The Blog of Christmas Future

I wonder about the future of blogs. I certainly haven't kept up with mine for a while. Instead, I've taken the easy way out (or the "lazy way out," if you prefer) and have mostly stuck with Twittering. I think that's partly because most of my thoughts don't need to be expounded upon in a blog -- which, to my mind means "long format." Similar discussion can be found on episodes of Diggnation wherein Kevin Rose talks about forwarding his website to his Twitter account. That would be far too limiting for me, but still I think he has a point about blogs not necessarily being all that relevant anymore.

So what do I need a blog for? Well, to get across ideas that are greater than 140 characters can contain for one. I've got several ideas rolling around currently and even more that have been collecting dust in untold corners. So why don't I act on them? Well, first of all, the site is ugly as sin. An excuse, to be sure, since content is ostensibly "king," but it doesn't exactly make me want to come and visit and let loose with the brain dumping. Another reason would be because as I currently type this, my antiquated apparatus struggles to keep up with my keystrokes as I wait for them to finally render. (Hopefully, in late October I'll be able to rectify this with an Intel Core i7 machine running Windows 7, but until then...)

In short, I've become lazy and impatient. Twitter gives a sort of instant feedback and feels less closed-off than the walls of my blogging castle. I would like to try new things with my blog, however. For example, I thought about extolling the virtues of retro gaming, although everything that Jeremy Parish does puts me to shame. Maybe I'm just waiting for inspiration or maybe I'm looking for a more unique way in which to put on this shindig, but currently I'm not sure of what to say exactly.

So what is it? "Death to blogs" or "Long live blogs?"

Consumer Whore

Today I was feeling nostalgic (which is not uncommon in my daily activities) and I decided to see how much Final Fantasy VI was for the GBA on Amazon. Needless to say, I was shocked to see that they wanted $80-some dollars for a brand new copy. That horrendous issue aside, it got me thinking: How many times over do I own certain games? I decided to take inventory by listing how many copies of a game I have and then I would ask myself: Was it worth buying again? Will I buy it again in the future? (The same thing could be done for Blu-rays and DVDs, but I don't own many movies)

Banjo-Kazooie: 2 (N64, XBLA)

Worth it? Yes. Better graphics, achievements, better controller, etc.

Will I buy it again? No. The XBLA version is definitive

Chrono Trigger: 2 (SNES, DS)

Worth it? Yes. More content, an updated translation, and the battery is dead on my SNES version

Will I buy it again? It is my favorite game... Although the DS version is pretty much definitive, it might be nice to play it on a bigger screen

Fallout: 2 (PC)

Worth it? Yes. It came for free with Fallout 2.

Will I buy it again? Probably -- there's a great deal on Good Old Games

Final Fantasy VI: 2 (SNES, PS1)

Worth it? Not really, Final Fantasy Anthology (PS1) has issues (although I got it for Final Fantasy V)

Will I buy it again? Yes (at a reasonable price). I want to experience the gussied up translation and I would also be interested in a DS remake a la Final Fantasy III

Final Fantasy VII: 2 (PC, PS1)

Worth it? Yes, because I didn't know the PC version wasn't as good (bugs and sound emulation)

Will I buy it again? Yes, if it's completely remade

Grand Theft Auto - Vice City: 2 (PS2, PC)

Worth it? Yes, the PC version looks better and there's a ton of fun to be had with cheat programs

Will I buy it again? Yes, if it's remade

Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas: 2 (PS2, PC)

Worth it? Yes, see Vice City

Will I buy it again? Yes, if it's remade

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: 2 (N64, GC)

Worth it? Yes, my GameCube came with a compilation of four Zelda games including the two NES ones and Majora's Mask

Will I buy it again? If it's remade, because it's unplayable now (graphics, controls)

The Orange Box: 2 (360, PC)
Worth it? Yes, there was a $10 sale on Steam and I got it for the day when I have a good gaming PC

Will I buy it again? No

There might be a couple I've missed, but I do need to eventually start the process of procuring all of my NES and SNES games again. Back in the day, I sold all of my NES games to afford Mortal Kombat II on the SNES and I'm pretty sure most of my SNES games have dead batteries anyway. The thing is, I wouldn't want to buy Super Mario Bros. 3 for the Virtual Console since the GBA version is vastly superior. If Nintendo at least put out the Super Mario All-Stars version, then I'd consider it, but the regular old NES version? No thanks.

