Undeadpool
Undeadpool's last update: Undeadpool has an origin in Dragon Age: Origins. And it's tragic. So very tragic.
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Nov. 15, 2009
Nov. 9, 2009
Oct. 27, 2009
  • I was playing some Brutal Legend and I got a hankering to go back and watch some of those VH1 Metal documentaries (the really awesome multi-part ones where they interview basically EVERYone from the 70s-80s metal scene), and there was something that struck me more this time around: 1) Rob Halford knows his shit. The dude is MAD informed and really clever. 2) The groups that protested metal (mostly Christian, ...
    3 weeks, 3 days ago
Oct. 22, 2009
May 15, 2009
May 12, 2009
May 11, 2009
  • Does kinda have the look of someone who played The Witcher and decided to make it with a budget. Not that this is a bad thing. Quite excited.
    6 months, 1 week ago
May 9, 2009
May 5, 2009
May 4, 2009
April 23, 2009
  • Undeadpool commented on Vinny's video TANG: Doom
    Man I hated this movie...it's the Doom movie and it takes them something like 40 minutes before the killing starts. If those 40 minutes had been worthwhile, fine, but they were nothing but fake-out jumpscares and expository dialogue.TANG rocks though. No questioning that.
    7 months ago
April 21, 2009
  • Undeadpool replied to the topic Favorite Burger in the Hamburger board.
    There was a place near where I lived as a kid called "Mike's at the Yard." The "Yard" that it referred to was a stockyard (a slaughterhouse)...freshest damn burger I've ever had. Also HUGE and for a good price. They refused to serve fries, but they had good macaroni salad instead.
    7 months ago
  • Undeadpool replied to the topic Reference to Doug? in the Honkers board.
    Good catch, wouldn't be surprised.
    7 months ago
  • Undeadpool replied to the topic Cheapest Boss Ever in the Tekken 5 board.
    Justice from the original Guilty Gear.He followed Testament, an incredibly cheap mid-boss (who was at the end...). I remember the only way I beat him with the two characters I beat him with were luck (I hit my insta-kill while he wasn't blocking) and game-breaking cheapness (I cornered him with Millia and used her hair attack). As far as I could tell, there was no other way to beat him.
    7 months ago
April 20, 2009
April 19, 2009
April 16, 2009
April 15, 2009
  • Nothing looks like it's actually impacting, it looks like he's swinging his claws and stuff is dying/exploding... I dunno, maybe I'm just being a pessimist who doesn't want to believe a movie-videogame could actually be good.
    7 months, 1 week ago
April 14, 2009
Added by Undeadpool on Oct. 27, 2009

I was playing some Brutal Legend and I got a hankering to go back and watch some of those VH1 Metal documentaries (the really awesome multi-part ones where they interview basically EVERYone from the 70s-80s metal scene), and there was something that struck me more this time around: 1) Rob Halford knows his shit. The dude is MAD informed and really clever. 2) The groups that protested metal (mostly Christian, but I don't want to over-generalize) came up with some pretty hilarious ways that metal was corrupting our youth (just like rock and roll before it and the blues before that etc etc), but one of the funniest, for me, was the idea that Judas Priest (of which Mr. Halford is the frontman) had recorded backward (and therefore subliminal...of course) messages that would cause the hapless teenagers listening to it to be overwhelmed with the urge to kill themselves. This was in the wake of two teenagers listening to some Judas Priest, and then killing themselves.

Now obviously, this is a patent lie. If subliminal messages could be so easily and effectively implanted in someone, it would have been acquired and weaponized by someone at some point. There was some kind of musical anomaly that made it sound like the background of the track was saying "Do it, do it" but as Halford pointed out "Do what? Why would you assume it meant kill yourself?" He then went on to "If we could program teenagers to do our bidding, why would we have them kill themselves?! Why wouldn't it be 'Go buy lots more Judas Priest albums, and pick up a t-shirt while you're at it!'" And I realized: it's because these groups think that bands like Judas Priest, Black Sabbath and Slayer are evil for its own sake. Which is something that doesn't exist.

Stalin's governing led to the deaths of 20,000,000 Russians, but he thought it would lead to Russia being stronger than it ever was. Even serial killers have motives, twisted and sometimes incomprehensible though they are, beyond "Cause I'm the BADGUY." But that's not how these people see the artists and us, their fans. They see us as either victims or enablers, depending on our age and whatnot, but they see these people as EVIL. They are pure evil for its own sake, they are from the devil, they want us to die for no reason. It doesn't make sense otherwise, why WOULD you program your fans, the people who have made your career, to self-destruct? There's no purpose and there's no point. I find it frightening that these people have been so indoctrinated by whatever drives them that they truly believe that there is a scourge like this and that it isn't some genocidal dictator, or an abusive family, or even a madman with a knife.

They really believe it's a bunch of musicians. Or filmmakers. Or videogame developers.

