Hello everybody. I've been a fan of Sega Racing games (Daytona USA 1/2, Scud Race, OutRun 1/2, Sega Rally, Crazy Taxi, Virtua Racing, etc.) ever since I first played Daytona USA 2 in the arcade around 2002. I like them and try to promote them as much as I can. Let everyone know about the magic that is Sega Racing Games!!!
If there's one thing to take away from my blogging hiatus. I regret not trimming the fat on my site any sooner. The central focus of the blog should be personal opinions of video games, cars, auto racing, and, to a certain extent, my personal life. Topics like sports and TV have their respective places but not here. Nobody clicks on a link titled "Musings of a Sega Racing Fan" to read about football, primetime television, pop culture, Internet memes, and so forth. Also, less news aggregation and more opinions. Cool, want to learn more about Sega, read SEGAbits or TSSZ News. I can't "out-news" them if I tried (nor do I care to) so I should definitely focus on more essays and treatises. I've definitely improved on that since four years ago but still, several posts with little-to-no context remain.
I've zapped a lot of said pointless posts recently. This includes the three-year old Drew Brees/GameFAQs post that drew the ire of a couple of salty NFL Board posters. The context of my post was, being the young "BS detector" I was, large swaths of the media was dogging on the Saints for stat-padding and because my animosity for GameFAQs was running high back then. Oh, and a few NFL-related anecdotes of my own. Boom, easy blog material for myself in a time where I posted at least one entry a day. Fast forward three years I quickly stopped caring about what dreck was being said about the topic. It was a "useless" post that I had no intention of revisiting again. But alas, a shit storm came out of it. The storm has been quelled (for now) and I don't want to revisit that either and give GameFAQs and the cretins that post there any more attention. However, this was the impetus I needed to actually refurbish the site again. Pick better topics to talk about, update the layout and the personal info, and other stuff that comes to mind in the future. Oh, and finish the Super Sprint game I talked about.
Also one more thing. On the blog posts in the future and the past, it's suffice to say that over four years, my interests, opinions, and worldviews have changed. When I was young and brash, I was an Internet hipster that blasted everything and had quixotic views about the future. Then you get older and the real world materializes itself before you. Getting a job in the game industry is hard. There are some battles you shouldn't fight. You can't always get what you want. And sometimes, the things you want weren't all that great to begin with. As a result, a lot of old posts now look "stupid" in my eyes but hey, that's part of growing up. The word "musings" is in the damn title which basically means nothing here is set in stone. I can still work hard to achieve my original goals but now I'm a little wiser about it. Now that I'm feeling rejuvenated, time to get back to work whenever my procrastination period ends. Later...
At this point some of you may feel like we’ve been working on ‘90s Arcade Racer since the ‘90s. That’s not entirely true, while Antonis and I were indeed playing Scud Race (Super GT in the US) and Daytona USA some 20 years--that was just preparation for the game we’re developing now. Here’s what’s been happening the last couple of months with ‘90s Arcade Racer. Physics, physics and more physics! In the 100+ hours I’ve spent on racetracks combined with the thousands of hours logged playing racing video games, there’s something that feels quite counterintuitive to the genre. You would think super realistic racing games would have super accurate and lifelike physics -- but that doesn't necessarily always make a better product. To really give the sensation of speed, gravity, lateral gravity, as a designer you end up removing many functions that make a vehicle simulation “real”, in the theoretical sense. A driving simulator, more often than not feels like a floaty, unresponsive boat. Part of that is because you can’t feel yourself slinking around a bucket seat, you don’t have the sensation of a vehicle’s weight shift between the four corners; there’s an entirely missing dimension in racing games. Antonis and I are going for a fun and arcade racing feel, we’ve said that from the start. Those two descriptors are equally important to the project. Getting to the balance of an arcade feel while offering a challenging experience and still giving the car some complex real-world behaviors is where our own challenge begins. Once you start playing a racing game, especially an arcade-style one, terminology like camber, caster, differentials, toe, torque and drivetrain are quickly forgotten. Initially I spent a lot of time trying to get an arcade feel out of a real vehicle simulation. After extensive experimentation what Antonis and I found was that it just wasn’t working. In this case it’s much easier to build something from zero and create an experience that perfectly recreates the perception and expectation we all have of a typical arcade racer. Version 2.0 of ‘90s Arcade Racer physics is built within the expressed intention of creating a real arcade racing game. What that means is that the game is really feeling like should. The car reacts in a way that is indicative of an arcade racer, it moves and accelerates properly and now we have a really fun grip and drift mechanic within the game. Although it’s been challenging having to build physics from nothing, this has allowed us to really build the vehicles exactly how we want and how they should feel. I’m pretty confident that we’re very much in the right direction with the physics and you’ll probably agree once you have an opportunity to play it. Antonis, has been doing great work on creating the world of ‘90s Arcade Racer. But I’ll let him do that update.
Recently, I was concerned about the progress that was made towards the car handling in the game. I even sent them a note beforehand asking "are you going to post a new video of the car handling? what's it going to be like?" to which they replied "we're working on it." I get a good vibe from this recent post--that their heart's in the right place and they aren't going to half-ass the most important part of a racing game. Visuals are great and all but if I putter around in a car that feels like something spawned from a Unity tutorial, then the whole thing is for naught!
I bolded part of the post above because it's really damn important. I talked about it before--sense of speed in racing games. Sense of speed is almost incompatible with realism. As long as you're in your living room sitting on a couch, you're not going to get a sense of speed by looking at realistic car physics on screen--the "floaty, unresponsive boat" feeling--unless you're willing to break some rules and go unrealistic in some aspects (i.e. excessive vibration of the suspension at high speeds). I'm glad they recognize this golden rule!
You know, I've programmed vehicle handling over different mediums--Unity, Unreal, and stupid OpenGL car sprites. With Unity and Unreal, you make these "wheel colliders" that you attach to the vehicle and do all the nitty gritty physics work for you--you set the torque, braking, suspension, skidpad, etc. and let the "realistic" car handling take over. Yet I don't think it's possible to recreate a Daytona, Scud Race, or OutRun using built-in tire physics--the power comes from the entire car itself, not the four wheels. Since these are 15-20 year old games, I doubt they were so advanced as to use realistic tire physics anyway.
