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DrRandle

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Frothing Rage at NPD Numbers

By DrRandle 41 Comments

It's (Probably) Your Fault

I apologize ahead of time, this is me venting. Please do not take it personally, but feel free to engage in reasonable conversation.

The Wii, and I've said this time and time again, is a perfectly viable hardcore system. Saying otherwise is stupid, and clearly only dependent on the "logic" presented by brand loyalty to the other consoles created over the past couple of generations. So the system isn't the most powerful, and has a flimsy internet infrastructure. That doesn't matter.

In case you don't know why I'm frothing about this, may I point you out here to an article about MadWorld only selling roughly 66,000 copies. People keep saying it's beceause the Wii isn't a "Core enough system" or that it's only for kiddies or stupid shit like that. Idiot's like Yahtzee and the rest of the non-core gamers who believe it's all about the tech-specs. That's like saying a great movie is all about the special-effects budget: it's not, and if you think so, you are clearly part of the problem.

The fact of the matter is that GTA didn't sell well on the DS, either. Are we going to now argue that the DS isn't a core system? because that is outright bloody lunacy to argue. If you think the Wii is not a core system, you are wrong, and in my eyes, you are not a core gamer. Because if you were, you would try and expose yourself to as many great games as possible, but instead you just play your casual CoD and Halo 3 and Gears, and that's it. Accessible games about shooting people = Casual games. Animal Crossing = Hardcore. Facts.

I am upset to see these sales figures for MadWorld but I'm not surprised given the general view of idiots. Between this and The Conduit, I'm afraid that it might be over for the Wii's hardcore base which is just sad because there is so much amazing potential to be had on the system not yet recognized by the "hardcore" contingency as a whole. I admit the system's not perfect and a lot of games fail to take advantage of it, and I think that's because it's new, and because developers fail to recognize the kind of system they are developing for.

So in short, if the Wii fails as a hardcore gaming system, it's clearly your fault (unless you support the system, as you should support all the systems (except the cd-i)). And as such, I have little respect for people who are willing to let great things go. Pardon me if it sounds rude, but this is my favorite hobby and I don't like watching it deteriorate and circle around the drain because people are stupid.

I'd love to see your argument if the Wii never caught on to the mass crowd and this whole "casual" argument never happened.

-You've failed to make it a good one, so far. Thanks.
Randy "Dr. Randle" Marr
41 Comments

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories: You Will Own This Game.

By DrRandle 2 Comments

I Don't Care if You Have to Sell Yourself on the Street


 
The flashlight is controlled with the Wii Remote
The flashlight is controlled with the Wii Remote
  IGN editor and all-around video game GQ Matt Cassamassina recently broke out a huge write-up on the new Silent Hill: Shattered Memories by Climax Studios. The article and interview are here, but I'll go ahead and give you a quick break down.
  • Silent Hill is Watching You: this game has a unique "psychological profiling" mechanic. To hell with cheap morality complex devices measured only in "Do you act like Jesus, or do you act like Hitler," this game is watching your every move. When you enter a room do you look for a map? If so, the game recognizes your practicality. If you instead look for a girlie picture on the wall, well not so much.
  • Gorgeous Game is Gorgeous: I don't care if it's "just a Wii game," this game looks amazing. It goes to show what a developer with actual ambition and skill, not to mention a hefty supply of great artists, can do for a system, even if it's a little underpowered.
  • The Flashlight: Lighting. Is. Amazing. Period.
  • Run Like Hell: No you can't fight. "As a kid, do you wake up screaming because you had a nightmare where you hit a zombie with a bat? No. You were scared because all you could do was run, and it still caught you." I've fought zombies and monsters a billion times already, I'm excited to see how this game makes me run for my life. Oh and the monsters can chase you down all of Silent Hill.
  • No Load Times: No load times.
  • Harry Has an iPhone: Sort of. It's used to do a lot more than just take calls. You can take pictures that flash hidden scenes, and use it to solve puzzles.
  • Not a Remake: This isn't your daddy's remake for the Wii, this is a straight up reinvisioning. This is a new game. This is, as the developers put it, the new Battlestar Galactica compared to the 1978 original.

