SimCity Razed To The Ground

You know what guys, the EA circlejerk must continue.  "SimCity 5" is one of the most broken pieces of trash in recent history for a multitude of reasons.  I won't parrot the news but rather just give you my quick opinions as to what went down.  But first, a quick recap in case you simply haven't paid attention or you're from the future:

EA and Maxis announce SimCity 5 will only be playable via online connection.  Game is released and the servers keep crashing.  Hardly anyone can sign in and play it and those that do can only play for minutes before getting disconnected.  Those that do play it find the game has a multitude of flaws such as the city borders are too small and the traffic pathfinding is hideously broken to the point the game is hardly fun.  Maxis starts slashing features in a vain attempt to fix it, such as removing the fastest game speed and leaderboards, with little success.  Eventually Maxis & EA "fix" the servers, but not before a bunch of gamers complain about wanting to patch the game for offline play (LORD BLESS 'EM).  Maxis says "maybe, maybe not," EA say "no it can't be done" but hackers prove otherwise and prove that EA's PR machine is either ignorant or a bunch of liars.  EDIT: Oh, and you don't even need to be a l33t hacker to play offline--just change two config values in a text file (although you can't save your game offline).  Oh, and EA CEO John Riccitello rEAsigns.  In the meantime, anal gamers do what they do best and that is run to Amazon and other rating sites just to "stick it to the man" by downvoting the game.  DAMN IT'S A GREAT DAY FOR REDDITORS EVERYWHERE (kinda shitty when you think about it.../r/gaming sucks is abysmal too)...

Emphasis on the words: LIMITED EDITION.

You know, maybe EA is not to blame for all this.  Maybe this is Maxis' fault.  Good little Maxis with the Stockholm Syndrome, running to defend poor daddy EA, "it's not their fault!!!"  Yes it is, even if they weren't directly involved with the SC5 Lockdown.  They're like the problematic child on the playground who's always coincidentally around whenever trouble strikes.  SimCity 5 disaster?  Mass Effect 3 ending sucks (plus the on-disc DLC)?  Origin "spyware" and lousy customer service?  The assimilation and dismantling of smaller studios?  Monetization spam in all their games?  Need for Speed sucks?  There's just too much crap EA is tied to at this point for one to say "well, it's really not their fault" or "you people are overreacting."  If crap like SimCity and Need for Speed are the "future" of gaming, then I will not stand for it.

Look, here's a video. Despite how utterly embarrassing it must be to be this guy, there's one line the guy drops half-way through the vid that really gets to me. "When the servers go down, you can't play the game anymore." I pointed this out before but I guess now it's official--SimCity 5 will be NULL AND VOID in a couple of years. Tell me, how asinine is it that I can pick up a 24-year old copy of the original SimCity on the PC (1989) and still play it to this day yet in 24 years from now (2037) odds are I won't be able to play my copy of SimCity 5? I mean, not just the multiplayer aspects, the WHOLE ENTIRE GAME will be gone by then! For you "games are art" folks out there, isn't that kind of shitty--like burning a museum full of paintings or sculptures? It's 2013, I think we can preserve everything on computers, especially if its a game from a wildly popular franchise such as this one.

But this is the "rebuttal" of my point and it is this: How do we know if people will care about SimCity 5 in 20+ years?  And wouldn't there be a better SimCity out by that time?  Good question!  We don't know what people are going to want in the future.  But look at today--some of us still care about old games like the SimCity 1-4, Pac-Man, Street Fighter 2, Doom, DAYTONA USA, OUTRUN, and so forth.  It's why we have crap like emulators & ROMs for the sake of preserving these games "forever."

Also, who's to say the next SimCity will be better than SC5, or better yet, even exist at all?  Game franchises have fallen off the map before.  Tony Hawk's Pro Skater is a great example.  Loved the series up until Underground 1 but then it went downhill from there.  Underground 2 and American Wasteland's story and designs got less appealing and glitchier in nature but were still "playable."  Then comes Project 8 with a brand new engine and the game is even less fun.  A few games later and you have Tony Hawk: Ride.  Hell, at least I can still play the old Tony Hawk games so we should be thankful!

