| (no subject) |
[Jan. 6th, 2010|09:49 pm] |
Captain's Log:
Where No Man Has Gone Before: Two "guy mysteriously gains god powers and terrorizes the Enterprise" episodes in a row. Mitchell never really seemed evil except for the times he was being attacked. The crew goes to the EDGE OF THE GALAXY and weird things happen. Spock's looking especially green. The female crew members look better in these uniforms than they do in the rest of the show, the pants are better than the barely skirts. ESPers is a pretty funny term. The eyes are terrifying. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Jan. 5th, 2010|11:22 pm] |
|
Played an hour of Bayonetta. It rules. You know what doesn't rule? Load times. God almighty, they're everywhere. I don't think the visual differences between the Xbox and PS3 versions are that big of a deal, but I really wish the PS3 version had an install option. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Jan. 4th, 2010|02:31 pm] |
We're watching the original Star Trek in air-date order. I'm going to post brief thoughts on them all. STAR TREK.
Season 1 Begins.
The Man Trap: Monster design is appropriately hideous. I know that the show aired out of order versus when it was filmed, but starting with a McCoy centered episode, with Kirk and Spock being mostly side characters, seems odd. Neither the scientist nor his wife/monster was very likable from the start, and both were very obviously dangerous. Sulu's garden was great. Sulu is great. The monster is supposed to be docile once it has its fill of salt, but, uh, it certainly seemed to keep killing everyone after being fed.
Charlie X: Feels like a proto-Q. In fact, the episode of Next Gen. with the young blonde Q girl is pretty much the same story as this one, only that girl was positive and lovable and this guy is a monster. Much more interesting episode than The Man Trap. Makes the unknown actually threatening, rather than just goofy. Uhura's singing was a really bad time. Kirk's wrestling outfit revealed more Shatner than I ever needed to see. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Jan. 4th, 2010|09:32 am] |
|
Make sure to log in to the Walrus Forums and vote for Surlaw's guilt/innocence after reading The Trial in HamsterSpeak 33. Also, leave any comments about said trial there. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Jan. 2nd, 2010|04:46 pm] |
|
Issue 33 WILL be up this weekend. Unfortunately, I'm still sick and disoriented and I have bigger things that need to be done. It will be up before Sunday night. I promise! |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Dec. 31st, 2009|01:47 pm] |
I like the idea of Vikings of Midgard being a set of resources for people to use in their own games, but I'm really uncomfortable with my characters basically becoming free for anyone to use as a result of it, even if Fenrir's versions of them are pretty different. They're gorgeous sprites, and I have no problem with specific people asking and then using my dudes in their games, but I don't want them showing up everywhere. There's not really anything I can do here, but I wanted to complain.
People who use Vikings as the base for their game probably don't know who these characters are, and it feels like it would cheapen them.
This came up because Fenrir sent me a sprite pack for HS#33 for people to use in their games, and one of them is a (very well drawn) hero sprite for Surlaw. I'm cutting it out, even though it's good, because of this. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Dec. 30th, 2009|06:26 pm] |
Blaster Master may be the most unfair NES game I've played. The maps are gigantic mazes, hit detection is really poor, you have limited lives and can't gain more, you can't save (even though the game's significantly longer than most NES action/platformers), you lose power-ups when hit, and once lost they become extremely difficult to regain after the halfway point. This game is really fun for the first two worlds, and becomes way too unfair to be enjoyable after that. I don't know why games like Contra and Mega Man are held up as examples of how hard games used to be; both have extremely simple stage layouts, enemies with predictable patterns, and everything works. You never sit there throwing a dozen grenades at an enemy and doing no damage because the center of the grenade has to hit an exact pixel on the enemy to do damage in those games. You do in Blaster Master.
I think this is one of the first Virtual Console games I've bought where nostalgia blinded me to the fact that the game's actually horrible. Playing the first couple stages felt great and brought back a lot of memories, and then it all went stupid. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Dec. 29th, 2009|02:53 pm] |
Posting this here too:
HS#33 check in
I expect this issue to be a bit thin due to the holidays, but if
anyone wants to submit some content by Friday that would rule. A list
of games needing reviews is on the Walrus Forum.
