Star64

I'm such a nerd.

2010-06-07T20:16:00.000-07:00

Okay, we all do crazy things when we're bored, right? Well, I happened to be bored in class, Science, to be exact, I decided to make a diagram, a Starcraft related one. It's important to remember the Zerg, referring to themselves as the Swarm, act like one, which is what makes a Hive Mind. All of their "buildings" in Starcraft are really big organs. So, I made a diagram of how the Swarm acts as an organism.

The Overmind/Cerebrate/Queen of Blades are the brain, of course, they command and lead everything.

The Lair is obviously the heart.

The The Extractor/Lair, which collects Vespene Gas and Minerals is the Lungs/Mouth/Whatever

The Evolution Chamber is like the Digestive System, it makes use of collected resource

The Drones are like Blood, they do shit.

This is the worst post I've made. Evar.

Starcraft: Frontline

2010-06-05T13:18:00.000-07:00

As you can tell by now, I kinda like Starcraft. By kinda, I mean, I love it.
A few weeks back, I decided to read their Graphic Novel series, it looks like it won't have a 5th one now. It's a 4 book long series, as you can probably tell. I'd like to talk to you gentlemen and ladies about the series.

General Info
The series is quite unique, every book has multiple short stories. Some of them have multiple parts throughout the series. For example, you got one particular mini-series within the series, about a psionic child known as "Colin Phash"

His life sucks. I won't spoil anything for you.

Book One

The first story, "Why We Fight" pretty much explains Starcraft, kinda. It's still a decent recommendation, worth reading. The second story, Thundergod, is about a crazy super great Thor pilot. It's still a decent story, it's my least favorite out of all the stories in book one. Then, you got a story beginning Colin Phash (I mentioned him earlier) Finally, you got a good one about a student vs. his mentor

Book Two

This, or the third book is my favorite. It starts off with the conclusion of the student vs. mentor story. Awesome. Then, you got another one, you're either going to love it or hate it, it's about some protoss scientists studying Zerg creep. (Zerg "buildings" can only be built on creep). You got one of my favorites, you got a story about a news reporter who learns some very dangerous information. To conclude it, a couple of Terrans find an old mine on an otherwise empty, rocky, planet. Turns out it's haunted by a Ghost. Remember, not a ghost, but a Ghost.

A couple of miners are minding their own business, then, they start dying. =D

Book Three

We continue Colin Phash's story. Then, we got a crazy Terran scientist making Terran-Protoss hybrids(great story). Next, one of my least favorites, better than expected though, is this lounge singer becomes some sort of diplomat. Lastly, you got a Protoss story of typical "becoming one with Khala" story.

Book Four

This is not one of the best books. It's centered around Starcraft 2. You get a little unknown information according to Jim Raynor. It's a little sad and confusing and weird. Next, we got some prison-escapee Reaper hunting some guy, and, in that same story, you got a Dark Protoss looking for a Xel'naga artifact comes in contact with the Reaper, and the Reaper's target, you'll have to see what happens, you may not expect it either. Next, you got some weird psionic voice in some ancient place doing weird things. Read it for your self. Lastly, we finish up Colin Phash's story which ties in with the Ghost Academy series.

Read this series!

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My hunt for an "Addicting" Flash Game: Part 2

2010-06-03T18:05:00.000-07:00

If this post seems rushed, that's because I was busy.

Addictinggames.com has been a major disappointment. Kongregate's pretty popular.

"Summon and control the undead forces, conquer the world by killing any human who stands in the way. "

Necronater
By Toge Productions
If you've played any of the Infectonater games, this will seem familiar. This is a similar play style. The theme reminds me of Zelda. Except, this one's like a 10 second loop. I really feel like this game got ideas from Warcraft 3. You can unlock "Miranda Silverbow" She was a forest ranger, encountered Necronator, fatally wounded, the Necronater, impressed by her skill, trapped her soul. Sound familiar? Sylvanas Windrunner(Warcraft 3), a forest ranger, was killed by the recent undead superpower, Arthas, and, he "captured her soul" and, she was forced to serve him(technically the Lich King) I think Arthas viewed her as powerful too. Also, you have Orc Grunts, grunts are an Orc unit in Warcraft 3... Well, I'll let these pass, it's a Flash game, not a pro one, but, since this is similar to Infectonator, I have high hopes. The game's kinda fun, I see that they were going for more tactics, but, I prefer Infectonator. And, like Infectonator, it got boring.

Now, there's one game on Kongregate I stil play every once and a while, it's kinda cheap to pull this one since it's on a lot of sites, I even have it fucking bookmarked!

Desktop Tower Defense
Tower Defenses apparently originated in a game I've mention multiple times. Warcraft 3! At least, apparently, that's where the creator got the idea. It's a mod for Warcraft 3. This game is fun and challenging. It is quite pesky to upgrade all of the pellet towers. Also, maze.