But yeah, we do know that SC5 has gameplay flaws and can be played offline but we don't know where it'll stand in a year or two--Maxis and EA may relinquish the game and allow modders to salvage it at last but otherwise, I'm not holding my breath.  I've been a SimCity diehard most of my life, playing the crap out of SC2000 and SC4, but now the series is dead to me.  Congrats EA on strangling another one of your franchises to death.

Also, here's another thing that really sucks about this DRM.  It doesn't allow any kind of user mods whatsoever.  Look, I've played enough of these old PC games where you can create your own mods, scripts maps, skins, models, gameplay rules, other fun stuff (Half-Life mods come to mind) and they were wildly enjoyable.  Yeah, this makes way for hackers and pirates but do tell me which games DON'T have that as a problem (last time I checked, Spore, despite the DRM protection, was the most pirated game of 2008).  As for SimCity, check out this screenshot:

Check it out--this is a whole gallery of SimCity 4 in-game screenshots made possible with modifications.  I'm serious, you look at SimCity 4 from 2003 and yeah, the game was rather glitchy and had performance issues when it came out.  But guess what--you can download fan mods like the Transportation Mod or the Opera House Fix which really tweak the game and make it much more playable.  Yet without any sort of fan-made mods, you're basically at the whim of EA/Maxis to fix the damn game for you...and odds are that they'll fuck it up more than the fans can.  Seriously, over the years, I've learned that fans can tweak a game better than the game designers themselves.  Dammit, EA, really?

EDIT: I guess one more point about this server nonsense is that it fosters multiplayer gaming. C'mon people, multiplayer is fun! You alway want to be in multiplayer, right? Um, not always! What if I *le GASP* don't care for playing with other people or I want to develop a metropolis without being molested by other pinheads out there on the Internets, how about that?? Like check out this city. Think this dude gives a crap about online play?

Honest to God, I'm not talking about SimCity anymore.  I do, however, want to talk about another EA published disaster.  It's called Real Racing 3 and it's an iOS/Android game similar to Gran Turismo/Forza's sim racing model.  It's free-to-play which means it's going to suck ass.  Seriously, check out the Eurogamer review--trashed it by literally limiting gameplay (making you wait X minutes before you can race again) and encouraging overpriced microtransactions for underwhelming car upgrades.  You know what, I'm not gonna fuckin' lie--I'd rather up front pay $10 or so for an unmolested, disturbance free experience instead of a "free" one that looks to inhibit me every step of the way.  But someone I know did say, "ain't nothing free, soon" but I counter by saying there's a difference between "offering microtransactions/advertisements" and "offering microtransactions/advertisements in such a way that it destroys any semblance of gameplay and fun."

To prove the point, here's a fun little game I downloaded for my iPhone recently.  It's called Tiny Tower.  It's a FREE game.  It's a "grind-it-out" Facebook-y kinda game that you really can't lose at.  You just save up money by clicking on crap and building new floors on your tower.  The only kind of advertisements that appear are ones on startup and they're very innocuous popups for games like "Sky Burger" and "Hungry Squirrels" that only last for two seconds before you click the red X.  As for monetization, there's a sly little option in the game's menu labeled "Get Bux" which lets you spend up to $30 for the in-game premium currency used to speed up construction, restocking of stores, etc.  But the good news if you play the game efficiently, you can earn tons of Bux easily.  Basically, I'm at 76 floors, have the best elevator, and I've spent ZERO United States Dollars on this game thus far.

I imagine the real life Samuel Willis has a James Earl Jones/Danny Glover voice as he utters, "Boy, my dream since I was a child was to work at the cheese shop."

