Political_Gamer

Thoughts on Dollhouse

2009-03-02T10:42:00.001-08:00

Most Joss Whedon fans have come down pretty hard on his new series. And understandably so. Much of what made his previous series, Buffy and Firefly, so great was the witty dialog and the amount of attention given to the characters. Dollhouse, in comparison, doesn't have that, and seems to have a similar production style to Terminator and Fringe.

Unlike most Whedonites, I won't say this is a bad series.

One thing that helped me enjoy the first three episodes has been that I did expect something different. Expectations can mean everything, and I think many (but hopefully not all, or even most) Whedonites expected more of the wit and character than this series has offered.

My actual thoughts:

The good: The actual plot. The idea that Dollhouse puts forth, that the main character can be reprogrammed to be anyone, memories and all, has some legs and depth to it. The pilot put down rules and perameters that normally wouldn't be set until seasons later. The first episode used it rather well for that main storyline.

The bad: Yeah, that FBI guy plot doesn't work at all. It's set down as a long running storyline, but we've gone nowhere fast, and even breaks rules of storytelling. First, he basicly knows everything about The Dollhouse before the series even starts. How? We don't know. All we know is that he can't prove it, for some strange reason.
More over, at the beginning of the second episode, he comes onto a crime scene, fully knowing what happened. Again, we don't know how he knows. Actually, his "deductions" just make it so then he appears where he needs to be, not how he actually got there. This is one story that needs to be ditched, or severely retrofitted.

Needs work: The compelete lack of a point or theme. Now, the third episode showed that it was possible, and hopefully it's moving towards that direction. However, that story only applied to Echo, not her handler, not the corporation itself, and certainly not the FBI agent. And the other story arch, revolving around the mysterious Alpha, has barely been tapped; with only background given.

So, do these make Dollhouse a bad series. Not really, especially when comparing to how Fringe starts. If anything, Fringe and Terminator showed that even with a bad start, things can get good and make it worth watching. Hopefully Joss Whedon can fix all the problems sooner.

Bush's Presidency: What Went Wrong

2009-01-17T17:48:00.000-08:00

Without a doubt, Bush has gone through a cluster-frack of controversies throughout his presidency. From torture, to political firings, to Iraq, and an overall lack of oversight. Of course, it has been this lack of real oversight that has been the core problem. If enough had been there, all the controversies would have more appropriate consequences to them, rather then the apparent promotion that went on.

Some have been calling for Obama to investigate, and possible prosecute, members of the Bush Administration over those controversies. I would hope that this would create rules within the government to stop all this from happening again. But I see a blantant flaw in that: many of those rules existed before Bush came into office; he just ignored them.

It would be nice to say it's the politicians fault; that having a Republican president along with a Republican congress hindered oversight. The problem: the Democrats didn't do much either. The "I" word (impeachment) was never used, because of the political overtones it gained when Clinton was impeached.

So, I've come to one conclusion: the fault lies in all our hands.

After 9/11, we gave our trust to this president to do the right thing. Not just a little, or most, all our trust.

Because of the high aproval Bush had after 9/11, the news media didn't look, didn't question what was happening behind the scenes. And we didn't ask them to either.

There was a reason that freedom of speach was part of the First Amendment. That desent should be part of the political discussion. Without desent, government is far more prone to mistakes; and not minor ones.

The reality is that the problem with the Bush Presidency lies in our society rather than politics. By having a us vs. them mentality (as we most definately had these past four years), solutions are never found. Conversly, solutions aren't found when we are one either. We need many voices in the debate, all without any hate, anger or desperateness to it.

So, as much as I would like to hand my trust over to the Obama Administration to solve many of the grave problems before all of us, I won't hand it all. It is my hope that the news media, and we all, continue to question, continue to ask: Is this the best course for our United States?

Being in an excessively large WoW guild

2009-01-12T14:15:00.000-08:00

I am part of alea iacta est on Earthen Ring (aka, the guild from The Instance). For the past year and a half, this was my guild of choice, going into no other. Thus far, I've submitted four toons to the guild, (all current) a level 77 druid, 72 mage, 62 death knight, and a 25 paladin (which turned into my bank alt).

AIE right now has more then 4000 characters. To get a perspective, that's larger then all of the Penny Arcade Alliance guilds put together. Heck, the amount of characters at my druid's level all could run an old world instance.

So what is it like? First, this is a casual guild. We all talk casually,making jokes, cheering about acomplishments (not nessisarily Achievements) and progress however we can in whatever area we want.

Because we're a large guild, that green text is ever crawling. It almost never stops, people are on all the time. It got so big, we had to build two seperate channels for people looking for a group or an officer.

The forums turned into one of the most important organizational tools, probably more so than in other guilds. Because we're so large, to build any pve or pvp raiding groups requires everyone be on the same page. Heck, we organize events like the Running of the Beef and crafting fairs through the forums. In part because those events can be larger than a raid will allow.

I think because our guild is more casual means our progression is not too quick. The groups vary in how quickly they progress, although I don't think any of our groups was running Black Temple or Mt. Hyjal regularly before 3.0.

The thing was, our guild was a kind of mini-realm. There was all sorts of people in it, some very good players while others didn't compete at all. Some people could be seen playing almost all the time, others (like me) play every so often. We've had people who needed to take a break (or like Leo Laporte, needed to quit) for one reason or another, but most have been able to balance WoW with the other aspects of their lives.

And heck, we got great officers who make sure no drama of any kind pops up. We have no hate in the guild. Except for the Alliance. Especially gnomes. We all could punt gnomes all day and never get tired.

If there's one problem with the guild of our size, it really is like being on a realm without a guild at times. Notably, when looking for tanks and especially healers. 5-man guild runs are often a friendlier form of PUG.

I can also imagine people not liking a large guild. It becomes a bit tough to really get to know other members when there's 100+ others on at the same time. If you consistantly run with people, that's one thing. But the use of the addon Identity is almost required, since people often have two or more characters in the guild, especially the officers.

But I have been enjoying the experience. Heck, I don't think I would still be playing WoW if it wasn't for this guild.

How the News is Supposed to Work

2009-01-12T10:03:00.000-08:00

Last night's Cold Case had a storyline that took place in a broadcast newsroom in the early 80's, about when the news was getting to be profitable, not just a service for television stations. While I highly doubt the problems shown were that severe, even back then, it still plays off of misconceptions about the news (sometimes real, but often not).

So I felt that it would be important to let people know just how advertising and the actual newsroom interact, or not.

(Blogger's note: I may not have worked professionally in a newsroom, but I have worked in a few, and have experienced a few possible controversies based on the subject of PR vs. News).

To start out with, there are two sections for news organizations, basically of any kind: the newsroom and advertising. As long as the news is completely or partially reliant on advertising, those two sections will exist.

However, for all intents and purposes, those two don't interact all that often. Before any page layout or broadcast is done, the advertising section takes out what it needs (ideally without showing the ads, but due to time constraints this may not be done), then the news people take what is left for the actual news.

For a mass market, this isn't bad deal. If a story or another forces an advertiser out, another can come up or they may just eat the small loss.

The problem mostly happens in a niche market, like video games or technology journalism. There are fewer advertisers, which are often in the same subject as the news organization (which makes sense, because if gamers are watching, you'd want to sell games there). If an advertiser threatens to stop advertising, the loss is much greater. This is one of the major reasons that Gertsmann-gate happened, and why some other game journalists say they get plenty of pressure from the advertising department to fudge reviews.

I've experienced personally one other possible problem with PR vs news: when a press release becomes a news story.

And there are times that without any doubt a story that originated from a press release is news worthy. And because of this, reporters of any type are often get press releases shoved into their face, hoping that it would become a story (or as the PR side would see it, free advertising).

A reporter has to filter those press releases, and figure out what is news worthy. And more over, figure out an angle to that story that isn't a) biased for the company and b) is actually giving information that the audience wants. There are times that this can be hard, and reporters do make mistakes (or worse, just post the stupid press release in whole, IGN).

I do believe that most, if not all, reporters at least try to keep some objectivity in their news. If there's one thing that people should know, is that journalists are aware of possible problems and try to avoid them.

The Days Without Print Media

2009-01-07T14:27:00.000-08:00

Being someone on the receiving end of the print journalism (which now officially includes gaming magazines, not just newspapers), I've been thinking of just how this would affect the political environment.

The problem lies in the formatting of print and newspapers that doesn't exist in other media. Print allows longer articles, with as much detail as space allows. Online, in theory, has the same format, but in reality people don't sit and read as much. Too often, links are given for more information, which enhances the already short-attention readers have. Television and radio: both very short and reliant on pictures and on focusing on one major element of a story.

I think the most detailed analysis of politics will go to the online space. And moreover, where stories will be made and broken. Television, especially when you go into larger and larger markets, relies on taking stories broken from newspapers, and doing their own research on it. So, with online being instant, rather than waiting until the next morning for the newspaper, how can that be bad?

Two things:
1) The need to get the stories out is already, in my opinion, too fast. By breaking a news story, they may the initial ratings for it, but also won't do as much due diligence for the accuracy and detail the story needs.

2) There may not be as many stories broken by professional reporters, who have the skills to do the research (at least in general) and influence to have those in power actually answer any needed questions.

In politics, having online be the primary source of news means more people will try to take control of a story, rather than find the reality in it.

If you think the New York Times and Washington Post are biased, they have nothing on what online blogs have (and online blogs are now just as much part of the journalism space as news organizations). You have already seen what kind of poo is being thrown by both the left and the right on the Internets, think of what would happen without any kind of moderator. Even if the way each news organization's objectivity may be flawed in some way (usually not in a politically biased manner), at least they try to be objective.

Newspapers have been the best source of professional reporters, who are objective and look for as much detail in the stories as possible. While things may change for online and print, it's my hope that someplace will exist that those reporters can exist and do their jobs right, especially in the realm of politics.

On Review Scores for Games

2008-12-07T11:47:00.000-08:00

Adam Sessler sent out a recent rant about scores, and that he doesn't like to include them. Which got me thinking: what's the purpose of those scores.

Now, there's the obvious, and can easily be translated to be problematic, answer: they are the shortest and clearest means of conveying how much one likes a game.

Sessler and many others don't like their reviews being bogged down to just a number. That number doesn't give the full story, and can be misleading under some systems.

But the more I thought about it, the more I think scores are important. One reason is the format in which we get our reviews.

X-Play is in one of the few formats where if someone wants a review, they are there to listen to everything. Television is where someone sits down, and watches what is in front of them. Even with video on the internet, they watch the entire video. However, the video HAS to be short online; no one is going to sit through half-hour reviews of even AAA titles.

Which gets to my point: most reviews for games are internet based. And when people surf the internet, they don't' often read entire articles. At best, they skim longer articles. And being most reviews do take up several pages, they only read so much before just skipping to the number.

The attention span of people while surfing is much shorter than if they read a paper for a movie review. While both formats get a very short time for the reader to decide if he/she will read the whole thing, with a paper the reader WILL read the entire review. The same is not true of the Internet, in which people will stop reading and go look at something else.

Scores are especially important for games because of time and money commitment. Think about it: with movies, you have around 2 hours committed toward watching the movie, and max of $20 to buy a DVD. Video games: 30 minutes per session (possibly more, not many have shorter to progress), and many more hours total, and $30-60 to buy it, depending on the system.

So, people need to know more which games are worth getting over others than other media. You can watch quite a few movies in the time span to play even the shortest of games. The time/price value may be better for games, but both are much higher. And people need prioritization.

If there is one problem with scores that I can't disagree with, it is sites like Gamerankings and Metacritic trying to combine all the scores. The reason is that most major web sites have different scales for the review scores. X-Play has a 5-star review (with 3-star being average), while IGN has 100-point (with 70 average), and 1 Up having letter grades (C average). Numrically translating those into one universal score often misses how much that review likes that game.

If anything, I'd like to see a site like Rotten Tomatoes, which only asks one question for each reviewer: did they like the product or not. It still isn't perfect (like it doesn't ask about prioritization), but on average it has a better numrical translation.

So as much as many of game journalists like Sessler do not like review scores, they're there for a reason and I don't see them going away anytime soon.

Gaming's Problem with Narrative

2008-11-14T18:23:00.000-08:00

One thing you probably have noticed through this political season was the heavy use of narrative to define the candidates. Obama especially emphasized "change" (using quotes as a point of narrative, not as a commentary on it) to put himself into a certain light.

So, one problem that the ESA has to tackle is the narratives that are surrounding video games to non-gamers. And there are several.

1) "Games are for kids." Probably came around during the classic area of games, the Atari and Nintendo (NES) era. Games at this time was marketed to kids, although there were attempts to break out of that mold. Nintendo, as part of their quality control, had limits on what content couldn't be in games, like blood or use of religous symbols.

2) "Games are violent." Mortal Kombat and Grand Theft Auto are to blame for this.

3) "Games can be addictive, keeping the player in front of the screen at all times" This is a confusion of both perception and confusion over the term. For the term, gamers use it the same as "can't put a good book down." As for the perception problem, I think many parents would see that games put in as a regular activity, something akin to how sometimes a kid would "watch too much television."

As you can guess, problems arise when those narratives aren't just put in seperately, but in combinations. Rule 1 and 2 put together is often something that has been accused by video game critics.

So, how can the industry, or gamers themselves, break the narrative. Well, I would like to say factchecking journalism helps, but can just as often hurt. One problem that journalists can have is that they often compare percieved narratives of topics at hand (like the ones above).
Just repeating a narrative doesn't nessisarily mean it reenforces it. But if a journalist doesn't emerse him/herself into the community properly, they can misinterpret that their subjects into being an exception to the narrative, rather than the actual norm.

One thing I do think helps is the Penny Arcade Expo. There, you get a variety of people, all in a community setting having fun.
Even something like The Guild can help. Although it exploits some of the more negative narratives about MMO's (mostly for humorous effect), the actual themes of the series go to the heart of why we love those games, and why we are gamers.

It will be a very high hurdle. It took comic books decades to be accepted as an adult medium. However, even today, comics aren't considered a "serious" medium like books, movies or even art. Time isn't the answer. Having the gaming community branch outward, like what the Wii is doing, does help, but can be done wrong and might not reach everyone still.
The only real answer I see is to have some game that captures the non-gamer market in a way that they see it as a true means of expression and not a toy.

A Geek's Way of Celebrating Veteran's Day

2008-11-11T15:40:00.000-08:00

Seeing plenty of Twitter posts on Veteran's Day put a thought into my head: what media (shows, movies, videogames, ect.) is most appropriate for this day.

On the gaming end, it's easy just to point to the WWII shooters. Call of Duty seems to be the pinnacle of those games, taking the player directly into the environment of combat. Most of the time, WWII shooters try to mix patriotic feelings with horrors that are inherent with war. Some go one end, some go the other way.

But the game that comes to mind for me on this day is Half Life 2. Specifically, late in the game there is a chapter in which you, as Gordan Freeman, is part of a rebellion against the Combine. In that rebellion, you know what costs you have to endure, and why you and everyone else is fighting. The only critique of the game as a whole is that chapter was the best, and probably should have ended there.

Then with movies, there's of course the Private Ryans and such. But here, I think Serenity has a note in it that's appropriate. Again, rebellion is key, as rebellion fights for a truly better world. If you haven't yet seen Serenity yet, stop reading right now, and you'll see why I mention it here.

A series I would have down is Battlestar Galactica. The entire series is based around what happens in times of war, and more over the price people have to pay during that time. BSG: Razor especially asks what a person on a individual level have to become in a time of war.

Anime has plenty of series that has war and fighting as a major topic. Pretty much anything Gundam has war in mind, often to a negative tone. The fist series I saw, the spinoff Gundam Wing, tries to ask why war happens, why people fight, and how to stop that.

But the one series that I say is best for this day: Gurren Laggan. It just aired on SciFi, and is one of the best anime series out there. It might be consider spoilers, but much of the series deals with what they call "fighting spirit." While Gundam and such had a different opinion on why nations fight, this series shows why veterans volenteered to fight. Again, if you haven't seen this, go do it now.

So, for anyone reading this: what's your show, movie, game or otherwise for this Veteran's Day?

Aftermath of this Election

2008-11-05T09:34:00.000-08:00

Barack Obama will be President come January.
I'll skip the "history made" and such that has been discussed ad-nauseam on the networks.
Instead, the first thing that you'll see with this is the lame duck session that will be comming shortly. This would have been a strange session either way, since we would see a sitting senator become President. With Obama now the official President-elect, we will have to see how he'll act while he is still a senator, even during a lame duck session.

And as I suspected, the Democrats did not get the 60-seat requirement for a filibuster proof senate. I know one discussion on CNN was that the Republicans, reeling from the defeats of the the '06 and '08 elections, would not use the filibuster that often to avoid looking partisan. The problem I see with that: they now have less power than they had in the past two years. They NEED the filibuster to have any relavency in politics. Even if the Democrats try to reach across the isle, it may be tough due to the Republicans having no clear leader.

One last thing to watch in the comming days in the senate races: the Minnisota Race between incumbant Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken. As of this post, they are in a near dead tie, with recounts to ensure.

While the legislative and executive branches have been getting attention from this election, some ballot measure are sure to give the judicial branch some election aftermath love.
Arizona, Arkansas, California and Florida took up the matter on gay rights. Arkansas is the different of the other three because this ballot measure banned adopting to gay couples. The other three called for a ban on gay marriage. With all these measures looking to be passed, expect this to be a major issue for the courts.
On the other hand, it looks like voters widely rejected a probably court battle as Colorado rejected an outright ban, and South Dakota rejected a measure that would have limited late-term abortions. Even a measure in California, on parental notification, was rejected.

So if you're tired of politics, you'll just have to ignore it. Politics will be continuing in the comming weeks, months, and years.

EDIT: corrected some mis-interpreted results. I really don't like the format that CNN put out, which showed the "winner" first, which confuses me when the No's win, as it appears first.

Used Games in the Gaming Industry

2008-10-31T11:17:00.000-07:00

Outright piracy is one thing. People taking something that isn't there's is indefensible on most any measure.

But then, there's this "problem." Yes, another publisher complaining that used games is somehow losing the video game industry money.

I see several problems with this view: one of them being that THEY HAVE ALREADY GOT THEIR MONEY. Every used copy was once sold as new. The publisher got their cut from that. If someone for some reason decided to give that game away, to a Gamestop or to a friend, it doesn't mean that they lost a sale.

Which brings up the line of thinking: that games are selling to customers. It seems to me that they are thinking that they are the brick & mortar store; that a customer lost is a sale lost.
But this isn't true, because publishers are selling copies of the game.

It does not help their case that for AAA titles, common sales figures are around the same to that of summer movies. This doesn't including used titles, these are brand new, shrink wrapped copies. Of console games, which means that the DRM factor of PC games don't count in the used vs new issue.

Now, I don't tend to buy used games. That's because most of the time, it's just a $5 discount, not worth the potential risk of damage and probable loss of manuals and game covers (yes, that is actually of importance for me). But with things like discontinued games, I'll easily look toward the used bin. And I would rather have that option for those people who would like the discount, as well as the discount that comes with selling the games they don't play.

The reality I see is if the used market just went out of business next week, it wouldn't help the industry. Those people who buy used would then just wait for the game to go into the bargain bin. Which means that rather than having the game being sold at the full price, and thus fueling the used game stores with copies, they'd risk losing profit.

So message to the video game industry: double check your goals. It isn't to sell to customers; that's the stores. Your goal is to sell copies. And that is exactly what is happening at Gamestop.

