Be Creative!

 

Two words that when applied to the gaming world can mean apparently a lot of different things. When we, the consumer, look at NFL Madden '10, or Oneechanbara 15, we say c'mon game companies, Be Creative! We applaud games like Assassin's Creed, Skate, or Prince of Persia for following those two words, becoming new IPs in their time where all we see are loads of FPSs coming from American Developers, and RPGs from Japan. And then Little Big Planet comes along and we finally think someone there truly got the idea Be Creative!

No this isn't a review, it seemed like it would become one the millions for the game that exist, but it isn't. It's a possibly small piece about the term creative and it's implications in not only games, but the gaming community. Recently, well recently for me as that pertains from last week to today, Media Molecule and Sony have been put under the hypocritical spotlight for suddenly deleting Little Big Planet levels, without warning, without getting them back. Still having my Lucha Libra level, I've not been so quick to cry bloody murder as many of those that have worked tediously for days just to now have nothing to show.

Oh wait, right, this isn't really about that part, it's about creativeness. Seems a great deal of those levels have had some sort of non-Sony copyright in them, heck some of them have had clear Sony copyrights in them. To jump on the side of logic for a moment, Mm and Sony should've realized quite a few things, the Beta should've shown them that. One, give a person the ability to take a picture of something and place it in a game, they are gonna rip some thing off. Second, give the gaming community the ability to create something(oh so everlovingly coined user-created) and at least 75% of the things created are gonna be recreated from gaming's past. It could be Bubsy 3D, Lemmings, or the even more obvious ones Mario, Sonic, and Megaman, it will happen, it's like a law or something.

And that segues into my point, the title, and a favorite phrase of mine, Be Creative! I've been playing around on Little Big Planet for some time and Mm seemed to have gotten the creative idea down, a lot of the users online have gotten that idea down, so why can't this 75% seem to? I've talked about this on a few forums and the answer to myquestion seems to be that we're game players, not game makers, but aren't game makers game players? And as a user willing to create something, especially in this game a level, does that not make you a game maker? So in essence, do you not have the right to talk about game makers? So why not be creative... I'm sorry Be Creative! and make some levels of idea you have to have in your head. If you came into the game thinking I can't wait to make a level, here comes Level 1-1! Then I'm sorry but you came into this game thinking the wrong thing. Now I'm not complaining, sometimes they are fun to play, those recreations, but much like shovelware on a Wii, most of the levels I've run into contain some form of copyright infringement. Now some of those have been with a little tweaking, able to become great levels on their own accord without the need for the copyright, so why not just do that? When the game came out, there was a great God of War level that came out, the level really would've been just as good without the God of War IP in it, so why did it have to have it?

I hear tribute and parody should be considered under the Fair Use Act, however user-created content is the money maker for this title, it makes the money for Sony and Mm and in that sense isn't the infringement suit therefore justified? Take Activision's Guitar Hero: World Tour, it allows you to create tracks and already GH Tunes has been flooded with notelists for songs. You praise a group, and then simply make their songs... is this tribute, parody, or simply lack of creativity? I wouldn't say it lacks intuition, or work-ethic, but if you can recreate Paradise City, your sense of musical timing seems to be in check, why not just create your own song?

So Be Creative! Words that can apparently mean many things when together. Mm's given catchphrase, Be Creative!, can apparently mean do whatever you want, it can mean create a level of ingenious levels, to simply recreating Dig-Dug. In the world of gaming, it can mean giving me more game options or simply the ability to look down in an FPS and see my feet. Perhaps it doesn't just mean make something new, but isn't that what we as gamers have been whining for?

The Burrito Reviews: The Force Unleashed

I remember there was a time I said I'd be reviewing Super Smash Bros. Brawl.... yeah that fell apart but it's all good because I'm flexing my reviewing muscles, testing my keyboard's might against a game I wanted to play ever since hearing about it a couple of years back. That game is LucasArts possible hurrah(other than Fracture but don't get me started on that game.), Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.




Things I Loved:

I loved a lot of things about The Force Unleashed. I'd put them in a list form, but I'm trying really hard not to bite any other site's style. The thing I loved the most about the game was obviously it's story. I feel people resort to being idiots whenever they speak about episodes 1-3. Yeah okay the first sucked big time, but hey I feel Lucas made up for that one with the other two. Say what you want, but it's his story, you can't go tell a man he's telling his story wrong. When you write something and other people like it and you want to take it in another direction, see how many people tell you off and you'll get the idea of how he must feel. Enough of that tangent though, TFU tells a very... well let me put it this way, the game, comic, and book tell a very complete story that expertly ties together the threads of the first three with the other first three. (Never EVER told in-game so SPOILER) Galen Marek is a very likeable character as are the others involved in the story. The enviornments, sounds, look, and feel of the game are ripped right from the universe of Star Wars and never once are you doing or seeing something that feels out of place... well perhaps Starkiller shows a renowned power and sense of the force, but it flows very well for a game.