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Videogame's Influence on People Part 1: Strategy Games

2010-06-02T15:33:00.000-07:00

Video games influence people. Negatively and positively. I'll continue my Flash hunt series tomorrow, so, this ought to tide you over. I decided to go to some friends who happen to play strategy games. Before I start, let's do a quick analysis of strategy games

Chess and Go these are some of the oldest strategy games. They require tactics, trickery and guessing. Ever read the Art of War? It has some things that can help you with strategy games. You'd figure strategy games will make you smart? Some strategy games are more action-oriented, like Warcraft 3, some RTS's, or Starcraft.

First, I'll visit some of their communities. I'll start with the Warcraft community.
I come across astupid thread about some weird revamps and flat out incorrect info.
There goes the lack of strategy making you smarter. This must be an isolated incident!
I quick come across this shit. Great forum! "Who is hands down the gayesy b!tch in these forums" "Hands down it's Seyla[Original poster]" He said himself didn't count. Okay, Warcraft 3 doesn't seem to be that intelligent...

Okay, let's try a Supreme Commander 2 forum, I've always wanted to play it. This forum seems to be slightly more intelligent, I see a weird topic title "I miss you", it's something about an old feature. Apparently, Supereme Commander 2 breaks the law of e=mc^2(This usually is brought up in sci-fi to counteract being faster than light, this theory says it isn't possible, e=mc^2 says that you'd need an infinite amount of energy to move faster than light) No one tell him about the Sci-fi genre, he'll be awfully mad! Well, this community seems to be more intelligent, the posts too. And, the posts were thoughtful with the exception of one member.

According to science, I need 3 trials. Let's try a Civ forum. I see a really stupid post. He says animals need to be more realistic in that game. He says tigers need to eat more people, bears, sharks attacking boats, etc. So far, Civ seems to be at middle with the intelligence of the three games. The normal posts seem to have less thought in them.

My conclusion: Yes, strategy games do have an effect on people, of course. They can bring you to a 4chan person, or, into the next Sun Tzu. But, be careful of which ones you pick. Supreme Commander is much more massive scale.

My hunt for an "Addicting" Flash Game

2010-06-01T15:55:00.000-07:00

Happy June 1st!

People say Flash Games suck, well, I'm on the hunt for a good Flash game.

I decide to ask my friend, on Skype, "know any good flash game?" without hesitation, "Bubble tanks arenas"

by Hero Interactive
Turns out, the game came out today, I'll be of the first people to play it, cool!
I start the game up, it wants to store data. Cool! I am greeted by a unique, pleasant sound track, right after the swords of Armor Games fighting each other. The game seems fairly easy, it's like bubble tanks, but less massive scale. Kind of sad, actually. They have a tank customization feature which seems rather gimmicky, oh, and it's confusing, could someone help me out on that one? I'd rather play the other Bubble Tanks games, not this one. Next!

So, I figured, if it's addicting games I'm looking for, I'll go to Addictinggames.com, right? I mean, it has addicting in it's title! I see one on the front page that catches my interest with bad grammar. "How B Ur Arrow Skillz"

Arch Rivals
By ???

I'm greeted by an annoying tone. The comments say that it's a rip-off of Bowman. I'm sure they're exaggerating, right? Wrong. Exactly like it, but worse. What am I supposed to shoot at?

But, I'll give this site two more chances.

I see a game "Angry Worm Eats all!" is the subtitle, the icon reminds me of the Zerg, let's try it!

Worm Land

Get this, it's a space worm! whatever the hell that is! They remind me of the worms from Dune now. The plot is terrible, too. It's kinda fun, you eat people and jump out of the planet and shit. It got boring after 5 minutes.

Alright Addicting games, you got one more chance!

Age of War 2

I see Age of War 2. I played the first one, great game! Very fun, the abilities make you lose xp and hurt your own units, so, only use them as a last resort(fuck) other than that, this is the best flash game so far.

To Be Continued!

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Piracy

2010-05-30T17:26:00.000-07:00

Do me a favor and play the video. Think of it as, this post's theme song.

Pirate Bay, isoHunt, Demonoid, Limewire, Bearshare, Kazaa, all terms of modern piracy. Some people even buy t-shirts to show their alliance with these people.
Now, keep in mind, these sites can be used for good reasons, and, they don't promote the use of it's wrongful usage, same with torrenting. That's like saying the people who worked on the Manhattan Project didn't promote war and mass murder. We all know how that turned out.

Motives for Piracy
"freedom of information"
"Too lazy to buy it"
"I'm broke"
"I'm bored, and, I don't feel like being legit today"
"Too bad to buy, good enough to pirate to play[How does that work out, now?]"
Some pirates view themselves as heroes.

But, they aren't, are they? Some are simply Communists. No, I'm not throwing that word out for humor. Communists believe everything is owned by everybody, (kinda) but, in practice, we all know how that turns out.

(18th anniversary of the Tianamen Square Massacre)

Some of them like to stick it to the man, man. They don't deserve that money.