One Week Left of the Election Season

2008-10-28T11:19:00.000-07:00

Or this post could also be titled: Florida, please don't frack this up again by making this process longer.

So, it has been well over a year, proabably darned close to two years, this election process has been going on. We've seen the unexpected happen (McCain winning the Republican nomination), the very unexpected (Palin gets VP nomination), the unnecessarily lengthy fight (Clinton and Obama fight almost to the end for the Democratic nomination), and of course claims made that are darned near false (um....just go to Factcheck.org, everyone involved has done this).

Things really got interesting around March, about when people were expecting both Republican and Democratic candidates to rise out and begin the 1-on-1 match for president. It turn out for both parties to cause problems.

The Republicans was interesting since most of the hardcore wanted the Romneys, the Huckabees, the Thompsons...but McCain came out on top. Many of the hardcore disliked the relative moderate to be nominated, not after having their way for the past eight years (for the most part).
McCain got out of it by nominiating a known figure, but a young, up and comming lady from Alaska. In having a self-proclaimed conservative, and one that didn't appear to conflict with him, appeared to be the right move at the time.

On the Democratic side, Obama and Clinton duked it out. For a long time. Excessively long as some argued. At first, the two appeared to be tied. But as time went by, Obama overtook the relative political veteran in every measure.
The problem was that for a long time, it seemed that many Obama supporters and Clinton supporters wouldn't vote for their competator in the general election. However, it seemed that after the Democratic Convention, that hasn't been an issue, or much of one.

It has been made much less of an issue since Obama has gained such a huge lead in the polls. As much as the McCain people have been finger-pointing over the problems in the campaign, it was the economy that really swung in Obama's favor.
The specific turning point was when Bush called for a $700 Billion "rescue plan" (bailout) of top loan companies and banks since they were all on the verge of colapse. Before then, the economy was arguable on whether it was up or down (or at least argueable in a political sense, which most anything is arguable in). While most everyone is responsible for that mess, it seems that Republicans are getting the majority blame for it.

So, want my predictions for the outcome? If not, you're getting it anyway.
1) Obama will lead in the overall vote by a small margin, but will have quite a bit of a lead in the electoral college.
2) There will be calls of voter fraud, election fraud, ect. by Republicans. This is mostly based of the pattern of the last few elections having similar accusations, mostly by the loser of said election.
3) While the Democrats will get more seats in both houses, I doubt they will get the 60 needed to be filibuster proof in the Senate. So while Republicans QQ, they still hold some check and will probably use it often (as they have the past few years).

I'll be back in a week to see if I'm right (and I'm playing it safe on these predictions).

Being Political in Gaming

2008-10-17T10:56:00.000-07:00

One problem that the video games industry has in being accepted as a mature medium for art is not one of cost, but one of avoiding controversy. Particularly in the area of politics.
The games that do get controversy, like Grand Theft Auto, tend to be focused on the violence and sexual aspects. With GTA, much of those aspects are taken from much of the cinema counterparts that the games were based on.
Unfortunately, even the industry views video games purely as an escapist medium, and not something that can tell a truly relevant experience.
Just today, as of this post, Sony decided to remove a song from its Little Big Planet soundtrack...because they thought it would have been controversial. There's very little evidence, as the link shows, to show said song would have any controversy.
The only place we get political or attemptingly relevant games are from home-brewers, single or few people that release these games. To this date, I don't think any are considered good, although some do consider them good attempts.
It's too bad that the only commercial game that does try to be relevant to current issues, well....it's basically a movie.
Hopefully gaming will shortly try, and succeed, in projecting a view or question on a current issue. Isn't that why the new Battlestar Galactica a great series?

Last Debate for This Season, It Didn't Matter

2008-10-16T09:51:00.000-07:00

Last night's debate was the best of the three. It felt that there was an actual bit of debate, rather than both sides giving purely stump speeches. It also helped that the moderator was an actually good one, budging in when the candidates ran too far from the question (something that happened way too much in the previous debates).

For McCain, this was his "last" shot. I put that in quotes since debates don't do all that much for campaigns.

Both sides did have their moments, but it seemed to me that McCain was not just more negative, but was unresponsive to Obama's responses. I don't know how many times he kept claiming Obama will raise small business taxes (and Plumber Joe was brought up far too often in the debate, by both sides). I don't think I even need to link to Factcheck on this one; Obama explained that point in the debate fairly accurately.

That's not to say that Obama was flawless here in terms of presenting the truth. Healthcare was the one topic that both sides attacked, giving misleading info on.

I think this round of debate could have been described as this: McCain was on the offensive (often giving political attacks), and Obama was on the defensive. This was different from the previous debates where both was on the defensive, trying not to flub up.

It probably didn't help McCain though. I just doubt he changed anyone's mind toward his side. If anything, probably the opposite direction, but only on the margins. Overall, the debates didn't do anything for the horserace, or show much of their actual political agenda that wasn't already in stump speeches.

On Jack Thompson, hopefully for the last time

2008-09-28T18:30:00.000-07:00

Jack Thompson, violent media critic and infamous lawyer among gamers, has been officially disbarred.

One question that Doug Lowenstein discussed was whether the game journalists helped Thompson's crusade against video games. A couple of such journalists have said no, and I tend to agree with them.

Now, I have posted a few years ago a similar discussion. And it still holds.

One tactic of the Obama camp this political season is not to ignore attacks or detractors, but to engage them. By doing so, you don't let rumors spread, or at least let them spread unanswered.

While some tactics of Thompson's were questionable (see disbarment), we still needed to show just how wrong he was. One unfortunate thing I learned from political campaigns is just how easily false information can spread. Ignoring them only lets them set the stage.

In participating in the debate, we actually get to show our side; one which most non-gamers don't get to see. Does that mean the game journalists have to post or respond to everything that Thompson sends to them; no. But at least get to the meaningful and important things, so then we're not stuck with mandates that will haunt us all.

Post Presidential Debate Post

2008-09-28T18:10:00.000-07:00

I watched this past Friday's debate with a laptop, watching Factcheck's Blog and the Washington Post's Fact Checker blog update live (or at least the latter).

I'm not going into minute detail as other "more professional" journalists would do. I didn't watch where McCain was looking or how many times Obama said one particular phrase.
Instead, I watched it as an average voter would (aside from the above mentioned Web sites being seen live).

The most notable thing was the amount of time given towards the economy. This debate was scheduled to be more about world issues, but the moderator allowed almost half the time to be given towards the economy. So without a doubt, you'll hear more from both candidates on the economy as the mortgage crisis (which has seen one major bank being downed).

The only revelation from this debate was something McCain said almost in passing, and the moderator nor Obama didn't really follow it up in a major way. What McCain said that he was open to freezing spending on everything except entitlements, veterans and defense.

The problem I have: two of those, defense and entitlements (which he probably ment things like Medicare, Social Security, ect.) are basicly the things that are most inflating within the budget. Not to mention some, like the NEA, are already calling it a very flawed plan.

Overall, both seemed to stick close to their talking points. As such, while I've been seeing polls tilt more towards Obama at winning this round, I don't think this has done much for undecided or independant voters. Essentially, if you were an Obama or McCain supporter to start out with, this didn't change your mind.

Tax Cuts a Solution?

2008-09-18T11:34:00.000-07:00

I was just reading this post and had a thought: why are both our candidates proposing tax cuts as a solution to the current problem with the market?
Tax cuts are for times where people are just holding money, when spending is down. Yet, I had read time and again that spending isn't down in the general market.
Instead, the problem with our current economy is: a) the loan industry, being that everyone involved were too stupid to check their responsibilities; and b) the price of petroleum going sky high, which hits most every product and increases inflation/cost of living.

Now, I'll give that there are some non-tax-cut solutions being thrown about for both. This is especially true for the problem on the price of gas, as both candidates have put up proposals. IF those proposals will actually be implemented, or how well they will work is debatable (notably because none seem to be a good immediate solution).

The problem I have is simply the willingness of candidates and the voting public to take those tax cuts. One of the first things you learn in politics is that everyone wants everything, with no strings attached. If you have tax cuts and more governmental programs on separate ballots; without a doubt both will be voted for. And that is happening right now.

Tax cuts are really smoke and mirrors. They won't solve any problems with our economy. What it actually is a form of legal bribery (see why McCain is trying to say his opponent would raise taxes) and it makes them look like they're doing something.

Politicians are masters of politics; they know how to get something implemented. The problem is that those politics don't let real solutions come forward.

Why Online Is Not THE Multiplayer Experience

2008-09-17T11:39:00.000-07:00

One of the problems I keep hearing from all the game journalists is that local multiplayer is on its way out.
Yet, they all enjoy Rock Band. Not online, but locally, with their friends.

I discovered the joy of local multiplayer, with friends or any other gamers sitting next to you, while playing Magic: The Gathering Online.
It was during the original beta, and everything was basically free. Magic, socially speaking, is an ideal game for online. It's turn-based, so you can type all you want without interrupting anything. But there is a something about the online environment that hinders things; that you can't actually see the person in front of you. It might be that you'll only play that person for one match; and never see them again. It might be the lack of emotion in text, or that you have a greater chance of finding a, as Penny Arcade terms it, a fuckwad.

Don't get me wrong, online is great. The sense that you can log in to a multiplayer game anytime. And there is a great social environment in some places, like my guild in World of Warcraft, AIE.

But when you get people physically together, there's almost always a friendly environment. In co-op experiences, you get a greater sense of people working together towards a goal. Competitive, people are in friendly competition (and have non-insulting forms of trash talk).

Maybe that's why the Wii works so well; that you actually hear other people's laughter as you play.

How NOT to Get My Vote

2008-09-15T22:04:00.000-07:00

OK, there's plenty of reasons not to vote for John McCain. Things like having a Bush-like campaign certainly hurts your campaign. But something like this pretty much shows that: a) you're old and don't use the Internet AT ALL (kind of important for geeks who actually care about things like Net Neutrality), and b) you just don't care about silly things like "facts".

More Political Games: On Polls and the Two Parties

2008-09-10T17:46:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, this will be another post on the game theory in politics.
First up, the Huffington Post, a more liberal blog, decided to look at the methodology of the recent polls, and found the balance between liberal, conservatives and independents had changed.
While the Huffington Post took the angle that pollsters designed changed their methodology to make the race seem close. I'm doubting that analysis, and there's no way to confirm that bit of speculation at all, unless somebody within polling organizations says something stupid publicly.
Instead, this actually is another reason why YOU DO NOT BELIEVE THESE POLLS. All presidental polling has been historically innacurate. In this case, it'll be darned near impossible to tell the make up of Democrat, Republican and Independant voters in November, especially since it's only been a week after the last political convention.

Now for the bit of game theory that is completely misunderstood, third parties. It seems that Ron Paul is calling for voters not to vote for Obama or McCain, but any third party candidate. In reality, this isn't as smart as it seems.
This is taught in politics 101, that rarely and under special conditions that third parties even stand a chance, mostly when there's a political vacuum. Put it this way, there's no practical way for a third party to be in competition and not take away votes from someone else. The best analagy is if an Alaska crab fisherman set his cages down in the same location as another boat's; they only split the local crab population. Nether fisherman gets a good catch.
That isn't to say that third parties are usless in campaigns. They often can bring up topics that the two dominate parties avoid. But if you want to actually change how government is runned or how the parties act, it's better to change from within.

From PAX: Impressions of Guitar Hero: On Tour

2008-09-05T12:57:00.001-07:00

One of the best things about PAX was that IGN had set up tables in which you could rent out different games, including handheld games.
The game I HAD to try was the DS's Guitar Hero game. I've read and heard many reviews and impressions and got either "It's good, but not great" or more commonly "It's not that good."

First, I don't think the accessory wasn't that badly designed. It isn't the most ergonomic, as you have to figure out a comfortable position for it, but it didn't give me cramps within my 4 or 5 songs that I played.
Strumming wasn't hard either. If you get out of the rhythm of strumming, problems will occur (ie: it only registers horizontal strums on the touch screen, too far diagonal will stop the strumming).
What was the main problem for me was the rather limited list of songs. Going from Guiltar Hero 3, which has 50-some songs, to On Tour, which had only a handful unlocked on the copy I had, felt limiting. However, in checking the Wikipedia entry, it has a total of 31 songs, quite a bit better then what they had there.
More over, it did feel like the "Guitar Hero simulator" that everyone says, rather then being the "guitar simulator" that console Guitar Hero games are. Which brings an early Futurama joke, of a baseball simulator, then a "baseball simulator" simulator.
Is it worth the $50 msrp? Probably not. Maybe $40, but I think the limited song list took this down for that high of a price point.

Flintlock's Back!

2008-09-04T13:53:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post. One of my favorite web comics is back.
Flintlock was not only a great web comic for anyone, but also one of the main reasons that got me into WoW fandom.

The Problem with "The Horserace"

2008-09-02T12:42:00.000-07:00

Being a gamer, I see the concept of "game theory" behind quite a lot of things (and even more that even Chris Mathews couldn't adequately explain). However, my problem especially in election time is the political reporters and pundits excessive use of "the horserace" rather than actually doing their jobs of fact-checking and policy analysis.
It's just strange, the reporters of today idolize Edward R. Murrow for being the guy who points out the obvious and takes on the government. Yet, these people don't do a darned thing to keep that spirit in political journalism.
Just look at how often they put up polls. Does it matter how far Obama is vs. McCain? No, because the actual result that they're trying to scry for is months out there.
It's mostly bad when a Web site like Factcheck, or even satire like The Daily Show, does a better job of asking serious, need to know questions. We don't need to know if a new policy will help out a candidate's chance of being elected, we need to know if that policy WILL ACTUALLY HELP PEOPLE.
This was one reason I want to go into journalism. I appreciate much of the work they do, but they're just blind to their own flaws.

Blog Rezzed, and also I'm back from PAX

2008-09-01T20:01:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm back from the Penny Arcade Expo, and decided to rez this blog. First work got in the way of posting, then WoW (WoW is probably more to blame).

PAX as always was a blast. This time around, I actually had some money to spend, getting some stuff that probably can't get anywhere else, or at least as cheaply.
First off, there's Blizzard's booth. It was simple: eight booths with 2 demo-ing PC's each, four for Starcraft 2, the others toward Wrath of the Lich King. Both were great, especially SC2. If you've watch the videos, they don't do the animation justice. Every unit looks and feels more alive. And the gameplay is the same as you remember Starcraft back in the day; it hasn't aged at all.
I've played a few other games as well. One skating game on the Wii using the WiiFit Board works at least ok; it doesn't help that I have no experience with skateboarding outside Tony Hawk Pro Skater.
Red Faction went to third person. Still good, although the destructable environment weren't aparent in the demo.
One of the best games I didn't play wasn't Fallout 3 or Left 4 Dead (both still looked great); but was: Grifball. Yes, the Halo 3 multiplayer varient was in full force at the RoosterTeeth, and is one of the primary reasons to get a 360 and Halo 3.

One last thing for this post: Felicia Day was there; and I met her. She was signing The Guild DVD's, and conversed a bit with everyone. She was also great at the panel (probably should have recorded some of her spontanious coments).

Good News Everyone: Firefly Lives (in a way)

2006-12-07T19:03:00.000-08:00

First off, I would like to give my condolences to the family of C-Net writer James Kim. I was relieved when I heard that his wife and two kids were found alive and well, I had expectations that he would be found alive. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, as he was found already dead from exposure. He fought the elements for a long time in an attempt to save his family.
James, you will be missed.

Anyways, on to the good news.
Wired has reported that Joss Whedon's short lived, but still great, work Firefly will be turned into an MMO (story: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,72263-0.html?tw=rss.index).
I have been playing though a few MMO's lately (currently playing D&D Online) and I am hopeful that the developers not only capture the world that Whedon built, but also make a great game out of it.
In truth, Firefly doesn't seem like the best world for a MMO. Much of the story isn't based on action, but on plot and character. Although action certainly is plentiful, being it has the feel of the wild west, capturing the best parts of the series may be a challenge, especially if they delve too much into sci-fi.

Analyst says EA's brand is tarnished; Gamers say "no duh"

2006-12-03T16:13:00.000-08:00

A recent story puts out that EA has tarnished its image with crappy games (story: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6162530.html).
This has been apparent by most hardcore gamers for a while, especially in their Battlefield games (see how a patch broke the latest, albeit already buggy, Battlefield game).
Its not hard to point out the problem: EA would rather release a game than make sure a quality game goes out. The release now-patch later policy just sucks, often destroying an otherwise good game.
Another problem is the microtransations. EA is laying on the microtransactions heavily (see Battle for Middle Earth 2 on X-Box 360) and seems to be going full bore with it.
EA seems to be trying to win us back (here: http://www.joystiq.com/2006/12/01/ea-trying-to-win-back-our-hearts/), but I doubt the PR attempt will work unless they actually do something substantiative. We need to see better quality from the largest publisher out there.

World's Worst in Videogames: O'Reilly Factor Edition

2006-11-18T15:18:00.000-08:00

Bill O'Reilly is best known for his very conservative rants, often taking falsehoods, misinterpretations (either accidental or purposeful) and complete lack of perspective to prop up his political opinions.
As per GamePolitics (here: http://gamepolitics.com/2006/11/18/bill-oreilly-slams-playstation-3-launch-gamers-ipods-tech-not-in-that-order/#comments), O'Reilly turns his ire toward videogames, and technology in general.
One thing caught my attention, and just because he has a podcast of his own (again, quote is via GamePolitics):

"I don’t own an iPod. I would never wear an iPod… If this is your primary focus in life - the machines… it’s going to have a staggeringly negative effect, all of this, for America… did you ever talk to these computer geeks? I mean, can you carry on a conversation with them? …I really fear for the United States because, believe me, the jihadists? They’re not playing the video games. They’re killing real people over there."

Ironically, if he listened to KFI in LA, where Rush Limbaugh and Matt Drudge broadcast a show, then he would know Leo Laport, a self-professed geek who is talking to the masses. He also podcasts that show via his TWIT network (www.twit.tv).
Here is another example of him making a sweeping generalization about a group of people without even speaking or listening to one of them. If he had, he would have seen that we aren't that introverted, but often talk to other people in a large variety of situations, often in person (see PAX, or the dozens of anime conventions) but also via online.

He also equates video games with drugs and alcohol. I can't deny that some people get addicted to the likes of WoW, but the same thing happens to nearly every hobby out there. There are a set of people called workaholics, people who work at the sacrifice to their personal lives. So should we ban work?

Early in his rant, there was this paragraph (again, via GamePolitics):

"Basically what you have is a large portion of the population, mostly younger people under the age of 45, who don’t deal with reality - ever. So they don’t know what day it is; they don’t know temperature it is; they don’t know what their neighbor looks like. They don’t know anything… because they are constantly diverted by a machine. Now what this does is it takes a person away from reality because they’ve created their own reality…"

He's accusing video games of being an escape from reality, something that books, movies, music, poetry and so forth all have in common.

This is another case of where someone doesn't investigate, or at least talk to a gamer (and there's plenty of them) to get an idea of what the culture is like. O'Reilly would rather believe the fiction that is often put out, and doesn't even lift an inch to find any evidence to the contrary. Even with the more reasonable Blois Olson, from the National Institute on Media & the Family, as a guest, he just refuses to change his perception at all.
So the Worst in Videogames Award goes to political pundit Bill O'Reilly.

