August 1st

Happy August First! Some new tips to expect this month...

New reviews

Bringing back the retro game of week

New Ingame Stories and bits of fiction

MMO Report of the month

Gameplay videos as i linked this blog to my youtube

AND MORE...STAY TUNED

First Thoughts On Catherine

After Picking up Catherine Deluxe Edition for the xbox 360 I was eager to try it out. I looked through all the stuff that came with it and then put the game in and played for a good 3 hrs or so. The gameplay was suprisingly well played with puzzles every couple minutes and cutscenes in between to make the game mainly story. Hell the only reason I played the puzzles was to see what happened next and the story is good enough to where it works out perfectly. Catherine had parts where i was on the edge of my seat trying to watch what would happen next and I ended up really excited whenever I saw a new cutscene. My major shock came from the difficulty. Even on easy the later levels became killer hard and Hard mode kept me on level 2 for 30 minutes straight T_T. Anyway check out my review july 28th for more on what happens with this game

In Other News

Hey guys no review yet because my next review will be on the game Catherine for the PS3 and the Xbox and it is set to hit July 26th, 2011.

Until Then though I will have a few tips to get you set and not suffering as bad waiting for the newest games to hit the market.

Tip 1-MMO's. The worlds biggest time killer does work until those new games hit the market. For instance recently I restarted World of Warcraft and it has kept me occupied while waiting for the latest games making it enjoyable. It also takes out the game depression by being different than the game releases taking my mind off of it.

Tip 2- Hang out with friends. Friends can take your mind of the video game until release unless they love that series like you then well you wont forget it as you will talk about it constantly.

Tip 3- Watch movies. Movies can pass the time by wiping your mind clean of the game during the movie. Any movies you like just watch them.

Tip 4-Shopping. Whenever the others don't work I go shopping. Usually seeing all that cool stuff in the windows and such will take your mind off of the games. Just avoid gamestop.

Lastly Find something a group of you can do such as lazer tag and stuff to keep yourself busy.

Follow these tips and you may find the newest game releases are hours away instead of forever away

Why the Sega Saturn Failed

The Sega Saturn was not a huge hit despite revolutionary games and great graphics. Why you ask? Well for one in the past sega has experianced alot of failures with systems such as the Sega 32x and the Sega CD. People just did not trust Sega anymore due to all of these failures and that contributed to the failure of the Sega Saturn. Also the marketing was not the best out there so it did not really help the Saturn either.

When the Sega Saturn entered the market it's competition was against Sony and its Playstation and the Nintendo 64. Of course though the incredible reputation this system and the company got from the Sega Genisis did give them a pretty good start. Also something that did not help the Saturn was the fact the President of Sega Tom Kalinske announced that "Saturnday" as it was dubbed was a ruse and it was available the very day he announced this. This caught all sorts of retailers off guard like Walmart and some other places(Toys R Us included).

This move shocked retailers and even game developers as they did not know the actual release date of the Saturn they could not finish games in time for the release date. Also on top of that the Saturn was a whopping $399 100 dollars more than the Sony Playstation. Now another reason the system failed was due to its massive rush to market (first is not the best always). It also had 2 chips each one slightly slower than the Playstation and made games hard to program to the saturn. The 2 chips made it stronger than the Playstation but since it had 2 chips and a small user base developers chose the Playstation over the Saturn due to the Playstations huge fan base and easy to program ability.

Of course with the Playstation releasing games so quick it ended up getting the massive attention due to such a huge library of games. Also the Playstation and its huge pockets bought exclusive rights to game titles meaning saturn didnt get any of them and was left without good titles. Sega of Japan and Sega of America also did not communicate like they were supposed to and they did not release alot of good japanese games in the U.S. therefore meaning many good games never saw release. So this meant that the system was already at a disadvantage early on and it stayed that way and then died out and Sony took over the market along with Nintendo

Playing at a Gaming Lounge VS Home

Ok so yes this might be somewhat biased considering I work at a gaming lounge known as Strafe but still I thought about it and ima list the pros and cons of both and say my own opinion and all as usual.


Video Gaming Lounges-

Video game lounges are places you go to and pay a set amount for an hour or the whole day and you play their library of games.

