RROD >:O

Well it happened, my 360 red ringed on me. I am so pissed because every morning all I look forward to doing once I'm off work (I work overnights) is playing a quick round of horde on Gears of War 2 and going to bed. Now it's straight to bed for me. What complete garbage it is to not have a video game console even for like 3 days. I know you think that sounds bad but kindly fuck you, sir. I was really looking forward to relaxing this long weekend with a few rounds of my favourite games. Now I'm forced to hook up my N64 and play WWE No Mercy and Goldeneye all weekend long. "Retro Games Weekend" I'll call it.

Hey that's not so bad.

Ok so lets just name some games that are still easily playable from years past. I'll begin:

Mario Kart
NHLPA '93
Tetris Attack!
Street Fighter II

Now some games I feel do not hold up despite being wicked when they first came out:

Ninja Gaiden
Sonic the Hedgehog
Spiderman & Venom: Maximum Carnage

Maximum Carnage sucks so bad you don't even know. I'm pretty sure you ONLY beat up black people in that game. Not unlike the NES Punisher game, which for sure you only shoot the black people (except the jazzman). Two of the most awful racist games? For sure - At least Punisher was fun to play :\

Also Sonic the Hedgehog is easily the most overrated game of all time. Have I talked about this before? I can't remember.
OK BYE

So many Game of the Year lists

Fallout 3 is almost my perfect video game. It's better than GTA4 I don't care what anyone says. As far as what I would nominate for game of the year, it has to be between Fallout 3 and Left 4 Dead. Ever edging more and more towards Fallout.

I've been thinking about it and I think my 2 favourite games since getting my 360 in October of 2008 are Mass Effect and Fallout 3, with honourable mentions going to Left 4 Dead, Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4.

I think when it comes down to it I like games where I decide not only what my character does, but what they actually say. Mass Effect is the only game where at times I felt like I was playing a movie. To me, that has to be one of the biggest achievements in the history of video games.

Anyways. At work now, but when I get home in the morning, immediately heading for the Capital Wastelands.

TFU

So clip that - I DID buy Force Unleashed and about 5-6 hours in I'm pleased. But then again I am a huge Star Wars fan.

Otherwise this is just a well done God of War clone.

I'm not complaining at least its not that Conan game. THAT was a piece of garbage.

Also I read that Silicon Knights laid off like 30 people. That sucks, but really 180 people worked on Too Human for what, 10 years? More like 4 actually but still after all that and it still sucks that hard?

God I wish I could have the job where you come up with ideas for video games. I'd be so good at that I swear!

been a long time... shouldn't have left you

Even though no one reads this tiny video game blog, I feel bad for not updating it. Here's what's been happening since April between me and video games:

- My roommate who owned half of the games I was playing, no longer lives with me.
- I bought Halo 3 and COD 4 as they were not originally mine
- Castle Crashers totally rules
- Haven't bought Force Unleashed... YET
- NHL 09 is simultaneously one of the best and most frustrating sports games of all time
- I haven't bought Rock Band 2... YET
- Viva Pinata is better on the DS than the 360
- In NHL 09 I am a 6'7 220 lbs monster of a defensive defenseman

Luigi's Mansion: I beat this game like 2 years ago, cool huh?

Sports!

As some of you people may have noticed, in addition to games like Halo and Advance Wars, I regularly play sports video games. This is because I like the thrill of competition with the option of just quitting if something totally bullshit happens. Unquestionably, my favourite sport tis hockey and thus, my favourite sports video games are hockey ones.

I recently wrote a top 10 list that was not posted on Gamefaqs website because they are in love with bad spelling and shitty opinions. So I've decided to post it here instead, in two parts. So now, you will be the proud reader of my top 10 hockey video games list.

The Top 10 Greatest Hockey Games of All Time

With the news that EA has made a serious bid to buy Take-Two, the owner of the 2K Sports franchise, we may be in the last days of a competitive, high quality sports video game market. So let's take a few minutes to remember the (possible) days gone by with the top ten greatest hockey video games of all time.

#10 Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey (N64)

Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey is one of the earliest N64 games (the first to be released with 4 player support), and despite it's lack of EA-style realism and it's abundance of hideous graphics, at the heart of this game, there is a nice little arcade-style hockey experience. Get four friends with multi-colour controllers around the old Zelda machine and you've got yourself a few hours of fun in between playing endless rounds of Goldeneye.

