Bush Mackel

My baby beside me at the wheel. *riff*

Baby you can drive my car -

Ok, I could clearly go on for a while. Anyway, I don’t know if you caught yesterday’s post, but it was about Glenn Beck attacking the video game industry, and specifically Grand Theft Auto IV.

Mark from Me And My Drum yesterday posted a hell of a comment (thanks again) and got me thinking about the problem of realism in games.

It All Started…
With part of Mark’s comment…

Honestly, what’s the entertainment value in mowing down innocent bystanders or killing law officials? The answer: the value is zero. It only serves to “train” or desensitize our kids to morals, to decency, to the difference between right and wrong.

My head was a mess trying to figure out what to say in response to EVERYTHING he said, but immediately I started thinking about his comment about driving in GTA IV. And I thought about it like this..

Driving in Video Games 101
Forget about GTA for a minute, and lets think about video gamedom in general where you can drive cars. If anyone older than 5 picked up a game where you could drive, they would first and foremost expect that they would be able to drive which to me means being able to direct the car where you wanted it to go, much like a real one. If we stop right here and ask, “What if we weren’t allowed to direct a car where we wanted to go?” I think our initial reaction would be, “This sucks”. And I generally agree with that statement because if you can’t actually drive the car, you’re basically taking the interactivity out the game which is what video games are anyway (otherwise see: movie).

So if we at the most fundamental level agree that if a game has drivable cars we should be able to drive them, that immediately brings about the possibility of questionable behaviours. For instance, nothing would stop us from performing basic traffic faux pas including blowing stop signs, and drifting onto the wrong side of the road. But what’s the alternative? I think it’s getting into a car and letting the game decide where we are going and how we get there again removing the interactivity and turning this product into more of a film than anything. Continuing,

Most game environments are not empty. They’re usually filled with something. Either trees, items, powerups, people, enemies or whatever. And if we again agree that we should at least be able to drive our cars, we obviously have the real possibility of colliding with something. I think the only way to change that would be to have gamers either a) not be able to drive or b) drive in empty Langolier eaten worlds.

Driving in Populated Worlds 101
So let’s assume at this point we want gamers to be able to drive cars in populated worlds. As said before, there’s a real possibility that gamers will display “questionable” behaviours and for this example let’s say that I’m referring to driving on the wrong side of a road. What can happen if one does this? Well in a populated world, you can obviously crash into oncoming traffic. This would obviously be bad. So does this mean that games that allow us to drive are training us to be bad drivers because we are allowed to drive on the wrong side of the road?

Well because I’ve never heard anyone bring up this argument, I think the answer would be a resounding “no”. Which is pretty interesting because if you hit somebody going the wrong way in traffic, there’s a real chance they could end up dead. Much like as if you saw a person in front of you in a game and you mowed HIM over. So what’s the real difference between these two scenarios? I say nothing.

Does Grand Theft Auto IV Celebrate Violence?
Certainly the argument in regards to Grand Theft Auto IV anyway is that the game celebrates anarchy and violence. You should remember though that when you do these types of things in GTA IV, you’re slapped with stars indicating that you’ve created crimes and that the police are on to you which given any amount of time you observe as the cops try to take your a$$ to jail. And again - I know the argument coming : “The ’star system’ in GTA IV may make the police try to take you down, but it’s still glamorizing these horrendous acts.”

Well what if the game was called “Click It or Ticket” and was made by the Department of Transportation to show you the consequences of dangerous driving and associated behaviours? The game would still be realistic because you’d have to be able to drive cars, the police would still come after you, and you’d still be facing points in the game where you’d have to decide what you want to do… Stop at stop lights? Run from the police? Stay in your lane at 35 mph… My bet is that if the driving portion, JUST the driving portion of GTA IV was made by the government, given a new title, marketed in a different way, but STILL had the EXACT same driving gameplay - You wouldn’t hear the complaints that it is teaching its players to be killers.

