Topics

106

Video Game Chat / Strangest control schemes

« on: May 17, 2007, 12:47:09 PM »

I nominate the upcoming version of Resident Evil 4. The orginial already had a pretty weird one (at first), but the Wii version sounds crazy. Basically, you swing the controller to knife nearby enemies; you just swing it, that's all. You hold down B (the trigger button, usually used for shooting) to draw your gun, and A to shoot. The article I read said nothing about reloading or how the D-Pad will be used. For the events that usually require mashng A (or X on the PS2), you must instead wiggle the controller left and right, which sounds tiring. Of course, it may end up being very easy-to-use, but on paper, at least, it sounds bizarre.

107

Video Game Chat / Anyone ever notice this?

« on: May 05, 2007, 11:47:00 AM »

This may seem like a strange observation, but here goes (note that this only applies, to my knowledge, to PlayStation games). I've noticed that the "cancel" button in the game menues is different; games made in Japan usually use the Circle, or in a few rare cases, the Square button, while games made in America and other English-speaking countries use Triangle. Why is this? It can be a little hard to adjust to when switching from game to game.

108

Site Discussion / The 10,000th Topic!!

« on: April 21, 2007, 06:26:52 PM »

Whoo-hoo! I made the 10,000th topic! I'm surprised that, in roughly ten years, we've made this many topics. It shows three things: 1, that the Internet is big in size, 2, that people like wasting time talking about stuff, and 3, that I will gloat about this forever until someone makes the 20,000th topic. Anyway, here's to 10,000 more topics!

109

Forum Games / Imaginary Topics

« on: April 21, 2007, 06:25:49 PM »

Okay, now that I think of it, this is a dumb idea, but whatever. Think of weird ideas of topics that would (hopefully) never be made, like, say, the Toenails topic. Who knows, maybe they'll become real topics one day?

110

Video Game Chat / Button-Mashery and Analog Stick Rotisserie

« on: April 14, 2007, 03:38:07 PM »

First things first: I know, "rotisserie" is not the right word, "rotation" is, but I wanted something to rhyme with "mashery". Anyway...

If you've played any modern video game, chances are you've encountered a "quick-time event", or something where you mash a button or wiggle/rotate an analog stick in sequence. Shenmue started the trend, but ever since God of War implemented it, most action games have them. From outrunning boulders in Resident Evil 4 to lifting weights in GTA: San Andreas to fixing bikes and punching crotches in Bully, it seems like every game has them. My question is, then: Are they really that necessary? I realize that, to get a challenge out of a certain part in a game, you can't just have it happen in a cutscene, but it seems like developers are relying too much on the formula. Instead of, say, hacking into a computer by matching numbers or something else resembling hacking, instead you have to match some button inputs. And rather than holding down a button to run, you now have to mash it like crazy. It's tiring on thumbs, and potentially damaging to controllers. I'm all for immersion, but I hope future games will implement a more varied version than simply hitting a button over and over again.

111

Video Game Chat / Urban Champion remake

« on: April 01, 2007, 07:22:22 AM »

According to <a href="en.wikipedia.org/April_Fools_Day">this IGN article[/url], Nintendo has announced that it is remaking the highly-acclaimed NES classic Urban Champion as Urban Champion: Xtreme Brawl EX QD, a fighting/party game for the Wii. Although no screenshots have been released, and plot details are scarce (although an interview of the game's director, Yuji Kojiamoto, suggests it will be set in Spain), it has been revealed that unlockables characters include Shen Long, Sonic and Tails. Apparently, gameplay will be a sort of cross between Lumines and SSBM, with an aiming system similar to Splinter Cell. Hopefully, it won't turn out like that Ice Climbers FPS remake.

<a href="en.wiktionary.org/gullible">Here's[/url] Nintendo's official press release.

112

Video Game Chat / Used Games: Bad for the Industry?

« on: March 31, 2007, 12:28:49 PM »

Personally, I say no. Used games have already been sold once new, and so it's not like the game developers and publishers are actually losing anything. The other day, I was at GameStop, and some random jerk saw I was buying a used game that was $50 new. He went up to me and said "Hey, y'know, you're ruining the industry by buying used games." Being the civilized person I am, I suppressed the urge to say "Back off, jerk", and instead replied that the game had already been sold for $50, and I was simply buying it for a reduced price that goes to someone else.
It's not like Ford or Lincoln sees someone buy a used car and says "Dang it, there goes our profits right down the crapper!" They already made a profit, and it's downright greedy for them to feel cheated if they can't make twice as much off a single product. I, for one, don't have $50 to burn on a game I might hate, and so I pay less for a game that's already been sold.
It's a similar deal with downloadable games. I don't want to pay $60 to download some PC game I might be able to get for $50, especially because I have dial-up and it'll take four days to get the thing on my hard drive. Same goes for downloadable mini-games on consoles: I have a PS2 and GameCube, and I have no intention right now of getting a 360 or PS3 (or even Wii), since they all, in some way or another, require getting broadband, which my family simply can't afford right now.
So, in closing, I'd like to see everyone's opinion on this topic. That's why this is a pole, of course.

