When Liberty Goes, So Does Sega

It was a mediocre day for multiple reasons, Sega included.

But first, I would like to briefly mention Thursday's Supreme Court ruling.  Five out of nine Justices have made it mandatory to buy healthcare or else you'll face a fine, something that can be seen as unconstitutional (citizens are forced into commerce).  That's 2700+ more pages of regulations that you must abide by.  It may not seem as "epic" as that Skyrim expansion but just come back in 5-10 years and tell me which one's more important then.

I don't claim to know a lot about politics...it's dirty business no one likes to hear but with big elections coming up soon, let me say this in layman's terms:  Do you like authority?  Do you like being told what you can or cannot do?  Most of us would say "no" because it's common sense and these absurd video game/SOPA bills from recent times are still burned into our memory.  So even if you want nothing to do with politics, would you encourage and/or vote for candidates who will intrude your life with even more of the same?  Who will hire more faceless bureaucrats to regulate everything from businesses to cars, from energy production to food?  Who will pass more and more of these endless laws?  Who will print & spend money on the taxpayer's dime?  Are these guys able to make better decisions than you and I?

NOTE: I'm not suggesting anarchy.  I'm suggesting we follow the US Constitution.  The Founding Fathers listed a bunch of things the government can NOT do--nowadays, our politicians are all about what the government CAN do.  Big difference.

Sorry--I know we all want to fly away to this perfect little blue-sky world where the "worst" thing that happens is Sega releases a bad Sonic game but it gets much heavier than that in real life.  But you know where I'm going with this so I'll stop.

Anyway...there goes Sega of Europe & Australia.  Offices shut down and more jobs lost though their HQ remains intact.  I've been thinking for the last couple of months--"Well, Sega can't get any lower where they are now," and then they fall down another notch and then I really begin to wonder if they'll assume room temperature in the next couple of years.

CUMON SEGA STEP IT UP!!!!!

So Sega is reaffirming their confirmation to focus on four IPs only: Football Manager, Total War, Aliens: Colonial Marines, and Sonic.  Did you ever imagine years ago that Sega would need to rely on the mundane like FOOTBALL MANAGER or ALIENS to survive???  Speaking of which, Aliens is made by Gearbox, an American company out of Plano, Texas so what's Sega involvement outside of publishing, I really don't know.  And where the hell is Yakuza?  Here, read this quote:

"The big IPs are becoming bigger. Whether that's FIFA, Call Of Duty or Assassin's Creed, those titles are just becoming bigger and bigger and it's harder and harder to break into the market with new IP." - Jurgen Post, some Sega dude

Ya wanna talk big government: well, let's talk big video games.  I believed for a long time now that video games are becoming bigger and more popular until it's become this big, bloated abomination and games are deemed "failures" if they sell less than 5+ mil copies.  Take a look at what they're doing with these video game consoles, trying to make too much out of them that it actually hinders playing the game itself.  Sega is too fragile to do things "their way" so you get very little in terms of innovation--the same sterile crap that gets them by and nothing else.  You aren't going to see a plethora of games out like you did back in the Arcade/Genesis/Dreamcast games anymore.  The "Good Old Sega" is NEVER coming back until this current gaming model disintegrates and everyone stops pissing themselves over games with $15 mil+ budgets.  Until then, enjoy the Dreamcast ports released far & between and pretend it's Sega's glory days again.

I can keep kicking Sega while they're down but what's the use.  Sega fans are just used to being sent through the Ass Kicking Machine on a daily basis so we're just numb to it all.  I don't know if actual Sega employees read this but we wish you the best but damn, it's so hard to get optimistic for anything anymore.

BTW, I guess I'll conclude with my job search.  I cannot go into much detail now but we're all looking for job/internships.  I cannot delve into much information right now.  I did the unthinkable and applied to Sumo Digital as a "Gameplay Programmer."  Yes, Sumo Digital in the UK (healthcare for everybody!!).  A reply back two weeks later said I needed more experience which is understandable and at least I'm glad they read my resume.  At least they seemed "okay" with hiring a foreigner.  I'm not surprised but still, what a bummer.  BTW, Sega of Europe also has plenty of job openings, one for "C++ Programmers."  I didn't apply there yet but...so what?  If Sega of Europe was going places, I'd say "yeah" but now, I'm hesitant.  If you live in the UK, have game design experience, and like Sega racers, APPLY TO ONE OF THESE PLACES IMMEDIATELY!!!