My opinion

Now, let's stop whoring out on pics(pun intended?), and hear my opinions, like anybody cares, right? I, for the most part, don't believe in piracy, because, well, if it's a good game, the company deserves money, right? It essentially is stealing.
Let's imagine this scenario: You used to have an SNES, you particularly enjoyed Super Mario RPG, now, by some odd chance of circumstance, God, himself, yes, God, fries your SNES game(Yes, it is a very rare occurrence, but, this is God we're talking about) and you wish to say, "pirate" a copy of the game so you don't have to buy another copy, plus, if you did, Nintendo wouldn't make cash out of it, so, why would they care? Oh, looks like I get to play my SNES game on my laptop! This is about the only situation it is excusable in, though, some people view it differently. Some say it's "immoral" bullshit, at least in that case. That "immoral" crap is another way of saying "Prop-a-fucking-ganda"
see:

Starcraft Follow-Up

2010-05-30T15:24:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, I introduced you guys to the world of Starcraft. I doubt many, if any of you, really had your opinion changed of Starcraft after reading that article, but, that's cool too. (Not really) So, we'll talk about Starcraft 2, some of it's changes it'll bring, and, my thoughts about it.

Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty will bring many changes. It'll influence the way you'll look at everything. Life, the universe, your significant other, your mom, and everything else.

Part 1: The cover

It looks bad ass. Simple as that. What, you expect me to be a little more detailed? Fine then, jerk. It's a marine, if it wasn't for the detail and expression, it would be boring. What are those on his visor, windshield wipers? Now that I think about it, it's quite practical. If it gets dirtied up, use your windshield wipers! What, is the campaign focused around the Terran? Yes.

Part 2: the 'Campaign'

According to the starcraft.wikia page, it looks like the campaign is focused around the Terran.(Beware: this video will cause you to orgasm)
From the wikia site, it appears there is no Zergling campaign (This is how Blizzard says Fuck you) it's like how in Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne, there was no Orc campaign, unless you consider the sorry excuse as using the bonus campaign and custom campaign it comes with. Though, what seems pretty cool is, like they went with WC3, it seems they'll be going more RPG with this campaign too, you see, as Jim Raynor, you can kinda sorta go two paths, go evil, or go good(like a p*ssy.) But, a campaign which splits is kinda new, not a lot of game's story mode can really do that with the exception of fucking RPG's. Oh, get this, as Jim Raynor, you can actually fucking talk to people like, from what the Wikia article seems like, in an RPG.

Part 3: The Units In and Out
I'll start with the Zerg instead.

According to a Game Informer issue, SC2 is designed to have many, many, units at a time. There's a reason the Zerg are the 'Swarm' it seems they'll be more guerilla tactics. Wonder what it's like to be a stereotypical Muslim in the eyes of an American? Be the swarm! You get green mite-flea things called Banelings that fucking explode. Yes, you read that right.

EXPLODE!

Would you screw around with this dude? He's probably had more nights with your mom than you've been alive.

Ultralisks get more blades. Overlords can't detect anymore(fuck you too, Blizzard)

Protoss:

Where's my Dragoons? I loved those guys! We got Void Rays though and Colossus. They got Stalkers, which are essentially Dragoons(can I join?)

Terran:

Where's my Wraiths? Oh, there they are, but, they can only attack land now? wtf? The Reapers seem cool, they only use jetpacks and dual pistols and explosives vs. buildings. You know, exactly like the jetpack elites from Halo 2?

Part 3: Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty: Collector's Edition
You know you want it. It's 100 bucks.
http://us.starcraft2.com/features/collector/
Everyone wants it. Your mom wants it, your teachers want it, even though you may have used them as "target practice" for "Starcraft: Ghost" only to find out when I told you it doesn't come out until Duke Nukem: Forever comes out, your friend wants it, your dog wants it, your gf/bf wants it, I want it, Obama wants it, your cat wants it, your parrot wants it, you know you want to hear it tell you "Orders, sir?" or whenever you have guests he can yell "Give me sumthin to shoot", but least of all, you want it.

Let's examine it, shall we!

Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty Worth: 0(A.K.A. 60) bucks
Boo.

The Art of Starcraft 2: Wings of LibertyWorth: 15 bucks
167 pages of the "artistic development" Well, I guess if you're bored, or, you want to adminster torture to people by forcing them to be exposed to this, and not the actual game. I'm getting scared thinking about it.

Jim Raynor Dog Tag USB drive(which looks nothing like a USB drive) Worth: 30 bucks
It comes with SC1 and it's expansion! It's also 2GB. Which kind of defeats the purpose. But hey! "Free" USB drive!

Starcraft Comic Issue 0 and Soundtrack CDWorth: 25 bucks
'nuff said

DLCWORTH:?
Get a WoW pet, a Terran Thor, and, free DLC from Battle.net(unique icons n shit)

WORTH: over 125 bucks

Get. This. Game. Now.

