Saturday, January 17, 2009

Getting games not getting robbed

Ok so what i've found (in Jamaica at least) is that if you don't have some foreign connection where someone goes up and gets your games and so forth, you don't really have much of an option to get your games. Yeh we have stores that sells electronic goodies but sometimes the pricing on em just don't translate very well for what they really cost in the real world.
One example of this is when i went to Innovative in Sovereign and saw a 3 year old game that still cost over five thousand dollars! What the frickin hell is THAT all about?! This isn't that stores only crime as i've seen games in there costing over eight thousand dollars now lets just calculate that shall we in "the real world games cost 60US added tax and it comes to 65US now multiply that by the current rate of exchange and tell me what you get...hrmmm lets seee here....carry the one add the 2 and hrmmmm....5,200Dollars folks!! and your telling me you put a mark up of 3 thousand dollars on it? I know they do it cuz gaming is getting popular and some unknowing jackass will have the money to buy it..BUT COME ON MAN!
The most my conscience is willing to deal with is if i paid and extra say 1500 and no more cuz yes you gotta make your profit and what not but don't carry to the extreme cuz you know some of us don't have the option of getting it any other way. Now with the wave of technology you've now got stores that allow you to use their credit cards to buy what you want at get it here for you at a nominal fee. Like Global and Mailpac but when you really check them out its really not worth it folks... REALLY, I used to deal with them but now i just relegate myself to asking friends or family i know to get my stuff abroad.
Now this is just my personal opinion others who read this can have their own, but remember THIS IS MINE! If you don't like it read another blog...places i avoid whenever i'm considering a game are as follows,
Innovative systems
Watts new
That's about it anywhere else you go the prices are fairly reasonable and these places are:
Computer Royale
KG's
Str8 Games (you can also trade here, that heps in decreasing the cost)

Give you a comparison tale i went to Watts new and saw Eye of Judgement game which came bundled with the Playstation eye camera and the price was $7,800 plus tax. I said to myself "Hrmm maybe cuz its bundled with the camera it costs this much." and i thought it was reasonable. Then i had the HEART-A-CLAPSE when i went to Computer Royale and saw said game for guess how much? $6,500 FLAT!! now do you see the savings and big blousecup difference in the price...yeeeeeeeeah....Wattz New wha dat?!!
Anyway i know gaming is an expensive hobby and i know businesses are trying to capitalize on how big of an industry it is becoming and how popular. Back in the day you'd have never seen electronic stores carrying alot of nintendos, but now all of em have at least one Wii, X-box 360 or PS3 selling. Gaming is getting its much deserved slice of the entertainment pie and i say bring it on, is long time i wanted my hobby justified and stop being called a freak or nerd or geek just because of what i love, now i laugh at those who try to get into it and haven't a clue, ahhhhhh newbies gotta love em. Anyway STORES!! stop taking advantage of the newbies if they had half the gaming sense we veterans did they'd know you're robbing them blind and stop buying from your teifing asses and your stock would pile up on you with no where to store em so u'd end up selling em dirt cheap to get rid of em! Hey that sounds like a plan still....*writing down*
Anyway games are in the mainstream now and i'm happy...veterans educate the newbies and newbies when u see a game costing a certain amount in a store don't just buy it, do ur homework and see how much it costs in the real world then ask yourself is the price justifiable.

Gash out :P

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Little Big Awesome!