Pros- You can enter tournaments making it more competitive than home often

You can meet new people and make new friends there

You can usually play the latest and greatest and get to beat them

You can also bring your accounts in and earn stuff on them

You can also have a sense of community hooking up with random people there and having a good old time

The connection for games is usually top notch

Cons- The price to enter can be bad as it isnt exactly free

If the gaming lounge doesn't get games quickly enough you may only be stuck with old games or lack of variety

If the staff aren't friendly or know about video games then you may find yourself frustrated with the people working there

Sometimes the sounds can make you go deaf especially if you work there


Home-

Ahh Home the place of homing. The place where video games are played most after buying.

Pros-

You can relax and play games with any setup you want seeing as it's your home

You can oftentimes play games that general public won't let you play

You have the comfort of your home

Wont have to pay by the hour

Cons-

Won't have the sense of community unless you have a ton of systems and also a ton of friends nearby

The connection of the game often depends on how much you are willing to pay out of pocket

Won't have the latest games day of release unless your willing to buy them yourself

Library of games may not be as big unless your willing to buy alot


Honestly Gaming Lounges are great to play at especially if you want the community, Latest games, and the ability to play with little lag. Home may be more personal but it lacks the community and the latest games are only there if you pay out of pocket directly making it expensive. Considering im almost never home my gaming is done at work when not busy and honestly I love being able to join random customers and play and talk with them and be able to chat afterwards. I also love how knifing on Gun Game at work got the Damnit Jon club started and is spreading wildly to this day. So if a gaming lounge is in your area check it out you may like it

Playing with Friends VS Strangers

OK guys im here today to talk about something thats affected my gaming experience recently. Recently I have been playing with friends and then when I go online to play randomly I end up shutting the game off and the question is why.

Well when playing with friends I enjoy myself more because it is with friends and we can joke and work like a team. With strangers the comfort and community feeling don't seem there making it harder to play online.

Also Playing with friends has allotted me some of the funniest stories out there of in game experience that has rushed around where I live like wildfire. For instance in Battlefield Bad Company 2 I was rushing to heal my friends Crayon and Rob's tank when they got into a fight with a tank. Well being the engineer I am I rush to help them and the tank shot misses them by an inch and hits me in the chest directly and my friend Paul was laughing and saying he saw the whole thing and I pulled a rag-doll effect. Stuff like that for some reason doesn't like to happen with strangers.

Enough of personal preference let us see the pros and cons of playing with friends vs strangers


Pros of Friends

-More enjoyable experience as you know them and can have a better time

-More communication between you and friends as you guys know eachother in real life making communications easier

-Funny stuff seems to happen more with friends than strangers

Cons

-Less playing time online so less time to get better

-Friends might try to annoy you

-Friends more often than not will take advantage of your hospitality and hide behind you when killer objects fly making you the primary target

-Friends will alert your enemies if you make a joke about them in any way making you a big target

-Friends might want the object before you and as a warning shoot you in the back


Playing with strangers

Pros

-More time online

-Some have higher skill levels making you have a challenge

-Less likeliness of them messing around and a more direct approach

-Might become friends

Cons

-Complete strangers so less fun and communications

-possibility of more griefing

-Lack of comfortability

-Less likely to have alot of fun


These are some of the pros and cons of playing with friends and strangers. enjoy

Software Review-Steam

Hey guys first software review and it is on the Popular Software Steam.

Steam is a Cross-Platform Gaming Center per say that allows you to buy and play games, connect with friends, and participate in a very large community.

We will go over the tabs and the stuff with it

Store- The store in steam is where you buy all the games and they have some very good deals. Every Weekend deals go on and offer games for on the super cheap and they are downloaded second you buy them and then are available from your account on any PC that you download the game on as long as you have that account. It makes disks unnecessary and the thought of losing games nearly invalid. Gifting games is also easy because at check out you can either buy game for yourself or you can buy as a gift and gift it to a friend

Library- The Library is where all of your games are kept and they are kept in a nice and neat order with icons and everything making finding the game to play a breeze. Also has achievements listed in the library links to community stuff and more making it a very accessible area.


News- The news makes access to the latest gaming news simple and a breeze. It also has news affecting steam and many other parts making everything easy to stay updated.

Community- Community tab is where you can get your group invites, talk with friends, update profile, and make events and all.  The tab is very well organized with alot shown at once but in a nice way.

Steam makes everything simple. Buying Games, Downloading Games, and Talking/Playing with friends is all done simply and seamlessly. And since a steam account is free and some games are free you know what you should do? GET STEAM

Retro Game of the Week.

