...has struck again. Got home Saturday afternoon from a day with the girlfriend, ready to Halo it up in matchmaking with my partner in crime. Turned the system on...
only to have the E74 error.
Yep. 3 days before ODST.
Sucks.
16 years ago
9.24.2009
9.10.2009
Two unbelievable articles
Again, still hiatus-ing, but I read these two articles today and just HAD to share them here.
First: apparently somebody in California has lost one too many Halo 3 online matches. Randy Nunez filed suit (in November 2007!) against Microsoft and Bungie alleging the both entities released the popular title knowing that it was defective and would not work with Microsoft's console.
So I guess those 1 billion matches of Halo 3 played online throw a wrench in all that, doesn't it?
Not to mention the fact that Bungie has released two major patches (the Auto Update and Title Update 2) to fix issues in the game.
My only guess is that he either (1) has a crappy online connection that prevents him from playing most matches, (2) has no connection and therefore cannot receive patches, or (3) tried to install the game on his 360's hard drive, which Bungie has already recommended against.
Second: Courtney Love plans to sue Activision for putting Kurt Cobain's likeness in Guitar Hero 5.
....um, I cannot believe I'm writing this, but I actually agree with Love on this one. I couldn't believe it when I heard Activision had the stones to put the late guitarist in the game.
I hope she cleans their clock.
First: apparently somebody in California has lost one too many Halo 3 online matches. Randy Nunez filed suit (in November 2007!) against Microsoft and Bungie alleging the both entities released the popular title knowing that it was defective and would not work with Microsoft's console.
So I guess those 1 billion matches of Halo 3 played online throw a wrench in all that, doesn't it?
Not to mention the fact that Bungie has released two major patches (the Auto Update and Title Update 2) to fix issues in the game.
My only guess is that he either (1) has a crappy online connection that prevents him from playing most matches, (2) has no connection and therefore cannot receive patches, or (3) tried to install the game on his 360's hard drive, which Bungie has already recommended against.
Second: Courtney Love plans to sue Activision for putting Kurt Cobain's likeness in Guitar Hero 5.
....um, I cannot believe I'm writing this, but I actually agree with Love on this one. I couldn't believe it when I heard Activision had the stones to put the late guitarist in the game.
I hope she cleans their clock.
9.09.2009
September 9, 1999
I'm still on my hiatus, but I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the significance of this day. Why? Today marks a day that will forever live in the hearts of dedicated gamers everywhere: the anniversary of the release of the Dreamcast console.
I must be up front: I did not own a Dreamcast at any time during its run. My appreciation of this hardware did not come until many years later. In fact, not until the last year or so.
About a year ago, I began to notice more and more articles about the caliber of Sega's little white console. This was also the time when I began to get not only an itch to write about gaming, but also to collect all the old consoles of my childhood. I still owned my N64, and I found a Sega Genesis on eBay (and it reeked of smoke... moron who sold it to me did NOT put that little bit of info in the item's description). I almost went after a NES and SNES, but realized that most of the games I wanted to play on them were available on Wii's Virtual Console (although you can still buy emulator systems for a good price).
In my eBay hayday, one of my most sought after items was a Dreamcast. I didn't want to get one new... those run for at least $80 (that's only $20 cheaper than a BRAND NEW PS2. That should tell you something about this sytem). I finally found one that came with two controllers and no games. Why no games? I wanted to amass my own Dreamcast collection. I didn't want any crappy, filler games to sully the mix.
I remember the day that it came, and how incredible it was to open that box and hold that system, realizing that I had history in my hands.
History?
Yes. For it's time, the Dreamcast was arguably one of the most technologically advanced systems ever made. It brought the gaming industry into the type of three dimensional gaming that we know today. Yes, the Playstation and N64 were the first successful consoles to introduce 3D gaming, but the Dreamcast was the first to show what 3D gaming would eventually become (the GameCube, PS2, and Xbox were still at least a year off). It was also the first console to have a modem built in to the system itself. Keep in mind that this was over two years before the release of the original Xbox (and therefore, Xbox Live).
Simply put, the Dreamcast was years ahead of its time.