Related to: Brütal Legend


Added by Undeadpool on Sept. 19, 2009

Videogaming (a friend of mine is trying to stop the word "gamer" from being used anymore. Long story) is at an interesting crossroad that all forms of popular media have come to at some point: straddling the line between an accepted mainstream artform and something that politicians from both sides of the spectrum want to burn in effigy for corrupting the youth of America, who everyone knows has no capacity to think for itself. It's happened a few times with more books than I can count (look up a banned book list on any search engine and prepare to be surprised),  all different kinds of music (metal and rap most recently, but basically every form of music has been crusaded against at some point), movies are still choking under the yoke of the MPAA, and TV still has to contend with censorship on a daily basis, though the grip is slackening. Videogaming just showed up the party, and guess what? It's already got six drinks in it. Videogames present an interesting problem to the debate: interactivity. This is Roger Ebert's argument as to why they can't be considered true "art" forms: because the user interacts with and changes it, it's not truly art. I don't agree with this contention one little bit not only for the fact that I've seen art exhibits that allow audience participation, but there's only so much a user can do to "alter" a videogame while playing it. You'll never be able to make Marcus Fenix soar over the battlefield on the back of a pegasus raining down fireballs from a sword. But I'm preaching to the choir, and I won't lie it's a good feeling, but I have another point: one of the biggest hurdles is from within. It's us not taking the medium seriously, even on a sub-conscious level.

I was watching a review for a game on Zero Punctuation when the reviewer made the fascinating point of the community getting SO excited when someone from the mainstream gets involved, even peripherally, with a videogame. Now whether or not you like Zero Punctuation is irrelevant, I think the point is an incredibly good one. Why DO we fawn over people who don't work with videogames when they come and make a game? Why do we, as the reviewer put it, "Say 'oh YES Mr. Bigshot movie producer! Come down to the filthy masses and show us how it's done!'" This art form has been around for well over thirty years, mostly without help from outside sources, so why is there this hero-worship when a game comes out that has Stephen Spielberg as an executive producer?

Quick: what's one of the first comments about any hot new game sure to show up in the forums within 24 hours of the game's release and vindication of quality? No, not lewd comments about whatever female character is in it, "I'd love for them to make this into a movie." Why? Videogames have, historically, made atrocious movies. There hasn't been a single one of actual quality with the possible exception of Silent Hill (Mortal Kombat doesn't count because, while it was a fun movie, it's not a "good" movie). Metal Gear Solid is the one I hear talked about most and it's also the one I find most puzzling. I love this series, I've loved it since the first PS1 game, but the game is HEAVY on the cinematics, so why would one want to see an inferior version, most likely starring an actor no one wants to play the character, with a script that's been passed around like a dutchie 'pon the left hand side so many times, to so many different people who've probably never even heard of the game, that by the end it's called Metallic Cog Mercurial and stars Chris Kattan as the WACKIEST secret agent this side of the RUSTY CURTAIN! (rated PG-13)? 

I think it's because deep down a lot of us are still waiting for something to come along and make gaming OK for mainstream acceptance. Like what the one-two combo of the X-Men and Spider-Man movies did for comic books (with Blade being the lead-in), but comic books lend themselves more naturally to being adapted to the big screen, and even those movies didn't get REALLY good until very recently. So I think we need to bring gaming to the mainstream ourselves. Games like Bioshock are a great step in the right direction because they have incredible artistic vision as well as a satirical, philosophical plotline. In short: it has depth. That's what people look for in art: depth and that's what so many games lack. I'm not saying EVERY game needs to become Bioshock in order for us as a community to progress beyond what we are, I'm saying that we shouldn't let someone on the outside ride in like a white knight and redeem something that doesn't even need redeeming. We should solve our own problems by supporting games that actually try something daring and dynamic and even by trying to hold these games up as counter-examples rather than simply shouting at the top of our lungs about how artsy games can be.



Added by Undeadpool on July 29, 2009

Oh Fox, is there any TV show you won't ruin? The news is no longer quite hot of the internet presses, but for those who don't know: Fox has resurrected Futurama, possibly the greatest cartoon ever made, only to attempt to recast it because the voice actors want more money to return than Fox is willing to pay.

This of course horrifies me as quite the die-hard fan who had to sit through texts of my friends meeting the cast at ComiCon (I hate the people who love me and they hate me!). One even asked about it and he was tight-lipped, as was DiMaggio in the interview being advertised on this fine website. This means that, very possibly contrary to popular belief, this isn't just Fox rattling their sabers like they did a few years ago when they threatened to recast The Simpsons. That was pure insanity and everyone knew it would never happen, but this is a show that was cancelled, had some great movies and is now returning.

As with my previous post, I don't really know what the point of this is other than venting. I can't really galvanize the internet into action because nobody takes online petitions seriously, I can just say to hope for the best with regards this little slice of TV heaven. And if things do work out, hope that Fox doesn't cancel them after six episodes.