The Problem with Freedom and Realism in Video Games
The problem is that it’s a double edged sword. The gamer community wants to be able to do everything it can in video games but then with that opportunity, you immediately introduce the possibility to perform acts we would consider taboo in the real world. And unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you view the subject, if you’re allowed to drive a car in a video game, you’re inevitably allowed to make some questionable decisions in regards to how you drive it. Personally, I just hope in years to come we don’t see in game police forces upholding real world laws that carry real life consequences.

Or so says Glenn Beck.

Side note : I’m sorry I used that line to open up this post because I know everyone else who is talking about these Glenn Beck statements have done the same thing. But hey, just be glad I’m posting at all. (#);)

If for some reason you DIDN’T know where that all came from, Glenn Beck calls “video game bloggers” losers. But that’s not what I’m really writing about anyway… I’m writing today in defense of the game industry.

My Initial Reaction
If you haven’t seen the video, you can watch a bunch of his statements here but in a nutshell Beck starts off by saying that he doesn’t blame video games for everything and that basically all forms of media are doing damage to our kids. But then instead of talking about the entertainment industry as a whole, he focuses on video games and in particular Grand Theft Auto IV. What gives?! It seems to me that if you were going to have an intelligent discussion about “this”, you would clearly define what “this” is!… If you’re going to talk about GTA IV being the downfall of society, fine. But don’t say that all media is to blame and then focus on one product from one industry. *rolling eyes*

Quotes
Beck alleges that

[Grand Theft Auto IV] is training our kids to be killers…and training our sons to treat women like whores.

and

In Grand Theft Auto your son or your husband or your boyfriend or whoever can hire a prostitute, have sex with her and then beat her to death with a baseball bat. When a police officer comes after him, he can either light that police officer on fire or cut him in half with a chainsaw! This is entertainment!? As he makes his getaway, Niko can carjack the ride of his choice and drive down a sidewalk mowing down as many pedestrians as he’d like. It took 75 YEARS and countless BILLIONS of dollars to train our soldiers to kill. Today - 60 bucks buys your kids the same thing. Whatever happened to pong?

At the moment I’m not gonna lie - I’m pretty hungry. Which makes responding to these comments a bit difficult. I will say though that I believe video games get a bad rap and I think a lot of that is due to the more mature ones being readily accessible to younger people and (what may go hand in hand with that) much like the Internet, most parents just don’t know enough to be able to make responsible informed decisions for their kids. Is this the problem of game designers? In my opinion : No. Look - obviously I’m a big believer or parents parenting their kids and teaching them morals and helping them to interpret the world around them and I think a lot of the problems we have as as society now is because we leave media in charge of teaching our kids about the world.

And look, I don’t have many problems with the media because I believe it is the society who largely drives their content. And I don’t have any problems with people listening to the media, but I think it has to be tempered with personal morality and scruples. Okay enough of this, I really gotta get something to eat.

Anyone have any thoughts?

File this under a little bit of alright : Sega’s hit game Samba De Amigo is coming to the Wii!

Now I’m sure that all of you mugs knew about this a while ago, but for your boy this is news. And you know what Charles Manson said on Family Guy - “If I haven’t seen it, it’s new to me!”

If you used to follow this site when it was approaching “good”, you know that I love rhythm games like Space Channel 5, Frequency, Rock Band and the classic Parappa the Rapper.

Samba De Amigo was always in my mix of great games but I felt that when it was on Dreamcast it kinda flew under the proverbial radar for most gamers.

Will it Be the Same on the Wii?
One of the best things about Samba De Amigo was the maraca peripheral and as far as I know that won’t be making an appearance on the Wii. And that sucks. Now I’m not saying that Destructoid isn’t going to post that someone made his own maracas with a Wiimote holder ’cause who are we kidding? - That’s just a matter of time. But the fact that we can get a crappy wheel for Mario Kart and lightsabers for Star Wars leads me to believe that my favourite monkey just isn’t getting any love.