There. How are you not reading that article right now? How are you not excited? This isn't some on-rails shooter, this is a fucking hardcore-as-they-come game. If you are not even remotely interested, if you are not already planning to at least rent this, if you aren't even reading this because you already don't care because you can't fight... You are a fucking idiot, plain and damned simple. You have to at least, at least, be able to appreciate what this game is trying to do. You owe it to yourself and gaming as a medium to pay some attention to this title.

-Climax, Make it a good one.
Randy "Dr. Randle" Marr
2 Comments

The 7 Commandments All Video Games Should Follow

By DrRandle 21 Comments

Presented by Cracked.com


Here's something interesting a buddy of mine showed me, that I thought I would share with the rest of the internets. A list of 7 things that all video games should consider, and thusly all developers and publishers need to realize about making games.

Personally I shouldn't say all games need to be this way, some are after all crafted to be exactly what they need to be, and I'm never opposed to breaking rules. But I think in a large majority of cases, these rules should be followed, especially towards the end there where we talk about graphics and horse power not being important.

 I agree mostly with everything in this article, so there's not really a lot of point in me regurgitating it. I'd love to see your thoughts down below, but please let's keep it intelligent, hm? I do so love a stimulating conversation.

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

21 Comments

A Look at the Nintendo DSi

By DrRandle 2 Comments

The Best DS Thus Far


Cute Japanese Girls not included.
Cute Japanese Girls not included.
   Hey everybody. I've had about 24 hours to toy around with the new DSi and some of it's software, so I've finalized my impressions, and I also thought I'd give you a few tips on how to enjoy the system if you pick one up.

   First of all, the system feels more formfitting. It's a little bit wider, while being a little more flat. I'm not sure if it's some swapped guts or maybe just that matte finish, but the DSi just feels good in the hands. The L and R buttons have been slightly altered, likely to help with some damage issues on the Lite. I know my left shoulder button broke for no apparent reason and I think it has something to do with it being part of the back of the unit, whereas these shoulder buttons are set into the top similar to those of the PSP, but more inlaid.

   Speaking of buttons, Nintendo has seen fit to return to the more "clicky" buttons on the inside. My biggest complaint with the Light was it's more squishy buttons, as opposed to the GBA SP and DS Phat's more cell-phone like buttons, that had a nice click to them and felt responsive. While the buttons themselves are still the Lite buttons in shape, the insides have been replaced to give it that more tactile push. In short: they feel great, like a handheld controller should feel.

   The power button has been turned from that terrible little push-nub to a regular button on the inside of the DSi, located next to the bottom left corner of the touch screen. Pressing this button once can take you from your game to the home menu of the DSi, and pressing it for a few moments turns it off. Quick tip: If you hold the "minus" on the volume control when you turn the power on, your DSi will start in a muted position. In case you've not figured it out yet, the DSi's volume controls are now handled by + and - buttons on the left side. I'm not a fan of this for two reasons: one being that the slider is just quicker for that on-the-go volume control. If you have earphones and somebody is trying to say something, with a quick flick of your thumb you can hear them. Also, there's no reason they had to move it to the left side of the unit. Now your thumb can't even reach it, and you have to sort of work at it. Where the volume slider was is now dead space, so I don't really see what the intent of the move was. That being said, another quick tip for a feature I do enjoy, you can adjust the brightness of your screens on the fly by holding select and using the + and - keys to adjust it.

Look, Beyonce loves it! So will you!
Look, Beyonce loves it! So will you!
   A few little things, the screens are a little bigger, but otherwise the same. There is an extra brightness level added, just in case. The power led lights are nicer, I think. Your power on is a crisp blue, which looks great on the black model. Wi-Fi status is handled with a green led and if your power is low you get a red indicator. If it's in a critically low position it begins to blink red. Oh also there's a light for charging, and it's orange. The DSi also has two cameras, probably one of it's biggest selling points, one on the outside flap and one on the inside hinge. They're not that great, hardware wise, and I'll save the rest of the talk for when I get to the software. Finally, there is a flap for SD cards on the right side of the unit. It fits SD cards. Whoo.

