The Stupid Gamer » Stupid

Yep, PC gaming is still pretty awful

Jeff Rivera — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 07:07:14 +0000

Man, what a letdown today has been in regards to gaming. StarCraft 2 showed up in all of it’s collector’s edition glory today and I couldn’t have possibly been more excited to play. As it turns out, this game is still a PC game. Right from the get go I had issues. While installing the game I got an error at 94%, and I had to restart the installation process. After getting the game installed, I was informed that I needed to update my video card drivers to avoid less than perfect performance. I download the drivers, install them, restart my computer, and fire up the game once more. I decide to start a new campaign. As soon as that new campaign is nearly loaded, the game crashes and I’m asked to submit a bug report to Blizzard. After doing that I go and finally get into the single player campaign and play the first mission. I check my options, and the game recommends I run everything at Ultra settings (so it’s DEFINITELY not an issue of my computer being underpowered). After finishing the mission I click continue to move onto the second, when the game crashes again and once more I’m filling out a bug repair to send to Blizzard. Lovely. After that I try to restart the game, and I’m told that my installation is corrupt and that I need to run the repair utility.

Awesome.

I saw more of the image below and the install screen than I did anything else on day 1. PC gamers love to talk about the superiority of the platform, but holy jeez I won’t ever fault anybody who refuses to play on anything but a console when there are issues all over the place. It’s not like Blizzard didn’t have the last decade to get this thing right…

So yeah, PC gaming is a terrible thing. It’s too bad, because there’s a lot of awesome stuff on the PC, but once you venture beyond the friendly confines of Steam, it gets real sketchy real fast.

But I thought sales were strong…

Jeff Rivera — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 20:56:04 +0000

Activision’s new Modern Warfare 2 ad is here, and aside from giggling 13 yr. old boys, I don’t think it’s going to be much of a hit. So typically people resort to lowbrow comedy when they need a cheap sale…but I thought sales were strong for MW2 still. Either way, here’s the ad.

Pretty lame.

Activision is obviously run by idiots

Jeff Rivera — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 06:36:19 +0000

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.

Possibly the worst animation I’ve ever seen in 3D gaming

Jeff Rivera — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:01:33 +0000

Marionettes look more natural than these guys.

Hey Sony, your insecurity is showing…

Jeff Rivera — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 20:08:31 +0000

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.

Thirty one hours thirty three minutes and eighteen seconds

Jeff Rivera — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 03:59:36 +0000

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.

Street Fighter IV ticks me off!

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 05:35:27 +0000

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.

The Stupid Gamer Podcast #32 – I hate Skype

Jeff Rivera — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 01:43:14 +0000

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…

Forbes: Rock Band is a shameless knockoff

Jeff Rivera — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 17:54:19 +0000

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

Mainstream media (Time) still hasn’t figured it out

Jeff Rivera — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 16:27:27 +0000

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)

1. WALL-E
2. Synecdoche, New York
3. My Winnipeg
4. 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days
5. Milk
6. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
7. Slumdog Millionaire
8. Iron Man
9. Speed Racer
10. Encounters at the End of the World.