From the gang at videolamer.
Here’s hoping 2007 bring you awesome video games, the money to buy them with, and the significant other to give you head while you play them (works for boys and girls!).
Rumor Rounds: PSP2 w/ HDD?
This one comes from a recent Samsung convention, revealing some sort of memory unit for the device, either designed for the existing unit or a future revision. Even though it would be awesome to have an HDD, I’m inclined to think that it really won’t save the PSP.
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Technically, the PSP isn’t a bad system. It has all the pieces to make it a great machine, but Sony has done a horrible job making it useful.
First, regarding its multimedia capabilities, you can’t really watch anything unless it’s been properly converted. They gave us the Media Manager (which isn’t free, by the way), and the online community has given us PSP Video 9, the ultimate converter for the PSP. But if you want to watch video on the PSP, you have to learn about it first. → Devil Summoner: Readou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Article
Houston — Wii have a success story
“The Wii is just a gimmick, it’ll never work.”
“Everybody will have forgot about it in two months time.”
Those two statements have been on the tip of my tongue for a long time now, and I’ve been spouting them to anyone who would listen for even longer. In retrospect I probably sounded like a crazed ex-Nintendo employee hell-bent on putting a stop to their massive success, but it seems even my misplaced educated guesses have proven to be slightly awry. And so it is I announce with a mix of self loathing and excitement that I actually do love the Wii.
But then again, what’s not to love? The first day I brought my Wii home, all happy and proud like a cat that just got a pudding of monumental proportions, my whole family had had a crack at it. → Read or die.
Beyond Good and Evil – Slightly less than amazing
Beyond Good and Evil is the poster child for several “Most Underrated Games of All Time” lists. It has a small army of dedicated fans who will just about yell and scream at the unwashed masses who haven’t played it yet. To even consider it as a bad game is an act of treason to every website and hardcore gamer on the ‘net.
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See if you can follow this: She wears green lipstick, a green headband, green jacket, off green pants, and her name is Jade. |
Folks, get the noose ready, because I’m about to go for broke. While I have to blame some of it on the hype that was slathered on it for months on end, Beyond Good and Evil is nevertheless one of the most underwhelming gaming experiences I have ever had. → You do not simply walk into reading more.
Wii Sells Like Wii-Cakes
In little over a month, the Nintendo Wii has sold over 3.19 million units worldwide, according to VG Charts.org. For any console, that is a fantastic number, and Nintendo is deservedly riding on clouds lined with freshly printed Benjamins right now.
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But how could this have happened? I mean, Nintendo is supposed to be dead last in the home console market, right? How can a company become so popular after being the most underrated console maker in the last generation? Am I taking crazy pills or something?
I guess the Wii really is all that and a bag of potato chips. We have reports that moms and sisters have been getting into the action, and people are getting so excited that they’re shattering their TV’s to show how excited they are. → Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing memory cards.
Review – Advent Rising
This is one of those times I’m sorry I listened to the reviews on a game and passed it up. I had been following Advent Rising mostly because its story was written by Orson Scott Card (author of the Ender’s Game series) and it was originally supposed to be an epic, three-part sci-fi adventure. From the screenshots and scraps of gameplay videos I saw, it looked quite promising.
However, upon its release Advent Rising got anywhere from mediocre to downright insulting reviews. Most complained of crippling bugs and game engine problems, making the game virtually unplayable. Others said the story was boring and then made worse by bad voice acting talent. I have no idea what game these people were playing. → Jet fuel can’t melt videolamer.
Review – Final Fantasy XII
Chris says:
I took my time getting through Final Fantasy XII, and I’d like to think my view of it is relatively balanced. I couldn’t shake the feeling that there is both good and bad in several aspects of the game. The good, however, tends to outweigh the bad and this is my favorite Final Fantasy game in several years.
One of the bad parts is the main character, Vaan. He looks like a girl, wears a vest that is cursory at best and, despite being the main character, plays only a minor role in much of the game. His most memorable moment is probably when he is claiming to be somebody else. Thankfully, he is not as whiny as previous Final Fantasy leads have been. → Tony Hawk’s Pro Reader 3
Noob Xbox 360 Impressions
For Xmas, I finally acquired a Microsoft Xbox 360, HDD included. And of course, I got it early in the day and was not able to play it until later that night. After nine nail biting hours without any system, I finally put the 360 through the ropes.
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For a gamer that never really liked where Msoft was heading with the Xbox, I have to say I am enjoying 360 a lot. Maybe a little too much, in fact. The system’s got so much to mess around with that you can get overwhelmed without ever playing any games. I’m somewhat of a tech-savvy individual, so when a system lets you hook up your Media-Center PC and stream video to an HDTV in 1080i, I’m as happy as a toadstool that was just saved by a fat Italian plumber. → Readout 3: Takedown
Best Game Ever – Warcraft III: Defense of the Ancients
It’s hard to classify this review. On the one hand, Defense of the Ancients (DOTA) is a custom map for Warcraft 3 that has been around for four years. WC3 itself has been around for almost five years. This might qualify it as “best game ever” status (and it indeed received this status). The flip side is, DOTA is still actively maintained, has a huge community, and has a number of sponsored leagues, including at various Blizzard events. More bizarrely demonstrating the cult status of DOTA is the work of Swedish DJ Basshunter. Accordingly, given the active maintenance and evolution of the game, it’s hard to give it the necessary dinosaur status a Best Game ever has.
Regardless of what you call it, DOTA has been amusing gamers, including myself, for a very long time. → You’re tearing me apart lamers!
Merry Christmas NiGHTS
NiGHTS into Dreams for the Saturn brings to mind the topic of games as art. Not only because the game has artistic value, though. Fans of the title have been calling for a sequel from the second the original was released. Yuji Naka, the leader of the project, contemplated giving fans what they want but then decided NiGHTS should stand alone.
So what does this have to do with art? Gamers’ have the attitude that games are made for them and developers should value the input of their fans. This works nicely as long as we assume games are merely consumer products. But what if we hold that games are art? Doesn’t that make developers artists? It’s one thing to hope your favorite band makes more music you enjoy, but to demand they output exactly what you want to hear and to feel entitled to this is bizarre. → Read or die.