Saturday, April 27, 2013

Minecraft

So Minecraft... I am still not sure about the Mojang game that came out a couple of years ago. I tried it out back in 2011, when I heard of all the hype about it. Figured I would be hooked one the game instantly, but to talk you the truth... I wasn't. I played it for maybe a week but, kept going back to LittleBigPlanet to unleash my creative juices. Plus, I am not much of a PC gamer. Console all the way baby!

Recently I bought a iPhone 5 and was surfing he web for some good games to get. Came across a review for Minecraft Pocket Edition, and it intrigued me to give it another try. This time I was hooked. Played for over eight hours straight, building a baller two story house with a creepy Evil Dead basement. Any spare time I have, like waiting in line, a bus ride, sitting in the doctor's office about it get a STD check or taking a massive shit, I am mining the fuck out the side of a mountain. Even just walking around destroying zombies and slaughter pigs or sheep is fun.

One thing I have to mention is that I am bad at Minecraft. It took me forever to learn to play it, I still don't know how to farm. My building skill are sub par at best. I have seen some awesome shit from other people online. My creations looks like a three year old threw some Legos together. None the less, I am starting to see what the hype is about. Don't think I will ever get the PC or Xbox version. I know there is more features, but I really like having this little creative sandbox game in my pocket at all times.

Just a few thoughts for anyone looking to get into Minecraft. I suggest giving it a try.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Tiny Tower Review

I had a bitch of a time downloading Tiny Towers, it had nothing to do with the Developers, Nimblebit, or the operating systems. I just lost my iPod cord, and password to my Apple account. After changing my account setting and getting an extra cable from a co-worker, I finally could get my hands on the manager simulation game I have heard so much about. Also being completely a pixelated game is always a plus in my book.

Tiny Tower is a extremely pointless and ridiculously addictive management simulation game developed by Nimblebit. Tiny Tower was first released for Apple's iOS June 23, 2001 and later on Android devices November 16th. The premise of the game is to builds a skyscraper one level at a time. Inside your tower, players can choose to build residential and commercial floors and fill them with "Bitizens". Building up additional stories on top of your tower costs coins and you need to properly manage the businesses and the Bitizens working and living in your tower to gain financial success.

Your tower is highly customizalbe, you can choose between five different business floors; Food, Service, Recreation, Retail, and Creative. Of course you also have to have Residential, Bitizens need somewhere to live. The rest of the customization includes the paint scheme, names of the businesses and paint the residential floors and the clothing of the Bitizens. You control what items are sold in the businesses, responsible for hiring the right Bitizen for the job and keeping the shelves stocked. The more staff the business has, better items can be sold. The better the item, the longer you have to wait to restock, but the stock sells at a better price.

Yes I said "wait" back there. This is still, what I like to call, a "facebook" game. Like FarmVille, you have to wait to do pretty much anything. Unlike other games like FarmVille, Tiny Towers' wait times are a lot shorter and the tower is operational 24/7, even if your device is off. In the beginning things go along quickly but as your tower becomes bigger, things start to cost more and the wait time is longer. If you want, you have the option to buy "Tower Bux" with your credit card. I was drunk last night and bought thirty dollars worth, stupid... You can also get "Tower Bux" by random elevator rides, building another floor or doing missions. This takes forever and buying them lets you play a lot more without waiting around.  The missions are a nice touch. Giving you something to strive for, but they are kind of pointless in the beginning of the game. I still have only completed one. Just don't have the right businesses for them right now.

All in all, this is a great game you can carry around and play for ten minutes, waiting for the bus or standing in line at the D.M.V. The fact that productivity never stop, even when your device is turned off, is crucial in making money for more levels on your tower.  The customization is just amazing. I love the fact that I can call my Tea Shop, The Teabagger and have the Bitizen working dressed as a biker. Just as too bad I can't change his name to Mr. Slave. As mush as I hate ":facebook" type games, the wait times are bearable and there is always something to do, customize, move floors and employees around and check out "Bitbook" and stats. Tiny Tower might not be a game you sit down and play for hours. It's not perfect but it's like smoking cigarettes, it fills the little voids in our daily, mundane lives.

And for that,
I give it a Tiny Eight out of Ten.

           

   

Saturday, January 21, 2012

WTF Final Fantasy?