Once in awhile there is comes a gaming idea that shapes the destiny of videogames to come after it...God of war with its use of quick time events, super mario brothers for forever setting the standard of a good accessible platformer, Metal Gear Solid for its use of stealth in an action game....and now LIttle big Planet!
This game has come onto the gaming scene with a bang! It has seen what everybody else has offered spun around dropped its pants and pissed on them all for their lack of ingenuity and originality. The game reeks of creativity both from the developers and from you the gamer. From the developers side... for them to give you such robust yet easily accessible tools is amazing to behold, how they came up with it and structured it is a testiment to there super genius. simple menus, easy walkthroughs and simple implementation make this game super easy yet its so super deep! The possibilities are virtually ENDLESS! This is where the creativity of the player comes in, just imagine...ever wanted to create a level but didn't have the proper tools to execute it, well dry those tears of non-production and smile the sweet smile of yes sir game development here i come!
The best part of this planetary experience is getting to share it with friends online and off. 4 people can play a level at the same time and this only adds to the chaos or cooperation in the game either way its still raw fun. The expressions you can get out of your "sackperson" (as their called) is priceless and cute (yeh i said cute!) you'll grow to love em. I urge people to actually sit down and plan out their creations as create genius and respected levels takes dedication. Its not difficult but it goes much smoother if you have a plan about how you want to layout your level. And this only garners more praise from those who will play it in future.
That's another aspect of the Planet is how they connect you to other pplayers and their creations wether it be creations worthy of acclaimed praise or ones worthy of travelling down the porcelain express! You can play levels created by others, searching by rank or most favourited and you can favourite those you like yourself or leave comments. The game thrives on interactivity between the players and the created worlds and rewards you for it by giving trophies for various activities.
No game though is without the occassional hiccups and yes the mighty big planet has a few, some stages are that great with all 4 characters on screen as some will get involuntarily cut off, I've found situations where i had to kill myself in order not to slow down the progress of the others. There is also some lag on the online portion but u can't knock the game for that as many games before it has experienced lag too.
Anyway its a great game and is one that doesn't have to worry about having to provide sequels for a loooooooong time as its community of creators are madly going at it making a plethora of stages to try out like almost 30,000 so far. So go check it out and create till your little big heart is content. The game is awesome!! nuff said.

Gash out :)

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Lost odessey...LOST innovation?

Well i saw some video footage of the Xbox 360's rpg Lost Odessey, which is from the creator of the renowned final fantasy series Hiranobu Sakaguchi. I must say i wasn't impressed...now mind you all i did was watch the videos yes, but just by watching the vids of the gameplay i was bored to tears now i know its rpg an all and turn based fighting is a staple of the genre but come on man!! look how far we've come along....Mass effect, Folklore shit even final fantasy 12 on the PS2 has innovated some change and your telling me the best they could come up with for a 4 disc game(yeh that's right FOUR frickin DVD's) is classic turn based fighting!!? I mean ok maybe i'm being harsh but there are ways to make turn based seem pseudo-action like, look at what FF12 did it was turn based but more action like. I mean seriously random battles!?only one character viewable while traversing!? and your characters display this calm relaxed stance when in battle only taking on a battle pose when its their turn to attack? Geeze man come on do better than that man!! please!!
Anyway i just felt the need to vent that little tidbit there for a sec. Just pisses me off that you have this technology at your feet and you gone back to old school basics for gameplay, so all it is, is basically a pretty old school rpg, which i wasn't really counting on....I mean i'm sure even if they redid FF7 they would implement something new to it cuz they know that times have changed and the same old school stuff kinda deterring people. And if is sales u want to increase or pull more fans to the genre then u gotta innovate and find a way to change up the turn based system.
Anyway i'm done ranting cuz its not like i'm gonna be playing that game anyway, later guys.

