For years, I’ve adamantly opposed the idea of completely replacing tangible media with digital distribution for video games and other forms of entertainment. It’s a fantastic alternative, but could spell disaster for consumers if it becomes the standard.
This resistance on my part stems from an age where products that you purchase (like video games) became your property. Media publishers have begun adopting digital distribution as a lucrative business model, now that they’ve realized that they can use it to destroy the secondhand market and overthrow consumer ownership.
God of War III and Bayonetta are the closest I’ve ever come to considering video games as actual erotica. Not because of their obvious sexual themes, but because their simple modes of gameplay enveloped in lusciously rendered cinematic eye candy. They may have their flaws and lack much depth, but these titles serve up satisfying portions of escapism, like a well-prepared filet mignon.
Trolling RUINS Lives, Y’all.
Not even Seth Green can convince me to eat Butterfinger.
In the Method to Madness podcast, I’m joined with my good friend Kevin “The Business” Gray to discuss great anime and video games that you should be watching as well as ones you should feel ashamed you are watching.
Folklore and Disgaea: Infinite have recently been satisfying our pangs for gaming. “Satisfying”, I use generously.
As much as we have to say about these games in this podcast, we have so much more to say about just about everything else. Mostly turtles, rats, pizza…just about every ingredient for an unconscious Ninja Turtle discussion, if not for the inclusion of horrible, horrible internet memes.
This should be all the reason you need to play Disgaea.
In the Method to Madness podcast, I’m joined with my good friend Kevin “The Business” Gray to discuss great anime and video games that you should be watching as well as ones you should feel ashamed you are watching.
Arcade Gamer Fubuki has taught me that Kevin and I should put better effort into researching the shows we watch before podcasting about them. And by “better”, I probably mean “some”. Cuz had we learned beforehand that Arcade Gamer Fubuki is a parody of Game Center Arashi, this show might have made a crap-ton more sense.
This is a cute little show for fans of old-school games…or of panties. Yes, it’s a panty fan service show, but it’s just below the line of excess and there’s enough legitimate humor to compensate.
And hopefully strike you down like Thor's hammer.
These children are stupid.
In the Method to Madness podcast, I’m joined with my good friend Kevin “The Business” Gray to discuss great anime and video games that you should be watching as well as ones you should feel ashamed you are watching.
The gamer community has been–and perhaps always shall be–a male-dominant population. The context of that statement surrounds only the quantity of males, as most gamer guys are unknown to Alpha characteristics.
Nevertheless, video game companies know that they’ll rake in the most profits by creating games with themes that pander to men. This has resulted in gross demoralization of women and impossible standards of beauty across the industry. With few strong female role models and a general disrespectful objectification of women in games, it’s no wonder why more girls aren’t jumping to join our ranks.
Good news, girls: It’s payback time. Lady Killers, Inc. has developed a new video game, Hey Baby, designed to provide empowerment to those vexed by male chauvinism. The game is a first-person shooter; very reminiscent of Postal 2, but as a woman with a low tolerance for sexual harassment. Her only objective is to retort to unwelcome cat calls with a rain of ammunition. Each round striking men down as an angel of vengeance, carrying the definite message of “No means no!”
This game doesn’t exactly unite the sexes through gender-equalizing enlightenment, but it’s a guilty pleasure that tips the scales at least one point in women’s favor. The game is currently out of stock, though new prints should hit production soon as word spreads across the web. However, there is a “basic” version available for play on the website.
Omi Gibson is the cover girl for this site’s Cosplay of the Week feature. Omi has an infamous love of Metal Gear Solid, which would explain why more than half of her 100+ costume gallery consists of Hideo Kojima characters. In fact, she’s been given special recognition from various news sites for the MGS4 Raiden costume she wore for the 2008 Tokyo Game Show in Japan.
Omi was very generous to agree to a Q&A interview with me, so that those who admire her work may better get to know the woman who’s made so many men’s fantasies a reality.
If you haven’t seen the above teaser trailer for Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, press that Play button.
In the year and a half since I last spoke about MvsC3, my position remains adamant. I won’t lie; this announcement excites me as much as Street Fighter IV, though I’ve yet to possess any console these titles call home. Where I cringe and suppress violent impulse is in the challenge of congregating with fellow fighting game fans to engage them in mature discussion.
It is said that those who cannot, teach. And that those who cannot teach, critique. The rest dispense their parochial attempts at creativity in message boards or their nerd herd’s local watering hole. These are the dorks that have both annoyed and shamed me for over a decade–their imaginations unable to discern quality over quantity (More characters! Bigger air combos!). Nor do they embrace innovation over simply bloating out a familiar formula (Bigger character teams! More Supers!).