Really Square Enix...
What's the deal Square Enix? Why have you chosen to make the Final Fantasy series so complicated to follow? From Final Fantasy II up to Final Fantasy VII is a scrambled mess. Okay the original Final Fantasy came out in Japan in my birth year of 1987 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It didn't drop in North America until 1990. Then Final Fantasy II rocked Japan in 1988 but never touched North American soil. In fact this is where the confusion starts, FF-II and Final Fantasy III (1990) never came out in North America. When Final Fantasy IV debuted in 1991 in Japan, we were already way behind. Since neither FF-II and FF-III were never released in North America, Final Fantasy IV was label as Final Fantasy II for us westerns. Confused yet? Well it doesn't stop there.

Final Fantasy V was released in Japan back in 1992 and two years later, 1994, came Final Fantasy VI. I have no fucking clue what happened to Final Fantasy V, but Final Fantasy VI was released here as Final Fantasy III. Now Even I am getting lost,... What Final Fantasy games have I played as a child? I guess the first one, FF-IV and FF-VI. Did we missed out on FF-II, FF-III and FF-V? I feel cheated! Actually I knew nothing about it until a few years ago when I was playing the remake of Final Fantasy IV for Nintendo DS. Considering it was my first time seeing, hearing or thinking about Final Fantasy IV, I was a surprised to see that it was just FF-II! My friend tried to explain how FF-II for Super Nintendo was just basically FF-IV for Super Famicom in Japan.

Once the Sony Playstation came out the Roman Numerals started to make more sense and we quit missing out on games. Final Fantasy VII (1997), FF-VIII (1999), FF-IX (2000), FF-X (2001), FF-XI (2002), FF-XII (2006), FF-XIII (2009) and even FF-XIV (2010) are all in order and are the same both in Japan and North America. The spin-offs though! My holy fucking science there is lots of Final Fantasy games. Then there is the remakes of a new of the new ones like Final Fantasy X-2 and the soon coming Final Fantasy XIII-2. Let's not to forget the spin-offs... the numerous spin-offs. Final Fantasy Tactics, Crystal Chronicles, Kingdom Hearts and the Chocobo Series, just to name a few.

Okay now my head is truly spinning. It might be all the mixed up Roman Numerals and spin-offs, or the mickey of rye I just drank. None the less, the Final Fantasy series is a truly a epic saga and has changed the face of video games forever. Good Luck remembering the order though...  

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Fucking Pawn Shops!!!

I have to quit buying most of my gaming shit from fucking pawn shops. You have to think, someone brought them to the pawn shop for a reason. Sometimes it because they have moved on or upgraded, half the time they sell to pawn shops because it's a piece of shit that barely works. The other day I was shopping around for a external hard-drive but could find one I likes so I figured I could buy a PSP with the extra cash. Of course I went to the pawn shop to see what they had. From what I could remember they had few models of the PSP, earlier ones and newer ones including the PSP GO. Kind of had my heart set on the PSP GO, but they must of sold it.

The whole reason I wanted a Playstation Portable was that I accidentally downloaded a bunch of games for it, thinking they were for the Playstation 3. Since the PSP GO was sold, I bought a PSP-1000. Was pretty stoked got it for pretty cheap. I don't live far from the pawn shop, so it didn't take me long it get home and plug the thing in. Nothing happened... No lights, sounds, or video, just nothing. Within fifteen minutes of buying it I was back at the pawn shop complaining they sold me a bricked PSP. The owner plugged it in with the charger that I bought with it and it powered up right away. For a moment I felt like a fool, I should of tried a few other power outlets before I brought it back. Luckily for me I didn't look like a fool for long, none of the buttons would work.

We tried most of the PSPs that he had in the store and most of them didn't work. He was going on about how people bring them in when they have been having problems with them. Most of them are turned away but sometimes the game works long enough to be bought by the pawn shop. I really didn't care I just wanted a working PSP. Finally he pulled out a newer PSP-3000 from a drawer and tried it out. This one seemed to work perfect. Since I went through all this, he hooked me up with the PSP-3000 with a 2GB Sony Memory Stick Duo for the no extra charge. Also picked up Manhunt 2 for a discounted price.

