The Stupid Gamer

Modern Warfare 2 has sold enough copies to line the coffers of Activision for quite some time, so how does Activision show their appreciation to Infinity Ward, the developer of the game? They do it by firing Jason West, head of the studio. Not only that, security guards were sent over to the Infinity Ward studio without explanation of what was going on. It’s unclear if other people were sent packing, but it’s obvious that Activision’s top executives are drunk on pride and power. If this sort of thing eventually leads to a split between the studio and the publisher, I think it would be for the best. More than likely, however, it’s going to just be a rough few weeks for Infinity Ward before everybody starts falling back in line. With the economy as it is, it’s not the best time to rock the boat.

Marionettes look more natural than these guys.

In response to the release of the DSi, Sony’s PR wonder (or is that blunder?) team sent out releases to a variety of gaming outlets that attempted to sway journalists to see the DSi in a particular light. Here is how the release reads:

If Nintendo is really committed to reaching a broader, more diverse audience of gamers beyond the “kids” market that they’ve always engaged, there isn’t much new with the DSi to support that. Significant gamer demographic groups are being ignored, and there continues to be limited opportunities for games from external publishers to do well on the DSi. Compare that with the PSP platform, where we have many blockbuster franchises from our publishing partners launching this year, representing a wide variety of genres and targeting diverse demographics. Games such as Rock Band Unplugged from MTV Games, Assassin’s Creed from Ubisoft, Dissidia Final Fantasy from Square Enix, and Hannah Montana from Disney demonstrate the commitment that publishers have to the PSP. From our own first-party studios, we’re launching unique versions of LittleBigPlanet and MotorStorm, and we’re also planning a steady stream of downloadable games — both new titles and PSone classics — to add to the content that PSP owners can already purchase wirelessly through PlayStation Store.

There’s a lot of things wrong with what Sony has said there, but the act itself is more concerning than the actual message. Why send this out to journalists? Is it going to be received in any other manner than just outright mockery? Is anybody actually going to create their own stories supporting this sort of nonsense? Well, if you’re not a Sony dedicated fan site, then the answer is no. The DS is by far recognized as much more of a hardcore platform than the PSP, and that’s not something that Sony can change with a silly little press release. To their dismay, it’s also known as a far better platform for mainstream releases. It’s a shame, because I really try and like my PSP, but honestly I pull it out and play it once every 6 months for maybe an hour or two. There are good games on the PSP, but they are buried under generic and watered down console ports or remakes. The PSP has no unique flavor to its library, and until it gets one, software sales are going to continue to be terrible.

I think it’s time that Sony makes an appointment with a shrink or two, they’ve clearly got a severe inferiority complex that they’re dealing with right now. I guess this can happen when for the first time ever you find yourself behind in all aspects of the gaming hardware and software wars.

So you know that link I posted to that Tetris game? Well, I decided to see how long it would take for the game to end if you started it and then never touched a key. Yep, I left my laptop on continually during the weekend, and it took 33 hours, 3 minutes, and 18 seconds. Below is a screenshot of the final result. Click on the image to enlarge.

Disclaimer: The following rant is purely the opinion of me (Brad Mosbacher) and is not reflective in any way of the opinions of Jeff Rivera, anyone else affiliated with Stupid Gamer, or the millions of SFIV fans that will maul me when they find out I posted this little rant. Now it’s time for me to rage.

This story starts out fairly innocently. I was at Target yesterday, to purchase some necessities that were long overdue for me (clothes, pillow, new shoes and the like) , so i decide while I was there that I would go ahead and purchase Star Ocean: The Last Hope for 360. But those hopes were dashed on some rather sharp rocks when they didn’t even have a slot open on their shelf for the game. So I wander about the store for a while more, picking up various items and  just looking around before coming back to look at games again. This time I notice they have Street Fighter IV in stock and I decide on a whim that I was going to buy the game, even though I know next to nothing about it, aside from what was told to me by word of mouth. I end up purchasing the game and then I check out and leave. Fast Forward to 11:30 PM: I pop the game into the 360 and install it to the hard drive, then fire it up, not knowing what to expect. I enter the game, go into options and set the difficulty to easy, then I enter arcade mode. I pick the character I want to play as, which was Ryu, and start a match, then the game does something unexpected. It comes right at me like a seasoned  pro gamer and completely annhilates me, again and again. So I pick a new character, Chun Li this time. I manage to win a couple times and was starting to feel pretty darn good about myself when it happens again. The AI goes into kill mode and wipes its electronic ass with me. Needless to say I am absolutely and totally pissed off right now, simply because of the cheapness and overpowering nature of the game’s AI, even on the easiest difficulty.  As it is now, it is absolutely impossible for me to learn how to play this game even if I wanted to (yes I know there is a training mode, but I dont like those modes). Long story short I think I made the biggest mistake of my life buying Street Fighter IV and I will probably never bother with the series again.

Well, we recorded a show, and it was actually pretty good, but it looks like technical issues are going to kill this one. Upon started the post production, I found that there were some recording issues that couldn’t be resolved in the post process. Should I ever get this to sound at least presentable, I may release it as a sort of lost episode. For now, you’ll just have to wait until later this week when we record again.