Then of course there are the dozens of games that I'd like to see flat out remade. For instance, Metal Gear Solid 1, 2, and 3 redone with the Metal Gear Solid 4 engine? Instant buy. HD remakes of Mega Man 2 and 3? Instant buy. Add to that the list of games I wish I would have bought back in the day like Paper Mario, Super Metroid, and Super Mario RPG that I don't necessarily need remade -- although widescreen support and achievements would be appreciated.

So how many times can someone buy a game? Falcom has a terrible habit of remaking Ys 1 & 2 every two months and Square-Enix has milked Final Fantasy I & II many times. Then you have compilations like the various Sonic the Hedgehog and Genesis collections that create a redundant array in your library. You also have to ask if remakes or updates are worth it. Metal Gear Solid was remade as Twin Snakes for the GameCube, but unfortunately with Matrix-ized cutscenes, whereas every time Nintendo has remade Super Mario Bros. 3, it's been worthwhile. How much is too much is obvious, but in this digital age, having your library in a couple of convenient places is worth it.

What's the deal with...

Remember that YouTube video from forever ago that exposed the apparent terribleness of the PlayStation 3's backwards compatibility? You know, this one?

A lot of people speculated that this would be fixed with firmware updates, right? Then why is it that playing PS2 games still looks like crap on my PS3? Well, I figured out a simple fix for this.

In the PS3's display settings, make it so that only 480p is selected for available video output when you're going to play a PS2 game. This is annoying to have to keep going back and reversing it to utilize any other applications, but so far it's the only thing I've found that works. The color might still be a bit desaturated, but it definitely helps with the jaggies. And as for playing the handful of PS2 games with widescreen support, I merely have to make my TV display "Full" instead of "Normal." (This doesn't crop the image or stretch it.)

I was this close to going out and buying a component cable figuring that it was somehow my HDMI cable that the PS3 hates when playing PS2 games, but the above method works fine. However, down the line I still might buy the component cable since it works with both PS2 and PS3s and this would be handy since there are still a couple of things I need my PS2 for (namely for utilizing my old savegames since apparently the Memory Card Adapter is out of production).

I'm very disappointed in Sony for not having fixed this yet. You would figure that they'd still be touting backwards compatibility with two tremendously successful consoles, but of course we all know that they don't really care anymore since PS2 backwards compatibility has been absent in PS3s for quite some time, and according to NPDs, the $100 slim PS2 is still selling quite well. It's a shame that I spent $500 on a modern console to find that it makes games that already looked terrible even worse purely out of apathy and laziness on Sony's part.

And while we're on the point, it's not just "hardcore gamers" that are upset that current production PS3s don't have PS2 backwards compatibility -- there are numerous people I know who have outright told me that they don't want a PS3 because it won't play PS2 games (anecdotal evidence, yes, but I do hear it a lot from people that aren't tech savvy). Coupled with the still sky high price, Sony sure does have a winner on it's hands don't they?

To be fair, I do think that 2009 will be the year of the PS3. If you've already got one or you don't care about backwards compatibility, titles like Uncharted 2, the new Ratchet and Clank, Infamous, and Heavy Rain along with multi-platform games like BioShock 2 and Brutal Legend are sure to make the system worthwhile in terms of software -- and it's about damn time!

In Our Talons

Does everyone know about Bon Iver? Beautiful, heartbreaking stuff. The album For Emma, Forever Ago came out in 2007, but I just found this great rendition of the song "For Emma" on YouTube.

Listening to "Skinny Love" and "Blood Bank" are pretty much staples in my "trying to go to sleep" playlist when I listen to my iPod before bed. Other artists in that "genre" include Red House Painters, Sun Kil Moon, Sufjan Stevens, and José González. If you don't know 'em, get yourself educated. If you'd like to cry yourself to sleep, it doesn't hurt to start with Sufjan Steven's "Casimir Pulaski Day."

Annoying subterfuge

You know what I hate? When franchises produce something with the same name over and over again even though the product is different. What do I mean? For instance, the new Star Trek movie is entitled simply "Star Trek." However, the franchise as a whole is also "Star Trek" and the original TV series was also just "Star Trek." Can you start to see where the confusion would start? Now imagine me as a (former) retail worker who is asked by a customer to look up Star Trek. What the fuck am I looking for? The same goes for Hannah Montana or Scooby-Doo that have a hundred billion entrees in the system, but that's another matter...

The idea came up this morning when I was reading Twitter and saw news of a new Aliens vs. Predator game. The problem? You guessed it: It's just called "Aliens vs. Predator." I grew up already knowing three different games using that name. There was the beat 'em up on the SNES that I enjoyed somewhat, the excellent-for-the-time FPS on the PC, and then that ugly thing on the Atari Jaguar that I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole (which probably has more to do with the system than the game).

