Golden Bird Award: Sony and Media Molecule

I hate doing this, but here we go. Sony and Media Molecule, you guys win my Golden Bird Award for screwing over your devoted fans a second time in a row.

Patrick and I talk about EA

Excerpt from a conversation that Patrick and I had on Facebook:

Patrick: When the heck are we going to see a true sequel to Paradise City? I still pop that in and cause some good ole' mayhem.

Kelly: Never. Criterion is on Need for Speed duty. And making the mediocre franchise pretty awesome now, too. The new Hot Pursuit game had Burnout written all over it.

Patrick: I don't care what they call it, as long as it's open world and gorgeous to look at steel frames crunching under the kinetic energy being unleashed upon it.
     It could be called Dick and Jane go for a Drive. As long as it's more awesome Paradise City. It had the potential to just continue getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Kind of like how Madden has the potential to just have release every three years and sell an updated roster. Oh wait, then they wouldn't be ripping off our customer base.

Kelly: Eh, yeah. That is unlikely. But after seeing Hot Pursuit in action, I may give it a shot. I hate that EA pulled the plug on Burnout and Paradise City, though.

     Not sure how I feel about Need For Speed: The Run though. Why should the series have a narrative with "characters" and a story? Seems stupid.
     EA is probably gonna force Criterion to make their games the way they want Criterion to, then when people say "Hey, these games suck!" they'll pull the plug on Criterion and shut em down.

Patrick: Yay for shutting down creativity!

Kelly: Pft, like EA knows what that is.

Multimedia Solutions

This past Black Friday weekend, my parents expressed interest in purchasing a Xbox 360. They told me that my siblings were regularly using the Wii to play games, so they moved it out into the rec room so the kids could play games and they could have the bigger TV in the living room. The problem is that the Wii is what they use for Netflix streaming.

I became exited, as my parents have generally shunned video games in the past, and saw this as opportunity to introduce my parents to a side of my hobby that the Wii, though I really like it, can't do for them. Then I hit a  brick wall. Microsoft requires a Xbox LIVE Gold Membership to use services such as Netflix and Hulu Plus. I pay for LIVE because I enjoy the full LIVE experience. My parents really just want to watch movies and maybe download Tetris. What they don't want is to pay two different companies to stream movies.

So, I will be writing about the pros and cons of choosing a game console for reasons other than gaming, which one's meet certain needs, and also explore choosing a different device type, such as a web enabled Blu-Ray player instead. I'll pass the reigns off to Kelly for talking about the advantages and disadvantages of choosing a PlayStation 3. Keep in mind that this list is meant more for people who want to stream media to their TV first. Playing games is just icing on the cake.

Patrick and I talk about Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

Excerpt from a conversation that Patrick and I had on facebook:

Patrick: I pre-ordered Halo CE: Anniversary from Amazon... [blahblah about the package being late not important]
 
Kelly: The only reason I can think that you would actually get that is cause your an achievement whore. I mean, the campaign is awful.

I guess you at least have good multiplayer to look forward to. Can you play online?

Patrick: Unfortunately, the multiplayer is Reach's with Halo CE maps (the maps are also available to Reach owners via DLC for $15). I love campaign, despite it's flaws. It brings back memories and gives me a chance to earn achievements for one of my favorite FPSes.
 
Kelly: Wow, you could have saved a ton of money and shelf space and just bought the DLC. I am sorry, the campaign would be the worst thing ever if Halo 2 hadn't happened.

Patrick: Dude, it's fun. I like it. It's not like I spent $60 on a MW2 Map Pack. You like colorful ponies. Shush.
 
Kelly: But the Ponies bring happiness into the world, unlike Halo's campaign, which only brings pain.

Patrick: Halo's campaign brought substance and plot to an otherwise mindless genre.
 
Kelly: Too bad they didn't back that up with a campaign that was fun to play.

Patrick: Go play with your dolls.
 
Kelly: I will. Lalalalala....

Yeah, I'm gonna file that under "Win for Kelly."

Play Games Help Kids - The GENIUS behind this brilliant idea

I've been quiet on this, which is odd, since I came up with the idea. So, let me tell you all about how I came up with this grand event that will help bring joy to children's lives.

Why I haven't written in a while.

Blah blah blah excuses excuses. So I haven't written in a long time and while I don't have any good reasons here's a list of excuses. I made up 10 of them. You be the judge of whether or not any of them are any good.

