The Stupid Gamer

Haha, pretty cool little creation by a dedicated fan of both Left 4 Dead and retro gaming. Take a look.

Note: Best Game Ever is a series of posts I’ll be doing dedicated to the best games ever made. Each game I profile will be a game I’d accept as someone’s answer to the question, “what do you think the best game ever is?” So please, do not email me and tell me I’m stupid for posting about game X when game Y is clearly superior. And you never know, game Y might be the next game profiled. For more in the series, check out the “best game ever” category in the side bar.

Star Control II.

Originally on the PC but also ported to the 3DO with enhanced sound and added speech, this game was easily the best open world game of its time. You can now download it FOR FREE (link at the bottom of the post) as it’s been made open source. It’s really rare, even today, to find a game that offers the same level of freedom, non-linear progression, and sense of scale. Here’s the lowdown.

Game is set way in the future after a big galactic war in which the Earth and its alliance lost. Earth is trapped under a slave shield and a race called the Ur-Quan rules the galaxy along with anybody else that chose to join up with them and avoid being annihilated or enslaved.

You’re a descendant from science team that left earth way in the past that had colonized a new planet where you’ve found alien tech. You go out to find out what happened with earth. After finding out that the alliance basically got curb stomped you decide to take it upon yourself to fly around the galaxy recruiting races to start the fight back up again against the Ur-Quan. Depending on the alliances you make the game changes and the storyline can get altered quite a bit.

The game is split into three main styles of gameplay. First there’s exploration where you’re looking for resources (money), new races to ally with, and alien technology to augment your ship. Secondly there’s the political aspect where you need to convince races to join your fight and keep them at peace with one another. Finally, there’s combat that plays out as a 2D top down battle. It’s all great stuff.

Here’s the intro video:

Here’s a battle sequence:

A conversation with the Spathi, a coward race that you still want to recruit as allies because they make awesome starships.

You can get the game for free here: http://sc2.sourceforge.net/downloads.php

Versions of the game are available on Windows, OS X, Linux, and a few other devices (including PSP).

I know it’s a busy time for gaming, but honestly, I doubt any game coming out in the next few months will be as good.

Below is a video for Lose/Lose, a game that procedurally creates enemies based on the files on your computer. It sends these waves of enemies at you and if you destroy one, you get a point. The crazy thing, however, is that if you destroy the enemy, it also destroys the file from your computer…permanently. So as you play, files will be deleted at random from your system. If you manage to win the game, the program itself gets destroyed and removed from your computer. You can watch the video below to satisfy your curiosity, as I don’t think it’s a good idea to play it yourself.

Here is a link to the site where you can even see high scores: http://www.stfj.net/art/2009/loselose/

My full-time job is doing search engine optimization and pay-per-click marketing. Due to the nature of this work, I spend a lot of time banging away at my keyboard writing. As I write, I get to listen to music and podcasts throughout the day, and having 8-10 hours of this daily lets me check out the best gaming has to offer in regards to podcasts. I currently subscribe to around 20 different podcasts (not all gaming related), and here are my favorites in no specific order. I know I’ve done this before, but I feel it’s worth it as these shows evolve and change over time.

Robert Ashley’s A Life Well Wasted – This podcast is incredible. It’s not a weekly show, but that’s because every episode is highly produced, well-researched, and delves deep into its subject matter. Just today I was finishing up an episode while driving back from my soccer game and I ended up finishing the last 15 minutes in my driveway because I didn’t want to stop listening to go inside. Anybody who likes to think about games on a deeper level than just how cool graphics are or what the NPDs might mean in the console wars, check this podcast out. Also, the music provided by Robert’s band I Come to Shanghai makes for an amazing moment or two each show. Episode two has an electronic beat layed over the sounds of quarters dropping into pinball quarter mechanisms, pop bumpers, and and ball ejects. Robert also makes great use of silence much like a painter leverages white space on a canvas. This is as close to art as you’re going to find in a gaming podcast.

Listen Up - 1up’s podcast hosted by Garnett Lee and with regulars John Davison, David Ellis, and Sam Kennedy is one of the most passionate podcasts out there. These guys do well to hit all aspects of gaming from PC, handhelds, consoles, and even iPhone and Android. Always a little irreverent but respectful, Listen Up does a good job running with the torch after 1up Yours met its end with the death of EGM and the departure of old favorites like Shane Bettenhausen, Luke Smith, and Mark McDonald. This podcast is a weekly podcast and is released each Friday.

The CAGCast - CheapyD and Wombat put out this weekly show and they have a great chemistry going. With Wombat in New York and Cheapy in Tokyo, each co-host brings a different perspective on the industry to the converstation. With these two guys you’ll never be questioning whethr or not they’re being fully upfront about their opinions or beliefs.

Giant Bombcast – Probably the best podcast out there that acts as the “official” podcast of a gaming news and editorial outlet, Brad, Jeff, Ryan, and Vinny are a hilarious group of journalists that use their time behind the mic to delve deeper into the week’s bigger stories and to vent about what’s been bugging them. This podcast comes out on Tuesdays and is definitely one of the first you should check out if you want an idea of what gaming podcasts have to offer.

Under the Radar – Blake, Matthew, and Steve do a weekly show where they “focus on the games that  the other guys ignore.” This is an entertaining podcast full of well-informed and witty conversation. This is one of the shorter podcasts out there, so it should fit into anybody’s schedule. This is also a great podcast if you’re looking to get a chance to interact with the hosts via email or Twitter as they’re really responsive to feedback.

The Penny Arcade Podcast - From a pure comedy standpoint no other podcast in gaming measures up. This show is hilarious, but unfortunately they’re released very sporadically and it’s been quite some time since their last effort. Still, this is a show worth subscribing to so you can grab it when one does drop.