But on that note - Because of current music game hits LIKE Rock Band and Guitar Hero, I don’t know that something suitable could be made and packaged and still be sold at the price of a current Wii game. I think given today’s marketplace, the whole maraca idea where once very creative and innovative now would be viewed as stale, flat and a poor man’s ripoff of something cool like a guitar controller.

Will it Be Good?
I think for the Wii and it’s target audience, I think there’s room for it to be a hit amongst the rest of the system’s party games. Though I don’t think it would quite work on PS3 or 360 because I just don’t think an older audience would dig it. And on a final and very SIDE note, Samba De Amigo MUST pump the maraca sound effect through the Wiimote’s speaker to capture some of the classic goodness. If they do that, we’ll all be happy. Notice : I didn’t touch on anything online because I can’t do another Wii Friend code. Sorry NOA.

P.S. I wrote a post today. Hooray!

It’s been a hot minute since I talked anything video games right?

(Of course that’s probably because I haven’t gotten some regular posts on here in a while, but whatchya gonna do?)

So I thought that I’d just start up a conversation about what I’m playing, what you’re playing, and what we may be missing out on.

Honestly, there are a lot of games that I’m kind of in the middle of right now that I’ve wanted to write some reviews for but those kinds of posts I really need to block out time for, so until then…

Super Smash Bros Brawl
This is the current hotness that I’m rockin’ and the latest reason to dust off your Wii. (In case you were wondering, these reasons seem to come every 6 months or so). So far I’m really enjoying the game and I’m working through the 1 Player mode to unlock all the characters. I’ve yet to play a game against friends yet and I’ve also yet to take it online either because recently I’ve had a hard time getting my Wii connected to my network. But that seems like it could be the result of SOMEONE in my house port fwd’d everything for Starcraft games. *rolling eyes*

Burnout Revenge
No that’s not a typo. Being as how my wife gets downright bitter when I spend ANY amount on games, I bought the cheaper Revenge before I got Paradise even though I had it on XBox. But that’s ok because for one, I’m addicted to achievements and for two, I never got far in the XBox version because I think Prince of Persia distracted me. I’m pretty far in the game right now… If I can find the time this weekend (ha ha) I may actually be able to finish it. Doubtful if I’ll be able to get all those online achievements though. I played a couple races online and just got WAXED.

Rock Band
I finished the Guitar on Expert, now I’m working through Vocals on the same level. And before you ask, I do NOT fancy myself a singer like some of our other bloggers, but I just like trying to 100% games. After this, it’ll be time to hardcore start on the Drumming. (#):) And BTW, that game is awesome and I’m very glad I bought it even if it DID cost $160!

Zuma
You may have thought that when I beat this game that I was done with it. NO CHANCE. I still have to go back and get 3 straggling achievements. The biggest one on my hit list right now is clearing a stage in 5 seconds. I’ve managed to get 6. ARGH!!!

So that’s what I got. And I know I’m missing some good stuff out there. What’s everyone playing nowadays?

If you remember in part one of this epic mini-series, I related the woeful tale of a boy - his XBox - and the red ring of death.

And even though at the time it was unfathomable, I was able to find Salvation that night from the most unlikeliest of places - Best Buy.

I say unlikely because as time has gone on, I really have started to dislike Best Buy which is a complete 180 from my initial opinions of the place.

And perhaps it was because of my opinions that I was afforded such a great outcome! Though I wonder what you kids would’ve done in my situation…

XBox No Worky
So at this point in the story, I have a busted 360 with the infamous Red Ring of Death. Thankfully though, when I first bought the 360 I pretty much knew this would happen despite forums telling me they had fixed “the problem” in the newest boards so I bought one of the Product Replacement Plans which ensured that when my XBox went bad, I could just go and swap it for a new one. Sure it cost $60, but I thought it was well worth it because I couldn’t be without my system for more than a day. I mean, let’s be honest.

