New Consoles: More Complaints & Bad Language

Today is a unique day in that I'm in an incredibly foul mood. So expect this post to be laden with all sorts of fucking shit. I don't care anymore. Buckle up kids cause this is going to be a rough ride.

The nightmare that is "next-gen consoles" continues.  I know the PS4 was announced today, I'll get to that POS in a sec.  But let me mention the new Xbox which drops the bombshell...

Presumably, the new Xbox will make the Kinect a MANDATORY FEATURE.

Look, I know motion controls is the "future" of gaming.  But I will always loathe that piece of shit, the Kinect.  First, I don't know how much this thing's gonna cost (I guess $150 but it may go down over time) but that's just more money that we must shell out.  Then there's the games.  I mean, Microsoft basically WANTS every game to have Kinect support somehow and it'll either A. provide useless features to the game or B. completely butcher the gameplay altogether.

An example of A.  You say "start car" to start a car on NFS: Most Wanted.  WHY IS THIS EVEN NECESSARY???  Sure, I don't mind the "start a car" feature (like in Hard Drivin') but I'd rather turn a key or *LE GASP* press a button to do so.

An example of B.  Sonic Free Riders.  I will NEVER forgive Microsoft (or whoever thought that it would be a good idea to not include REGULAR, OLD-FASHIONED JOYSTICK INPUTS) for butchering this game.  I know Sonic Riders is a "meh" game but I always felt it had some potential if Sega would stop making serious blunders but relying on the Kinect's broken "controls" is the worst sin of all.  So Sonic Free Riders is just a guinea pig in Microsoft's experiment to force people to buy a Kinect.  I  can't stand it, what a piece of shit.

Warning, lots of profanity but who cares.  Fuck this shit.  Fuck you, Kinect.

Oh, and one more thing.  I'm not a tinfoil hat Alex Jones/Ron Paul type, but isn't the Kinect basically a camera that's plugged into the Internet watching your every move as you play the game?  Ooooo, screw you Microsoft for the invasion of privacy.

And then there's the best video game company in the whole world, Electronic Arts.  I'm going to go ahead and post a disclaimer here--I have a couple of really good friends who are actually employed by EA.  They're great people and I'm fairly certain all those guys on the ground level working on the game are avid gamers who want their products to be best as possible.  But I have no respect for the higher-ups at EA who peddle the same bullshit and no matter how much idiots like Reddit Gaming QQ about it, they still suck at the teat of the beast.  I hate you EA.

But what did EA say?  Well, some EA guy's going on about how next-gen consoles won't have backwards-compatibility.  Isn't that great.  We've had the Xbox 360, the PS3, the Wii for about eight years now.  We're sitting on a shit-ton of games.  If those aren't playable with the new console, I simply am not buying it.  I don't care if my Xbox deserves to be in a retirement home, I'm not about to let a massive chunk of my gaming library go null and void purely because Microsoft/Sony doesn't think it's worth supporting.  Yeah sure, there's always the "stream" that they've been talking about.  I know the PS4 has it and you can play PS1/2/3 games on your console.  But only select ones that you probably have to pay for again.  And even still, it's more crap that's only playable through an Internet connection/server (which I'll get to in a sec).

As for used games, well EA does something "right" in saying that they won't completely lock out used games.  But this is the same company EA that'll embrace ANYTHING to ward away used game sales.  DRM's, online passes, shitty Origin sales, free crap if you buy the game new, so big deal.  Like let's talk about the new SimCity.  I have no doubt in my mind that it'll be a solid game (gameplay-wise).  But hell, look at what EA's doing.  First, you have to download Origin (which I will not do, I'm sorry).  Then you have to be online to play it.  Okay, didn't we try stuff like that with Diablo 3 and look what happened with the server downage nightmare?  EDIT: A see-I-told-you-so-moment, BOOM, SimCity servers went down for a day or two now.  There's also the possibility that your Internet connection might be broken.  Whatever, it's just an inconvenience and nothing else, right?

What if, for some reason down the line, EA wants to kill the game.  Unplug the server for whatever reason--EA wants to force us to buy SimCity 6 or maybe the SimCity franchise is just failing altogether so they're going to cut their losses now.  Congrats, we have a AAA-title that can't be played anymore cause the servers have been shut down.  What a piece of shit.  I remember it was't that long ago that OutRun Online Arcade would no longer be supported on Xbox Live and PSN because the Ferrari licensed expired and the game could no longer be purchased starting in 2012 or whatever.  Do we want a bunch of games to live or die by servers that the game publishers themselves can flick a switch and be done with forever?  What the hell happened to just buying a cartridge/CD, popping it into the slot, and just PLAYING IT???

Oh yeah, and then there's this.  Reddit sucks ass but at least some of their members post some smart stuff.  And here's a Redditor posting legitimate complaints about EA's SimCity policies and is subsequently banned.  Yeah, part of it was due to an "error" EA made but still, I have no respect for that company at all.  I will not be buying the new SimCity nor anything else EA gets their hands on.  Sorry.

Anyway, about the PS4, I think I covered pretty much all the aspects (EDIT: If you want a PS4 rundown, check out this infographic) I wanted to about it except for this.  Here's the first racing game to be available on the PS4.  No, it's not another shitty Ridge Racer remake (boy I can't wait for that one).  It's "Drive Club," another little sim racing game kinda like Test Drive Unlimited or Forza: Horizon but with less dubstep and DAT NEW GRAPHICAL PROWESS that'll sell copies.  Give me a break.  Game designers are so out of ideas now that they'd rather just make the same damn racing sim that we've played for the last 15-20 years.  Although had they opted for something more wacky like Burnout, Need for Speed, or even Little Big Planet Karting, I'd probably hate that too.  In other words, racing games nowadays suck.

EDIT: Another goodie imgur pic off Reddit, kinda explains how I feel about this "OMG GRAPHICS" nonsense.

I know this'll sound controversial but I'm serious when I say this.  I think a good 90-95% of video games nowadays piss me off.  I mean it.  I'm sick and tired of the following (EDIT: added two things):

Sick and tired of games that are more interested in becoming a movie than an actual game and/or try to "grow up" and completely lose all fun in the process (the only exception to this rule is Shenmue cause it's awesome, that's why).

Sick and tired of the antics of EA, Activision, Microsoft, Sony, etc. and how gamers circlejerk but never actually do anything about it besides make stupid Internet memes.

Sick and tired of gamer culture like what we see on Reddit, GameFAQs, etc. and their over-infatution and group-think over the same exact damn game companies like Valve, Nintendo, Bethesda, Bioware, Blizzard, etc.

Sick and tired of the increasing amount of violence & edginess in games and how if you dislike it then gamers will attack you with, "you're an idiot, overprotective, hurting free speech, an insane Fox News right-winger, etc."

Sick and tired of motion controls, Facebook, Twitter, DRM's, online servers, monetization/DLC and and other hoops to jump through getting in the way of playing these fucking games.