Another big thing the game pulls off is the feeling of the force. This was something I remarked upon to my friends when I first played the demo. The game gives you a very visceral feel of the force, of being a sith. I expected it to feel like being Dante or Nero, yeah you can do all types of flying and crazy stuff, but deep down you don't get a feel for what it is you do. This game gives you the same feeling playing as Kratos gives, a visceral feel of death and destruction. When you can walk into a room and blow everyone away, you realize you feel powerful and not simply controlling someone who is.

Things I Hated:

I'd never call a game perfect and trust me when I say The Force Unleashed is nowhere near it. The game, having come out in a box and one I payed money for mind you, is full of bugs, glitches, and scallywags. For every smart enemy I see, there are a handful simply stuck in a hiding animation behind something I threw off the level some minutes ago. One can find several invisible barriers that come out of nowhere, as if saying you haven't jumped in a while, don't let that button not get used. It's easy to pull off a combo and go flying through the level to your death, as well one can find themselves stuck in a standing animation, unable to move.



For a game called The Force Unleashed, it leaves a lot to the imagination when it comes to the term in the game. I said how much I loved the feeling the force gave you, but that's really only in certain times. The idea of force grabbing is a novel idea for solving puzzles, but it's application in fighting is lacking. Forced to stand still while you move something around with nary any bit of real accuracy and you'll find yourself a swiss cheese and laser sandwhich in no time. And speaking of those on the other ends of those blasters, where in the world did the Emperor find force fields that can block the force? Oh I get it, Force Field... no if that is the pun that describes this event I'd break my copy of this game. Where are all of these Storm Troopers when Luke becomes a Jedi?

But to Conclude:

Despite the tongue lashing I just gave the game, I still find it incredibly fun. I've played through twice and am currently on my third and fourth play through on two different difficulty levels. For a GoW clone, it does a good job of trying to seperate itself. Despite it's gameplay and camera flaws, the lure of being a Jedi is indeed great. Come for the story, stay for the fun.


Don't own the copyrights we all know that jazz, upps to Lucasarts for that one. Availiable on anything that plays video games... sure I saw it out on the Colecovision.

Hey You Consumer: Top Consumer Wrongdoings

Long time no see. I thought I would do this little list which is in no order. Originally it was going to be a top 1, but I wasn't sure if I would either have too many or not enough. Having been in retail all my working life, I've come across many a customer, and I'm certain lists like this exists, but it's my blog so I can write what I like.

"This costs how much?"
-This one I just don't understand. Especially now with the economy the way it is, why in the world would you think everything would be cheap? No ink doesn't cost a few bucks. No you can't get a laptop at 200 dollars. Printers aren't 50 bucks and webcam isn't 99cents. I know you came into the store to spend money, so don't look at me like an idiot because you're paying for it regardless, I'm not lowering the price of toner because you didn't think it cost so much.

"Well I'm never coming back here again!"
-Thank you! That's really what I want to say when you tell me that, because that means I don;t have to put up with you ever again. You seem to leave thinking I've been the unpleasant one, but when you come at me with an attitude and a largely intentional decision not to hear me out, understand that YOU are being the unpleasant one. YOU are the person we laugh at when you leave. YOU are the jackass the other customers are glad is gone when you slip through the doors. They aren't ever backing you up because they see that you are being the unreasonable one. And besides, this ain't an election, companies don't give a rat's ass about a single person's dollar.

"Can you help me find X, Y, zzzzzzzz "
-I generally like helping people when they genuinely need it. Don't understand all this new-fangled technology, I'll gladly help you. But don't ask me where something is when you clearly know where it is and have indeed come out of said aisle to ask me about it. Sure you make up the lie about not having seen it, but be honest with yourself, did you really just want to make conversation with me? I honestly had a lady, when I worked at Hell-Hole..eh I mean Wal-Mart, ask me where light bulbs were when we were standing directly next to them. That's not being thick, that has got to be being lonely.

"I've done the research and "
-Blah blah blah. You haven't done the research, you're making up a list of bullshit and expecting me to complete the bullshit circle to sell you something for either a lower price or a better deal. Working at Staples, I get more "Pro's" come in and bullshit me about how they researched all the HP printers and... look, I know you haven't, had you done so, you may have come in with some papers. I'm tired of the "I did some research online, and it seems you don't have the model number here... oh dear me I've forgotten it, 4o something" That tells me you didn't and you tried to come up with a number by looking at the nearby numbers. Then you attempt to tell me its the model between the two on display and that's the one you want. Only for me to potentially embarrass you around your kids or other customers by calling you out on it and letting you know that there is no model number in between.

"Plan? No thanks, if it breaks I'll just by another"
-That's a dumb and irrational philosophy to go about in life. Working again at Staples, we're not forced, but encouraged to offer protection and replacement plans on our electronics. That would save you the hassle of having to buy something all over again. I repeat, that would save you the hassle of having to by something ALL OVER AGAIN. I don't know what ballin' world you live in where you can blow 300 bucks on printers all the damn time, but I know if I'm putting that money down on something, I'd spend an extra forty to insure I don't have to spend 300 all over again. It's my belief customers think we as a business try to get them on everything and they think they're being the smart ones... yeah right.

