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DrRandle

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What is Scribblenauts? Perhaps the Most Inventive Game This Year

By DrRandle 19 Comments

Perhaps One of the Most Inventive Games Ever

by Randy Marr

The problem with most games is that solving puzzles is limited to the game world. Maybe you only have certain tools, or maybe there's only certain ways a character can move through the environment. There are many times where games don't do what you think they should, but they have every capability too. (A certain ending to Fallout 3 comes to mind.) Most open-world games with their laughable morality systems (*cough*infamous*cough*) only let you do things one way or the other.

This is not this game. Scribblenauts lets you do whatever you want. Don't believe me? Here:

  

So what do you think? This game is easily on my top 5 games to get this year. (Maybe I'll make that list sometime here...)

"My god can beat up your god
My god has told me so."
Dennis DeYong - My God (Can Beat Up Your God)
19 Comments

Left 4 Dead 2 Haters: Read This, from Gabe Newell of Valve

By DrRandle 52 Comments

And Quit Being a Bunch of Ungrateful People

   There's not much for me to say here that Gabe Newell doesn't say in an interview with G4TV's Billy Berghammer. The interview is here.
Left 5 Dead is still a better name.
Left 5 Dead is still a better name.

But here, I'll be nice and give you a few quick pieces that I think are sort of the focal point.
  • Left 4 Dead 2 is the result of the original L4D team wanting to create more and greater content. The fact that they turned it out so quickly is only a result of their dedication to the project, not out of half-assed money grabbing. As a side note, if you played through L4D's commentary, you would know that The Director makes it much quicker and easier to make new levels, as it takes a large portion of the placework out of the equation.
  • Just because we're getting Left 4 Dead 2 doesn't mean Left 4 Dead is going to suffer the XBOX/360 conversion situation; it's not just going to come to a crashing halt for something new and shiny. There's still going to be new content added to the original Left 4 Dead. While I understand there's still a fear of "splitting the player base" (not that I've ever had a problem finding PUG's), that's like bitching that Halo 3 was going to split the Halo 2 user base. You're just being childish at that point, honestly.
  • Xbox is a problem. There is no way around it. Left 4 Dead is a huge presence on the 360 and Microsoft has a bunch of weird rules set in place to keep the regular kinds of content Valve wants to push onto the platform. Just look at Team Fortress 2. It hasn't seen any of the class updates at all. Hell the Pyro still doesn't even have a compression blast to his flamethrower. There's also the problem of people not having hard drives and not being able to receive the content due to various problems, none the least of which are M'soft's restrictions and practices. Valve is trying to find solutions, but it's not always so easy.
  • And on a personal note from me: has Valve ever put out a bad game? I mean really put out a bad game? I think at this point they've earned enough "brownie points" with the years of absolutely top-notch, high-quality products and services. Is the benefit of the doubt to much to ask?

Well that's Gabe Newell's interview and my added thoughts. Any of your own you'd like to slap on down in that perty little comments section? When you take a deep breath and think about it, are you really upset that you're getting another awesome game? I mean, nobody got upset when Gears of War 2 got announced. Nobody was complaining that "oh now we'll stop getting Gears of War 1 content," which by the way they still had to pay for. Can't we all just have fun? Even a little?

-"I'm on the outside looking in." Oingo Boingo - On the Outside
Randy "Dr. Randle" Marr
52 Comments

Double Standards in the Games Press?

By DrRandle 22 Comments

Or Maybe I'm Just Crazy?


   This E3 has brought one thing to my attention that I just can't let go. I don't know why, but I have to vent and maybe somebody out there can help me figure out what's going on in my head. Are the people in the "games media" giving the games out there a fair shake?

   I don't really know where to begin so I guess I'll just come out with the sort of biggest thing on my mind: why is everybody just writing off Nintendo games right now? After this E3 all I hear is how great Sony and Microsoft are doing, but nobody seems to be talking about the Nintendo Consoles. And here's the thing, I'm not just talking about Mario and Zelda, I'm talking all of the showings from developers like High Voltage, Climax, and even big wigs like EA and Ubisoft. The only things people seem to be interested in are the big-budget spectacles of the other two consoles, and that's fine, that's understandable, that's great. I'm excited, too. But I'm ALSO excited for Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, New Super Mario Bros Wii (though I do loathe that title), and Red Steel 2. Yet I never hear anything about the ambition of these titles.