Wiiiiiii

2006-11-13T19:10:00.000-08:00

This weekend, while doing some shopping (ok, figuring out what to get my mom for her birthday), I first went to Target, which has its entire Wii display up and running, sans playable demo. The Wii was on display, showing an infomercial about the system. I did see some people curious about it.
On sale for $.01 was a DVD with trailers for Marvel Ultimate Alliance and Tony Hawk Downhill Jam's Wii versions. The aside the E3 trailers, the content is short versions of what you would find on commercial DVD movies; some behind the scenes type stuff. If you need an extra DVD case, its worth it. Otherwise, grab it if you're buying something anyways.

Lastly, I stopped by a nearby Gamestop, which has playable Wiis out (you just need to give them your driver's license). First, Joystiq's annoyance of losing the menu cursor (story: http://www.joystiq.com/2006/11/11/dude-wheres-my-cursor-wii-annoyance-1/) is true. Once you get the cursor oriented, it feels just like a mouse; you don't feel that you're pointing with the Wii-mote, but you are controlling the cursor with it.
The game on demo was Excite Truck. Controlling it was simple, as tilting the Wii-mote replaced the functions of an analog stick. Mostly the problem I had was that I am completely used to controlling via analog stick and not tilting the controller at all. Once that was gone, I actually enjoyed the game.
If there is anything that just doesn't work well is the built-in speaker; it is more distracting than immersive. The quality is just too low (and I'm not an audiophile, and I noticed how low quality this was) and takes my attention away from the screen.
I was already convinced that the Wii could work with the DS. With the game that was displayed, it wasn't miles away from current controls, but it certainly has some promise.

Post-Election Wrap Up

2006-11-09T19:05:00.000-08:00

All I wanted was the Democrats to get one house of Congress. But with them now holding a solid lead in the House and barely inching out as majority of the Senate, I think we're in a good position with a power-hungry Republican president.
The main thing I hope they do is hold Bush accountable. Congress needs to go back and get rid of the overbearing laws that don't do much for security, but utterly destroy civil liberties. The NSA Wiretap scandal needs to be properly wrapped up, if only to make sure that the president, no matter who is in office, has to follow the law. Then the signing statements, which should have no legal power to them, should be made so then they don't have any power whatsoever.
For the long run, I hope this puts a new backbone in the Republican party. They have blindly followed one person for too long. Some pundits speculate that Republicans should have been more moderate, while others more conservative. The direction they should have gone is more independent; following their own opinions and not the opinions of others.

As for Rumsfeld's resignation, I think it was long overdue. However, his replacement-nominee, Robert Gates, has me a bit worried that not much will change (see: http://www.brendan-nyhan.com/blog/2006/11/bob_gatess_hist.html). I will wait and see if things change for the better, but won't give up any hopes on it.

World's Worst in Videogames, or A Kind Gesture

2006-11-05T10:28:00.000-08:00

A story that has been going around since it first appeared on Digg (look here as well: http://www.joystiq.com/2006/11/03/extensive-world-of-warcraft-play-desensitizes-humans/), a player put up a small obituary in the World of Warcraft forums. The first response: "did he drop any good loot?"

The likely reason for this post is that the poster misinterpreted the obit. as a one for an alternate character, not a real person.
On one hand, Joystiq comments that this is terrible comment. Is it really all that appropriate to joke about somebody dying?
But then there is the argument on if this comment is not only appropriate, but a kind gesture to a WOW player. Here's what Frodo, Weekly Geek podcast host, said in the Joystiq article:
"The guy spent a ridiculous amount of time on WoW, he probably would have LOVED that response. I know I would have. If I were dead."
Looking at it that way, the post becomes a good comment. While we all don't like to speak ill of the dead (well, except of the eternally infamous, but that is another story), but we also want friends and loved ones to joke around and have the least amount of sadness when we die.
Admitingly, I wouldn't mind a comment like that should I die tomorrow. Then again, I don't plan on that happening anytime soon, so don't test that last comment.

World's Worst in Videogames: Sony's War on Imports Edition

2006-10-24T12:11:00.000-07:00

Another terrible thing Sony has done, this time in the name of profits: they have officially sued importer Lik-Sang out of business (story: http://www.planetgamecube.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=12287).
Lik-Sang has been one of the largest importers for hardware and software purchases. This has especially been important in Europe and Australia, who often get games and systems months, sometimes years, after the releases in the US and Japan. Sometimes, they import games that you can only get in US or Japan.
Well, Sony didn't like that Europe can get a PS3 this year. Sony, among some others, has been hounding Lik-Sang and similar importers to keep people from buying non-local versions of consoles and games.
Why? Simply for profit. Europe, Australia, heck, every non-US/Japanese market get large mark-ups in prices. Often, games from Japan can be cheaper then local versions, despite importing fees.
The main problem I have is that this is only the first step toward trying to kill all alternative markets, including the used bins.
Those who think that digital distribution will be better are kidding themselves. Looking at Steam pricing for Half Life 2 (as listed on Steam's official site), you can spend $30 (with only Half Life 2 and its Lost Coast demo; not even multiplayer), $60 for the entire Half Life 2 collection of games, or $80 for the complete Half Life Collection (all the games from both Half Life 1 and 2). On the other hand, the current retail Game of the Year Edition is $30, and it includes all the pre-Episode 1 games (minus Day of Defeat Source).
Killing competition is a bad thing for the market. It destroys not only alternatives, but any incentive for Sony to do better. That's why Sony, once again, gets the Worst in Videogames Award.

MMO Round Up: Heroes, Guilds and WoW

2006-10-14T20:51:00.000-07:00

I should preface this saying that before PAX, I have never played an MMO. The subscription fees just add too much for me to consider buying one. However, at PAX some people were passing out a City of Heroes trial (called the Bootleg Edition, but it was just a 15 day trial). Not too long afterwards, NCSoft put up the Guild Wars: Nightfall preview weekend, which I jumped onto. Finally, and still going, I signed up on IGN (mostly to try to get a DS Lite; failed) and got a 15 day trial of World of Warcraft. I plan on trying out some free MMOs next, including Puzzle Pirates and Annarchy Online. Also on my list will be D&D Online.

City of Heroes
Being my first experience of any MMOs, this actually was a good starting point. One major point of this game seemed to be making a more basic, easy to enter MMO. They succeeded, as the system is open enough to make fairly custom skill sets, but doesn't do anything overwhelming.
But the main point of this game is to make a silver-age comic book MMO. Between the three games, this had the most customizable character builder, at least visually. Since you don't get any armor or other set of clothing (although you can change costumes later on), you make the look of your character top-down straight off the bat.
Another good thing about this game was its group system. The developer put in a posting system, so if you want to join in a random group, you post yourself and what you prefer to do. It makes searching for teammates easier and getting into groups far better, especially if you're a quiet person.
The style of the gameplay can be described in a D&D term from the DM Guide: Kick in the Door. Simply put, 95% of the time, your job is to kick villians' butt. Few missions don't require defeating all enemies in an area. The game guides you to the locations, keeping downtime in combat to a minimum. When you get to level 14, you have the option to fly or quickly run (via The Flash) to a location, limiting amount of enemies you have to plow though to get to the cave, building, ect.
Problems: It is a kick-in-the-door style of game. If you prefer actual role-playing (via a specified server) or exploring, there just isn't much of that. The game is very combat oriented, and doesn't stray far from it.
Likely more problematic is the lack of a real PvP set up. You can go into contested zones, which both City of Heroes and City of Villians players can play on, but the low-level one I played on just didn't have very many people in it period, much less any real PvP combat.
Overall, this is a good MMO to start out on. I would recommend playing a trial first, then deciding to go full version. While it is a good MMO, I just don't think everyone would like to do more then play the trial, much less pay a subscription fee every month.

Guild Wars: Nightfall
This is the one I played the least, and not just because it was available for only three days.
The trial client was set up so then only areas that was needed were downloaded to your system. This made going to a new area a little agrevating, since it took about 10 to 15 for it to load.
Going into the game, it just felt like the designers were building a generic MMO. Sure, there were plenty of non-European influences in the environment that shook things up, but there just wasn't anything that wowed me. The world felt very generic, and missions didn't really feel profound.
What I didn't go into was the PvP mode. The game was designed to be heavy on the PvP, but I just didn't get to it. It doesn't help that my (admittingly unsupported) graphics got corrupted WHILE I was making a PvP character. The game mostly played fine, but running into corrupting drivers issues doesn't sell me a game.
If you like a PvP heavy game, this would be it for you. The lack of a subscription fee lowers the bar a bit, but I would rather play some other non-MMO game anyways.

World of Warcraft
We all know it, this game certainly has the best fanbase of any game, period. But does the game live up to the hype? Not really, but it is still a great game.
The art style is fairly similar to Warcraft 3's, but runs better then it on my computer. The character creation felt limited in how I can make my character appear, as they seem mostly reliant on in-game items for that.
The missions actually felt appropriate. There was exploration, but nothing to where I got lost or didn't know where to go. Actually, the environments were well made. From the massive cities of Stormwind to the overlayed canyons in Orggimar. If there was one thing that stands out from the rest of the pack, it was the well made environments. Exploration was an element that was just missing from the previous two games.
Combat was good, although nothing profound. Warriors felt like anything but a generic class. Druids get morphing, and other classes were just as unique from each other. Playing one was different in how I had to change strategies.
WoW is mostly commented on about its end-game content (the stuff you do when you get to level 60), something I couldn't feasably do (unlike this character: http://pc.gamespy.com/articles/624/624465p1.html).
While CoH did grouping better, I can say that this game would likely be the best choice for any would-be MMO player. It doesn't require much (if anything, you just need a half-Gig of RAM), and has the best fanbase out there.

Being Gay Does Not Equal Being a Child Predator

2006-10-09T12:36:00.000-07:00

One of the worst things to come out of the Folley-Page scandel is some conservatives saying that homosexualality is a cause of mollestation of children. They are wrong.
The problem is that they equate sexuality with the act, which is completely wrong. As I understand it, it doesn't matter if a person is homo. or heterosexual; it is about power. The act isn't about sexuality, it is about being able to manipulate and control another person.

This is a type of thing that is exactly the same as people blaming violent media for real-life violence. It isn't about finding an actual cause for the problem, it's about blaming something other then themselves for it.
But what is worst is that this isn't about predators, but a political end. Conservatives are just using this as a bullet point against same-sex marriage, and against the gay/lesbian community in general. I just hope few will fall for it.

Attacks on the Clinton Legacy

2006-09-27T19:55:00.000-07:00

It first started with ABC airing the historically false "Path to 9/11." Then when Bill Clinton went onto FOX News to promote his global inititive, many right-wingers decided to label Clinton as crazed when he lashed out at the FOX pundit (see here, video linked here as well: http://www.brendan-nyhan.com/blog/2006/09/the_clinton_is_.html).

Yet the misleadings has not only hit the current presidency, but now Republicans and right-wing pundits are now trying to change the history of the Clinton presidency. It is said that the victorious control history, but that should have been gone ages ago. No politician, either Democrat or Republican, should control the world of the past.

The problem extends beyond the scope of history. There was one commentator (I forget who) suggested that too many Democrats are living in the past, where they were the majority party in Congress. In my opinion, Republicans are also living in the past.
For the entire Bush presidency, minus six months where Democrats controlled the Senate, Republicans have controlled both Legislative and Executive branches of government. Any problems caused by their governing is not the responsibility of the Democrats. Yet, Republicans aren't defending their actions, but always attacking the relativly powerless Democrats, mostly in the form of straw-man arguements.
They are living in the past that they were the minority party, that they had the charge of showing problems of the governing party. Now that they are the governing party, they still point to Democrats as though they are still the problem.
Bill Clinton admitted that he had failed in the FOX News interview. Yet, few Republicans, much less Bush himself, will admit such a failure now. And rather then actually defend their own position, they attack those not in power.
If Republicans are to save any face in these mid-term elections that are comming up, they have to take their own responsibility.

Before you go(and when I say you, I likely mean me, since no one seems to read this blog) see this video:

(here if you dont' see it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoNpcFR7e64 )

World's Worst in Videogames: Zombies Rising Edition

2006-09-12T10:11:00.000-07:00

Capcom has done some good these past few years. After giving up on repeat after repeat of Street Fighter and doing a magnificent rehaul of Resident Evil in the form of Resident Evil 4, they decided to come out with a great game for the X-Box 360, Dead Rising.
Dead Rising has its problems, notably the save system. But one thing which shouldn't have even made it into the final version was a problem with the text for standard-definition televisions.
Earlier, Capcom promised a patch to fix the text problem. But more recently, they said that the problem would be too much to fix, so they're leaving the game as is (story: http://planetxbox360.com/index.php/articledetails/show/421).
I find it bad that console games are starting to emulate the worst part of PC games: bugs that shouldn't have been in the final package. We need to have a working game out of the box, without the need to patch. But what Capcom has done is worse, that they left a huge bug in the game, and won't patch it.
For that, Capcom gets the Worst in Videogames "award."

9/11 Memories

2006-09-11T13:32:00.000-07:00

Today, both CNN, though its online video service, and MSNBC showed the then-live coverage of 9/11, as it happened. I have been watching some of it, and it brings back plenty of memories and emotions.

I remember it was a Tuesday. It was the second day of my trip with my dad to Disneyworld. After a ride or two, we went down Space Mountain. Being in early September, Disneyworld was actually far from being crowded as it would be in August. There was actually virtually no lines for most of the rides or attractions.
After we got down Space Mountain, my dad decided to call home, where my mom would just be getting up. That was when he first heard of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center. At the time, I don't think neither one of us knew the extent of the problem. I know I dismissed it as not being very serious. It was either a misunderstanding on my part, or some automatic means of denial. Unfortunatly, more likely the former.
Me and my dad continued though the Futureworld portion of the Magic Kingdom. Once we got through the last attraction, the 360 degree film featuring a time traveling story, that is when we first heard of the evacuation order for everyone to go back to their hotels. Some other people had heard the news as well, as some rumors were spreading that a plane was heading for Florida.

Once we got back to the resort, we turned on the news. It wasn't much of a choice, as any channel with a news department only had coverage of 9/11. Even the large screen in the ala-cart dining area only had the news on. We stayed in the room, partly to stay informed, partly because we couldn't do much else. We only exited the room to retrieve drinks or to eat, while I had a break to play in the (expensive) arcade.

Many remember it as a day of tragedy; one which thousands were killed and our naievite about security was shattered. It showed how cruel human beings can be. One thing that was forgotten, for the better, was how some Palestinians (I hope not many), who were in the middle of a major conflict with Isreal at the time, celebrated the 9/11 attacks. Even though they considered us our enemy for siding with Isreal, I find it sad that anyone would celebrate another's death, much less a huge tragedy like 9/11.

But then there was the best of humanity. And not only of the police and firefighters that came along, but of civilians as well. Peter Jennings spent over straight 60 hours on the air, just to bring us the news, and he was only an example of what news networks did in wake of 9/11. In Washington DC, there was no Democrat or Republican, but Americans. But just as importantly, many other people offering any kind of help they can do. Some tried to help in the digging for survivors, while others helped those who had escaped the chaos. When the call for blood came out, people around the country flooded blood donation banks. It just wasn't a day where the terrorists came out, it was a day which the heroes came out in every one of us.

9/11 "Documentary" and Bush's "Solution"

2006-09-07T18:42:00.000-07:00

First on the list, ABC is set to show a feature film, "The Path to 9/11." The problem with the film, it is very inaccurate in portraying Clinton's faults leading up to 9/11 (story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14718803/)

. The film portrays that Bill Clinton was distracted by the Monica Lowinski scandel to deal with terrorist and had operatives close to Bin Ladin when operations were cancelled, both which aren't true. Simply, there are plenty of factual errors, appearently mostly to demonize Clinton.
Some have called to edit out the controversial parts or cancel the film airing. I believe that delaying the airing to reshoot the inaccuracies would probably be the best solution. The film has a good idea, as it would show the successes and failings of all involved, and in non-complicated and thick book form. I don't mind some fictional portrayals of events, just as long as it doesn't give people the wrong impression, as the current version does.
It also shows how a good idea can be ruined. Review copies were passed out to conservative pundits, all the while ABC is claiming that it is still being edited. It is too appearent that either the director or the producer-and I hope it isn't both-was out with a political axe to grind. He or she needs to go for any re-edits or reshoots.

Then there's Bush in his latest series of speeches. After having problems in court over military tribunals for Guantanamo detanees, backlash over secret prisons and "alternative techniques" for interrogations, Bush has decided the best solution is to make all those...legal.
Yup, the same solution that was proposed for the NSA wiretap program, rather then make a real solution that wouldn't compromise our freedoms and would be best to fight the war on terrorists, instead Bush would just rather have everything become legal.
It is my hope that Republicans reject this proposal. It would not only show that they have some backbone, but would also show people that they won't listen to Bush on everything.

World's Worst in Videogames: Circuit City Edition

2006-09-03T18:08:00.000-07:00

Another retailer comes into the Worlds Worst lot, and this time it's Circuit City.
With 360's becoming less rare, more people are out to buy one. But this Circuit City that Kotaku found decided to rip people off. For about $30, Circuit City will make your X-Box 360 backwards compatable, as they claim (with an asterix) with all original X-Box games. (story: http://kotaku.com/gaming/top/sleazy-circuit-city-ripping-off-xbox-360-customers-198065.php)

This, in my opinion, is worse then what Best Buy did at the 360 launch. Its one thing to have people come into the store with no 360's, where the customer doesn't pay anything. But here, Circuit City is not only making a false promise, but doing something that you would get with the non-core 360 anyway; and I see no way of making the core 360 backwards compatable. Making empty promises for pure profit is not a way to run a business.

Bush's War on Dissent

2006-08-31T10:32:00.000-07:00

Bush and his administration is now out to "counter" all the anti-war sentiment that is now coursing through the political atmosphere. Unfortunatly, this is done through misrepresentation of dissenter's views and through attacks on dissents.
On the former, people who believe we should get out of Iraq don't think it would appease terrorists, nor think that would be the right route anyway. Heck, most Americans believe that the war in Iraq is seperate from the war on terrorism.

From what I have heard, most opposing the war believe one of two things: Iraq has pretty much fallen into a civil war-one which we shouldn't be in, or that, using a variation of Bush's own words, Iraq can't step up until we start to step down. On the latter, these people believe that the Iraqi government is using US troops as a crutch, and can't grow until they start to work on their own.
While I am among the people who believe we shouldn't have ever gone into Iraq, or at least the way in which we did. But I do believe that since we did go in, Iraq is now our responsibility. As of yet, I am not convinced that either former or latter cases for going out is true, and we shouldn't get out until either comes true (hopefully the latter rather then the former).