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Starcraft

2010-05-30T14:25:00.000-07:00

I know, I haven't posted in a while.

For those of you who haven't played it, I'll give a brief description of each race:

Terran:

The humans. You got the empire, the Confederates, and the Dominion, and various political groups, we're pretty much the bad guys for the most part. Except for Raynor, I won't tell you about him, but, he's just cool. Also, the Terran have the Ghost, a super special op solider who can go invisible and still fight. They almost made a game centered around the ghosts that got "delayed" permanently. It would've been for the PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube. Expect it to come out when Duke Nukem: Forever comes out.

Protoss:

All about honor and they're psychic(Psionic) not much I can really say about them. The one advisor guy in the SC1 campaign has quite the cool voice though, all of them do. Honestly, they're the true good guys for the most part.

Zergling

Ruled by the Queen of Blades. They're a hive mind, like the Flood from Halo or the borg. Zerglings absolutely love evolution, and, they're primitive as hell, and their "buildings" are massive organs.

If you've ever played Warcraft 3, the building rules are similar to the ones in Starcraft.

The plot in Starcraft isn't that deep, no deeper than most other games, unless you read the books.

Tomorrow, I will do a follow-up. :D

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A few funny videos about video games

2009-12-14T06:57:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67t5WcwJ4YU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbUqEPUZ-ds&feature=PlayList&p=tFZnpTzVqIo

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The Legend of Zelda

2009-12-12T07:54:00.000-08:00

A songs been stuck in my head, by the name of "Hyrule Field" That's right, I'm gonna talk about The Legend of Zelda series.

The game started with a classic.Game Informer said recently, it is the best game of all times. It was simply called The Legend Of Zelda" for the Nintendo Entertainment system.
Game Informer has the following to say the following about the game:

ahead of its time by years if not decades

Ocarina of Time
One of the first 3-D games. It developed systems like locking-on. IGN says it was "Masterful". Some belive, like IGN, that it may be overrated. (See: http://retro.ign.com/articles/953/953318p1.html )

It is certainly one of my faves for the N64. It got so many pre-orders, that some retailers stopped offer it. (See: http://ign64.ign.com/articles/065/065566p1.html )

The Legend of Zelda: Collectors Edition
It came with the Gamecube for a period of time as a promotion, I was lucky enough to get it.

It's great, now I don't have to use Wii Virtual Console for those specific games :D.
It also included a demo of Wind Waker, to piss you off probably.

The Puzzles
One of the key elements of the Zelda series are the puzzles. Some are easy, to some just plain hard, to others almost illogical. They are usually logical though.

I'm not giving any examples of the puzzle answers.

The Action
Fighting! What's a Fantasy game without violence?

Many, many weapons. From Bows to boomerangs to bombs! Amazing how some of the puzzles also have an intense/action feel to them. Maybe you could also include stealth! In the beginning, you get a ghetto sword and shield. (wood)

Innovational, genius, difficult, life thief, overrated, a waste of time. Whatever you wish to call the Legend of Zelda series, they're here to stay. Especially knowing Nintendo. (I'll make this my next blog post hehehehehe)

Credits to Wikimedia, IGN.com, Wikipedia, and supercheat.com.

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I'm writing for a new blog, named "Intellectual Warfare"

2009-12-09T15:39:00.000-08:00

I've recently been enslaved to work on another blog, "Intellectual Warfare"
http://intelwarfare.blogspot.com/

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Music and video games.

2009-12-08T15:11:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't been able to post in awhile.

Some games have epic music. Mostly the epic games. Final Fantasy, Halo, Zelda, Mario.

Music can bring forth memories. If you listen to an epic song from an epic game, can you guess what it makes me want to do? Play that game! Or even preorder the next game which I may have forgotten.

Everybody likes music, whether it be Rock(Oh yeah!), or Rap(mega ew). Some tunes from games like Halo or Zelda are epic, whenever I hear their tunes, I smile, and think of all the memories I have of these games. I'm kind of a nerd, I'll listen to the video game tunes because I love them so much. Sometimes sequels will have remixs(Such as Halo's Mjorner remix or Mario's updates to it's classic 8-bit music)

Now, let's talk about 8-bit music. It really has it's own quality. Megaman. Zelda. Mario. Others. Have some epic 8-bit music. Did I say epic? I meant very epic. There are many sites dedicated to 8-bit music. People (supposedly) make a fucking living off of simple 8-bit music.

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Microsoft has banned the words "Linux" and "Unix"

2009-12-04T19:24:00.000-08:00

Microsoft has banned the words "Linux" and "Unix" from Xbox Live. For "Copyright reasons"
This is Xbox Live, shouldn't we be able to exercise free speech?

I apologize for the extremely small post, I won't be able to post at all until Monday.
Time is not on my side.

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Home console portablization.

