The Stout Republican

From Metroid…and to a Waltz timing. A rendition of one of the best video game songs ever written.

Video Game

As you may know (all 3 dedicates readers), I work in the Video Game Industry, so I follow developments at both the professional and the personal level. The industry is struggling a bit right now, and there’s been some “restructuring” with some companies as they trim that fat…but that saide, I’m actually floored lately at the good products that the company I work for…and companies we compete against.

Note:
Fallout 3 – (Amazing!!!)
Mirrors Edge
Silent Hill: Homecomings
Dead Space
Call of Duty: World at War
Left 4 Dead

What else am I missing?

Regardless, the video game industry has come a long way since Karnov and Fina Fantasy 2.

Video Game

I’m stuck. More important than the Obama/McCain decision facing us is..

TurboGrafx 16 vs NES…

I don’t know. NES is less expensive, more nostalgic…but the games are slightly more low tech, and really, there’s something sexy about the 16 bit excellence of the TG 16 that the 8 bit standard just doesn’t offer.

I mean, I know I’m going to get one (the wife has given me permission for my birthday), but which one? The decision is paramount! Directed at PR…I know the Famicom has the dual unit SNES and NES system (I already have the SNES), but I’m going for classic and original here people…it’s gotta be the original. It’s Mario vs Bonk. Castlevania vs Splatterhouse. I expect discussion on this thread people, I’m pleading for help. The clock is counting down and I don’t want to make any hasty decisions.

Video Game

So I’ve been on a vintage game kick lately…buying up all the old games and systems I come across while they’re still on the cheap. So far I’ve got (system wise) Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Sega CD and Sega Genesis, Sega Dreamcast, PS2, PS3, PSP, and XBox 360. I’m wanting to get a PS1 original, Jaguar, Turbo Graphx 16, Saturn, Regular Nintendo (they’re $50 now!), 3DO, Neo Geo (really expensive), Atari, Caleco Vision, and baiscally anything else you can think of….

Recently I got Shadow Dancer, the Secret of Shinobi for Sega Genesis.

Classic 2-D side scroller ninja game, much like Ninja Gaiden.

My wife put it best, “Shinobi’s Secret is that he dies after one hit.”

Indeed.

Video Game

Gamestop makes my day!

If you pre-order Hellgate: London through their website, you get an exclusive invite to the Beta run…which only means a month extra play ahead of time before they reset you account and make you start all over in the “real” one…but what the hell…why not!

This has been a long counting down on my part. Look, I’ve reserved Halo 3, I’m stoked about Rock Band…but this game is right up my alley. I’ve talked about it before, but I’m putting a lot of stock into the idea that this game can revitalize the MMO genre…

While not necessarily the best in politics (Betray Us…pshhhh), at least the NY Times recognizes this enough to put it into their arts section:

Many, many contenders have tried to exceed, or even just match, Diablo’s addictive combination of randomized levels, easy yet deep combat and, of course, “slot machine”-style loot, where every monster just might drop that superpowerful item you’ve been hoping for. All have failed to approach the polish of the Diablo series. Hellgate, on the other hand, just might, and not least because many of the game’s senior designers defected from Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo team to strike out on their own.

As always, get the skinny from HellgateGuru.

Read more…

Video Game

After a long discussion with the local manager at Gamestop (where we both waxed intellectual about the properties of what makes an MMORPG fantastic…I think the conclusion was, if we like it, it’s good, because our tastes are so refined, if we like, the game is quality, if not, the developers need to be fired and sent to work for the perpetually disappointing NCsoft), I heard about the new MMORPG that is going to be released, as word has it, by former folks of Blizzard (rumor rumor…I am simply regurgitating the spoken word) over at Flagship studios. The title? Hellgate London.

Now that this means for video game zealots is that the peeps that brought you Diablo, are bringing you another Hellfire rich, immersive story about the struggle of good versus evil. From their site:

London, 2038.

According to legend, when the ravens depart the Tower of London, it will crumble to rubble and disaster will befall England. As man became more dependent on science, believing only in what he could define or create, ancient knowledge and rituals were lost to the antiquity of time. Prophecies that had stood as warning for untold generations were seen as archaic folly or ignorant superstition; so when the harbingers of evil began to manifest, few saw and fewer believed.

When the demons finally came, there was little that stood in their way.

Emerging from the swirling chaotic Hellgate, they overwhelmed humanity’s defenses quickly and systematically. Even the nuclear and biological weaponry employed by a few desperate nations did little more than slow the apocalypse. The nature of the demons’ attack presented little in the way of strategic military targets to the generals of mankind’s armies. With no obvious headquarters to bombard, visible supply lines to cut, or known leaders to assassinate, the usual tactics of war were useless.

…

Amazing story. The cinematics look superb, and the gameplay…well, we still have yet to see, things miiiiiggghhtt fall apart. The mythology though is classic. There are supposed to be several different modes of gameplay available to the user. Free, subscription (which offers more quests and more items), and then the classic Diablo-style, “one life to live” mode…which in an MMORPG is pretty ballsy. You die once, you’re done. Game over. Make a new character. Definitely would drive one to be a bit more…conservative (teehee) with their game play.

Word has it that the game will also be equipped with American Democratic politicians, who try to reason with the Demons, and Kucinich is said to make an appearance, and in a brilliant CGI sequence, ask who we are to judge their lifestyle and cultural choices. France probably already long since surrendered again, and Hitler’s armies from Hell march on Paris again. None of that is true of course, but it would ad an interesting dynamic to the game. Imagine having to fight them with only golf clubs because assault weapons are banned…hey, you wouldn’t want to point a gun at them and possibly escalate the situation…or, if you do have weapons, you have to make sure the ACLU isn’t around when you attempt to save civilians…otherwise you might be tried for war crimes. You’ll also be equipped with silk zip ties, so you can peacefully detain the Hellspawn in an attempt to rehabilitate them, maybe they were abused by their parents…who are we to judge…remember boys and girls, there is no evil, just a large spectrum of assorted degrees of gray.

Now that I’ve got my rocks off on cheap political points…the game I think speaks for itself. Diablo developers, hybrid views for both first person shooter style play if your weapon is a firearm, or the traditional chaser camera if your weapon of choice is magic. Simply delicious.

We’ll see as the -08 release approaches. There’s a lot of hype around this one.

UPDATE AND CORRECTION: Scapes, the Hellgate Guru, corrects me.

A few corrections. First, it is no rumor that Flagship Studios’ founding members were originally part of Blizzard North, previously known as Condor. They left Blizzard around the time World Of Warcraft released. Second, the release window is set for Summer of this year, not 2008. Third, cheap (and pointless) political points, indeed.

If you’re a video game junkie…check out the site, TONS of great info. I try to defer to the experts, and Scapes seems to be one.

Video Game