This made me question buying from pawn shops, but this was a couple of weeks ago. The other night my Nintendo Wii wouldn't turn on at all, I tried unplugging it and tried different outlets but nothing. I bought it from the same pawn shop I got a the PSP from but a few weeks earlier. Everything was working fine with it, never would of thought it would just stop working. Thankfully it started working again this morning and everything seems fine again. Now I am really concerned about buying consoles at pawnshops, you never know what you are getting. I have had better luck with getting consoles from my friends then pawn shops.

Well this is life I guess, I think I would rather buy consoles, CIB, online now. For the games themselves I still will get the majority of them from pawn shops or used video game store. I still haven't bought a game that doesn't work.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Donkey Kong Obsession

Lately I have been obsessed with the classic arcade game from Nintendo, Donkey Kong. Ever since I seen King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters on Netflix, I have been trying my hardest to get my hands on any port of the game. Having a M.A.M.E. original Donkey Kong cabinet would be the best, unfortunately they are rare to come by and are way out of my price range. King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters is a great documentary directed by Seth Gordon, and a must see by any lover of arcade games and classic games. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters is a 2007 American documentary that follows Steve Wiebe as he tries to take the world record high score for the arcade game Donkey Kong from reigning champion and douchebag Billy Mitchell. I was lucky enough to seen it on Netflix, but I recently heard it's not Netflix's catalogue anymore.

The fact that Donkey Kong was around six years before I was born in 1987, I am not too familiar with the game. Not like I knew nothing before I seen King of Kong, there are just some things that every hardcore gamer know. It was the first game to feature two of Nintendo more predominant characters, Mario and Donkey Kong. Some would argue that it also features Princess Peach, but anyone that knows their shit, will tell you her name is Pauline and definitely isn't Peach. Yes that is right! Mario is a two timing fuck. Originally, Mario was called Jumpman and Pauline was just called, Lady. Made apparently clear in A Fistful of Quarters, is that Donkey Kong is notoriously difficult game. Some guy from the movie stated that most people can't play more then a minute and if they can, they rarely make it past the third board.

Guess I should explain the game to those of you that don't know. Even those I am more familiar with Donkey Kong Country then the original Thanks to the powers of the internet, I have gotten a good port of the game and have learned a lot. The game is divided into four different one-screen stages. Each represents 25 meters of the structure Donkey Kong has climbed, one stage being 25 meters higher than the previous. Mario must scale a seven-story construction site made of crooked girders and ladders while jumping over or hammering barrels thrown by Donkey Kong. Mario must also avoid flaming balls, which generate when an oil barrel collides with the oil drum. Players routinely call this screen "Barrels". There is three other screens, "Factory", "Elevators", and "Rivets" that are name after the layout of each screen. These screens combine to form levels, which become progressively tougher. Believe me they do get tougher.

My first experience with classic Kong Kong was for the Intellivision console from Mattel. I found a copy of the game in the original box for really cheap at a local pawn shop. I was a little confused because the box had Nintendo logo across it but was made by Coleco. Still I was excited to play it, but the excitement was short lived. This was the worst port of the game, it looked and played nothing like the NES port or at the arcade. I looked into it and think that Coleco made it shitty on purpose to make their own console, The Colecovision, look better. According to Wikipedia;

"Makers of video game consoles were also interested. Taito offered a considerable sum to buy all rights to Donkey Kong, but Nintendo turned them down. Rivals Coleco and Atari approached Nintendo in Japan and the United States respectively. In the end, Nintendo granted Coleco exclusive console and tabletop rights to Donkey Kong because he felt that "It [was] the hungriest company". In addition, Arakawa felt that as a more established company in the US, Coleco could better handle marketing. In return, Nintendo would receive an undisclosed lump sum plus $1.40 per game cartridge sold and $1 per tabletop unit."

Wish I had this...
Since Donkey Kong for Intellivision suck um... well... Donkey Dick, I was still looking for a good port of Donkey Kong. A co-worker told me about how she had to beat the classic Donkey Kong to get a golden banana in Donkey Kong 64. That's it! I knew I could find a copy of Donkey Kong 64 at my mother's house. I found it and brought it home, but it wouldn't work. Couldn't figure out why. After trying everything to get this damn game working, the answer was right there on the cover-art of the box. Expansion Pack included! The Nintendo 64 is was testing it on didn't have the expansion pack. Two out of three of my Nintendo 64's have them. but of course I was using the one without it.