2009-12-02T18:17:00.000-08:00

(By Ben Heck)

All the cool kids do it. There are a lot of people out there (known as hackers) such as *drum roll please* Benjamin J. Heckendorn. Some do it as handhelds, some do it as handhelds, some are emulators on small handhelds, some are just terrible. We're going to take a look at these, and a look at Ben Heck's work.

(Another one by Ben)

Older consoles and portablizing them is much easier. You can do it two ways. A) You can cheat and use emulators so the end product is extremely small and store all your games on it, or B)Actually shove it in their, switch around remove, add a chip or a heatsink. (Such as what some have did with the Atari or the Xbox 360 to help with heat problems.) The one console I haven't seen a really good shrunk down version of is the Gamecube and the N64.

Now, what about emulation? This can be done on freaking PSP's, no comment on the speed though. You don't need a strong processor(According to emulator-zone.com, Project64(N64 emulator) needs less that 1GHz of processing power to run, most netbooks are at least 1.6 GHz)This is probably the best way for emulation of older consoles. For newer ones, you'll more than likely need an uber 1337 computer to emulate an Xbox 360 (3 3.6GHz or so processors!).

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What games are best for portable systems?

2009-12-01T15:49:00.000-08:00

What games are best for portable systems? How many people even consider this? Times change, affecting what games are available. A couple years ago, if you mentioned having 3-D on portable consoles, people would laugh at you. They certainly have changed. Let's look at the Gameboy line.(I'm putting DS under Gameboy) Originally, it was cheap, not very beefy, even back then. Similar to today almost. The first one was missing color, and was intended for simpler games, mostly arcades and some NESish games. But, as I've said, times have achanged. 3-D is capable on current portables. There are FPS's which don't do very well. Now, ideally, all games could be made for a portable if the world was perfect. Well, let's see. Are some games better for a portable system than others?

I think for one, (turn based)RPG's should always be targeted to a portable system as the screen should/needs to be small, as all those tiles can be overwhelming. Plus, that way you can play it anywhere. Now some First-Person RPG's(like Fallout 3) would be bad, terrible on a small screen. Trust me, Fallout 3 is awesome if you have a good size HDTV, hear it from me. It's beautiful. First-Person Shooters(FPS's), when thrown on a portable, they seem to have a common complaint, needs two joysticks!
Example:
-Star Wars Battlefront 2(PSP)
-Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare(DS)
-Others.
If only these portable systems had a second joystick, then we could have some real FPS's, but as I've said earlier, FPS's play best on a big screen.

Casual, "check on me every day!" like Tamogatchi, games that almost require you to play day to day. (Like Animal Crossing) should always be on a portable. Why? You're not always going to be home.

RTS's I think would be bad on a Console and a Portable. Except, maybe the Nintendo DS, why? The touch screen. Some genres play very well if done right on the touch screen. I think an RTS would be great, wouldn't even be restricted to a mouse! Just click where you wish to move your troops. Use the buttons as hotkeys.

Now, some might argue, why don't you just make the console portable? That's for next time(Expect it tomorrow).

Reccomendations of the week #1

2009-11-30T14:22:00.000-08:00

The game reccomendations of the week are.....

For the Wii(Written by Sebbeh of Zuneboards.com, thanks, Seb!):
(With editing done for Grammer and Spelling)

LostWinds

Quick look: Boy lives in village. Buy meets fai-, I mean spirit named Enril. Enril is the spirit of wind after she is freed. Think of Navi, except less annoying. Well, anyway, what was she trapped in? A crystal. Why was she trapped there? Some spirit named Balasar trapped here there. Why? Because he wanted to rule the world (OF COURSE!). Him, Enril and a bunch of other spirits were suppose to watch over the world, but Balasar decided to go all cliché and try to rule it. And with the help of the boy (Named Toki), the two set off on a journey to restore memory, powers and defeat Balasar. You control Enril with the wiimote, making wind to lift up Toki and a while bunch of other stuff you gain along in the game. The Nunchuck control pad controls toki.

Why you should play it:
-If you’re a fan of Metroid, you’ll love it.
-Despite it being short, it has puzzles that will actually have you thinking.
-It’s an original idea for a game and is a gem among the wave of FPS games becoming rampant these games.
-Graphics are simple, but nice.
-Takes full advantage of the Wiimote controls and shows how a Wii game should be.

It’s only 10 dollars. Pick it up.

Screenshot:

My review of Samurai Warriors 2: Empires

Quick look: If you're expecting cultural accuracy, you've come to the wrong place. Historically accurate? Not really. This is a fun game, strategic with a little action. The action is pretty button mashing and it's difficult until you get a horse. Strategic is the funnest part. From increasing the size of your army to Militia to Conscription to Ninjas, you upgrade your army and it's power. You control your hero and an army. This is done via a simplistic albeit buggy d-pad control. (Telling them to attack, defend, default, etc.) It can be cheesy at times, but the game is worth a shot. Not exactly the most logical either. (Kick while you're wearing armor and a sword, yeah, I don't think so.)