Sick and tired of the screen bloom, shaders, motion blur, hue changes, and other unnatural that developers drown their game out with in an attempt to look "edgy" when a simple "blue skies" theme will usually do.

Sick and tired of all the stupid games the developers play with the on-disc DLC, stupid glitches that would take minutes to fix, rushed products, questionable game designs, interference from publishers, multi-million dollar budgets that go to make the game shiny but nothing to do with gameplay, and so forth that inhibit the ability to make decent games.

Sick and tired of the gaming media like Kotaku, G4, Spike, GameSpot, IGN and how they piss themselves over new consoles, companies, and gaming intellectuals like Cliff Blesinski, Notch, etc. while they dump on or completely ignore Sega and their impact on gaming all day long.  Also the self-congratulatory speeches of many of the gaming talking heads/producers.

Sick and tired of Need for Speed and the countless awful remakes that do nothing but retard any advances made in the racing genre.

Oh, and I'm sick and tired of watching Sega retreat back to their abysmal selves every time I think they've redeemed themselves.

Fuck video games.  If it weren't for Sega and the small, no, slim, no, INFINITESIMAL chance of being able to help salvage the racing game genre and blue skies I would never be in this position that I am in now as a video game programmer AKA "software engineer."  I would've bailed and let it go down in the clusterfuck that it's in today.  So help us God, that is all.  Pray I don't get fired in the first week of my new job.

EDIT: Okay, I feel better now so don't be too offended from what I said. :(

If there's anything factually inaccurate about what I said in this post then let me know since I may be emotional and am calling it the way I see it but I'd also wish to be right as well.

...I will end on a positive note.  I was reading a Kotaku article on the Dreamcast and one user by the name of "Daemon_Gildas" who left a very inspiring comment about the Dreamcast's culture:

Honestly, if there is one thing I think the Dreamcast did right, it's that it inspired a "fun" tone of video-games.

I know it's strange to say that, because it literally has nothing to do with the hardware itself, but you have to admit; when you look at the Dreamcast's library, it consists almost entirely of "feel-good games".

Much of that was thanks to Sonic Team, who were really at the top of their game. I mean, hell, even Phantasy Star Online managed to be upbeat, and the actual story consisted of two planet-wide apocalypses!

I really wish games would get away from trying to be "mature" all the time. There was a wonderful article right here on Kotaku a few months back, on how Jet Set Radio managed to be relevant, without being violent (I'm too lazy to find and link it). I think that's something Gaming needs more of; games that exist simply to put a smile on your face, with no other baggage.

Lord bless 'em cause he's right on the money.

NEOgaf: Daytona Port & Who The Hell Is David Perry???

In my eternal quest to seek out as much Daytona USA/Sega-related material as possible, I ended up stumbling upon this recent Neogaf topic.  Now I don't post at Neogaf, I post at GameFAQs *groan* and maybe even the official Sega boards (which are up now so go post in topics like these ASAP!!!).

Anyway, this is the Neogaf topic: Why can't we have Sega Racing Classic (Daytona USA) on XBLA/PSN?  Good question.  I mean, I would set my sights a little higher (include Scud Race/Daytona 2/etc.) but a simple port?  It really doesn't seem THAT hard--the game's running on the Ringwide board which is high-tech stuff.  It would be a quick port for an old game that wouldn't be too hard to get up-and-running, would it? 

My only plausible theory is that Sega lost the source code for Daytona USA (oh no) and has only been able to implement minute changes like you see in Sega Racing Classic and in Daytona USA Turbo (a third-party hack BTW).  Maybe they could still work around it, but it would be difficult to hook up such a game with XBL/PSN (I think, I'm not sitting here with all the source code and whatnot).  So in theory, I'd wager a guess that we're more likely to get a port of the Daytona USA 2001 (Dreamcast) with reworked trademarks than we are to get the original Daytona USA/Sega Racing Classic.  EDIT: Consider that Daytona 2001 has better graphics so presumably they'll pick that one over the original 1994 version.  But the odds of both are very slim at this moment--wait for signs of life from Sega first before you get excited.

Or we can just play the "Sega sucks" card (which is always fun BTW) and bash Sega even more than we do now.  Makes sense, right.  That's the approach the NEOgaf thread takes--all 32 or so posts of it.  I'd also like to thank my friend twinturbo/ferrarimanf355 for posting the link to my Daytona 2 Forza 3 cars video for them to see.  But the rest of the topics are generic in nature--oh, why didn't Sega do this or do that, etc.

There are three posts I guess are worthy of being mentioned:

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Ditto for the original Sega Rally. That Sega has completely failed to monetise the two biggest arcade games ever in the home markets apart from terrible old Dreamcast ports speaks volumes about the company.
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That's quite true.  I think there's still a decent market for Daytona USA/Sega Rally players since the game was so popular and is still hanging around.  How hard would it be for Sega to "throw them a bone?"  People will pay attention.

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Originally Posted by FunnyBunny:

I dream of arcade-perfect ports of Virtua Racing, Daytona, Daytona 2, Sega Rally, Sega Rally 2, Scud Race/Super GT... all on one disc for $40.

You and 500,000 people requested the same thing. It will never happen because it makes sense.
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I don't think half-a-million people personally requested a new Daytona but like I said, if Sega throws the game out there (particularly a very small low-risk port of an already popular game), how can they lose?

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Originally Posted by sponk:

Sega seems to be trapped in a time paradoxon. These guys really need to remember their 90s roots, games like daytona, nights (a GOOD HD nights), panzer dragoon ( i cant believe they've let panzer dragoon die), story of thor (oasis), soleil, sonic cd (i said it), shining force (the Srpg) etc are just waiting to pull the money out of my sega heart. But ... no says the guy in tokio, this is what serves you right:

They made a Daytona for Dreamcast, it failed. They made a Panzer Dragoon for Xbox, it failed. They made a new Nights game, it failed. You can wrap "good" around every title, and believe them when they set out to and want to make good games. If the market doesn't like these games, why make more of them.


The only thing they have that has proven to sell is Sonic.


I love those games as much as anyone but the market has proven they don't give a s***. Like bringing back Alex Kidd or Fantasy Zone for the 5,000 people who care. Just isn't worth it to them.


BTW, SCUD Race/Super GT was never a good driving game. You could hardly call it a driving game. More like a slippery hovercar game. It exists in gamers minds because it was the pinnacle of graphics at the time and a somewhat hard to find and expensive arcade machine on release. Like the quote from Dave Perry at the time in a game magazine...people lined up to play San Fran Rush and banks of Super GT sitting there covered in dust. It just wasn't fun.
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To quote someone from Sonic Stadium, "Check out this bulls***."