   The DSi's interface is significantly different from that of the old DS models. It's more crisp, and has a decidedly iPhone or Wii-like look to it. Your icons are all large icons lined up horizontally that you can slide one way or another too with either the d-pad or stylus. It's incredibly intuitive and looks great. The top screen will display random photos you've taken every time you turn the system on, the date and time, your volume setting, and finally an actual indication of your power level. Before the DS's only showed you if it was green or red, like the light, which was pointless. This one actually shows you the amount of juice your unit's got stirring around like a cell phone.

   One feature of the DSi's software that is a vast improvement is the ability to hot-swap games. Before you would have to turn off and reboot your system to switch games, but now you can just exchange them while on the home menu. When you're playing games, you can press the power button to return to the main menu, but the exclusion of a screen between that process is baffling. The PSP and the Wii both have the ability to pause your game to give you some options, generally returning to the main menu. The DSi could have used this function, if nothing else, so that I could check the time when I'm playing on the go. Aside from that though, the new software is top notch.


i can't keep my eyes off of you.
i can't keep my eyes off of you.

   First we'll check out the camera function. When you first fire up the program, you're greeted with a calender on the top screen and a few options on the bottom. You can choose between your System and SD Card storage for taking pictures and viewing saved ones. You can also view the camera and leave yourself memos and pictures, similar to the Wii Message board. With this feature, the DSi is that much more efficent as a personal organizer as well. I would say that a phonebook application would be important for this, but logically most people have that in their cell phone, if not already the rest of these applications. If you're like me, though, you use your DS way more obsessively. In any case, the album is intuitive, sorting your photos by date and time while displaying them in the same horizontal method as the channels. You can also assign stickers to them to better sort your favorites, and edit them using various tools. You can also set up a slide show to music, all exactly like you can with the photo channel on the Wii. Only, in this case, a much more effective version of it. It's just smoother, and more refined.

   The camera itself is pretty versatile. For starters, you can immediately take picture from the main menu using the l or r buttons. For a more controlled experience, though, you'll want to use the camera channel. First, you can pick from a wide variety of "modes." You've got your standard camera, some graffiti filters that help add some weird personality to them, a distortion filter so you and you friends can all look like you've seen the video from The Ring, and a few merging tools. Most of these serve as little toys and distractions. Hardcore camera lovers be warned: this is not going to be for you. This is for people who just want to have fun. Ideally? I see this being more for high school kids who wanna take fun photos for some memories. This is more about having fun with your photos than just taking them. It's not meant to take great snapshots of your kids first prom dress, but it might be nice for taking pictures of them doing something silly. I don't know, clearly it's up to you, but I wouldn't recomend this be your primary camera unless you can't afford otherwise. It's true a typical digital camera of this quality would run you about 70, 80 bucks, so maybei t's not bad to also have an awesome DS? That's up to you.

   The Sound Channel is where you can go to record yourself or listen to music stored on your SD card. I will come right out and say that the recorder is pretty dumb. You can only record ten second snippits to play with. It makes a diversion that's about as fun as it sounds: altering the tone and speed of 10 second long audio clips. That gets you excited, doesn't it. No, probably not. I have found one use for it though, continuing on with my idea of this system being a great personal organizer: It makes a great verbal note pad. "Note to self: Get some milk." That takes about 2 seconds and now you have a memo to yourself. If you've found any other great uses for this thing, I'd love to hear about them. It might amuse the "casuals" a little more, but for people who want a great multi-functional gaming system... it's otherwise pretty pointless. What the sound channel will be used for is listening to music. Quick tip: You can only use AAC supported formats. Here's the Wikipedia entry on AAC formats, but suffice to say you're not using MP3's. Instead try Apple supported formats like the MP4. Seems a little unintuitive to me, but then again the iPod is the biggest music player on the market so maybe it makes sense. Personally I hate iTunes with a seething passion but that's a different blog. Also you can play with your music, yadda yadda. I just want to listen to it.

