Ridge Racer Is OVER THE LINE

Okay, so Ridge Racer: Unbounded has been out for some time and it's yet another entry in the conga line of "wreck-em-ups" that receive positive scores from the press--Burnout, Flatout, Split/Second, Need for Speed, now RR: Unbounded.

A novel twist on the racing genre!

I could pick this game apart but it's no use.  I don't have the energy for it, God's honest truth.  But really, at this stage in the game, can anyone tell me what makes these dingy, urban racers that great???  What exactly do these games do differently that makes them worthwhile?  Oh, a generic track editor.  Oh, the ability to drop obstacles in front of other peoples' cars.  Oh, the ability to drive through concrete walls.  That's outstanding.  It really makes a world of difference.

The racing genre only consists of three players: the sims (Forza, GT), the wreck-em-ups (Burnout, this), and Mario Kart.  Insert rage quotes here.

BTW, I checked out GameSpot's review score for Ridge Racer: Unbounded and it's nonetheless flattering.  A solid 8.0.  Okay, I'm sorry, GameSpot, but you went over the line there.  I can't stand your site anymore.  You mark Ridge Racer an 8, you're in a world of pain.  Has the whole world gone crazy???  Am I the only one around here who gives a shit about racing games??? (yes, I swore)

MARK IT ZERO!!!

The Big Lebowski.  And to make it worse, the "normal" Ridge Racer for PS Vita is even worse.  Abysmal scores and a small amount of rehashed content.  3.0 on GameSpot.  It's like no one's tries to make decent racing games anymore unless it falls in one of the three categories above.  I guarantee Namco will put more effort into putting Reiko Nagase in the new PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale than they will making a quality Ridge Racer.  Who cares, Namco is hardly a friend to Sega--stealing all their ideas and stuff.  Good riddance, Namco.

Oh, and one more thing.  What's with Kotaku's post on Sega's Rise of Nightmares PR document?  Basically, the game is terrible (I can't agree or disagree there), therefore Sega planned to deceive everyone with this sub-par product as described in this concealed document discovered via WikiLeaks or some laid off Sega employee's USB drive.  There's nothing conspiratorial about this at all, Kotaku, these are written all the time in the business.  Does the document say "make the game suck and rip everyone off"???  You're a general gaming blog, Kotaku, so stop with the cheap shots at Sega, it's getting old (I can though cause I'm awesome and you know I'm right).

NASCAR, WoW, Nagoshi, Rise of Nightmares, MW vs. Battlefield, Cheap Trick

Here's a random collection of thoughts that I want to get out NOW but am too lazy to sort it out.  Here goeeesssssssssssss (woah this post is BIG)

------------

Oh man, it really stinks that this NASCAR race at Atlanta got postponed from Sunday to Tuesday because of the rain.  I was at school when it came on (3:00 PM) so I missed it.  Man, I hate that crap--friggin keep sporting events on the weekends or in the evening  But this race was good cause Jeff Gordon won (and not Kyle Busch) and they were slippin and slidin all the way to the end. 



Yay, 85 wins!!!  I'm pretty sure there's people out there who want at least ONE win, rofl.  Like that Mike Skinner guy who keeps DNF'ing and coming in last every race.  I really gotta feel bad for that guy.

WIN, JEFF, WIN!!! STEAL THE CHAMPIONSHIP AWAY FROM JIMMIE!!!  GO FOR YOUR FIFTH AND EVEN THE SCORE ONCE AND FOR ALL!!!

------------

These World of Warcraft ads that keep popping up on GameFAQs.  With the dancing orcs and humans...I swear, if I see that thing one more time, I'm going to punch someone in the face.  Yes I know WoW is losing subscribers because, gee whiz, don't you think perpetually paying money to walking around a vacant landscape clicking on animals for XP gets old after a while?  And no--I flat out refuse to post a pic of that ad since it's just that bad.

------------

Some Kotaku Speak-Up thing.  What are some instances in which you love a game but not its creator?  Well I can name one--Daytona USA and Toshihiro Nagoshi.  Sorry, Nagoshi, you have to earn my love back...

Anyway, speaking of Nagoshi, he says he wants his new Yakuza Team to be a great Sega studio like AM2.  Not bloody likely.  But I must give Nagoshi a bit of credit since he's still ambitiously working for Sega while I have no idea what the hell else everyone's up to.

------------

Anyway, here's a funny story on SEGAbits.  So Rise of Nightmares is off to good reviews!  7.0...8.0...not bad right.  Heh, GameSpot review--5.5.  Man, now that's turrible...who cares what GamesPOT has to say.

I almost give up with review scores anymore.  Yes, they're fun to write, but they're getting awfully subjective.  I say screw 'em.  And as a game developer, you should make that your mindset or else your feelings will get hurt an awful lot through your career...

In the end though, I feel that this Dead Island game will get a lot more attention that Rise of Nightmares so that's awfully sad.  Well, Dead Island doesn't require the Kinect so they already have one-leg up on the competition.