If you're confused, imagine the car is pushed forward by one big invisible wheel instead of four tiny visible wheels. By not using wheel physics, you're simplifying the vehicle handling but it allows you to precisely program the car handling the way you want, hence giving the car some predictable effects--like being able to slide at a fixed angle or accelerate/steer normally with your tires shredded up from a wreck. In other words, you look at the handling of a 2D game like Super Sprint that technically doesn't "recognize" wheel torque and whatnot--it's just a block sliding on the screen--nowhere in the code does it mention "suspension" or other real-life handling terms. The tire effects are dictated by the car, not the other way around, so when the tires kick up smoke and whatnot, the tires aren't really doing "anything," it's just for show.
I really want to see how they pull it off code-wise because I'm a nerd like that, heh. If Super Sprint has taught me anything, it's that car handling takes a LOT of iteration to get it right--you can't just skimp on it. Sadly, me passing on realistic car handling is why I'm often confused by real-life tuning like in GT and Forza. Oh well, it's a fair trade--would rather make fun racing games than realistic ones! :)
There's still more to do. They really need to implement manual transmission into the game (which I don't doubt they will), plus get some great audio too. I want to hear roaring engines and a kickass soundtrack. Good luck trying to do so without Takenobu Mitsuyoshi or Dennis St. James. If in doubt, then just emulate AC/DC since that's not bad at all. :)
Just an aside while we're on the topic of realistic vs. non-realstic games. I stumbled upon a very interesting Grand Theft Auto 5 GameFAQs topic and read a very intriguing post. Yes, something good that came out of GameFAQs, it's a miracle. But here's a post from NeonYoshi11:
Just played san andreas 3 months ago. It looks like crap.
any game going for "realism" will eventually looks like crap.
This is why Art Style matters more than realism.
This is why Wind Waker still looks better than most games today, even the GC version.
IF you look closely, to disguise the old tech in the PS3/Xbox360 they use art that resembles realistm mixed with cel shading.
So it's got a bit of Street Fighter 4 in it, but in a realistic way, this allows them to improve "graphics" while not taking away performance of the game.
That's dead on. Realism is basically an always-moving bullseye. Even if you hit it, the bullseye keeps moving without you. It's why a lot of games which sell off realistic graphics (Forza, Madden, etc.) often go through numerous iterations and why games like Daytona USA and OutRun 2, while super-old, still stand out and look fun to play. Sadly, I wonder if the gaming gods get the memo since they're fine and dandy with destroying console backwards compatibility and DRMs that shred old games. Just make sure to give your game differentiators so that your game won't become GameStop used game filler ten years down the road. Antonis and The 90's Arcade Racer have a firm understanding of this! Okay, you get the idea, I'm done for now.
Go to GameFAQs and vote for Sega All-Stars Racing, you don't need an account to do so.
This is just the first few minutes of voting...and it looks promising.
I recently saw an Animal Planet special on "Animals of the Arctic." And there were two starving arctic wolves and a huge pack of arctic ox. But they couldn't possibly kill the large oxen so they singled out one of the smaller oxen and took it down ((un)fortunately, the wolves failed since the other oxen came to the victim's aid). It's damn dirty but this is guerilla warfare--you do whatever s*** you can to improve your position. Like spawn killing people in Perfect Dark/Call of Duty/Halo. You go for points whenever you can.
And this GameFAQs poll is that baby ox...go vote for Sonic All-Stars Racing and kick the crap out of the competition. It's not the Spike VGAs (the large ox) so it's doable. I know on GFAQs, sports & racing games not affiliated with any major gaming mascot (I'm talking Mario Kart to the oblivious) usually fail to get any traction there. But regardless, I want Sega All-Stars Racing to whip NFS/Forza's ass somewhere and I don't care if it's low-hanging fruit. Remember, this is the same GameFAQs site that in November, forgot to include Sega All-Stars Racing in the poll, choosing LittleBigPlanet Racing over it so now I'm twice as pissed as before.
A win is a win so GO FOR THE WIN PEOPLE and vote for Sega Racing just to beat the doubters' sorry asses. In this situation, we are the pack of hungry arctic wolves...we are small but can get s*** done. >:)
On the hunt for stupid Internet polls to dominate for false satisfaction of "sticking it to evildoers." EA rings a bell?
Also great supplemental reading on GameFAQs...Top 10 Games for Shenmue Fans. Finally, another Top 10 that doesn't suck. You can't play Shenmue 3 but at least you can play these games. Nice to see Shenmue get some props again.
I don't know how the voting would've gone had it just been racing games (I assume that FIFA voters would've gone for Forza/NFS) but I'll take it. If you look at the total number of votes per poll, the sports/racing one is dead last while the FPS poll was first. You can get an idea of where GFAQs voters' priorities lie:
Clearly gamers are least interested in racers. But what do I care, tonight we celebrate because we finally got one...
Sega All-Stars Racing Transformed = best sports/racing game of 2012 according to GameFAQs!!!
Oh, as if GameFAQs was trying to get the last laugh, they put Sega All-Stars Racing in a "Best of 2012" poll a day after and as luck would have it, apparently sits in dead last at a resounding 2.2% (Borderlands 2 is clear leader with 22.47%). Sure, go ahead and vote for Sega All-Stars Racing but it ain't cracking 3%. This is an example of trying to kill the entire herd of oxen--just give up, that's not our battle to win. Let GameFAQs piss themselves over the same games we've seen before like New Super Mario Bros Wii U.
EDIT AGAIN: I suppose to some it's hypocritical that I make a big deal out of a poll because when my favorite game loses, it's "stupid" or "nobody cares." Right now, it's notsomuch trying to win the favor of the gaming public (do we REALLY care what GameFAQs thinks?) as it is trying to get the games' names out there. Sales of Sega All-Stars Racing Transformed have been underwhelming thus far and the fact that this "underrated little gem" is able to win a poll on these sites is good news. Especially if you consider this silent group of Sega fans out there who helped prop up the game so I can't help but feel a little encouraged by the poll results. That's all.
Hello boys and girls, hope you had a fun Halloween with House of the Dead and lots of candy. I hope and pray everyone is okay with Hurricane Sandy.
Anyway, check this out. Today's GameFAQs poll: Which scheduled November release are you most looking forward to?
Halo 4 -- 23.36%
Paper Mario: Sticker Star -- 12.58%
Call of Duty: Black Ops II -- 12.17%
Persona 4: Golden -- 11.52%
Hitman: Absolution -- 10.71%
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale -- 8.49%
New Super Mario Bros. U -- 6.93%
LEGO The Lord of the Rings -- 5.34%
ZombiU -- 4.04%
Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two -- 1.98%
PlanetSide 2 -- 1.83%
LittleBigPlanet Karting -- 1.04%
For me, it's Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing: Transformed. But wait....it's not on there. But LittleBigPlanet Karting is. What gives? Anyone here enthusiastically waiting for Little Big Planet Karting? Really???