Why you should play it:
-You like strategy games
-You want a bit of action
-You're obbsessed with Japan
-Simple graphics, but they do their task as being cartoonish.

Screenshot:

For the Playstation 3(I was unable to get a recommendation article, I was told LittleBigPlanet was great):

For the Nintendo DS:
Scribblenauts

Quick Look:
Scribblenauts is a puzzle game. In this game, you complete objectives by writing any object and it appears to help you. It has 22082 words(Wiinintendo.com). Though, it's not perfect with this because some don't work right, for example, Tear gas doesn't act like tear gas. Or, another nuisance is, let's say you're objective is too snowball people, lets go with snowball gun! It shows up, but it's a normal gun and it kills them. The biggest nuisance is the controls. According to the instruction manual it's "Innovative"....Whatever WB. Everything is controlled with the stylus. Movement, shooting, selecting EVERYTHING. Let's say you have a gun, you're trying to stay far away, and you try to hit the enemy, but either one of three things happens: A) it fires with out selecting to fire at it B) it moves you there C) it selects it.

Why you should get it:
-Great puzzles
-Very fun despite a few minor annoyances
-Hopefully will spin off into it's own genre
-It's fun putting things together and seeing what happens.
-Anyone could play it!
Get it nao!

Screenshot:

Let's talk Nintendo 64

2009-11-29T10:59:00.000-08:00

I loved this console. I really did. There are plenty of crazies out there who think it was terrible. Well, they're just stupid(I'm only messing) it had many favorites such as Pokemon Stadium 1 & 2.(Difficult, yet very strategic, puts the emphasis on the strategic elements of Poke'mon.) Or that one Star Wars game of which I don't remember the name. You also got Diddy Kong Racing.

My favorite games for the N64!

-Pokémon Stadium 1 & 2: Why? It really emphasized the whole strategy element of Pokémon. Plus choose almost all the Pokémon in that generation(s). To put it simply, Choose most any Pokémon and fight. Plus a few mini-games and R/B/Y/G/S/C compatibility.(Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, Crystal.) Other than that, not much to say.

-Super Mario 64: It's a 3D Mario game. Not really much else I can say.

-Diddy Kong Racing: It's a racing game with an adventure. Car, bad controls for rafts(the game calls them something else.), and my favorite, the plane. Good challenge, lots of fun.

-Pokémon Snap(Give me a break, when I first got the N64 I practically worshipped Pokémon): A photography simulator, it's fun. Challenging.

-Star Fox 64: OMG, Star64 mentioned Star Fox 64, I love Star Fox too! All terrible attempts at being funny pushed aside, it was a Pilot game, I love Pilot games.

Not everyone liked the N64. For 1, the prices for the games weren't on the cheap side. (Well, Nintendo's cartridges cost as much as a new game for the 360 or PS3, which use optical disks which are cheaper to make, but I digress.) sure, at the time, the budget for games were lower. (back in Atari days, it would only really take one person to make a quality Atari game due to the only thing needed is the actual gameplay and not that difficult sprite work.)

Another reason were the controllers. They were terrible. Left wanted the stick, but so did right. What do we do? We compromise! Put it in the middle! Turns out, that was a terrible idea. It's like the 3/5 compromise. It just ends up very strange. Now adays, they would've let them both have a stick. Keep in mind now, N64 was like Leif Erickson but not as badass. (You don't fuck with vikings man, I'm Norwegian!) They were exploring previously unexplored territory, made some of the first 3-D games(I'm not calling Ray-tracing 3-D, maybe 3-D primitive, but not true 3-D) along side the PlayStation. The whole dual stick Movement/Camera had yet to be invented/was still new.

Nintendo 64 actually helped me figure out a name. I was thinking of names, I thought okay 64(Why 64, it was the end of the bit war, and I put it at the end of the blogs name like Nintendo did with the N64.)Okay, stars are significant to gaming. I was thinking of Mario at the time too so.....

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Poke'mon

2009-11-27T06:44:00.000-08:00

Have you heard of Poke'mon? If you haven't, do me a favor and give yourself a pimp slap, you deserve it. Gun's are also an alternative. Anyways.......

Nintendo recently announced a game they like to call"Pokemon Heartgold and Soulsilver" get past the corny names, it should be recognizable, that they're remakes. According to Gamestop, it comes out April 1st. It's not going to be a simple remake, however, it's going to be more than that. It'll have updated story(not much) Gen III and IV pokemon, and a few other changes. If you're like me, or many others, Gold/Silver/Crystal(Among with Poke'mon Stadium 2, is collectively known as the "2nd Generation") There are many changes such as which Poke'mon are exclusive to which.
(Thanks Bulbapedia for the exclusive's data)

EDIT(11/29/09 12:22): Turns out, the Pokemon mentioned (the unknown one)is just another form of a Pokemon. I still believe there'll probably be another one due to the popularity of the series.
But, wait, there's more,a few sites have reported a 5th generationNintendo isn't letting Poke'mon die anytime soon. After reading this, y'all's reaction is more than likely split up as:
•Yippee!!!!
•Ugh, another one?
•What's Pokemon, and for that matter, what's a tv?
•I think I'll actually use my head and give it a chance

Yes, I like the Poke'mon games. No, I'm not obsessed with them. I do get their games. You see, it's like a guilty pleasure. In a couple months, I'll forget about it until the new one comes out.