With a gaming library that includes Rez, SoulCalibur, Sonic Adventure 1 and 2, Skies of Arcadia, Jet Grind Radio, Crazy Taxi, and Shenmue 1 and 2, it's easy to see why this console is celebrated as one the best and, unfortunately, also one of the most short-lived.
Need any more eveidence? How about the fact that developers (albeit small, independent ones) are still making Dreamcast games.
Happy birthday, Dreamcast. We sure miss ya.
I must be up front: I did not own a Dreamcast at any time during its run. My appreciation of this hardware did not come until many years later. In fact, not until the last year or so.
About a year ago, I began to notice more and more articles about the caliber of Sega's little white console. This was also the time when I began to get not only an itch to write about gaming, but also to collect all the old consoles of my childhood. I still owned my N64, and I found a Sega Genesis on eBay (and it reeked of smoke... moron who sold it to me did NOT put that little bit of info in the item's description). I almost went after a NES and SNES, but realized that most of the games I wanted to play on them were available on Wii's Virtual Console (although you can still buy emulator systems for a good price).
In my eBay hayday, one of my most sought after items was a Dreamcast. I didn't want to get one new... those run for at least $80 (that's only $20 cheaper than a BRAND NEW PS2. That should tell you something about this sytem). I finally found one that came with two controllers and no games. Why no games? I wanted to amass my own Dreamcast collection. I didn't want any crappy, filler games to sully the mix.
I remember the day that it came, and how incredible it was to open that box and hold that system, realizing that I had history in my hands.
History?
Yes. For it's time, the Dreamcast was arguably one of the most technologically advanced systems ever made. It brought the gaming industry into the type of three dimensional gaming that we know today. Yes, the Playstation and N64 were the first successful consoles to introduce 3D gaming, but the Dreamcast was the first to show what 3D gaming would eventually become (the GameCube, PS2, and Xbox were still at least a year off). It was also the first console to have a modem built in to the system itself. Keep in mind that this was over two years before the release of the original Xbox (and therefore, Xbox Live).
Simply put, the Dreamcast was years ahead of its time.
With a gaming library that includes Rez, SoulCalibur, Sonic Adventure 1 and 2, Skies of Arcadia, Jet Grind Radio, Crazy Taxi, and Shenmue 1 and 2, it's easy to see why this console is celebrated as one the best and, unfortunately, also one of the most short-lived.
Need any more eveidence? How about the fact that developers (albeit small, independent ones) are still making Dreamcast games.
Happy birthday, Dreamcast. We sure miss ya.
8.13.2009
A Brief Hiatus
For those of you who don't know, I recently moved into a new apartment a month ago. Since then, things have been incredibly hectic: I went on vacation with my family about a week after my last post here, and then went to College Station, TX for a good friend's wedding not two weeks after that. I've been home three days from that trip to Texas, and I still have not updated my blog in over a month now.
When I started this blog, I wanted to be able to post at least two or three times a week. As I've begun the process of maintaining personal and financial independence from my parents, as well as maintaining my relationship with a phenomenal woman, I recently arrived at the conclusion that I am not in a position to maintain this site.
Don't misunderstand... I'm definitely not shutting this down. I merely will be taking a hiatus. I learned a lot through the first two months of my blog, and one the things I need to do is develop a solid pool of material to draw from if I don't have anything in particular to write about. I have lots of ideas I want to work on, but I need the time to actually WORK on them. I know I can produce better work than some of the material on here, and I want to do you, the reader, the right service in producing the best quality of content as I am able.
Check back here periodically, and thanks for those who have been faithfully reading these last few months. I'll see you in the near future.
Anthony
When I started this blog, I wanted to be able to post at least two or three times a week. As I've begun the process of maintaining personal and financial independence from my parents, as well as maintaining my relationship with a phenomenal woman, I recently arrived at the conclusion that I am not in a position to maintain this site.
Don't misunderstand... I'm definitely not shutting this down. I merely will be taking a hiatus. I learned a lot through the first two months of my blog, and one the things I need to do is develop a solid pool of material to draw from if I don't have anything in particular to write about. I have lots of ideas I want to work on, but I need the time to actually WORK on them. I know I can produce better work than some of the material on here, and I want to do you, the reader, the right service in producing the best quality of content as I am able.