-I'd give this one a line above it, but no customer has verbally told me they believe they're the right one because "The customer is always right". Truth is that is some bullshit. You customer are not always right. Thankfully you aren't because stores would be scary places. You always have your best intentions in mind and not the intentions of everyone who comes into the store. I've had customers who heard I was putting something on hold for someone try and coerce me to give it to them instead. Very very greedy customer, very very greedy.

"Do you have it in the back?/Could you check the back?"
-I honestly wish customers never learned of the back room. I'm not entirely sure what you think the back is, but I can tell you what it isn't. The back room is not a magical wonderland where fairies, pixies, and satyrs hand me exactly what it was you are asking for. It isn't a world of perfect harmony where I simply think up what you want and it appears. The real deal? The place is a messy maze of pallets, boxes, and plastic. Even on a good day it is impossible to tell one thing from the other and if what you want is back there? I'm not about to waste 20 minutes diving through a pallet of shit to find what you want when other stores exist, that buck of yours is not powerful enough to have me doing that. Half the time the shit is right above you anyway, just look up.

"Will you sell me the display for a discount?"
-Number one at Staples, and typically Office Depot. We don't do discounts on shit that is out already. We'd clearly be losing money on that proposition, so no it doesn't exist, go to Wal-Mart for that crap. Number two, why the hell would you want something that has been in a store, out on display for all order of people to touch, poke, prod, and possibly have already broken? It has no box and typically comes with what you see which is nothing so why bother? You bother because you think you're getting it half off and then are all sad and pissy when I tell you we don't. Even if we took money off, WHY would you want it? It may function, but not at the zenith of it's potential like it did when it was new? I wouldn't want to sit in a chair every ass in the town has had to have sitten in. I wouldn't want a printer techs have been printing demos on for months before now.

"I'm looking for this thing, if you show me where it is I'll remember it."
-There's actually two different categories with this one. The first one goes out to everyone who thinks they can play charades and perfectly explain to me something they have only half an idea of what it is. I'm not Google, don't go about giving me dimensions like I know exactly what the hell you're talking about. Don't go about telling me it's like this but not this, when either it clearly is what I've shown you or something completely different. A lady gave me dimensions of a safe and she wanted a file folder. The second part typically involves not remembering what you wanted, but expecting there to be some amazing list of pictures you can look through to jog your memory. It doesn't and has never existed. Don't remember that printer for your ink? Too bad, go home and come back, because I can't go off of "it's one of the older models". I'm not clairvoyant, I can't guess what printer it is based off of that.

And lastly
-The Easy Button is not fun, it's not funny, and it's not useful. Had an old lady harrass me, claiming that on a commercial the Easy Button made things cheaper. It doesn't, and if one more kid comes in there and hits that button till it's about to break, I'm gonna break it and then break them. It's almost like having someone come up to your ear and shout "HIT ME" twenty times in a row, but you can't because they're incased in armor.

Kingdom Hearts headed for the PS3 and TGS?

I'm not really the source for gaming news, I like to think I just write about the community but I was over at Kotaku and KH Ultimania and picked up on a rumor that says that KH3 may be shown at the Tokyo Game show this October. The rumor comes way of OPM in their rumor section. Seeing as it is a rumor it's best one take it with a grain of salt, but seeing as rumors go these days, it looks to be a pretty respectable and stable one. I mean the other two did come out on the PS2, Final Fantasy Versus XIII is slated to be exclusive for the PS3, the team for that game is none other than the KH team, and Disney seems to be harboring a bit of Sony love.

Now that I've said that, let me further elaborate on a few things... no not so much elaborate as clear up some things. If you notice earlier I had a piece about Final Fantasy XIII also being put out on the 360. That piece may have seemed a little fanboyish, a little bias... maybe a lot bias and noticeably different than this one. I apologize for that, I suppose that news caught me off guard more than I'd like to admit. I've no problem with it coming out on the 360 as it means more people get to play it, it also means that should my PS3 vanish or heaven forbid break by the time the game rolled around, I'd have a backup system to play it on... though as I'm on my second and scared of seeing a third, no telling what could happen.

Now the reason I said that is because there has been a nagging rumor that this game was supposed to come out for the Wii, now I own a Wii so it wouldn't be a big deal to me, but it would to those that don't feel the little white-box-that-sorta-can is suited for them. It'd likely sell more copies than a PS3 version would, but could you get the cinematic ambience that the series has slowly become known for? It'd be better off being put on the 360, but I do fear the 360 crowd see themselves a little too... not gonna say "hardcore" gonna say it... "adult?" for a game involving a spiky haired kid kicking it with Donald and Goofy.

I do hope this one turns out to be true as I can't wait for more Kingdom Hearts.

Kingdom Hearts A PS3 Exclusive, Will be Seen at TGS [Kotaku]
Will KH3 Be Announced? [Kingdom Hearts Ultimania]

Elitism in the Gaming Community

This piece may seem a bit... hypocritical in itself, however I will say now that I never mean to sound elitist in any way that I write or communicate with someone. I find it to be a rather conceited application in one's life. One may find that what they say to them may seem confident, but to another it can come off as rude. To think that you stand at the zenith and all others circle the bottom is downright an ignorant way to promote oneself about the internet.