Been playing Donkey Kong 64 for a couple of nights now before bed, trying to get to the third stage. Somewhere in the third stage you can play a old school arcade machine with Donkey Kong on. You only have to complete the four screens once for the golden banana, and/or twice for the only Nintendo Coin in the game. Before I could get to the third stage, I found a pretty good deal on a Nintendo Wii. It's a brand new red Nintendo Wii with one controller and New Super Mario Bros. Just fucking around in the Wii Store, I stumbled on to Donkey Kong for Nintendo Entertainment System on Wii's Virtual Console. Jackpot, I am pretty sure that this is the closes I am going to get to playing classic arcade style Donkey Kong. I also got Bubble Bobble, Super C and Legend of Zedla. Not too bad for a hundred bucks.

It's RED!!!
Now all of today has been wasted on playing DK, trying for high scores. My Brother and I, have been battling it out for a good eight hours today. I set the bar pretty low around 40,000, then he got 50,000. It stayed at that for quite a while, when I got just over 60,000. I was sure that was where it was going to stay for the rest of the night. Then out of nowhere, my Brother got 60,400! Took me a while to get a good run in, but I busted out a good 70,000 score. By the end of the night my Brother holds the score at 78,200 with me only trailing behind by 200 points.

Oh before I forget I should mention that this version of Donkey Kong only has three screens per level. They excluded the factory screen. I am not sure how many levels are in the game. The highest level we have seen so far is screen one on level five. Arcade Donkey Kong only goes up to the 22nd screen, before the memory runs out. You can play for a few seconds before Mario just ups and dies on you. They call this a Killscreen, I guess it is rare sight to be seen. Not sure this is what happens on NES or not.

According to the Twin Galaxies website, the highest score achieved on the Wii Virtual Console was 1,125,350! With our scores we would get around 20th place. Which isn't too bad but the top five scores are all in the high hundred thousands. Looks like I have some more practising to do...  

     

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Intellivision Might Be One of the Worst Consoles Ever

Last night, I tested out everyone of my Intellivision Games. They all worked, Donkey Kong was the only game to give me trouble. Just needed to be inserted nice and good. After playing all those games, I came to one conclusion... Intellivision is a horrible console.

I may be a little bias, considering I remember playing Space Invaders, Astroids, Pac-Man, and Donkey Kong on Atari 2600. It was just like playing them in the Arcade. They do have most of these games for Intellivision but I haven't played them yet. All I do know is that Donkey Kong is an abomination, personally I believe Coleco sabotage Donkey Kong for Intellivision. They wanted the one for Colecovision to look and play better. The only game I think I could play for more then five minutes would be Skiing. That is some solid alpine racing!

Intellivision debuted in 1979 and was released as a competitor to the Atari 2600. Over 3 million Intellvison consoles were sold before it was discontinued in 1983, with a total of 125 games were released for the console. For the four years the console was out it, received good reviews and in 2009, IGN named the Intellivision the No. 14 greatest video game console of all time. Yet, the controller was ranked the fourth worst video game controller by IGN Editor Craig Harris.

My Intellivision collection might be one of the more complete sets I have seen. All of the games work, and most of the boxes has instructions with controller inlays. The actually game boxes could be in better condition, the cardboard is old and damaged in the seams. Still all and all, pretty fucking good for being from the late Seventies. On ebay and a like, I have seen collections like this go for anywhere from $100 to $500. Still think I would be lucky to get 200, but not too bad for what I paid for it. Still going to be on the look out for other games I don't have.

None of this means I like this system...   

To see pictures related to this article, go to...

Friday, December 16, 2011

Some Pictures of Today's Buys.












Here are a ton of pictures of a good score I got at King of Trade in Lethbridge, Alberta. King of Trade is usually a rip off for older games. They are better for new games, but like any other pawn shop, for older vintage games it's a rip off. It doesn't even have to be a good game. You'll also finded a ton of sport games, shit... mostly sport games actually. The store is fill with them, you have to sift your way through them to find the good games. The store is filled with them because a new one comes out ever year, so every year they becomes obsolete. I still can't believe I got these games.

