Shadow says Merry Christmas...

Pretty funny.

Not much happening during the holidays.

After the non-work - work I had during Christmas I am feeling a bit down during the holidays here.

Oh, and I am playing Oblivion now. It's Morrowind but without that annoying monetary system and the whole thing has been toned down. Now there are only 4 guilds and no temples.

I really like the scaled up enemy system. Morrowind got way too easy but this game seems to keep up with me. Alot of people complain that you level too fast, but that's bunk because you don't HAVE to level. You can just practice stuff that isn't in your field for awhile too level the playing field. Then you can raise your level by sleeping just a bit at a time. This goes against "gamer logic" that higher levels means an easier time killing enemies though so lamers bitch and complain about this feature. I like the increased enemy power though. I play a sneaky character who has to use pretty much anything from magic to Alchemy to level the playing field.

Alchemy is easier than Morrowind but still fun as hell. I think half my game time has been spent running around the woods looking for poisons to kill my enemies with. Did you know that strawberries can be made into a deadly poison??? Apparently they can. Anyways you can never go wrong with alchemy because there is NO FAILURE rate involved,. Kinda lame.

It's a pain that game developers seem to be simplifying games for consoles.

PC gamers can handle alittle complexity people!

In any case this game runs just fine on my computer.

Worst Dreamcast Hater Video Ever....Really.

First off this was his original text:

"wat inspired me to make this video was a dume kid who thought dreamcast could own ps3 well he can go to hell"

He will probably change it since I called him on it in a comment.

A few comments:

It's nice that this guys parents decided to buy him all this crap. It's too bad they don't spend as much effort on educating him. He is WAY to young to have remembered anything else but the newer generation of consoles which is a shame.

The great majority of his points make no sense at all. But that's mostly because he is young.

It's like this video is a compilation on every stupid Sony Fanboy, Internet loser, moronic Punk I have ever encountered on the net.

1. Young high pitched pre-puberty voice
2. Hyping up "online play" If dealing with losers like this is online then keep it.
3. Sony fanboyism for seemingly no reason.
4. Highlighting Multi-Platform Games as a reason to buy a PS3?
5. Calling people misspelled names.
6. Calling someone else "kid" when in fact this guy sounds 12 years old.
7. Making over-generalized points on technology he knows nothing about.
8. Making comparisons that make no sense in context.
9. Calling other people "lonely" and "sad" because they don't have the latest tech to play with people online with an earpiece. Picture this young kid surrounded by all the PS3 junk which probably cost enough for a whole semester's books in college. He thinks that online gaming on the PS3 is really social? Wow.
10. Under-age kid playing 18+ only rated games online where a lot of people use offense language.

The whole "online gaming" thing that crops ups with these kids is frankly pissing me off. These are the little jerks who use offensive language and racist terms because they don't know any better. They shouldn't even be playing mature rated games at all.

Instead of giving these jerks something to do until they eventually stop being completely annoying, parents give them high end video games and what seems like unfrettered computer access. And they don't learn about ways to lock the consoles so underage players can't play games that are not suitable for them. If this kid's parents did he wouldn't be able to play half those games.

Go outside and play in the snow or something kid. Go do anything until you grow up and hopefully learn to stop being such a annoying little pest.

Or at least learn alittle more about video productions and video games in general so you can make a decent video and stop bagging on awesome games people are still paying a premium for.

The Dreamcast rules.

Merry Christmas from future nuclear wasteland distopia!

From Kotaku

He is only called Vault Boy in the adverts. He was never mentioned by name in the game. Then in Fallout 2 "pipboy" was mentioned in such a way when you updated your PiP that I thought that he was called PiPboy. So that confused me for a bit. But PiPboy and Vault Boy are two different mascots. And Falloutboy is a band.

Merry Christmas. Don't let the mutants get you.

Small child kills prostitute with machete.

...in a video game.

From Kotaku.

http://www.criminaljustice.state.ny.us/missing/i_safety/videogame-flashpage.html

"prostitutes are super hard to kill"

WTF?

Kids should not be playing games like this. At all. It's the equivalent of giving a kid an R rated movie. But most people still equate ALL video games with kids. KIDS SHOULD NOT PLAY THESE GAMES. In fact I don't know who the hell WOULD play a game like this.

I know of very few games were you can do what this little kid is describing.

And in those few games it's generally NOT a good idea to go around killing everything.