And besides, even if someone DOES choose to buy Bux in the game, so what?  At least this game isn't being an ass about it like in EA games.  Seriously, man, if you're going to be a free-to-play game, you don't have to suck dick like an EA game.  Or at least grow a pair and charge $4 bucks or something like the Kairosoft games.  I got a lot of value and little grief out of games like Grand Prix Story and Mega Mall Story because Kairosoft chose not to go the shitty route when it came to monetizing games.

What a piece of crap.  When I choose to play a racing game, I want one where I can click a button that says "Go Drive/Race" and that's the end of it.  It's like the time Penny Arcade discovered that you had to wait in line to play bowling on Playstation Home.  WAIT IN LINE INSIDE THE VIDEO GAME.  Thanks EA (and Sony), thanks.

Anyway, this has been a scintillating discussion.  I'm sorry I haven't been posting as much as I should have.  Not only am I pissed about SimCity, I'm also pissed about the Rock Band weekly DLC coming to a close in a few weeks (although I have no qualms against Harmonix for choosing to do so).  Sucks man, everything does these days.  I only hope and pray to God that Sega doesn't make these mistakes.  That's all, goodnight everyone.

Also check this out: MAH TINY TOWER.

THIS IS A TEST POST

I'm making a post from my iPhone for the first time! DO NOT REPLY.

Random Thought Of The Day: One of these days, I'm going to CPL and winning the big CS 1.6 tournament using a $10 Dynex wired mouse bought from Best Buy. Seems that the cheaper the mouse, the more productive I am with it. Weight ballasts and 12 buttons, bitch please...

But no really this thing sucks, I hate the iPhone keyboard...never posting from here again.

p.s. Go buy Grand Prix Story in the App Store..........

Night Drivin, Black Ops 2, iPhone, Rofl Mayans

Sup boys and ladies, we are back home in Louisiana.  So I drove 9 hours on Tuesday from Orlando to Slidell, only making incredibly brief stops because I hate staying out on the road and driving at 75-80 mph in a straight line just isn't fun and never will be.  But I did leave late on Tuesday (6 pm ET) which is sort of an Oregon Trail maneuver (what time do you want to leave?) so this meant driving through the dark, like this:

You'll notice many old vidya games use "night-time" as a common game feature.  Simply because night-time was easy to draw--just draw nothing (paint it black).  Need for graphics crisis AVERTED!

There's less traffic at night too so it ain't bad.  As for now, there's not much postin' going on because I'm on vacation, I'm at home with the family, and there's two things I want to do: enjoy the brief Christmas time with my family and get some rest.  I do have a lot of stuff to talk about but no--I want you dying of anticipation for Christmas.  As for the job offer, I still don't have anything yet.  I ought to be patient.  In retrospect there's a few interview questions I could've answered better but it's no use--I did my best and should wait post-Christmas before I get an offer (assuming I do).

Also I'm glad this Mayan calendar nonsense is over.  So tired of the world ending...I bet History Channel is crying somewhere.  Quick, someone come up with another Doomsday so they can run Nostradamus/Alex Jones specials on that too.  SPOILER ALERT for Assassin's Creed but did the game's storyline infer that the world was gonna end 12/21/12?  Ha, that game sucks, play something less violent.

But when I think of Mayans, I think of H.G. Pennypacker trying to sabotage the clothing store by stealing all the silica gel packets.  That's what the Mayans were thinking...steal all of our silica gel packets so we die in 2012...I'm crazy and don't know what I'm even getting at here.

Ooo, and how about this.  My family gave me an iPhone 5 as an early Christmas present!  Now that's pretty cool although I don't have many other Christmas presents I requested up until now.  Like the phone though, thanks Steve Jobs.  I can access websites such as this one, watch crappy YouTube videos, etc.  Hooray for technology turning me into a lazy bum because everything is so easy to do now!

Don't worry little buddy.

Oh yeah, and one more thing I want to talk about and that is Black Ops 2.  My family is now part of the "buy every new CoD" legion so we got BO2...for the Playstation 3.  No achievement whoring this time.  Here's some brief thoughts.