Getting experience here in the States is the best option and the best place to do that is at none other than Electronic Arts but that's still a toss-up right now.  Then I have some more leeway on where to go.  It's just strange cause it was only a few years ago, you had dreams of working at the place you love to be doing what you want the most.  Yet here I am and my main focus has shifted from doing what I love to just getting paid.  Cause working at EA or some small-time social game studio isn't my dream but what choice do I have?  Oh, Sega, if you didn't tease me so much, then maybe I could live a NORMAL life and get paid and be happy for once.

Modern Warfare 3 Roast!!!

Hello everyone, I've been home from school for a few days.  And it wasn't my intention to buy MW3 but my brother did so I figured I'd play it for achievements and tell you what I think.  And I have no idea why I'm talking about this but let's get it over with.

The game is mediocre.  Well, it's not bad but having played through everything (besides online MP but come on man, no more of that), I liked Black Ops and even MW2 better.

So where do I begin?  The campaign.  Alright, so you know the story--Europe and the US are attacked by Russia and Price and Soap and Price hunt Makarov.  Okay, so the storyline is over but the most apparent thing is the game seems less appealing than last time.  Let me explain:

The first thing I noticed is that there's way too many city levels.  Because this is "World War 3,"  you get to run through a ravaged New York, London, Paris, Berlin, and Prague.  You think that's enough cities?  These urban levels seem to make up a grand majority of the game and they all tend to look the same after a while...navigating your way through rubble from destroyed buildings.  Personally, I thought the levels from MW2 were cooler, particularly the Airport (the Spec Ops/MP level, I hated No Russian), the downtown area (fighting on top of Nate's), and the neighborhood.  EDIT: Seriously, there's nearby neighborhoods (Covington/Mandeville, LA) that look just like the ones in MW2.  Ha, bunch of rich snobs who don't know how to drive (terrible traffic in that town).

Another thing weird about the game is the weapon selection.  Many classic weapons are back, such as the MP5, AK47, and Barrett 50 cal but they've all received makeovers.  Please bear in mind that the game takes place in 2020, hence making this "Slightly Futuristic Warfare 3."  Most guns are redone for the 21st century and look like airsoft guns painted entirely black, olive, or brown.  Look what they did to the AK47, come on man, where's the wood?  And then you got even more random guns like the "FMG9" and the "PP90M1" as if some dudes decided to mash together a couple of letters & numbers and call it a day.  What happened to the iconic guns like the Famas, AUG, or even the Tar21??  They don't even seem cool/shiny from a Perfect Dark perspective...they're just weird.

WHAT IS THIS???

And what's this--a gun that uses ketchup squirt bottles as magazines.  I buy it.

This gun is from Perfect Dark, a game leagues better than MW3.

 Another weird thing about this game is the graphics.  So I talked about this before--the game runs at 60 FPS but at the cost of using an old graphics engine.  That's fine by me.  But there's some place where the texturing really sucks.  Like in the Berlin level, next to the gutted office building is this destroyed skyscraper with this single black & white texture which is supposed to resembled shattered glass but it really looks horrible when you stop to focus in on it.  Then there's small doodads like books and beer cans that look pixelated and blocky up-close.  So that's lame.  EDIT: Hell, I even feel MW3 in general has more washed-out hues than MW2...It's probably an Infinity Ward (MW2 studio) vs. Sledgehammer (MW3 studio) thing.  I feel more depressed this time around. 

Remember the Spike VGA's and how MW3 won FPS of the Year?  When I think about Battlefield 3, it should've won purely because it's a detailed game built from scratch but MW3 is obviously rehashed.  So Spike TV sucks but you already knew that.

Enough about graphics--there's the storyline.  I'm only two levels left before I complete this campaign on Veteran and it's rigged with many of the same cliches:

* Character gets in a vehicle such as a truck, tank, or helicopter.  Shoot some guys and stuff.  Then, on queue, it crashes and the character is dazed for 15 seconds as he crawls from the wreckage.  In all honesty, this happens at least once per level.  Hell, the character doesn't even need to be riding in a vehicle to become dazed--he falls or gets hurt somehow regardless.  It gets old.

* Run through the shanty town level!  Instead of Brazil from MW2, it's Africa in MW3 (yes that means shooting lots of black people...very politically incorrect game).  Eventually, while fleeing, you fall through the floor and are forced to take an alternative route to regroup with the team.  EDIT: I think this "fall through the floor" gag happened five times in the game--once in India, twice in Africa, once in France (tank falls through parking garage), and once in the final stage (though that one was deliberate since Price broke the glass floor).

* Price and Sandman (your invincible American ally in MW3) run through the level, killing thousands of bad guys while begging you to keep up as you're bleeding to death.  Meanwhile, the rest of the NPCs are as dumb as bricks.

* Breach through the doors, shoot everyone in slow motion.  Usually need to free some hostage in the process.