This weeks Retro Game of the Week goes to the Bullet-Time introductory game

Max Payne is a 3rd Person Shooter made back in 2001 by Remedy Entertainment. It got rated in the top 50 of best games of all time for its noir style and comic like cut scenes.

Graphics- The graphics were especially good for it's time and are aged to todays standards but not as bad as other games. They follow a gritty and psychotic sort of art style making the mood very fitting for the game.

Gameplay- The gameplay is 3rd-Person Shoot em up with bullet time effects added on. Bullet Time is when the world slows down and you can see bullets but you move in real-time giving you an advantage which this game sets up to be required often. At times there is platforming or puzzle but most of the time it is straightforward shooting. The game spans about 4 hours or so of gameplay and is known for a high difficulty level and frustrating puzzles.

Story- The story is about an undercover cop named Max Payne who goes on a vigilante massacre after his wife and kid are murdered on a drug case involving the very addicting drug Valkyr. He travels through the cities and tries his best to find out who killed his family while bringing down the mob, corrupt politicians, and drug rings.

Sound- The sound is on a general level good. The acting is pretty good and the sounds make the game psychotically creepy and sad. At times the sound doesn't seem to fit the level but 99% of the time it does.


My Opinion- This game is an excellent game that definitely deserved the BAFTA award. The game kept me hooked from start to finish, frustrating me at the right times and toning it down when I got to the point of smashing my keyboard in. I found it amusing how one guy could take down an entire mob and it seemed a bit cheesy when I started but after a bit of playing, I realized how much deeper and more disturbing this game was. Honestly I recommend a pickup.

Split Second Review

Hey guys and welcome to a review of the Disney racing game Split Second.

Split Second is a racing game where every thing changes and nothing is the same from turn to turn and lap to lap. Try to be on Split Second the brand new racing reality show and become the best. Let's see how well this racing game fares.

Graphics- The graphics make the game good to gaze at and make everything detailed and helps with the intensity of the game.

Gameplay- On the surface this game looks like a simpleton racing game but on the inside it is more complex. Power plays are obtained by drifting, jumping, and drafting and make this game have a mario kart sort of feel by activating hazards around the level to crash cars. You beat the game by running through episodes and trying to complete them all to be the top racer. There are tons of Race modes such as Air Raid when you try to dodge incoming missiles to regular racing.

Sound- The sound is suitable to the environment and helps with the intensity of the game. At times the sound can be a bit annoying or distracting but overall helpful to the mood

Opinion- This game is INTENSE. I was sitting on the edge of my seat the entire time trying to run through without being beaten and I was throughly impressed. All the different game modes make it fresh and new and still intense. Honestly I enjoyed playing this game to the point of disbelief

10 Strikes Bill Explanation and Thoughts

Congress will be voting on S. 978 aka the “10 Strikes Bill” that could put bloggers, your favorite websites, your family members or friends in jail for 5 years if they embed a video onto their website that has copyrighted material and its played 10 times.

 That means if you post a video of karaoke or your montage with copyrighted music in it and it gets 10+ views you get a free visit from the people arresting you and a free ride to jail for 5+ years. Now don't worry this doesn't effect EVERYONE only 85% or more of the internet.

This isn't right as the videos are pretty much free promotion. I have bought countless games and songs after watching these videos. Doesn't this violate the first amendment?

Anyway those of you who oppose send a message to your congressmen requesting opposition. Also feel free to leave a comment about your view on it.

Emulators- Legal or not?

I decided to clear this up as I have seen a lot of fighting on if emulation is illegal or legal and after long hours of research and contacting law firms I have cleared things up and will talk about them here.

Emulation it turns out IS legal under the case of Sony V Connectix when they copied the Sony Playstation BIOS to reverse engineer the Playstation to make the emulator. The courts decided nothing illegal was going on as long as they did not provide copies of BIOS images or ROM images they could use it. Emulators in themselves are not illegal as they fall under the Fair Usage terms.

ROM Images are legal ONLY if you own the game and its a backup for YOU and ONLY YOU. EX. If you have Zelda Ocarina of Time on the N64 and you want a back up and you get a ROM image of the game IT IS LEGAL. It is a backup of the game for you to have and therefore it falls under the Fair Usage Terms. If you distribute the ROM image around then it becomes illegal.
         