Zombies: Ok, so I'm a mild Nazi Zombies aficionado so I wanted to know how Treyarch pissed all over the series in its third game.  Now the only level you start with (TranZit) is basically this big-ass level (think the size of a typical Left 4 Dead map).  You start in a 50's bus station and ride around to different locations (diner, farm, factory, downtown) and you fight zombies (well duh).  Oh, and the whole world is darkened with ash and seismic activity fills the world with streams of lava.  Right, because lava makes a wonderful obstacle in every action video game  (not in Halo...according to the older kid from Spy Kids 3D, the best movie ever made).

It's really interesting though that after all this time, Treyarch still continues the Nazi Zombies mythos.  The nuked world continues from Black Ops 1.  Remember the Moon zombie level Easter Egg where (SPOILER ALERT) Richtofen switches places with Samantha Maxis to become "Lord of the Zombies" (the powerup voice changes) and Dr. Maxis nukes the earth in a vain attempt to (presumably) stop a zombie outbreak.  I usually have disdain for dark games but the way Treyarch has been teasing the community with Easter Eggs and secret fetch quests is too good to pass up.  It makes me want to learn more about the story...more than if the story was just dumped on you: "some scientist makes zombies, BLEH, who cares."

I didn't even watch the video but I copied and pasted a BO2 Zombies video for illustration purposes.  But there's much more to Easter Eggs...there's a SECOND BUS ROUTE WE HAVE YET TO UNLOCK OMGORZ GUYS.

As for playing the zombie level itself...it's okay.  Apparently the gameplay hasn't changed at all except they added work benches to build gadgets (like in Dead Rising 2) and you can ride the bus (which sucks cause zombies can hop on from all angles).  The four characters look like Walter from The Big Lebowski (or Breaking Bad), Samuel L Jackson from Black Snake Moan, and white Louis and redneck Zoey from L4D.  It sucks and I can't stand jumping over the lava cracks everywhere in the level, ha ha ha.

One more thing and that is way, way back, Treyarch (or some troll) was dropping really abstract Flash movies on this website hinting clues to the (we assume) zombies plotline years ago.  Too bad they were probably leaking info for the Black Ops 1 campaign storyline (Mason being brainwashed and Nova-6 poisoning people).  Wasted opportunity, guys.

Now about campaign and multiplayer.  Well, I stopped caring.  Personally I thought Black Ops 1 had a decent storyline and they continue that too.  But the first level--running around some open field shooting Africa militiamen with an AK47--I just didn't care about at all and after beating six Call of Duties on Veteran, I have little interest on this story anymore.  As for multiplayer, they did a fine job making multiplayer loadouts more flexible (can give secondary weapons & knives camo, can pick more than three perks, etc.) but only two or three of the weapons are recognizable to me (it's future warfare after all) so it's just not that much fun.  I mean, if we're gonna go futuristic, then it's borderline Halo and the series loses some separation with that (I like running around with an AK47 and Deagle, you know).  At least most of the MP maps are quite colorful and take place in common locations (malls, hotels) which is good since I prefer these colorful maps over the dingy ones any day.

EDIT: Starting to dawn on me.  Look at Halo & CoD.  Halo is starting to adapt loadouts and CoD is taking on this futuristic vibe. Hell, even that Drone MP map from Blops 2 looks straight outta Halo with the fancy lab doors and stuff. In a few years, the two will become one of the same.  That would suck...I wish for a WW2 game again.  World at War wasn't too bad...

I think if I'm going to FPS it up in the future, I'll probably go back to Counter-Strike.  But with the job search, Sega All-Stars Racing, and trying to finish Super Sprint, I don't think I have much time for anything else.  That's my rant for now so good day folks.

Cracked.com Cracks Open The Game Industry (And I Reply)

Cracked is a good website if you want to read engrossing articles about nothing.  A lot of it is ridiculous but some of it I actually agree with wholeheartedly.  This is a remarkable article I alluded to before but now I'm going to be lazy and leech off of it for one of my post.  I scrapped my original write-up to this article so I'm doing it again here.