Received:
Shiny but Rusty 2
Gohrillas review
OHR Icons #3
Mr Triangle Flash
Waiting on:
Ask Surlaw (Need responses from Spoonweaver and 8bit)
Cover (Fortis)
48 Hours Contest review blitz (either MBS or me) |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Dec. 28th, 2009|11:42 am] |
Games Post:
Finished the main stages of Boy and His Blob for Wii. The boss fights in this game require you to die too many times to figure out what to do. The first one is the best. I've done a little over half of the bonus stages, taking a break for now. It's not a game you can play for long stretches of time at once, but overall it's better than most Wii games, even if the Blob gets stuck way too often.
Gunstar Heroes: Tons of fun, the enemy designs are great. Game's got a ton of personality. Will need to play co-op. Stupidly easy trophies in the PS3 version, no decent optional challenges offered. Why no "Beat the game in X time" trophy? It's a short game and those are fun to shoot for. Instead, you'll 95% it in one go. I like trophies for adding weird objectives to games, and that's missing here. Timing yourself with a stop watch is not as rewarding, even if I've done it for a couple games (Mario 2, Contra, Super C).
Blaster Master: Being able to suspend the game on the Virtual Console actually makes it playable. How in the hell did this game have no password/save/stage skip system? It's enormous. Having fun, died to the frog monster in world 4 too many times. You should restart from the last door you entered when you get a game over instead of the last world. Replaying the worlds gets very tedious.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories: Two playthroughs done, going to try to get UFO ending next. Probably the best game on the Wii.
Bayonetta: Picking this up next Tuesday. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Dec. 24th, 2009|01:13 pm] |
I've totally fallen behind on this, but if anyone has HamsterSpeak content to send try to remember to send it! Personally, I've done nothing but Ask Surlaw so far. Still waiting on 8bit and Spoonweaver to finish their bits. I don't think I'm going to hear back from Spoonweaver.
Sega's having a sale on their downloadable games/content on Wii and PS3, probably on Xbox too. Picked up Gunstar Heroes on PS3 because it's cheaper than the Wii version ($3 vs. $5 during the sale, and Nintendo's method for buying points is obnoxious). This is one of those popular Genesis games I never got around to playing back in the day. It's pretty fun! I only had ten minutes to play at lunch, but I really enjoyed it. It's a better Contra style game than Contra Rebirth. Also bought the Valkyria Chronicles missions DLC, because $6 seems a lot more reasonable than the $12 the two packs would normally cost together. Didn't buy the Hard Mode DLC because that's dumb and shouldn't cost anything, let alone $3.
Also, I have a new bank card now, and my business with the jerks who scammed me is now over. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Dec. 22nd, 2009|03:47 pm] |
CNN is officially stupid.
"Remember the days when people played video games on huge TVs in their living rooms? That was so 2008. This year, gaming became mobile and social.
Instead of hovering around an Xbox or a Wii, it was cooler this year to plant virtual vegetables in FarmVille or run a mobster empire in Mafia Wars -- two games that run through the social network Facebook.
The iPhone and its cousin, the iPod Touch, also became popular mobile gaming platforms, shaking up the idea that video games must have great graphics and be backed by huge entertainment companies to succeed. Many of the year's popular phone-based games cost less than a buck."
Every sentence has something misleading or factually wrong in it. Spot them! |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Dec. 22nd, 2009|03:23 pm] |
|
Super Street Fighter 4 has been delayed from March to probably summer, to avoid the massive explosion of game releases in mid March. As someone who can't wait for SSF4, and doesn't care about 99% of these other games, I am very displeased by this. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Dec. 22nd, 2009|01:48 pm] |
|
I don't understand what people find appealing about Half-Life's narrative style. I always found it dull, and Gordon being silent felt extremely awkward. You can't make a cinematic adventure game where the lead character can't communicate, it's ridiculous in Zelda, it's ridiculous in Half-Life, and I've never seen an example of it done right. It worked in old 2D games because they didn't look and sound like movies. A game where you build your own character from scratch is better in this regard, because at least in those you generally had a good deal of dialogue trees to follow. Nothing I can do in Half-Life or Zelda can make the characters not be Gordon and Link, so what benefit is there to not allowing them to speak? |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Dec. 22nd, 2009|10:52 am] |
|
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep sounds terrible, Kingdom Hearts is the worst popular game series. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Dec. 22nd, 2009|08:48 am] |
Watchmen: The End is Nigh: Feels like a game written by someone who hasn't read the comic and only casually watched the movie once, maybe. The dialogue ranges from unintentionally hilarious to embarrassing, which is probably appropriate for a brawler, but rather unfortunate given the source material. It's "mature" in the worst of ways; lots of blood where there should be no blood, every other line is an obscenity. It's tolerable because the core beat-em-up gameplay is solid, and fairly fun. The single biggest problem is that every level is exhaustingly long, and some repeat themselves in their entirety before you're done. Part 2 is better than Part 1 in this regard, until the final stage, which goes on forever. There are only three boss fights between the two games, and they're decent, but also too long, aside from the very last fight in Part 2. Think of how Double Dragon would play if every single stage took 45 minutes, and you've got the Watchmen game.
