Hi Everyone,
Episode 2 is out on kmk.podbean.com the audio should be a little bit cleaner than last time. Tomorrow I should get around to writing a little bit on here....I promise...for what that;s worth.
-Nigel
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Podcast
Hey everyone,
I just got my podcast up at kmk.podbean.com give it a listen...It's rough, I know, but check it out.
-Nigel
I just got my podcast up at kmk.podbean.com give it a listen...It's rough, I know, but check it out.
-Nigel
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Back from a long hiatus
Hey Everyone,
I am back, I plan on writing finally. School is crazy and everything that you would expect.
Just a quick update saying I am back, I will be changing the blog to include everything that I am into and not just games. Hope you enjoy when I get around to posting a real post.
-Nigel
I am back, I plan on writing finally. School is crazy and everything that you would expect.
Just a quick update saying I am back, I will be changing the blog to include everything that I am into and not just games. Hope you enjoy when I get around to posting a real post.
-Nigel
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Ultra Violence on Wii
I am, one would say, late to the party on a lot of video game issues. I have been itching to play Madworld, I am a student however, and therefore have no real money for gaming, what with tuition and all. What I do have, is enough money for a Gamefly subscription, so I played through a couple of games, and then Madworld arrived.
I will say, I played the game for a mere 2 hours before turning it off in sheer and utter boredom. There are so many things wrong with this game. The combat is repetitive. It consists of limiting an enemies arm movement jabbing something into said enemies face and then throwing that enemy into spikes. This sounds as if it would be something poised for greatness, it turns out that doing the same thing over and over with poor controls isn't that fun after all.
I am not trying to review the game, what I want to bring up is that recently analysts said ultra violence on Wii and DS wont sell well. My response: How wrong you might be. I feel ultra violence could sell well on Wii or DS, but how often is it said of Wii games that it's controls are awful. Who can make good Nintendo Wii games? I'll tell you, Nintendo. They know how to make their controller work properly as well they should.
What needs to happen, is that there needs to be someone who understands what good controls on games are, and step up and take a risk with a Mature themed game. "Oh Nigel they can't do that, it would be suicide." I say that taking risks is what is going to push this medium forward.
At any rate, make a better game and you will see that ultra violence will sell just fine on Wii just like everything else.
I will say, I played the game for a mere 2 hours before turning it off in sheer and utter boredom. There are so many things wrong with this game. The combat is repetitive. It consists of limiting an enemies arm movement jabbing something into said enemies face and then throwing that enemy into spikes. This sounds as if it would be something poised for greatness, it turns out that doing the same thing over and over with poor controls isn't that fun after all.
I am not trying to review the game, what I want to bring up is that recently analysts said ultra violence on Wii and DS wont sell well. My response: How wrong you might be. I feel ultra violence could sell well on Wii or DS, but how often is it said of Wii games that it's controls are awful. Who can make good Nintendo Wii games? I'll tell you, Nintendo. They know how to make their controller work properly as well they should.
What needs to happen, is that there needs to be someone who understands what good controls on games are, and step up and take a risk with a Mature themed game. "Oh Nigel they can't do that, it would be suicide." I say that taking risks is what is going to push this medium forward.
At any rate, make a better game and you will see that ultra violence will sell just fine on Wii just like everything else.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
From the ashes.
I have recently been in a slump and seeing is how I really only write about once a month I figured I would look at what drives me to write at all. I have come to the conclusion that I write so that others can read. I am going to focus now more on media in general and give opinions on movies I see, books which I read which is a lot less than I would like, and games I play.
This week I have been playing Bully for eat-sleep-game.com Game Club, where listeners have the opportunity to go back into their pile of shame and play a game all the way through and have a discussion on the games flaws and also where the game does well.
From the start a question has arisen in my mind, and that is this, was there a fuss over the content that is in Bully? Admittedly I have not done my research, but the question stands. I find the content in Bully to be far more disturbing than that of any GTA or Resident Evil or any other game which has been put on the controversy cutting board. I don't know what dictates what makes us feel disturbed and what doesn't but I have a feeling that in this particular case it has something to do with kids, and their portrayal as sadistic and twisted.
I am only 12 percent done with the game according to the progress tracker in the game, but I still feel that this game has the potential to be a game that really makes me question the way I feel about violence on some level. I am not however going to condemn the game just as I wont condemn a film such as American History X for putting something in front of me that I may not feel comfortable with.
As far as the game mechanics are concerned I have had a little trouble with the camera, but in the games defense it is a little more dated than games that I have been playing recently. I am enjoying the games story and am interested in seeing where the it is taken. I am also excited to see where the direction of the character is going to be taken. For me it is hard to feel comfortable playing as a character who is a bully, I feel as though it again has something to do with the social constraints placed upon us in society that tell us that children are supposed to be innocent and when that constraint is then lifted I feel that audiences might be a little apprehensive to do the things that are asked of them.
I also have recently finished watching Noise featuring Tim Robbins and William Hurt. The movie was decent.
Tim Robbins plays a man who can no longer take the noise in his city, this drives him to a boiling point which makes him take on the persona as the Rectifier. His mission, to destroy all car alarms and let the owners of the vehicles know that they have not only wronged him but have wronged society. I feel as if the progression of his character lacked something for people to connect to. I mean I guess a hatred of noise, but I don't feel that was a connection that would make people want him to win against William Hurt's character, who is only looking to put the Rectifier away for a long time.
The movie borders comedy and drama not doing either very well for very long. I enjoyed the movie strictly for entertainment, but yet again, I feel that it didn't really have any depth to it. If I had to rate it, I would have to stick it in the C+ B- range.