But this isn't to knock LittleBigPlanet since I don't have a bone to pick with that. It's a racing game that's not Need for Speed/Burnout/wreck 'em clone so that's a huge plus. But Sega All-Stars Racing's absence falls in line with this Sega anti-bias that I've mentioned before. That any game Sega puts out is somehow a joke or not to be taken seriously. Like this Sega All-Stars Racing game is "another terrible Sonic sellout game, just a Mario Kart clone, Danica Patrick sucks, herp derp, why bother listing it in the poll." Okay, I am probably making much to do out of nothing (maybe the poll guy just "forgot" about Sega All-Stars Racing) but look--if you're going to stiff Sega in some way, I'm going to call you out on it. Cause if I don't, who will????
And yeah, if Sega All-Stars Racing was in the poll, it would barely scratch 1-2%, I know. But just having the game's name on the poll would make me happy enough.
While we're on GameFAQs polls, I went back one month and looked at the poll for October: Which scheduled October release are you most looking forward to?
Assassin's Creed III -- 27.89% Resident Evil 6 -- 21.32% Pokemon Black/White Version 2 -- 21.01% Dishonored -- 11.21% XCOM: Enemy Unknown -- 5.9% WWE '13 -- 2.97% Ragnarok Odyssey -- 2.8% Forza Horizon -- 1.71% 007 Legends -- 1.59%
Fable: The Journey -- 1.56%
Medal of Honor: Warfighter -- 1.31%
Skylanders Giants -- 0.72%
I notice there is an absence of Need for Speed: Most Wanted - A Criterion Game (no seriously, look at the GameFAQs page, Criterion changed the f***in title at the last minute). Can't say I'm shed any tears over it but it makes Sega All-Stars Racing's absence from the November poll a little more tolerable. Anytime someone "takes down" the competition, I am happy. :D
I see that Forza Horizon and Need for Speed: Most Wanted - A Criterion Game have the same Metacritic average--an 85 out of 100 which is great but not outstanding. In the Fantasy Zone, Sega: All-Stars Racing: Transformed could possibly rank higher than these two ( >= 86 ) but do I think that'll happen? No. They'll probably dump all over the game for the reasons stated earlier. And in theme with the upcoming elections, that is why we need to turn out MORE THAN EVER in defense of Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing: Transformed on November 20th. It is THAT IMPORTANT. I mean, I've denounced "professional" reviews many, many times before, but as long as these dolts continue to piss all over our games for reasons I disagree with, my knee-jerk reaction is to hit them for it.
Which leads to Danica Patrick driving the Sega Sonic the Hedgehog car at Saturday's Nationwide Race at Texas at 7 pm ET. She finished 10th at Saturday's Nationwide race at Kansas (and dropped 14 f-bombs on RaceBuddy) and got in a tiff with Landon Cassill and spun out on Sunday's race and looked like friggin idiot on TV. Well I am SCARED now for Danica and Sega. Because if Danica f***s this up, then it WILL NOT help our cause any. I'll be tracking Danica this Friday & Saturday in anxious anticipation on how she treats the Sonic car. I mean, I know Danica doesn't give two s***s about Sega, she's overrated, she's in lousy GoDaddy ads, and she had a bad temper, but FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DANICA, YOU HAVE TO WIN THIS FOR US!!!! YOU ARE SEGA'S LAST HOPE!!!!
Seriously, if Danica somehow wins (or at least passes Joey Logano in the stupid ass Forza Horizon/Need for Speed: Most Wanted - A Criterion Game car) then I will flip my s***, throw a damn party, buy a copy of of Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing: Transformed for every platform as well as this $320 1/24 scale diecast car. Though I am only buying the stuff if Danica actually wins, she's gotta be So Good It Takes AGES for me to actually spend money:
Danica...IT CAN BE DONE!!!
EDIT, check this out:
Here's another new trailer. Also, I would like to say this. For the last time, people, if I have to hear one more complaint about this game over Sonic the Hedgehog, I'm going to puke. This isn't a Sonic game, this is a SEGA RACING GAME and that's why I'm 100% behind it. So enough of this "sonic this, sonic that," play the game to GO RACING, BOOGITY BOOGITY BOOGITY!!!
I feel dejected right now. One of my good friends who runs the Shenmue Stare site called it quits. Seems like Sega fans are just losing it as am I. So here comes the rant.
One thing we can all agree on right now is that Sega has some problems of certain levels of severity. I mock Sega. I pick at them a lot because I love their racing games and they haven't returned to their prime. But at someone who has some knowledge of Sega (i.e. the immense amount of money they lost) it's somewhat understandable. Yet to others, picking on Sega is usually for s***s and giggles by the media. Here's a choice quote from the infamous Shenmue Dojo post pertaining to Sega & Hajime Satomi of the Yakuza:
SEGA is also the victim of general bias and hate from both the gaming 'media' and 'gamers' in general; both of whom are indoctrinated to believe Nintendo is the be-all and end-all of gaming creativity when in truth Mityamoto's creative output is dwarfed by one SEGA development studio and slaughtered by Yu Suzuki alone. When companies such as RARE and UbiSoft are sold or sell-out, these typical sheep are up in arms. When SEGA was literally raped, butchered and murdered slowly by Sammy, nary a word from the press or the 'gaming' community.....
Exactly my point. The thing is I'm afraid that lots of people are just ignorant of Sega as a whole. Sega was this "great empire," now they are to be mocked and ridiculed on seldom occasions when someone on sites like Kotaku, Joystiq, or Reddit references Sega in some way. But let's be clear, no matter how pessimistic I seem, Sega isn't doing TOO bad. Here's a list of things they're doing well. They're making money again. They aren't abusing Sonic as much. They released ports of Daytona USA, OutRun 2, Sega Rally, other Dreamcast games so I can't totally hate on the guy. Seriously, read the LEAVE SEGA ALONE! post from last year. But others who have no emotional investment in Sega, they couldn't care less.
Quick--here's a pop quiz. Answer these questions in a minute and don't look up the answers:
1. Name four Sega consoles. 2. Name two important Sega people. 3. Name five franchises originated by Sega.
They couldn't do it. They'd spit out the usual talking points, "Sega, hmm....they made the Genesis but the SNES was better, they made the Dreamcast which failed, they made Sonic the Hedgehog which they ruined....and oh, they made BAYONETTA! (not made by Sega, made by Platinum Games with some involvement on Sega's part) Other than that, I know nothing." And these are the same people who gush all over Nintendo, all over Blizzard, all over Bethesda, all over Rockstar, all over Valve, all over other "visionaries" like Cliff Bleszinski and Notch but when it comes to Yu Suzuki or Yuji Naka, they draw a blank. Can't stand it.