But what is worse are the attacks on dissent. Rather then going out and proving the case for Americans, the admininstration has time and again went out and basicly said "trust us to know what is best." For a time after 9/11, people believed that. But as their statements have become more and more false, as the Iraq and their supposed WMD program (much less actual WMD's) has shown, people have believed the administration less and less.
Yet, my words are probably not enough. So, instead I will use someone else's words who share the same view on these attacks on dissent, and in video form.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWI6kiENeDY

Back from PAX

2006-08-31T09:40:00.000-07:00

Sorry to those who read (anyone?) this blog, I have been doing a few other things.
One of those things was the Penny Arcade Expo. I only went Saturday, but it was still a great experience.
One of the best comparisons that can be made is that PAX is Disneyland for gamers. No, it isn't nessisarily the best place on Earth. What it has is long lines for short experiences, yet it is still increadably fun.
The main downside is the lines, notably the lines for the freeplay rooms. The PC freeplay was more forgiving, since there was plenty of PC's, all loaded with assorted games, mostly FPS's. The console freeplay didn't have as many consoles, but more games, although you had to wait until the apropriate console opened up, thus making the line move slower.
One thing to keep in mind for next year's PAX is to go in a group. This is so then one person can get into a given line early (as all the panels' lines had hundreds of people lined up just a half-hour before it starts). Also, at the beginning of the day, the exhibit line parallels the preregistered's line. Have at least one person in that line, while the other people go in for swag or tournament sign-ups.
The only other bad part was the DS's. Yes, there was too many of them, at least too many in one space. The lag all the DS's created slowed Mario Kart DS and Tetris DS to a crawl, and made it near impossible to download a game. Hopefully, the larger venue for PAX '07 will disperse all the DS's a bit more.
The exhibit room was half demos, half sellers. There was some exclusive items there, like the new Penny Arcade book, but mostly stuff you could get outside PAX anyway.
On the demo's side, unfortunatly, no Wii and no Sony presence. I got to play Elite Beat Agents, Final Fantasy 3 (DS version) and Guitar Hero 2 (first time I played the game; I sucked at it). At the console freeplay, I played the fun, and crowd generating, game Dead Rising. It's not quite good enough to sell a 360 to me, but still a good incentive.
The panels were fun. Heck, just look at yesterday's Penny Arcade comic, as the heart and lampshade was not originally in it until the crowd requested it.
What made PAX work was not just the events, but the people around it. Everyone was friendly and attributed to the atmosphere. Even if you don't play very many games, you shouldn't be afraid of going to this event.
Overall, PAX was a great event, and one I'll be attending all three days next year.

Judge Throws Out Warrantless Wiretaps

2006-08-17T10:12:00.000-07:00

Not too long ago, a federal judge has ruled that the warrantless wiretaps are unconstitutional (story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14393611/)

.
This is entirely expected, as not only does the Constitution prohibit the government from wiretapping without a warrant, but the law that put together the secret FISA court specifically states that warrants are needed.
One line from the above article was interesting:

"The government argued that the program is well within the president's authority, but said proving that would require revealing state secrets."

I wonder if they know that "its lawful for secret reasons" is not a very good defense.

Sony Needs New Management

2006-08-15T10:39:00.000-07:00

When I say Sony, I just don't mean the video games department, I mean the entirety of the company.
Recently, Dell announced a recall due to exploding (sometimes literally) batteries, which are made by Sony (story: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=2315126).
Earlier this week, Sony announced the first Blu-ray drive for PC-that doesn't play commercial disks (story: http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=6589

).
Then you have the many terrible comments that video game department execs. have made after E3, basicly trying to defend the $500-600 (best chronicaled on the 1Up Yours podcast: http://1upyours.1up.com/).
Late last year, it was discovered that some SonyBMG-published albums had a badly-written rootkit/copy-protection, which is the worst commercial software blunder this side of Windows security.

This isn't just one department's problem, it is the entire corporation. The only thing that is saving Sony from going down the tubes (and not the one Ted Stevens described) is Spider-man 3. There has been some improvement with the new president of the video games department, but something has to change for the company as a whole. The amount of arogance and uncaring going into their products is doing more harm then good for them.

Lieberman’s "Hacked" Web Site

2006-08-09T12:14:00.000-07:00

Joe Lieberman, who just lost his bid for being the Democratic representative for Congress, had his site fall off the map yesterday, the day of the election. He very publicly claimed that the site was hacked, blaiming an unknown Lamont supporter for the outage.
However, Markos Moulitsas of the Daily Kos said on Countdown that Lieberman's Web site was on a bad server that also housed several other Web sites. Thus, the site likely couldn't handle any additional traffic that would happen anyway since it was the day of the election.
On the other hand, John C. Dvorak posted an article (here: http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=6545 ) that the site simply wasn't paid for.

Both speculations go under the same problem for the site itself: they just didn't invest enough money to keep it alive.

What makes this worse is that either Lieberman doesn't understand how technology works, purposely lied to people in saying that a rogue Lamont supporter took the site down. The former is more likely, since I highly doubt that any politician would lie in a way that is easily fact-checkable (as written above). But this just doesn't well for someone who would have to vote on policies that would affect the Web as a whole. I certainly wouldn't vote for someone who doesn't understand what bandwidth is.

Blu-ray Vs. HD-DVD: Why Dual-Format Drives Are Necessary for Both

2006-08-08T14:03:00.000-07:00

Everyone should know it by now, that having a HD format war is the worst thing either camp is doing right now. Heck, some have speculated that Microsoft, among others, only supports HD-DVD in an attempt to kill both, so then they become the leader in digital distribution.

Online distribution, in my opinion, can't work until computers are commonly connected, hopefully wirelessly, to televisions. I just doubt that computer screens is the prefered way to watch shows or movies. There is also the problem of DRM and/or proprietary formats, since there is no universal one for either just for watching videos online.

The main problem with the current format war is simply no one right now knows which will succeed, and thus won't put any money down until they know. Who wants to put down hundreds of dollars for a player that may or may not work in a few years? That is why no one recommends buying either a Blu-ray or HD-DVD player unless they have a burning hole in their pocket (and a HD set to go with it).
Whats worse is that there is no need for people to go to either camp right now. The only reason is to have a movie in HD. Yet, as I found on just the back covers of HD-DVD movies, only the movies themselves are being upgraded; not even the special features get the upgrade. So we have minimal upgrade in the visual quality of the movie, and no other new content or upgrades. Why go either of these formats?

The simple way for both sides to get a better chance of winning, rather then have both lose, is to have dual format players get onto the market. Rather then fight it out in the marketplace, where it is more likely that one or both will lose horribly, fight it out with the studios. I don't think people really care on if their movies are HD-DVD or Blu-ray if they know either one will work in the long run.
Having a dual-format player will do the one thing both sides need: getting their player into people's homes. As it is, most consumers will not go for a possibly dead format.

BIG! BREAKING! NEWS!: E3 is Over

2006-07-30T16:40:00.000-07:00

Next-Gen has broken the news that E3 is cancelled for next year and the forseeable future (story: http://next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3538&Itemid=2).
What this means is that there will likely be no huge PR event for the video game industry. E3 was spawned off of CES. I doubt that any event is large enough as they are to replace the function that E3 had. At best, TGS is the closest event we have now, but that is mostly based around the Japanese market, rather then E3's worldwide focus. The Penny Arcade Expo is a growing event, but is very open, and has more emphasis on the gamer community as a whole.
So now we won't have major news congegrated into one event, but possibly spread out a little. Then again, with Microsoft's "soft" unveiling of the 360 last year and Nintendo's "Wii" announcement both being ahead of E3, there's already a movement away from a focus on E3.
The main problem is simply the fans. E3 was a time where one can nerd-gasm for many days long. Now, no more nerd-gasms.

Republicans Gaining a Backbone?

2006-07-25T19:08:00.000-07:00

It has been reported that Senator Arlen Specter, a prominant Republican, is drafting legislation that would challenge the signing statements that has been often used by President Bush (story: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2232349).
For the uninitiated, signing statements are a president's way of making comments on legislation, often showing what provisions they opposed or contain instructions on how the legislation would be carried out. These statements weren't used often by other administrations, but the Bush administration have used them hundreds of times, and used them as though they were law. This means that if Bush considered a provision illegal or relativly unimportant, the administration would ignore that provision entirely.

After five years of using this tactic, I'm not entirely sure if Republicans reject the use of signing statemtents in this way or just Bush's use of them. However, what this really signals is that Republicans are actually gaining a backbone, ready to take on the President. And this isn't something minor, this is something that has affected policy.
Let's hope that Republicans are ready to do even more.

Bush Actually Vetoed Something, But It Was Somthing Good

2006-07-19T19:19:00.000-07:00

President Bush has decided to veto a bill which would expand federal stem cell research (story: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2210063).
A reminder for everyone on this topic, stem cells are cells which are capable of becomming any number of more specialized cells. Medical research, in hopes of curing a number of diseases, focused on stem cells produced from embryos, and required the distruction of that embryo to produce the nessisary stem cels.
As the policy was before 9/11, Bush allowed any stem cells that was already produced could be researched, but banned creation of any more. At the time, Bush said that there was upwards of 64 lines of these stem cells available for research. However, the book All the President's Spin outlined that many of these lines were actually in development, and many wouldn't actually be viable. As of 2004 (the time of the book's publication), there was only 19 lines actually available for research (the major section about spin on stem cells in the book are on pages 95-100).
Then came this past week. Both the Senate and the House passed a bill which would make available any embryos from discarded embryos from invetro fertilization. While there weren't enough votes in the Senate to overturn a presidential veto, it marks the first time where Bush only listened to the hardcore Republicans. Which is strange, because it usually is those people to run the House, and they passed the bill.
This is a quote from the ABCNews article above:

""The unfortunate part is, if the president does veto the bill, then it sets us back a year or so until we can finally pass a bill that will have the requisite supermajority to be able to become law," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. "And that sets back embryonic stem cell research another year or so.""

This from a Republican. It also doesn't help that Nancy Reagan, widow of former President Ronald Reagan, supports stem cell research.
The president here has done medical science a great wrong. As I see it, using discarded embryos, or embryos that won't survive any way, should be the way to get this research done. Even if you are pro-life on this debate, wouldn't it be best to have these doomed embryos have some meaning?
Alas, partisan politics trump everything else for this president.

Worst Person in Videogames: DS Lite Edition

2006-07-17T15:50:00.000-07:00

Nintendo finally dun it. They have gotten a Worst Person's award, and not just in saying something terrible, but in having a terrible policy.
Joystiq has reported that some Nintendo DS Lites have been getting cracks on the hinge. They seem to be only aesthetic and not hindering functionality, but some people are worried.
Now, if the story ended there, I wouldn't have much of a problem. However, the people at Nintendo has said that such a defect DOESN'T fall under the warranty, the one in which no DS Lite has expired (they have a 12 month warranty), and thus have to pay $50 to get the crack fixed (story: http://www.joystiq.com/2006/07/17/nintendo-ds-lite-cracks-on-hinge/).
It may just be an aethetic problem, but I have no doubt that is important for alot of people. One of the main improvements over the DS (Phat as it has been nicknamed) was that it actually looked good.
But I'll go futher and say that this does fall under the warranty. Here is the hardware warranty, as given for my DS (Phat):

"Nintendo of America Inc. ("Nintendo") warrants to the original purchaser that the hardware product shall be free from defects in material and workmanship for twelve (12) months from the date of purchase. If a defect covered by this warrantee occurs during this warrantee period, Nintendo will repair or replace the defective hardware product or component, free of charge. The original purchaser is entitled to this warranty only if the date of purchase is registered at point of sale or the consumer can demostrate, to Nintendo's satisfaction, that the product was purchased within the last 12 months."

As the warranty information says, defects and workmanship is covered; which includes any cracks. So Nintendo saying that it isn't covered is clearly wrong, even if it is just for aesthetic value.
As always, I am a forgiving person. So until they decide otherwise, Nintendo gets the Worst Persons in Videogames award.

UPDATE: Via Joystiq, MaxConsole has gotten a press release from Nintendo, which says that they aren't aware of the problems. All the while, MaxConsole compiled testamonies on the crack, including some that are saying that it actually removed the casing, affecting stability of the hinge (story: http://www.maxconsole.net/?mode=news&newsid=8543). All the while, Joystiq said that Nintendo customer service is still attributing the crack to misuse (which means that you have to pay for repairs).
Not a good step forward for Nintendo.

Bush Agrees to Put NSA Through Court

2006-07-15T09:01:00.000-07:00

ABCNews reports that Bush has agreed to put the program though the FISA Court (story: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2191051).
The problem I have with this is that it isn't even doing what the law already says. The law says to get a warrent (and thus, consult with a court) before tapping wires. But as I read this story, this wouldn't even do that. All this would do is put the program as a whole though the FISA court.
If anything, it actually is worse then what Congress should do. This program is very public. Bush knows this program is illegal, and decided to have it go through a secret court, not Congress. This means that if (ok, when) the program is found unconstitutional, the ruling won't be made public.
While this is a step forward, it is hardly where we need to be. Bush needs to follow the law, yet Congressional Republicans are letting him get away with it. This whole controversy is their problem as well, yet they're not dealing with it.

World's Worst in Videogames: Sony's PR Stikes Again Edition

2006-07-09T19:14:00.000-07:00

One of my first Worsts was Sony's terrible Italian PR run for its 10th aniversery. Now, they have struck again with terrible ads for their white (yes, it is going that way) PSP (story: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6153643.html).
This has been the talk of the entire tech industry. More over, every week some other exec. says something that just compounds the pricing of the PS3, as 1up has been going over on their audio podcast. But this is just terrible. How many people go over an ad design before it goes out? Even if it was just ten, that is ten too many. Someone should have noticed that the ad is very much appearently racist. I'm sure that wasn't the intention, but ignorance is not an excuse here.
I used to look forward to Playstation ads. The Ratchet and Clank 1 and 2 commercials were classics. Just with that series alone shows how Sony's PR has been going. And now this.
Sony: you have to do something about your PR. It isn't good that your PR department now has two Worst Persons in Videogames now.

Nintendo: A Worlds Worst?

2006-07-05T08:28:00.000-07:00

Nintendo has recently dodged any horrible moves. Sony, on the other hand, seems to be stumbling to get any footing PR-wise.
Nintendo has yet to get one of my Worlds Worst in Videogames Awards (although they have gotten near one with my March 28 entry on Metroid). However, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has recently listed one of Nintendo's own patents to be one of the most dangerous (story: http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,64038-0.html).
If they have actually sued over the patent over emulators, then I would given them the Worlds Worst award. Emulators don't just exist for videogames, they can emulate any kind of program. Mac owners, for example, have to emulate Windows one way or another to get Windows programs. Even some older Windows programs or games require emulation.
Sony has even gotten into emulation, with the announcement of a PS1 to PSP emulator (although no other announcement has been made as to how the game-roms will be distributed). Heck, Microsoft has to emulate their original X-Box games for the 360.
I can see why Nintendo decided to patent emulation, since the Wii's Virtual Console hinges on emulation. However, emulation has been around for a long time, and often exist for research purposes. If Nintendo decided to, they could wipe out the 360's backwards compatability or the PS1-PSP emulator.
Luckily, I have yet to see any evidence that they have taken any negative actions about this. I did a quick google search which turned up nothing on even one Nintendo lawsuit (some still wonder how Nintendo avoided the Immersion patent lawsuit). While it has the potential to deal great harm, I just can't give them a Worlds Worst in Videogames award until I see that harm. As such, they will get off with a warning.

My God...It Might Actually Work!

2006-06-28T16:03:00.000-07:00

Let's face it, after Final Fantasy: the Spirits Within bombed, all hope of an actually good videogame-based movie fell off the radar. Mortal Kombat was a good action movie (ie: a literal waste of time) and Resident Evil 1 (not the sequel) was a good B-movie, but there hasn't been anything that everyone, fan of the game/genre or not, can enjoy.
So many other projects have been announced. One which was a Dead or Alive movie. Yes, based on one of the few games that was more likely to have a hot-coffee-like scene in it then GTA: San Andreas, but somehow doesn't, is being made into a movie.
So Kotaku had this news post: http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/castlevania/studios-threaten-to-make-doa-2-castlevania-movies-183836.php#more.
It warns of upcomming efforts to make a sequel and a movie based on Castlevania. But mostly, it puts down the good (but far from AAA) people behind the DOA movie.
But that is not what convinced me. On that page, there is a YouTube trailer; watch it, I'll wait.

Yes, they integrated a bra into a fight.
I can't say it will be a transendant film, but it does exactly what Tomb Raider needed to be: it just doesn't take itself seriously. It seems to be Charlie's Angels-esque movie, but with luck (as the trailer implies), it will be a fun movie. It likely still won't live up to the expectations of either Final Fantasy film (Spirits Within or Advant Children), but the trailer alone has exceeded my expectations.

Lawless Wiretaps Into Lawful

2006-06-25T16:49:00.000-07:00

I find it a sad when everyone knows something is illegal, and rather then investigating into it and dealing penalties if they do apply, they instead would make a program into a legal exercise.
Wired reported that the White House is close to making an agreement to make the controversial warrantless NSA wiretaps into a lawful procedure (story: http://www.wired.com/news/wireservice/0,71238-0.html?tw=rss.index). The Bush Administration still asserts that they already have such powers in law. You know, the one that says that the President can do anything, just as long as it is loosely connected to terrorism (if you don't remember, it isn't your memory, it's theirs).
Arlen Specter said in this article that the program is illegal, as it avoids the legal requirement of going to the FISA court (note on the "warrantless" part of the controversy), but still said in the article:

"We're getting close with the discussions with the White House, I think, to having the wiretapping issue submitted to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court."

Wait, he wants the new law to do the EXACT SAME THING as the law already says. Ludicrous, to say the least. Republicans want to run away and/or denouce the President as a Republican, but dont' want to anything substantive, to a point of redundancy.
This should be a case of people doing the right thing and bucking their party/party leader, not a prime example of how terrible a single-party government can be.

Retro Review: Warcraft 3/Frozen Throne

2006-06-23T21:35:00.000-07:00

I got Warcraft 3 last Christmas and finally completed the single player not too long ago. Suprisingly, many seem to be getting this game now, with much of the background of World of Warcraft rooted in this game. Now on to the review.

This game comes with a fat manual, which is actually better described as a source book. It has the entire history of the Warcraft universe, including the beginings of each race and the aftermath of Warcraft 2/Beyond the Dark Portal. The story starts as Arthus leads a mission to save his realm from the plagues that are turning people into the undead. All the while, Thrall is trying to lead the Orcs to a new land where they can be freed from the curse that has caused their rage and live in peace. The Frozen Throne expansion pack continues some threads of the main game, but through new perspectives.

Graphics/Sound: While the graphics may be dated, the art style still carries well. This game should on well on pretty much any modern computer. You won't see the same amount of units on screen as in Starcraft, that probably had more to do with gameplay changes then the graphics engine. Also, it is good to hear all the dialog actually voice acted, although not very lipsynced. The prerendered FMV's are also among the best I have seen in a game.

Controls: Umm...basicly the same Starcraft/Warcraft we've seen before. Can still be played without a keyboard, but learning how to hotkey units and abilities will help alot. Nothing special, but nothing wrong. If anything, there is limited camera control, but changing the camera angle doesn't really do much for the game anyway.

Gameplay: Much tweaking has been done to the Warcraft/Starcraft formula. The most appearent difference is the inclusion of the Hero unit, a completely unique unit (Starcraft mostly had heros as sooped-up versions of regular units) that can gain experience. This gives the game more of a RPG feel to it.
Another major change: the amount of units you control. Starcraft had a total of 200 possible units; this game tops out under a hundred. Also, the new upkeep system saps gold you collect if you have too many units. Too many units will majorly hinder the gold you collect. As such, it often is better to have a few groups of units, all fully upgraded. Because of this, Heros become much more important, since they can strengthen the few units you can get.
What this game really succeeds at is when they deviate from the standard Warcraft/Starcraft mission formula (ie: kill the opponent's army). Those dungeon levels that frustrated you in Starcraft, Warcraft 3 makes them actually enjoyable. Frozen Throne is the best expansion pack I have ever played, since they play more with the formula more then the main game.
If there's one problem I had with this game, it was the last levels in both games. They're frustrating, Frozen Throne's especially so. All the other levels are balanced right, but these often stack the game excessively against you. You may need to start over a few times on each.

Overall: While this game may not be the classic that Starcraft or Warcraft 2 is, it is still a great game, one which I recommend to any PC gamer. With the Battle Chest for only $30 max, you should go get this game, even if you're adicted to World of Warcraft (spend the time waiting in queue playing this game).