Quoted from multiple sites and 3 different law firms

Section 117 of the US Copyright Law gives the owner of a software package the right to make an additional copy under certain provisions. If you adhere to the provisions then making ROM images is perfectly legal. However, legislation has been passed to prevent software piracy that makes game copying devices illegal. Using such a device to create a ROM image makes the resulting image illegal as well. Also you have to remeber that there is a large amount of freeware / public domain roms that you can download from the internet, and only way to play them is to use emulator or a flash card!

ROM Images only become legal to distribute and such if it is for a discontinued system that manufacturers cannot make money off of and the copyrights for said system and ROM images are lifted due to the company no longer existing OR if the ROM Image is a public domain game or homebrew. EX. Arcade ROMS and Atari 2600 ROMS are legal due to the system being discontinued so no money whatsoever is being made on any part.

Flash Carts such as the R4 ARE legal if they are being used for legal purposes AKA Backups or public domain games and homebrew. They only become illegal if the flash carts are being used to play illegal copies of the games.

Hopefully this cleared up a bit and this blog post is now officially the longest researched post taking 3 weeks of intensive research.

Promotional Contest

Ok those who read my blog i have my first contest for some gamestop official medal of honor seat covers. Promote and have new readers who will be a regular reader sign up and post your name and most will win seat covers and a tshirt. Promo contest is over 3 weeks and here are rules

No messing with the other contestants

No bribing

No signing up or faking votes

Only counts if reads regularly over 3 week period and later and such

If rules need updated will update but good luck

Team Fotress 2 Review

I was asked recently "Jon im sick of Call of Duty and all those regular shooters. Whats a good team based shooter not like them?" I said why the game choice is obvious...

Team Fortress 2 is a class based shooter that took the world by storm way back when and is back to rock but let's see how this game really is...

Graphics- The Graphics are Colorful, Toony and Cel-Shaded. It really suits the game considering the game itself is very cartoon based.

Gameplay- The gameplay is like other FPS's as in you have a HUD and guns but also plays so differently. The whole game is team based and there are 9 classes to choose from and all have their differences.  The Classes are as follows:

Scout can run faster and jump higher but is weaker and can die quicker. Scouts can also Capture Points alot quicker than other classes. Scouts have a Scattergun, a Pistol, and a Bat. Effective at close range

Soldier- Soldier is the rocket launcher class. Soldier has mid range health, defense, and agility. The soldier is good for mid range combat as he wields a Rocket Launcher, a Shotgun, and a Shovel.

Pyro- The Flamethrower class of the game, the Pyro is able to detect disguised spies easily and is a medium build class. Weilds the Flamethrower, Shotgun, and Axe

Demoman- The Grenade/Pipe Bomb Launcher class the Demoman is a medium class mainly used for strategy to place stickys and explode them with enemies. He is a mainly defensive class. Wields the Sticky Launcher, Pipe Bomb Launcher, and the Bottle of Alcohol

Heavy- The Heavy is the tank of TF2. He moves slow takes alot of damage and kills really quickly. Often accompanied by a Medic with ubercharge ready. Wields a Gatling Gun, Shotgun, and Fists

Engineer- Engineer is a lightweight and the smart alek class of TF2. Is capable of building Turrets and such and can also teleport his teammates to designated areas. Wields the Shotgun, Pistol, Wrench, Builder, and Demolisher

 Medic- The Healer of the game Medics can heal and can make teammates invincible for short amounts of time. Can't shut up though so you can tell when Ubercharge is ready or if they are walking by voice commands. Wields a Healing Gun, Syringe Gun, and a Bonesaw

Sniper- Sniper is the sniper of TF2 and is a simple class. Lightweight and capable of headshots Sniper can be very dangerous on bigger maps. Sniper wields the Sniper Rifle, SMG and Machete

Spy- Considered the toughest class to master Spy disguises, sneaks up and backstabs enemies. Spy is lightest class and has lowest health making it a bad choice for the front line. Spy wields the Revolver, Sapper, Butterfly Knife, Disguise Kit.

To add on to the team based concept there are modes such as King of the Hill and Capture the Bag.

Sound- The music fits well and the voice acting is very well done. Each thing sounds just as the character would say them and what is said fits the current situation making it an immersive experience.

My Opinion- Ive put 300+ Hours into this game and enjoy every second. All the classes make the gameplay and mindset of the team constantly. Each class felt different but after playing a bit spy became my favorite class. As I found out the mindset used in this game as a spy carried on to other games I played. Everything fit together very well and made it beyond belief good. Honestly I recommend this game to everyone.