Added by Undeadpool on April 9, 2009

A little background on me to put this in perspective: I'm old enough to have gotten a Nintendo Entertainment System when they were new, I'm old enough to remember when $60 for a game was cheap (Kirby's Superstar for $80, folks), and I'm old enough to remember when our games didn't have age ratings on them and ESRB was just a collection of letters. I remember when being a "gamer" meant you were almost definately NOT in the cool kid clique and I remember when it began to turn. It was a little system called the Playstation that brought gaming to a level nobody had seen before. Sprites were replaced with polygons, voices were heard rather than read and, for some reason, games were getting primetime advertising. Have you ever been a part of something niche that became mainstream? It's the very definition of a double-edged sword. Games are cheaper and playing them doesn't automatically make you a schoolyard pariah, which is great. We have a much greater volume of work to choose from, so there's much more to be enjoyed, but something is lost.
My three favorite games are Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, and Final Fantasy VI (I liked one-player games because I was the only person I knew who really played games) and those games are all SNES games. They were all made with an incredible amount of love and care and they were made for people like me. This is not to look at the past with rose-tinted lenses, there have ALWAYS been bad games and there always will be, but now you've got people who play nothing but Madden and HALO and call themselves "gamers" and more and more games are being made to try and get these kinds of people on board. The biggest bait used is shoe-horned multiplayer. Games like Metal Gear Solid 4, Grand Theft Auto 4 and even games that don't have the number 4 in them like Resident Evil 5 are having multi-player crammed into them and it's still happening. Did anyone who played the amazing Bioshock think, "Wow, this game would be perfect if only I could play it online against a thirteen year old screeching racial slurs at me." Is that an unfair example? Absolutely, I made it because I'm trying to be funny and make a point. A better example would be did anyone think being unable to play against their friends in that game detract from the experience? Well for those people, multiplayer will be included in the sequel. And don't even get me started on G4 trying to make gaming "kewl" and "xtreeeeeeme(!!!)" or Roger Ebert declaring that it's impossible for videogames to be considered "art" because the user alters them.
So I guess in the end I'm more giving food for thought than actually trying to make a point. What do you think? Gaming in the mainstream, blessing or curse?


Undeadpool's Reviews
Takes a Minute To Get There, But Worth the Trip (PS3)
Batman: Arkham Asylum is based on the DC Comics (recently DC Entertainment) character who has become a cultural touchstone since the brilliant one-two punch of "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight" and this game, while taking a little while to rev up, fairly accurately simulates what it must be like ...
Reviewed by Undeadpool on Sept. 27, 2009
A Few Minor Flaws Keep It From Perfection (X360)
There's an epidemic going around. It's symptoms are readily recognizable: clothing made of iron, weapons made of steel and wood, haughty elves, drunken dwarves, prophencies being fulfilled and, of course, severe dragons. I'm talking about the epidemic that seems to be sweeping the game industry that forces all RPGs, be ...
Reviewed by Undeadpool on July 26, 2009
DLC Done Better (X360)
The Pitt follows Operation: Anchorage in extending the lifespan of Fallout 3 and it hits the mark a lot more clearly than its predecessor, though it's still a little short for a wholehearted reccomendation. Once again a mysterious radio transmission guides you to someone in need of help. I'll avoid ...
Reviewed by Undeadpool on July 26, 2009
Fun If Your Character Knows Which End of a Gun Goes Boom (X360)
Do you like fighting? Do you like fighting with guns? Does your Fallout 3 character like fighting with guns? Then this, my friend, may be the downloadable content for you. Operation Anchorage does something interesting, it actually fleshes out the Fallout universe, something that is normally relegated to the pieces ...
Reviewed by Undeadpool on July 26, 2009
A Bit Clunky, But Still a Classic (PC)
Downloading this piece of my childhood from Steam was a bit of mixed bag, I'm a little sorry to admit. I went in with rose-tinted lenses remembering exciting fistfights and amazing voice-overs sandwiching some light puzzle solving. What I wound up with was a pretty equal helping of all three.The ...
Reviewed by Undeadpool on July 12, 2009
Bought This AFTER Buying Persona 3 (PS2)
Persona 3 was THE best RPG I'd played in a VERY long time, and as an old-school fan of RPGs, it was nearly the perfect game. Occasionally atrocious ally AI and clunky inventory management are the only things that prevent it from achieving true perfection and adding on a 30+ ...
Reviewed by Undeadpool on April 4, 2009
Tried to Not Let Past Games Influence Me (DS)
But I couldn't help it. The Phoenix Wright games were and are my favorite DS games. They had great writing, amazing characters and incredibly impressive twists along with incredible dynamics between the characters.For neophyte lawyers, the game has two modes: investigation and courtroom. In investigation you gather evidence, as the ...
Reviewed by Undeadpool on April 4, 2009


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The reason I still believe in PC gaming? I've played a dozen LFD2 pickup games now all with great people using voice chat and teamwork.
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Fired up Braid on a whim this morning and instantly solved the puzzle that had me stumped for a year. What the eff.
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My new power to change the GB homepage's tagline at will is surely going to lead to ruin.
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