Graphics/Sound: 7/10
Control: 8/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Overall: 9/10
Buyability: 5/5

Resolutions of Pointlessness

2006-06-22T14:23:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a while, partly due to laziness, partly due to finals (and subsequent tiredness from finals). I will be making a few more posts today, so I hope that makes up for the lack of posting, for whomever cares (likely no one, thus I'm writing to myself like an insane person).

Anyways, no less then three resolutions have gone through the Senate, two by Democrats and one by Republicans. First, the Republicans passed a resolution, one which could be best described as a "trick" resolution, which called to continue to stay in Iraq. I call it trick because it couldn't be amended and it was designed to equate support for the President and the war to support for the troops. So if you don't like the former, Republican challengers would say in the Fall election that they don't support the latter. Still, it was passed mostly along party lines; no suprises there.

On the other end of the isle, two resolutions were put up. Both had the same idea, to set a timetable of a sort for withdrawl from Iraq, but one had a clear deadline while the other had no deadline. The former had the final support of 13 people, while the latter had a much better 39 (story: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2108195).

So why are these pointless? First of all, none have any ramifications attached to them. Heck, it isn't even binding to the Senate. All three bills are just political showmanship, nothing more. They could have just made a blog post to basicly state the same thing. Yet, they waste time debating over something that doesn't have any real effect and could do better on their websites.

Now for a few links. First, the Daily Show did a great segment on the House violent videogame proceedings. Game Politics has a good post on it (here: http://gamepolitics.livejournal.com/310875.html#cutid1). One good line from Stewart: "Seriously, the House of Representatives is filled with insane jackasses."
Now for an update to an earlier post, Brendan Hyhan, former editor of Spinsanity, posted one person's account on the current state of conservatives, including on why they reject Bush (here: http://www.brendan-nyhan.com/blog/2006/06/jonathan_chait_.html).

Ann Coulter: Do You Even Hear Yourself?

2006-06-07T18:55:00.000-07:00

I know you probably have heard all of the complaints already, but here it is: Ann Coulter is insane (see: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13186261/)

.
I don't mind one point she makes; that widows aren't infalable. However, what they do bring to the table is a first person point of view, something that pundits or politicians, for the most part, can't bring to the table. They bring a sense of legitimatcy that a regular Joe Schmoe (or Coulter in many cases) don't have.
But then she goes ahead and makes asinine comments like:

“I’ve never seen people enjoying their husbands’ deaths so much.”

That is in her new book, “Godless: The Church of Liberalism.” With a title like that, I will never do the grammatically correct thing of underlining it.

A few weeks ago, I wrote an editorial in my college newspaper on political bias, on how people like Ann Coulter would rather demonize their political rivals rather then actually debate the real issues.
Ironicly, I don't have to demonize Ann Coulter-she does it herself.

Worst Person in Videogames: Backwards Compatability Edition

2006-06-07T18:38:00.000-07:00

Blogger note: For those who (for some really unknown reason) looked in my Livejournal version and found this post there several days ago: yes, I am late on this. At the time, Blogger was fraking up, so I delayed posting this until now. Now, read on.

So when Microsoft announced that their X-Box 360, they said that the system will be backwards compatable with original X-Box games. It turned out not to exactly be true, since those games have to be emulated to the new hardware. But most people presumed that eventually, if not immediately, all games will be on the backwards compatability list.
With only 207 games on the list (here: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/backwardcompatibilitygameslist.htm), Peter Moore came out and said (here: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6152178.html):

"More are coming...but at some point you just go 'there's enough,' or 'let's move on'...people aren't as worried about a game being backward compatible. I like to think we upheld our end of the bargain [with backward compatibility]."

Worse yet, he said:

"We under promised and over delivered on that. It's a very complicated thing... very complex work. I'm just stunned that we have hundreds of games that are backwards compatible."

So you have 207 games on the list, which wouldn't even constitute half of the Gamecube's library. Plenty of popular and great games are still missing on the list. Games like Burnout 1,2,3 and Revenge, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Soul Calibur 2 and Star Wars: Battlefield (1) are not on the list. Heck, of the three editions of All-Star Baseball that appeared on the original X-Box, only the earliest (2003) is on the backwards compatability list.
Microsoft, you're off to a good start, but are far from finished. If you want to advertise backwards compatability, don't BS it with a partial list. Both Nintendo (with the handhelds) and Sony (with the Playstation 1/2) have done it right; no fuss and no wait.
But to have only a couple of minor updates to the list only to call it quits is terrible. Peter Moore, you over promised and under delivered, not the other way around. For that, you get the Worst Person in Videogames Award.

Goldeneye Source Modder Died

2006-05-29T13:21:00.000-07:00

On this Memorial Day, we all know the significance of what the troops do and have to go through. Many, always too many, have given their lives to not only protect us physically, but to protect all the rights we know, love and cherish. I, and everyone else, will forever thank them for their sacrifice.

However, I make this post to another loss; that in independant gaming. Joystiq has posted that Nickster, the lead person behind the Goldeneye Source mod, has died in an appearent suicide (story: http://www.joystiq.com/2006/05/29/r-i-p-nickster-gone-but-not-forgotten/).
Within his final goodbyes, as it was posted above, Nickster said, "So many people go about their daily lives unconcerned with the fact that they are nothing more than an ant upon a huge rock flying through a universe so large it can't even be imagined."
Yet, I doubt Nickster realized how much he affected the universe. For those who doubt the effect that entertainment has on society, it is actually one of the most important things there is. Humans can not endure lives of exclusive work and stress. Entertainment gives us relief, and a common bond to others that otherwise would have never been made.
I may not have known Nickster, or even his name before today, but I knew his work. Goldeneye Source is not mearly a diversion from life, it makes people enjoy life that much more. For that, I thank you, Nickster. And may you rest in peace.

If you or anyone close to you even seriously thinks about committing suicide, I urge you to go seek help. It may not seem like it right now, but there is always something to live for. Sometimes, you just need to get help to find it.

Right Running Away From Bush

2006-05-24T20:09:00.000-07:00

Bush knows it, and conservatives (and not just congressional Republicans) know it; the second term has sucked. Whereas the damage control was in full tilt and completely effective during the first term (despite much of it being very misleading), the second term has Reality catching up to the PR based administration.
So what is for far right Republicans, who formerly completely supported Bush, to do? The current stratagy: denounce Bush's conservativism.
Yes, despite many of Bush's very conservative based policies, conservatives are denouncing Bush due to the ever-increasing federal budget (that congressional Republicans contributed to, with pork as such) and "big government" programs. Neo-conservatives, those who avocate bring Democracy to the Middle East, are also denouncing Bush for his ineffective foreign policies involving Iraq.
What I find ironic is that many of Bush's programs, like No Child Left Behind and the failed Social Security reform, was based on conservatives theory of capitalist-based formats (attempts to create competition within governmental programs). But because many of these failed, Republicans are just running away in hopes that they come out unscathed.
Ironicly, I do believe they are correct in the "big government" idea, but slightly different then what they are saying.
The Bush Administration has been trying to concentrate power into the executive branch, because they believe the pendulum swung too far toward Congress. What Republicans don't realize is that they let him gain more power. Congressional Republicans didn't have a backbone, so they never questioned Bush before.
Now it is too late, and rather then rebel, they denounce. I keep writing (appearently to no one) that Republicans need a backbone; that they need to do their job.

Next-Gen: Stop Defending Sony

2006-05-20T19:44:00.000-07:00

Via Kotaku (here: http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/sony/playstation-3-too-expensive-or-is-it-175201.php), Next Generation posted an article defending Sony's pricing of the PS3 (story: http://next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3048&Itemid=2).
So here is my (probably will never be seen) response to the artcle. It split up two main arguments:

1. You're getting what you payed for
2. There will be a solid list of games

The problem with the PS3's price is that it is completely aimed at the hardcore, those who will buy the system no matter what. This is why the X-Box 360 sold for as high as $800 on Ebay, because there was a shortage between the amount of hardcore buyers and the very low supply. The only way Sony could get away with such pricing is a shortage, something that isn't too good for their business plan.
Let's face it, software sales a good. Microsoft paid alot since not a whole lot of software couldn't even be sold at the millions. Companies like EA complained that the shortages lessened their profits of their launch titles. If the same thing happens on the PS3 launch, third parties would more likely wait for the PS3's base to build rather then pointlessly release titles.
But really, that hardcore isn't the only customer of Sony's. they have plenty of gamers. For the most part, only fanboys (or the extremely poor) don't own a PS2. That won't happen at $500 minimum. I doubt most people would pay $500 for a DVD player, much less a videogame system.
Next-Gen said it best, "Consumers who want to enjoy a rare experience really ought to be expected to pay. It's not gouging; it's capitalism. Good luck to Sony."
I agree, it is capitalism. Under capitalism, almost everyone agrees that most people won't pay unless they do have enough of an incentive, one that hasn't appeared yet.

Which comes to the games. There were some great games for the PS3, notably Heavenly Sword and Assassin's Creed. But are they $500-600 worth of goodness, or even very different then what we would see on the 360? As of yet, no. Both Final Fantasy 13 and Metal Gear Solid 4 are high possibilities, but haven't shown anything playable yet; only cutscenes.
Sony is behind. The original X-Box had one (Halo), so did the Gamecube (Smash Bros. Melee). The generation before that, the Playstation had Ridge Racer while the N64 had Mario 64. The PS2 only had a reprieve because of its early launch, something the 360 has right now.
Going through some Best-of lists for E3, Gamespot, Gamespy, nor IGN (1up hasn't posted one yet) put a PS3 game as the top game. Let's put some Top 3 of each up, and the highest ranking PS3 game with them (if applicable).

IGN: Winner: Bioshock (X-Box 360); First place: Mass Effect (360), Mario Galaxy (Wii); Second: Spore (PC); Assassin's Creed was a runner-up on Best Console Game award

Gamespot: Winner: Bioshock (360), Assassin's Creed was the only PS3 game of the nine runner-ups

Gamespy: Winner: Gears of War (360); Second place: Bioshock (360); Third: Assassin's Creed

So as Wii see (sorry, I have to continue the puns), only Assassin's Creed (a game listed for a Q1 2007 release on IGN) has any footing to sell the PS3. Heavenly Sword (listed 7th on Gamespy overall) may also be a possibility, but that doesn't currently have a release date, at least according to IGN (it wasn't even listed).
So as it is, the only real justification to buy a $500-600 system is for Blu-ray, a format that consumers are unsure that will become dominate anyway. If anything, pricing the PS3 hurts Sony's attempt to make Blu-ray standard, since casual consumers won't buy something that costs more then an 360 and Wii (I'm still sticking with a $200 max price for it) combined.

When something costs more, people expect more. As it is, we have yet to see something that fits a meets a $500 expectation, less so at $600. Before E3, I was expecting the PS3 to be $400; expensive, but not mind-blowing. Sony certainly raised the bar, just not in the right way.

The Best Political Environment

2006-05-18T14:32:00.000-07:00

I'll admit that I don't vote for any of my college representatives. It just feels like it really doesn't do anything, it also doesn't help that all candidates have basicly the same position.
However, traveling by the Student Union Building, you get basicly an outdoor Costco. People haul out furniture and pass out any form of food to entice potential voters. Rarely is there serious rivalry, just pure fun.
A story from last year shows the best college campaign ever made (story: http://www.brendan-nyhan.com/blog/2005/04/the_campaign_of.html). Unfortunatly, the last I heard of him was this: http://www.brendan-nyhan.com/blog/2006/03/move_to_impeach.html.

I'm Not Actually at E3: Best Coverage Award

2006-05-12T14:00:00.000-07:00

Although E3 isn't over yet, it has slowed down enough that one could start giving out awards. The first goes to a website, not a developer.

I've been surfing to find the best out there. 1up did a great job, especially when you add their podcast to the mix, which was updated everyday (it normally is a wii-kly podcast).
Gamespy and IGN really didn't do much. Some major stories broke on IGN, but they were very slow this year. Conference coverage was decent enough, with real-time updates, but the main E3 show was only updated once a day.
Gamespot was much the same, only that they had all their news shoved to the side, where one couldn't really surf through. Streaming video of the conferences were great, but it didn't really do much with the main show, at least on anything outside the news section.

Then there were the bloggers. Two rose to the top, with regular, frequent updates, was Joystiq and Kotaku. Both had great commentary, and some exclusives.
However, being there are no ties in awards, this would have to go to:

Kotaku

They broke the news on Halo 3 (via an Bungie employee accidently wearing a Halo 3 shirt). More over, Kotaku had plenty of YouTube videos, including a series called "Justify Your Game," as reps had to justify the games existance in 15 seconds.
Good job to Kotaku. Big name websites: look at these guys for what you need to be doing next year.

NSA Spying Case Closed

2006-05-11T09:58:00.000-07:00

CNN has posted an article saying that the Justice Department has officially closed the case investigating the NSA Wiretap scandel, all because the NSA refused to grant security clearance (story: http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/05/10/domestic.spying.ap/index.html). This as USA Today posts that the NSA obtains records of domestic calls from phone companies such as ATT, Verizon and BellSouth (story: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-10-nsa_x.htm).
This as the ATT civil lawsuit is being shut down by the government to prevent "leaks of national security" (post: http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2006_04.php#004613). This is a travesty that no part of the government, from the Legislature to external parties, are being halted into investigating what has been reported as unconstitutional actions. Only the press, the people who can't really do anything about actuall stopping these wiretaps, has been able to get anything. Congress, being controlled by Republicans, won't seriously do anything to protect us, even though that would be the best things for Republicans to do. Others are finding they can't get any official investigations done because of the secrecy and the cover of "national security". This needs to stop.
Hopefully, at least a few Republicans need to get a backbone and actually do the right thing here.

World's Worst in Videogames: Sony E3 Edition

2006-05-11T09:38:00.000-07:00

E3 is a huge place, often holding valuable equipment. Heck, every 360 or PS3 station has a HDTV to show off the 1080p games (or whatever is the highest resolution a game has). So security is certainly a consern. So why does Sony get this award? Because they got the police to do it.
As Joystiq reports (here: http://www.joystiq.com/2006/05/11/lapd-at-the-ps3-booth/), only the Sony booth has LAPD officers doing security. While some were confirmed as off-duty, which would be fine, but other booths don't have this kind of protection.
While the article never confirmed how many are actual on-duty officers, it certainly implied (with the bolded words "some of us") that there were at least a few.
I'm willing to retract this if found otherwise, but Sony going ahead and taking tax-paid officers, who are supposed to serve the city, not a corporation, is just terrible. Sony, get your own guards.
And with that, Sony gets the Worst in Videogames award.

I'm Not Actually at E3: 360 Degrees of Wii

2006-05-09T19:15:00.000-07:00

To contrast the dull terribleness that was the Sony conference, both Microsoft and Nintendo put on great shows.
I was actually able to watch a bit of Nintendo's conference in real time (darn schoolasular stuff getting in the way; all the more reason to greatly dislike it). Nintendo's focus was definatly at showing games.
My suprises: the rumors were correct. I doubted that Nintendo would include a speaker in the Wii-mote, if only to keep the costs down. Also, I thought Nintendo would reveal a price, but they must have decided not to, possibly even at the last minute. Zelda and Red Steel was the graphicly most impressive games, although RS still hickuped a bit.
I do wish there was only one SKU of Zelda, just with both controls on the same disk. With two versions, I just can't go with a sub-par version.
There were a few others I'm interested in. Alas, no Smash Bros. was shown. Metroid Prime 3, however, sounds like it could actually best the original. The offensive grapple beam alone would make it the best of the series.

Microsoft made up for their poor showing last year with game after game. Plenty of Live Arcade games being shown; I'm especially looking forward to Lumines Live.
Then there were the games. Well, game for me. Halo 3 looks like it could make a climatic end to a trilogy (yes, that is my bet: that Halo is a trilogy). Grand Theft Auto 4 hopefully will be a great addition (and it takes a huge possiblity for the PS3 to get ahead).
The cross-platform feature of Live could be good, mostly with connectivity to the PC. Who wouldn't like mods to some great 360 games? Even if it just comes down to custom level editors, it still would work much better working on the PC.

Two much better showings to lead off the actual show. Now we get to see how well the Wii works, and how well PS3's Wii-ripped functionality works, or if the X-Box 360 will go on to be spectacular.

I'm Not Actually at E3: Sony Digging Their Own Grave

2006-05-08T21:09:00.000-07:00

Some speculated that Sony wouldn't reveal the price of the PS3. I did believe that they would hint at a high price point, but actually come down to $400. Today's pre-E3 conference told otherwise.
It was the last item on the list, but Sony did announce that the PS3 will cost $500-600 for the 20GB-60GB models respectively (story: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6149470.html). This is dangerous waters for Sony. More dangerous with the added fact that this was the main part of their drive to get Blu-ray out ahead of HD-DVD. Some speculation is that Sony would sac their gaming department if it meant that they would come out ahead in their home movie department.
While it still is theoreticly half the price of a stand-alone Blu-ray player, $500 is still alot to shell out for a system.
When the PS2 launched, it was often bought as a cheap DVD player, especially in Japan. Even with that presumption, everyone knew that DVD was going to be the next format for movies. Blu-ray doesn't have that advantage. The whole HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray is bad since consumers don't know which will come out on top, and don't want to buy a dead product.
As a gaming machine, it is simply priced out of the market. Microsoft could easily out-bid Sony by dropping the premium X-Box 360 by a hundred dollars. Let's see: a $300 machine vs. a $500 machine; both mostly with the same games as each other. Sony would have to get extraordinarily good launch games to sell the system; something to the end of a Mario 64, Halo or Grand Theft Auto 3. Even then, things become hazy.
Making things worse, another story outlines that the cheap (actually, not as expensive) model will lack some features, like Wifi or HDMI output (story:http://www.gamespot.com/news/6149552.html). Wait, they're herolding this as the HD system, and they're not including a HD output?

On the other hand, they are doing some things right. Free online service is definatly a plus. The new controller (while it may be a Wii ripoff) does have some new potential, but it is still mostly unknown. Just have to wait for the show floor.

Sony has chosen to fail with this strategy. At $500 for the poor version, and $600 for the version gamers actually want, they are pricing themselves out of both the gaming market, and the HD video market.

An Unfortunate Series of Movies

2006-05-03T21:46:00.000-07:00

Within the span of little over a week, I have saw three major movies. Two of them put on in the new theater (while better then other facilities in this town, there are better theaters on the west side of Washington state).

The most recent (although not in the new theater) was the much anticipated Final Fantasy 7: Advant Children. If you have read any of the reviews out there (like here: http://dvd.ign.com/articles/701/701928p1.html), they're right. The movie is gorgeous, with CG like we have never seen. Although it still isn't life-like, it still creates plenty of great visuals. As they needed it, with more off the wall, Matrix style action then almost any other movie out there. Which is its problem; the story isn't that deep. Think of it this way: take the beginning of a Square game, then take the ending; that's the story. It goes from humble to epic pretty quickly. Heck, the movie is actually on the short end, being 90 minutes.
But there are still moments which play just to gamers. Even those who have just heard of Final Fantasy see how the writers are just playing to the fans, and do well. Unfortunatly, non-gamers will just have those moments fly over their heads, never to realize how good they are.
Overall, on the X-Play rating system, I'll give this a 3 (Omnislashes) out of five.