I picked up Space Armada, Advanced Dungeon and Dragons and the best find of the year... Donkey Kong! All for Intellivision, I have never seen so much Intellivision shit at a pawn shop before. Used to seeing NESs and Super NESs, Sega Genesis and lots of newer systems, never have I seen a Intellivison in the store. The only one there was for sale for a hundred dollars, last time I checked, I could buy one online for twenty bucks. I thought I was getting ripped off when I bought one from my buddy for eighty dollars. It was a bundle, with a system and fourteen game cartridges and boxes. Most of them complete with box, cartridge and controller inlays. I value the collection at one fifty, to two hundred big ones to the right person. I think I got a good deal.

Another sweet score at the pawn shop was that I got some pieces to complete some games. For instance, I got Sonic 2 cartridge for Sega Genesis, where I already had a empty box with instruction manual. Vise versa for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, I needed the box but already had a cartridge and instruction manual. Luckily for me, I bought a Advance Dungeons and Dragons game without the instruction manual, now I have a extra D&D game cartridge. The rest of the games I bought, was because of the memories they held in my childhood.

Me and my Father played Road Rash back in the 90's when I five or six years old. He is really into Motorcycles and I grew up around them my whole life. Strange though was my Dad didn't get into street bikes till recently. WCW/NWO Revenge is one of the best wrestling video games out there. It captures the essence of Professional Wrestling, just mindless entertainment. I remember playing it with my friend G.R., high as a Giraffe's cunt. We would sit in his Mom's basement and play that game for hours, everyday. Fuck, it might have been the game before it, WCW vs NWO, I can't remember... I was high a lot when I was sixteen...     

Monday, December 12, 2011

Tomb Raider is made just for teenage boys to jerk off too...

I have been playing Tomb Raider: Underworld lately, I haven't got too far. No need to. Not a solid game, might be the best looking Tomb Raider game out but feels like a cheap version of Uncharted. The graphic's upgrade is a nice touch, Lara's tits and ass never looked so good. I think is the reason the game got so popular, sex appeal. I have played Tomb Raider: Underworld for Nintendo DS and Playstation 3, it's not a good game that wil keep you playing. I play it when I am bored and don't feel like playing anything else.

I did enjoy the first couple Tomb Raiders, it was new. It was the first of it's kind, well first of it's kind since Pitfall. Plus it had a hot ass heroin to control. Complete with plenty of ass and cleavage shots, which the newest one doesn't miss out on. Tomb Raider was a good game until nerds like me actually got laid. Seeing females on picture and video was good until we have touched and felt the real thing. Sex has been used to sell everything since the dawn of time, so why not video games? It has one of the best target audiences of all markets... Nerds.

Honestly why would a kid be at home playing video games if he could be out chasing tail?
Of course this is a patch...

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Nancy plays games


I have been watching Weeds lately on Netflix, and it's a good fucking show. If you have been living under a rock for the last five years and managed to avoid hearing the slightest fucking thing about this show, I will fill ya in. It's about a sexy, recently widowed, mother of two, who lives in the suburbs. Sounds fucking fantastic, right? Oh wait, I forgot something. She also slings fucking weed!

Yeah it's a good show, but I wouldn't talk about it here if there wasn't something video game related. Nancy Botwin is the name of this super fine widowed hottie, and it seems see has a fancy for video games. It isn't apparent at first, but there are subtle hints here and there. In the first season, Nancy is blatantly using a first edition Nintendo DS. It looks like they tried to pass it as a phone, looked like she was using to text.

Then close to the end of the first season, there is finally an over the shoulder camera view of her using it. It looks like she is playing some sort of RPG. Then sometime in the second season, it comes in from a commercial to a shot of a TV screen. I was expecting one of the kids to be playing the motorcycle game depicted on the screen, but it was Nancy herself.

I find Nancy to be pretty hot and I have developed a little crush on her. She is badass, hot and seems to like video games what more could a guy ask for?    

New Vegas!

Fallout Nude Vegas!
The first new game I bought was Fallout New Vegas, I have planned to get this game since I heard it was coming out. I am a huge fan of the Fallout series from the beginning. I remember how I feel playing Fallout for the first time, almost shock and awe. I haven't seen this type of adult content in a game in all my days. I was pretty young, around 13, when Fallout came out. By today's standards it's not to bad, but it was the first game I felt it was meant for adults.