   The DSi Shop channel is nothing particularly worth mentioning: it's exactly like the Wii Shop Channel in functionality. Otherwise you've got your DS Download Channel and Pictochat, which are exactly like they used to be. The settings interface is very much like it's Wii contemporary, down to the layout of the options.

   So that's the DSi. My overall impressions are: I love it. It's clearly the best model of the DS released so far, though I wouldn't go so far as to call it the "next stage" in the DS pillar. Just another drastic redesign. My biggest attraction is the downloadable games, which I'll review throughout the rest of the week. Whether or not you should upgrade this is ultimately up to you. If you haven't moved away from the Phat, than you are a fool and you need to get this. If you have the Lite, well it's a matter of priority for you and you alone. I've given you the tools to make that decision, other than the software line up. It remains to be seen if there will be any "DSi only" games, but I wouldn't count on it, I think that will only be held up in the downloadable market.

   Have you picked one up yet? If so, what are your thoughts? Otherwise, why haven't you? I'd love to see some feedback on this one, I'm curious to know how people are reacting to this thing.

Comfy? I'm not sure...
Comfy? I'm not sure...
   -Make it a Good One.
   Randy "Dr. Randle" Marr

  PS: Anybody else hear this thing was supposed to have two touch screens? I swear I read that way back when, but... it doesn't! So, yeah, whatever that's worth to ya...

  PS x2: If you have Animal Crossing, sign on and receive your DSi Chair.

  
2 Comments

PlayStation Portable Problems

By DrRandle 13 Comments

Stop Me if You've Heard This Before...
   With the release of the DSi in mere hours, I thought I'd give my PSP a little love... because it might be a little while before it gets any further. So I picked up Prinny: Can I Really Be The Hero?. (review forthcoming, I hope.) Last night I saddled up, popped it in, and fired up the ol' Portable only to find it saying it wants an update. I went to give it said update when it told me no. My system told me no. It wanted to be charged up. I sighed, knowing my fate... I wasn't playing Prinny any time soon. I hooked the PSP up to it's charger, set it aside, and started playing my DS.

   The point of this story? I'm just writing this in the vain hope that Sony learns from it's terrible software. Maybe they have on one of the newer models, and if so... well that's great! I should probably pick one up sometime soon. Because this is otherwise ridiculous. I just want to play my game, and I don't like my systems telling me no.

   And so the DSi is here soon, and I cannot wait.

   Alright, the last time I had some gripes with Sony I got flamed by fanboys, so let's see it happen again. Proove me right.

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

13 Comments

So I Finished RE5's Story...

By DrRandle 7 Comments

Thoughts, but Not a Review


The only real
The only real "Character" we got
   I figured I'd save my review because I want to finish checking out the extra content, but I also wanted to just take this time to share some more personal thoughts on the overall feel and story of Resident Evil 5. Fair warning, Spoilers ahead! Turn back now if ye haven't finished it or don't give a damn.

   I liked the story alright, but I don't think I liked it as a Resident Evil story. Part of it is because, be it Ouroboros or Las Plagas, it kind of feels like RE4 all over again, sans the amusing bit about the presidents daughter being kidnapped (and whether or not you're a bad enough dude to save her), and more whining.

   First off, Chris Redfield. They try to convince us that Jill is dead but anybody with half a brain (From experience) can figure out that not only is she still alive, but that mysterious cloaked figure is totally her. I don't know how, but I think that whole story could have been handled much better and made for a much more gasping reveal, as opposed to "How is it that Me and Wesker are the only people in this room that have figured it out?"

   Sheva, aside from having the most made-up sounding name since Dr. Spaceman (30 Rock reference, it's pronounced "Spa-che-men"), has almost no history. And she's so uptight and sans a personality that there's really no empathatic link properly established to her, at least from this guy's opinion. Ashley at least was a helpless damsel, so you kind of had to establish empathy out of necessity, though I did manage to take a rocket launcher to her more than once out of frustration. What I think is even worst is how they try and shoehorn the most atypical story ever: Parents were killed by blank, so I'm going after blank. Overall she felt more tacked on, and, given my comments above, couldn't she just have been Jill?

