never have been—a fan of first-person shooters (at least in part due to motion sickness). So I’m not necessarily up on the latest news in FPS game-dom, but even I’d heard of the anticipation, and disappointment, the release of Duke Nukem Forever generated.
What I hadn’t realized, however, was just how bad it was. Check out this blistering review of the game:
It’s not racy, it’s not funny, and it makes you feel dirty. Every time I put the controller down, I felt the need to rub my hands on my jeans as if the game were making me physically dirty. It’s like watching your uncle tell racist jokes at Thanksgiving and praying someone has the guts to tell him to cut it out, but this time it’s interactive—and you’re the uncle.
Ouch.
to play my mother at Scrabble, you may not know that she is a ruthless trampler of hearts, a destroyer of dreams. I had the bright idea to introduce her to Words with Friends the other day, and now through the wonder of modern technology, she can kick my ass from 2000 miles away.
my Indian heritage the credit or weight I should for influencing my outlook; mea culpa. And while this post won’t correct the oversight, it may go some way to addressing the lack.
There has been a recent mini-trend of Bollywood megastars starting their own blogs, complete with thin-skinned cattiness and sycophantic fan commenters:
- Amitabh Bachchan is the godfather of Indian cinema and arguably the biggest star to come out of the formidable Bollywood machine, with a career that will have spanned 40 years in 2009. Even I, a notorious detractor of Bollywood films, am a fan—what can I say? I grew up watching the guy.
I have to say here that I don’t know who did the design for the site, but the ludicrously large picture of Big B (I presume his son, Abhishek—a star in his own right—is affectionately known as Little B?) used as the banner graphic, as well as the fact that all the posts on the main page are just headlines followed by “more…” links, with no meaningful content on the main page, mean that s/he should be fired forthwith. Poorly done, dude.
- Aamir Khan is film royalty as well, and talent-wise one of my favorite Indian actors. His blog, by contrast, has a much more functional but still attractive design. Kudos to that designer.
Both Bachchan and Khan have recently taken potshots at reigning top dog Shah Rukh Khan—No, seriously. He’s in more commercials than Peyton Manning—on their blogs and subsequently been vilified in the press. In their defense, however, SRK has been known on many an occasion to poke fun at his fellow stars, perhaps not in the best of taste.
That said, both Bachchan and Khan are articulate, if a bit self-absorbed, but when they spend their lives being fawned over and given near-diety status from their fans, can you blame them?
Fun fact: Aamir Khan likes German board games! Especially Settlers of Catan. Who knew?
on my PSP in the last two weeks than I had, probably, in the last two years combined. The reason? A resurgence of interest in my still-favorite PSP game, WipEout Pure. I blame this all on Matt, by the way, who in a recent fit of nostalgia got his favorite two titles in the franchise, Wipeout 3 and Wipeout XL for the original PlayStation.
The game is gorgeous, compulsively playable, and has nearly infinite replay value (or will, I assume, once I finally beat it—if ever); it has me thinking about getting some more PSP games in the near future (not, mind you, that I’ve beaten any of the ones I have now). Two that have caught my interest are Final Fantasy, a remake (to come out next month) of the original FF title for NES, and WipEout Pulse, the sequel to Pure, slated for a September launch. Let’s hope that it has some improvements over the original, notably a better use of the PSP’s suspend feature—the game crashes on suspend unless you’re in the menu, which kind of negates the whole point.
I know Jieun’s going to have something to say about this:
[Zelda creator Shigeru] Miyamoto suggested many reasons why Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess isn’t doing as well as expected in Japan. But could it be that the 20-year-old series, that now spans 14 games (Phantom Hourglass will be the 15th quest on Nintendo platforms) is dying a slow death?
[...]
People generally don’t like to accept change.
But change doesn’t always spell disaster. Final Fantasy introduces a totally new cast, setting and theme with each sequel and continues to please fans. Resident Evil 4 completely revolutionised Capcom’s horror series and is now viewed as one of the best games ever made.
The issue remains. Nintendo can’t continue making repetitive Zelda games. We still totally adore Zelda but eventually the appeal will tire and the series risks bombing. Nintendo needs to take the bold step and inject something totally new into Zelda. We’re not talking about a couple of new items, or a new location – that’s been done. We mean a significant change that affects the whole structure and gameplay.
As for me, I think the guy has a valid point. What do you think? (Via Slashdot)
There are three reasons I dropped off the face of the earth during October, three things that ate up all my free time. Well, really, it’s one: Squaresoft/Square-Enix. I’ve logged more hours on my PS2 in the past two months than I have in the last year cumulatively, on three different Squaresoft/Square-Enix games. In chronological order, they are:
- Final Fantasy VI. Everything old is new again. You old-timers may remember this game from the SNES. A few years ago, it was ported and released, along with Final Fantasy V, as a PS1 game. I finally decided to replay it, and had great fun (I got about 60% of the way through it) until I got distracted by the next reason.
- Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria. This is one of Square-Enix’s newest RPGs, and is intensely interesting. It’s got a fascinating story, gorgeous graphics, and an intriguing battle system.
I have a confession to make. I haven’t actually been playing this one. My roommate Matt has, and I’ve been doing some backseat driving/heckling. Our conversations usually consist of the following:
me: Dude, you better heal your guys before boss X does his special attack and kills them in the next turn.
Matt: Whatever, man. I can take him. Look how low his hit points are!
and, finally, one of the two of these:
me: I told you. How are you going to beat him with one live guy?
or
Matt: Ha! You’re going down, punk.
- Last but most of all, Final Fantasy XII. This was my birthday present to myself, and I am as enthralled with this game as I can’t remember being since I got X-Men Legends as a gift last year. This is the second complete overhaul of the game in as many releases, and they got it just about perfect this time.
The battle system is totally different but fun, the leveling-up system intricate but not excessively so, and most important of all, the story is interesting. Though the game (from some plot points to the visuals) bears an uncanny but not uncomfortable resemblance to Star Wars—from Balthier (Han Solo) and Fran (a sexy version of Chewbacca), to Ashe (Leia) and Vaan (Luke Skywalker’s annoying little brother)—its got enough dimension and high enough production value to remain original. A must-have for any RPG-lover, which I am. Speaking of which, I hear the game calling me; see ya.
Penny Arcade has just announced that—this is SO COOL—they’re teaming up with Hothead Games to release a series of episodic Penny Arcade videogames based on the comic:
The first game, entitled Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, will be a comic adventure game for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. No date has yet been set for its release.
The game will be sold and delivered digitally, though the team hasn’t figured out yet who will handle that aspect.
[...]
“We’re really excited to be working with Hothead Games on our first electronic adventure,” said writer Jerry “Tycho” Holkins. “From the moment we laid eyes on them, it was clear they had the technical and creative chops to execute our grim vision. Now that we have pooled our strengths, our dark work may truly begin.”
While the team is excited about the possibility of the game, they also realize how important it is they get it right.
“This is something that they’ve always wanted to do, but at the same time they know how risky it is,” Khoo said. “We have to ensure it is nothing short of awesome.”
I can’t wait to see what this game is like. I asked him if it would have a Sam & Max feel and he said that’s probably the closest thing out there right now to what the Penny Arcade game will be like.
Emphasis mine. Sam & Max? Aww yeah. (Via Slashdot)
Penny Arcade scores again.
According to this, there’s a new game called DDD (Dance Dance Dance) where players, unlike DDR, use their whole bodies to mimic a silhouette going by on the screen. Now you actually have to be able to dance to play the game well. Neat-o. Here’s a video of the game being demo-ed at SIGGRAPH 2006. (Via Slashdot)