It must have been one of the newer GTA games which I have not played.

Oh God they are wearing their armor...

I bring you this frankincense... of ETERNAL FLAME!!!

Hurrah For me! Mentioned on PBC-Productions!

Pbc-Production's member "Z." Briggs read my letter during the latest "Little-Miss-Gamer" web show!

I am so happy. This totally made my day.

http://www.pbc-productions.com/

(The end of the excellent pinball episode)

I am glad that other people liked the old PC game inserts. My trusty map of Ultima 6was the only thing that got me through that game.

Ah. Some games are getting better inserts though.

This cures my "Tuesday Blues"

More on Persona 3

So I was considering some of the imagery from the Persona 3 game I just got. Here is the Japanese intro

High schoolers shooting themselves in the head with what looks like real guns is pretty damn disturbing imagery for a game. In fact one could say that the highly stylized art of this game glamorizes it. I don't think it does. In fact I think any form of art, including games, should be able to use any kind of imagery without censorship. People's reaction to this video though confirms many of my personal beliefs.

I have always thought that society in general keeps suicide on too high of a pedestal. Imagery in a game like this is disturbing but what is even more disturbing is that some people don't see the real life act of suicide as the completely stupid act it is.

For example in college I did this skit:

The whole idea behind the skit was to put the idea of "a cry for help" suicide attempt in the open in a amusing way.

When I was talking about the skit with a another person, not actually watching it, they were somewhat offended I would make a comedy skit about a subject like that.

However, I think that because people HAVE put this idea forward it takes away from the "ideal" that society has given the act and less people do it. You have to make fun of taboo subjects or they will ALWAYS be taboo and nobody will ever get around them.

I think that most suicides nowadays occur because of genuine mental problems created by a lack of proper medication. It's too bad that since some young people were over-medicated and improperly medicated now parents are afraid to put their kids on ANY medication. And that has led to more suicides because parents are not willing to provide any alternate treatment. They simply refuse to medicate their kids.

I think that if more people would be involved with the kid's life most of these teens would find some reason to keep going.

New Games!

I recently bought the second full priced game I ever purchased.

Persona 3. Which is going for like $75 new on amazon and Ebay. So I don't feel all that bad that I bought it. Plus I can't find it on any of the major retailers sites anymore. They don't even list it on their sites.

I have alot of RPGs for the PS2 but the artwork in this one seems pretty cool. Plus you play high schoolers who unlock their powers by shooting themselves in the head... ...I am not kidding. I suppose this might be why all the major retailers don't carry this anymore. It was an oversized DVD package with an art book included. I have no clue how the gameplay is but considering I could sell an opened copy on ebay for about as much as I paid for it new in store I figure it was a good deal.

I also got Oblivion, Game of the Year Edition which was on sale. Plus I had coupons for Best Buy. I like the Best Buy promotions because you don't have to spend money. You are pretty much guarenteed coupons and store credit just for signing up. They do hassle you a bit sometimes with unwanted credit card offers and stuff but that is easy to ignore.

Cool people with goatees and glasses love the dreamcast.

Muahahaha!



I laughed when I saw this because so many of the people who like the Dreamcast wear glasses and have a goatee. I had to shave mine off for my newer job.

Compare the above video with an older video of mine.



I think the only difference is that I love the Dreamcast controller and I have never cramped up while using it.

Saturn Junkyard Celebration!

The Saturn Junkyard just celebrated it's first birthday!

Go and take a look at some of the cool new graphics and an extra special drawing by the Gagaman(n)!

http://thesaturnjunkyard.blogspot.com/

Beat RE REmake, AGAIN!

Beat the game on hard with Chris, a first for me.

I was already playing Kingdom Hearts, STALKER and FarCry (almost to the end). But I just had one of those moods to play some survival horror and I hadn'y played RE in a long time.

I took my time so I didn't unlock anything which is fine. The game is pretty kick ass even after beating one on hard with Jill. Playing as Jill is easier simply because she has more item slots. She has less health but I am so kick ass with the Gamecube controller I hardly ever take hits in that game. I had like 5 spray cans and like 4 herb combos at the end of the game on hard.

In any case this game is TIMELESS. Killing zombies and learning about Wesker's betrayal is constant.

SPOILERS

*Rebecca Chambers LIVES! That was so cool because for a long time I thought she died! Having to bail her out during the game was actually pretty fun rather than having Barry Burton constantly save Jill.

