Musings of a Sega Racing Fan: Legend of Zelda

Showing posts with label Legend of Zelda. Show all posts

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Nobody Loves Sega

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:

EDIT: Click here to see the rest of these.

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:

OMFG

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?

Friday, November 18, 2011

GREAT Day For Game Reviews! NFS, Zelda, MW3!

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 it gets worse! So the same website, GamesPOT, gave Zelda: Skyward Sword a 7.5! A Seven Point Five! A 7.5. So what happens next?

And the same guy who wrote the review (Tom McShea), also gave Super Mario Galaxy 2 a perfect score of 10 so don't say he's a "Nintendo hater."

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.

So now GameFAQs has put a bounty on this guy's head. Here's some posts although I think many have been deleted for being off-topic. It's funny because you think I had "problems" when some new guy working at OXM half-asses a 4.5 review of Daytona USA. But I know that guy's a joke. On the other hand, Tom McShea is considered "legit." Well, not anymore I guess!!

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.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

What This? A New Hedgehog Game From Sega???

Sick and tired of hearing about Battlefield 3.
Sick and tired of hearing about Skyrim.
Sick and tired of hearing about Zelda.
Sick and tired of hearing about (how everyone hates) Modern Warfare 3.
Sick and tired of hearing about Skyrim (again).
Sick and tired of hearing about Skyrim (ZOMG BEST GAME EVAR).

What the hell happened to Sonic Generations??? It's two weeks old but don't gimme that nonsense. I really ought to stop reading Reddit Gaming, that website sucks.

It's an ode to Sonic. It has both Sonics, both Tails, and both Eggmans. Plus every other Sonic character. Thereby proving that in Sonic games, more characters =/= worse game (but you already knew that). It also has the original Sonic the Hedgehog game playable as well as unlockable trophies and music (Smash Bros. anyone)?

Reviews for the game are good. Most are in the 8.0 range. It's great but not excellent. In all honestly, I didn't expect the pro reviewers to come out and say "YEAH!!!" over the game. They'd save 9's and 10's for games that actually make them piss themselves, like Battlefield 3 and Skyrim. But I played the demo and thought it was really good. Eff the reviewers.

BTW, looking at that review list again, I see GameInformer gave Sonic Generations a 6.75 out of 10. Am I surprised? No, because GameInformer blows and everyone knows this.

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But it's not my job to come on here and tell you every minute detail of the game cause that's dumb. And I haven't played the game...well, I don't have money or time for new games. This is just me telling you what I see and what's so interesting. And I'm looking at this Sonic Wiki page here for most information.

First of all, I'm looking at the stage selection and they're different for both the console and 3DS versions. I'm always intrigued by stages, maps, levels...whatever. I was a CS 1.6 Mapper in the past. I even made maps on Space Colony Ark, Mushroom Hill, and Hydrocity Zone so I clearly know what I'm talking about. Let me tell you what I see. You can read this SEGAbits article as an opinion piece.

Console Stages (asterisk denotes boss stage only)
Green Hill (Sonic 1)
Chemical Plant (Sonic 2)
Sky Sanctuary (Sonic 3&K)
Speed Highway (Sonic Adv. 1)
City Escape (Sonic Adv. 2)
Seaside Hill (Sonic Heroes)
Crisis City (Sonic '06)
Rooftop Run (Sonic Unleashed)
Planet Wisp (Sonic Colors)
Stardust Speedway*** (Sonic CD)
Death Egg*** (Sonic 2)
Station Square*** (Sonic Adv. 1) EDIT: Destroyed, of course
Final Rush*** (Sonic Adv. 2)
Eggmanland*** (Sonic Unleashed)

3DS Stages
Green Hill (Sonic 1)
Casino Night (Sonic 2)
Mushroom Hill (Sonic 3&K)
Emerald Coast (Sonic Adv. 1)
Radical Highway (Sonic Adv. 2)
Windmill Isle (Sonic Unleashed)
Tropical Resort (Sonic Colors)
Launch Base*** (Sonic 3&K)

First of all, the levels are great but complaints are to be expected. Let's look at the console versions alone.