Now let's talk about my view of the generations:

1st Generation(Red, Yellow, Blue, Poke'mon Stadium, Poke'mon Snap): Awesome, started the whole thing. Almost as good as the 2nd Generation. Some of the Poke'mon seem to be jokes, like 3rd which, I swear, was a lot of it looked like it was from a little kid. Favorite Poke'mon from this generation: Blastoise, Charmeleon, Gastly, Haunter, Growlithe, Eevee.

2nd Generation(Gold, Silver, Crystal, Poke'mon Stadium 2): My favorite generation. A lot of awesome looking one's are from the 2nd generation. Such as Umbreon or Espeon. It also introduced Dark Type and Steel type. It also introduced Baby Poke'mon. The adventure was great, all the starter Poke'mon were awesome.
Favorite Pokemon: Too many.

3rd Generation(Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Pokemon Colosseum(1&2)): I swear, this one was joke. My least favorite generation. It was pretty ridiculous. 4th gen shares a similar dilemma. Though Diving was cool.
Favorite Poke'mon: Kyogre, Groudon, Duskull.

4th Generation: Not nearly as bad. A legit generation.
Favorite Poke'mon: Buneary, Roserade, others.

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"Overrated" Games

2009-11-26T16:16:00.000-08:00

Happy Turkey Day! Now...let's talk.

This drives me crazy whenever I hear people describing a game as "overrated". Why? It implies that games can factually be better than others. As in, it would be fact that the Halo games are awesome.(Well, they are, but....whatever.) It's meaning is extremely ambiguous. When I see people say "overrated" I think one of the following things.

•They want attention by saying classics are overrated.
•They simply don't agree with the majority's opinion about a game.

The only games I hear people call "overrated" are the highly viewed ones. It's like people who say "that wasn't funny" whenever people laugh at something. I also find it annoying whenever some people complain about games being "overrated" Such as Halo or Zelda or Mario. Or, in my recent post about Modern Warfare 2, there was someone who didn't really agree with the other testimonials. (Only from Gow, only from Gow.)

Dictionary.com definition of "overrated": "to rate or appraise too highly; overestimate: I think you overrate their political influence."

Okay, I guess there can be some legitimate uses, let's switch some things around and make it a more legitimate such as "Pokemon's replay value is overrated" as in a game design perspective. But, it is very much opinion. But, it can be a pet peeve for me at times. I ask you, the readers(probably more like reader maybe, lol.) What are your thoughts?

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Modern Warfare 2: How Elements Such As Peer Pressure Can Affect Game Sales.

2009-11-24T15:00:00.000-08:00

In Star64, I avoid topics that probably all the other blogs are talking about, I'm going to analyze the game, "Modern Warfare 2"'s success in sales.

If this were a perfect world, the only things that would affect sales would be how good a game is. The things I believe made MW2 are:

•It's a purely a good game(So I've heard)as a friend said: "The game is action packed", "You are impressed by [Modern Warfare 2] the second you turn it on, it's just that awesome"

•It's the sequel to a good game (Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare)I was introduced to Call of Duty 4 on the DS(Bad memories!)

•Peer pressure. As stkr on Zuneboards.com said "I hate it when people ask if I have a game I know nothing about..>.>" I'm sure some of us here have been in the situation where someone pestered you to get a game. Which leads me to my next point:

•Everybody's talking about it!

A: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=203174
B: http://www.gameinfowire.com/game.asp?gid=2652
C: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=216271
D: http://www.india.com/technology/gaming/modern_warfare_2_becomes_call_duty_6_5439
E: http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/modern-warfare-2-xbox-360-console-16-09-2009/
F: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/1058/story/787106.html

•Viral videos: Do a google search of "Modern Warfare 2 sucks" and you'll come across a video of some Brit who's having a mental breakdown over the game(He looks like he's 17 or something)

•You kill terrorists! I think subconsciously, this helps it a great deal. All this terrorist propaganda(I do feel deeply sorry for those of the 9/11 attacks) isn't helping. This propaganda creates great fear of terrorists then all of a sudden there's a game where you blow up terrorists and kill them in a variety of ways. It's like a holocaust victim more likely to buy a video game about killing Nazis.

•So many blogs are talking about it! If I hear "Modern Warfare 2" one more time I'm going to punch my dog in the face.(He's only a Chihuahua!) for godsakes, don't make me punch him in the face. ASPCA would be hunting me down.