To start my actual article, I ask you all to think about the internet. As it stands now, it is a great source of information, but to me, it fails completely at what I thought it's goal was. Information spread throughout the world via communication between others. Yeah it seems rather easy to go on Wikipedia and find out something about Shakespeare for a final, but is that communication between others? Did I ask someone and did someone report back to me on it? No would be the simple and straight answer here. So where do I go for information via communication? Or to put it into a gaming community-sense, where do I go on this world wide web to get the information for my gaming needs? If I need to know how a game plays, can I be expected to suddenly acquire the information out of thin air? No, so I go to gaming websites. I hover around IGN for news of Kingdom Hearts 3 or I type Kotaku into my address bar to find information on Little Big Planet but much in the way that Wikipedia gives me information on the Chemical Composition of table salt, those websites too give me information without ready, live communication. Perhaps I'm being too unforgiving in my statements, my aspirations, but I expected that everyone could simply co-exist peacefully and get information from one another. Yet if I'm expecting to learn how to counter an infinite in Street Fighter or how to effectively meteor-smash in Brawl where am I expected to go? It's not like Brian Crecente or Matt Casamassina or going to be online to help me, so I go to gaming forums. A forum much like it's out-of-internet counterpart is a place where people get together to discuss on a certain issue or event or thing that they enjoy. I remember back then, likely still now, public access stations that aired "Insert Show/Music Group/Movement" Forum where they could discuss something and have people call in about it and mouth off. Well the internet is home to its own style of forum and sadly for better or for worse they are very similar in nature. You see the problem I have with the gaming culture is that while a game is a game and a tree is a tree, a player is not a player. Perhaps that's worded both wrong and wierd. A gamer will tell you their a gamer like you and me but they aren't. I'm not gonna use "hardcore" and "casual" here... okay I might use "casual" but not in that sense. I'm not talking about the guy who plays Bejewled at work when he needs to unwind, I'm more or less talking about the kind of person who has been gaming all of their life, but don't put huge, massive amounts of time into it. When I speak casual, I refer to someone who can pull off a shoryuken, but doesn't know the framerates for a spinning piledriver. Someone who may have finished God of War, but not on God difficulty. Then there are those between that and what may be called "expert" or "pro" gamers. Yes they game like anyone else, the difference is just the sheer amount of determination and time they place into any given game. Typically they are a decent bunch, but for the small minority thta are not, they seem to project a majority in gaming forums. To put my own experience into it, for every decent person I find on one, there are at least 3 others that are not. And this isn't about human decency. I'm not talking about someone saving a kitten, I'm speaking about one's ability to communicate properly, one's active social skills, because there shouldn't be a difference in one's social abilities on the net and our of it. Why should it be so hard to find out how roll cancel? Why should I stare at my screen full of disdain because I ask why an infinite should be banned only to be called a scrub, a noob, or one of the many more terms elitist posters create for someone who isn't like them?

Which brings me to the topic truly at hand, my title, Elitism in the Gaming Community. Why does it exist? I can't give an official answer to that because I'm not the ruler of minds, I can't read them and for what it is, no one can. Freud wouldn't know so why should I? I can give my own guesses but I believe that would come off as for lack of a better word, bitter. So I'll go this route instead and simply ask what can we do as a community to get rid of it? If I enjoy a good game of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 every now and then, why should I be called a scrub if I head down to the arcade where some guys are playing and upon finding that they glitch and infinite call them cheap? Perhaps there lies the problem, the term cheap is going to be offensive as long as it is used negatively. I doubt Rally's/Checkers gets angry because someone called their food cheap in relation to McDonalds as long as they meant it in a positive way. However as far as gaming is concerned, the only way to positively identify something as cheap is the price of the game. Calling a technique someone uses cheap is as good as calling them cheap, so they are going to verbally attack back with scrub. But there shouldn't be a balance like this. Instead of scoffing because I can't 5 star an expert song in Guitar Hero, how about attempting to teach me or give some hints, it makes it look more like a community and you don't give off an elitist impression, because no one should want to be labeled that. I find that at these tournaments, all the good people seem to stick to one another and have their jokes and their own little seperate community, but shun those that are just starting and trying to get into it. From that approach, they would wonder why they even attempted in the first place and stop playing the game, slowing the spread of the community. As well, those that don't see themselves as being good, don't be so quick to call something cheap and walk away from it. I've been told that nothing is cheap and that there is always something else to get around it. I believe it should be up to those that think they're great to teach that to those who aren't so much. Being genuinely nice is the only way I see gamers being respected.

The Sad State of Gaming

Now I'm no professional, I've said this time and time again, but I've gotta say that when I look at the internet now-a-days, it saddens me quite a bit. You see, when it comes to gaming, you've got your fanboys, your trolls, and then you've apparently got your activists. I'll save the other two for a later time, but as for this last one... one big acronym comes to mind... WTF?

I've been watching the on going struggle of people claiming that the game Resident Evil 5, made by Capcom, is a game that implies racist intent.