Gash out :p

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Uncharted course

Ok so i been through this game and yeh i'm sold, its gorgeous :). Which game am i referring to, well this lil ps3 game called Uncharted: Drake's fortune, the game is fun no doubt. Must admit when i saw first previews of it i was very skeptical and thought it was a bit off in areas. But these guys shut me up when i played the demo. I was so convinced i bought the game and haven't regretted it since.
The game takes the approach of a hollywood blockbuster film like indiana jones meets national treasure or something where it has ur standard action hero lead a love interest and an old father like figure friend. All movie cliche's aside though the game is fun. It takes elements of game mechanics from other games that worked like gears of war type cover system, and tomb raider-esque adventure and puzzle solving don't worry nothin brain numbing the pacing is great in this game. All the while playing it i felt like i was apart of this great popcorn hollywood blockbuster feature film.
You play as Nathan Drake an explorer and treasure hunter on the path to finding the mythical El DORADO and on your journey you have your friend Sullivan and team up with a reporter named Elena. All three are thrown into an epic adventure as they journey through the game to its epic climax. As mentioned before the game takes the gears of war lead in the duck and cover system and allows you to shield youself behind crates, walls...anything that can basically give shelter from the hail of gunfire coming your way. The enemies are relentless, and come at you from all sides you have to be constantly alert as they will do their best to come around from behind or the sides to flank you. They are smart but not THAT smart. They tend to do stupid things at times like when u throw a grenade they'll stand there and go "Holy crap!!" and just look at the grenade till it inevitably explodes...which i guess is more attuned to comedy. The aiming takes awhile to get used to but works ok, it would help if they had a bit of an aiming assist but after playing it a bit i was picking of head shots like nothing so i take it back. Just play it...you'll get the hang of it...I mean we are gamers right ;). The melee system is fun to pull off, when u rush a bad guy the camera zooms in and u go off into this melee sequence where ur button presses HAVE to be precise, takes some time to get it right but once u got the timing it helps when u run out of ammo in a gun fight.
The graphics in the game are beautiful some of the best i've seen so far on the ps3, trust mi, the water effects were amazing!. The in game cinemas are top notch and the voice acting further ads to good production value and you really get a feel for the personality of the characters. The music is also a great compliment it comes in and excites u right on cue and dies out just as well when the action is over and the sounds effects are meaty...bones crunching, gunfire, explosions all sound nice!! There are couple unlockables and behind the game footage that you can unlock as well as a gallery standard unlockable stuff. It also has four difficulty levels easy, normal, hard and crushing i've finished it on all of em and had a blast "crushing" being the most difficult one made me have to really strategize and man did i get pissed at times trust me!! But all in all good fun and no hard core gamer would want to go through any game and not try the hardest difficulty level once :)
My only issues come in terms of some of the platforming as in navigating and stuff but it was minor like it handled the jumps for you like he just lept to the next ledge like a magnet to steel you know. like there was no real indicator that yeh i could miss this(even though you could) but like i said minor...that and the fact that it was over too quick...but i think thats because i couldn't put it down and it was just damn good. Time flies when your having fun they say. What would have been cool was if they had like an online battle area using the game mechanics, i'd have loved to see how that would have played out. Anyway its a great game and a good addition to your Playstation 3 library and a good game to show off the systems potential. A must have in my case, which is why i guess i have it! :D thats it for now take it easy gamers.

Gash out :)

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Call to arms

HOLY FREAKIN CRAP!!! yeh that was ma reaction after going through the heart pounding, adrenaline pushing, mind blowing, eye popping game that is Call of Duty 4. Man this is at the top of my list in terms of next gen shooters for me. Yeh yeh yeh i know i'm gonna hear it from pc people that controllers suck for shooters...but read my lips....I don't give a crap...i don't mind it! plus its all i have now so there :P

Anyway as for the game its just awesome the story takes you through the roles of two military operatives the british SAS agent known as "Soap" and this marine dude called Jackson from the US. You play one side then the next until they both come to a joint operation towards the end and it all ends with a nice cinematic bang! The missions are varied and the stages are beautiful. You'll be storming a Tanker ship on one mission, raiding a television station in the next, to freeing an informant on another, the pace is nice and when the action starts its relentless and you really get the feeling that this is how hectic real war would be. Controls are nice and its considerate of them to have an aim assist for us non mouse and keyboard players. Its nicely balanced to still give you freedom and help in a pinch without feeling like a necessary crutch.

The voice acting, music and graphics help to totally immerse players in the environments and story, all are top notch... you can see that the guys at infinityward take pride in what they do, which is refreshing for us gamers to get games of such polish... being that many publishers see fit to put out mediocre crap at times just for a quick buck(booooooo). The main single player campaign isn't that long bout 10-12 hours at max. But fear not that's not where Call of Duty's strength lies.. but rather its in the multiplayer...and trust me...it is robust, multitude of options make this infinitely re playable. What's worst is while you play online you aquire points and unlock new character classes as well as ways to tweak these options to your playing style....which is super sweet.