Testimonials

"It's like a movie!" -A Random Guy
"Is it [Modern Warfare2) one of the greatest[video games]." -IGN.com
"....it's action packed!" -A friend
"...played it, felt it was more the same, and was only worthy of an
expansion" -Gowcaizer of Zuneboards.com

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Area 51 As A Plot Device in Games

2009-11-23T15:06:00.000-08:00

I'm surprised Area 51 is not used in video games more often.
Here's a background:

Less than 100 miles from the great land of Las Vegas. We have an Air Force testing center(supposedly)it is in the area designated by the Atomic Energy Commission as "Area 51" the air space is so restricted, not even military aircraft are permitted to fly over it. If a rabbit triggers the alarm, they are ordered to kill it.(This specific piece of information is first-hand info)With a .50 cal rifle. When people fly in, they are blindfolded until they arrive.(Also another report not from the two sites listed) Some reports include that if you worked on a project, you would have no clue of what's going on in the building next to you, when a plane takes a test flight, everyone is ordered inside until it is done. Now, what could they be hiding that is so important? Could there be aliens? Maybe some kind of zombie virus to kill of China? Or maybe a wormhole to take us to other wonderful universes in Star Trek-like quests?
(Thanks HowStuffWorks.com and eHow.com! for the info!)

You see where I'm going with this? Area 51 could be a great plot device. Well, anything can be a great plot device if used correctly. After doing a search for "Area 51" on IGN only 3 or so games showed up that had anything to do with Area 51. Imagine Fallout 3 having Area 51?

Now, let's talk about two games I did find about Area-51. First, we have blacksite. (http://www.blacksitegame.com/) It looks awesome.
Blacksite is about a small town which has been overrun by aliens and the governments getting desprate to hold terrible secrets.

The other one, you have got "Area 51" which also looks awesome.

There doesn't seem to be too much story, but the reviews are great.

What are your video game stories?

2009-11-22T19:53:00.000-08:00

Hey kids, gather around the campfire. What are your campfire stories about video games? Your desperation? Obsession? Good times? Or maybe that time when you risked your life to avoid a copy of a Mario game from getting destroyed?

Console Gaming VS. PC Gaming

2009-11-22T18:13:00.000-08:00

Stick around stay awhile while I talk about a subject which is heavily debated, I'll let you decide which is better for your self.

A long time ago, back in ancient times, the time is 1983, you Video Game Historians (I capitalized it mommy!) should know that Video Games were dying, in America, in the United Kingdom and Japan, Video Games were doing just fine. But in America, there were various things that lead up to the crash.

The market for Atari was being flooded with games left and right. Plus Home Computers were the craze. This ad should explain this with out a word out of my mouth: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b1/Vic-20_ad.jpg

1979: Pissed off Atari programmers quit Atari and found "Activision" one of the first 3rd party companies for Atari.Why? Atari wasn't including them in the credits(If they only had credits) and they weren't being paid in terms of royalities from game sales.

1982: "The Worst Game of All Time" E.T. came out. It was one of the first, it would be an oracle telling the world "Movie games suck!

1982: (source is unknown) Mattel representative: "Two years of products have been pushed into the channel in one year, and there’s no way to re-balance the system." The market was flooded and retailers had way too many games.

1985: A console home computer system by the "Nintendo Entertainment System" came out, it would mark the future for consoles. It limited the number of games that could be released by a publisher in one year.

Now, you have the background.
The pros and the cons of each for those who want to move on.

PC Gaming:
Pros:
-Not only can you play games, you can do other things, if you're on the internet right now, I shouldn't have to explain this.
-More games than there is sand on the beach(This is a metaphor genius.)
-The games are of various price.(Free to over-priced and everything inbetween).
-Some games play better on the PC.(Especially Real Time Strategy and First-Person Shooters)
-You can get the highest-quality graphics.
-Simply upgrade every two years(this can also be a downside as paying a couple hundred every 2 years when normal consoles last about 4)
-It will only cost a few hundred if you use the overclocking method(not recommended if you don't know what you are doing, I'm not responsible for any damage done by overclocking.
-Hacks! Everyone loves replacing Nazis with Pikachus!

Cons:
-EDIT: finding a good gaming computer is cheaper than what most think, just have to look hard: (Thanks Sebbeh and Grim of Zuneboards.com for correcting me)http://i45.tinypic.com/w2gg0p.jpg http://www.burke-works.com/thread-1909-post-31188.html#pid31188
-Not as big screen area(unless you buy a big fancy shmancy gfx card which would cost more than most consoles
-You may have to spend a while getting rid of trialware(When you get a new computer and has a bunch of junky trial versions of software and slowing down your computer) and installing all the random games.

Console Gaming:
Pros:
-Cheaper(much)
-Uses controller which is much better than say, a keyboard.
-Multiplayer only requires additional controllers.
-Usually easier to set up(No installation of a bunch of the games, no removing of trialware.)

Cons:
-Not as many games
-Some games may not play as well as their PC counterparts.

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