Okay, disclaimer time: I'm not saying EVERY GAMER thinks this way. But I have a hunch that too many DO think that way since whenever I seldom hear about Sega, it's always in a negative light. You don't necessarily have to be a "Sega fan" to criticize them too. Take Electronic Arts--we all beat up on them but they're front & center on the stage all the time so there's no excuse not to know about their antics. But here's some anti-Sega media:
Speaking of Sega's age, they're practically on par with Nintendo. FIRST RECOGNIZABLE GAMES: Nintendo's Donkey Kong = 1981. Sega's Monaco GP = 1980. CONSOLES: Sega Master System = 1985. Nintendo Entertainment System = 1985. Though technically, there's the Famicom which came out in 1983. But anyway, I'm just trying to get this whole "Nintendo came first" baloney out of the way now. Also, Sega was kicking ass in arcades during the 80's/90's yet Nintendo wasn't. But since consoles are the only thing that mattered, Nintendo gets praised while Sega gets dumped on. Arcade success means nothing to these people.
I realize Sega got what's coming to them when they trampled the Sonic series, but it's turned around and, all petty complaints aside, isn't as terrible as it once was. So if the media could stop running with the mantra "I can't play Sanic gaemz cause they r so bad and made for furries and kids with autism" then maybe I won't get so irate whenever I read a Sonic story on these "neutral" game sites.
Wait, what--there's Harrison Ford with a Master System. And nobody wants to play with him. Speaking of which, I wonder where this NES bias came from. I don't think I was ever shown a Master System. Not that the NES is bad (it has uh...Mario and Zelda!) but come on--it can't be as bad as gamers portray it (by completely ignoring it altogether)?
The "news" sites like Kotaku are just bad. Whenever you do hear something about Sega, it's a gag story. Like "Sega's brown man (Nagoshi) interviews porn stars (for Yakuza)" or "Here's a screencap of old Sonic telling young Sonic 'Your future's gonna be great!' " or "WTF is wrong with Sega making a Mario & Sonic Olympics Game?" I only glaze over that site's stories just to check in on what's the news with gaming in general but other than that, this site sucks. Speaking of sucking, I've noticed Kotaku has the tendency to post news/videos/pictures seen off of Reddit Gaming a day later. Lazy reporters have nothing good to say.
Speaking of Reddit Gaming. I've browsed that website for a good three months thus far and I'm tired of it. Most of the posts are innocuous (funny screenshots & other stuff) but Good Lord, I'd be lying if I didn't say it was the Valve Show over there. Don't get me wrong--Valve is a great company, all their games are top-notch, they give you the tools & source code to make your own mods (look at my CS 1.6 maps), Gabe Newell is a pretty good billionaire who doesn't afraid of anything, but is this company the ONLY game dev they focus on? Same group think--WHERE'S HALF LIFE 3??? GABEN, PORTAL, CAVE JOHNSON, WILL HALF-LIFE 3 EVER BE RELEASED??? EDIT: This is the top Reddit Gaming post of 9/3/12:
As an aside, I'll go ahead and say this now. Disregarding the fact I think Half-Life 2 is good but overrated (another linear single-player FPS but your character can't talk, how clever), Half-Life 3 is inevitable. Valve is a very successful company. Gabe Newell is a billionaire who is always in touch with fans. There's at least 100 million Half-Life fans out there. There WILL BE A Half-Life 3. On the other hand, try saying that about Shenmue 3. Or Daytona USA 3. Or even Sonic Adventure 3. NO SHOT. Sega is nowhere near as good as Valve is and all of their talent has basically packed their bags & left. EDIT: And any "diehard" Sega fans are so far & few between that you seldom hear them among the vast "ocean" of the Internet.
Speaking of Sega, Reddit Gaming couldn't give two s***s about Sega. No surprise. The only Sega-related story that makes the front page of Reddit Gaming is another repost of the "Genesis Tower."
And one more thing--this is about GameFAQs. I still do my damnest to stay off that lousy-ass website. But you remember a while back how GameFAQs would run all those Top 10 lists and Contests to decide what the best games ever made are? I'm dead serious--if I go to this website and am told ONE MORE TIME about how great Mario, Zelda, Pokemon, Halo, Starcraft, Grand Theft Auto, Final Fantasy, Portal are and how they're so much better than all other games, I'm going to punch a baby. The same people who circlejerk their mainstream games on these websites, such as GameFAQs or Reddit, who try to lecture me on the same groupthink crap are going to make me snap.
It's just sad because the only truly apparent group of Sega fans are...Sonic fans. And they're the ones who get raked over coals--for bickering amongst each over about what Sonic games are good or not (Sonic 3, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic CD, etc.), for being "furries," for spamming the message boards asking whether or not miscellaneous characters will be in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing (omg, can we get Blaze the Cat DLC????), thereby obfuscating the point of the game which is to be about GOOD, SOLID RACING as opposed to a bunch of Sonic characters. Really now, I like Sonic but seeing as the company now lives or dies by it gives the haters a bunch of ammo.
And then there's other gamers. We're at school and we're talking about what game companies we want to work. Here's what happens:
Other Guy: "Where do you want to work?"
Me: "I want to work for Sega."
Other Guy: "Sega is a s***hole." (he's probably right)
Later that day, the same conversation occurs with another guy:
Another Guy: "Where do you want to go?"
Me: "I want to work for Sega."
Another Guy: "Wait, Sega is still around?????"
Case in point, no one knows s*** about Sega. The hard work done by Yuji Naka, Yu Suzuki, and others will be washed away by a clusterf*** of Zelda, Mass Effect, Call of Duty, Halo, Need for Speed, and Grand Theft Auto games. Because we all know that those were the truly "innovative" games of our time while Sega.....pssh, they sucked, no one cares.
One more thing, there's this which was great because it paints Sega in a positive light and it actually made the non-Sega blogs like Kotaku:
And there's always some smart-aleck who chimes in, "A Shenmue 3 wouldn't work in today's age." Which is probably true. I mean, the expectation people have for free-roam story-based games like these is too much. Where are the weapons, why can't I blow up hookers, why can't you run over people in the forklift, why does this game have QTE's (Shenmue invented them but now every other game has incorporated them, running this type of gameplay into the ground). Yet at the same time, these people don't want their Zelda/WoW/Half-Life/etc games to change--it's Shenmue that has to. Zelda never ages, Mario never ages, Final Fantasy never ages, Street Fighter never ages, but Shenmue does therefore it's overrated. Makes a whole lotta sense.