Yeh i see now why Call of Duty 4 is the shooter to be reckoned with and a top choice for many players out there. All i gotta say is this, any Jamaicans out there who have a copy of this game send me your sign in names on the Playstation Network so i can add you and we can run some matches Online. My add is Negash79...see yah there!

Gash out :)

Friday, January 11, 2008

The Ninja has left the building

Hey wassup gameheads, late as i am i finally got my hands on Ninja Gaiden Sigma. Man this is one game that doesn't let up. This shit is HAAAAARD!!! and that's only on normal mode. Funny thing though is that once you get used to the mechanics certain things that seemed impossible are extremely doable. This credit goes to the fact that the learning curve is good and the fact that Ryu learns some nifty moves along his quest for vengeance.

Gaiden is the story of Ryu Hayabusa whose village is attacked and the ancient sword the dark dragon is taken and his brethen killed, his village basically gets laid to waste. He gets his ass kicked in the process of trying to save some semblance of what was left. Anyway he regains consciousness and sets out on a quest of vengeance(as noted earlier) to return the dark dragon blade and slice six ways from sunday anybody who gets in his way.

Sigma is a port of the X-box version Ninja Gaiden black but with some extra stuff, along with the fact that it looks soooooo much better due to the rich HD quality. Control is smooth and fluid and in no time you'll have Ryu bouncing off walls and slicing guys heads off. The bosses, though intimidating at first have a general pattern and if studied can be countered and beaten. As the game progresses the fights get crazier the enemies get uglier and bosses get unbelievable, that aside though the game is still fun to play. For casual players i don't recommend jumping into Gaiden unless your ready to handle quite a few game over screens. But for hardcore gamers they will welcome the challenge.

I've played it and beat it on normal and hard and now i'm trying very hard and man am i getting whooped but funny enough i still find myself going back to it. That's the strange thing about gaiden if you love a challenge then you'll keep coming back for more and more. I highly recommend this game to all action junkie's out there, now i hear there's a part 2 exclusively to the x-box 360 and i'm wondering how long it'll take to reach PS3....hrmmmm....guess i'm in for a long ass wait eh? (come ooooon what does exclusive reeeeeeaaally mean these days eh?)

Gash out.

Monday, January 7, 2008

My foray into next gen gaming

Ok, so now i have entered the realm of next gen gaming i been huggin on to ma ps2 for the longest while but i could not hold out any longer and took the plunge and got a PS3 and i haven't regretted it yet. Its amazing what it can do...surf the web, download, chat with other users in your network send messages to other players in your network, which is why i need people in Jamaica(if u have a PS3 of course to send me their USer handle on the Playstation network so i can add yah). That way we can run some GAME! :D

It's connectivity is what boggles me i was looking for almost anything i had with a usb to plug into it and most of them worked except my webcam dunno why but i guess sony's pushing their "EYE" peripheral? Anyway i've downloaded demos and stuff and played them some games where impressive some were mediocre and some were basically the same old gen stuff just cleaner graphics. But i'm guessing the era of next gen gaming is still in its incubation stage and still hasn't fully blossomed yet.

I got assassin's creed with my PS3 and i was impressed by the look and the gameplay one thing stuck out like a sore thumb though. The fact that every mission was always the same steps as the previous in terms of: You reach a town find the highest point scan the city get your objectives, which included pickpocketing, rescuing citizens, and even interrogating. Wash rinse and repeat for every mission...now to me it was cool the first couple a times but come on!!!

There are like 9 missions after the about the fourth you start going okaaaaaay ummm gimmie something else...the only thing that compels you to batter through the rest of it is the story which u wanna see through to the end. That and the fact that free running just plain kicks ass when u know what ur'e doing :D. Then again there's the ending which was an anti-climax for me but you'll see what i'm talking about when u play it. Judge for yourself.

The game has merit but the potential to be something great is so apparent and the lack to utilize it just tugs at my hearstrings. I hope more is done when the sequel comes out. I look forward to more next gen gaming and what it will bring...whether it be more of the same or something groundbreaking. Till next session...keep on gaming.

Gash out :)