The worst sin of all: They don’t appreciate what they already have. The top argument from fans to produce MvsC3 is that they love MvsC2 and it’s their favorite game ever. My counterpoint has been, “Why don’t you just keep playing MvsC2? If you love it so much, why so eager to retire it?” I wouldn’t protest buying consecutive ports of MvsC2 for each generation of home console. In fact, I openly supported last year’s DLC version with hopes that the rest of the Marvel and Versus series may one day resurface.
Back to MvsC3 specifically, this recent announcement has fanned the fanboy flames of hype, speculation, and demands. Luckily, as more concrete facts are released, the asinine chorus of nerd talk will inevitably dissolve. (Though most likely transition into bitter backlash up to and just beyond the game’s street date.)
I do admit, I’m curious to see how many of my own predictions fare. Let’s break down a few:
Beggars can’t be choosers. It’s cliché, but clichés exist because they are timeless and true. Geeks need to understand this when it comes to bringing their favorite shows and games over from Japan. No one is entitled to their entertainment.
After the recent scandals involving content being pulled from the localizations for Yakuza 3 and Dance in the Vampire Bund, I’m calling for a waaaahmbulance. But first, Kevin reports on his first few hours of Final Fantasy XIII!
And yes, I forgot to add my naming of Dance in the Vampire Bund into the final edit. It’s not Rozen Maiden. Deal. Or make a YouTube rant about the missing content like this jerk:
Hey, douche… Is this about Yakuza, or is it about YOU?
Leatherman + Penis Envy = FFXIII Gun-Blade
FAN ART!
Thanks, M! Better scanned version coming...some day.
In the Method to Madness podcast, I’m joined with my good friend Kevin “The Business” Gray to discuss great anime and video games that you should be watching as well as ones you should feel ashamed you are watching.
Zalora has a modest, but impressive gallery of costumes… The one that catches my eye the most (obviously) is her Delta Red Cammy from Street Fighter. What impresses me the most is that she’s one of the rare few that managed to get Cammy’s wild bang cowlick to look right!
She’s got the face, she’s got the physique, and best of all, she has the costuming talent to bring Cammy to life. Kudos, Zalora!
Earlier this week, two of Final Fantasy XIII‘s developers, Yoshinori Kitase and Motomu Toriyama, were interviewed over at Tech Digest. Along with questions about FFXIII and the current RPG market, the two were asked the eternal question of the possibility of a remake of Final Fantasy VII. The two had both worked on FFVII, so few could better offer insight on Square-Enix’s interest in the idea.
Yoshinori Kitase offered these words of discouragement:
If it were possible that we had all the right facilities and the right environment to be able to make and prepare a Final Fantasy VII remake within a year, we’d very much like a go at it! But even Final Fantasy XIII has taken over three and a half years to create. If we were to recreate Final Fantasy VII with the same level of graphical detail as you see in Final Fantasy XIII, we’d imagine that that would take as much as three or four times longer than the three and a half years it has taken to put this Final Fantasy together! So it’s looking pretty unrealistic! But if any such situation came about by any remote chance, then yes, we’d do it!
This is an excellent point…at first. There is no argument that each installment of Final Fantasy’s canon should continue to uphold the highest possible standard in graphical quality. However, the same need not be said of remakes or spin-offs.
Many fans of FFVII would like to have a remake of the game that is a heavy competitor for its current-gen cousins. But what they (or I should say “we”) want is a reasonable revamp of the original blocky polygons and incongruous cut scenes. The level of graphic quality from PS3 launch titles would be welcomed with open wallets. The FFVII tech demo–nearly 5 years old now–exhibits an impressive graphical facelift that could easily be applied with current development technology.
My suggestion would be to use the same visual style as Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core or Final Fantasy: Dissidia. While not photo-realistic, it has a beauty that is both captivating and appropriate to that world.
There’s an undeniable market for Final Fantasy VII that Square-Enix is foolishly reluctant to tap. Since its release, the PSN port of the original FFVII has held strong at the top of the charts (with only a brief decline around the release of the PSP version of Little Big Planet). In fact, with graphics that are properly rationed, a FFVII remake could be available for download on either PSP or PS3 platforms. It could be the perfect incentive for gamers to more openly adopt Sony’s otherwise fruitless PSP Go.
There would always be fans that nitpick and the game’s developers may not be as artistically satisfied, but the game would sell like crazy. And isn’t that what this business is all about?