I am alittle pissed she never showed up in any other game besides RE 0. And why did she suddenly become a wimp in RE after killing all those monsters at the other mansion in 0? Maybe she will be back in RE5.

Why I hate Hollywood - "I am Legend"

"I am Legend" was a book and later a graphic novel ABOUT VAMPIRES!

Bloodthristy vampires straight out of Dracula. Pointy teeth and everything. The whole story revolved around the myth of vampires and science.

Richard Matheson wrote the original science fiction classic.

Vincent Price starred in the first remake.

It was based in a small town in the graphic novel and in the Price movie which really created an awesome atmostsphere. Here was a sleepily overgrown town with picket fences and cute little square houses which at nightfall turned into a vampire invested hell. The main character fought against what were once his friendly neighbors. Still recognizable, but transformed into vampires (which really is one of the bases of the vampire myth, people you know coming back as vampires, but not total monsters).

When they made a remake with Charleton Heston, "The Omega Man", they kept the same mood but for some reason made the vampires "mutants". This really confused me when I watched the movie for the first time. The town was a bit bigger and the lack of vampires seemed to suck all the personality out of the monsters. It seemed like a real last second change. And the "mutants" seemed more concerned about avoiding technology and making Heston's character on an even playing field with them. It was a pretty blatant attack on Communism. While Heston's character, a hard working capitalist, wanted to work hard and create an innovative cure for the problem the mutants, dirty commies, wanted to take the easy route and just infect everyone and keep everyone living in the stone age as mutant equals. This movie was FAR inferior to the Price movie which has much stronger themes of myth, religion, morality and science throughout. The Heston remake was basically good ideas versus bad ideas.

SPOILERS

In the Price movie as well as the original work the main character goes out during the day and kills vampires who are hiding from the sun. This is a problem because later on he finds out he has been killing "innocent" vampires who had not tried to attack him. He just assumed that all vampires were like the evil/insane ones that attacked his house every night. This created a huge morality problem for the main character and results in the tragic ending. In the Heston remake there are no different groups of "mutants". They all pretty much want to kill/infect Heston. A couple of the mutants disagree with the methods but in the end they all try to kill him and his attempts to protect himself are totally justified. How lame is that??? Why would they take away that great theme of morality? Heston's character is basically Jesus-like in this movie and his death helps save all mankind. Lame and not as thought provoking as the original work.

And now in 2007 there is another remake starring Will Smith. He is not a bad actor. But is not a great actor.

So wow. NO VAMPIRES. But instead of making the title "The last man on Earth" which would be appropriate, they named this film "I am Legend"...

What???

THERE ARE NO VAMPIRES. WHAT IS THE FRIGGEN' LEGEND?

Is there some legend about "mutants caused by science" that has been around for hundreds of years and has been shared by every major civilization? Because the myth of vampires IS THAT LEGEND. THAT IS THE LEGEND THAT THE FREAKING ORIGINAL WORK IS BASED ALL AROUND. Not this "science gone wrong" thing. That was a theme in the original work, BUT NOT THE ONLY THEME.

So they took that away.

Also, they set the movie in New York City...???

NYC is a big scary place during the day and night. So goodbye to the lovely difference between the sleeply empty town during the day and the vampire infused dark streets of the night. Plus there is the whole thing that there should be MILLIONS of mutants in an area like that that would completely over-run ANY fortified apartment.

Also Will Smith's character is shown working out during the day.

The original works character, Vincent Price and to a lesser extent Heston's character all pretty much went a little insane due to their situation. They drank a lot and looked haggard. The character in the graphic novel stopped shaving and wore revolvers all the time. At the end he pretty much looked like a modern caveman. And that totally made sense.

I suppose they added in all that "working out" footage to somehow justify Will Smith looking as healthy and bulked up as he does. Ever since he gained all that muscle mass from playing Muhammad Ali he has just looked way to weird in some of his roles.

In "I-Robot" I thought it was strange that he never lost his muscles from the training he did. Nobody else looked as big as he did and it seemed really strange. It would have been better if he had an "everyman" type look to him.

Then in the trailers for this movie I see that he still is carrying all that muscle...

What the hell? His trainer and manger should be slapping him upside the head. He is not a boxer, he is not trying to be an Action star. He is supposed to be a mainstream actor.