Sorry, everybody…

Yeah, that’s a direct quote. In a recent article where Forbes did a profile on Bobby Kotick, the big boss of Activision, they take a random shot at EA/MTV Games/Harmonix in an attempt to continue their pumping up of Bobby. Here’s the direct quote:

EA also teamed with MTV to sell Rock Band, a shameless knockoff of Guitar Hero that added drums, bass and a microphone to the world of make-believe rock stars.

Now, we’ve had issues with Forbes in the past where they’ve either tired to capitalize on a hot topic in gaming or to stir up controversy for hits, but this one just smacks of ignornace. First of all, Harmonix created Guitar Hero, so it would be hard for them to “knockoff” their own creation. Secondly, Rock Band took a concept that was growing stagnant and evolved it into something much bigger and much more exciting. If anything, Guitar Hero: World Tour is a “shameless knockoff” of Rock Band, but we’re not about to go there right now. Oh, and for the record Forbes, Activision isn’t the most successful publisher in videogames today, that title belongs to Nintendo. Fact checking, folks.

Link to the original story (quote on page 3): http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/0202/052.html 

STOP COVERING VIDEO GAMES, YOU LOOK STUPID!

Ahem.

So each year publications like Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, and all the other “mainstream” news companies try to put together top ten lists or best of awards for video games. Occasionally they get a few games right on their lists, but they usually just show why they need to stick to politics or the environment. Here’s what Time put out as their top ten list.

1. Grand Theft Auto IV (360, PS3, PC)
2. Braid (360)
3. LittleBigPlanet (PS3)
4. Rock Band 2 (360, PS3)
5. Gears of War 2 (360)
6. Dead Space (360, PS3, PC)
7. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Wii, 360, PS3, DS, PSP)
8. Hunted Forever (free Flash)
9. Fieldrunners (iPhone)
10. Spore (PC)

This is just stupid. No, it’s not just a matter of dissenting opinion, it’s a matter of stupidity. How do you leave games like Fallout 3, Metal Gear Solid 4, Left 4 Dead, Burnout Paradise, Ninja Gaiden II, Fable II, Mario Kart Wii, and Super Smash Bros Brawl when you’ve got garbage like The Force Unleashed, Hunted Forever (not that great, try it), Fieldrunners (don’t bother), and Grand Theft Auto IV (formulaic garbage) on there? I know that would make for a bigger list than ten, but I’m just offering up some possible and more worthy replacements. Last year Time put Halo 3 at number one, another title definitely not deserving of the top spot.

We go through this every year, mainstream media, stop putting out your top game lists.

Link to the atrocity: http://www.time.com/time/specials/2008/top10/article/0,30583,1855948_1863763_1863769,00.html

Edit: More proof of their general idiocy…here are their top ten movies (Speed Racer is in, The Dark Knight isn’t. lol wut)

Now, Cracked.com isn’t known for its journalistic integrity, but when you’re going to make a list, submit it to Digg, and then sit back and smugly admire your wares, you should at least make an attempt to be accurate. Cracked posted their list of “The 6 Most Retarded Gaming Consoles Ever Released”, and it included such undeserving nominees as the Fairchild, the Vectrex, the Odyssey, and the TG-16. I might agree with the inclusion of the Nomad and the Epoch, but they’re still a push to get in there.

Now sure, this is probably just an article that’s 50% traffic bait, so they have to be a little controversial, but how do such stinkers like the CD-i, 3DO, 32X, or the Pippin manage to keep themselves off the list? It’s downright shameful of them to put out some of the consoles they did on that list.

Hey Cracked, go back to making fun of Hollywood. You’re just a poor man’s Mad Magazine anyway.

Ok, this is getting ridiculous. I love Epic games as much as anybody else, but it seems that a lot of sketchy comments leak out from those guys. In a recent interview with Game Informer, head of Epic, Mike Capps discussed the need to “make strides against the secondhand market.” Now, I understand where Mike is coming from, but only to a small degree. Here are a few more of his quotes, and then I’ll give my two cents on the matter.

I think DLC will be increasing in scope just because in the US we really need to make strides against the second-hand market[...]

The secondary market is a huge issue in the United States. Our primary retailer makes the majority of its money off of secondary sales, and so you’re starting to see games taking proactive steps toward that by… if you buy the retail version you get the unlock code[...]

I’ve talked to some developers who are saying ‘If you want to fight the final boss you go online and pay USD 20, but if you bought the retail version you got it for free’. We don’t make any money when someone rents it, and we don’t make any money when someone buys it used – way more than twice as many people played Gears than bought it.

Ok, I really do get why developers dislike the secondhand market. No, they don’t get a penny when Gamestop sells you a used copy of Gears of War 2 a week from now for $55.00, but when someone traded in that game, they probably put their money toward a new game purchase anyway. The used game market is giving lots of gamers extra cash to spend on new games. I know plenty of people, myself included, that need to sell off older games on Amazon, eBay, or in a Gamestop to be able to pick up new titles. If you take away the secondhand market, you probably pull millions of dollars out of the buying pool. It’s a simple concept. What do you do when you want a new car? You sell your old one. Need a new home? Well, you better sell the old one, huh? With luxury items you can’t cut off a funding stream or else the industry will bottleneck.

Sorry Epic, you’re living in a free market and you’re doing JUST FINE. Nobody feels sorry for you, and nobody should.