The Trek to Best Buy
So after destroying my house looking for my warranty, I finally found it and made my way with my neatly packed system and cables to my local Best Buy not knowing really what to expect. Luckily when I got there, I was the only person in the customer service line so I got “help” pretty fast. The guy who helped me looked everything over and said “No problem” to the whole thing but that unfortunately they didn’t have any more 360s in stock. BUT he said I could upgrade my system to the Elite and pay the difference… OH and of course I had to get a new warranty since my current one wouldn’t transfer. *rolling eyes*

At this point I’m pretty distraught and I leave the broken Box at customer service so I can walk around the video game section and go over my options. On one hand I could buy an Elite and get a lot more storage space, and get a cool lookin’ Black XBox but have to pay $100 difference PLUS $60 in another warranty. OR..

I could pick up one of the freakin’ XBoxs they had in the store that the customer service guy had just told me they were out of!!!

The Tables Turn at Customer Service
Back at customer service, I give them the new XBox and the guy basically says, “Oh, they must’ve just got some in”. *sigh* He starts to really go through the Xbox Box I just brought in and then pipes up with “So I you didn’t bring your controller, your headset…” I couldn’t believe it. And with work, there was NO CHANCE I’d find time to come up to do this again. So I just say, “Do I really have to go home and get that stuff?” And thankfully he said he’d just take it from the new box.

This is where things get interesting.

It’s now 8:30, 8:45pm and the store is closing in 15 minutes. Obviously the last thing that this guy probably wants is people in his line. So what happens? 4 more people jump in behind me, one or two of which has an XBox also. I can see him getting a bit twitchy and trying to hurry things up so long story short he completes the transaction and starts to send me on my way. At this point it donned on me,

He never removed the new controller and headset from the box.

What just happened here? Did he hook me up? Or did he just make a mistake. Honestly, I didn’t stick around long enough to find out as I basically ran out the store! So not only did I get a brand new working Xbox, but an extra controller and an extra headset.

Would you have honestly said something?
That’s my question. With me, I have a lot of history with Best Buy. My family has shopped there for years and especially now they do everything in there power to nickel and dime you on purchases by offering up “Geek Squad” services which they charge the computer illiterate an arm and a leg for. Plus - I worked for the store on two different occasions, was stiffed on my employee discount for the majority of my second and was rep remanded for helping customers out of my section. Obviously, I have more than enough ways to rationalize the decision I took.

So I’ve been straight with you - What would you have done?

Lately it seems that my life has been following one cruel irony after the other.

The first shoe dropped a week or two ago when I asked my wife over dinner, “Why is that I never get sick? I mean, don’t ever get sick right? Why is my health so MONEY?”

Sure enough the next day it looked like a caught a strain of the flu (that my flu shot didn’t protect me from) which broke me (Ivan Drago style) for a good number of days.

NoobTastic - The Other Shoe
He just HAD to send me that video the other day… I think in literary terms that video would be declared an example of foreshadowing. It shows a baby sitting in a baby chair crying his head off with a onesie that says, “Achievement Unlocked”. As the ominous music builds, the camera pulls out revealing the root of his evil,

The Red Ring of Death.

Death Did Not Pass Over Me That Night
I guess I should’ve put some lamb blood on my door last night for I was indeed visited by the red ring of death. And as sad as I am to admit it, I haven’t been that crestfallen in quite sometime.

My eyes grew large, welled up, and after a lifetime of staring into oblivion I suddenly started shaking my head in disbelief. I looked to the left, I looked to the right, I looked everywhere hoping that someone someplace could help me in this, my most desperate hour. But I come to you today to tell you there was no help to be found in my media room. Not from my kid, not from my wife, not from anyone.

In fact, when I finally found an idiom of strength to crawl up the stairs to my wife and relate the sad tale she only responded with a shrug and “Sorry?”

My friends - That is who I married.

Hey Bush fans! If you’re curious as to see how this harrowing tale of peril and misfortune concludes, check back later this week when you can read the amazing ending, Salvation - Red Ring of Death Pt 2!

Zuma, Burnout Revenge, Rock Band… THESE are games that I’m playing.

You know what I’m NOT playing? ANYTHING on the Wii!