Oh, but wait! According to Wikipedia, there were even more! There was an arcade game from Capcom, two games for the mobile phone released in 2004 with no differentiating subtitles, a canceled Atari Lynx game, and a canceled GBA game. And now this upcoming title for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. Wonderful! No confusion there at all!

So I ask these content creators: What's so freaking bad about a subtitle or a number?

E3 Report Card: Sony

When the Sony press conference started, I felt like I should go back to bed. After being bored by Iwata's presentation on the Vitality doohickey (that was clearly stolen from the finger of an elderly person who just died), I was about ready to fall asleep and the first 45 minutes or so of the Sony conference didn't help that feeling. The PSP GO? I really don't care. It's good to know that it has software coming out for it, but I don't want another mobile device. I've got my iPod touch and my Nintendo DS Lite and that's enough. Thanks for trying though.

Sony's conference didn't start to become interesting until they finally moved on to the PlayStation 3. While I think that Sony probably has the best lineup for this year in terms of exclusives (and it's about time), I was wanting to see what they had for next year. Overall, I think that Sony has titles that don't necessarily appeal to me (I'm not a fan of Gran Turismo or God of War), but they do have cache with a different section of gamers who will enjoy those. So what did Sony have for me? Final Fantasy XIII in English, that's what! But other than that? Not too much. I was giddy when Final Fantasy XIV was announced (eat it Microsoft), but then it turned out to be an MMO so pretty much all hope faded (I'm sure 1Up's James Mielke is ecstatic though).

Plus:

• Final Fantasy XIII in English with tons of new footage
• Final Fantasy XIV announced as an exclusive
• The Last Guardian
• Assassin's Creed 2
• God of War III
• PSP actually has more software coming out than the DS
• Their motion control technology demo provided some interesting ideas
  
• Queen's "One Vision" as a show closer
  

Minus:

• Final Fantasy XIV is an MMO
• Gran Turismo 5 is still just a tease
• Gran Turismo PSP was possibly more boring than Iwata
  
• MAG looks like a game whose only purpose is to have 256 players
  
• Conference needed tightening up
• Sony still thinks Home is a good idea
  
• Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is for the PSP, not PS3
  
• Instead of making the PSP more affordable, it seems to be getting more expensive
• I STILL DON'T WANT A PSP! How many times do I have to say it?
• Sony's motion controller looks less practical and more like a tech demo than Microsoft's Natal
• No slim model PS3
• No PS3 price cut
  

Overall Grade:
B

Sony had a tough road ahead of them after Microsoft's conference yesterday, but overall I think they did fine. They didn't come anywhere close to blowing me away like Microsoft did, but they still have software worth paying attention to. An actual trailer for the new Ratchet & Clank would have helped and so would a price cut, but all-in-all, this wasn't a bad showing for them. It just needed more pep and a faster pace along with a couple more exciting titles.

E3 Report Card: Nintendo

I got up early(ish) for this? Nintendo, Nintendo, Nintendo... When will you learn that an E3 press conference shouldn't be a PowerPoint presentation that brags about how much hardware you've sold? Okay, so you did a little better this year by actually showing games that I want to play. It could have been worse. An Animal Crossing game featuring Bratz dolls doesn't seem unlikely at this point to me, so thanks for not sucking that much.

So what did you have for me Nintendo? Multiplayer co-op New Super Mario Bros. Wii? Okay. New Super Mario Bros. for the DS was pretty bland though. Some more Final Fantasy gaiden-type games? Alright, although those hardly ever set my heart alight. Okay, now how about you bore me for the next 20 minutes? You do that quite well, don't you? Zzzz... Huh? What's that? Super Mario Galaxy 2? Cool, finally we get to the good stuff! Okay, back to third party stuff I don't want... Oh, Metroid Other M? Nice! Oh, wait. It's from Team Ninja and it has talking in it? Did you ever play the atrocious Ninja Gaidens Nintendo? Team Ninja can't do story. All they do is crazy action with bad cameras and breast physics. I hope you know what you're doing Nintendo... It looks really fun though. Let's hope that turns out well. And fade to black.