From the above screenshot, you can see Chris Redfield, a white guy, deep in Africa fighting what he always fights and that's zombies. The problem many a person seems to have is that it's Africa and that the zombies are Africans. I'm gonna call bullshit here, I'm not professional so I don't need to stay neutral here, though as Croal shows even if you are a professional you can retain a bias. It's a game where you fight zombies, ZOMBIES people, yo uare not genociding Africans, you are fighting zombies. Would it make it better if a black guy was doing it? I don't think so because as the usual "activist" double standard, using logic remains useless. That would likely go down worse because then it would exemplify black-on-black violence. No no the real problem here is that someone always has to say something about those things they feel they have enough control over. Video Gaming is an entertainment medium and because of that it has begun to get lambasted by those too scared to actually do the work of what they preach in their community. There's no problem with this game, but the violence in the inner-city is, the problem is those who speak about the bad qualities of the game(or really lack there of) are too scared to bring up these issues in their community and instead turn to the "safety" of the internet where they can speak about some game being made in Japan, like they can change it or something...

And that's not the only game getting the scaredy-cat roast over these webs, Sony revealed a game during their long and drawn out e3 press conference where the idea is to get your princess from a castle whilst the enemy try and do the same, the trick is that while you fight out on the battlefield, someone in the other castle is busily feeding your royalty cakes and shit to make her too heavy to carry back, you're doing the same. Of course I'm talking about PSN's upcoming title Fat Princess. Now some blogs(won't name em, won't give them the time of day for more traffic) are getting upset because it somehow portrays women in a bad light.


Yeah she's fat... and? Look, the first blog I read actually got the premise wrong, well not wrong so much as backward, you aren't feeding your own princess, but the other team's lady. The other blog barely talked about the game so much as spit out harsh word after harsh word, followed by a rather unflattering picture and I ain't talking about the one up there. Anger never gets the message across and to be honest, it makes you come off as a lame, a buster, a bum. I see no problem with this game, in fact it seems to be more creative than the millions of shooters that come out every month. I'm a big guy, so to say I'm not offended should so these ladies that you can have fun instead of trying to garner 15 seconds of fame off of rather droll bullshit. To change the princess to anything else completely takes the charm out of the game, simply because the princess is the loyalty factor here. If it were gold then the soldiers would come off as greedy and petty and the game stops being cute. It'd make no sense to be an animal unless you were to say it were a sacred animal, right then and there you've opened up another can of worms with the religious set. You see the real problem here is that everyone now-a-days WANTS to be offended by something, as if they can't get through their damn day unless someone says or shows them something that insults them. And when it's vague? They drum up some bullshit and give a bullshit argument to try and make you see it their way. Is this offensive? I kinda hope it is because you want it so damn bad, maybe you'll see that what you do is wrong. Don't bring down the industry I enjoy just because something else is going on with your psyche. I personally can't wait for both games to come out because it'll show that 99% of people in this world are sane and responsible enough to understand and have fun with games.

If you can't learn to take the piss out of yourself(thanks Brits for giving me that one), then you shouldn't be allowed a keyboard. Besides, the usual counter arguement fits here, if you hate the idea of being fat enough to wanna drum up some bullshit about an innocent game, then lost the weight. If you feel offended enough to write up a letter to Takeuchi about racism, perhaps you'd be better off rechanneling that energy to teaching those in your community to stop portraying negative stereotypes. I'm just saying, for the most part games are innocent entertainment, when they teach a value, it is typically one of a positive vibe, if you get the wrong ideas out of games then that is your problem I suppose, but I'm not gonna let you ruin the industy because you only see the negative out of every situation.

The Dark Knight

If you haven't seen this movie yet.... stop reading this and go see that movie now because the movie is the shit baby, that true shit. I don't review movies, I review games(well I eventually will get to it), so no spoilers, just know that it's one of the only movies this year actually worth your money. It also further degrades the amount of bullshit that was Hellboy II. So get on down to the theater kids, this is a goodin.

Sony's Press Conference...

... is about to begin, and I gotta go to frickin work in an hour. All in all it looks like Sony is gonna need to drop the bombs here folks, I mean really lay down the big punches and finish with a crazy haymaker because Microsoft dropped the uppercuts all alone yesterday and Nintendo threw a bunch of soft jabs and never finished the fight. Can Sony pull it off? There's commercial free live coverage on G4 and Kotaku are liveblogging it as I speak.

The World of Pokemon: The Reality

You know, I think I'll admit to something today. I might be a bit of a geek. Okay yeah I know, but I've been thinking about something that really shouldn't have so much thought put into it and that's the World of Pokemon. Now I'm not talking bout a MMORPG starring pikachu and friends(though a Pokemon MMORPG might not be such a bad move on Nintendo's part), I'm talking about the actual world of those little pocket monsters we collect on handheld systems.