One of the biggest questions I had when I first got a Wii was whether or not it would be a serious console for me, or turn into something more of a gimmick.

Now while I don’t exactly have an answer, I do know that I can’t remember the last time I played it.

I Close My Eyes…
I remember when I first got the Wii. It was sooooo cool. I could play Tennis, go Bowling, and all from the comfort of my bedroom. And add to that - I could immediately download new games from the net since the Wii automatically detected my Wireless network. I loved it. And my wife ACTUALLY loved it.

After that, it wasn’t too long before the Wii was all over the TV and Radio, heralded as the system that no one could get, and that could make you healthier for playing it.

Only For a Moment, Now the Moment’s Gone…
Now all my Wii does it sit in my TV stand collecting dust. Smash Bros doesn’t come out for another couple of days, I’ve played Zelda and Super Mario Galaxy, and well… What else is there to play? Looking at my current gaming situation, this is how I feel about the Wii…

• I’m not excited about anything coming out for the system.
• Great multiplayer games are being severely hampered by horrible online functionality

As far as the games go, I think I read somewhere that developers have a hard choice when it comes to the Wii… They can A) Take the time to develop and create games for the Wii that are freakin’ hard to transfer to other systems and cater to only a fraction of the gaming population or B) Take the time to develop a game that will be played by a huger portion of the gaming population and can much easily be transferred to other platforms.

And as far as online goes, I am still MYSTIFIED of just how bad the online experience of Wii and PS3 is when they could’ve just stolen all the ideas of Live. *shrugs*

So how about you kids? Still enjoying the Wii so long after you got it? Maybe it’d be different if my kid was old enough to play. *shrugs*

There was a time when I was really into Texas Fold’em. But then you have kids… You wakeup and have a wife - And suddenly your time isn’t quite your own anymore.

But a couple months ago when I saw something for a Xbox Live Arcade game called Poker Smash, those Hold’em juices started to flow again!

Very recently the game was finally released, and yesterday I downloaded the demo and took it for a spin.

What is Poker Smash?
It’s a puzzle game in the same vein of Tetris or Super Puzzle Fighter where your available blocks are the high playing cards, (10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace) with all the suits being represented (Spade, Club, Heart and Diamond). To clear the cards you have to make hands upwards from three of a kind. So three of a kind, straight, flush, full house, four of a kind, straight flush, royal flush…Oh and the coveted five of a kind is represented too. The cards start at the bottom of the screen and scroll upwards, so if you don’t make some hands before the board reaches the top, it’s game over.

First Impressions
The first thing about Poker Smash that you’ll like will most likely be the presentation. Graphics are very crisp, effects are awesome, and music is good too (even if a bit too country for my tastes).

Gameplay
I think what is most interesting about this game is how the gameplay is different than a lot of other puzzlers out there. I didn’t give it much thought going in, but when you start playing you’ll probably notice that it’s not that easy to make hands. I think the reason for this is because in most puzzle games you deal with only one dimension of the blocks - Like color. You match up enough of the same color, or you use a bomb of that same color and presto, lines are gone. Or in Tetris, you just have to fill the gaps and *poof* lines are gone.

In Poker Smash, you can always line up colors (since they are one indication of a card’s value) but that usually only yields three or four of a kinds. To get anywhere in the game, you have to start recognizing the “more complex” hands and that requires looking at suits and card combinations (like straights and full houses) which just don’t come as easily as matching colors. Plus, that also makes you have to look at 5 different kinds of blocks (10 -> A) where usually in these kinds of games you’re only dealing with 4 different types of blocks.

“So Yay or Nay?”
Trust me, after playing Poker Smash for a minute or two, the scroll speed will increase and YOU WILL start to struggle to make your hands. Truthfully, I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. On hand i feel that it’s cool that a puzzle game stretches your mind that much and that lines don’t come that easily. On another hand I wonder if I want to put that much effort into a XBLA game and if the juice will be worth the squeeze. Maybe the answer will come in the way of multiplayer and if you can manage to get some good games going.