Co-Op - The spiritual successor to the amazing 1up Show, Co-Op is a weekly video podcast that runs about 30 minutes long, so it’s basically a full blown TV show that happens to be distributed for free over the Internet. This show integrates editorial, media, and humor through conversational pieces and skits that are well-written, clever, and interesting. Check these guys out at http://www.Area5.TV.

Other Podcasts Worth Listening To:

• The Geek Box
• IGN’s 3 Red Lights (Xbox Team)
• IGN’s Podcast Beyond (Sony Team)
• X-Play Daily Video Podcast

If you know of any other great shows out there, let me know about them.

There’s a newish podcast out there put on by Blake Leftwich of Salute Games, Matthew Taylor of The Robot Gamer, and Stephen Smith of Kombo.com and Video Game Collector. The show focuses on the guys discussing games that have slipped through through to release without getting much buzz or attention. As they do this, they often bring up other issues and discuss what they’ve been playing recently. This is one of my favorite gaming podcasts because these guys are exactly what you’d figure a hardcore gamer should be. No, they’re not Dew slammin’ loudmouths that run out and grab every first person shooter, Madden, and open world hyperviolent sandbox game. They’re real hardcore gamers that know gaming’s past, it’s current trends, and can properly identify positives and negatives of a game’s gameplay, artistic direction, and technical aspects.

Give the show a listen. The show can be found on iTunes or you can subscribe directly to the feed at www.salutegames.com/utr.xml. And for what it’s worth, The Stupid Gamer Podcast is coming back too, hopefully this week!

Yesterday Giant Bomb celebrated their first anniversary since the full site was launched. It’s pretty remarkable how much the guys over at Giant Bomb have built up their site in a year’s time. I remember when Brad, Vinny, and the rest of the guys were bailing on Gamespot to join Jeff’s Giant Bomb venture that the general opinion was that the network was bigger than the personalities and that their leaving would be a short-lived consequence. Well, Gamespot remains the larger media outlet as far as traffic goes, but Giant Bomb is steadily increasing over time as Gamespot has slowly but steadily declined. I know Alexa numbers are suspect, but it’s something to go off of at least. Check the chart below from a comparison I ran between the two sites.

I doubt that the Giant Bomb guys are too worried about competing with Gamespot, but it’s nice to see that good journalism is winning out over a brand name. If you haven’t been listening, I suggest you check out the Giant Bomb podcast. New episodes come out every Tuesday.

I’ll let the official Giant Bomb ad speak for the product…

Target has been taking preorders on games for a little while, but it’s not for every game, and it’s not widely known. Now, the company is starting up a new preorder program that is guaranteed to steal a few sales away from Gamestop. If you preoder the game with $1 down, Target will give you a $5 gift card to the store if you pick the game up within seven days of release. At Gamestop, you have to put $5 down, and then when you pick the game up they try to convince you to pay full price and to roll that $5 over to another preorder. If you say no, you then have to listen to every game that’s coming out in the next 16 years while they make sure that there’s not something that you want to preorder.

So the process seems pretty simple, and if you shop at Target anyway it’s just as convenient as going to Gamestop. Heck, Target even opens up earlier and closes later than Gamestop. It would be great if Target could somehow expand the system to include all games that they plan on carrying, as there is only a select list of titles right now that will be included in this promotion. My guess is that if this really takes off, we’ll see Target go after this much more aggressively. Either way, I know where I’m picking my Punch-Out!! from on release day.

Collector’s editions of games are all the rage now, it seems. People are dropping $10, $20, 0r even $30 extra dollars on specially packaged  versions of their games in order to get some bonus swag with their game. Many times these collector’s editions of games are exclusive to a particular retailer or, or only offered for a limited time, or are for pre-orders only. Well, right now on Amazon.com you can buy a couple of Punch-Out!! collectibles. The first, which comes in at a whopping $90, is a green boxing glove in a display case, which is “autographed” by Little Mac. The second is a Heavyweight Contender Kit, which contains a King Hippo mini crown, a desktop punching bag, some boxer shorts, and a Doc Louis chocolate bar. Neither kit comes with the game, but both are oozing with nerd bragging rights. Below are the links to the products on Amazon.

Punch-Out!! Amazon.com Exclusive Little Mac Boxing Glove

Punch-Out!! Amazon.com Exclusive Heavyweight Contender Kit

Ok, I have to admit that I think that the boxing glove is pretty dang cool, but I don’t see myself spending more than $15-$20 on something like that. The fact that it’s $90 and doesn’t come with the game kills it for me. I’m planning on putting a Punch-Out!! arcade machine in my home soon, and this would be the perfect decoration to go alongside it, but right now I just can’t justify the money. Hopefully these things will either come down in price at some point or that they’ll be available for less on the second hand market. All you die-hard Punch-Out!! fans, you found your dream swag if the price is right, however.

Today my wife (who is 8 months pregnant), my dog, and I headed up to Nampa, Idaho (about 15 minutes east of Boise) to pick up an APB arcade game from a fellow KLOV/BYOAC member, FrizzleFried. Boise is about a 5 hour drive from here, so we got started early. The little adventure wasn’t without its complications, as you’ll see by checking out the pictures and descriptions below, but it was 100% successful and we had a great time. We’re back home, very tired, but happy to have our new game. It’s still in the garage, but we’ll get it moved down into the game room early next week after I do a little bit of extra cleaning on the machine (it’s already pretty darn clean). I usually don’t like splitting posts with a jump, but since this one is a little lengthy I’m going to do so in order to save the front page from being abnormally long.

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