Sunday, March 18, 2012

Nostalgia Blindness

During the short time I have been making the Retro Review series, I have discovered that people are willing to forgive a lot of faults in old games. "It was good for its time, they say, you're being too harsh on it."
"Good for its time" is not necessarily a compliment. There was a time, after all, that covered wagons were the preferred method of long distance transportation. Was it a step in the overall improvement for the technology? Yes. Is it an efficient form of transportation compared to airplanes? Of course not.
A truly good game should not need excuses for it's faults. Classics are those we can play, even today with all of the advancement games have made, and say they hold up under scrutiny.
I'm not going to treat nostalgic games better simply because they are older. They have to live up to the same standards as all other games.
***Let's Play Sunday has been delayed due to Internet issues. Sorry for the inconvenience.***

Friday, March 16, 2012

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

In The News: AI Designes an Entire Video Game


Procedural generation is nothing new in games.  Minecraft uses AI to generate the game world for the player to mess around in, and games such as Left 4 Dead use AI to place enemies.  Both of these systems follow certain parameters and work from there.  What if you could develop an entire game from scratch using this model?

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Portal Live Action Short Film

Hello everyone. Today we're going to take a break from the more serious discussion on games and turn to something that's just a bit interesting.

Here is a live action short film dedicated to Portal on Youtube:



 
It's not a bad little video, but as someone who has played a fair share of Portal, an important aspect is missing.  Yes, GLaDOS and her sarcastic robotic personality are missing from this production.  In fact, almost no spoken dialogue takes place in the whole film.  Some of the soldiers have generic "STOP" sorts of things to say but other than that nothing.

I would recommend it.  A fan of Portal will most likely get some enjoyment out of it.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Retro Review: Sonic 3 Part 1

Time for some serious nostalgia!  I bet most of you can remember this game from your childhood.  Let's take a nice, close look at this one to see what makes it tick.


Sunday, March 4, 2012

Saturday, March 3, 2012

This is Just My Opinion...


Over time, and especially in Internet culture, the idea of an “opinion” has been getting out of hand.  Nearly everyone in a discussion feels compelled to preface or conclude their argument with “in my honest opinion,” and this problem is beginning to destroy true discussion.  Any argument can be essentially ended by dismissing the opponent’s argument as simply their opinion.  What does any of this have to do with Video Games?  Well, critiquing them, of course.

Friday, March 2, 2012

VLog: Columbine RPG

Yesterday, I posted a review of Super Columbine Massacre RPG!

After examining some of the buzz surrounding this game online, I decided to give my candid, unscripted thoughts on it.  What do I think of it?  Find out here.


Warning:  Occasional Harsh Language





In The News: New Smithsonian Exhibit to Feature Video Games


Are video games an art form?  Well, the Smithsonian seems to think so.  On March 16, the museum will open a new exhibit focusing on the growth of video games as an art form, where they’ve been, and where they are now.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Controversy Corner: Super Columbine Massacre RPG!

In this new series, I'm going to set out to explore the world of controversial video games.  People are always saying games are a huge problem, so let's see the absolute worst the gaming community has to offer.

This week:  Super Columbine Massacre RPG!