Seriously, I did not intend for this to be a "fanboy" post but for God's sake, if you're going to launch salvos again at Sega (like every other gamer has, regardless of whether they care about Sega's well being) then cut us some damn slack since dealing with this company is a roller-coaster ride and there's been some effort recently for Sega to make a comeback. I felt this post needed to be made cause I'm getting pissed off about this every day. Until then, here's hopes for blue skies...someday.
Adorable picture. The irony is the PS3's older brother (the PS2) killed the Dreamcast. How does it feel to be related to a killer?
You know guys, I'm at home with my family. I'm feeling pretty good right now. Super Sprint online is coming along nicely though I still got a lot of work to do. So I guess that's why I don't have a lot to say for now.
I want to make this brief about Sonic & Sega Racing 2. It's good we got gobs of info on the game so quickly. Nice to see the fanbase (albeit, a small one) hyped up about it. I suggest, against all disdain I have against GameFAQs, to visit the Xbox 360 and PS3 boards and post, post, post. EDIT: Actually, no, there's too many typical GFAQs trolls, just don't go there, it's radioactive. Though most of the current hype is directed towards Skies of Arcadia hype which really isn't my forte so I'm gonna pass. Though there's some beautiful course artwork worth checking out.
Also kind of miffed that every time I view Reddit GamingEDIT: including Reddit Gamernews (I also love the rage comics), you see jack about anything Sega related...except for maybe Sonic. They're obsessed with Half-Life 3, Skyrim, and Mass Effect (as is basically every other gamer I know IRL) so what else is new. At least Kotaku & Joystiq will occasionally talk about Sega. Man, if it weren't for hideouts like the OOA GameFAQs board or the Supermodel 3 forum to get my Sega fix, I think I'd snap and punch a baby.
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But heck, that's not the point right now. About a day or two after Sonic & Sega Racing 2's announcement, guess what comes up...the announcement for Black Ops 2. The dam exploded and thus the gaming world's next big thing is upon us. If you really want to learn more about the game, check out the Giant Bomb article. Basically, it's 2025 and it's human versus robots. The game'll also have a branching single-player which sounds a heck of a lot better than Modern Warfare's crap campaigns. And it'll have more multiplayer options, horses, slightly better graphics while maintaining 60 fps, yada yada yada.
Frankly, as far as I'm concerned, I barely acknowledge Modern Warfare 3's existence at this point. I just jumped from Black Ops 1 to 2. Modern Warfare 3 was lousy and unmemorable to me (IN MY OPINION GUYS) -- it's only purpose was to conclude the storyline with Soap & Captain Price as well as the new Survivor mode.
But about Black Ops 2. I'm seeing so many ads and promos for this game which seems unprecedented in my lifetime. So many ads for a game that's coming out in SIX MONTHS. Clearly, Treyarch & Activision are looking to crack the 10 mil copies sold mark again, maybe 20 mil! And this is where I get scared. This isn't just a triple-A title--this is a quadruple-A title. I'm terrified that that these big, bloated run-of-the-mill mass marketed games with hundreds, maybe thousands of employees will take over. How many game designers does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Well, thousands I guess, assuming it's a damn polished lightbulb that costs $25 mil to make.
EDIT: Was scanning through TV stations when I saw the Black Ops 2 trailer on E! News, a show about movies, TV, celebrities, music, etc. You're kidding me, right? The line between video games and movies is being blurred more and more each day.
And Call of Duty has basically divided the entire gaming culture--you either like it or despise it. I think Call of Duty is good (but not great) fun but I can't take the massive amount of weight that boggs down on the game. Despite my interest in Black Ops 1 (hell, I'm 15th prestige and it makes me ill), I can't see myself getting hyped for Black Ops 2 at all. Maybe if it continues the zombie storyline but other than that, forget about it. I'm starting to err in favor of smaller games that feels specifically tailored to me. One can wish...
Seriously, I can't be arsed into commenting about Call of Duty anymore. Everyone gets their own personal victory out of ripping it a new one even though it doesn't mean jack s*** in the big picture. Game'll still sell billions of copies and permeate the culture. Watch as Activision laughs their way to the bank. If you don't want to play the game, just ignore it and live well since that is the best "revenge." Oh well, tell me about Burnout, Split/Second, EA, GameFAQs...I can't help but to talk trash--it's in my DNA.
Now, about GameFAQs again. This site sucks but on occasion, it does one or two things right. There's one stellar Top 10 that's entitled "Top 10 Skeletons in Sega's Closet." It mentions 10 games that Sega should've released with the #1 being a certain Yu Suzuki adventure game we all know too well. Also takes pokes at Nintendo, hahaha. But it's very comprehensive and deep so if you're curious, I highly recommend it. Though I would've put Scud Race/Daytona USA 2 ports somewhere on that list cause I'm biased, lol.
But that's all the good I've seen thus far--now onto the bad. First of all, these GameFAQs Private Message Board contests are getting way out of hand. First, the barrier of entry was to make a good YouTube movie or picture and hope it gets chosen by some secret cabal (I ranted about this before). Now it's simply "post on Twitter and a random person will be picked." They're like t-shirts shot out of the cannon at sporting events--they mean nothing anymore.
Also, another thing, and this has to do with another fun contest that GameFAQs puts on. GFAQs will do these "Name That Tune" contests in which a bunch of vidya game songs are posted and users have to submit a list of games that these songs are from. Get the most answers right and win some free karma. Who cares.
But anyway, May's list happens to be game over tunes (I'm not even gonna bother embedding this). What, you couldn't include Sega Rally or Daytona USA? Come on man, those are classic. The list includes throwaway answers like Mario, Zelda, and Sonic so why leave it out? Throw me the Sega diehards a bone for once. The rest of the list surely includes a bunch of Square, Capcom, and Sony games so big shocker there. I know this is a petty complaint but I can't miss the chance to know GameFAQs down a peg and feel that certain self-gratification that means nothing to everyone else.
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Anyway, this is one of the few posts in a long, long time in which I haven't used pictures or embedded YT vids. This streak must outlast Dale Jr's losing streak so here's a picture of angry Glaceon which sums up my opinion on everything:
Sup guys. I haven't posted as much as I've wanted to recently. But it's good because I'm nearly done with the Spring Semester here at game school. On Saturday, I'm flying home to Louisiana to be with my family for two weeks. And I can finally put this arduous semester to rest. Spring semester was touted as the hardest and it sure was! Summer should be much easier and we have more time to work on what we want. That is good news.