Plus:

• Super Mario Galaxy 2
• New Super Mario Bros. Wii
  
• Metroid Other M

Minus:

• Metroid Other M being done by Team Ninja is worrisome
• New Super Mario Bros. Wii might be as mild as the DS game
  
• Boring third party software (as usual)
• No exciting DS software (Mario & Luigi 3 and Golden Sun DS look just "okay")
  
• Iwata talking about the Vitality Sensor
• Pie charts, numbers, blah, blah
• Nintendo thinks selling lots of hardware equates to having games to play on it
  

Overall grade:
C

Lots of "meh" from Nintendo this year, but if you listen to closely, the "mehs" are 20% more enthusiastic than last year's were. I didn't expect anything from Nintendo, because frankly they don't try anymore. On the flipside, now I can say that the Wii has a whole two more titles that I'd like to play on it. That's up from what, five? Six? Nintendo makes being cynical too easy, but thanks for trying with Mario Galaxy 2 and the new Metroid. A new console Zelda or a new IP would have been nice to go alongside them though...

E3 Report Card: Microsoft

Okay, I'm going to try and summarize the three big press conferences at E3 2009 and see how that goes. So let's start chronologically with Microsoft.

I may as well put on my money hat now, because Microsoft blew me away this year by making E3 big and bombastic again. Nary a pie chart was in sight, instead we got what mattered: games and a better user experience. Microsoft seems to be the only one that understands the importance of having an online experience and their announcements of Web 2.0 integration with Facebook, Twitter, and last.fm put them miles above everyone else who thinks that text chat is enough.

On the games side, I actually got to see software that I wanted. The original Crackdown was one of the funnest games I've played this generation and I was bouncing in my seat when I saw that it was getting a well deserved sequel. Every announcement provided me of more of what I wanted. And although it's not related, hearing the Twitters of a Monkey Island remake on top of Microsoft's conference made me feel like Christmas was coming with a vengeance. Even though it's pretty much all sequels, it doesn't feel like the software for this generation is ratcheting down at all.

Plus:

• Shadow Complex (Metroidvania for the 360)
• Left 4 Dead 2
• Crackdown 2
• Metal Gear Solid: Rising
  
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
• Alan Wake (now with release date of spring 2010)
  
• Two Halo titles (for those who care)
  
• Splinter Cell: Conviction
  
• Final Fantasy XIII (coming out for the 360 spring 2010)
  
• Project Natal is amusing future tech
• Rock Band: The Beatles featuring full downloadable albums starting with Abbey Road
  
• Big guest stars: Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Dhani Harrison, Steven Spielberg
• Integration with social networking, better Netflix, better user experience
• Games on Demand coming
  
• The presentation had momentum with little downtime
  

Minus:

• Natal could be the new "Virtual Reality helmet"
• Software lineup is sequel heavy
• I want the updated dashboard now
  

Overall grade:
A+

Microsoft put on one of the most exciting E3 shows I can think of beating out Nintendo's unveil of the DS and Twilight Princess and Microsoft's own unveiling of the Xbox 360. They put on a show that could please everybody and packed it with actual surprises. Good show, Microsoft!

Of Up and Coming Monarchs

I've really come to like Buffy the Vampire Slayer... Until season 4 that is. Maybe it's the move from high school to college, maybe it's because the characters have changed a bit too much (Giles doesn't feel like Giles anymore, Buffy needs to stop being jerked around in the world of romance, and Xander has been playing a smaller and less charming roll), but the world of Buffy just doesn't feel the same. There have been some good episodes like "Hush," which was a largely silent episode that reminded me a lot of Dark City [check that out and Equilibrium if you're a fan of the Matrix]. But overall season 4 is pretty "meh." I hope things pick up again because I was really getting into the show. I was able to relate the the characters and have empathy for them, but I'm not giving up on it just yet. I gave up on Six Feet Under during season 3, but I think I need to see Buffy to the end.

In the world of videogames, the Broken Steel DLC for Fallout 3 was quite excellent. I had a wonderful time going back to the Capitol Wasteland and falling in love with the game again by remembering why it was so great. That said, a level cap of 30 may be "right" for the content that's offered, but I think you can still reach that pretty quickly. However, there aren't enough useful new perks to make level 30 seem as exciting as it once did. My careful planning for the first 20 levels of my character is almost irrelevant since you can now acquire all the useful perks quite easily with the extra padding that 10 more levels provides you.

Moving on from Xbox 360 back to -- PlayStation 2? Yes, I recently bought Final Fantasy X-2 and Final Fantasy XII since I seem to be experiencing a bit of Final Fantasy XIII fever. I gave X-2 to a friend to borrow while I went back to Ivalice for XII. I must say, the story is quite excellently told. After dealing with the dearth of such in Blue Dragon, I can really appreciate XII's political intrigue this time around (which is not to say that I didn't like it the first time). Still, Vaan and Penelo are useless characters, but Balthier and Basch make up for it. Too bad Vossler, Reks, and Rasler weren't playable characters since their character designs and personalities are one hundred times better than that of Vaan's or Penelo's.