* Guy gets injured and you have to carry him to the safehouse/chopper.

* Use some support gadget like the Valkyrie rockets or the UGV once for 30 seconds, never to be used again in the entire campaign.

* STEALTH LEVELS!!!  Basically, use silences and knives to take out the guards that wander off from the path.  Either that or just follow Price.  I'm serious--it's predictable just following Price and moving when he tells you to since you know you'll never get caught.  Riveting stuff there, gentlemen.

* EDIT: S***, there's a tank in the way!!!  Grab the Javelin/Stinger/RPG and take down those tanks ASAP!!

* The "prison island" level from MW2 is back.  Break into the prison to gather some VIP/intel and get out.

* Russian bad guys.  Um, the Cold War ended 20 years ago, didn't it?



Call of Duty huh...COLD WAR'S BACK ON!!!

* Underwater sequence where you plant mines & board a ship/submarine.

* Temporary characters that you play as for just one level then are immediately killed when the level is through (see the Russian hijack level).

* THE EPIC CONCLUSION that pits your character and the antagonist in a fight to the death.  The antagonist is about to win but then some other factor comes into play (i.e. your friend distracts him for a second) and then you take him out by mashing some buttons AKA stabbing/strangling/drowning/headshotting him to death.

* "Edgy" cutscene that involves watching some innocent people die a gruesome death.

I thought "No Russian" was horrible, but I laughed at this.  It made no sense.

 

* This isn't a cliche but it's still confusing to me anyway.  So pertaining to the game's plot, we know that Russia officially invaded the US, right?  Then Makarov planted the dirty bombs around Europe, but why was Russia still okay with this (their men just put on the gas masks and were all fine and dandy like that was part of their plan)?  I thought Makarov and Russia were at odds, seeing at he just kidnapped the Russian President and tried to torture him for the nuke codes???  I don't get it.

* Another thing: Didn't anyone think the Russian plane level was ripped right out of Perfect Dark?  No really, you're on a plane with the President (of Russia, same thing) and it's taken over by terrorists. You kill the terrorists, but not before the plane takes a dive into a tundra.  Then you walk around in the winter wonderland and the wrecked fuselage and save the President.  But MW3 doesn't involve aliens or human clones so minus 20 points, Activision.

* Also, the level in Somalia with Price, Soap, and Yuri driving the jeep along the beach...didn't that remind anyone of that beach level from Time Crisis 3?  EDIT: And the helicopter sequence, just like the heli level from Time Crisis 4???

EDIT: It just dawned on me.  Speaking of cliches that is...how come some gadgets were never used in the Campaign or Spec Ops?  How about using throwing knives, claymores, or heartbeat sensors to take out enemies?  Seriously, remember pissing around in Goldeneye N64 with throwing knives (Bunker 2) and mines (Caverns, Facility, you name it)?  I don't think I've ever used those ONCE throughout the entire MW3 campaign.  Also, I think you used the riot shield only once but that was lame.

No really, maybe I'm just QQing but in the end, the Campaign mode is just a test of my patience.  Killing hundreds of nameless Russians so I can move up and "trigger" my teammates to move forwards with the next sequence?  I'm not a big fan of scripted sequences.  On Veteran, it gets worse since you have to play peek-a-boo with the AI since you can get downed quicker than a dime hooker so you have to stay in cover and heal whenever you can.  Why I still continue to play these Call of Duty campaigns on Veteran...for tradition's sake I suppose.

Read a great article that was once posted on Kotaku.  Basically, Call of Duty just holds your hands the whole way.

Do whatever this man says!

Now, what about the REST of the game?  Spec Ops, I don't even give a rat's ass about anymore.  Basically, they took the same stages you ran through in Campaign but added alternative objectives.  Seriously, some levels you're walking "backwards" from the original level, so it's kind of a cheap way to make a stage.  Recycle assets whenever you can, that's the ticket for all you game devs.  We'll notice but will we care?  Not many of us...

But forget about Spec Ops for a second--I'm mostly talking about Survival mode.  It's basically Modern Warfare's response to Zombies and it's not bad.  You're dropped in one of the sixteen multiplayer maps as stronger enemies flood into the level.  You can buy items from boxes & stuff.  While this is a fun diversion, it's not as "creative" as Zombies since all the devs really needed to do was take a multiplayer level and add three item boxes to it.  That's all.  Some levels are more difficult than others but only because the game spawns stronger enemies at an earlier stage.