Green Hill is a gimme.
I think Chemical Plant is interesting, but I would've preferred Casino Night instead. Just because many Sonic games have that night-time casino level so I'm a bit shocked it was second tier to Chemical Plant.
Sky Sanctuary is a cool level and they certainly did a beautiful job with it, but I wish there was one more Sonic 3&K stage they could've put in there. Something "Eggman-ish" like Flying Battery or Death Egg Zone.
Speed Highway is the token night-time stage. Shame there was no Mystic Ruins stages seeing as the ancient Central American motif was so vital to that game.
City Escape is awesome though I would've killed for a one more Sonic 2 stage. Space Colony Ark. Yeah sure, Final Rush makes a great boss stage but I want MORE!!!
Seaside Hill is good but another bright "first-level" stage. Eh, I don't know.
Crisis City, disregarding how terrible Sonic '06 was, is fine by me. Token hellish lava stage.
Rooftop Run and Planet Wisp. Just strange that, like Seaside Hill, it's another standard green stage. Not that I have a problem with that but come on? Where's the snow levels? Or where's the desert levels?

Now looking at the 3DS stages.

Green Hill, again.
Casino Night, here it is. Wish it was in the console versions instead.
Mushroom Hill, one of my favorite levels. Too bad they couldn't bring back Hydro City, Ice Cap, or Lava Reef. Geez, you could make a 3D Sonic game based on the Genesis Sonic games alone.
Emerald Coast. Surprised they didn't go with a Mystic Ruins level.
Radical Highway. Just like Speed Highway. Come on, a Prison Island, Pyramid, or Space Colony Ark level would've been tight.
Windmill Isle, another blue city level. Not much else to say.
Tropical Resort. Night-time stage in space. Pretty cool.

So anyway, those are my opinions on the stages. Someone did say that the reason there were so many "blue" levels is because Sonic Team was able to recycle stage assets. Well, what can you say. No use nitpicking because everyone is going to disagree with the stage selection. Nonetheless, the game is very good and it shouldn't be too big of a deal.

Strange there was no Shadow the Hedgehog stages. Or Sonic Adventure/Rush stages. And only one Sonic CD stage. Oh well...no one cares about those games, lol.

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I'm also going to point out the game's plot. SPOILER ALERT FOR MANY SONIC GAMES!!!

Now the final boss is called the Time Eater. You fight him in a stage called the Center of Time. Why does Sonic Team continue to pull these absurd climaxes out of their ass that have villains with dimension-shattering abilities?

Like let's take a look at previous Sonic's. Every Sonic game before Sonic Adventure...it was Eggman's up to no good, Sonic stops him. In Sonic Adventure 1, Chaos becomes a big monster and floods the city then Super Sonic defeats him. Plus not to mention the burning town, the dead chaos, and Tikal says "Oh no, how could this happen???" or something like that. Pretty deep.

In Sonic Adventure 2, Eggman accidentally sends Space Colony Ark flying into the Earth but Sonic & Shadow stop it from doing so at the last minute. Then there's the whole thing about Prof. Gerard and Maria dying.

Then there's Shadow the Hedgehog (I completely skipped Sonic Heroes because I forgot what happened) and it's all fudged up. There's Black Doom and the aliens which kill everybody. Then there's the profanity, the guns, and Shadow kills Eggman (in one ending). Then in the final ending, Black Doom gasses everyone to death except for Shadow who is the only one able to save mankind. Ooooooookay....???

Now Sonic 2006. First, Sonic "dies." Then Elise kisses Sonic and everyone shouts "BEASTIALITY!!!" Then Sonic, Shadow, and Silver uses the Chaos emeralds to fight Iblis, a revived deity who is able to alter and destroy time itself. Eventually, they save the world and send Elise back in time who forgets all memories of Sonic.

I don't even know what happened in Sonic Unleashed or Colors. I'm not saying those games are bad but why can't we leave the world/galaxy/universe destruction to Final Fantasy or Zelda? Like whatever happened to Eggman capturing innocent animals and putting them into robots? I don't know, that's just my two cents. The plots have become too ridiculous for Sonic, that's all. Well, this Time Eater guy serves as an alibi to get Classic & Modern Sonic in the same game and I guess I'm cool with that. As long as they don't descend into Shadow/Sonic '06 territory.