My thoughts are, the demo is AT LEAST worth checking out and even not being huge into puzzle games, I’m SERIOUSLY thinking about unlocking this one. I mean, it is really fun albeit a bit challenging. (#):)

Sony’s Playstation 3 was released in the States on November 17, 2006. If you do the math, that’s about one and a half years ago.

Up to release day and even after, lots of game fans had to ask themselves, “Why should I buy a PS3?”

Today, many are still haunted by this question and unfortunately - I still don’t think Sony has a real answer.

Do you?

Where Are the Games?
Personally, my biggest problem with the PS3 is the games. Namely, that there aren’t any worth buying the system for. And coming from ME, that’s a big statement because not only will I often buy things JUST to buy them, but I OF COURSE love video games.

You look at the 360, and you have Gears of War, Halo 3, Bioshock…And going back to the PS3, I’m really struggling to come up with ONE must have game. In fact, just looking at this “Top PS3 Games” list from Gamespot, I STILL don’t see anything I want to get the system for that’s currently out and not already available for the 360.

What the Devil is Sony Doing?!
I’ve heard on various sites that Sony is finally turning the proverbial corner with their PS3 profits. But I honestly just don’t understand how that can be. Again, me and friends are hardcore gamers and only two of them own PS3s. One of them also owns a 360 and says that the ONE game he has for PS3 is “Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight” and that PSN is “WEAK” compared to XBL.

I know I’ve complained about it a lot before so I won’t drag it out much longer, but I really still can’t believe that PS3 has up ’till now done SO LITTLIE with their online network especially knowing how successful the original XBox live was.

So My Question To You
Why buy a PS3? I’m desperately searching for a reason to buy a PS3 but even in my warped video game mind, I can’t rationalize the purchase. If you have a PS3 now, any thoughts on all of this? And if you don’t have a PS3 - Any chance you’re going to get one anytime soon? (Like before Metal Gear Solid 4 comes out?)

Lately it seems that I just haven’t been able to get lucky with finding awesome demos on XBox Live.

First it was the Burnout Paradise demo which was aiiiiiiiiight. And now it’s the demo for Devil May Cry 4 by Capcom.

I went into this one with a clean slate as I’ve never played any of the previous Devil games, and all I’ve seen of any of them is videos featuring the main character killing demons in the air using his sword and gun. Personally, I always thought the videos looked cool.

The Devil May Cry Story
By way of the demo on XBL I wasn’t able to figure out the story of DMC 4 so I went to Wikipedia to try and figure out what was what. Two sentences in, I was beyond confused so instead of presenting that information I’ll instead give you my take.

You kill demons. You run around and kill some more. ~end

My Thoughts on the DMC4 Demo
“No sir, I didn’t like it.” Well, let me back up. Graphically, the game looks awesome. Obviously on the story side of things, I don’t know what the hell is going on but I guess that’s not much of a problem given what the game apparently strives for which is hack and slash action. This of course brings to the gameplay…

Eh….
*sigh* I’ve played games that are basically unplayable. Devil May Cry 4 is not such a game. Though the problem is, there is nothing about the gameplay which is particularly endearing. Maybe viewing previous videos of the DMC series, I just expected something different… Something a lot more smooth. See, when you’re trotting (cause your character hardly ever runs) towards hoards of enemies and you start shooting your gun, you basically slow down even further and start walking towards them shooting (inflicting no damage mind you). If you then pull out your sword, it seems really heavy handed, weighing down your character even more…

You know what it’s like? It’s as if you were playing Soul Calibur and you picked the extremely agile fencer Raphael, and somehow ended up with the brutish nightmare, Siegfried. It’s like if you were playing Ninja Gaiden and all of a sudden they took out the katanas and nunchuks and gave him a giant heavy maillot. It’s something that I just wasn’t expecting and really didn’t like.

Conclusions
I CONCLUDE that I won’t buy this game, at least not based on the demo anyway. It’s like the barley of action games. (Sorry barley lovers).