Since I already got the "Survive to Wave 15 on all Survival maps" achievement, I guess I'll give you a few tips.  Don't buy new weapons--just take the MP5, AK47, ACR (Remington, rofl), or FAD, buy a red dot, and hang on to it until the next weapon appears.  Make it your goal to buy an LMG (I use the PKP Pecheneg cause it has a cool name) with a Red Dot & Grip.  Buy two Sentry Guns and place their backs to the corner so that no one can sneak up on them.

Every 5th round (or close to it), the game will send in choppers and/or Juggernauts.  My advice is, before the round, buy body armor and flashbangs.  Then move the sentry guns inside so the choppers can't destroy them.  Once the round begins, try to kill the regular soldiers & dogs early to get them out of the way.  While inside (to avoid machine gun fire), throw a flashbang on a Juggernaut, run up and shoot him in the face with your LMG.  When he comes to, run away and repeat.  Then shoot the choppter until it dies.  Once I have my two LMGs and sentry guns, I buy riot squads, perk care packages, and air strikes.  And that's about it until the game sends in the whole Chinese army to kill you and that's when I give up (usually around Wave 25 or so).

Really, judging from the way Survival mode went, I'm just not as into this game as I was Black Ops or even MW2.  The guns and the MP maps just seem bland for me.  I never want to talk about this game anymore and if you bought it for your kids for Christmas, then you're just an idiot so go bring it back right now...

REVIEW SCORE: 1*10^-10000 out of 10.  bro I'm so cool for dissing mw3 rofl

So why am I still playing this game despite not liking it?  It's like drugs, man...

EDIT: Just beat the entire MW3 campaign on Veteran.  There were no "impossible" parts so it was quite easy.  I'm thankful since as a busy game designer, I don't have time for frustrating, time-consuming things (I get that in droves from programming alone).  But really, my life suddenly has meaning cause I beat MW3 once and for all.

And I'll leave the wonderful multiplayer rant on this (not my video):

Gun pics from Call of Duty Wiki.

OutRun 2: Bring A Road Map!!

A long time ago, I came up with the idea to take a blank map and mark where the actual OutRun 2 stages are based and connect the lines on the intersections.  As you can see by this, the stages are not based on proximity...so let's see how the map pans out.  Click on the pics to enlarge 'em.

I used the OutRun 2 Wikipedia entry to figure out where all the tracks are located:

OutRun 2

Palm Beach: Monte Carlo, Monaco

Deep Lake: Lake Geneva, Switzerland
Alpine: The Alps (shocker), Switzerland

Castle Wall: Windsor Castle, England
Coniferous Forest: Schwarzwald, Germany
Desert: Great Pyramids at Giza, Egypt

Cloudy Highland: Scottish Highlands
Industrial Complex: Industry in someplace...I presume Berlin since Germany has the highest GDP in Europe
Snowy Mountains: Carpathian Mountains, Romania
Ghost Forest: Transylvania, Romania

Tulip Garden: Somewhere in Holland/The Netherlands
Metropolis: Paris, France
Ancient Ruins: Petra, Jordan
Imperial Avenue: Rome, Italy
Cape Way: Athens, Greece

OutRun 2: Special Tours

Sunny Beach: San Diego, California

Bay Area: San Francisco, California
National Park: Yosemite National Park, California

Waterfall: Niagara Falls, New York/Ontario, Canada
Big Forest: Sequoia Falls, California
Canyon: Grand Canyon, Arizona

Lost City: Machu Picchu, Peru
Casino Town: Las Vegas, Nevada
Ice Scape: Alaskan Pipeline
Jungle: Amazon Rainforest, Brazil

Giant Statues: Easter Island
Legend: Aztec Ruins of Palenque, Mexico
Floral Village: Prince Edward Island, Canada
Milky Way: Cape Canaveral, Florida
Skyscrapers: New York, New York

So as you can see, our suave hero Alberto is able to drive thousands of miles/kilometers (across water if necessary) in a matter of minutes.  He also likes to take the longest possible route through all the stages apparently (opposite of the Traveling Salesman).

BTW, one more thing.  If I screwed up one of the dots, don't you call me an "idiot" or a "retard" or leave some stupid ass comment...  CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM ONLY.

Sega Rally UK Appreciation Hour, F-Zero, Depressing Racing Games

Here's some assorted racing game stories just for you:

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Sega Rally Online Arcade has been out for a couple of days and there's only two reviews I know of: GameSpot (7.0) and Eurogamer (8.0).  There's really no need to criticize these reviews because there's not much to say about such a small game.  Gamespot quotes "The sun is always shining in the world of Sega Rally," which is a good thing since bright, saturated environments is a given in (most) Sega games.  Eurogamer quotes, "After this and the oh-so-excellent OutRun, let's have Daytona Online Arcade, yeah?" so at least it's nice to know there's Daytona fans in higher places.  Overall, main demerits are lack of content and no online ranking systems.