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EDIT: I'm going to give an addendum to this post. A few days after I made this post, I watched someone play from start to finish for a few hours. Game seemed a bit short going in a straight line from start to finish. Bosses didn't seem that hard. The end fight against the Time Eater is another cheesy Super Sonic in space "touch the bad guy in the weak spot" thing. Also, why isn't Big the Cat in this game????? And why no Chao Garden?????

All the levels were gorgeous. The visuals alone can sell the game. Seaside Hill is a good substitute for a "water level." Planet Wisp is a good substitute for an "Eggman level" although it's really damn damn long and annoying in terms of difficulty (SPIKES!!! ROCKETS!!!). Rooftop Run has strangely addicting music. Anyway, Sonic Team must have taken the whole "omg too many similar levels" thing into consideration because they tried to differentiate them with different colors and stuff since even though there were four city levels (well, three, since one of them is nuked), they each had different stuff. Like I spotted a fitness club in Speed Highway (treadmills, wtf).

I also like how in areas where you can fall to your death, you see the red sign. Really helpful. Worth giving props about.

Seriously, Sega must've poured a copious amount of effort into stellar visuals and audio, they should be commended for this. Also worth saying many, many times.

And HAHAHA at these FOUR Spoilers Specific To Sonic Generations: Chaos in Space Pt. 2, the goal post sign blowing away in Crisis City, beating the crap out of Shadow and Silver for not showing up at Sonic's birthday party, and both Eggmans getting "stuck in time" in the ending. GETALOADOFTHIS...

On a positive note, I really like the job they did with Classic Sonic. I especially like his walk cycle. Kind of funny cause his feet look like a bicycle spoke. He looks funny. He's doesn't even talk, he makes funny noises like *bwoop!* and stuff, rofl!!

Secret Sonic Generations Easter Egg:

Hey, check it out guys, I found all the game's cutscenes! Please do not remove for copyright infringement, Sega!!!

And Sega has yet to release the Sonic CD port for consoles. So Sega is not resting on their laurels. You shouldn't either.

Well, let's end on this. Sega recently held a skateboard competition in Venice Beach, CA. And Venice Beach is the mecca of Skateboarding. Atta boy Sega, Sonic is BACK, BABY!!!

Friday, August 26, 2011

My Hurricane Katrina Experience (Six Years Ago)

Hey, be sure to read the slight updates in the VF/Zombies/EA post!!! That's all, rofl....Now for

Now for serious issues. This recent 5.8 earthquake in Virginia (and all the East Coast) wasn't bad...heck, the kids at the Little League World Series were playing through it, having fun which is good. However this Hurricane Irene moving up the East Coast could cause some serious trouble...much more than that earthquake. Please try to stay safe whatever you do.

Soooo....I did have my own little hurricane experience. I was in Pearl River, Louisiana when Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, 2005 (it's nearly the 6-year anniversary, close enough). And then for the next four months, all hell broke loose. I was a 17-year-old Senior at the time, but I didn't go back to school for about two months. Gee whiz.

During that time, I had a laptop, a LiveJournal account (yes that's true but it's deleted now), and the obscene habit of rambling about everyday things. One problem--NO INTERNET FOR MONTHS. So I wrote journal entries of my observations and saved them to be posted later. I've concluded that not all of these were written the exact day I observed them, but they're pretty damn close to when it happened.

The thing is, I forgot to post them...until I found them recently in a Wordpad file buried in my My Documents folder. Please note that I wrote about more than the trials & tribulations of the hurricane but also about video games & stuff. You see I talked about Daytona USA, Counter-Strike maps (click here to see what I was talking about), Advance Wars, all that nonsense SIX YEARS AGO. So I haven't changed much. I added a few little heads-up in bold italics to help clarify stuff. This whole thing may be garblish for some of you but what else can I say...these were very hasty posts so I wasn't going for a Pulitzer's Prize here, heh. Click the jump if you want to read more...

Fans Versus Fanboys? Nintendo Versus Sega?

I notice that the word "fanboy" gets thrown out a lot about pretty much anything. If you like something very much, you're considered a fanboy now. But what does that mean? It really doesn't mean anything since it's all semantics--just a blanket statement that means, to some extent, "you suck." But really, the definition of a fanboy tends to differ per person and it can get confusing at times.