I've also been powergaming XII a bit. Apparently, within the first hour of the game you're able to find a rare enemy that will quickly raise you to about level 30 or more within a couple hours of grinding and Phoenix Down buying. This is where some of XII's MMO elements kind of bug me though. Having to reload a game because there's a 10% chance of a treasure chest showing up and then a 10% chance of that chest containing the item that you want is not a fun experience, yet here I am doing such. Maybe I'm just trying to make XII last since I know the story arc is pretty short (my main problem with it).

This brings me to my hopes for XIII. First off, I like a lot of the faux-MMO elements that XII brought, but some of them like the rare chance of items and monsters showing up are stupid concepts for a singleplayer game. I want to experience all the content that I can -- I shouldn't be shut off from it for some arbitrary reason. I'm not competing against other players around the world, so why shouldn't I have all the best and shiniest equipment?

Another thing, if XIII has anything like the Zodiac Spear going on, I'm going to be absolutely pissed. The Zodiac Spear for those who don't know was one of the biggest "fuck yous" to videogame fans in recent memory. You see, throughout Final Fantasy XII there were specific treasure chests that you weren't allowed to open if you wanted to obtain the most powerful weapon in the game (the Zodiac Spear). Does the game warn you about this in any way? No. The only way you'll find out is if you spent any time trolling message boards to find outrage from players who spent hours on the game already to find that it was all wasted because of some arbitrary bullshit perpetrated by Square Enix.

That said, I've a few more dos and dont's for XIII. First, XII had reversed X and Y-axis camera controls that were not changeable. This cannot be tolerated from a modern game! Reversed Y-axis controls I can deal with in a third person game, but X-axis? It just doesn't make sense. When I hold right on the right analog stick, the camera should move to the right where I want to look, not to the left. Additionally, like the MMO complaint, there should not be any missable items or anything that will prevent you from obtaining quests or anything like that. I don't want to read a walkthrough just to find out that if I don't do something that I'm screwed for no good reason (Apparently I sold an item that will shut me off from a few quests -- if it was important, why wasn't it made into a non-sellable key item?). Furthermore, XII's guild charter provided a decent log for keeping track of some sidequests, but I would like to see that fleshed out in XIII. If I come back to the game after a while of not playing, I want to know what the hell I should be doing.

One more thing: if there are any enhancements to the "international" or Xbox 360 versions of XIII, they should be made DLC for all platforms. Ever since Final Fantasy VII, Square Enix has added some nifty or interesting features to the games when Square re-released the games in Japan or elsewhere. Sometimes they just contained changes that where made for the American version, but sometimes (as in the case of XII) entirely new content and features were added. In this modern age in which we live, Square has absolutely no excuse for not making these sorts of things DLC. I don't care if it's a few bucks more, everyone everywhere should have the best version of the game possible.

Well, I think that's all I've got in me for tonight. Until next time children...

Woe to you oh Earth and Sea, for the Devil sends the beast with wrath because he knows the time is short

So it's become true... Last month I twittered more than I blogged. I should be ashamed. Blah, blah, blah. It comes down to this: I've got two more weeks of school and I've started looking for another job. It's not like I don't have any free time to write, however. I've been watching season 3 of the Venture Brothers on Blu-ray (which is fucking amazing) and now I've started rewatching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Along the way I also picked up Blue Dragon for the Xbox 360 for $10 (which is what it's worth) and I'm looking forward to tomorrow when Fallout 3: Broken Steel comes out (can play past the end, level cap 30). Adding life to my favorite game of last year? Yes please!

To recap: Twitter isn't as bad as I made it out to be. I look at it more like a "personal RSS" in which people who I'm interested in give me the scoop on their projects in a more personable way. It's still a bit creepy, but it's also a little fun. As to why I tweet? Fuck if I know. My only followers are apparently spammers. Or maybe it's just a way of posting to my Friendfeed... Yeah, that's the ticket!

Venture Brothers season 3 on Blu-ray. Buy it or Netflix it. It's superb, sublime, sensational, etc. Be warned though: cartoon penises. Just FYI.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Yeah, so what? ... Okay, it can be cheesy and hokey, but it's growing on me more and more. I'm also feeling quite a bit of empathy for Xander when he lets his guard down. I still dislike Angel and Cordelia and I'm still not going to watch the Angel spin-off, but in any case, I'm man enough to admit that I'm watching Buffy. You can blame Twitter and Jeff Green if you want, but I'm not especially ashamed.

To sum things up, I guess you could say that I'm still lazy and inconsistent about writing and pretty much everything else. Would someone hire me already?