It is weird how Eurogamer is more flattering towards Sega...because most of the Sega racing diehards (I know of anyway) come out of the UK.  Well, their review is good.  I like how the writer has a more personal relationship with Sega Rally outside of the Xbox 360 so that's great to hear.

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Another racing game story that you may have missed--some people at Total Video Games have tracked down ex-Amusement Vision employees at a Mario & Sonic at the London Olympics.  They got one comment out of producer Osamu Ohashi who said, "It might happen, if someone comes up with a brilliant idea that would make both Nintendo and SEGA happy..."

Now saying "might" or "I want to" just doesn't cut the mustard anymore--it really doesn't.  Yu Suzuki might work on Shenmue 3.  Yuji Naka wants to work on Dreamcast 2.  Mark Fisher (of Sega Racing Studio) said "maybe" to a new Daytona game.  Well, better to say that than an outright "no" as to not hurt your fanbase or stick your foot in your mouth should the opposite happen.  So expect ambiguous BS from your devs from now on!!!

But I do think there will be another F-Zero for this new Nintendo "Cafe" console.  And sadly, Sega & Nagoshi-San will put more effort into one of Nintendo's IP's rather than any of Sega's racing IP's.  I hope I'm wrong, but with Nagoshi running around touting that new Binary Domain game, I really question that man's sanity...

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Hey, guess what game's making a comeback?  Carmageddon.  Yeah.  A site will release an announcement on June 1.  The site is hosted by Square-Enix Europe--I mean, really?  SQUARE ENIX???  Wouldn't you like to see THEM make a new Carmageddon game?  Holy crap, that would be the end of racing games, hence the game's title.  So there you go, a new Carmageddon, I'm stoked and you should be, jk rofl.

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Also, please be sure to check out my friend Dave's blog post right here on dark-colored racing games.  He makes a good point that a lot of these racing sims like GRID and DiRT are just trying to depress you with dingy hues.  EDIT: DiRT 3 averages 9.0 on review sites, therefore engraving this idea into devs that crap "realistic" hues are good.  NEWS FLASH: If you're trying to go for "realism," then don't cause real life is "depressing" enough as it is having to get out of bed and get to work in a world full of turmoil and death.  Remember our Kotaku friend Mr. EnigmaNemesis who recently called us "color fanboys?"  Isn't the world a great place to live?  EDIT: DiRT has some color, I know.  Not as much as Sega though.

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One last thing is that I added a "Fan Stuff" label so go looking for fan stuff now!!!

Magical Journeys Throughout Europe Just Got More Difficult

I really have tried to stray from political issues, but if this true, then it is disturbing.

Some people at the European Union are trying to ban gas-powered cars from cities by 2050.  What for?  Cause of climate change???...but Carbon Dioxide only makes up 0.035% (give or take) of the atmosphere and if anything, the earth is getting colder.  Record winters & snowfalls everywhere.  Remember the '70s Time Magazine cover of the coming Ice Age and all the panic these big heads get into over extremes.

And if cars are deadly...well, there's plenty of things that people get killed by, such as planes, knives, peppermints (assuming you choke on 'em), swimming pools, etc.

I also don't even know how this is supposed to work--you can use cars outside of cities but not in them...so if you live in the city, you have to ride a bike over to the parking garage on the outskirts of town then drive away, go to another city, park the car outside that city then walk to the destination?  Makes a whole lotta sense.  Go ahead and ban all cars while you're at it.  Ok, now that is sick.  Please God don't let 'em do that.

I wonder what luxury auto makers like Ferrari, Porsche, and so forth will respond. I love cars, I want to drive cars around, cut this government intervention crap. I hope this is one of those phony baloney stories that is being blown out of proportion.  EDIT: No more cruis'n around OutRun/PGR style.  Whatever happened to letting the private sector determine supply and demand?

I know some of my long-time friends are from the UK.  Stand up for liberty and freedom, people!  If they take away cars, then what else can they take away too?  Maybe fast food, video games, flushable toilets, etc.  For the greater good I guess?  Wow!  We may have bigger problems on our hands than all these stupid depressing video games and Sega's ineptitude after all.

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Oh yeah, two more things.  Afterburner Climax and Crazy Taxi are just 400 MSP on Xbox Live for one week only.  So go go buy it, go go go go go go go go.

Also, WHY ARE THEY MAKING CUSTOM XBOX LIVE AVATAR FIGURES NOW...first Fatheads, now this.  I hate these avatar things now with all the expensive accessories, make em stop...  What a crappy day.