Check back here periodically, and thanks for those who have been faithfully reading these last few months. I'll see you in the near future.
Anthony
7.13.2009
Blurring Lines
Remember all the coverage leading up to the release of Fallout 3? The previews from E3; the haunting dulcet tones of "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire," from the commercials; the sterling reviews that poured in as the release date neared? I knew this was a game I had to experience because like many others, I loved Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. However, I was unable to start it until this past March. As a result, I saw Fallout 3 win a number of Game of the Year awards before I even started it. Now that I actually have had a chance to try it out (approximately twenty hours of it), I have a big problem:
I cannot bring myself to continue.
It’s the depravity of the human condition, the loneliness of the Wasteland, and the great sorrow that permeates the landscape. They haunt me. The discovery of a woman resorting to prostitution in order to survive the harsh world was shocking; misery and depression seeped from her. I remember the elderly woman who lost her violin and the loving tones with which she referred to it. She needed that reminder of a happy past; moreover, she just needed hope.
The Wasteland intimidates me. It bombards me with dull tones of greens, grays, and browns. There are times when I traverse the landscape and go twenty, thirty, even forty seconds without encountering anyone, friend or foe. That short amount of time seems like nothing in the real world, but in a video game, going that long without doing anything is a near-eternity. Unless the in-game radio is turned on, there is no soundtrack to keep me company. Fallout 3 is by no means a beautiful game, at least not in the way Oblivion is beautiful. When there are no enemies to fight or strangers to meet, I am forced to observe the fallen metropolis. Some critics leveled a similar charge (technologically stunning, but not aesthetically beautiful) at Killzone 2, as well as inFamous. Both depict fallen societies caught in the midst of conflict and disaster. However, both provide a great deal of action and activity to keep a player continuously engaged. Lulls do not exist in those titles, but Fallout 3 forces me to accept its bleak loneliness.
However, nothing in the game is as disconcerting as the victims of the wastelands. After escaping from the vault, I discovered a skeleton sitting on what used to be a boat dock. It sat there, facing the sunset, with a bottle on one side and a teddy bear on the other, and the thought hit me: this person died watching the sunset, attempting to find comfort in a childhood security and the bottom of a bottle. The image of that person sitting on the dock, probably knowing they were about to die, was so unsettling that I put down the controller and just stared at the screen for a solid two or three minutes. There was also the couple in the house. I do not remember which house it was, but I cannot forget the image of the two of them lying there together, one skeleton snuggled up hopelessly against the back of the other. Again, the realization: these two died in each other’s arms. If only everyone was fortunate enough to leave this world in that fashion.
Fallout 3 is not an Oscar worthy film or Nobel Prize winning novel; it is just a game. Because of the status that video games hold in society, it is ridiculous to think it could affect a person in these ways. However, it does affect me, and because of that, I know I must finish Bethesda’s latest masterpiece. I have only played a fraction of the game, not even touching the main storyline, and already I have found everything described above. It is a remarkable example of how far gaming has come in my lifetime, and a great encouragement to what the future of gaming holds, especially in the hands of true artists such as those at Bethesda. I purchased Fallout 3 to play one of the most anticipated titles of 2008; instead, I received one of the most engaging, gripping, emotional episodes of gaming I have ever come across. Never before have I experienced such a deep emotional resonance from a video game.
I believe that video games, because of their interactive nature, have the potential to grasp their audience on a far deeper level than either movies or music. The philosophical ideas presented in BioShock, as well as the cinematic presentation and production value of Mass Effect, have only furthered this notion. Hollywood is beginning to look more seriously to the gaming industry for ideas and intellectual properties, with film adaptations of Gears of War, BioShock, and even Halo at one point, in production. How far can gaming go? Can it provide a viable medium for commentary on society? Activision’s recent dropping of Six Days in Fallujah- a first person shooter based on the battle of the same name from the Iraq War- seems to point to “no,” but if the level of quality in Fallout 3 is what we as a gaming community have to look forward to, then the future is bright indeed.
Now, if only I could find more stimpaks…
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