   I am aware that Climax had a big showing of the new Silent Hill, because IGN has something like a 15 minute walkthrough of the game posted on their site. So somebody else had to have seen it, right? But why am I not hearing about it? That title sounds hell-of ambitious, but it's being shadowed by sequel after sequel. People keep talking about how great Modern Warfare 2 is, and sure that's fine, but it's still just more Modern Warfare. I'm never one to complain about more of the same (because hell, I really want Mario Galaxy 2, and would be a flaming hypocrit to say otherwise), but am I asking to much to at least have discussions for new games? Scribblenauts was at E3. Have you heard of it? Not likely unless you listen to IGN's Nintendo Podcasts or maybe caught this little article burried deep within the trenches of G4's The Feed, where it was called the sleeper hit of 2009. Okay so one person recognized it and is claiming that it's one of the most original, ambitious titles this year. So why is nobody else in the games media, the very people who are supposed to be bringing us these kinds of features, talking about it? Instead it's just article and podcast over and over about how great the new God of War looks. (Here's a hint: It promises to be God of Warrier than the first.) I'm not saying they're wrong for being excited for God of War, just because I'm not. That's fine, that's their thing. But you can NOT deny the ambitious titles and the inventive titles just because they don't have the budget of the next Uncharted. I know not every outlet can catch this, but if I have to go digging around the netscape to find articles on the titles I'm interested in, and that I think deserve a broader look... Well I just feel like something's wrong there. But I understand where the personal bias could be an issue.

   It just seems, as I've stated but will do so here to signify wrapping up, that the bigger budget sequels that are easy to get excited about are always the stories plastered on the front page. Even when people do pay attention to Nintendo consoles, who I still feel get very much snubbed by the gaming media as a whole and with a grotesque amount of unfairness, all they tend to focus on is the Mario's and the Metroid's. Meanwhile new games like The Grinder get swept on by and lost in the torrential force of the "main stream." And if we can't count on our press of choice to do so effeciently... and maybe this is me looking into a much more grim and exagerated future... but why would people make new games only to see them underperform and get lost because they didn't have 15 million bones to throw their game's boxart onto subway cars?

   So yeah, I'll admit it, this stems mostly from Nintendo getting snubbed on all my E3 wrap up coverage accross the board, but it's not just them it's all the games that try so hard to squeeze onto the smaller consoles. I don't even want to get into the argument about me not thinking that God of War is at all a decent series, or why I think New Super Mario Bros. Wii (bad name withstanding) is one of the most exciting titles for me, personally. So that's not what I want to hear from people on the comments. No, I am not a fanboy. I'm just a fan of video games who thinks that some of the more exciting games are getting left behind in the virtual dust, and I don't want to hear any of those comments either. I'll save you the trouble: You're wrong about that. Moving in?

   I'd love to hear any rational, thought out comments you people have. Maybe show me that I'm just missing something, or maybe help me to understand that while on to something, I'm not quite on the right track? Or even agree with me, that'd be nice. God knows that happens like once a month, if that. It's nice to feel right now and again, you know?

-Make it a good one.
Randy "Dr. Randle" Marr

PS: While I have you here, if you're one of those people that's pissed off about Left 4 Dead 2 (another title I don't much care for), can you do me a favor and go dance in traffic? I'd really like to never have to hear about how you're not going to buy the new Left 4 Dead because "the color pallete is to bright." You're an idiot and an embarassment to logic. Thanks.
22 Comments

Why A Camera Isn't Going to Revolutionize Gaming

By DrRandle 35 Comments

Yes, This is Me Hating on Natal

The future for Natal?
The future for Natal?
  Think of me what you will. Don't read this article, just go ahead and start posting about what a "360 hater" I am, or how I'm apparently not allowed to have opinions on games I haven't played yet, or whatever you want. I'm here to have an honest discussion on why I think this camera, this whole Natal initiative, is not looking good. Who knows, maybe I am wrong and maybe there's a developer right now who's going to cook up a game that throws everything I have to say out the window. Honestly, and please understand this: I fucking hope so. I want to be wrong about this. I want to have more fun. I would be some kind of special brand of stupid to be against this idea of more fun, but I just don't see it. And I'm not saying Natal is completely without merit; maybe it can give me a You're in the Movies sequel that works.

   I wrote this all out in bullet point as I watched the event, so I'm going to discuss my ideas in an order roughly equivilant to the time line of the presentation.  