In this movie he plays a damned SCIENTIST. A scientist whose situation should have made him and insane drunk just like in the original material. Have you EVER seen a scientist on TV that looked bulked up AT ALL? Have you ever seen a drunk person train and keep that fit???

Yet somehow this scientist looks like someone who is a trained boxer. So they shoot these "working out" scenes to explain it.

If Will Smith looked like he did in the "Men in Black" movies it would be believable. Yet for some reason this mainstream actor has let all that muscle mass weight stay on him.

Why?:

A. Is too vain to stop training/protein loading so he looks normal again.

B. Used Human Growth Hormone/Steroids to gain all that muscle and it is not coming off easily.

C. Both A and B (Most likely)

Like I said his manager/trainer should hit him upside the head. If he wants to be a mainstream actor he need to look normal again.

All in all this sort of movie shows that people have lost what's really important in movies. The STORY AND UNDERLYING THEMES.

This movie seemed to just indulge the whims of the director Francis Lawrence who also ruined the "Constantine" movie with his shitty misinterpretations.

They spent MILLIONS of dollars on CGI and paying to use public areas for filming to make NYC look like it was empty. The reason being is that anyone who has been in NYC knows just how filled with people it is The VAST majority of people who will watch this movie have not been to NYC. They will never go to NYC. Just because a bunch of art-snobs and Hollywood people go to NYC and know how crowded it can be is no reason to SPEND MILLIONS TO MAKE IT LOOK EMPTY. It will be sure to impress anyone who has been there, but most people have NOT...CAN'T YOU SEE THE FUCKING STUPIDITY IN THAT? Can't you just feel the raw waves of smarmy bullshit fumes wafting from decisions like that? And just compare that to the original setting of the suburbs THAT ACTUALLY LENT SOMETHING TO THE THEMES IN THE MOVIE. An empty NYC is just a form of visual masturbation. It's just an empty theme within itself. As empty as the fiction city.

And of course this means that Will Smith is left to try and act by himself. An actor whose ENTIRE MOVIE CAREER has been made by playing off of other actors. Can you try to visualize a scene in a movie, ANY MOVIE, where will Smith is alone onscreeen for more that 10 seconds? I can't.

The choice to pick Will Smith was ENTIRELY a monetary one. The wanted a hot actor who would bring in MONEY. They used NYC as a location to bring in MONEY.

The makers consulted with experts on infectious diseases and solitary confinement. But they apparently never read the original book. Maybe then they could have come up with some ideas that were not self indulgent or based on a monetary bottom line.

Here is the Vincent Price movie "The Last Man on Earth". Is in the public domain so you can also download it off the Prelinger Archive. IT HAS VAMPIRES IN IT. YOU KNOW, THE LEGENDARY VAMPIRE.

http://www.archive.org/details/the-last-man-on-earth

Some random Dreamcast videos.

Dreamcast Indy development team making a Dreamcast game out of Grandma's house.



A couple of reviewers talk about the system that came out in 66-6-6??

When the metal ones come for you...

Amusing video of the Wii rip-off, the "Vii", opened up.

Wow. What a piece of crap.

http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/16492

I wouldn't want to leave that thing plugged in. With the "bare bones" wiring and shitty parts it would be likely to burn your house down.

This is actually better than the real movie.

Chinese "Vii" commerical

Wow. How Horrible.



It's amazing that they can produce a commercial based on a product whose only draw is that people might confuse it for the "Wii". It doesn't have any other draw. It sucks. Badly.

If it was aimed at Western people I would feel better at this, but this seems to be another in a long line of products aimed at fooling the Chinese people into thinking they are buying Western products. Some of these Chinese consumers don't even realize that these products are just cheap knock-offs.

I suppose as more and more Western people stop buying unsafe and shoddy products from corrupt Chinese corporations there will be more products like this trying to take advantage of Chinese consumers.

If anyone in America thinks that this is a product from Nintendo and get duped into buying it, they deserve to get ripped off. There was a Youtube video where people were asking if it was a Nintendo product...IDIOTS.

Btw. Who was that guy? Vice President of the Singaporean Olympic Atheletes? For shame! How can you say this is good exercise for kids? That's horrible.

Chinese manufacturing should focus on making third party electronics or something decent. Not this crap that is simply designed to make a quick buck.

More of the same Resident Evil Silly.

I can't get enough of these for some reason.