Fun to play through, definitely not worth the asking price to download it. I got a set at Best Buy for $15 or so that included the Director's Cut of the movie on blu-ray and both games, so I feel I got my money's worth, but I believe the games are $15 EACH to download and that's awful. $5 would be appropriate. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Dec. 21st, 2009|09:58 pm] |
There's a trailer up on the Japanese PSN for the 360/PS3 version of No More Heroes.
...It's exactly as ugly and jagged as the Wii version. You've got to be kidding me. The characters' faces look a bit better, but god almighty is this aliasing embarrassing. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Dec. 16th, 2009|02:58 pm] |
http://www.businessinsider.com/21-things-that-became-obsolete-this-decade-2009-12#pdas-1
Things I don't like about this article:
1. "PDAs
Remember that trusty stylus? The once-awesome Palm Pilot had no chance with the advent of the Blackberry, and then, of course, the touch-screen smartphone."
We use devices that look and function similarly all the time. The fact that they're smaller doesn't mean PDAs are obsolete, it means they evolved.
2. "E-mail accounts you have to pay for" I've used the internet since 1994 and never paid for e-mail.
3. "Dial-up" Still used commonly in rural America. Also, cable/broadband is an evolution. The same content is delivered in functionally the same way, the process and speed have just improved. If everyone were using satellite internet for everything, this would be more valid.
4. "Getting film developed Does anyone actually do this anymore?" Yes, judging from CVS/Walgreens/BJs photo bins always being full and disposable cameras still being common and popular.
5. "Movie Rental Stores" Blockbuster killed itself by charging absurd prices to rent movies/games. Netflix does not serve the same purpose as a rental store and does not target the same audience. Rental kiosks in grocery stores are cheap and massively popular.
6. "Maps: No more getting lost on those epic road trips... just punch in your destination into your GPS or smartphone and you're good to go." Even as a GPS owner physical maps are still useful. Also, this article assumes everyone in America has a minimum upper-middle class wealth income.
7. "Newspaper classifieds" Mostly true.
8. "The Landline" True for urban/suburban residential zones, not as true in rural, untrue in business.
9. "Long-Distance Charges" Thankfully true.
10. "Payphones: Obviously. Even homeless people have cell phones now." See #6.
I wanted to do all 21 but I give up.
"Buttons" is the most unforgivable. One specific type of device by specific manufacturers that became popular in the last two years does not make BUTTONS obsolete when 99.99% of all other devices still use them. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Dec. 16th, 2009|01:17 pm] |
|
Anyone including Scribblenauts in a Best Games of 2009 list is either an idiot or didn't play more than the first fifth of the game. It's broken in nearly every way imaginable (controls poorly, objects don't behave as they should, logical solutions rarely work, camera is terrible, stage builder is extremely limited, most puzzles basically repeat after the second world, conditions for completing puzzles are often arbitrary and rules change from stage to stage without reason or notification, developers spent more time incorporating internet memes than making sure the game worked, etc). It's a fun toy for the first world. Once you actually have to solve puzzles, it becomes a horrible chore, completely devoid of joy. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Dec. 14th, 2009|09:43 am] |
|
I can't say enough good about Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. I restarted and answered the psych test questions very differently, and so far the changes to the game have been significant. It's the most adult game I've ever played, and I mean that in the real sense, not in the "blood and boobs everywhere" sense that most people who play video games mean. It's entirely about marriage, children, and loss, and every little detail builds on the themes. No scene is wasted or unnecessary. It's not going to resonate with most people who buy video games, but it's brilliant. |
|
|
| navigation |
| [ |
viewing |
| |
most recent entries |
] |
| [ |
go |
| |
earlier |
] |
| |
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
surlaw's journal