s640/yoshida.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Personally, I didn't care one bit that the PS4 can't play CDs, run MP3s or do DLNA streaming. I rarely use my consoles for these purposes and didn't see it as a deal breaker, but for a lot.. <b>a lot</b>.. Of people, it did. So much so, their cries of foul may have gotten Sony to change the precedent set by their official FAQ.<br />
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In an interview with Giantbomb's Interview Dumptruck podcast, Sony's President of Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, confirmed that the PS4 will get MP3 and DLNA support sometime after launch. He also went on to say it was a big surprise, to Sony, that there was such a big outcry for these features.<br />
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See guys, they are listening!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691417514524267296.post-80172291566681575772013-11-13T15:00:00.000-06:002013-11-13T16:23:09.034-06:00Out Now: Official PlayStation 4 App<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyaSW4evYKoPe-VgxFOyv-p0lu2wWzWDkzLIlbxhIHyCe4RLKyonrSUdrco1_dSbdAKUOOF3tpIhphFbhBVy7eHVMkr2xJL2gTiiRTeQcwXWYNPxMa4E1Wyhp5d0ZMzcQ9SCalj8exg4kj/s1600/265585-ZZZz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyaSW4evYKoPe-VgxFOyv-p0lu2wWzWDkzLIlbxhIHyCe4RLKyonrSUdrco1_dSbdAKUOOF3tpIhphFbhBVy7eHVMkr2xJL2gTiiRTeQcwXWYNPxMa4E1Wyhp5d0ZMzcQ9SCalj8exg4kj/s640/265585-ZZZz.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The PlayStation 4 app is now live and can be found on Google Play and iTunes.<br />
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The app will allow you to view your trophies, manage your friends list and connect to your upcoming PS4 in a way similar to Smart Glass, but only has an external link to the PSN store. (Marketplace providers would get a cut of profits from in-app purchases that Sony obviously wasn't comfortable with)<br />
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The next-gen is on it's way, guys!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691417514524267296.post-85630231281145814522013-11-12T19:00:00.000-06:002013-11-12T19:00:06.023-06:00FTL Getting Free Expansion; iPad Version<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/79104930" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Oh.. My.. God.. This.is.awesome.</span></div>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">For existing PC, Mac and Linux </span><i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">FTL: Faster Than Light</i><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"> owners, the expansion, </span><i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Advance Edition</i><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">, announced in the video above will be absolutely free. The expansion will feature new content -hacking, a new sector (written by Tom Jubert and Chris Avellone), mind control, weapons and more- and the much requested ability to save and quit mid-battle. And to top it all of, there will be new music from Ben Prunty (Yay!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Then there's the new iPad version of the game, which will support iPad Mini along with second generation and newer of Apple's device. Subset Games would also like to support Android and Surface tablets, but won't be seeking out iterations for phones, as screen space is limited.</span></div>
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All of this set to come to us in early 2014, and I really can't even begin to explain how excited I am. </div>
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By far one of my most played games this year, the game has never once gotten old to me. To say I love this game is a horrid understatement.</div>
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If they bring this to Android and it'll be an instant buy. Just saying, Subset Games. </div>
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I've bought Plants Vs Zombies on pretty much every platform that I own that can play it because I love that game just that much, I'll do this for your game without a first thought, let alone a second.</div>
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Also, another soundtrack please? :D</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0