The Pokemon replace real animals right? I mean they call Pikachu a mouse pokemon, but aren't he, rattata, raichu, pichu, and raticate just well rats? Pidgey a bird and so forth so forth? So with that being the case, does that mean pokemon are bred for more than just fighting? Do they breed Tauros and Miltank are bred for bison and beef respectively? Do they crack open Exeggcute and make omelette's? And if you're vegan? Well does that mean you eat Bulbasaur or Oddish? Yet they have rice to make onigiri(rice balls)... all very very odd in my opinion. And does that mean there are exterminators for all the bug pokemon, like if there's a beedrill nest in your house, do they come with pidegot and charmander or do you try and take care of them yourself with your pokemon? And is everyone the same race in this world? I've never noticed a not um... whatever they actually are in that world. And what's up with Team Rocket/Magma/Aqua/Galaxy? Are they like the mafia or more the Cobra? And if the latter, or there truly corrupt guys out there selling pokemon on the black market and what not? And how do you fight a war in the world of pokemon? I mean if they're all using torchics and whatnot, who says my side can't come in with MewTwo and wreck house? And if they've got guns, what's stopping Team Rocket from simply running game on people and stealing their pokemon that way, and why steal people's pokemon, why not simply bust into the warehouse where they keep the Master Balls and go catch 'em all?

Eh enough conjecturing for now, I think I'm going to go think about some game ideas... pokemon online...

Final Fantasy XIII going to the 360?

Very very late news coming from me, but I knew about it since it was announced anyway. With Final Fantasy going to the 360 as well as the PS3, once more the gates open and the flame wars rekindle. It seems to me that every time an announcement of this caliber is well announcileed, the Sony-boys cry in a corner and flick off anyone that looks their way whilst the Micro-Boys start jerking off right in the middle of chest bumps and hi-fives. I could turn this into one of those why care posts but that'll be saved for an actual essay er um post later.

Just what does such an announcement say about the video game industry as a whole though? I remember years back when Nintendo and Square had their outing and the company took shelter over at Sony's place. For a while that relationship seemed to be alright, but it would seem Sony hasn't been bringing home the bacon and Squeenix is done with the whole monogamy thing. So with that a flourish of titles have begun to appear on other consoles. Really though this only affects American consumers because let's face it, Bill Gates and Ichiro Suzuki could be in the middle of Akihabara giving away 360's and Japanese people would simply keep on walking. So I suppose the better question is what does this say about the American video game industry? Seems the early bird catches the worm really takes life here as the Microsoft move to release the 360 first has put a real damper on the rest of the industry. I'm no fanboy of any caliber, but I've got to say that reaching out to kill the competiton just puts a wet blanket on the industry as a whole. Remember those early Nintendo third party practices of yesteryear? That's what Micro-dominance feels like to me today. They dump all of their resources practically into trying to kill off Sony whilst keeping an amiable relationship with Nintendo. To be honest it wouldn't matter who was doing it, it's a sick practice. Why not live happily together as a shared balance? Sony needed the leg up that FF13 would've given them and Microsoft comes along and like a bully and a one-legged kid, kicks his fucking crutches out from underneath him. I mean when it's said and done did they need the money? Well they probably do now because of the money they had to spend to get that title multiplatform, but did they? I mean every time something goes multiplatform the winner is always Microsoft and part of that blame goes to everyone, inlcuding the game journalism industry. But I'm soapboxing again and that's to be saved for a later time.

So with that I ask, does it matter? Which do you plan on buying? And might the Wii be getting in on this action?

Hellboy II

So this isn't really so much a review as it's my personal opinion on the flick. I'd say spoilers, but I doubt that this will be very long or even touch on details of the movie needed to enjoy the experience at the theater.

IT SUCKED! Oh my goodness that movie was horrible. I'm certain there must be some people that like it(I know there were, they sat in front of me) but I tell you not to waste the money. There are plenty more useful things you can do with that money than go see this abomination of a movie.

Now Hellboy has never been a character I could get behind and this movie further solidifies that feeling whilst keeping me and Big Red separate from one another. The movie is filled with mediocre action that a large budget couldn't hide and one liner after one liner from the Red Demon. PG-13 fucked this movie over as he shouted "oh crap" so many times I thought he'd eventually just do it while fighting. He reminds me a lot of The Thing and that's another character I can't stand. The plot was rather lackluster and the acting rather subpar. But I'll say the effects were good and that Anna Walton looked decent as Naula, but outside that makeup, I'm not seeing that same beauty, eh...

So yeah, I suggest not seeing this movie.

Ramblings of a Former Gaijin: Restaurants

Living in Japan, heck just visiting Japan brings about quite a few changes. One of those changes I ran into was of course a change in diet. Out for the most part went a steady diet of burgers and pizzas and came a steady diet of fish, well chicken too. But... well... I mean we all need a break from the norm right? And that's where the usual every-so-often delight known as fast food comes in. Fast food in Japan is everything like it is here in America, it's just for the most part the food is different. I'll run down a few of the spots that I frequented in Nagoya.