Then I saw Good Night and Good Luck. Definatly a good movie. This follows Edward R. Murrow's team of reporters during their rivalry against Joseph McCarthy. A great portrayal of the events, although mostly done through showing cuts of the show itself.
The cast is well done, and shows the characters very well. More over, the situation and themes reflect reality as it is, including for those in the journalism business.
Overall, a 4 out of five.

Then there was Peter Jackson's King Kong. This certainly was a good remake (I should note I never seen the original source material). Characters are fleshed out and well acted. This definatly looked like a uncompromising vision (see Spider pit scene). The story isn't too deep, actually rather simplistic. Some may like the ending (that we all know), but I just found it predictable (because I knew it ten years ago). Also, it is three hours. While nothing was terribly bad, I do think it could have been better if Jackson just cut some stuff out to help the pacing.
Overall, 3 (giant leeches) out of five.

Rebates Solve Industry Problems?

2006-04-28T19:46:00.000-07:00

One person on a MSNBC story (not cited here) called it one of the worst ideas in history. The idea that Senate Republicans has come up with is to give tax-payers a $100 rebate to help fend off the gas crisis (story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12509275/)

.
One: How in the frak will that work? The problem is gas prices are hitting an all-time high, even when you account inflation. So, how will giving people another $100 help lower prices. Only people like me, who doesn't drive most of the year (I left my car at home while I'm going to college) will see any kind of profit from that. For people who drive regularly, it will barely dent the hit we're taking.

Two: This will seriously dent the fiscal problems even more. The US government is already running a huge deficit, and this would put it further in the red. I just think it would be smarter to save our money on, I don't know...REAL SOLUTIONS.

Three: Also on the bill is, once again, an attempt to open up the Alaskan wildlife refuge for oil drilling. Yup, another attempt to get this legislation through. Can't they just take the message that this isn't a good idea.

The actual problem: we're hitting all time high on gas prices with no real perception of gas shortages. You can go to any gas station and, barring station specific issues (like maintenance or traffic), can easily fuel for your SUV. Back in the 70's, stations were closed because they lacked their product; this just isn't the case for this crisis.

Too Much Wii...or How Bad Nintendo Can Screw Up a Name

2006-04-27T21:00:00.000-07:00

A suprise announcement by Nintendo revealed their name for the Revolution.

Wii

Pronounced "we" or "wee," as in "Wii are trying to sound post modern." or "Let's name our system after a pajorative term for urine, but spell it differently."
All over the IGN blogs, you will find almost every post will be some way to mock this new name. Revolution not only sounded good, but was a good name for the system that was about change. Now, wii got a very mockable name, something that seems like an inverse Reggielution.
Here's to hoping that this becomes a similar situation to the PS3 controller; Nintendo figures out that this isn't all that good. Or better, it was a late April Fools (darn good way to do so).

Gaming on TV & Nintendo Download

2006-04-17T16:26:00.000-07:00

First, I went to Best Buy this weekend to see how the Nintendo Download Station was. The actual display was simple: a plastic display showing the instructions on how to get the demos, and (I am not kidding) a Nintendo DS which distributes the demos.
I went down the isle a bit to check the range, and its fine. Mostly I found it best to be near it when initializing the download, then you can look around a bit. Which is good, since it takes just long enough to be boring while watching it exclusively, but short enough that it isn't that much of a hassle.
The demos I tried was Tetris DS (Push mode), Brain Age and Meteos. Meteos was as I expected, a still great, but much harder version of Tetris Attack (aka Panel de Pon in Japan, also Pokemon Puzzle League). Brain Age was something that I just had to quit. It wasn't that it was bad (just the opposite), but talking into your DS in the midst of a crowd just made me look insane. I prefer to have closet insanity. Tetris was unexpectedly good, and was the demo I took home. Unfortunatly, you can't keep them, since powering down the DS.
Also, a bit on Brain Age, I was on a section that asked me to say a word, while the word was colored, and all the words were that of colors. Then one entry came up as "Yellow," and I said "Yellow." It said I got it wrong, so I said it again. Then again. Then again. Then I said, "Yellow damn it!" It passed me. So remember, if Brain Age doesn't understand you, you just aren't cussing enough.

Yahoo News has put out an article saying that USA Networks will start showing the Major League Gaming tournaments (here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060417/ap_on_hi_te/video_gaming_tv_show_3). This I find good, since it legitimizes videogames a bit more in the mainstream.
I just hope they treat it more like World Poker Tour then baseball.
Also, G4: You just missed a shot at goodness.

Bush: Bring the Truth, One False Statement at a Time

2006-04-10T19:20:00.000-07:00

Bush has been very careful not to appear to lie. Usually, he gives technically true statements that often give a false impression. Now that the truth is catching up to him, he has to weave more pratical, but not technical, lies more and more.
Today, he admited that he "declassified" the intelligence, essentially revealing the identity of Valery Plame (story: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1828371). Plamegate, as it is known, is growing because "Scooter" Libby has said that he got orders from Cheney, who in turn got them from Bush, to reveal Plame's identity in an attempt to counter Joseph Wilson's testimony over the Niger accusation.
This is becoming big for one simple reason: Bush, in the 2000 election, claimed that he would bring "honor" back to the White House. The claim was that he would be honest, not parse words, and never lie to the American people. It is showing that more and more this isn't the case, but actually worse then what Clinton ever did, even to Republicans.
The claim that "he was bringing the truth" to the forefront is an utter sham. This is because everyone already knows that the Niger claim was completely false. I won't go as far as to say this was an attempt to get restitution against Wilson, but I do believe it was an attempt to discredit him in the eyes of the public.
Republicans are calling for Bush to come out with the whole story, but Bush still isn't doing that. If there's one person who can do that, actual truth and all, it will be prosecutor Patrick Fitgerold.

Death of Trek: Yup, another rant about Star Trek

2006-04-09T20:07:00.000-07:00

I caught the last bit of a History Channel special, "How William Shatner Changed the World." It was on how Star Trek, mostly on the original series, changed how people looked at the world.
But it was then last segment that got me iffed. What it was on how Star Trek fell. Their assessment: first, people wanted a darker view of technology (which born the ideas of the Borg and Deep Space Nine). Second, people wanted more technology at work rather then less (making much of Voyager's techno-babble). But that didn't connect as many people, and viewership went down until Enterprise was cancelled.

That is a terrible, corporate style assessment that doesn't even face what was the problem. What killed Star Trek was not its enviroment, but its story.
Almost everyone agrees that the last great Trek series was Deep Space Nine (DSN). Ironicly, much of its greatness came after Voyager went on, where Rick Berman and Brannon Braga left DSN to do Voyager. In came Ron Moore. You should recognize that name, since he is also the guy behind the new and much acclaimed Battlestar Galactica series. DSN went from an okay series to a good one. The format even changed to serial, where each episode affects the next (see Babylon 5). And epic storylines came along, including the Dominion War.
Voyager never had that. It was partly serial, but nothing actually that good. If anything, Voyager had more unoriginal ideas in its run then the animated Legend of Zelda series. In fact, here's one paragraph from the IGN review of the second season DVD (found here: http://dvd.ign.com/articles/517/517614p1.html).

"With The Next Generation, Trek's top brass waited until the show was accepted by fans before bringing in the old names. Unfortunately, that didn't happen here. They pulled the trigger too soon, bringing back Captain Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and quite possibly the best character since Khan, Q (John de Lancie)."

Yes, it took only the second season to bring along past Trek characters. At least DSN did something with the Next Generation characters it recieved (notably Worf).
But mostly, it was Pinocio style characters that dominated the scene, especially in Voyager. You have both Seven and the Doctor taking the "trying to be more human" role. One of the reasons Data worked was not just that part of his character, but that he was a neutral observer. He didn't have emotions that other races have, so he thinks purely through logic. This aspect wasn't in, nor needed, in the other Treks.

Mostly, the bad Trek series was lost. Berman and Braga just didn't know how to make a good story good. I'll admit they did have some good ideas. Heck, Nemesis was full of good story ideas. They just couldn't get it translated to a full story, including real, evolving characters.

The only saving grace for Trek was when new blood was introduced to the creative team. Manny Coto, who headed up the last season of Enterprise, did a terrific job with it. Viewership notably went up in the last season. I just think the execs didn't care much of if that last season succeeded or not (note only one possible reason why Coto was brought in); the show was axed.

The point, which I probably didn't convey all that well, was that story killed Trek. Berman and Braga's means was not to make a good story, but to get good ratings. The problem with focusing on the latter is that it leads to the creative team making decisions more like an executive then a story teller. What execs should know when something works, let the creative team do their job. If the team can't, then throw them out. If they are doing a good job, let them be. Don't make decisions to boost ratings, because most of the time it does the opposite.

Review: Metroid Prime Hunters

2006-04-06T13:38:00.000-07:00

Hunters is the latest entry to the Metroid series, and it is more of a spin-off then even the Prime games were. This game isn't concentrating on translating the Super Metroid experience, but at making a good Metroid themed first person shooter.
The story goes that a message has been sent from the Amblic Galaxy (more like Amblic solar system), and Samus now has to obtain multiple keys to obtain the "ultimate weapon" before any other bounty hunter does.

Graphics/sound: The graphics are good, being at least at the same level as late N64 games. The game almost always is smooth (rare exceptions online), and the art style is very much in tune with the earlier Prime games, but still puts in its own niche. Of minor note, the videos are good, although short.

Controls: The controls are great. Using the touch screen makes for precise aiming that only a mouse could previously give. While it feels awkward at first, mostly because there hasn't been anything like it before, it will become second nature fairly quickly.
One problem most people seem to face here is in using the thumb-strap giving terrible pains. I have been using the stylus (steadying my aim by cradling the DS in the palm of the same hand) and have yet to feel any pain what so ever. I suggest people try to find their most comfortable configuration, which is the most difficult part of this.

Gameplay: This game really is split between the single player and multiplayer.
The single player is good, but flawed. You have to go around finding keys and octoliths (the keys to the final level). There are four planets to explore, and few power-ups to find. Certainly a departure to the previous Metroid games, but still comes out good. You still experience puzzles, but this game is more action based. Often times, you will be fighting enemies, including other hunters. The game actually works well with this emphasis.
There are two main problems that draw away from the experience. First, there is only one save point: your ship. This means that you'll either have to back-track to save, or slogg on until you get to a teleporter. Unfortunatly, there are only two teleporters per world. While the worlds aren't that large, they are just large enough to make this an annoyance.
Then there's the bosses. Of the eight octoliths you have to obtain, each is guarded by a variation of two bosses. Yes, for almost all essential purposes, you fight only two bosses four times each. While there is a seperate final boss, it just feels like the designers ran out of creativity too quickly.
Otherwise, this game is good, although you probably won't play it too often after the first time through.

Then there's the multiplayer; the real emphasis of the game. Here you get to play one of seven hunters, six never before seen. Each has a special ability related to their affinity weapon and their own morph-ball (or morph-ball-like) abilities of their own. Trace can cloak with the sniper weapon, while Spire can burn opponents.
Four players can play in all multiplayer modes, even with only a single card (albiet those without a game play only a Samus). Many modes of play are offered when playing Multi-card, including capture the flag and king of the hill.
The Wifi Find Game is similar to what you found in Mario Kart DS, although rank matching is a seperate option. Friends (and Rivals, which are friends you obtain in the Find Game mode) is much better implemented. Here, you play like a multi-card wireless, but it's online. You get all the modes, all the hunters, all the control over how you play. You can even talk to Friends (but not Rivals) while in the lobby.
The game does play solidly. Despite the lack of cover, it does seem like the game is split with skill and stratagy. Figuring out effective attacks and counter-attacks is essential to winning. I can best describe it as Metroid meets Quake, while retaining the goodness.
There is just one major flaw at this moment: when the server is busy (often at night), errors pop up, disconnecting you. This means that you will either play only against one other player, or you have to play in the morning for the real multiplayer experience. It's a major problem that Nintendo should have accounted for, and fixed. Games, of all things, are something that you just want to work with no hassles. Until Nintendo fixes this, considering dropping a point from the total score. It hurts it that much, especially for those who don't have too many friends (small f, as in people you know personally) with DS's.

Overall: It is a great game, but one that is best as a multiplayer game rather then single player. If you don't have access to a Wifi network or don't have friends with DS's, I still suggest renting. Otherwise, get this game now. It is the first good first person shooter on the DS, and is the best multiplayer experience on a portible system period.

Graphics/Sound: 9/10
Control: 9/10 (needs physical adjustment at first, but plays well once you're set up)
Gameplay: 8.5/10 (Single player's flaws put it down, but the multiplayer is 9.5/10)
Overall: 9/10 (subtract 1 if you don't have Wifi; subtract 1 for current Wifi problems)
Buyability: 5/5 (3/5 for single player only)

"The Hammer" Falls

2006-04-04T19:29:00.000-07:00

Tom Delay has announced his resignation from congress. He appearently fell on the sword, since the normally uncontestable seat was nearing 50/50 against (for an incombant, 50/50 is always bad).
Some have speculated that this is worse for the Democrats then Republicans. This stems from that Delay has been one of the biggest targets, and his absence now gives one less target for Democrats to shoot in the face (sorry, I can not leave that alone). I disagree. Democrats will likely turn to a new target, most likely Bill Frist. It isn't as much the person as it is the tactic (see Bush v. Kerry).
I have no doubt that some Republicans, probably those in the moderate wing, are actually releaved. Delay was very strict in how thing ran in the House. Now some leeway has come along, which is especially good in a year where supporting Bush may or may not be the best stratagy. However, it still leaves a seat in contestion, not good when the possiblity of Democratic turnover is at the highest in a while.

Aftermath of April Fools

2006-04-02T19:22:00.000-07:00

This year's April Fools was terrible. The best fake story this year was Blizzards multiple "announcements" (see: http://www.joystiq.com/2006/04/01/blizzard-celebrates-april-fools/). Really, there was nothing that was very good. Almost every story I saw on the gaming web sites could have been easily spoted as fakes, even if they weren't posted on April 1.

What happened to the good old days of internet pranks. To this day, people still think the rumor of Sonic in Smash Bros. Melee is true. Gamespot was one of the best pranksters, but even now have fallen off the wagon. Just look at their front page story (here: http://www.gamespot.com/features/6146818/index.html).
IGN was also great at doing April Fools. Alas, to avoid the hate mail, they just slowly withdrew from April Fools. This year, we got nothing. Where's the fun in this day anymore?

Best prank ever: Wizards of the Coast non-prank (thus pranking us by making us think it's a prank) announcement of their Unhinged set for Magic: the Gathering. It is the best set ever in Magic, and they couldn't have done a better job announcing it as well.

Also of note, Joystiq found a town with no sense of humor at all (here: http://www.joystiq.com/2006/04/02/tiny-ohio-town-freaked-out-by-mario-prank/). Seriously, they at least need to catch up on pop culture.

Craptacular: Metroid Prime Hunters Edition

2006-03-28T21:04:00.000-08:00

I got Metroid Prime Hunters as soon as it hit stores last week, something which I actually saved up money for the past few months. This was set to be the second major WiFi game, as well as the best thing Nintendo would release this side of E3. Well, that hype wasn't incorrect. I should also say that controlling with the stylus is much better then what reviews give of the thumb-nub.
However, one major problem has come up, one which only Gamespy noted in their review (here: http://gba.gamespy.com/nintendo-ds/metroid-prime-hunters/698045p1.html). The problem I have run into is whenever running a que and a third player is found, the game throws up an error message. The game works with two or three players online, but I can never get four. Occasionally I can get three, but not often since the fourth player would throw up the bug.
Others appearently have experienced this (see forum thread: http://forums.nintendo.com/nintendo/board/message?board.id=tech_questions_wifi&message.id=30852). There is also a problem with match-making (here: http://forums.nintendo.com/nintendo/board/message?board.id=tech_questions_wifi&message.id=31202).
Boo Nintendo. While the game even with two players is good, I don't like having two player FPS's since I tend to suck with fewer players. This is something that should have never been a problem.
I won't give them a Worst Persons award, since this seems like a legitimate mistake (possibly due to the lack of external debugging) and they are working on a solution, but I make give it to them if they don't be quick about it. But this game was delayed beyond the holiday season. If they knew about the problem, they should have delayed it a bit longer. I would much rather have a delayed game then a buggy one (*cough* PC game publishers *cough*).

Rumor: PS1&2 Games Downloaded to PS3?

2006-03-13T21:34:00.000-08:00

One quickly spread rumor was that Sony was looking into putting up a service in which you could buy and download original Playstation games or even PS2 games. Gamespot has already anaylized the rumor (here: http://www.gamespot.com/news/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=24429625), but I have a differing opinion on it.

The main reason I don't see PS1 or PS2 games being downloaded to your PS3: the size of the games. Especially PS2 games, which commonly fill a 4.7 Gigabyte (GB) disk. It wasn't even uncommon for PS1 games to include multiple 700 Megabyte (MB) disks. Final Fantasy 7, which would probably be the most downloaded game in this case, used three disks, and both its PS1 successors used four. Even presuming the disks were 700MB each, Final Fantasy 7 would be 2.1GB.
Presuming that this would all be stored on a fairly standard hard drive, probably 40GB to 80GB, bandwidth would still be an issue. Broadband may be able to handle MB, but probably won't handle GB far from as well. It gets worse on the server's end. A standard This Week in Tech podcast is around 30MB to 50MB a show, and they still transfer Terabytes a week on their servers. Can you imagine if the servers had to handle something that was even just 700MB.

Now, I do think there is a probability of Sony going the way of X-Box Live Arcade. Games on there are far from the heafty CD based games found on the systems, in terms of memory. The games would be small budget, not emulated games. It also would be less reliant on the hard drive, since the PS3 will likely support memory sticks. Heck, a firmware upgrade would make it support PSP play.

Overall, 10% on PS1 and PS2 games being downloadable; 80% on a X-Box Live Arcade style service, regardless of hard drive inclusion.

Worst Person in Videogames: Starforce Edition

2006-03-13T09:14:00.000-08:00

Anyone who listens to the This Week in Tech podcasts (at least the main TWIT podcast) should know much of the technology community's objection to copy protection. Much of the complaints of copy protection, for those who don't already know, run to compatability issues to impeding of people's fair use (here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use)

.
Well, this whole thing started when a Digg post misinterpreted (I'll stick with that terminology to play it safe) a quote by the developers of Calactic Civilizations 2 (GC2) that they wanted people to pirate their game. An hour didn't even pass by before another Digg post showed their reply (here: http://forums.galciv2.com/?ForumID=161&AID=106741) that the developer DOES NOT want their game to be pirated, but they don't like DRM or copy protection as they are.

They revealed in the post that the company behind the Starforce copy protection posted a torrent of GC2, then took it down (story: http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3148721).

I haven't read the original Starforce post (the story says it still exists), but Starforce was already on shakey ground. Allegations of poor program design which has lead to computer parts (notably optical drives) failing and some spyware-like activity (like not being able to uninstall it, even after the game it was protecting is).
Now we seem to have something that looks like either hypocracy or a form of extorsion. On one hand, they were supporting the very thing they were fighting. On the other hand, it is them saying, "If you don't use our product, this is what is going to happen."

Starforce is already infamous as it is. This just shows that they don't care about their customers, either the end user or the content producer. For that, they get the Worst Persons in Videogames award.