Getting back into Poke'Mon

Not long after posting the article about falling out with Poke'Mon, I decided to pick up Platinum and give it another shot. I got into it again, but wasn't going nuts like I do in other stat-building games like Disgaea.

Last weekend, I went to Metrocon, the largest anime convention in Florida. There was a panel about Poke'Mon training that I decided to attend to see if I could learn anything.

And now I'm too afraid to play because I think I'll be fanatical...

10 Things Kelly picked up from E3

I hate the video game industry.

This E3 was really kind of depressing. I had a hard time watching some of this stuff (and mostly didn't and chose to just read about it online), but with all the bull crap that goes into these presentations it's just.... it's painful. That is why I let other people watch it so that I can read about it later.

Anyways, here are 10 things I picked up from this years E3:

My falling out with PoKe'Mon

When Patrick and I began Dual Analogs at the start of the year, we talked about doing little joint ventures, be it debates, discussions, or competitions. When PoKe'MoN Black and White came out, Patrick proposed a little contest to see which of us could complete the National 'Dex to quickest. Seems like it would have been a lot of fun, but I had to turn it down. Unfortunately, PoKe'MoN and I have had kind of a falling out recently.

Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood!

What is easily one of my favorite games is in so many ways one of the worst games. The very things that I like about this game are the same things that a lot of people will not like about it.

But if you manage to fit into the niche of gamers that this game is made for, you will love it. Trust me.

Prinny Rights Movement at Shuto-Con - Lansing, MI - March 25th and 26th

I took a long vacation from March 18 - 28 to take a little trip up North. I visited a friend in Pennsylvania, went to Niagara Falls, CA, and then to Lansing, Michigan where I went to an anime convention and visit another friend.

Planning for this trip began almost a year ago last April when I happened to learn about this little start-up convention called Shuto-Con, and they had a very special guest that I could not pass up... Michelle Ruff. She is most notable for her role as the voice of Rukia from Bleach (a show I could care less about), but she also plays a role that is very significant to me... The voice of Demon Lord Master Etna from the video game series Disgaea, who mercilessly enslaves the Prinnies. And I happen to be the founder of the Prinny Rights Movement.

We knew we had to make this trip.

Golden Bird Award: Ubisoft

Ya know what? I am a little mad with a little company called Ubisoft because of a little "timed exclusive" they are running with a little game called "Beyond Good and Evil HD." Then I remembered that I had a place where I could rant like a madman. So conflabit, I am doing it.

So here begins my Golden Bird Awards. If you want to know a Golden Bird is, it's an award that I am going to hand out to companies that can go screw themselves.

Why portable gaming needs to make a serious move towards downloadable games.

I love my pretty packaging, so this is a tough thing for me to say. But if Nintendo and Sony want to keep up with portable gaming, probably the best thing they could do is do away with physical games and go strictly with digital downloads. Some people will throw a fit over this, but in time, they'll get over it. I think, if given a proper chance, we'll find that it is much more cost effective for developers and consumers, and also much more convenient.

Minecraft ate my wife.

Damn you, Minecraft, give me my wife back......!!!

Play. Create. Share. Sony is finally doing something right again.

It's a simple formula that is winning a lot of support for Sony. Microsoft, Nintendo, you guys should really pay attention...

...4-player split screen on a 20 in. standard def. TV used to be awesome.

Gamers these days  are spoiled. Widescreen LCDs larger than 32 in. and they want to hog it all to themselves. Why, back in my day.....

"The Dice Are Trying to Kill Me"

I'm learning that there is a lot of superstition involved in tabletop games. Some players have ritualistic behaviors they use to ensure good dice rolls. I'm not sure if it actually works or not, but I need to figure something out. Most of my die rolls are pretty bad.

Fortunately, the internet is full of good dice rituals that just might help.

Dead Nation

I've been playing quite a bit of this game lately, and for good reason. One, I like twin stick shooters. Two, I like zombies. And three, I really like killing zombies.

Where there is motion gaming, there is useless peripherals.

Playing Wii Sports Tennis feels more realistic with a tennis racket attachment? Have you perhaps tried playing real tennis? The market is flooded with these add-ons for Wiimotes and now the Playstation Move. But Microsoft's Kinect is safe from these useless peripherals, right...?