Scud Race is a "hovercar simulator."  This guy probably played it once or twice, lost badly and got pissed so he goes from topic to topic, smack-talking the game any chance that he gets.  Yes, it's true that we're probably never getting a new Alex Kidd game, but I'd like to think that Scud Race & Daytona are MUCH more marketable than a 10-year-old kid with a mullet.  Besides, if Scud Race is a hovercar game, then what does that make Sega Rally (remember, he's a Sega "fan"), Ridge Racer, Mario Kart, and Fast and the Furious?  What a joke.

So what about this David (or Dave) Perry?  He's trashing Scud Race?  What interview, who is he?  No one else in the NEOgaf topic acknowledges this.  So I do some simple research looking up info on this David Perry bloke and here's what I come up with:

David Perry (born 1967) is an Northern Irish video game developer who has created dozens of video games, the best known of which include Earthworm Jim, MDK, Messiah, Wild 9 and Enter the Matrix. He also founded Shiny Entertainment, where he worked from 1993 to 2006. Shiny created games for many internationally known brands and companies, including Disney, 7 Up, McDonald's, Orion Pictures, and Warner Bros. In 2008 he was presented with an honorary doctorate from Queen's University Belfast for his services to computer gaming. - Wikipedia, holy s*** who else...

EDIT: Ehh, took this part out, it was irrelevant.  His studio Shiny Entertainment was bought out by Atari in 2002.  He now works for Acclaim.  He has a website where he interviewed big game guys like Eugene Jarvis and Tommy Tallarico.  It was too much unnecessary detail...

EDIT: Wait a sec, there's two David Perry's.  One guy is a game developer, the other's a game reviewer who worked on some magazines.  It was most likely the second David Perry who cursed the name of Scud Race...well this is embarrassing.  Whoops!  One interview, two interviews, none of which mention arcades but if he did insult Scud Race...well, who cares now, lol.  Or maybe he didn't insult Scud Race, he was probably stating a fact (a sad one indeed), therefore I got worked up over nothing...  Both David Perry's are probably schmucks anyway.

I hereby declare that this topic on David Perry SUCKS so please don't take this seriously.

Anyway, what am I getting at here?  Digging up dirt on some random game designer for a quote that he "may" have said?  What a waste of time.  But trust me, if there's a secret cabal of game devs from Criterion, Electronic Arts, Raw Thrills, Turn 10, Polyphony Digital (who's in no position to talk after dropping the ball on GT5) and Namco, laughing and lyin' and laughing at Sega, I'll reveal these jerks for who they are and take 'em down a notch.  At least I have the guts to say that their games suck to the world while they try to hide their contempt for Sega cause they're scared...

Oh, and I did find one more thing looking at this David Perry (the game designer) website.  How to pitch a game idea!  What's his idea?  It's actually really simple, but the best method is to get a job with the game company you want to pitch the game to, then pitch the game from within.  From a legal standpoint, you can't just start bombarding companies with stuff and expect them to listen.  It's not that easy.

So I ask you Sega fans this--what are YOU doing about this?  My best advice--get a job with Sega, even as a janitor.  What I plan to do.  We need soldiers to enter the belly of the leviathan.  If no one will, how the HELL else do we expect Sega to change?  Who's populated the Sega studios anyway, people just looking for a buck or people who actually WANT TO MAKE GOOD GAMES???

That is not to say that fan campaigns are useless.  I'll probably touch on those later.

I'm done.  Why does the format for this entry suck so bad?  Thanks Blogspot, you suck.

Penny Arcade Again: More Sega References

Every once in a while, I look at all the Penny Arcade comics that I missed.  Some of it is annoying, some is good.  Here is the Daytona USA Penny Arcade comic.  I really hope that posting these old comics is not a "crime" or copyright infringement, I obviously take no credit for this.

This is the Shenmue comic...wow, this one is old.

From Nov 15, 2000!!!

Then the next two comics have profanity in them so be warned.  You know what--I'm so tired of making a big deal of out profanity warnings...you're all grown-ups now.  I'm only doing this so the GameFAQs mods don't suspend my account for linking to "mature" content (this blog link is in my signature).  Oh, and page breaks, screw 'em, I don't like 'em.

...

...Anyway, 3, 2, ONE.  P-P-P-P-P-PROFANITY...

...

From May 5, 2011.

A bachelor party with Crazy Taxi.  And good fries--oh geez XD

This next one has to do with Kevin Butler and PS3 and since I referenced him about six months ago, I need to show you gaiz this one!!!

From April 25, 2011.

...


END of Profanity, kids can look again.

Ok, that's it, I'm done.  Prett-ay funny stuff, thanks guys.  Cheap & easy blog entry for today...

Weddings, Sony, Sega Money, THE ROCK BAND FC'S

Saturday the 14th, I was invited to be a usher at a wedding.  To say "invited" is an understatement--I was forced by my parents to be an usher for my grandmother's sister who's 60+ years old...someone I don't think I've talked to since I was 5 years old.  But anyway, I rented a tuxedo, went over to this chapel placed, walked an old lady down the isle, and they were married.  And I was mature and I didn't really get in anyone's face about it and then they kissed and I started to feel a bit honored to be there even against my own will.  And that's it, they live happily ever after (I hope).

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Oh boy...anyway, Playstation Network is coming back online and Sony is giving out two free PS3 and PSP games from a small list plus bonuses.  So check it out if you have a PS3.  And then maybe PS3 users will be able to play Sega Rally Online Arcade on May 18th too, be happy PS3 folks.

Here's some "Sega-Sammy" news--they are making money.  Their profits have increased to $513 million, a 105% jump, this fiscal year which ended March 31.  Sonic Colors sells 2.18 units, Iron Man 2 the game sells 1.54 million units (wtf?), Vanquish sells 830,000, Shogun 2 sells 600,000, and Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity sells 370,000.  This is in contrast with my April Fools' joke in which they went bankrupt.



So why is it that when we say Sega "sucks," they're making lots of money?  Yet when Sega was in its "glory days" (Dreamcast era), they were borderline bankrupt.  So is it true that appealing to fans causes you to lose money?  Well, that just applies to Sega.  Nintendo, Capcom, Microsoft, Electronic Arts, Activision (errr...no), they all make money when catering to fans.  Sega operates in opposite world and all money they make will be spent on publishing random games as well as distributing UFO catchers and pachinko machines.

So isn't Sega great?  SEGA VICTOLY, ROUND OF APPLAUSE!!!

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And as you can see, as a loser who's going through a major slump right now trying to get into graduate school (which is coming along now), it's small victories like this that get me by.  RB3 Xpert Pro Keys Smash Mouth's Walking on the Sun FC!!!!  THE EFF-CEE!!!  Dammit, busted my ass on this one (I don't like this song much, but I rated it a 5 cause I was so stoked).  I would hate to play this song for hours to not FC it and be pissed that I wasted my evening.  I actually have to get back to the progress I've made on RB Pro Keys but I'll save it for later.

BUT WAIT, one more thing...why did the number of poll votes jump from 31 back down to 19?  What the hell is this crap?  That poll has glitched up many times before, you suck, Blogspot.