I might as well say this...it makes me look rather buffoonish, but the "misfortunes" I've ran into in the past weren't so bad. At the very least, there is some good out of it. You usually notice it in the future when it becomes apparent by hindsight--you get a bigger view of the whole picture. Some event which led you down an unexpected road but you gained a couple of things out of it. Well, what do I mean? Here's my two things:
First glaring example is the Daytona USA 2 GameFAQs board nukeage about two years ago. Essentially I had been posting blog-like posts on that board for years. Like Knuckles watching over the Master Emerald, I watched over that board for years, making sure it didn't grow all old and dusty. Maybe got a few other posts too.
Then wham--some jackass GameFAQs mod takes down my main topic and any subsequent threads thereafter because they were off-topic. It made no sense at the time seeing there are so many off-topic boards all over GameFAQs thus proving how hypocritical they are--taking down arbitrary threads while leaving up more egregious ones. My very first blog post talks about this sad ordeal.
So I went into panic mode, you know, damn the torpedoes, hit the red button, etc. until I said "f*** it, let's give this blog thing a try." And here we are living it up all nice and cozy on Blogspot. So I was able to make my own website, rack up a lot of Google hits, and reach a larger audience. So thanks stupid GameFAQs mods, your vain attempts to crush Sega racers has led to me becoming that much more powerful. Now go play your Square RPGs and blow it out your ass.
Then the second thing would be the FIEA capstone gaming pitch--the "Avant-Garde Racing" game (look up the damn meaning yourselves). It would span about 6 months long and would have some 15-20 people working on it. EDIT: There were about 30 pitches, 10 would make it to the second round, 5 would actually get made, and (usually) 3 survive to the end of the semester. This great, GREAT pitch according to everyone else was poorly voted on by the cohort. The reason this was so traumatic was because:
A. I wanted to make a racing game.
B. I wanted to have some say in what game to make so I don't appear to be another insipid programmer who is perfectly okay to be bossed around by the insightful, awe-inspiring producers (okayface.jpg).
C. I was duped into believing the professor's vote (which rated me as one of the best) was one of the main reasons for choosing which games got through. However, his rating was dropped at the last second while the artists' votes (most of whom don't want to model/animate cars) ravaged the whole thing
In the end, though, and I don't say this to badmouth the game I'm working on (Battle Fortress Tortoise), but I think everyone involved in the pitches had these grandiose schemes of making big-ass cutting-edge video games. How everyone overscoped their ideas like this was going to be the next Spike VGA award winner with hundreds of hours of gameplay but no--they were cut way, way short. Instead, what we're going for is a very small, compact experience--only about 5 minutes worth of gameplay. Yeah, some game, huh? A small, well-polished game looks better on resumes than does a large, not-so-polished game (you can't sit through a long game in presentations). And the fact this capstone consumes so much of your time and goes through so much scrutiny, I don't think I could've handled BOTH a precious racing game AND tons of homework at the same time.
If anything, though, despite my abysmal failure to make it out the first round, it got people talking about racing games again. Which is damn good in the face of all these hack-and-slash/beat-em-ups, you know what I'm saying? Oh, and by the way, because my time was freed, I also got to work on this game:
No really, if I had made it past the first round of cuts, I'd have to spend all my free time planning a bigger presentation in front of a larger audience and undergo even more stress! Or we can just work on Super Sprint--a game that I didn't have to worry about a handful of gamers getting their greasy fingers all over it! So Super Sprint it is.
And speaking of bad things, Sega may be sucking right now but I expect that in some way, completely unbeknownst to most/all of us, new opportunities arise for us, for Sega, for blue skies. So THANK GOD for all the great Sega fans out there who have shown massive support when the chips are down--that is encouraging to every one of us. You just have to look around for things like this.
BTW, I saw this a long time ago after the 2011 AFC Championship Game. It's Ray Lewis. Now I don't really like the Ravens and Ray may have a history of violence but he tells it like it is here. This is after losing to the Patriots with that male bimbo Gronkowski ("mimbo") dancing shirtless all the time. God doesn't make mistakes. Skip to :25 past the lousy Ruth's Chris Steak House commercial.
Saints and Ravens Superbowl, BOOK IT. Two teams with the biggest chips on their shoulders. And exiled Saints coach Sean Peyton is coaching his son's football team so he has time to bond with his family! Really though, I could unload on this whole media bias against the Saints yet again but I can't do it so let's focus on the positives.
BTW, if I go out tomorrow and something unfortunate happens to me, then expect me to lose my cool again cause I'm on edge like that all the time. I'll probably have to take a prescription medication for that sometime.
You're the next contestant on today's GameFAQs Top 10 List! But considering how little anyone actually cares about you or Sega, it looks like you won't be leaving Contestants' Row.
10. Indy 500!
9. Super Hang-On (with handlebars controller)!
8. Initial D (for home consoles)!
7. San Francisco Rush 2049!
6. F-Zero GX (can't let Nintendo win so they aren't going higher)!
5. Crazy Taxi 3!
4. Sega Rally Revo (with original SR handling)!
3. Super Sprint (o wait, that's my job)!!!
2. OutRun 2!
1. Daytona USA 2!
But this clever guy deviates from my list and puts Daytona USA at #4 (and Crazy Taxi at #7). But about Daytona... FOURTH???YOU MEAN NOT FIRST??? FOURTH ISN'T EVEN IN VICTORY LANE, WHAT A RIPOFF!!! The blurb says:
DAYTONAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Okay, ya caught me, I'm a fanboy, and not putting this game higher was hard. Daytona USA was THE 3d racing game that changed everything. When it comes to racing games, F-Zero is the originator, Mario Kart brought in mulitplayer, and Daytona USA brought it screaming into 3D. Even now, with the PSN re-release, I still rock this game, and made sure to get 100% of the trophies on it. The only problem with a sequel is the fact that the franchise is a niche, and that Sega isn't focusing on such franchises anymore. But hey, I'd be ok even with a cameo in the next "Sonic and Sega All-stars racing" game.
Well, this list entry really doesn't make sense since Daytona 1 technically has a remake (XBLA/PSN) AND a sequel (Daytona 2/Scud Race) so what does this mean? Well it means that we want a new Daytona game which is stellar. But put the game at first ahead of Star Wars: Pod Racer, Crash Team Racing, and F-Zero GX and we'll talk. Terrible, NASTY Top 10 list, you should be ashamed of yourselves!! Lol, I held my breath when scrolling through the list...it was CLOSE but no cigar. Also, Burnout.