------------

Oh yeah, did you know that DragonCon just happened recently?  Another convention comes and goes!  DragonCon is some fantasy/sci-fi/comic thing, nothing new here.  Also, there was that Call of Duty convention too.  Yeah, apparently with fun games to play like Juggernaut Sumo Wrestling and Paintball in an arena that's supposed to look like the MW2 Scrapyard level but doesn't even come close.  A furry convention is more interesting than this.

Also one more thing--this Call of Duty vs. Battlefield stuff is mega crap I keep reading about.  Neither is the "good guy" here.  Call of Duty is part of evil Activision and Battlefield is part of evil Electronic Arts. They're both over-rated and shouldn't have so many megalomaniacs following them. And this is coming from someone who played the crap out of CoD:Black Ops and Battlefield 1942 back in the day.

Damn I love Call of Duty campaigns.

Now about Battlefield.  Only good thing about BF:1942 was the vehicles, especially the jeeps (which would self-destruct if you left them idle for 15 seconds). The shooting sucked tho, the maps were WAY too big, and my old computer could hardly run it...

YOU BOTH LOSE, good day sir!

------------

Oh yeah, Cheap Trick is in Rock Band now.  Live at Budokan.  What's up with Japan's obsession with Deep Purple and Cheap Trick anyway???



DA DREAM POLEESE, DA DREAM POLEESE...

------------

Hehe, time to go to sleep.

LEAVE SEGA ALONE!!! Pt. 2 What You Can Do About It

Hey, guys. This is a follow-up to the previous post where I ask you to see things from Sega's point of view.  It's super-late and I want to get some things in here.

But first, let me divert from my original thought a bit here.  I was watching ESPN last night (apparently, every sporting event was called off due to rain) and I saw a Rise of Nightmares commercial.  Now this ain't new to me but it's nice to see Sega getting a little face time in here.  Also funny how they take a poke at all these lousy Kinect games so they score points for that too.  And the game also looks like House of the Dead so it's not too bad (for a dark, violent game that is).



And whenever old people tell it like it is, it's usually awesome (cause old people don't care what others think...they're old and impatient and don't care about kissing ass so STFU AND LISTEN ALREADY).

------------

Now, as fans of a game developer, it sure is hard trying to be loyal and at the same time, get your point across. As a fan, there's very little you can do at times. But you can still do something. You represent your fanbase well. Get active in the community. You never know when employees of said game company may actually eavesdrop on your work. I mean, developers ARE human--they live in the same world as you and I. So all I ask AT LEAST is to be a good sport about it. Maybe they will repay the favor.

I'd really like to think that some Sega employees have read my blog although I doubt it.  I'll never really know. I have never been milquetoast when it comes to expressing my opinions on the Internet so this blog is now my favorite venue to do it.

------------

But even though you're a fan and you try to be a good sport, sometimes game companies do things that are blatantly stupid. It's one thing to be completely oblivious with what's going on inside the building (Sega??) but it's another to do something obviously stupid/illogical that attacks the fanbase.

See: Activision (Bobby Kotick but no one's a fan of Activision), Electronic Arts (obvious, once again, no fans anyway), Rockstar/Take-Two (Red Dead Redemption/L.A. Noire "sweatshop" work conditions), Nintendo (snubbed Starmen.net's massive Earthbound Anthology fan project), and Capcom (laundry list plus canceling Megaman Legends 3 so abruptly despite thousands of petitioners--"blaming the fans").

So what can you do as a fan when you're let down? Well, you can do a little, like I said before. You can post on random message boards, sign a few "petishuns," and feel sad about it, but there's even more. You can create things. Just because you're not a game designer doesn't mean you're inept.

Like we're talking about Daytona USA, right? We have message boards, blogs, strategy guides, YouTube videos, and user-made cars for games like Forza, Trackmania, and Nascar Racing. We can create fan art, fan fiction (rofl), fan games and emulators (see an example here). We can also try to work for Sega. And we can do more than that need it be.

I'm adamant in my stance for a new Daytona game as long as it doesn't tank Sega. I'm not asking for a 500-man studio with a $100 mil budget here, just a Daytona game with a standard amount of content! And this is something I said a very long time ago but I'll say it again... If for some reason Sega flat out refuses or is unable to make a new Daytona game, then we'll have to make our own equivalent to it. Sadly with all new cars, tracks, and music (unless we can pay Sega for the copyrights, rofl). But we're not "stupid" cause we know what it takes to make a good Daytona game. So if Sega wants to stand in our way, fine. We'll just do it without them and then they'll get 0% of the credit as opposed to 50% or so.

Speaking of which, there's very few Sega job opportunities here in the US but if you live in the UK around London, check out the Sega jobs you can get over there. Some of them are simple, like a straight up "Programmer." Come on, there's gotta be some people with video game expertise across the pond!

Good night folks and try to stay positive.