113

General Chat / Worst ways to die in real life

« on: March 15, 2007, 01:43:41 PM »

Personally, I think getting run over by a golf cart would be a lousy way to die, but not as lousy as being mauled by a kitten. Thoughts?

114

Video Game Chat / The Name Of the Game

« on: March 07, 2007, 10:51:31 AM »

The first thing that you see or hear when you see or hear of a game is the title. Therefore, I think that the title is second only in importance to the cover art, appearance-wise (or maybe it's the other way around). For a game title to be good it must be fairly short, recognizable, and not fatally stupid-sounding. For example, Grand Theft Auto is a great name, for many reasons; chiefly among them is the fact that it tells you what the game's about: stealing cars. Another is Half-Life: it's a scientific term in theretical physics (the decay constant to an atom or something like that), and Godon Freeman is a scientist, but it also (probably) has something to do with the "half life" of the zombies.
But on the other end of the spectrum are crappy names, mostly names made up of random words to sound as generic as possible. Take Alpha Black Zero: Intrepid Protocol and the recent Monster Kingdom Jewel Summoner. Both names give no information on what they're about, except that one is a generic shooter (it has "Alpha" and "Zero" in the title) and the other is a generic RPG (it has "Kingdom" and "Summoner" in the title). Other crappy names include Elemental Gimmick Gear (what exactly is so gimmicky about this...elemental...gear?) and No One Can Stop Mister Domino!, a game famous in the annals (I went through extra effort not to misspell that) of bad-name history.

Oh, and I dare anyone to think of a cooler-sounding name than Far Cry. If you ask for it at a game store, it definately sounds like you're buying a manly shooter and not some generic puzzle game collection or something.

115

General Chat / Zombie Prepairedness

« on: February 23, 2007, 01:32:28 PM »

How prepared are you for a zombie invasion? Think about it: Will you be able to survive a zombie apocalypse based on the materials at hand and/or the locations nearby? I'd say I'm not at all prepared; the only guns in the house are my Nerf weapons, and there are no chainsaws anywhere nearby. That's why I've taken it upon myself to help educate people on the dangers of getting killed to (un)death by zombies with this thread. What with all this global warming and rising costs of bacon fat, you can never be too careful.

116

Not at the Dinner Table / The Argument Topic

« on: February 06, 2007, 09:05:16 PM »

Someone once said, "Debate is the soul of brevity", or something vaguely along those lines. So, in the spirit of whoever said that, I've started this topic. It's simple: Someone makes a statement on something, and then someone else argues with or against that point. It's like a debate club, basically. Things like that Wii's innovativeness and awesomitude or the PS3's terriblicity should be avoided, since they're really too opinionated and done to death.

117

General Chat / The 90's

« on: February 03, 2007, 12:18:09 PM »

Statistics show that a lot of people were alive in the 90's (like, more than a million, at least), which means that a lot of people remember the 90's. I was born in '92, so a lot of 90's pop-culture has been burned into my brain permanantly. It was the decade of true 3D, vastly overpriced fast food, obnoxious marketing campaigns, improved CGI effects in movies, Kevin Smith movies, emerging musical genres, and much more.
In the realm of video games, first-person shooters became a revolutionary genre that few people suspected would become one of the most stale genres ever. Ditto for kart racers and 3D platformers. The PlayStation and Nintendo 64 came out in '95 and '96, respectively, setting a new standard for whatever they set new standards for. CDs were a relatively new concept, just new enough that you were considered an old fogey if you hadn't burned all your game cartridges and cassette tapes in a massive bonfire and replaced them with new, shiny CDs.
The movie industry was alive and well, too, because just about every 90's movie that had computer-generated giant lizards, aliens and/or robots was guaranteed to have a giant, multijillion-dollar marketing campaign that included a deal with Taco bell to sell those cool, $10 cups that every kid ages 5 to 10 wanted but their parents wouldn't let them get because they were just stupid cups and you could get something way better for $10. Also popular were "?vaent?-gaerdé" movies that were five minutes long but were really deep, because they were black and white and explored the deepest outer inner reaches of the human soul.
Music was also popular, and unfortunately, so was alternative rock. The two bands I remember were probably as different as they get, but had one thing in common, which was that you couldn't do anything without hearing them: The Spice Girls, and Rage Against the Machine. The Spice Girls was this annoying all-girl pop group that was notable in that you could never actually listen to their songs, and yet you somehow knew the lyrics to every Spice Girls song there ever was and ever will be. Rage Against the Machine was big because they had a message, which was that the government was evil, man, and because of that, it was totally awesome when, at a concert, they stood there naked while guitar feedback played for half an hour. They also did a song for the Godzilla soundtrack, which was supposed to be really ironic because whatever the song was about was about how movies are government propaganda, man.
Finally, there were Pogs. Pogs were, for about a year, the ultimate thing ever, so ultimate that schools banned them for being so ultimate. And then there was the Pokemon trading card game, which about six people actually knew how to play, but because it was Pokemon, it was the duty of every kid to play it.