The way I see it, there are "fans" and there are "fanboys." A fan is basically someone who likes something to a certain extent. (Ex. He is a fan of the Green Bay Packers and roots for them every game.) A fanboy, on the other hand, is someone who seems so blinded by his infatuation with something that he rejects any alternatives either by ignorance or faulty logic. He often acts in a snarky, imposing matter to the point he can no longer be rationalized with. (Ex. He's an Apple fanboy. He thinks Macs look the best and that PC's are buggy pieces of crap. He loves his iPhone and criticizes anyone who doesn't use it. He says anyone who doesn't use Apple products are stupid. He idolizes Steve Jobs. Etc.)

I bring this up on the fly because it seems to be a big f'n deal nowadays. One reason is because the title of my blog is "Musings of a Sega Racing Fan." Not fanboy. Well, you might think from looking at this blog that I'm a huge Sega fanboy--Burnout sucks, FnF sucks, Gran Turismo sucks, Forza sucks, etc. Look, I'd like to say I've done my research. I do like other racing games as well as games from other genres such as FPS, rhythm, and strategy. But for the games I don't like, I do express my reasoning behind them. What else should I do? I try.

Besides, if I'm a Sega fanboy, how come I criticize Sega so much? Cause I call it like I see it, that's why. Do not doubt me. I've also expressed things I don't like about Daytona USA 2 and Daytona USA 2001 so it's not like I treat these things like they're perfect. I do believe they're close to perfection though, that doesn't change.

Sometimes, it really does come down to preference, such as whether you prefer vanilla or chocolate ice cream (I like chocolate more...I can't explain it, it just taste better). So I guess being a fanboy means using your obsession to make an ass out of yourself. But you do have to take some of what I say as satire because games like Burnout, Nintendo, World of Warcraft...everyone pisses themselves over these things so I'm just trying to have fun with these guys. Sometimes I'm joking, but sometimes I'm not..it depends on if they REALLY suck.

I'm Sean Connery and you are all Alex Trebek.

So the definition of a fanboy can differ people person. Like you may have a similar definition as mine, but much more tempered--a fanboy is anyone who likes something a lot. So I guess you can say I'm a fanboy, maybe, but I'll respect people's opinions if they respect mine. Try to avoid using the term "fanboy" from now on.

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Anyway, speaking of fanboys, here's a glazing example of a "fanboy." But I'll get to that in a sec.

As an aside, during my early years in Internet surfing, I spent time looking up cheats and walkthroughs for N64 games as well as some Mario fansites. Hey, check out this funny Nintendo site; my God it still exists. Very damn funny/stupid site with things like "Create your own game ending," and "Bad Nintendo stories." Click on "Fun Stuff" to see them. Here's a few excerpts:

Bad Nintendo Experience:

Sent in by Paul Floco

After 2 hours of non-stop of playing 1942, all the ending was was
"Congratulations" It made me so mad that I beat the game in the 
front door of my house with a baseball bat.

You mad?

Alternate Goldeneye Ending:

Sent in by Simon Mamane

You would see James Bond and Natalya Simonova will begin to be 
enemies and they will shoot each other with Moonraker Lasers then 
Oddjob, Baron Samadi, Jaws, and Mayday will come out and shoot 
James Bond. But James Bond will not die. He will take out a Golden 
Gun and shoot Oddjob, Baron Samadi, and Natalya Simonova. But 
not Jaws because James Bond will be partners with Jaws.

 Play multiplayer, you can do it there.

Super Mario 64 Changes:

Sent in by Chris Zinn

There should be a 4 player mode with Luigi, Mario, Yoshi, Peach, Wario,
Donkey Kong, Toad, or Bowser. The mushroom makes you big, the 
fire flower would make you able to shoot fireballs, the Tanooki Suit 
would make you immune to fire and able to turn into a statue, the Frog 
Suit makes you swim very fast, and the Hammer Suit makes you able to 
throw hammers. The starman makes you invincible. The game would 
come with a multitap so you can have 8 player battles.

My God, give this guy a job at Nintendo, he's a genius!!!

 
Another Bad Nintendo Experience:

Sent in by Anders Messermith

I went to Nintendo's headquarters in Redmond and the security guards 
escorted me out because I was snooping around.

Damn, should've gone to Sega HQ instead; they'd let you go hog-wild there.