Ridge Racer Has A "Daytona" Problem (And Incredible Reggie)

I don't mean in terms of "competition" (although we do know that Daytona wipes the floor of Ridge Racer...it's just that Sega has no initiative to continue the series while Namco keeps plugging along), but in terms of "sound clips."

When you bring up Daytona USA, one of the things that comes to mind is the infamous "Dayyyttonnnaaa!!!" and "Rollinnnngg Sttarrrttt!!" clips.  It just is cause it's so nutty.  For Sega Rally, it's "Game Over Yeeaahhhh!!"  Proving that Sega of Japan is completely out of touch with Western culture.

What's Ridge Racer's quote?  "It's Ridge Racer!  Riiidddgggeee Raaacceerrr!!!"



Kaz Hirai, the Representative Corporate Executive Officer and Executive Deputy President of Sony Corporation, is responsible for putting Ridge Racer back on the map (2006).  It's good advertising!  Like "Double A-honkhonk-M C O!" or "Ba ba ba ba ba, I'm lovin' it."  We know that Namco paid off Kaz Hirai to say this.

"My work here is finished."

Seriously, Harai-San, go explain to the world the ineptness of Sony and the Playstation Network.  "Don't frag the messenger," he says.  EDIT: He also takes a seven-second bow.  For the record, when I'm reading this years later while basking in the glory of my words, PSN was hacked and the servers went down for several weeks so don't you forget it.

"Not even I can help you now."

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And I was looking up other video games spokespeople (in the YT related videos...I'm awesome) and here's Reggie of Nintendo.

Reginald Fils-Aime, President and Chief Operating Officer of Nintendo of America, has more than enough "cool" quotes.  He's probably badass material.  Goodness, why can't Sega get anyone who's clean and articulate like this?  Instead, we got Yu Suzuki mumbling around (God bless him), Toshihiro Nagoshi going out to bars and getting tans, and the rest of Sega is making urinal games...I mean--what the hell's going on here?  How the MOTHER-F****N HELL DID SEGA STOOP SO LOW???  Gee whiz.  MAKE THE GOOD GAEMZ ALREDY SEGA!?!!!11

EDIT: I guess it's up to the fans to step up and Save Sega now.  Let's do this.

Living On Candy Bars And Black Ops (And PS3 Hackers)

Mmm, these mini Crunch bars are really good.  You know, you ought to run over to Wall-Mart and check out all the discounted candy they have.  I still assume they have it.  Just cause it's not Easter doesn't mean you can't eat candy.

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But anyway...for some mini-news.  Nintendo is gonna release a new console in 2012 and everyone assumes it will crush this current lineup of consoles.  I don't care; it will probably be just a Wii 2.0, kind of like how the 3DS is an upgraded DS.  Blahblahblah, Sony and MS are probably going to release new consoles in 2014 so I really wonder how much better these games will look and what will happen to our old 360/PS3 accounts (achievement points, DLC, etc.).  Eh, I don't think it'll be as pretty as everyone suggests.  I really don't know how much better these consoles can get now.

Virtual reality?  Not like Virtua Racing/Fighter, CERTAINLY NOT Virtual Boy, but actual virtual reality?  What a load of crap.  Stick to your little iPhone games, people.  That's the future of gaming--little $2 apps...

Speaking of the PS3, which has been hacked BTW, this is not the first time the server's gone down.  Oh my, how much we gamers rely on these servers to run our consoles.  Ok, I've already talked about the "servers going down = RIP console" theory over and over again.  I hardly ever use my PS3 other than to play Blu-Ray movies (even then I hate movies so I never use it at all, HA).

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EDIT: Turns out this PS3 breach may be a bigger f'n deal than normal.  Potential security info like passwords ,addresses, credit card numbers, etc..  1.4 of the 77 mil PS3 accounts hacked.  Now imagine if something happened to your trophies/achievement points, then I would be pissed.  EDIT AGAIN: UK Resistance is alive again!! Only to take advantage of their blissful dream come true.

Funny enough, there is a game by Introversion Software called Uplink (click for demo/pics).  You play as a hacker who steals money from banks, data from big companies, court evidence, etc.  You control the "desktop" of a hacker, trying to use password crackers and stuff while racing against the clock before security catches up on you.  Nowhere near as "severe" as Introversion's other game, Defcon: Everybody Dies, but when you consider the implifications of a company rep coming out to say, "Hey everybody, we just lost hundreds of millions of dollars/user accounts overnight, we're sorry," you gotta admit that is pretty heavy.

 Rofl.  *gets blown up*
Thanks to this dude whom I stole pic from 

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Really, to tell you the truth, this last month has been excruciating.  I really haven't been able to do anything (besides the Disney trip) besides play video games with myself.  Mostly Black Ops because I'm pathetic like that.  It's gotten to the point where I become extremely frustrated with just about anything bad that happens.  There hasn't been any room for opportunity here.

I've yet to receive any sort of feedback from my Sega job application which is no surprise.  Just forget about it--Sega wants nothing to do with me.  Fine, keep churning out lousy movie adaptations and bad DC port rehashes, awesome job guys.  My SEGA Job Application.

I'm also nearly done with the FIEA application process; just need to do the fabled Production portfolio.  I will probably have to work on that alone for the next week or so.  I really hope I get accepted to FIEA.  I just want to learn about game design and programming.  But they're sticking me with pins and needles and it ain't good.  Odds are they'll see a minor flaw in me and just dump me in favor or some other Mountain Dew-drinking "cool" dude so I get sent to Full Sail where God knows what goes on there.  My visits to FIEA and Full Sail.

I really want to get going somewhere since I'm being driven crazy now.  I hope I get out of here and face new opportunities.  Just want to do SOMETHING and prove my worthiness but no--not happening since the world has been dropped on its head recently and I've been trying to keep my cool all this time.

Until then, just chillin out, playing some Black Cops, trying to hang on to Sega dreams while I'm at it...

Analysis: Cheapo Games Versus Top-Flight Games

NEWS: All Sega games on XBLA are on discount (up to 50%)...this ends on April 25 so go buy whatever you can, particularly OutRun Online Arcade and Crazy Taxi.

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Now for something with substances.  I was going to talk about something else, but I saw this article on Joystiq and I guess this is a good discussion point.

Mike Capps, President of Epic Games, faces uncertainty on the future of games in the next five to ten years.  Now the studio "Epic" right there causes me great concern.  See this article (Warning: Profanity).  But anyway, he makes games for a living and I don't so he has some credibility.

First he talks digital redistribution of games.  Now is this a good idea?  It can be convenient, yes, but I talked until I was blue in the face about XBLA games like OutRun Online Arcade, Root Beer Tapper, and Paperboy being removed from the Marketplace.  Also consider popular games that rely on big servers saving massive amounts of player data, such as Call of Duty and World of Warcraft.  What if the devs decide to pull the plug on them?  All that work gone.