The 6 Most Ominous Trends in Video Games by David Wong.  TLDR:

6. Technology is going backwards.  First you had Pong on the Atari which was revolutionary.  Then you had Wii Bowling which was a nice improvement.  Now motion control games haven't improved as you wave your hands in front of the TV like an idiot (especially Kinect).  The Wii U and PS Vita are basically iPhones/iPads which are nothing new either.

5. "Big Brother" online servers are ruining gaming.  Can't run some games without hooking up to a server, including single-player ones (see Starcraft II).  Security measures are horrible.  Also hackers and poor maintenance are proving this point even further since when Sony's server went down, everything went to hell.

4. Many video games promote endless playability by grinding for items (see any MMORPG).  Even worse, you have to pay for perpetual online subscriptions, cheat codes, additional single-player addons, basically things you never had to pay for except in the last 5 years.

3. Creative bankruptcy.  Almost all new games are sequels.  Most obvious are FPSes like Call of Duty: MW3, Battlefield 3, and Crysis 2 which are strikingly similar in nature.

2. No real vision for the future.  First it was make games look realistic, which we've done already.  Now it's make a bunch of $1 apps, crap motion control games, and other awkward gimmicks (Nintendo 3DS).

1. We don't even know what a game is anymore.  First it was "get a high score," now it's split into many different "art" forms--largely interactive movies with limited replay value, mini-games that involve decorating a landscape for s***s and giggles, etc.

And if what I wrote was still TLDR, then let me TLDR that for you...Today's Video Games SUCK.

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

Well, let me reply to these and throw in my three cents right now.

6. I can understand the hate-on that everyone has for motion controls.  I don't like the Kinect either--I've already made that clear before.  Now these motion controls are starting to seep into my beloved racing genre.  But the majority of the industry seems to be clear of motion controls for the time of being.  I'm playing Rock Band &  Call of Duty without the Kinect so this is a completely exaggerated point, right???

If you haven't known already, Microsoft has spent over $500 MILLION on Kinect advertising (Fun Fact: at $150 a piece, MS has to sell 3.33 mil Kinects to break even on the $500 mil benchmark alone).  You can tell MS is trying to ram this thing up our ass.  As a matter of fact, I hear the new Forza & Halo games are going to incorporate the Kinect somehow.  And as for the Wii U?  Well, everyone already pissed themselves over that already...remember, this is NINTENDO we're talking about, everything they produce is GOLD.  Disregarding more motion control crap, I can't imagine playing with that big-ass iPad controller which hardly looks comfortable.  So in other words, we're closer to this motion control "utopia" than we think.

5. Big online servers, heh.  Remember back in the PS2/Xbox/GameCube days when you didn't need an online server for permission to play a game?  Eh, those were the days.

While I am not familiar with DRMs and that madness, I've already talked about online servers being the life force for games and how they're rigged to blow.  I already talked about OutRun Online Arcade, which'll be removed from XBL at the end of this year and you can't play it again.  I also talked about MMORPG's.  I also talked about Halo Wars and Call of Duty!  Basically, once the server disowns the game, you really can't play it anymore.  I could go on but I'm not gonna repeat myself even further.  I really do like this quote for the Cracked article, sums it up perfectly:

Imagine if every time you drove your car, you had to first check in with the car manufacturer to confirm that it's you behind the wheel. Let's say that this relies on an Internet connection, and if the connection is down, you can't drive.

4. Eh, I don't have a problem with DLC if it means getting tons more content than normal (Rock Band songs in particular), but I see how things like cheat codes and already-on-disc content are really getting in the way.  Elements of the game completed before release but were held back for monetary gain.  Basically anything they can charge money for, they'll do it.  Hey, I like capitalism and think they have the right to charge whatever they want but there's only so much that I'm willing to pay.  That's why I'm such a scrooge when it comes to gaming--I only maybe play a few games and that's it--screw the rest and their media hype...