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But anyway, I wanted to learn more about video games in general and what people had to say about them. So I stumbled upon this Nintendo fansite that detailed a bit of the history of Nintendo. You mean the mafia connections and love hotels? NO, we mean the actual games. So there was a bias towards Nintendo, of course. When he got to Sony, he replied "Those f***ers!!" in response to the Playstation being the bastard child of Nintendo. But then things went way overboard when he got to "fan fiction." Remember that this was back in 2000 when Sega was still in the console business and the two companies hated each others guts.

This is a Mario vs. Sonic fanfiction. Now this is like my Seong Mina GameFAQs contest in that I remember it but don't have any proof so take my word for it. The two fought in an arena with half the seats being occupied by Nintendo characters and the other half by Sega characters. I don't know how it went down, but I know that Sonic struck down Mario and was about to "Finish him!" Mortal Kombat-style. But before Sonic could kill Mario, Luigi came to Mario's aid and said, "If you're going to kill him, you have to get through me first." So then Link got up, then Samus, then Fox, then every damn Nintendo character came to Mario's aid versus Sonic. As for the Sega characters, did they help Sonic? Heh...they all ran away in fear, leaving Sonic to die. The end.

In order to counter Mr. Nintendo's wonderful fan fiction, I'll produce my own in response...:

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It's the year 20XX. Nintendo and Sega have been fighting for decades. Nintendo had Mario, Zelda, Metroid, etc. but Sega had BLAST PROCESSING so it was an evenly-matched competition for years. But the two sides came to an agreement that rather than lead millions more soldiers AKA gamers to their doom, they decided to settle this with a one-on-one match between the best each company has to offer. The winner's company would enslave the loser's company (this is like David & Goliath from the Bible, duh).

So who did Nintendo pick? Well, they went with Mario because he's so damn sexy and because he's the King of Nintendo. Who did Sega pick?

So that's what Segata Sanshiro did to Mario. Mario incinerated into a fireball while yelling his trademark "Waaaahhhh!!" But rather than accept defeat, Link jumped up to defend Mario but Segata impaled him with his Master Sword. Samus shot her little laser ball thing and Segata deflected it off his chest back at her. Captain Falcon showed up and Segata did a judo flip on him and showed him his moves. Then Segata proceeded to kill every single Nintendo character and then Sega went on to be the greatest game company of all time. The end.

EDIT: This is sarcasm.

Monday, March 7, 2011

B****ES Don't Know About My Daytona USA 2

EDITED 2 TIMES

You having fun out there game nerds with all your little gaming conventions? First, you got GDC which went on for like two weeks and then you got another PAX arcade expo, this one in the East. Screw this crap, enough with all the gaming media orgies.

Anyway, as usual, these big game devs play a game where they decide what the best video games of all time are. Let me rehash--I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT WHAT YOU MAINSTREAM FOLKS THINK IS THE BEST GAME EVER. But they continue to do it anyway.

AN EPIC ARTICLE GAIZ, LOLOLOL

It gets more interesting as I read this above Kotaku article and some guy has the guts to say that there are better 1998 games other than Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Like Daytona USA 2. Poor souls and their little Nintendo games...like "hehehe, Nintendo, hehehe...Square...ehehe, Capcom" as they drool all over themselves. As of right now, it's the featured discussion which means it's right on top of the article, but that may change in the future:

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Ocarina of Time, like I said, isn't the best game ever.

It isn't even the best game to come out of 1998.

(Daytona USA 2, Need for Speed III, Half-Life, and Resident Evil 2 are just four better games that come off from the top of my head.)

Stephen's more likely to throw out Majora's Mask rather than Ocarina.

Or just throw Monday Night Combat into the mix. Uber will be there and will find the proceedings to be very lulzy.

You get your opinion, of course, but definitive language like "is" and "isn't" is a bit presumptuous when it's your opinion against what feels like most gamers'.

Daytone USA 2 better than OoT?

Um, what?

No, you enjoyed more these 4 games, but they are NOT better than Ocarina. Trust me.

Of course it is.

Half-Life and Resident Evil 2? I don't agree, but I could understand your opinion. NFS3? That's a stretch. Daytona USA 2? Ok, you must be trolling...

The song of storms disagrees with you.