The difference between retail and digitally-distributed games is that you can preserve copies of hard games in physical (cartridge, CD) or memory (ROMs) format, but with digital games that are somehow hardwired to these big servers like Xbox Live and Playstation Network, they can go away and never come back.  Horrowing thought.

But what's more interesting is that he compares these big-ass $60 games to these small $2 games like Angry Birds.  Now to tell you the truth, I have grievances with both of them.  But what Mike is trying to say is that $2 games will take over $60 games.  Here's the way I see it:

The good news is that I think this proves that big, bloated game studios are pissing us off.  Back in the NES days, you could have studios of 10-20 people work on a game and it was (hopefully) good.  Nowadays, you have teams of 200+ people.  And because of the massive amount of effort to make these games, they cost a lot because of all the labor (duh).  So to ensure maximum profit, they always aim for broad demographics that will guarantee big sales--dirty, futuristic FPSes, medieval/Final-Fantasy/WoW adventures, Burnout racers, stupid Kinect games, etc.  You wouldn't get "neat" games like Super Meat Boy and Castle Crashers out of big devs.

Also, I really wonder how much "bigger" games can really get.  Aside from improvements in hardware that can render more polygons at faster speeds, could visuals really get any better?  You could spit out an Atari game in a few weeks, a NES game in a month, a SNES game in a few months, a N64 game in a year, an Xbox 360 game in a few years...where does it end?  More details and intricacies...well you may find a few shortcuts (i.e. a terrain generator that allows you to design a whole island FarCry-style without having to click every single polygon) but it's not getting any easier.  Stuff like scripts, sounds, art, etc. can't be sped up.

This is a bit of a glamorous return to old-school gaming.  The days of these big-ass movie-like games are taking a hit.  Okay, cool, I just played through an "epic" adventure in glorious hi-def graphics, now "where's the beef?"  Games like Angry Birds, Minecraft, Super Meat Boy, etc. say "Screw graphics and the story, here's gameplay."  Now that's pretty good.  Because these small teams are able to make games, you start getting more niche games rather than these "gimme" games like Madden and Call of Duty.  This is healthy because we're starting to see some new ideas pop up.

...But on the other hand, this move towards simple games can be bad.  I think in sort of a way, we've become more of a shallow bunch thanks to constant commercials, reality TV, "epic" YouTube videos, iPhone apps, etc.  This is where simple instant-gratification games take over, like Bloons Tower Defense and Farmville.  They are as simple as clicking on a few things and you "win."  Ooo, the monkeys are popping the balloons!  Ooo, my farm is bigger than my friend's farm, EPIC!!  Now just because a game skips on story doesn't mean it has to be shallow--take Rock Band and Daytona USA--no story, somewhat repetitive, but very challenging with lots of variety and room for improvement.  I want to see more games like those two.

I already talked before about how Cliff Blesinski said that the "middle-budget" game is dead.  Hopefully not.  I am getting sick and tired of these story/theatric-based big-budget games that don't last more than a few weeks (see Homefront and Medal of Honor), but I don't want to see crap little games that go for instant satisfaction more than anything.  I hope Cliff is wrong, but I don't know.

Either way, gamers win because they get games for cheap.  Too many fancy games and thus the devs have to jostle for sales by dropping their prices.  For instance, I bought Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 together off Steam for about $10 (problem is my laptop can't run either of them, rofl).  But this is not good for big game studios who will probably have to re-evaluate what games they make.

And now you know the whole story.

OutRun Online Arcade Removal A "Legit" News Story Now

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/30919/End_Of_Ferrari_Deal_Pulls_Segas_OutRun_Online_Arcade_From_XBLA_PSN.php


http://kotaku.com/5662675/an-outrun-game-is-about-to-be-terminated

It's really kind of funny now how my friend isamu noticed this about two weeks ago, yet now it's official news.  Then again, it's not like people cared about this game until one person leaked this, then they jump on the bandwagon.  So we're sad that ORA is only available for Xbox 360, but it gets worse.  The Xbox 360 version will be removed at the end of 2011 because of an expiry on the Ferrari license.

And do you want to know WHY this is happening?  This Eutechnyx developer is making another game called Ferrari: The Race Experience which is killing OutRun 2.  Isn't that great?  So basically, this Eutechnyx company, responsible for such gems as 007 Racing and Big Mutha Truckers, gobbles up the NASCAR (and thus the Daytona) and Ferrari licenses, thus screwing Sega twice.  Geez man, this pisses me off.  No new Daytona game, no new OutRun game.  EDIT: Ok, so the Daytona license is overpriced but not exclusive but come on, two games mirroring Sega classics back-to-back...it's just weird how this company breaks out all of a sudden with this kind of stuff.  I find it somewhat intimidating...

Of course you could still release these, but you have to use these crappy generic logos which would really be a burden on the games IMO...  Like if I see a Daytona/OutRun game with these phony baloney generic cars like in Split/Second, it would irritate me very much.  If they can make the cars look exactly identical to the originals, then maybe not so much, but still, it may be copyright infringement if you copy the original designs anyway.

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Now about this news story.  The main reason why this is reported is because it's another instance of digitally-downloaded content being removed forever.  Like Paperboy, Root Beer Tapper, and other Midway games.  I've already touched on that before--this isn't new.  But it does make you think, all these GREAT arcade games and downloadable content (like Rock Band songs) you can download from servers, it's such a wonderful convenience!  Until it gets removed from the server forever and then it becomes a relic of the past.  You can't just run to the store and buy a hard copy of these games.  We saw this back when the original Xbox's plug was pulled, and now I'm worried about stuff like Perfect Dark.

There's no guarantee that Microsoft will get rid of this stuff any time soon, I mean, unless they want half the gaming community to riot.  As a matter of fact, if I were a game developer who watched my product disappear into thin air, I would be PISSED.  Let me repeat that, PISSED.  Games like Limbo, Braid, and Castle Crashers are in harm's way too.

This is just evident of how the game industry works.  Release a game, then kill it about five years later, only to be replaced by the next cool thing.  I don't like it, I don't like it at all.

Now you might say, "So what, these new games will be better than the old ones!"  Really?  There's no guarantee!  Let me give you a good example--Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.  The old ones were great (2, 3, 4, Underground), but after that, the series went to crap.  So there is no guarantee that the new ones are good.  Or even worse, what if there is NO sequels to be heard of?  Some games off the top of my head are Advance Wars, Star Fox, Monster Rancher, DAYTONA USA, I could go on.  Now these aren't digitally-downloaded games--you own hard copies of these (thank God), but if they were downloaded, then that's another story.

I think I'm blowing this way out of proportion, but who knows.  Five years down the road, this could be a damn big deal.  I think the way to at least alleviate this somewhat is to make all content free and available to transfer from console to console, but Microsoft's stupid policy of prohibiting games not purchased by the original account just gets in the way.  So that's great, you can still have the game on the hard drive, but you can't play it.  You can't "prove" that you were the original owner because the servers are down forever.  I hope MS does something about this, but I don't think so.