3. I don't have that big of a problem with sequels as long as they add something new or refine gameplay that we've come to love, but I do have a problem with all these damn gritty FPSes and fantasy adventure/MMORPG's.  I've already talked about game violence and how its prevalence is driving me nuts.  I'd much prefer a new Daytona game which, even though it's a sequel, is much more refreshing than anything else that these devs have put out nowadays.  Anyway, don't have much to say about this though this quote SUMS UP MY THOUGHTS PERFECTLY: 

This here is why all of the innovation in games seems to be about going backward, simplifying instead of pushing the experience further. They are trying to lower the barrier of entry for gaming as a hobby, because they don't know where else to go with it. So I guess what I'm saying is that one thing is becoming clear ... 

2. Basically a repeat of #6.  When game companies who think technology sells & gameplay be damned push faster and faster, then they reach the end and then we do get tons of random crap.  Then at this point, dollar apps become the norm and it's all about watering down games in order to make everyone feel "involved."  The only really good thing I see about dollar apps is that now anyone can be a game designer--you don't have to be part of some 500-man game studio with a $50 mil budget (read what I said).  Ridonkulous...

1. I really hate these games that are trying to be like movies more than games.  Need for Speed: The Run and all these FPSes.  I'm anything but a movie buff so this really pisses me off.  But I still think this point is being a bit harsh since there's some good movie-based games that actually have some variation, like Shenmue and LA Noire.  But yeah, I do long for the days where ACTUAL GAMING TALENT was a necessity rather than the ability to click a few buttons and then you're now a certified "Gamer"...

Conclusion:  The above quote in #3 really sums things up perfectly.  Back in the 20th Century, gaming was sort of a "reclusive" activity--like only nerds and miscreants would play games.  But it was cool because we got a lot of classics that still make us smile...Super Mario, Goldeneye, Zelda (yeah I admit), Sonic, DAYTONA USA, everything by Sega in its glory days, and so forth...

Nowadays, everyone loves games.  Gaming studios are getting bigger and pushing better graphics and new gimmicks.  Well, I believe that if things become too popular (in this case, gaming) then they are crushed under their own weight.  Now that gamers have become "accepted" into society, everyone wants to join in. Everyone wants all this crap like movie games with state-of-the-art graphics, motion control skill-less games, etc. so what you get are well...a lot of soul-less products pushed merely to sell tens of millions of copies and everyone eats this junk up like we're pigs at the trough.

I've already mentioned this before so I'll do it again.  As an aspiring game developer, I almost think I have to play politician and not offend everybody...like I'm supposed to say "Oh yeah, MMORPGs and mindless racing games like Split/Second are okay."  If I get in as a programmer, then I'm basically a hired mercenary--tell me to make something, I'll do it and I get paid.  If I go around trashing something, then that's going to cost me a job.  Simply put, I gotta make money first and foremost.  How many game devs do you see pushing blogs about how much this sucks or that sucks.  Not many--the fan can rant cause he has nothing to lose...

I almost think I was born too late.  Ugh, sorry if this article was too pessimistic.  I'll get to Sega Racing Stuff LATER.

Talking About GDC Rants & Daytona USA: What The Heck Is Going On

BTW, after saying GDC so many times, it means Game Developers Conference if you're so blissfully unaware.

Okay, this is hopefully the last time I have to bring up GDC.  Now these guys have been around the industry for years so I really can't come here and shred what they have to say.  Here's what I got out of it.

Our future of gaming involves blood, people getting ripped apart, giant bugs, and Final Fantasy/Halo clones.  Right there is depressing enough, but I've already talked about violence and stuff before so I'm not going to rehash this again.

But there's two messages from GDC that made me think.  They both pertain to the future of gaming.  Now these are the two...