Fallout New Vegas seems a lot like Fallout 3 at first, but there is a few big differences. I am playing hardcore mode which changes up the gameplay quite a bit. You have to keep in mind of hunger, fatigue and dehydration. This is pretty much the same as radiation levels in the previous game. You health is affected by Hardcore mode as well. Stimpak are not as powerful and take time to heal you, in fact everything takes time, instead if being instant. Crippled limbs, I find are the biggest pain the ass. You can't use stimpaks directly to limbs anymore and have to use a doctors bag (which are expensive) or visit a doctor for 50 caps.

Hardcore mode was pretty difficult at first, trying to use the new survival tricks like hunting and cooking food over a campfire. Just takes time to get used to. Trust me I will take plenty of time to play through this game. I held off on buying this game because I could easily put 200 plus hours on it. I took me close to 65 hours to complete Fallout 3. After completing the main story mission, side missions and DLC, I've been trying to find all collectibles in the game. Still haven't done everything in the game at 120 hours. Fuck, time well wasted, I guess.

Fallout 3 and New Vegas are some of the best RPGs around. If you enjoy, the ability to choose who you save or kill. It's your choice to be good, bad or a little of both. Become a giant beast of a killing machine, or a uber nerd that can control robots or make medicine. No matter what you do, most people's Fallout Experience will be different.

I love this game, it can be a bit boring at times. Missions generally take over an hour to complete, if not longer. Collecting items, bartering and a like also can be a pain. Since you can't carry an infinite amount of shit, you have to make trips back and forth. Clothing and Armour can be amazing cash cows but don't be looking to carry lots of slacks, shit will weigh you down.

Okay, enough ranting. This game won awards for many reason. It might take you a while to get into it, you might want to consider playing Fallout 3or Oblivion first. New Vegas, in my opinion is way better. So do yourself a favour and buy this fucking game.    

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Mad Intellivision Ski Comp!

My buddy Cainer came down to visit his sick father, and of course I am the first to know about it. It is an unfortunate reason to be back in town from the mountains. I am still glad to see him though, I am always there for him, and vise versa. Cainer has been there for me, during almost everything major in my life. From road trips across the country, or bitches accusing me of knocking them up. From the good and the bad, he has always been there for me. That is why I am always there for him.

Cainer has also been my main snowboard companion, I believe I have rode more days with him then anyone else. Another one of our good friends, Saucy, mentioned snowboarding earlier today. We both freaked because it is forbidden to speak of the snow gods before first snowfall of the year. He also mentioned the intellivision I bought.

There is one game I actually like for this old ass machine. That's US Team Skiing. Sort of a good game, the controls are okay and the multiplayer is decent. We had a good few warm up rounds on an easy course, then it was time for the big tourny. You can pick up to four players on any course and go for the best lap time. It is a downhill slalom, and you can still hit the inside of the flags without a time penalty. This attention to detail impressed me for a game that came out in nineteen eighty.

Nice opening screen...
There isn't any real good skiing game out there, and for me to actually enjoy this game, is a feat. I think it's better then Ski Free for windows 95! The only thing Ski Free has over US Team, is the yeta that eats you if you start getting too far down the mountain. Skiing and snowboarding haven't been able to make the video game transition. Shawn Palmer's Pro Boarding, Amp and Stoked were mediocre snowboarding games. Shawn White's Snowboarding blows goat balls, and really there hasn't be a skiing game for a long time.

I always enjoyed skateboarding games, most Tony Hawks earlier games, Thrasher's Skate or Die and EA Skate. I skateboarded for years in my teenage years. The EA  series is a very realistic experience for a skating game, no Tony Hawk fake-ness. I am still waiting for EA to make a snowboarding or skiing game of such calibre. I need something to do when I can't be on the hill...
Fucking Yeti!

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Playing Way Too Much Lately...

I have a bunch of games on the go right now. Over two is going past my comfort level. I just finished Fight Night Champion, and just started inFamous 2 yesterday. I am also playing Pokemon Platinum on the DSi. I bought The Legend if Zedla The Spirit Tracks. Lets not for forget I am playing a lot of other games like Homefront, Call of Duty, DJ Hero 2, and Grand Thief Auto 4 to name a few.