...........

But now, back to OutRun 2.  It kind of pisses me off that the fact that we won't have OutRun 2 is secondary to the DLC issue.  So no OutRun 2, now some people are running to its defense, shedding tears.  Which is good, but where were these people back when the game was released?  These are the same people that IMO either A. didn't play the game at all or B. played the demo, but went back to playing Burnout afterwards.  Like take a look at this comment from Luke Plunkett of Kotaku:

So it's an Xbox 360 exclusive! Well, not really. The Xbox 360's exclusivity is temporary, with that version scheduled to be removed from Xbox Live Arcade in December 2011. After which, the game will just be...gone.

Which is a damn shame, as I loved it. Blue skies, fast cars, big drifts...it's a fantastic racer. Or should I say, was a fantastic racer.

I don't know.  It's flattering so I do have to give the guy credit.  But come on people, I'm not buying all of it.  Besides, this game's still available on the PS2/Xbox (with more content I might add) so are you going to go out and buy that too?  At least this news will increase ORA sales a little which is good to see this game get some exposure again. 

Anyway, that's about it.  Of course, you should go buy ORA if you haven't already.  It's just 800 MSP ($10) so if you don't get it, you're an idiot.  Plus not to mention that the PS2/Xbox OR2 games are about $5 in bargain bins at GameSpot so that's a great deal too.  Goodbye.

Outrun And Sega Rally Under Attack? (More Yakuza, Sonic)

This is a good bit of investigative reporting by my buddy isamu on the ORA board.  I'm repeating this just for any readers not from that board...

OutRun Online Arcade is available on the Xbox 360 in any country.  On the PS3 however, it's only available in the UK store.  Well it turns out that he and many others have scoured the UK store to find the game removed altogether.  So basically OutRun 2 is not on the PS3 anymore.  What???

This isn't the first time that a downloadable game has been removed from an online store.  Paperboy, Root Beer Tapper, and other Midway classics have been sucked under (Midway went bankrupt).  Same thing with Yaris which was free BTW (it was a promo game).  You can redownload them again ONLY if you purchased it previously.  Presumably, the game is still on the server but it's not for sale for some reason which makes no sense because you're missing out on the opportunity to earn money...

I think we should all play OutRun Online Arcade on the Xbox 360 in memory.  Just cause we need to do SOMETHING and give Sumo Digital props for making the game more available to a larger crowd (although it wasn't a big seller).  People, you had no excuse to try out the demo cause it's right there in front of you...

To make things worse, Sega Rally Revo has been pulled from the PSN store too.  Yes, I know that Revo isn't considered a powerhouse Sega title, but it's still one of Sega's babies.  So that's two Sega racers gone.  I'm not 100% sure this is true, but I'll let you know if something comes up.

Why would something like this happen all of a sudden?  Does Sega want out?  Does Sony hate Sega?  Is this a stupid mistake?  The last thing we need is every trace of Sega goodness to go away...look out for the future...

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And then add this just because I saw it.  This is entirely in Japan.  New Pokemon game on DS and new Sega Yakuza (under some weird name) game on the PSP.  FIGHT!  Pokemon outsells Yakuza 5 to 1 despite the fact that PB/W has been out for a week already.  This is from Sept. 20 to 26.  All in all not surprising.  Why is Sega making all these PSP games, much less ones that'll never come out in America anyway?  Who knows, who cares.  Congrats on coming in second I guess, Sega has a reason to hold their heads high now.

01. Pokemon Black / White (DS) - 829,000 / 3,386,000

02. Kurohyou: Ryu ga Gotoku Shinshou (PSP) - 174,000 / NEW

http://kotaku.com/5652709/pokemon-black--white-show-the-yakuza-whos-the-boss-in-japan

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And one more thing cause I'm teeming with information.  We're talking about the new Sonic games.  Sonic 4: Episode 1 is coming out in mid-October so that's pretty good.  I'm pretty sure it'll be 1200 MSP but I can't prove it.  Made by Dimps, it's a downloadable title.  Yes, Sonic's gonna be GOOD AGAIN!!  And what's best is that it's just the first episode which means more Sonic titles to come!



Looks like Sonic's moving slower in this one, apparently to improve the controls.  The way he runs looks funny, like his foot movement is potato-shaped or something.  Oh yeah, and I know Sonic 1 had Starlight, Sonic 2 had Casino Night, and Sonic 3 had Carnival Night, but this looks like another Casino level...there's enough of those already, but whatever, that's ok, I like that...  Also, didn't I see a boss battle on Green Hill zone with Eggman and the ball thing?  I think it's good to "revisit" old Sonic classics, but come on, make something semi-original.  Who knows, it may be good.

http://forums.sega.com/showpost.php?p=6228418&postcount=215 - Sonic 4: Episode 2 is currently not in development yet.

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Sonic Colours (yes, I like the British spelling) is coming out mid-November and Takashi Iizuka of Sonic Team says...:

This is a similar title to Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, but the similarity comes from the concept – keeping the tempo very fluid.  A similar concept applies here. Is it the best since then? We always strive to make the best Sonic game yet. It’s at least on a par with Sonic Adventure Battle 2 [sic], and I’m confident it is one of the best Sonic games ever.

http://www.tssznews.com/2010/09/22/iizuka-says-sonic-colors-one-of-the-best-sonic-games-ever/

I've been looking up some info on this Iizuka guy and he's been working on most every Sonic Team game since Sonic 3...  So looking at the footage of Sonic Colours, this looks just like Sonic: Unleashed except without the nighttime Werehog stages.  If it turns out like Sonic Adventure 2 (which I thought was great but remember, not EVERYONE liked it), then it will be alright.  I'm not too stoked though.  Also, it's just gonna be on the Wii and DS which sucks too--no Xbox 360 or PS3 love.

Oh No, We Suck Again! (Japan/Nintendo)

Following my post on how Keiji Inafune said Japanese games suck, we get another wonderful followup along the lines of OHWAITYOUFORGOTABOUTTHISYOUDONTKNOWWHATYOURETALKINGABOUT, in other words, Nintendo.  I had a lot of time to mull this...:

http://kotaku.com/5643582/hey-nintendo-is-a-japanese-company-you-know

...BUT WAIT!  Inafune did address Nintendo briefly in this article and gave them some props, so it's not like he's a ignoramus:

http://tgs.gamespot.com/story/6276630/japanese-game-makers-five-years-behind-inafune

But I kind of see what he was saying about the Big N...so here goes:

DISCLAIMER: I'm about to get on Nintendo's case here.  I DO NOT HATE NINTENDO.  I AM NOT A FANBOY.  I'M JUST CALLING IT LIKE I SEE IT.

Nintendo doesn't appear at TGS.  They appear at E3, they go "big."  They're responsible for making games like Zelda, Mario, and Pokemon which are gaming icons.  That's great.