Seriously, if it needed be, I could write an essay on why Daytona USA needs another "sequel." Or hell, a big ass essay pimping out Sega racers in general (which I already did, dummies). I don't need no lousy GameFAQs Top 10 Lists to get the job done. As a matter of fact, ANYTHING that has to do with GameFAQs is automatically tarnished, like George with the book in the bathroom. GameFAQs is like a public restroom, it all makes sense now (first person to photoshop this wins a prize)!
And now time to usher Sega & Daytona USA off stage as usual. Make way for the FPS/RPG/Adventure/Nintendo game pimpage! No cars in this Showcase Showdown, for sure.
Remember to control the used game population; don't do business with GameStop!
Well here's a few things on the backburner I would like to mention. More complaints from yours truly, yay.
First, I would like to begin by applauding Namco for being the greatest, most classiest game developer ever. They truly blow my mind. The way they handle their IP's like a pro. And how they advertise them too.
I don't get why the first commenter of the feature discussion (a feminazi who blasted the hell out of Duke Nukem Forever) thought this was okay. If this isn't objectifying women, I don't know what is. The entire poster is Ivy's breasts. How can you defend this? I don't have a problem with scantily-clad women in games as long as it's not overdone and the women resemble some sort of "beauty." But now Namco has run out of ideas, resorting to Tecmo's tactics to gain relevance. Hey, you can strip down any character to their underwear thanks to their extensive customization options so isn't it the same thing as DOA Beach Volleyball but with more violence?
Taking a look at Namco-Bandai's releases in the last few years, they're in Sega's boat in that they're putting out games but most are rehashes or developed by other studios. And you never hear about anything Namco-related from the blogs other than Soul Calibur and (awful) Ridge Racer so what's the point? Namco is a benchwarmer now. At least Sega has "prestige" because Sonic gets some press as does Nagoshi & Suzuki with their antics. No wonder Namco is desperate...sticking a camera in front of a fictional character's breasts.
EDIT: A month later, Namco has also created ads of Cassanda's ass and Voldo's nether region. I'm not making this stuff up. And no, I'm not going to link to it. Soul Calibur is dead.
Namco will never live up to RBI Baseball...THAT'S RIGHT, the true Namco hero, alongside Pac-Man, Dig-Dug, the Galaga ship, and Mappy the friggin mouse.
Bastion
Dungeons of Dredmor
From Dust
Jamestown
Pushmo
SpaceChem
Stacking
Terraria
The Binding of Isaac
Trine 2
The votes are irrelevant since Bastion followed by Terraria are way in the lead. So there's no Daytona USA but that's cause it's a port of a really old game so what's to be expected there. But you know what's missing? Renegade Ops. Didn't everyone love that game? Giant Bomb gave it a 5/5? I loved the game too. That's part of the Sega family and it just got ROBBED.
You know what would be the s***? If they took down GameFAQs. I would pay massive Microsoft Points for that DLC addon!!
And another thing. Call me a moron but I don't think I've ever heard of half these games from the media. SpaceChem? Jamestown? I don't effin now anymore.
Well, what else is new. I'm beginning to think the Sega logo is a kiss of death. Some games are hurt much more than others (Bayonetta is relatively intact) but those four blue letters are a good way to get people to ignore you. DO NOT DOUBT ME. Let's try to break the curse by aiding Sega when we can, eh?
BTW, the narrator for Bastion makes me want to jump off a bridge.
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And then there's another GameFAQs board (Good Lord) that's up to no good. It just happens to be the Sonic Generations board. That board has devolved from actually talking about Generations to bickering over which Sonic games suck or not. Like this topic, this topic, and this topic. While I don't necessarily mind debate (hell I roast plenty of games here), I don't go on forums for the specific purpose of getting in 1 on 1's with other people, quoting each other, trying to get the edge by debating the most petty things.
The Sonic fanbase just doesn't know what they want anymore. If Sega didn't "shake the baby" back during the last decade, this probably wouldn't be happening. I can see it now--the Mario & Zelda fanbases are laughing their asses off now. The worst they have to complain about is whether or not Super Mario Galaxy 2 is better than Galaxy 1. Or whether or not Majora's Mask is better than Ocarina of Time.
Well, what can you say about a franchise that has Chris-Chan as a member? I just discovered this recently, but there's an ENTIRE Wiki site dedicated to every detail of his life (subtlety NSFW in a few places). In case you don't know who Chris Chan is (and you really should just turn back now), he's a man-child with severe Autism who immerses himself in a world of constant gaming, fanart & fiction with characters like "Sonichu," rage towards everybody, and tons of erotic fantasies about God knows what. Never mind the Rule 34 content from the rest of the fanbase, he alone sets back the Sonic community ten years. I have a young brother with Autism and I know it really sucks but his (EDIT: talking about Chris) behavior is way past the point of using Autism as an excuse.
And about the Wiki site...isn't it illegal to publicly that much private information about someone? I'm just curious, I don't want the HIRE A LAWLER TO TAKE DOWN DIS WEBSATE. Sure, the media does this a lot with celebrities & politicians, but nowhere near the extent that this Wiki does. People have been hacking his e-mail accounts and stuff, gathering every single account of his life, it's pretty demented. Even if they were making this stuff up as they went along, it's still slanderous. But nonetheless, Chris still plugs along at whatever he does.
No wonder Sonic is in the dumps. I'll leave you with this pic:
Chris Chan, Jackie Chan, haha
And I know all the big gaming blogs beat me to this but what is Sonic doing in a Progressive commercial??? Progressive does auto insurance, not health/life insurance. I don't think Flo can save you from a pit of spikes.
But hey, at least it ain't Klonoa or Pac-Man. Namco, get your notepads out.
Also the Saints won so Who Dat. And I'll be heading back to Florida for escuela on a nine-hour drive. I'll talk about it later I guess.
NAMCO SUCKS -- Ridge Racer Unbounded is trash and RR Vita is incredibly lacking (five cars and three tracks???????????).
SONY SUCKS -- They got hacked and couldn't do anything about it.
ELECTRONIC ARTS SUCKS -- What "unique" games have they made besides Madden and other perennial sports titles? EDIT: FYI, Mass Effect, Battlefield, and even NFS: The Run were made by separate studios. Also, Origin is spyware, you noobs.
CAPCOM SUCKS -- Cause they don't like racing games, that's why. And they couldn't be arsed into putting MEGA MAN in MvC3 (this offends me even as a non-Capcom fan).