Saizeriya:

It's likely hard to tell from the picture, but Saizeriya is a little chain of restaurants that "specialize" in "italian" food. Some people will give you an exaggerated expression that this is the shit that Japanese people think when they think grade-A italian food. Me? Well I don't think so. I'm certain that behind those plain store signs lie some very good italian places, Saizeriya? Well that ain't one. But being nestled right across the street from I-House and being open till atleast 2-3am made it the perfect place for a meal after some crazy drinking. Their big thing were pastas, pizzas, and hamburg steak. I suppose the direct American equivalent is simply Salisbury Steak, but they call it hamburg, note that I never called it hamburger. And the biggest draw? The place is cheap, I mean cheap. You could probably get a pizza, some pasta, drink bar, and desert for less than 12 dollars. But the pizza is small and thin, like if Donatos did a poor job at a personal pan pizza. The pasta is all the exquisite taste of Chef Boyardee. And the desert is never the tastiest. The best thing for me was always drink bar which were a bunch of beverages(non-alcoholic, not THAT kinda bar) that you could get, really it’s just a drink dispenser and some teas and coffee, but man it is tasty.

Ohgiya:

Ohgiya is really a bar, but it has tasty, tasty food and a really nice environment inside. Also being nestled right in front of I-House, it was a haven for ryuugakusei(exchange students) to drink and just shake off the stress of schooling in a foreign place. Their food is good and the drinks are varied and nice. It’s a small place, but a homely place, like if every place had a Cheers, this would be Nisshin’s. If you talk to the right people you could also schedule a Nomihoudai(ALL you can drink) for a relatively nice price, they’ll close the place for you and your people and you drink and eat away.

Yoshinoya:

These happen to be in California as well, but for those out of the loop, Yoshinoya sells what Japanese would truly call their own form of fast food. Kinda imagine those standing ramen stands and you get the gist of Japanese fast food. Yoshinoya doesn’t do ramen, they do however sell gyuudon or a beef and rice bowl. You get a pretty big bowl of it for a relatively cheap price an it’s made for quick eating(get it, fast food). It is delish, I wouldn’t lie to you, it is tasty and if you’re not looking for beef, they also do chicken, pork, and vegetables. The meal comes with miso soup and sometimes more rice and like you see on those price tags the stuff is cheap, like a three dollar bowl and you are good to go for some hours.

Freshness Burger:

Japan isn’t without their burger joints and this is one of the swankiest. Essentially, the idea behind Freshness Burger is that everything is well… fresh. And that brings about the drawback to the place if you are in a hurry. The food can take a while to get to you, but when you get it… oh man you are definitely in for a treat. Their biggest burger, the Dubba-Dubba(WW) Burger is a big beast and will fill you up. Everything taste fresh and tasty and they sell sweet potato fries, those are soooo good. This was my favorite burger joint, but it had to be a luxury because this place will set you back. It’s the most expensive out of the places I’ll be telling you about until I get to the fancier places a bit later. A couple of sandwiches, some fries, and a cola can put you back around 10 bucks so be wary, but it is delish. They also tend to lean to weirder burgers other than the standards, like the spam burger, and others.

MOS Burger:

Ahh the Burger King of Japan… well they have Burger King but you get what I mean. If Lotteria were Mickey D’s, The MOS is BK. The MOS in MOS Burger stands for Mountain Ocean Sun, why I don’t know. However one of the many MOS’ was situated on campus so of course I went there pretty regularly. The standard burger is the MOS Burger which is a regular, though small, burger topped with some sort of thick sauce that gets everywhere right after the first bite. Don’t know what the sauce is so don’t ask. There are other burgers as well, such as the Ebi(read shrimp) filet and the standard MOS Fish and MOS Chicken(really they’re just fish and chicken but that word is really fun to say in front of other things, try it out, you’ll like it.) And at our MOS was a little specialty item known as the MOS Chicken, it was a piece of chicken, not sure what part of a chicken it could come from, but it was flat, about the size of a thigh maybe, but with a leg bone like it was a drumstick… yeah don’t wrap your brain around it too much. The place is rather cheap and though they lack a dollar menu, the stuff is cheap enough not to be pissed about it.

Curry House CoCo Ichibanya:

This is the last one on this list and it’s the last for a reason. You the know the saying save the best blah blah blah yakity schmakity so I know you understand that this is without a doubt my most favorite restaurant in Japan, bordering on the entire world. Don’t let the pic fool you, that’s merely the first ever CoCo and I personally took the picture. There around 4 or so in America, all situated in Hawaii. Curry House CoCo Ichi is well a Curry House, meaning they specialize in curry. Now there happens to be a difference between Indian and Japanese curry and CoCo is here to blend those lines. Traditionally, Japanese Curry is sweet and chock full of veggies and meat, Indian thinner and hot. CoCo Ichi is much more like Indian, but with a Japanese taste and a katsu topping. You can choose how much rice to get, ranging from 150g to however many kilos you want, but the price will steepen greatly if you plan on jumping up past 1 kilo. Then you can choose your sauce, beef, pork, or veggie sauce, with the sauce you choose the spice level, from 0-10. 0 is traditional sweet Japanese curry, 10 is hot and I mean hot. It used to be a rule that you couldn’t have a 10 until you went through the rest of them, but I think that may have been too hard to implement without cards and official mumbo-jumbo. And then you choose your topping, they have a wide range of toppings, from fried chicken to squid or natto, or even eggs. My preferred meal is 400g of rice, pork sauce, pari-pari chicken, chicken katsu(fried chicken cutlet), and cheese mixed in usually a four of five level, but I’ve been to the zenith multiple times. It is Japanese fast food dining at it’s best and I recommend you find one if you ever go to Japan.