My only thoughts on inFamous 2, for only playing it for a couple of hours, are; Very impressed about the graphics. I wonder how much more they can push the boundaries of the Playstation 3. Two games in a row that impressed me graphic wise (Fight Night Champion is the other). The general gameplay is a little different then the first, in a good way, in my opinion. The environment is very interactive in the opening portion of the game. I am not sure if this is continued through out the entire game, or not. There are huge differences between the infamous 2 and it's predecessor.
Some of the first things you will notice are, most of the characters you remember from the first game are gone. As a added mind fuck, it seems they changed the voice over actors of the main characters from the first inFamous. I swear to fuck, that Cole's voice has become higher and not as deep and batman sounding as before. Oh yes, you go to a new town, set in the American Bayou, with a new rouge government agent. But don't piss your panties yet. Maybe you haven't played inFamous since 2009 and smoked too many bong tokes since then to remember the story and plot. It doesn't really matter, there is a very nice re-cap on the past events in the first game, of course in classic comic book fashion.

There is a few new features I noticed early. When starting up a new game, if you have an existing inFamous save file, it will affect the out come of your starting karma. So if your good in the first game, you will start out a slightly more heroic then just starting out neutral. Vise versa if you have a save file with a evil karma rating. The lay out of the missions are a little different, seeming more linear then the first game. I am also still very early in the game. This could change later. The system of upgrading your powers is quite different as well, and of course there is plenty of new moves and powers to kick some ass with.

There is some sort of online aspect to the game, unfortunately my fucking internet was down because of a massive thunderstorm. It was down for the entire fucking day. None the less to say, I didn't get to experience the online side of the game. Another thing that seemed new to inFamous, is the amount of great cut scenes. There wasn't many cinematics in the first game, but they look and play out great on inFamous 2.

I am pretty stoked to play more of this game.

Nothing like a good ol' face punching...
Beating Fight Night Champion was more of a challenge then I though it would be. I choose a harder difficultly then amateur, considering a have beat the other games in the Fight Night franchise. The last fight was fucking insane, my brother actually, finally beat it for me. That made him cocky because he isn't usually better then me at video games. He also fucked me up every fight last night, but I got the best of him tonight though. I won with a two win lead in a series of fights. Got to love that kid but he always smokes my dry when he is around.

I really liked Fight Night Champion. I am going to do a full review on it right away. It is probably my favourite in the series, the over all experience is amazing. Pretty safe to say it is the best boxing game out and a top contender for best sport fighting game. Again incredible graphics and story, game play is is very smooth and enjoyable to play. Check back in a couple of weeks for a full review.
Look at this bunk shit!
The last thing I want to talk about tonight is Pokemon! I actually love Pokemon, is one of the best RPG games out (that is my opinion). It is high enjoyable to play and it can be customized pretty personally if you want to. I used to be huge into Pokemon. I lost lots of interest since I turned 13 but I still play it once in a while. I just picked up the Pokemon Platinum at the pawn shop and need something good to play on my DSi. I haven't played any of the Pokemon series since Pokemon Yellow, I think.
Graphics have improved a bit....

I only knew the original 151 Pokemon, now there is 649 of them! I am left in the dust in the world of Pokemon, but it's not that important. It's a very easy game to grasp, and can eat up a lot of time. I only feel like I scratched the surface of the game and I have put a solid eight hours in. The graphics are still classic eight-bit, bird's eye view, just like classic Final Fantasy. The graphics are a shit ton better then the original Pokemon games though.

I always have fun playing Pokemon, but I also get stuck for a while. I run through the game too fast and get to a Pokemon battle that I can't handle. At this point I have to go back and slowly level up my Pokemon. This can be a very time consuming and painstakingly slow. There is lots more to do in Pokemon then battling and collecting Pokemon. In this version, you can plant and collect berries, to be sold or used with Pokemon. There are other little things, like items and accessories for your Pokemon. You can fish for Pokemon. Maybe trading and battling Pokemon with your friends sounds a little more fun?
Who said Pokem can't be sexy?

Fuck, who the hell is going to play Pokemon with a twenty four year old? I don't even know anyone that plays a Nintendo DS over the age of 12. I tried WiFi play on Pokemon Platinum, but really couldn't find much match making for battles. It's seems like you have to know a friends battle code or something to battle. Plus you have to know if they are online at the time. No friends list? One thing I hate about Nintendo DS. There is a online market place for trading Pokemon with anyone world wide. I really don't know fuck about anything. I fucked around with it for about ten minutes.

You can google anything....