DISNEY WORLD SUCKS -- Everything is overpriced there.
NFL REFEREES SUCK -- Officiating has been horrible all year. Finally someone calls the zebras out (and gets picked up on live TV) and then he gets penalized again. What BS, this is the No Fun League now. I swear, if the Saints get cheated out of a game by one of these phantom calls, I'm going to lose my s***.
VIDEO GAMES SUCK - They're a waste of your time. So why do I plan on making these very time-wasters for a living? Same reason people make porn or sell drugs, cause they're STUPID.
Sega, however, does not suck. Just when I thought you couldn't get any stupider...you find a way to totally redeem yourself!!!! (Daytona USA)
Hah! I knew this day would come. The day when I'd see Need for Speed and Electronic Arts exposed as the loathsome cretins that they are!! MWAHAHAHA!!!
Need for Speed: The Run gets taken down by the game reviewers. Well, it's not horrible but compared to Hot Pursuit, it is mediocre.
The Giant Bomb review, in particular, is my favorite but I'm looking at various reviews for reasons why. One, the story is just a load of BS. Predictable Michael Bay crap and an unlikable protagonist. Second is the rubber-band AI. Why do game devs keep bringing this back? It was in practically every Cruis'n/FnF game, every Mario Kart, Split/Second, and now Need for Speed. Third, just not enough options in the game. No free-driving, little car customization, yada yada yada. Fourth, the game is too linear. Fifth, the car handling sucks, etc.
I love Quick Looks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
But just for kicks, I decided to go back and take a look at previous Need for Speed games. Now there's a game called Need for Speed: Undercover. It was released two years ago. The formula is basically the same as this--hype up a huge-ass storyline but this time, you're a cop trying to crack down on drug dealers/black market smugglers or something like that. On the other hand, NFS: Hot Pursuit is less story oriented and thus is much better received by the public.
Seriously, take a look at the GameRankings reviews. NFS: Hot Pursuit = 87.45%. NFS: The Run = 68.34%. NFS: Undercover = 64.60%. So isn't it obvious that a heavy focus on "epic storylines/cutscenes" is total garbage? Me and many others have been calling this game BS since the start and now it's readily apparent. I really have no idea what the producers' thought processes were throughout development but it's just baffling to me.
Wait, am I playing a racing game or watching a terrible movie? EDIT: Seriously, this feels like Sega CD.
Then again, if the game manages to sell well thanks to the EA's marketing machine, then does it really matter how "bad" the game is? We'll see what the sales numbers are. Until then, stick to Hot Pursuit if you really want NFS action.
I mean, damn....remember when Need for Speed games were about DRIVING? Pure unadulterated driving? And it was legitimately cool? This is from 1999 (with a custom car model). Screw graphics, THIS IS AWESOME.
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Now before I go on, I know that professional game reviews are full of BS. I recently had to deal with a few bad Daytona USA reviews myself. But the difference here is that I'm looking at the average game reviews. Yeah sure, there will always be a few trash reviews that do a piss-poor job of explaining everything, but with a large sample of people coming down on the game, well...you know something stinks about it. Doesn't mean you have to agree with the average score--hell, you may think The Run is a great game. But I do think reviews are vindictive of SOMETHING.
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And now let's move on to Legend of Zelda. For what it's worth, I don't give a damn about the games nowadays but it's really funny what has transgressed with this new Skyward Sword game.
Remember in the past how GameSpot (back when Jeff Gerstmann was still around) gave Twilight Princess an 8.8 and all the Zelda fanboys lost their s*** over it? When Jeff said that the motion controls felt tacked on and that the graphics looked a bit dated (both of which make sense because this WAS supposed to be a GameCube title)?
Well, the main hook for Skyward Sword is that the game actually has meaningful sword combat. You can't just waggle the stick around and expect to kill the bad guy--you actually have to time your moves, just like in a fighting game. So that's kind of neat but Tom fudged up the controls by using a regular Wii Motion controller as opposed to a Wii Motion Plus controller and that ruins everything. Later admitted that he was wrong by not using the Plus controller. However, GameSpot won't change the 7.5 score. The game is still "slow to start" and "hasn't changed much over the years," yada yada yada... EDIT:Click here for more Tom McShea shenanigans.
I don't even care anymore. GameSpot sucks, GameFAQs sucks, Skyward Sword is already getting great reviews from elsewhere, and I wish Skyrim had gotten that review score also I'm f***ing sick and tired of everyone pissing themselves over that game too. STOP MAKING A BIG DEAL OUT OF DRAGONS & SWORDS ALREADY, DAMMIT. Well actually, dragons are pretty cool BUT NO SWORDS plz.
...Hey, I just realized something. GameSpot gave Sonic Generations an 8.0. And they gave Zelda: Skyward Sword a 7.5. So you know what this means? For the first time in The History Of The World, a Sonic game > a Zelda game. Who would've thunk it...SONIC IS BETTER THAN ZELDA. I LOVE GAMESPOT!!!
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Also in the news. Nobody likes Modern Warfare 3 despite it selling a billion copies on release day (more like 12 million or so). So quick, downvote the game on every site imaginable! Even one of the developers tweeted to get users to upvote the game but that must've backfired, seeing how anal the average gamer is.
I snapped this screenshot this very day, ten days after the game was released. I also see this on any major gaming site such as GameSpot. Well, it's just a tiny minority of pissed off gamers but it may be bigger than you think. Doesn't matter since Activision is sitting cozy with nearly a billion dollars in sales for just the first 5 days alone...
MW3 is a lot like MW2. Which really isn't that bad of a thing. If idiots buy it, then good for them. Hey, take a look at all the OutRun 2 games we got. So it's bad that we got OutRun 2 then Outrun 2006 then Outrun Online Arcade? I don't know. That's my one cent.
BTW, a truck full of explosives blows up a little girl and her mother. And Soap dies. And Price hangs Makarov with a helicopter cable. And dogs with C4 come after you in Survival Mode. There, now you have no need to play this game now. No spoiler warning. Rofl.
TLDR: Reviews suck and no one cares any more, rofl.
Like how the Fonz is the only one who can get the jukebox to play music (by hitting it), so is Bart the only one who can get the computer to play model3 games.
This 0.2 update was actually released on 9/25 (two days ago), but I didn't know until today. I found out on the Outrun Online Arcade GameFAQs board. See, I had several topics from that board in my GFAQs Track Topic list, but I never actually went to the board itself--I just looked at the tracked topics not knowing if someone made a new topic or not. Well, my mistake.
More to come...............................................................