Ports Scandel Over, Bush Has Only 59 More Controversies To Go

2006-03-09T19:21:00.000-08:00

It looks like that after a few weeks of the Dubai Ports Controversy, Bush has lucked out in that the firm will now transfer control to a US entity (story: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1707317).
So with that off his plate, now Bush has to handle the Abramoff scandel...the Katrina scandel...Iraq...War on Terror, opps sorry, the Long War...
Actually, this was a good thing for Bush, with the congressional Republicans gaining a backbone, he didn't need to get to the breaking point with them. However, with all the above scandels still going on, and no doubt more to come, the breaking point will come soon, especially with his polls sinking and the House and 1/3 of the Senate going through elections this year, now more then ever Republicans are seperating themselves with Bush.
But he somehow staved off being a lame duck for this long...

Um...Sure, You Can Do That: Completely Non-sexual Edition

2006-02-28T19:15:00.000-08:00

The founder of Domino's Pizza has said he would like to found a religous based town, where all porn and contriceptives would be banned (story: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1671484). He has even gone as far as to call the town "God's Will."
As this post's title suggests, I highly doubt it would succeed, at least in the long run. The story suggests that such a town would be impossible to found, since porn, despite its restrictions to non-adults, is still protected as free speech.
Even if this doesn't stop the town's founding, the idea of not having condoms and birth control pills would just send the youth, or even those who just like the idea of sex without unexpected suprises, out of the town.
I hope this doesn't pass. I already don't like the idea of "red state-blue state," I would hate to have actual geographic centers of ideology, even within one's own religion. I can't think of a worse thing then having "red towns-blue towns," where conservatives have to go to one place and liberals another because the laws are based on ideology.
I like the idea of diversity, and not just superfisial diversity. We need not to seperate into our own camps, but to come together and debate and find the real answers.

Politicians Being Just A Bit Too Bold

2006-02-22T21:10:00.000-08:00

With all the anti-videogame legislation, one would think that would be the limit of stupid use of money to defend a state law/faint a political position. Well, now we have got a worse case then that.
A South Dakota bill would ban almost all forms of abortion, and it's on the way to the Govenor (story: http://abcnews.go.com/US/LegalCenter/wireStory?id=1651458). The bill even had the main sponsor in the form of Democratic Senater Julie Bartling. One reason that this bill was put into place was the recent Bush appointments of Judge Roberts and Alito to the Supreme Court.
Umm...good luck with that. If it somehow gets past the Govenor (either with his/her approval or with a over-ridden veto), I doubt it would even pass through one level of the courts, even less making it to the Supreme Court.

Actually, as I was researching this, this isn't that new. Wikipedia notes that in 2004, a similar bill was passed, with a executive veto. Here is the part in the article (found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Dakota#Politics).

"For example, South Dakota is considered one of the most politically anti-abortion states in U.S. In 2004, a law to completely ban the practice passed both houses of the legislature but was vetoed by the Governor due to a technicality. The state's Legislature passed five laws restricting abortion in 2005, and a 2005 state task force reccomended that the legislature ban all abortions and challenge the constitutionality of Roe v. Wade. In February 2006, HB1215 which would outlaw abortion in all forms except that to save the life of the mother was passed in the House. A similar version was passed in the Senate on February 22nd and will be sent back to the House to reconcile differences before being sent to the governor."

By the way, Wikipedia also has a good article on Roe v. Wade (here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roe_v._Wade). If you're wondering my opinion on the pro-choice/pro-life debate (which I find ironic that neither camp really uses the word abortion, despite that being the center of the debate), I actually agree with the ruling on the case.

World's Worst in Videogame: Professional News Edition

2006-02-21T10:59:00.000-08:00

As a journalist-in-training, I am completely apalled that ABCNews did this. An earlier story said that Pictochat, the imbedded chat program on the Nintendo DS, could be used by pedophiles to pick up kids (story: http://news.spong.com/article/9678

). Every gamer knew there was a problem with the story because Pictochat can't go online, it can only go over a wireless LAN.
Well, it was revealed that the writer of the story knew of this, and chose to ignore it (story: http://news.spong.com/detail/news.asp?prid=9690&cb=0.7831036). As a journalist in training, I do understand that sometimes one has to investigate into things that they don't understand, but it still is one's responsibility to make sure they understand all facets of the story, or at least as much as they can get into within that timespan.
It just makes it worse that the writer not only interviewed someone who would know, but called back to double check the information AND STILL chose not to include it.
It also makes things worse as the editors should have noticed something missing. Did they take the information on faith?
So ABCNews, you get the Worst in Videogames Award for excellence in bad journalism.

Zelda/Revolution Features Confirmed?

2006-02-20T19:36:00.000-08:00

It's been long rumored that the upcomming Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess has bonus features when played on the Revolution. A few sites have said that Reggie, in a recent interview on Spike TV, confirmed such features (example: http://www.nintendojo.com/infocus/view_item.php?1140462383).
However, if you actually watch the interview (here: http://gonintendo.com/?p=931#comments)

, you will see that it is more likely that isn't the case, at least at this point. He said it was a good idea, but it sounds more like it isn't in the game, but doesn't say explicitly that it will/won't be in the final package.

Also, I just would like to say that these clips shows that Spike TV has outdone 90% of G4's programing alone.

NSA Wiretaps Won't Be Investigated?

2006-02-19T13:06:00.000-08:00

Reading the New York Times front page, the House has agreed to investigate the NSA controversy, but possibly not the program itself. Instead, there is talk of looking at the law involved to see if it needs to be changed.
Wait a sec. The NSA, presumably under the directive of the President and/or his administration, broke the law and the constitution (see 4th Admendment: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_states_consitution#Fourth_Amendment). Yet, Republicans are caving into Bush's pressure to change the law rather then investigate wrong-doings. What is the point of seperation of powers?
I only read this on the New York Times. The press seemed to be so wound up on "Cheney shot a man in the head" case that they put this in the back burner.
I do hope Republicans actually investigate the NSA domestic wiretaps in themselves, and not the law. The FISA court has already shown to be historically favorable to granting wiretaps, I highly doubt we need to change the law. People need to know that they weren't wiretaped, and that such wiretaps weren't put up by flimsy evidence (a possible reason why no warrents were obtained on these). This is a case where transparency is much better then secrecy. Also, congressional Republicans need to show that they aren't Bush's lapdogs.

UPDATE: ABCNews has reported that Bill Frist said on CBS's "Face the Nation" that he believes that not only the law is good as is, but also standing by Bush's claim that the program is completely legal (story: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1639748).
Let me remind everybody that the law in which Bush and his administration has been citing was the resolution to go to war, citing the vague "any force nessisary" clause. From what I have been hearing, between the bill that created FISA and the cited laws, courts would rule with FISA since it is far more specific.
It's unfortunate that the current political environment always seems to have a "with us/against us" type of policies, especially within one's own parties. I just would be good to explain to everyone, Democrat and Republican, that from the information that has been leaked, this program is illegal and shouldn't be in place. There just is no excuse for not at least looking into the legality of this program, even less to change the law to make it legal.

To Trade Up or Not: Nintendo DS edition

2006-02-19T12:28:00.000-08:00

I haven't really wrote about the new DS Lite that is comming out in the next few months (probably summer). I believe I now have the information to determine whether to sell my old DS (the one that came with Mario Kart DS) and get the new iPod...I mean Lite version.
I originally thought of not doing it, since WiFi games like Mario Kart DS have profiles that are linked to that specific DS. Another blog asked if it was possible to correct this, and appearently a little known feature can transfer the original DS's profile and information to the new one, but would also reset the old DS to factory settings (here: http://nintendo-centrum.blogspot.com/2006/02/ds-lite-vs-wifi-games.html).
So it comes down to design and expense. The DS Lite (DSL from now on) is smaller, and would probably feel more comfortable for first person shooters, where one would use their thumbs rather then the stylus. And let's face it, it does look much better. It also has a much brighter screens then the current model.
On the negative, the GBA slot is not as large, which means any GBA carts would stick out. Some of the other things are still unknown, like if the shoulder buttons are still as awkward as the current ones. I have also heard that GBA games have a minor problem with the even brighter screen.
However, I fear that cost would be an issue. While the US price hasn't been announced, the Japanese price is around 140 US dollars. Knowing Nintendo's unwillingness to subsidize their systems, I think it would probably launch at the $150 price point. Even if they released it at the current $130 (without a packed in game), they are phasing out the original design (story: http://www.nintendojo.com/infocus/view_item.php?1140368058). I wouldn't be suprised that the original DS's price would be dropped, either officially or unoffically, to $100. Which, in turn, would mean that the medium price at EBay would be lowered. Even now, looking at a search of EBay, the system could be bought for under $100 easily, some even offering games as well.
So additional money would have to be spent to upgrade. Considering that the differences between the original GBA and the GBA SP models had more sigificant differences, I would have to say unless you absolutly have to have the most current model, just save the money and get another game. The only reason to upgrade is that Nintendo included better compatability with routers, and you have a router that just isn't working with the current model.

Capcom: The Best & Worst in Gaming

2006-02-17T20:03:00.000-08:00

Well, this past year, Capcom released the best game to come along since Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Then this year comes about, and we get more of the same, mostly.
The first game we got this year was the port of Resident Evil for the DS. Not Resident Evil 4, not even the Gamecube version of the original. No, we got a port of the original PSX version. Although it's all there, with a new mode that includes exclusive DS features, it still is the same thing we saw ten years ago. I could not even concieve getting this game, mostly because after playing RE4, the old games just suck. Going back to the old crappy camera system is just horrible. The only control change they did was the 180 turn. Couldn't they at least do the analog control seen in Mario 64DS?
Now their Gamers Day (story: http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3148152) featured a mix of old and new, but mostly stuff we seen before in one way or another.

Okami, the most original title on the list, has been at the past two E3s. Only one thing comes to mind: Why isn't there a DS version of this? I'm not even asking for a Revolution, because the DS has you interacting directly with the screen. Even on the PS2, I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out, whenever it comes out.

The two 360 titles, Dead Rising and Lost Planet, do sound good in concept, although not entirely original. Reading the previews certainly does leave a good impression. However, I just doubt that either game will be released any time soon.

Then the PSP is getting more then its fair share of ports and remakes. The most original title is Mega Man Powered Up (Rockman Rockman in Japan), with the ability to make custom levels. But it still is Mega Man, a series that only changes with each spin off.
Then all the others are ports of something or another. This month, Street Fighter Alpha 3 was launched. As an owner of the GBA version, I will say it is a great game, but reviews of the PSP version say it is hindered by the hardware (mostly an ackward directional pad).

It was this mix of new games and ports that just makes Capcom the epitome of the industry. Only one game varies from convention (Okami), while the rest just tries to be good or easy money. Nothing bad from the former, but everyone would like to see their games transend their genre.
Mostly, Capcom just needs to stop rehashing and porting. It was old on the NES.

Um...I Didn't Do It!

2006-02-14T15:44:00.000-08:00

Well, as the Daily Show put it, Cheney shot a man in his face (amusing show, by the way). In actuality, it probably wasn't in his face, but I doubt that he would like to be shot anyway. To make things worse, MSNBC reported that he suffered a "silent" heart attack (story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11340558/)

. This is just not his day.
The press had a problem with this in that it took the White House 22 hours to report it. I can understand their need to delay the news about this, since this is terrible news and probably need to get as mcuh info as possible. Scott McClellan, however, was in his usual stance of not saying anything, even for things which he should obviously know, like if Cheney has a proper licence (which he didn't, but I won't fault him since it was a new program). I think McClellan has the most lax homework policy ever, since he doesn't need to.
Unless this was a very negligent event, the news networks are making too much of this. Yes, a man was shot (in his face), but aren't there more serious things to monitor?

A Half Life Series?

2006-02-12T16:17:00.000-08:00

No, it isn't anything on the television. At DICE, Valve announced that the previously announced Aftermath expansion pack is now Episode One (actually, shouldn't it be Episode two?), as the game will now be episodic, as per Sin Episodes. This means that each pack will be shorter, but cost less and probably get into number of expansions that Sims 1 and Everquest has gotten. All of this, you guessed it, is online only.
I, for one, don't like this. I tend not to buy anything online, and don't like the idea of digital only media. It took four hours for me to download the Half Life 2 demo; one half hour for the entire game (plus Counterstrike Source and Half Life 1 Source) from a DVD. Also, am I one of the few people who actually like to go to the store to buy stuff. Then again, I just like walking/driving anyway; buying things is just a good excuse for me to do so.
Also, I prefer to buy one package. I tend to wait until the tail end just so then I can get every expansion and the main game in one package (although I did make an exception for Half Life 2 after playing it at a LAN party). I won't buy any series on iTunes because there's no packages. I will buy series DVD's, because I can get a season in one package. Television is only good since you're only paying the cable bill; you're not paying for each program. I doubt radio, television, or even podcasts, as a recent example, would have their respective popularity if they had subscription fees for them.
I do hope that Valve has two options: buy single episodes or multple/all episodes; if only so I can get the latter.

Review: Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time

2006-02-11T14:10:00.000-08:00

The DS follow up to the successful Superstar Saga, Mario & Luigi marks the fifth RPG staring Mario, this time doubly. The story starts in the past, when Mario, Luigi and Peach are only toddlers. Shroobs, evil alien versions of the toads, invade the Mushroom Kingdom. In the present, Peach test drives E Gadd's (someone who I wished never appeared in any other game other then Luigi's Mansion) time machine, unknowingly porting directly to the invaded Kingdom. The elder Marios now partner up with their young selves to ward off the invasion and (once again, for the millionth time) save the Princess.

Graphics: Almost everything is done in 2D. The art direction is actually pretty good. Not much to say, since it is done mostly right and as expected.

Sound: Alike of Mario Kart, I was suprised by its quality. Mario and Luigi talk mostly in some form of Simish, but do occasionally mutter actual words, mostly in reference. Peach gets a similar treatment, but doesn't have as much screen time. E Gadd is the only other one with a voice, but resembles something from the Banjo games. Isn't it time for actual dialog, Nintendo? It works for the humor in this, but I still would like to hear more from our characters then random laughs and phrases that come from Ewoks.

Control: You use the pad to select/move, and the buttons correspond to a specific character's action, often context sensitive. It doesn't get too confusing, since most of the time you'll be in direct control of one set of Bros. at a time.

Gameplay: Here is where Mario & Luigi set themselves apart in the world of RPG's. The overworld isn't anything new, although when the Bros. are seperated, the top screen is used for the babies while the bottom screen for the elders. Mostly it is used with one set activating buttons while the other actually move. Otherwise, the action isn't much different then what we saw out of Mario RPG on the SNES.
The battles, on the other hand, are far different then what we see out of normal RPG's. Each attack, whether yours or the enemy's, has a minigame type feel. Mario/Luigi/babies' normal attacks are fairly quick, with only a jump or hammer. But the Bros. Items activate a much longer, and often single-thumb twisting, game. Enemy attacks has you dodge attacks, sometimes countering, thus damaging, enemies.
This works to make a fast pace for the battles, where one can't relax. Since health is often low in comparison to other RPG's, you can't really just sac a turn. It puts up plenty of variety in battles.
The second screen...well...doesn't do as much. It is used about 20% of the time and is inventive when used. But most of the time, it has a random wallpaper up that doesn't serve the gameplay until that 20% hits. While it is a good philosophy of not using something unless actually needed, more should have been done with it.

Overall, it is a fun game. Those who don't like RPG's due to the lack of action will love Partners in Time. It will suprise you when you first play, but the game will feel short, which is the major problem with it. If you don't mind that problem, go ahead and get this game. If anything, get this game for the leet Bros (the only moment where I can say it is better to have text vs. voice dialog).

Graphics: 8/10
Sound: 8/10
Control: 10/10 (how can they screw it up?)
Gameplay: 9/10
Personal rating: 8.5/10
Buyability: 4/5

Rove's Threatdown

2006-02-07T18:58:00.000-08:00

As reported on Countdown, Karl Rove has said that any Republican that talks against the NSA wiretap will get on a list in which the White House won't support for upcomming elections.
Lets face it, when Rove, in speaking for the Bush Administration, has to threaten (throwing another attack on dissent) on his own party, you know they're in trouble. It also is a terrible move, since people still remember the blacklisting that happened during the McCarthy era (see Wikipedia bio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_McCarthy).
It also is troubling to find paralells between the controversy in 1978 that created FISA and the current one. The major one, as the New York Times pointed out last week, was the defense. The Nixon White House gave the same defense, national security, as the Bush White House has.
While I highly doubt Bush would be impeached for this (unless the Democrats get a large majority in the Senate), this won't bode well for his career.

New Guild in WOW, E3 Won't be Bootylicious, and a great rant

2006-02-01T15:47:00.000-08:00

Blizzard has decided to ban a gay/lesbian friendly guild in World of Warcraft (story: http://www.wowinsider.com/2006/01/28/political-correctness-gone-mad/). Their rule citation may be off, citing: "Harassment - Sexual Orientation" because of solicitations for people to join the guild, but I can still see why they will want to ban such a guild. It would be akin to having a Liberal or Conservative Only guild, once that is up, the other will come up and there just won't be peace. I do have no doubt that some anti-gay guild will pop up at some point, although I do hope it won't gain any popularity whatsoever.
But someone in the Dreamstation.cc podcast pointed out that MMO's are a social place as well as gaming. I wouldn't mind having such guilds listed above around, just as long as they don't get too discourtious or ruin the game for others.
Then again, I don't play WOW, but I sure do like its coverage.

Then there's the ESA, who decided to start enforcing rules for models, aka booth babes (story: http://www.gamespot.com/news/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=24247233). I'm actually rather neutral on it. On one hand, it is the ESA's show and they can do whatever they want. I don't think it is a negative or positive thing, just different.
There is a debate going on whether these models should even be at E3. I'll just point out that these models are there to attract people to their booth (as in why they're called booth babes). While babes don't have much to do with gaming (like they do with cars), it certainly is a sound stratagy.

Last night, I did not watch Bush's speech. The reason: I simply had something better to do, eat dinner. I did, however, catch a good rant on Countdown, which you can view here: http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/002814.html#002814.

Completely Illogical

2006-01-31T19:59:00.000-08:00

No, I am not talking about Bill O'Reilly. Nor am I talking about Jack Thompson, who appearently got himself banned twice at Game Politics.
No, what I am talking about is my new router. I got it over the holiday break and use it mostly as a firewall and for my new Nintendo DS (which a Mario & Luigi review will be comming soon).
During initial setup at my college, it had problems with the internet. Considering the how the college sets up its service, I was frustrated but not suprised. After a call and a few days rangling with the darned thing, I got it working.
Then about a week ago, it stopped working. At the time, I was too tired (for other reasons) to deal with the problem, so I unplugged it. Then about a day later, I plugged it back in and it was fine. Confusing, but not that inconvienent.
Then a few days ago, it stopped working again. I rangled with it for a bit, then decided to unplug it and see if that would help. A few days later, it didn't. I went through essentially reseting the device and all the other things that I could. Then I decided just to give up for a while, hooked my internet straight to my computer, leaving the router plugged.
Then after going through some of the suggestions that the company puts up at their web site, I hooked the router back up to try them. Before I did anything, I tried to see if somehow I could access the Internet. Success.
Why does this happen? Randomly failing and succeeding. Nothing changes, but everything does.
There might be some philosophy in that, but mostly it just shows why computers are often called confusers.