Nowadays, I think Nintendo has been underwhelming.  First of all, console sales.  Wii sold about 70 mil, DS sold 140 mil.  THAT'S A LOT.  But other than all those sales, what does Nintendo have?  Motion controls?  Sad to say it, but Xbox 360 is quickly usurping the Wii as the most robust console of this generation.  Xbox 360 costs more money, but it's very versatile--DVD player, Xbox Live Arcade, Hi-Def screen, etc.  Nintendo Wii has the overstayed motion controls and lame friend codes.  Ask anyone who's played SSB: Brawl online how those are working out.  Besides, who wants to play Brawl with ACTUAL motion controls anyway?  People pissed and moaned about playing Mario Kart Wii with the "Wii-Wheel" so they resorted to using the joypad.

And then Nintendo seems to sparsely release blockbuster games--yeah we just got Super Mario Galaxy 2, but we haven't gotten another console Zelda and it's all about random stuff like "Super Mario Vore Adventure Inside Bowser," or "Samus Wanders Around Another Planet Again," and you know.  And another thing, throw out Nintendo first/second party games and they really don't have much except for the motion control gimmick which MS and Sony are slowly catching up on.

Hmm, this is interesting!  As a matter of fact on this very day, a GameFAQs poll that asks "Which console has the best game library?" further proves my point...  Xbox 360 - 37%  ,  PS3 - 26%  ,  DS - 13%  ,  Wii - 5%  ...

And for that reason despite massive console unit sales, you see Wii's collecting dust and 360's running overtime, only to RRoD apparently (lol).  Seriously, if it weren't for the RRoD's, the 360 would be the runaway best console but that holds it back--lousy Microsoft with their 50% RRoD rate...  The PS3 is picking up steam late now that its price is going down and its game library increases.  Arguably the best graphics of this generation.  Seriously, forget about games, the PS3 has a Blu-ray player which is becoming increasingly popular...

In other words, the way I see it, Nintendo seems perfectly content putting the car on cruise control cause they are freakin' Nintendo, nothing bad will ever come of them and everyone will love them.  I also don't think being on their own console is helpful cause frankly, it leaves the 360 and the PS3 as cesspools where Japanese devs get little support from each other.  IN MY OPINION, GUYS.


EDIT: Guess what I'm trying to say is that Nintendo needs to drum up more third-party support...

REPEAT DISCLAIMER: I'm got on Nintendo's case here.  I DO NOT HATE NINTENDO.  I AM NOT A FANBOY.  I'M JUST CALLING IT LIKE I SEE IT.

And then like we said before, Sega and all the cohorts suck too.  Of course, the only thing I don't really get about what Inafune said is that Japan is "five years behind."  I think I touched on that before.  Basically, they're behind on graphics (the Wii) or clever ideas?  Clever ideas....?

This cuts into my next point.  This will probably tick off someone.  Look, I'm a patriotic American, I love my country, God Bless America.  But if it weren't for Japanese game developers, gaming would be a train wreck of catastrophic proportions.  You like Halo?  You like God of War?  You like freakin Burnout?  Well, congratulations, then every single game will be like that.  EVERY GOSH-DANG GAME WILL TAKE PLACE IN SPACE/THE FUTURE (or in the "classical past" like Assassin's Creed or Prince of Persia though they will inexplicably inject some sci-fi elements in there anyway).  Violence and crap movie adaptations galore.  People will worship at the altar of World of Warcraft and sacrifice their time in honor.  Burnout and Fast and the Furious-esque racing games up your ass (Oh Dear God)!  Oh, and you'd get business dudes like this calling the shots:

You know what, this is all theoretical.  It may not turn out that way if Japan bows out.  But don't say that it CAN'T happen.

So, what can be "done" about it?  Nothing really.  I mean, being "five years behind" doesn't really mean anything to me.  It's about selling games that are popular.  And maybe with the exception of a few sparse Japanese games, they're a rare breed in the game market.  You can't "force" someone to like something.  This whole game mentality we have today may not change.  We may be screwed already as far as we know.

And to make this come full circle, look at Sega.  Daytona USA.  We've got to break down the proverbial wall and freakin salvage whatever we can before the world blows up in our face.  Ok, so I'm a crazy lunatic.  I'm out of things to say.  I give Inafune some props for saying what he did.  I'm not exactly smiling on the future either.  Goodbye.

Other Japanese Game Publishers

Okay, I'm looking at some of the GameFAQs polls of the day and they went through some Japanese companies, listed some game series for each, and asked which is your favorite.  Because we know Sega is out there as a big player until they took it in the chin after the DC and were basically neutered, it's kind of interesting to see what their rivals are up to...  Makes me feel bad for Sega, they are basically the laughing stock of Japan as far as I'm concerned.

DISCLAIMER: When I mention this game or that game and get mad, it doesn't mean that the games specifically suck or are bad or that I hate them and wish they didn't exist--they're all good in some way.  I'm just giving you my personal thoughts on the game, not necessarily commenting on the quality of the game unless I so feel like it.

Also, GameFAQs has a bias towards RPG/Adventure games which explains stuff like Zelda >>> Mario, etc.

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Capcom: Resident Evil, Street Fighter, Megaman, THAT'S IT.  The definitive trifecta of horror, fighting, and platform-shooter games.  Surprisingly, RE and Megaman got over 25% each and SF got 13%.  But Capcom has other games like Devil May Cry, Viewtiful Joe, Okami, Dead Rising, Breath of Fire, Phoenix Wright, holy crap, they make Sega look bad, really bad.  They don't have a definitive racing game--they had that Auto Modellista game which as far as I'm concerned is a joke so really.  Overall they are probably #2 behind Nintendo.  This whole 2-D Fighter genre is just too much for games like Tekken or even Virtua Fighter to compete with, sorry.

Konami: They have Metal Gear Solid and that should be all as far as I'm concerned.  Number one choice at 38%.  Oh they have Castlevania too which is 22%.  They also have Contra, DDR, and Silent Hill.  Oh yeah, it was also Konami that made the Enthusia PS2 racing game which was nearly up to par with Gran Turismo but hardly as popular.  I think Sega could take these hooligans but knowing Sega, they will putter across the finish line with four blown tires.  Next.

Namco-Bandai: Tales of Fill In The Blank is number one, 27%.  Okay, I just don't give a damn about stupid RPGs, just let it pass.  They made Pac-Man, another juggernaut, but since people have their heads up their asses, they don't care about it anymore--10%.  You also got Ridge Racer, the series that was most identical to Daytona USA and Sega, but they've kind of fizzled out despite getting numerous versions for recent consoles.  Sega is still #1 baby when it comes to racers.  Tekken and Soul Calibur are still legendary but once again, they aren't making headline news.  The most recent SC games are just getting obnoxious as far as I'm concerned.  Katamari Damacy, okay yeah, roll up stuff.  They also have Time Crisis which is one of the few arcade games left that I actually am interested in.  They also have Klonoa and Digimon for the kiddies.  No one cares anymore, right.  If there's a company that's most similar to Sega in terms of games and at falling asleep at the wheel, it's Namco so I sympathize with them a little.  Just a little.