On that remark I would like to echo so many who have come before me. Ratings are purely Relative. I am subjected to material and I rate said material based on how I feel towards it. Therefore opinions and ratings should be taken with a grain of salt. The reason they exist is for advertising if anything else. If you say a movie or a game is an A+ people can put a finger on that. They can have a sense of what they should expect. Then the people who hate the game or movie complain for a while at how the critics have some bias or some other such non-sense. The point of a review is to try and give people a general idea of what they are going to be getting themselves into before they exchange their money for goods and services. The best way to read reviews is to find one or two people whose opinion generally matches yours and that you like to read so that you can actually read something worthwhile while learning about a particular medium. Conversely you could read someone who you like to read but whose opinion completely differs from yours.
Well, that's the rant for today and it feels good to be writing again...even if no one is reading me.
This week I have been playing Bully for eat-sleep-game.com Game Club, where listeners have the opportunity to go back into their pile of shame and play a game all the way through and have a discussion on the games flaws and also where the game does well.
From the start a question has arisen in my mind, and that is this, was there a fuss over the content that is in Bully? Admittedly I have not done my research, but the question stands. I find the content in Bully to be far more disturbing than that of any GTA or Resident Evil or any other game which has been put on the controversy cutting board. I don't know what dictates what makes us feel disturbed and what doesn't but I have a feeling that in this particular case it has something to do with kids, and their portrayal as sadistic and twisted.
I am only 12 percent done with the game according to the progress tracker in the game, but I still feel that this game has the potential to be a game that really makes me question the way I feel about violence on some level. I am not however going to condemn the game just as I wont condemn a film such as American History X for putting something in front of me that I may not feel comfortable with.
As far as the game mechanics are concerned I have had a little trouble with the camera, but in the games defense it is a little more dated than games that I have been playing recently. I am enjoying the games story and am interested in seeing where the it is taken. I am also excited to see where the direction of the character is going to be taken. For me it is hard to feel comfortable playing as a character who is a bully, I feel as though it again has something to do with the social constraints placed upon us in society that tell us that children are supposed to be innocent and when that constraint is then lifted I feel that audiences might be a little apprehensive to do the things that are asked of them.
I also have recently finished watching Noise featuring Tim Robbins and William Hurt. The movie was decent.
Tim Robbins plays a man who can no longer take the noise in his city, this drives him to a boiling point which makes him take on the persona as the Rectifier. His mission, to destroy all car alarms and let the owners of the vehicles know that they have not only wronged him but have wronged society. I feel as if the progression of his character lacked something for people to connect to. I mean I guess a hatred of noise, but I don't feel that was a connection that would make people want him to win against William Hurt's character, who is only looking to put the Rectifier away for a long time.
The movie borders comedy and drama not doing either very well for very long. I enjoyed the movie strictly for entertainment, but yet again, I feel that it didn't really have any depth to it. If I had to rate it, I would have to stick it in the C+ B- range.
On that remark I would like to echo so many who have come before me. Ratings are purely Relative. I am subjected to material and I rate said material based on how I feel towards it. Therefore opinions and ratings should be taken with a grain of salt. The reason they exist is for advertising if anything else. If you say a movie or a game is an A+ people can put a finger on that. They can have a sense of what they should expect. Then the people who hate the game or movie complain for a while at how the critics have some bias or some other such non-sense. The point of a review is to try and give people a general idea of what they are going to be getting themselves into before they exchange their money for goods and services. The best way to read reviews is to find one or two people whose opinion generally matches yours and that you like to read so that you can actually read something worthwhile while learning about a particular medium. Conversely you could read someone who you like to read but whose opinion completely differs from yours.
Well, that's the rant for today and it feels good to be writing again...even if no one is reading me.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Death of a dream
Last post I talked about my optimism of being a Games Journalist, if you can call it that. I have however looked at the job market and the way things work and am probably going to study History and maybe just keep my writing as a hobby. I will continue to review games and the like but I have unfortunately seen that life doesn't always give you what you want.
That being said. I am still working on Half-Life 2, I am also working on Oblivion which I finally understand which will make Fallout 3 REALLY enjoyable. Something I really enjoy about gaming is the joy you receive when you finally get a game that everyone raves about. On the other hand it is frustrating when you see why a game is terrible and everyone likes it.
Well Hopefully this all works out and if you are out there and you are looking for your dream job and it's looking slim I would recommend keeping with it even though I might not.
That being said. I am still working on Half-Life 2, I am also working on Oblivion which I finally understand which will make Fallout 3 REALLY enjoyable. Something I really enjoy about gaming is the joy you receive when you finally get a game that everyone raves about. On the other hand it is frustrating when you see why a game is terrible and everyone likes it.
Well Hopefully this all works out and if you are out there and you are looking for your dream job and it's looking slim I would recommend keeping with it even though I might not.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Sucked back in
With the closing of 1up.com I thought that I would no longer want to pursue a career in games journalism or journalism as a whole for that matter. Jokes on me, I can't get away.
1up's closure has hit the gaming community pretty hard. I for one thought that I might be a teacher or something, but I continued to look at gaming sites this past week and I realized that I can't get away. The draw to do what I love is still there and if anything I no want to work harder in order to create something like old 1up's caliber.
On a side note, I started playing Half-Life 2 for the first time and I am starting to enjoy it. I can only handle it in limited spurts only because I am a baby and things get pretty hectic so I have to take a breather. It is amazing that the game still after all this time looks so good.
1up's closure has hit the gaming community pretty hard. I for one thought that I might be a teacher or something, but I continued to look at gaming sites this past week and I realized that I can't get away. The draw to do what I love is still there and if anything I no want to work harder in order to create something like old 1up's caliber.
On a side note, I started playing Half-Life 2 for the first time and I am starting to enjoy it. I can only handle it in limited spurts only because I am a baby and things get pretty hectic so I have to take a breather. It is amazing that the game still after all this time looks so good.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