Worst Person in Videogames: Jack Thompson Maxes Out Edition

2006-01-25T19:25:00.000-08:00

A little late with this, but I just now was in the mood to post.
Jack Thompson, through this past month, has proven to not only go to the same level as Pat Robertson or Bill O'Reilly, but can exceed them.
First, his suggestion that copies of 25 to Life should be taken off the shelves by cops. Citing a California law, his claim that the game is a threat to society shows that judical activism doesn't just occur in courts. Only Bush will cite such a law in such a way, but Thompson has done so in an even more insidious, demogogic way.
Then, when a gamer announced his suicide on a forum, Thompson took the worst and most inaccurate version of the event (accurate version here: http://gamepolitics.livejournal.com/182224.html), he made the worst comment one could ever make (I believe Gamepolitics has since taken down the original quote). He went on not only to use this sad death for his own ends, but went into full demogogic mode, including one long comparison of videogames to porn.
I would like to NOT write about Jack Thompson, but he just seems to do things so bad, that it can not go without comment. If you have a little extra money, donate here: http://flowersforjack.livejournal.com/

. I just hope Thompson doesn't literally blow up because of it; I tend to like Florida.

George Bush Hates Privacy

2006-01-20T17:41:00.000-08:00

Just as one would think that Bush and his administration would stop with tapping phones (which is severe on its own), here is another case of the government trying to get private information.
Now, as the New York Times and others have reported, the Justice Department is trying to get actual information on Google searches. Yes, all the searches that you and everyone else on the Internet have made.
The given reason: to prove that porn sites are too easy to access for minors. There is a law that has yet to go into effect due to court intervention. The law cites heavy penalties when a web site deals harm to a child, which includes porn. The courts has injected that filters can do a better job then the law.
So...now they're looking at something, in which is doing its job, and looking into your privacy without merit (there is no probable cause for EVERYONE) and for a law which already is iffy on 1st Amendment grounds in the first place. Thumbs down for the Justice Department.
However, Google is doing the right thing by refusing to cooperate. Yahoo has already confirmed themselves that they cooperated. You can start to see one reason why Google just can't be seen as an evil corporation: they just don't stab their customers in the back.

2006 Possible Year in Preview for Videogames

2006-01-16T16:36:00.000-08:00

One thing John C. Dvorak says is that predictions in tech are almost never right unless they know something no one else does. He's right in the tech industry because it is a much more nonlinear industry. Videogame, on the other hand, are a much more linear experience. Even with that, suprises do come along. So here is my predictions for the next 12 months.

Current Gen Home(PS2, X-Box, Gamecube): Last leg for these systems. Only Zelda will make any real headway for these systems. Few BIG games will come out, mostly because developers are preparing for the next gen. Mostly, games that were supposed to come out in 2005 will exist for this year.

X-Box 360: First, there will be a price drop in Nov. or Dec. by at least $50 for the actual (not core) unit. Don't expect the core unit to go down. Instead, it will either be eliminated (as in there will only be the real 360) or some new items put in, like wireless controllers.
Some rumors are going about that an improved hard drive will come out. I believe those are true, just not as a replacement for the one already in the 360. It will be more of a external hard drive.
The Live Marketplace will get alot more small & cheap games. Some ports, like the already anounced Street Fighter 2, will come along, but don't expect too many. Expect something like Darwinia (which I expect will go on the Marketplace around E3).
You will start to see 360's on shelves as Microsoft's production catches up, but don't expect a huge slowdown in sales for a while, although hype will definately will go down.
Also, no Halo, but expect something else from Bungie.

PS3: This will not be released anywhere until the holidays. This is based on the lack of real gameplay footage and nothing at CES. It will be released in the US and Japan around Thanksgiving at around $400.
The release of games will be about the same as the 360 launch, but a few games shorter.
The controller will be redesigned to be something more similar to the Dual Shock. No new functions, except maybe wireless.
And no Metal Gear Solid 4 nor Killzone 2. We'll see sequels, but nothing too far from what we're seeing this generation.

Somewhat both PS3 and 360: The competing HD formats, Blu-ray and HD-DVD, will merge in the summer as both sides realize how stupid this is. The PS3 will still have Blu-ray for games, but will have a seperate function for HD movies. The seperate player for the 360 will also come out, but for only a few hundred dollars. The HD disk players themselves will not be worth buying because of it.

Revolution: I will take the side that the console will keep the name Revolution, if not something similar. Launch day will be around Thanksgiving for US and Japan, priced around $150 (garenteed if you give or take $50).
The launch of games will be much better then the DS', having games of similar nature to what we saw out of the DS this last holiday season. Just don't expect anything considered console-seller quality, although do expect something that will be must buy.
You will see playable demos at E3, although not many from Nintendo.
Mario 128 will be out and a must have title, but Smash Bros. 3 won't come out until 2007.
The download service will succeed as third parties release their major hits on it. Expect Sega on board with Master and Genesis games.

PSP: It still won't get its must have game. If anything, it will still be known more for the multimedia features then for games. Modders will catch up a bit to the countermeasures that Sony has been putting out, but two new upgrades will slow them down a bit.

DS: The course has been set. What we saw from the DS in 2005 will be seen in 2006, just in much greater numbers. Now that third parties know what to do with the hardware, we will see them capitalize on it.
The WiFi service will be improved, but not by much. Demos may come out for the US and everywhere else, but not too many.

GBA: Umm...not that much. Nintendo may come out with a game or two, but I expect third parties may just abandon the last full 2D system almost completely.

There you have it. Not much, and most of it is safe, but that is how I see it. Really, we won't see a clear winner between the three, as the camps are only being set up. It will be E3 2007 is when we'll see who has the advantage for the next generation of consoles and portibles.

Cleaning Up DC?

2006-01-11T19:13:00.000-08:00

Somehow, Jack Abramoff has done something that no pundit or journalist has been able to do: force the politicians to go clean.
First, anyone who recieved any money from him found less in their coffers as they expell those funds either back to Abramoff or to some charity.
Next, we have Tom Delay resigning from his majority leader post (here: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=1479719) and some House Republicans are talking about possible changing the entire Republican leadership in the House, although only a replacement for majority leader is confirmed.
Then, as I read in the New York Times, ethics rules may change. While it would be impossible in almost any other time, a proposal to make ALL trips funded by third parties illegal. With money being an important part of this scandel, it would be hard for anyone, Democrat or Republican, to vote against such a measure. However, chances are still slim as it could die in committee through some other, quieter means.

This is only just the beginning. I have no doubt politics in the legislature will change, even if Republicans remain on top. Along with Bush's problems (mostly wire-taps right now), I'd expect politics to be in much better shape by the end of summer. I can't say it will last, but at least we may have something to look forward to.

Mario Kart DS Review

2006-01-10T15:24:00.000-08:00

Starting on a side note, some (ok, no one, since that's how many who are reading this) may have noticed a lack of posts here. That isn't because I'm having some crisis or another. It's just because no news story is really catching my eye lately. CES seemed to be a bust, and the Alito hearings have only started and are very predictable thus far. I'll try to put up more posts for anyone who is reading this (ie: no one), but I can't make any garentees. Now onto the main show.

When it comes to the "kart" racing genre, no one has come close to the original series of kart racers. Mario Kart just continues to make the only must have racers involving franchise characters and items in a racing environment. Mario Kart not only continues this tradition, but it also is the must have DS game.

Graphics: Visually, the graphics are about on par to mid-N64. The art design seems to be similar to Mario Kart Double Dash. But what makes the graphics stand out is the animation. With the exception of a few hickups in online play (slow connection), the framerate is always around 60 frames a second.
The Retro courses are all well done. All of them are mostly intact, although some changes were made to the GCN courses. The SNES and GBA courses all have been upgraded to mostly 3D graphics, all the while retaining their original feel. Even the GCN courses, while downgraded a bit, still retain much of their look from the original.
The new Nitro courses all look great and is a much better representation of what the DS can do. A few courses were designed after some Mario Bros. 3 levels, helping out the game's presentation.

Sound: The sound quality is another thing that suprised me. The sound not only was as good as the original Rogue Squadron game, but had a great surround sound for effect. While Double Dash may have better sound quality, the sound effects, and music, is much better in this game.

Control: Not much to say about this, because it is as you suspect. The touch screen isn't used except for the menu screens, and the button layout is exactly what one expects and will use. The only difference, and much useful one, is that B is not brake, but is actually reverse.

Gameplay: One wouldn't expect a map to be that much more useful for the second screen, but it adds alot. Fake boxes are now only noticable on the bottom screen. With it, one can avoid random shells and attack to the rear more easily.
The item placement is also much better then Double Dash. For one thing, second place has a chance (not that they do get red shells). A few new items come along, including the chomp-like (but less suicidal) Bullet Bill and the blinding squids, which forces more use of the second screen for navigation.
What makes this game really stand out is the courses. When I first got this game, I thought that I would virtually only play the Retro course. It turns out that the new courses were just as well made, some even becoming favorites, like Waluigi Pinball and Airship Fortress.
Single player wasn't an afterthought. The Vs. and Battle modes are now playable alone. Time Trials have automatic ghost saves. And there's a new mission mode, although that has limited play.
LAN Multiplayer (which I haven't played yet) has all the classics, but can now be played with upto eight people. Unfortunatly, there is only two battle modes, Shine Thief and Balloon Battle. Both are good (especially Balloon Battle, where you have to inflate balloons by blowing in the mic), but I do wish there was more. Where's Bom-bomb battle?
Online play is good, although limited. I did have some connection problems with Worldwide mode, but otherwise it was stable. If anything, all of my favorite Nitro courses were not selectable here. Also, it's impossible to have a friend pop up unless you have plenty of them or coordinate with them. While the service is simple and quick, it does limit alot of options that we're all used to on other online games.

Overall: This is the best of the Mario Kart series. It also is the must have DS game to get, and the reason to get a DS. While there are still a few flaws in it, it will still be an incredably good game to own.

Graphics: 9/10
Sound: 9/10
Control: 9.5/10
Gameplay: 9.5/10
Overall: 9/10
Buyability: 5/5: Get it now.

Bad Time for Gaming Entertainment

2006-01-08T19:19:00.000-08:00

Videogames crossing over into other mediums has always been problematic. Mostly, it has been adaptations of licenses, like Mortal Kombat and Mario Bros., that has basicly been mostly craptacular, never actually good.
Unfortunatly, Uwe Boll has released another craptacular film that is BloodRayne (see #40: http://www.imdb.com/chart/bottom).

Also on the bad list is Grandma's Boy, a film that wasn't shown to critics before release (often a sign that the film is bad).
Now on the bad getting worse list (remember, BloodRayne was ranked better then Alone in the Dark, so Boll is improving) is G4. Just this month, they have started to show Star Trek: The Next Generation. Nothing against the show, but I just can't help but think G4 has been moving from "Television for Gamers" to "Spike TV, but Crappier". The one original show that was actually about gaming, X-Play, seems to be less and less aired. Not only that, the glimmer of hope that was Call for Help (another former TechTV show) got cancelled after only a few months and not much of a chance to do well.
One problem is that videogames seem to be more of an excuse to make some money rather then making a good product. None of the original G4 shows were good, only ranging from time-killing watchable to utter crap. No movie to this day has been able to remain true to the source game AND be good (and unfortunatly, only the former was ever done). So, when is this going to change? Certainly not from Boll or G4.

When Gaming Meets Politics: More and More Legislation

2006-01-06T13:57:00.000-08:00

If you ever head on over to Gamepolitics, you will notice that practicly every other day, or at least once a week, more state legislators are proposing videogame laws, most based on failing or already failed legislation. Maryland, Indiana and Utah seem to be on the continuing list of states that are considering such legislation similar to those of California, Michigan or Illinois. This at a time when all of the latter states have had negative rulings against them, and doesn't look like they'll be upheld.
One judge has set the burdan of proof higher then what exists. Without any real evidence, as opposed to theories, these laws can't hold up in court. So why jump on the bandwagon when the Hot Coffee scandel is pretty much over?
Unfortunatly, the reason is that this is a way to show moderatism. Of all the legislation, only one that I have heard of is from a Republican. By introducing such legislation, it is a safe way for a Democrat to show that they can get along with conservatives.
So even with all these negative rulings, I highly doubt this chain of legislation will stop, even with the states that have passed the said legislation. What is going to happen is that after a few months, a new version will be introduced, once again starting the circle of pointlessness.
Only when gamers become an important part of the electorate (ie: ones that vote in large numbers) will this series of legislation will stop. Or when people realize how pointless this is, but I doubt the latter.
Here's to hoping that 2006 doesn't become the year of videogame legislation.

Top 10: Gameranking's List

2006-01-03T12:09:00.000-08:00

If I had a much larger budget and more consoles, I would put up my own Top 10 of 2005. However, I have limited experience with the games released this year. Also, I have sent my Top 5 list to the Weekly Geek podcast (at www.weeklygeekshow.com), who can decide to put up the list or not.
Instead, I decided to look up what Gamerankings has for the Top 10 of the past 12 months. Here's the list from 10 to 1:

10. GTA: San Andreas (X-Box version): Certainly shows how good the game was that a port, with little to no new content, still made the top ten months after the original PS2 version was released.

9. Forza Mortorsport: I have heard good things about this game. I wish I could say more about this game, but there just wasn't much talk about it this past year. Don't know why, but I'm guessing World of Warcraft took the press time from this game.

8. Mario Kart DS: This game was the game that sold the Nintendo DS for me. The single player wasn't an afterthought, original courses that rival anything that Mario Kart 64 put out, enhanced versions (or just well done) of retro courses, smooth animation and great sound. This was the Mario Kart game to get.

7. Civilization 4: I'm not sure what to say about this game. I tried the original Civ. game, but just couldn't get into it. Civilization was among the first of the sandbox style of games, and this one seems to improve apon its predecessors.

6. Guitar Hero: This is a game I want to get (and wish I had the PS2 for it). It may not be a complete simulator, but it does a good job making one feel like a rock star. Music is important in this genre, and Guitar Hero certainly has a great song list. Undoubtably the music game of the year.

5. God of War: One of the games that probably was planned for 2004, God of War was one of the best action games this year. As X-Play even stated, even usual mundane tasks (escort missions) was made fun in this game. Can the developer do any better?

4. Ninja Gaiden Black: It may have been an enhancement of an old game (which is actually why I wouldn't put Pokemon Emerald on any top list), it's a testament on how good the original is. It was made even harder, and there's new weapons to play with. It may not be original, but it still was more fun then 95% of the stuff out there.

3. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory (X-Box version): Released not too long after Pandora Tomarrow, Chaos Theory one-uped its predecessor with a new coop mode. While the core gameplay of the Splinter Cell series may be the same, the expanded gameplay modes helps keep the series frest and worth it for any owner of previous titles. It's just too bad that the Gamecube version was still screwed (with the lack of online).

2. Resident Evil 4 (PS2 version): The graphics only had a minor (almost unnoticable) downgrade, but all the gameplay stayed the same. Capcom even added a new mission mode and new weapons for PS2 owners, who had to wait.

1. Resident Evil 4 (Gamecube version): The original version, it would have taken game of the year for 2004 (if it wasn't for the delay). Graphics that rival anything out there, sound and environment that will scare the crap out of you, and actually fun gameplay. Capcom finally turned Resident Evil from a cinematic experience to a real game, one that puts it among the best games ever.

I just though it would have been interesting to see Gameranking's list, since other lists may have other preferences, or even forget games entirely due to time (see Weekly Geeks' recent post).

The Year in Review: Politics 2005

2005-12-29T08:24:00.000-08:00

The year started out well for Bush, then went bust (to say the least). Winners were few this year, mostly because Democrats just failed to catch onto the discontent that has been brewing.

Social Security: Not a secure plan
Bush started out the year by attempting to change one of the biggest programs in the US. The claim: Social Security is about to collapse on itself and thus, changing it so then part of the investments put into it would instead go to private (albiet, low risk) investments instead.
I have no doubt that Bush made the case that Social Security was failing, mostly because that claim was true. However, by introducing a risk-involved change into a program designed to be risk-free, it just didn't go well with people. This was one of the first programs Bush proposed that congressional Republicans just couldn't go with. When a Republican proposal can't be a sure thing in a Rupublican-controlled House, you know something is wrong with the proposal. After a few months of attempted bargaining, the proposal was quietly put to rest, marking Bush's first major failure as President.

Sheehan: Protests on Iraq increase
Cindy Sheehan somehow started something no Democrat could: actually rally people together against the war in Iraq. Sheehan, being a mother of a fallen soldier, was able to garner enough credibility and air-time that rallied more people then ever to the debate.
This would be enhanced by increased deaths in Iraq, including the 2000 soldiers dead mark being exceeded.
A few Democrats, like Hillary Clinton, would come out to say they dislike the policy, but not to retreat from Iraq. Some call for a policy change, which some claim the Bush Administration silently put into effect.
Then there was Mertha. Congressmen Mertha came out against the war, then some stupid Republican called him a traitor (in similar words, I forget who said it, luckily for them). This was quickly retracted (as in after a short break that day), and caused Republican retaliation to be greatly reduced, in quanity and veracity.

Katrina: How confidence was lost
One of Bush Sr's mistakes was a lack of reaction to one hurricane hit. Bush made note not to make the same mistake in 2004, but should have remembered it after his celebration.
Katrina hit New Orleans hard, and the lack of federal aid for several days put one of Bush's claims to serious doubt: that he would protect the nation and react according to any suprises.
Bush made the mistake of not doing anything himself for the few days that Katrina was almost exclusivly in the news. He even went to rallies, and even sung at one.
Then there was Browny. It was not only quickly revealed that Brown was underqualified for leading FEMA, but was later revealed that he wasn't even working before, during or after Katrina hit. He will forever be known as the ultimate screw-off in a time which anyone (well, other then him) would do the opposite.
This would also put to doubt FEMA's placement into the Department of Homeland Security, since one problem was that it created additional hoops for FEMA aid.
Other failures was in organization, including the long-tracked escapades of trucks carrying ice for the Gulf Coast, but was sent all over the country, ultimatly ending up in storage.

NSA: Too secure?
Recently, the New York Times revealed that the NSA was spying on domestic phone calls without getting a warrent. Bush has attempted to claim that congress, even if inadvertantly, authorized the programs, but news organizations and even Republican members of congress are not buying it. Next year, congress will investigate into the matter.
This controversy is new, and will be going into 2006 easily until the spring.

Plamegate: Top Administration officals targeted
The CIA leak was a small issue for Bush in 2004, but would erupt in 2005 when the investigation was comming to a close (and still is). When implications pointed to Carl Rove, the press erupted with bad news. Eventually, "Scooter" Libby would be indicted for purgery. However, the investigation is still going on, and Rove is still said to be a target in the investigation.

Supreme Court: Bush's best and worst
When Sandra Day O'Conner announcer her intention to retire from the Supreme Court, Bush announced his stealth nomination of John Roberts. While Democrats attempted to set the bar in scruteny for any future nominations, most would vote for Roberts when he would replace Renquist when he died this year, also marking the greatest political death this year.
Then Bush nominated Miers, which didn't go well with Republicans. Some Democrats came out in support for the non-judge nominee, but hardcore Republicans called for a obvious conservative to the bench. The nomination was the worst since Bork, and Meirs would retract the nomination (ie: falling on a sword for Bush). Later, Bush would nominate Alito, but confirmation hearings would wait for 2006.

This past year was certainly one which Bush would forget, and hope history does as well. From his failure in Social Security, to Katrina, this year was one which Bush would face the most critism, and one which the press would actually gain a backbone. After Katrina, the press would actually look for differences in Administration comments and reality. Democrats could have rode in for the save, but somehow couldn't get a policy that people could relate to. However, Republicans are now stepping away from almost universal support of Bush.
The only thing that can be predicted of next year is that a new member of the Supreme Court will be confirmed. If that will be Alito or someone else, who can tell? With 2006 being an election year, it will definately be more eventful then this year, if that's possible.