Square-Enix: Final Fantasy (51%), Kingdom Hearts (18%), Chrono Trigger (15%).  Just walk away cause nothing else matters.  The less said about Square, the better, although that Einhander game was kind of cool.

Sega: Okay, here we go.  Root for the home team!!  The choice are...:

Panzer Dragoon -- 2.48%

Phantasy Star -- 12.08%

Shenmue -- 6.54%

Shining Force -- 7.14%

Sonic the Hedgehog -- 55.8%

The House of the Dead -- 6%

Total War -- 4.41%

Virtua Fighter -- 2.62%

Yakuza -- 2.92%

What kind of lousy-ass choices are these!?  Virtua Fighter--3%!?!?  Total War, Yakuza, WTF?  Shenmue has like two games and it gets at least 7%, wow how amazing.  I see a lack of Daytona USA but nothing could be more predictable.  That reminds me that Sega has always been one to spread the goodness around to many, many series, but still, looking at the choices we have...oh man, how weak.  Take this poll 10 years ago and you'd see something else.  But really, if it weren't for Sonic, Sega would be dead.  Oh man, this is sad.

Nintendo: Zelda THAT'S IT EVERYONE I JUST SUMMED UP NINTENDO.  Okay, if it takes just one good game to destroy the others, then how about SUPER MARIO, POKEMON, Kirby, Metroid, Star Fox, Animal Crossing, Smash Bros., F-Zero, Donkey Kong, Pikmin, Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, Wii Sports, I mean, just look at the lineup in Smash Bros Brawl.

............

I mean, look at Smash Bros. Brawl.  Sega and Konami were performing all sorts of favors (what kind, you use your imagination) just to get ONE of their characters in the game.  So there you go, Sonic and Solid Snake, yucking it up with Nintendo's cast of characters...

Did I mention that Nintendo has sold over 74 million Wiis and 132 million DSes worldwide as of June 2010?  Let that sink in for a moment.

.....

Sega has no chance, they really don't.  At least we know that Nintendo just plain sucks at racing games cause every Mario Kart game they've released has been highly flawed with maybe the exception of the original SNES version (tiers, snaking, stupid sprite cardboard cutout characters, you name it).  And the latest F-Zero game?  Sounds great but that was SEGA that had a hand in making that game, did you know that?  Sega is still #1 in racing games, sorry, call me a homer, but that's how I see it.

Oops, forgot about the poll results...Zelda got 100% just leave it at that.

Oh yeah, there's one more game company I forgot to mention...let's get it over with.

Sony: Sony hasn't been one to make games but they have some damn good hardware.  The PS3 makes the Xbox 360 look like a baby's toy.  God of War run away with this at 33%, is there any surprise?  I mean, I know I'm going to seem like an ass, but what's the big deal with that game?  You play as some burly man with two swords, slashing the crap out of monsters and other stuff, you kill Greek gods and have rough sex with the goddesses.  Tons of gore, violence, and sex.  Am I missing something here, or does this game seem like a glaring embarassment of society in general?  You have Ratchet and Clank at 18%, Gran Turismo at 12%, and Twisted Metal at 10%.  Gran Turismo is one of the only good racing games left and frankly, I don't see anything else barring Mario Kart and MAYBE Burnout getting higher ratings.  SOCOM, Little Big Planet, yada yada yada, Sony's more of a hardware company and recently the PS3 is really picking up steam so look out Nintendo and Microsoft.

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There's other companies though that the polls forgot to mention and two come to mind--Tecmo and SNK.  Tecmo made Monster Rancher/Farm which is one of my favorite series of all time but that's six feet under.  They've also made Dead or Alive, Ninja Gaiden, Fatal Frame, and Tecmo Super Bowl which at least have some relevance today.  SNK made Metal Slug and a load of fighters such as King of Fighters.  They also made their own console, the Neo Geo, which bit the bullet just like the Dreamcast so at least we gotta give props where they're due.

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Wow, this was really painful to go through.  Sega, what a lame pathetic company to be a fan of.  Nintendo, Capcom, and Square are laughing it up while Sega is out on the street begging for spare change.  I can't take this anymore--Dreamcast was Sega's Alamo, and they've lost it.  I got a headache, I'm gonna go do something else and go away for a while.  geez...

Oh yeah, and one more thing.  If you think I'm a Sega fanboy who's blowing hot air, hey, take a loookat all of the Sega video game franchises here, cause there's a lot:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sega_video_game_franchises

No excuse for Sega to be dirt compared to everyone else.

Real Video Game Advertising Badasses

First, I mentioned Chicken McNuggets in a post yesterday--well, this lady attacks a McDonald's employee because she didn't get Nuggets at 6:30 AM...what a disgusting display, won't even bother embedding it.  Somehow, this is national news/AP worthy.  Oh well, if you want to be famous worldwide, just act like a real idiot.  See folks, I call the news before it even happens!  So read my blog more often and you will be on top of everything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Wx8FsDl5Ak

Anyway, let's talk about some great product spokesmen.  We need badasses like this--people who are battle-hardened, slick, confident, make your bones shake.  Considering how wobbly and pathetic the average gamer is, it is no wonder that everyone looks upon these kind of people in sheer awe.  We need more real men like this in gaming.

Sega Saturn had Segata Sanshiro, he starred in Japanese commercials only and was a Judo master who just destroyed stuff and told people to buy a Saturn.  This....is the best thing I've ever seen in my life.


Did that guy just explode?


Best Christmas ever!!


I had to edit this one in.  Too good to be drafted by lousy MLB teams!  *cue theme song*


Who would shoot a nuke at Sega HQ?  Freakin Nintendo or something, those bastards (Sony would launch its own nuke later in the form of the PS2).  Anyway, Segata Sanshiro saved Sega once...but he can't save us again...it's up to us now...

And now another more recent guy--Kevin Butler, PS3 VP of Inspiration and Perspiration.  Holy cow, Sony is genius.  We need more straight-shooters like this.  I'm serious, everyone else who speaks is either a nerd or incredibly confused.  He's neither of these!

Now I gotta buy a PS3.  Sony makes great hardware, there's no doubt about it.


You wish you were this charismatic.

Speaking of ModNation Racers, did you know you could create your own tracks?  I thought you could only make your own characters and cars, but TRACKS?  This is big IMO.  Check out this Royal Raceway from Mario Kart 64.  Not picture perfect but looks damn good, I'm surprised!  I love track/map customization.  If you have a PS3, you should give this one a look.  Yes, a mainstream racing game I don't hate, it be folks...



Will I ever stop embedding videos?  I CANNOT.

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EDITEDITEDIT: This is super-old but there's also Reggie Fils-Aime, click here to read about him.  Sorry, pissed off Nintendo fans.

 "You suck and so does Sega."