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

The first is by David Cage, lead creator of Heavy Rain.  Now I don't know much about Heavy Rain except for the "Press X to Jason" song.  All I know is the protagonist's son dies and he goes around doing dramatic stuff.  But what Cage was trying to say is to make your games for adults--make them serious.  No more crazy crap like bosses, high body counts, etc.  Gameplay seems to rely entirely on progressing the story line though they throw in multiple endings for curiosity's sake and replay value.

Well look, I'm going to say something controversial here.  I'm getting really tired of these deep video game plots.  Some of my most favorite games have no storyline to be heard of such as Sega racers, Counter-Strike, Rock Band, and so forth.  Usually, when you're heavily confined to a story, it limits the gameplay, making it like you're playing out a movie instead of, ya know, a game.  A good story is no match for good gameplay, sorry.

I wonder what happened to games where you play for high scores or fast times.  Those games suck and have little replay value it seems.  Apparently, it's cool to play serious stuff like Final Fantasy or Shadows of the Colossus.  I don't want to roleplay or sink into the depths of the human psyche, I want to play an engrossing, action-packed game.  Otherwise, people wouldn't give a damn about games like Super Mario Bros. or Pac-Man anymore.  Doesn't necessarily have to be a multiplayer game either.  Which leads me to my next point...

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

The other rant is by Cliff Blesinski, design director of Gears of War.  Now I've had my fair share of disagreements with Gears of War, but it's a popular game so at least it does some things differently.  He says that the "middle class game" is dead.  Basically, you either make these little Flash/iPhone games or you go all out with big production value.  Which I assume means game studios of 5 or 500 employees.  Uh, cool I guess.

Now I don't really like all these big games nowadays.  First of all, they're catered to the mainstream.  FPSes, fantasy, sports, and so forth.  For example, Call of Duty takes a lot of crap nowadays, but if it's popular, then keep churning them out.  Therefore, a lot of "specialty" games that go beyond the depth of a simple iPhone game apparently will fail.  It certainly seems that way nowadays so I guess he's right.

Not only that, but games of big teams take a hell of a lot of time to develop which means less variety.  As games get bigger, it takes more manpower to make them.  You could make a quick NES game with a few people in no time.  Nowadays to make a game like Halo, you need hundreds of people working for at least a year nonstop.  How much more complicated can games get, requiring more effort to complete and thus drawing out the production time even more?

What I want is Sega to try to make some new racing games (obviously, the big Daytona port), but I can tell these kind of games won't be "big" projects.  For that reason, Daytona USA seems like an oddball game to release and it won't generate much popularity as Mr. Blesinski says.  See OutRun 2 home ports.  This of course hurts the likes of Sega and other "middle class" devs who don't really have the effort to produce huge-ass games.

FYI, I have an old Counter-Strike buddy I used to know in high school.  He says his ex-girlfriend is now dating Mr. Blesinski.  If that's true, then that's crazy, man...

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

Eh, I guess these rants about games make me feel a little beat-up.  Like I wonder if I can muster up the courage to make this game.  I think the allure of a Daytona USA 2 sequel is the nostalgia of only being able to play in small increments.  To tell you the truth, I have OutRun 2 and Crazy Taxi but I haven't played them much recently.  I'm a disgrace to the Sega community.

At least I felt the "good vibrations" from having played those games in the first place.  You can't take that away from me.  They are good pick-me-up games too so if you ever feel depressed, give 'em a shot.  Like a fine wine, you can't drink it all at once, but it's superb for that brief moment.  It kind of changes my outlook on some of these games.  You don't have to play them nonstop to be happy.

"It's about quality, not quantity." - Some vodka commercial.

We're gonna make this Daytona game not just for myself, but for the Sega community.  Cause they deserve it.

This is probably my last post before I go on my trip to Orlando, FL.  Like I said, I'll try to get an internet connection going, but don't expect me on Xbox Live any time soon.  Then we'll check out the colleges and see what path we'll go down next.  I'm running down a dream...