   My first problem with the camera-as-a-controller is that you can’t have games where characters do over-the-top, crazy ass things. First thought to mind: Devil May Cry will never see any typical game using this device. There is no way you can re-enact these kinds of crazy, high-falutin' moves in any sort of accurate way. Maybe M-soft will take a page out of the Wii's success and make a mini-game collection for Devil May Cry where you have to dodge bullets on-rails and make little shooting gestures with your hand like a 5 year old playing cowboys.  WWE Smackdown vs. Raw will never allow you to actually bodyslam your friend through a glass table, because the lawsuits would be ri-donkey-kong-ulous. Also, that clip of the girl driving a car? Nuh-uh. The lack of tactile response with the Wii-mote was enough loss; that whole process just looks ridiculous and unusable. Putting something tactile into a person's hand is much more comprehendable, I think.

    I don't care if you're having a three-way with Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy while you're shuffling through your Netflix account: navigating a menu is NEVER a “magical experience."
   While I can pretend to see Natal being good for normal types of people, gamers generally want a controller of at least some type. I've heard plenty of people who complain that they don't want to move around for what little many Wii games make them (such as Metroid Prime, which is just IR control.) They just want to sit back and veg out (to paraphrase Deamon Hatfield of IGN.) What on Earth does M-soft think they're accomplishing by making us play games that can ONLY be played by jumping and waving around like loony bastards? It won't go over well. And again, the best Wii games do not require this.
   The following is a response to the paint "game:" Are you fucking high? That does not like responsive, it does not look remotely accurate, and it looks like somebody could actually paint better if they were riding a bumpy wagon down a hill and dodging bullet fire (see Devil May Cry ideas for Natal above). While I wholly endorse looking like an ass for the camera (even if it looks like you're re-enacting the scene from Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me where it would appear that Felecity is pulling random campinging and spy equipment out of Austin's ass. Watch them make an elephant again. You'll see it.), I still prefer it to be in some sort of game context.

   Now, all of my complaints thus far kind of hinge on the hope and wish that this thing is actually as accurate as it looks. Show me doctored and canned footage all you want, but after You're in the Movies, Wario Ware: Snapped, and Eye Toy... feel free to call me skeptical. I don't think this thing will be at all as accurate as you would want it to be. Despite Tad Disingenuious' (I don't know M-soft exec's and it's late, already) attempted clever quip against Nintendo, anybody with half a brain knows that the best Wii games don't use the waggle. The better games tend to either use what little 1:1 capabilities the Wii-motes have to this point and/or the IR. Wii Motion Plus might fix that, but we're not here to talk about that, we're here to talk about the Natal. The Natal has no way of immediatly recognizing your motions: it just doesn't. I've read a comment from somebody who tested the 1 vs. 100 beta and you need split second accuracy that the camera just won't have with you slapping your palm. Watching that girl bounce those balls around on stage (can I say that?) only furthered my suspicions. There was lag, pure and simple. Maybe only a half-second of lag, but anybody who plays video games knows that the difference matters.

   Peter Molyneux has made a creepy-the-fuck-ass program for Natal about a kid named Milo who can interact with you to a surprising degree. And it scares the fuck out of me. Aside from the fact that Milo crawled out of the primordial ooze found deep in the furthest trenches of the Uncanny Valley, his interactions with people just seem too weird. I'm not sure how he'll be able to indentify every weird name that you give tell him, and I have to admit I'm afraid of how far people can take this. At what point does he stop reacting to everything you do and at what point does he become "real?"  At what point do we get to start having all those fun questions about the ethics of AI. If I put my penis against my TV and tell him to touch it does it become child molestation? Or am I just a desperate pervert at that point? (I'm probably bad enough considering I at least thought of the idea, though to ease your mind I wouldn't do it. (I have a boyfriend.)) Furthermore? How does he react? Is it a general "I'm sorry, please input a command I know" or does he freak out and run to his little house?

   Despite what Pete says about "Science fiction authors not having written about what we're doing today," they have. There are plenty of stories about humans who start interacting with robots or programs and forget what real people are like. There are also hundreds stories about ROGUE AI DESTROYING US ALL.

   Will I be proven wrong? Will this really turn the 360 into some crazy ass main-stream break-away success like the Wii, despite my (am I self-centered for saying this?) observations into the obvious facts of the matter? Will X-BOX Live become the SkyNet? So many questions... and I'm honeslty more concerned with whether or not Left 4 Dead 2 will be any good...

-Make it a Good One
Randy "Dr. Randle" Marr
35 Comments

Atlus Let's Us Play More Than Just Doctor...

By DrRandle 1 Comments

They're Gonna Make America Skinny Again, One Slap at a Time

(That title has nothing to do with this article. I just can't get the Rap Chop out of my head.)