   Playing through Resident Evil 4 I found myself wowed and in awe almost every time I reached a new chapter because of the interesting scenarios that were presented. Be it the first time I fought Del Lago, or the grandiose and over the top archecture of the castle, the game never ceased to amaze me at where it was going. Five? Not so much. In fact, aside from swapping my Ganados with Majinis, there wasn't a whole lot of difference. We had our 3rd world village, a big lake, a factory or refinery type scenario... Aside from a little time in the savannah, nothing really felt new. All technically impressive environments, sure, but nothing really made me go "Oh, wow, this is interesting," in terms of scenario.

   Also, where was the banter? We don't even really have a villain to personify until Chapter 5, when Wesker and his pair-of-boobs partner show up. Before then there was just that Ricardo guy but he had like 10 lines. None of these characters had the ominous nature of Mendez, Salazar, or Sadler. And again, where was the banter?! Where was my "Writhe in my cage of torment!" or "Saddler, you're small time!"

   Overall I felt the game took itself too seriously, especially considering some of it's history. Between the Bourne I-Wannabe camera angle and the stuffy dialogue... I don't know, as much as the gameplay is still phenomonal and the presentation is immaculate... The story wasn't really there for me. And there were no real characters that drew the experience together, beside Ricardo, and he was terribly shortlived. Even my long-amored Wesker seemed a little plain this time around.

   Also, why did they cut the Merchant? He was my favorite character... Instead I get a faceless shop screen, which, for the record, is far clumsier than the Merchant ever was.

   Thoughts? Disagreements? Other things you would like to bring up? Don't get me wrong, I love this game, and once I get through the rest of the content my review should reflect quite well upon it. I just kinda wanted to get this set of details off of my chest, because for the most part I don't think it should reflect as negatively as it might sound in my review.

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

Team Fortress 2 on the Cheap

By DrRandle 5 Comments

Help Get New Friends to Celebrate the Scout Patch


It's been a few months since we've seen a major update to Team Fortress 2, mostly because of Left 4 Dead (So, you know, I'm okay with the delay),
Need a dispenser here!
Need a dispenser here!
but the new Scout Update is out. What does that mean? Well it means when you join a game of TF2, there's going to be a 64% increase to the number of scouts running around as people try to unlock new achievements and weapons.

To celebrate this glorious release, BONK!, Valve has put the game up for half off on it's Steam service. That's just $10 bucks for one of the best, if not THE best, multiplayer FPS out there. I can't recommend enough that you get on this game if you haven't already.

-Make it a good one (by picking up this f'n game.)
Randy "Dr. Randle" Marr
5 Comments

Free (and legit) Video Game Soundtrack!

By DrRandle 3 Comments

(Not that you care that it's Legit.)

Always the propagator of video game music, especially when it's free, I offer you now the soundtrack to the little-known DS Gem Zenses. I've only played Zenses Rainforest, but I can tell you that it's actually not that bad. I grabbed my copy for 10 bucks, and it's not the worst you could do with that kind of cash.  All you have to do is navigate the website a little bit to get to the music download.
Soothing Solitaire.
Soothing Solitaire.

If you're looking for an interesting set of puzzle games, Rainforest is a great place. There's 6 in total, with varrying degrees of diffiulty and a few minor "achievement" style challenges to complete for each game. All and all, it's more complete than some puzzle game packages, and each one of the games is actually more unique than I thought there would be. There's not a Bejeweled clone to be found. (Again, at least not in Rainforest.) Plus the atmosphere of relaxation is thick; each game is set against a tropical, soothing background.

The music isn't much, but it is soothing. Essentially, after a few rounds of Left 4 Dead, or Call of Duty 4, I could recommend you pick this title up to help get your blood pressure down a few notches.

I could recommend better puzzle games, but for around ten bills, you can't go wrong with Zenses: Rainforest. I imagine Beach is about the same.
3 Comments