Merry Christmas

Not really but it’s only four months away. I’ve been knee deep in Killer7 on my Gamecube. Let me just say now, I don’t know what these game reviewers are thinking. This game rocks. It is easily one of the most unique and engaging games I’ve ever played. The controls are spot on and the story has me hooked. I know some of the beefs have been with the, “on-rails” parts and how to approach the game. Once you play it you can better appreciate it. With all these cookie-cutter rehashes and sequels flooding our consoles a game like Killer7 should have made it out but be thankful that it did. Just go rent, buy or borrow it.

The Injustice of EGM's Reviews

EGM’s review of Nanostray on the Nintendo DS is way off base. This game, which I haven’t bought yet but plan on after vacation, got average scores which I could deal with if these same standards were in place for other titles. For example the biggest gripe the EGM reviewers had with Nanostray was that it is just too generic and too short of an experience. Yet a rehash of last year’s football game is Game of the Month material. Granted there is little to no love given by reviewers for “Old” games like vertical shooters, but that is a topic for another post. I am just sick and tired of reading reviews that conflict with each other. How can one game’s fatal flaw exist in other titles but merely be an annoyance? Why are long games rated higher than short ones? Who determines how long a game is? Is that the reviewer who plays games eight hours a day, five days a week or is it the gamer that plays for 30 minutes every other day before bed or after coming home from work? Trust me I can make a 10 hour game last a month or more. I can’t help but notice that EA, the publishers of Madden, had much more full page ads in that issue of EGM than dose Majesco, the publishers of Nanostray. How many times have we heard the mantra that the ad and editorial departments do not influence each other? So EGM will stick by its review score but there are higher scores for Nanostray out there like this one from Craig Harris over at IGN DS. http://ds.ign.com/articles/634/634956p1.html

Get Gaming Out of the Ghetto

I am so sick of these urban themed games. I just saw a preview of 50 Cent's game and I want to puke. Here's a hint for all you publishers, when you get the balls to do a welfare check cashing, fried chicken eating game then call me. Until then you can keep all your gritty city themes and rappers and hip hop and shove it. I'm not buying. There have been so many positive contributions to our culture from African Americans that by ignoring them make these themes and games even more offensive. Now I am not one for censorship and I know all about artistic freedom, but I also recognize exploitation. That's what these games do, because when you think about it, no one chooses to live in the ghetto.

Opening Salvo

This is my first post in what I hope will be a long string of posts. I am a disenfranchised gamer. what does that mean? Basically I am sick of games that I like getting dissed by the press. Do all games have to come from mega studios with multi-million dollar budgets? Should all games be epic in scope and offer cinematic experiences? I hope not. What ever happened to fun? It seems to me that so many game reviewers have forgotten that video games used to be fun. True when all we had were 4 bit graphics and beeps and bleeps for sound all we had was fun. Now it's like the fun takes a back seat to graphics and story and everyhting else the press tells us must be in a game. Don't even get me started on Online. Been there done that. I just hope that I am not the only one.