So anyway, that's how I remember the 90's to be. For all I know, that could be a completely inaccurate view of it, but I don't care. Anyway, I guess the point of this thread is to share your memories of the 90's. So, yeah.

118

Video Game Chat / Fight the Future

« on: January 03, 2007, 01:50:02 PM »

First things first: 1,000 nerd points to anyone who gets the joke in the title of this thread. But on to a more important matter; I am the proud owner of both a PS2 and GameCube, along with a bunch of old systems. I am beginning to grudgingly admit that both are beginning to wither away (the GameCube much faster, unfortunately), and to keep with the times, I'm gonna have to get a next-gen (or, as it's now called, current-gen) system. I've gotten over the fact that the PS3 and 360 are crazy-expensive, but one thing still bothers me: game formats. And no, I'm not talking about Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD or whatever.

Back in 1995, the PlayStation changed the world, more or less, by being the first hugely popular CD-based console. CDs were easier, cheaper and faster to manufacture, and were less bulky and more standardized than cartridges. I was born in '92, so I grew up with both CDs and cartridges, neither of which I had a preference for. As time went on, I became more partial to those little silvery discs, like pretty much everyone else, and now they're used for pretty much everything. But one thing I'm NOT ready for is downloadable content.

I have two main problems with downloadable content. First of all, this will, and already has, lead to developers shipping mostly incomplete games (i.e., one or two multiplayer maps, no cars in racing games, etc.) for $50 or $60, and then offering the missing stuff for $5 when, back in the day, we would've gotten all that for free (not counting the $30 for the game, of course). Totally optional stuff like the Nights of the Nine and horse armor crap in Oblivion is fine with me, since I'd never download it, but if I bought an FPS with no weapons or a racing game with no cars, I'd feel really ripped off.

The other problem is that, and this might seem absolutely crazy, not all people have Internet connections. Furthermore, not all people have broadband (or Wi-Fi or whatever...I'm not getting into that again) connections, which is neccessary for downloading the content. This means that people out in Hicksville, Kansas could walk home with a $60 game that's missing fundamental content and not be able to play it at all, or at least not with the stuff other people would have.

So, in short, I don't know what to do. No matter what console I get, downloadable content is most likely going to be a neccessity, and I'm not exactly rich. The future of gaming is looking pretty bleak, in my opinion.

119

General Chat / Best. Assignment. Ever

« on: December 20, 2006, 08:50:11 AM »

Fore my school history class, I have what is most likely the best assignment ever assigned, except maybe for a mandatory trip to a kitten factory/arcade on the moon. My job is to think up two scenarios that involve two factions or countries that, while they never met in reality, are somehow involved in a war. Naturally, I chose Ninjas vs. Pirates without even thinking, and then when I had to think of the other scenario, Vikings vs. Samauri.
But here's the catch: I'm not allowed to stick in any extra awesomeness, like dinosaurs or jetpacks or time travel, and I must make it as realistic as possible. As for the NVP scenario, I've so far come up with something where a pirate ship smuggling illegal goods into a port in Japan inadvertantly PO's some ninjas, and they fight. I've got nothin' for the VVS thing.
Anyway, the main purpose of this thread is to brag about how awesome my assignment is.

120

Video Game Chat / Game Ideas

« on: December 11, 2006, 12:09:54 PM »

Have you ever had a really good idea for a game? Almost everyone has. So here's my idea: We think of cool ideas for new games, and then find out some way to pitch them to a game company. Here are my ideas:

Pandemic: There's really no fancy way to put this, so I'll use a comparison: GTA meets The Sims, with zombies (or, at least, zombie-like enemies). It's a first-person survival-horror game that's intended to be as realistic as possible, so you'll have to do things like going to the bathroom, eating, and performing first aid on yourself (fixing broken bones, wrapping up wounds). If you let an injury go untreated for a long time, then the effects will be specific to the injury: broken legs cause limping, and blood loss will cause your character to be less responsive and hallucinate, and eventually die. Holding in your pee for a long time will cause...um, let's say adverse effects.
The idea is that mass riots have broken out due to a viral pandemic that causes the infected to go into fits of homicidal rage for indeterminate periods of time. Being bitten by one doesn't infect you, but that doesn't mean you're safe. The game will be entirely randomized: At the beginning, you may be an employee in a building who has to escape, or perhaps a news reporter, or a security officer or whatnot, each with its own traits. The game is open-ended: players can choose to get a helicopter or boat and escape the city, stay in a building and wait for everything to blow over, or signal for help.
The game will also be very realistic. Vehicles need refueling, characters need to eat, and each day will be exactly 24 hours long (the game will synch up with the system's internal clock), and weather happens, like storms, rain, snow, etc. Although technology restrains will probably have the game set in a city or state, it would be cooler to have the game set in an entire country, or perhaps a few states. Anyway, that's all have in the way of ideas.