Home sweet home.
Home sweet home.
Atlus announced, today, the next in the line of surgery pseudo-sim Trauma Center franchise: Trauma Team. Despite having a rather generic and unpleasent name, the game promises to expand on the critically acclaimed gameplay of the series' Wii bretheren by allowing players to take the roles of numerous different medical practitioners.

"Encounter unprecedented depth across six distinct fields of medicine: Play as a general surgeon, diagnostician, emt, orthopedic surgeon, endoscope technician, and medical examiner," reads the press release from Atlus.

The game boosts more gorgeous hand-drawn visuals, which like the past few Centers, probably means we shouldn't hold our breath for actual animation and character models outside of the surgery portions. Not that I mind, of course, but some people are snobs.

Honestly I would have bought any Trauma Center spin off or sequel they threw my way, I love the series so much. That being said, I'm glad to see they're trying to keep it fresh and mix things up, anyhow. This really seems like a unique approach to keeping similar gameplay without making everything feel stale again. Granted I might have a slight bias to this game, as I do have the name Dr. Randle. What does that have to do with anything, you ask? My obssessions with Dr. Mario, the previous Trauma Center games, and the TF2 Medic might all stem from the same root... So perhaps my excitement is a bit more than the average gamer's.

Anybody feel like this game is for them? It's destined for a Spring 2010 release. Sounds a little far away to get excited now, but that doesn't stop me.

-Make it a good one.
Randy "Dr. Randle" Marr

Also, damn the person or peoples responsible for getting to the game's page before me. Endogene... Was it you? *Fist shake*
1 Comments

Another Preview of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories

By DrRandle 1 Comments

Not to Be Confused with Goldust's Finishing Move, Shattered Dreams


IGN UK Stallion Extrodinaire Matt Wales has taken another look at the Battlestar Galactica-fied Silent Hill for the Wii. I've tried embedding a video trailer below so you can just take a look at that, but I'm not sure if it'll work... (If it doesn't, please give me some hints on how to make the whole embedding thing work because I'm not sure I've quite figured it out.)

  


Either way it's in the article I linked to above, so check it out! It's alright, I'll wait for you.

Check it out? Yeah. Awesome, isn't it? I absolutely can't wait for this game... the atmosphere, the effects, just everything. And how about those facial animations? Holy crap. Maybe I'm just use to the puppet-fest that is inFAMOUS facial animations, but that just looks amazing. On par with Half Life 2: Ep. 2, I'd say.

Anybody out there excited for this retelling of the true king of Survival Horror? I think it's time we start getting on this train. It looks amazing.

And now for a random tangent: The PDA function of the game looks great, but I wish I could take it just a little further... What if you could connect your DS to the Wii so that you can get many out-of-game experiences? Perhaps you can use the DS to scrawl notes on your GPS, dial phone numbers and such... The stuff would happen in real time like if you brought up the menu on Wii, but with a bit more responsiveness.

Okay so maybe it's a crazy idea, and brings you out of the immersive world that Climax is masterfully crafting... but I do wish more games had some sort of function like this. If nothing else: Maps! Or more of that Tingle Tuner psuedo-co-op stuff. I absolutely loved that function in Wind Waker...

I suppose that's another blog-post altogether though...

-Stop having boring tuna. Stop having a boring life.
Randy "Dr. Randle" Marr
1 Comments

Team Fortress Update Explained

By DrRandle 10 Comments

"Whaaaaaa! Cry some more!" - The Heavy
For those of you who may still have your panties in a tightly knit bunch, Valve has come out and explained the how's and why's of their new item earning system in Team Fortress 2. After you've had a nice read there, I think that you'll find it hard to dispute what they said. Unless, of course, you're a thick-headed mouth breather. In which case, why aren't you playing Halo where you belong?

Sorry if I seem bitter but it's been a rotten day and yes, I'm taking it out on the stupid people.

On a lighter note, the Valve store has also put up some great new TF2 apparel and merch, so I'd recommend you check it out. Personally: I'm aiming for those Red vs. Blue mugs to show my ever-waning allegiance. They've also given yet another update that features off a fashionable new addition to the game: HATS!

-Shut up and play.
Randy "Dr. Randle" Marr

10 Comments

Slow News Day at CNN: Cheetos Jesus (Cheesus?)

By DrRandle 14 Comments

It's not Easus bein' Jeesus

This is why I hate mainstream news. Really? This is news? At this point, just play a video of a squirrel on tiny water ski's over and over again, and call it a day. At least that's entertaining and doesn't remind me how much of a misanthrope I really am.

Also: the new DSi game is really good. That is all.

-Make it a good one.
Randy "Dr. Randle" Marr
14 Comments