And a typhoon of unimaginable destructive force is heading your way ...blasphemer !

Edited by roll41 at 03/07/11 6:33 PM

I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of the 99/100 on Metacritic.

The only thing wrong with it that Game Revolution could find was the crappy midi music

Edited by DVD Player at 03/07/11 6:37 PM

Sounds like you just don't like OoT.

If the music quality was the worst part of OoT that's saying A LOT too. All too often to this day I still catch myself humming epona's song, song of time or zelda's lullaby.

DAYTOOONAAAAAAAAAAAAA...

Sorry bro, none of those are even in the top 5 best games of 1998.

(Ocarina of Time, Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon, Banjo Kazooie, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, and Space Station Silicon Valley are just five better games that come off from the top of my head.)

Daytona USA 2 > Ocarina of Time = Universe Implosion!

If you're arguing using Metacritic, there's something horribly wrong with your argument.

Nintendo isn't the center of the universe.

It's still one of the best arcade racing games ever, period.

Touche.

Ah, I feel left out since I did a straight-up trade-in for a new PSOne at Funcoland for my N64. I think I had two games for that system Super Mario 64 and Shadows of the Empire.

You sir are bizarre.

Not presenting any reasoning or evidence is an even worse one, mate.

So far you presented an opinion as a fact, way to go. Congratulations. I'd still take my averaged score of multiple prestigious critics over the blind bias of some random commenter any day.

Ocarina of Time did just as much to the adventure genre as Half-Life did to the FPS genre. And I love both of them.

You forgot Cruis'n USA

That was 1994, not 1998.

Water temple and Navi. There, OOT isn't perfect.

Sublime drifting model and I still play it 13 years later. There, Daytona USA 2 is perfect.

Nintendo isn't the center of the universe..? This reply is very poor. From a star commenter, besides.
Ok, Nintendo isn't the center of the universe, and neither Daytona 2 nor Need for Speed III are.

Edited by togovero at 03/08/11 3:10 PM

There we have it, folks. A racing game with drifting. That makes it the most perfect game in the world. A racing game. With drifting.

By that logic, NFS Carbon should be the greatest game in the world! Your attempts at logic are laughable.

From what I can tell, Ocarina of Time revolutionized 3D Adventure games, and presented a pretty good story to boot for that era. Not to mention that the Water Temple, while annoying, is really well thought-out when you kinda think about it. Not to mention the fact that Dark Link completely nullifies anything wrong the Water Temple did. Loved that battle SO much.

And while it's fun to hate on Navi, the "Hey"s and such didn't really happen as often as you remember, as I found out. And I dunno, if they actually removed Navi from OoT, I think I'd actually cry. It's just that little bit of hate that you love, I dunno it's hard to explain. The game wouldn't feel complete without a blue puffball yelling what you need to do.

And you sir, I dearly hope you do not pursue a career in game criticism. You've obviously expressed that you're not particularly good at it.

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EDIT: Okay, gonna throw this in here for Mr. DVD Player. Daytona 2 isn't the best just cause of drifting. Please read the "Why Sega Racing Games Are So Good Article." Great sense of speed, sound & music, tracks, etc. BTW, Need for Speed: Carbon SUCKS, mediocre in every way. And this is coming from someone who clocked 10+ hours in this game.

Game criticism...heh, go back to your little RPG games, get outta here. Another cookie-cutter gamer, what else is new...

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Really, I don't give a damn about Daytona 2 being on these lists (as I've said before), but really, enough with this "best game ever" crap, just shove it up your ass already. BTW, I also agree that Half-Life 1 was a great game and should get more credit.

I tried to leave a comment, but I keep getting this "Post Save Failed" error when I try to leave a comment. So once again, Kotaku proves itself to be a sucky website. I might update this post later if something comes up so hold on. I'll try to get this twinturbo2 guy on the phone any way I can.

YOU WANNA CROWN OCARINA OF TIME'S ASS, WELL CROWN ITS ASS!!!

For the record, I do own OoT and I beat it twice already. Do I think it's a great game? Yes. Do I think it's one of the best ever? Well I personally don't. See, that's whats so crazy--EVERYBODY has a different list of favorite games so why the hell are we making all these generalizations about the mainstream gamer in the first place??