#9 Ice Hockey (NES)
Pretty much the game that started it all, Ice Hockey is part of that classic NES pantheon of sports games named after the actual sport it features. Other memorable entries include: "Tennis", "Baseball" and "Golf". In Ice Hockey you choose between 6 countries (Canada's jerseys are green, ?!??!??) and then choose between 3 types of players for your 4 team roster: Skinny, Medium and Fat. If you were anything like me you loaded your team with fat guys and had one skinny guy who was obviously Wayne Gretzky.

#8 Mutant League Hockey (GEN)
Mutant League Hockey was made by EA and as a result, bears a striking resemblance to the NHL 93, 94 and 95 games that came before/around the same time as it. Luckily, it also contains the same amount of excellent gameplay and fun with a wacky arcade-like twist where you control teams made up of skeletons, goblins and killer robots with names like Puke and Killbot. If you like the early EA hockey games and haven't tried this one, I highly recommend you do so.

#7 NHL 08 (X360)
The latest in the storied EA franchise is easily the best in years. The skillstick feature from 07 is perfected and mixed with the solid multiplayer from XBOX live/PSN not to mention the hilariously quirky teams from Sweden and Finland (make note of the Lukko "Sly Coyotes" and Tempereen Ilves logos) make this game a real winner. The only place the game lacks is in it's puzzlingly bad off-season features. Seriously EA Sports, why did half the league retire after my first season?!

#6 Blades of Steel (NES)
Blades of Steel is simultaneously the best Hockey and best Fighting game for the NES, ever. The game features the first good fighting mechanic and is still revered for it. An additional bonus being that when you won the fight, the guy you beat goes to the penalty box. (the same thing would happen in Ice Hockey) Bonus points go to BoS for the rare Gradius minigame in between periods, although more often than not all you get is that damned panda bear shooting the puck.

Stay tuned, Top 5 coming up soon...

HIPSTERS!! ARRRRRRRRGHHHHH!!

Hey gang, so earlier in the week I get to work and immediately log onto to facebook and this is what happened:

"No surprises here, ok, oh someone named
another photo album "randoms"
ok standard - wait a tic - WHAT!?!?!"

It's at this point that I (obviously pictured above) saw a group of improv enthusiasts (some who are friends of mine, but mostly full of stupid hipsters) sitting around in a theatre of some sort just playing numerous games of Goldeneye and Mario Kart for N64 - Nintendo 64 - NINTENDO FUCKING SIXTY-FOUR.

Why is it that video games have to be 10 years old before it's cool to play them in public with a shitload of people? I WANTED TO DO THAT IN GRADE NINE.

Screw people who like things just because they're retro.

I swear to god hipsters, the next time you get a bunch of your lame-drama-improv-dweeb friends around you fucking better be playing something from THIS generation and it better be system linked and it better involve a Halo.

(Ok it can be something other than Halo, but NO Wii sports)

GAH! Hipsters!

National Hockey League 2008: A plea to a gaming giant.

There's nothing more rewarding to a sports gamer like myself than to get thoroughly involved and dedicated to a team or season in your favourite sports game and see them through years and years of development.

A few weeks after I picked up NHL 08, I was through my first season with my leaf squad (who now includes Mike Cammelleri AND Jay Bouwmeester for all you hockey fans) when I go to check the "Players who retired" message in the stupid EA Messages thing. I was surprised to find that well over 80 players had retired from the league. Including players like Martin Brodeur and Daniel Alfredsson who are in their mid 30's and enjoying prime seasons!

For those of you not familiar with Hockey this is basically like having Derek Jeter or Tim Duncan retiring at the end of your MLB or NBA seasons.

This was one of the regular 90 problems I end up having with Hockey video games. Others include: Why did they remove the Fantasy Draft option? and Why can't I edit a players attributes like in the 2k series? WHY?

Seriously EA Sports, do you test these things? And if you do, does this person know anything about the sport they're playing?

Here is something that I honestly want to do so badly that I would make serious personal sacrifices to do it: I want to work with the EA team that develops the NHL series and help them create a complete, realistic, yet fun experience for hockey fans. It is my belief that they have not achieved this since NHL 2001 for the PC or NHL 95 for the Sega Genesis. Mainly I'm talking the menus, the GM features, the way the create-a-team and players systems work and trading and signing free agents.

EA SPORTS, I CAN HELP YOU, SERIOUSLY.