I think I am going to take a little break from Pokemon and actually try Legend of Zedla Spirit Tracks tonight. Maybe I won't, who knows. It's already getting late and it's going to be a busy day at the restaurant. Fucking Western Music Festival. I hate rich rancher pricks. And I hate working hard for little pay.
                 

Friday, August 5, 2011

Fight Night Champion: Prelude / first thoughts...

Well there is this sort of tradition here at sixteenbit. Well I can't really say, here at sixteenbit. As it is just myself. I usually write most preludes semi drunk and stoned. Anyways I was at my favourite, (sarcasm) pawn shop. I bought four games, for fifty bucks (Canadian), yes the Monopoly, look a like mother fucking money. I bought Madden 07 (PS2), Pokemon Platinum, Zedla Spirit Tracks, both for Nintendo DS. Then I seen Fight Night Champion.
Not so pretty now, city boy...

I am a huge fan of the Fight Night franchise. As is for tradition, I must be a little drunk and stoned to write a prelude. I bought Fight Night Champion today and only played it for a while. As a fan of the entire series, I am very please with what the game was already. I story to this game is amazing. It reminds me of uncharted with the in between cut scenes. I the story and graphics are off the hook.

You even get raped in prison.
As for online I did one match and it felt good, not as laggy as round 4. I was surprised that you could enter tournament for cash prizes. It is just really unbelievable how real everything looked. I was playing through the story mode as my friends watched. Everyone was completely captivated in the story and was blown away from the graphics. At times saying the lighting caused it to look completely real.

It is a very good game and I can't wait to get into it. You'll heard more about it for sure.   

Thursday, August 4, 2011

DJ Hero 2

I want to start this post out with a little background. There is this pawn shop in our little hillbilly town. It opened a few years back, I have pawned a few items there in my day. Mostly my bass but I have also sold them a few video games and movies. Don't judge me, we have all fell on hard time here and there. Anyway, I always thought this pawn shop was a rip off. The only thing I have ever bought from them was the odd Playstation 3 game.

They don't seem to be very knowledgeable about video games, which sometimes works to my advantage. At the same time, it has also worked against me. Well I do go there quite a bit to look around for games. All the systems I have seen there, have been a outrageous rip off. I was going to buy a PSP GO there, but they wouldn't go under 150. I wouldn't pay more then a hundred and twenty for one. Still need to pick up one of those.
Anywhore.... I played DJ hero at my friend's a while back and did enjoy it. I really did want to pick it up. Well low and behold the pawn shop closed it's store in British Columbia and moved everything to this location. I was drawn in to see a table outside the store full of video games along with other merchandise in front of the store. I went inside to look at the better stuff and seen DJ Hero 2 game and controller for a low price of sixty five bucks. Not too bad. Better then buying it at Wal-Mart.

I have pretty much beaten the game on medium difficultly. As a experienced Guitar Hero player, I was familiar with the style of the game. I have been into the DJ, dance scene for the last few years. I dug this game. This is complains thought, a few in fact. First off, if you played a lot of Guitar Hero, you know, if you look at the screen to long. When you look away thing look to be moving upwards. It kinda cool, but I found it to be worse in this game.
Look you can even get a lame carrying case.
Another complain would been that I found the gap between medium and hard difficulties, to be a big jump. I find medium too easy but on hard I can barely finish a song. I am sure with practice... I am sort of getting sick of the "Hero" type games. I really over played guitar hero, it has been a while and it would be nice to play. Besides being pretty awesome at guitar hero, and the drugs, sex and craziness of my Jasper slash Guitar Hero days, it is getting old.

This one is just for fun...
Maybe I am just getting old. My final complain is that the turntable controller hurts my hand. I broke my 4th metacarpal in my hand and it healed wrong. Pushing the blue button and "scratching" really starts to hurt my hand after a while. I can't really play it for long. As being friends with DJs and have been able to try a real turntable, I can say lot of the elements of DJing is in the game.

All in all, I would say if you like this type of music and your a fan of the Guitar hero franchise, I suggest you pick this one up. I am not over pumped about this game but the is decent. I like the multiplayer, quick play and story ("Empire") mode. One thing that really got me down about DJ Hero and the Guitar Hero franchise was the freestyle and customization of the games are lacking. None the less, I am sure you will have fun pretending to be a DJ.