Brawling online

Just a quick word to those that may read, may not, COMMENT!

Other than that um I'm about to do an online Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournament and I suggest you kids with the game get online sometime. To answer the question about problems with the online as it is, you can get around it by going to places like the Smash World Forum and use their Smash World Friend Finder. Or you can go to my personal favorite All is Brawlthe site mixes it's friend finding with tourneys, and a facebook like appearance. SSBBPlayers is also another option. My review on this game is coming soon, it'll be the first review I've ever written and my first TRD Review so standby.

Random Thoughts

Just a quick thought session on that which is the current situation here in America. This isn't meant to be super thought out because I'm no analyst. I'm simply Everyman Dan and I've been noticing things here and there. The only thing I thought that would make this interesting is that having been in Japan for the years of 2007, I was kinda out of the loop.

Ummmmm let's see, GAS PRICES.... that's pretty much all that has to be said there huh?

OBAMA, love him or hate him he had to work through some shit to get to where he was didn't he? I mean why do idiots wait to see you succeeding before coming out and trying to be a douche whilst representing you? He had to work through that one multiple times and still came out the Democratic nominee, there must be more loving him than hating him huh?

The weather situation in the midwest is really... really bad. My heart goes out to those in the upper-midwest as that shit ain't cool.

The economy is complete shit and I really mean that. Before I left it was rosey and whilst I was away the shit hit the fan and it all came tumbling down. Weak dollar? And the job hunting is down right despicable, I've been searching since January with no luck. It's as if people are suddenly terrified of hiring right now. Which really just hurts the economy more right? I'm no economist, but with little money going into the market, doesn't that just weaken the market? Isn't that why Bush was giving away free money?

Well that was my little soapbox, if you read this stuff comment what you think about it.

Taking a Look Back: Crystal Pepsi

Along with my views on Japan segments, I'm gonna be doing some other ones, hell if I work hard enough people may actually start reading this bad boy. Soooo to start this off, let's look at a drink I haven't seen in well over a decade. That oh so refreshing, oh so pure, oh so healthy, oh so not not brown soda known as....

Crystal Pepsi:
Oh Crystal Pepsi, how much I miss you. For those unaware of the delight... and really I use that term loosely here, known as Crystal Pepsi, allow me to take you back to the year 1993. You may have been 6 like I was or older, or younger or heck, maybe not even born. The 80's were slowing in their influence over the decade and the 90's were just beginning to get their own identity. It would still be some years before the Macarena or the Spice Girls, but Crystal Pepsi slipped into the health craze with a storm. Just think about, all the great taste of Pepsi minus the bad stuff like caffeine or brown! In reality, everyone thought that making their drink clear like water made it pure like water but Pepsi Co. were really just fooling us. Sure it lacked caffeine, but the high high HIGH amount of sugar still reigned supreme. But hey I was 6 and health wasn't so much on the agenda as having clear pop. It was like drinking Sprite, except without the lemon-lime sensations tingling on your tongue.

Well to make a long story short, after everyone drank it to death in the span of a year, Pepsi got rid of it. I thought it was making a comeback in Japan, but instead they introduced Cool Cucumber... what kind of a taste is that?

Ramblings on Various Japanese Happenings pt.1

So I'm gonna use this time to do what I had planned to do during my stay in Japan, which was comment on it. You know, kinda like that TokyoCooney, JidouJidou stuff, except in written form. To begin though I must say that in written form, this will be very basic because it's hard to explain the crap that I've seen. It would be easier to get the gist if you've been to Japan or you were hanging with me when I was there, or if I had video. I didn't take much video and the stuff I took didn't reflect the craziness that I experienced, so expect this in parts and me trying my hardest to explain.

Boogie Nights:
Well I typically find that most people deal with absolute extremes of Japanese culture, such as the echi shit and the weird things that they eat. I thought I'd actually start off with something that we have in common which is a nightlife. The pic above is of a club known as The Commune in Hiroshima. As one can tell the place is small, my back is against one wall, and seeing as you can see the other wall in the picture, that gives you an idea of how semai(narrow) the place is. The door back there leads to the entrance which is an elevator, you could only reach the place via an elevator. But no kidding, the place was one of the rawest places I'd ever been in all of Japan, now granted I'd only been to Hiroshima, Osaka, Tokyo, and Nagoya, but trust me, the place was hot. It was a Hip-Hop club and everyone there was deep into the culture. But to bring a little of the ridiculousness that is Japanese culture into my story, the two black men pictured here, myself and my friend Manny, were the only two black people there. Manny somehow got under the radar, me on the other hand was treated like celebrity up in that place. Mostly because to them I looked like Biggie Smalls(who they know is dead so they didn't think I WAS him, just that I resembled him, which I don't think I do) So I was approached by like everyone in the place, DJ, Bartender, random people it was crazy, but I was def getting drunk so it was all fun. And I've had many experiences like that in the Nagoya clubs. Japan club Nightlife as far as I've seen is very much like our own, save the dance clubs where they para-para and shit like that.

An Introduction If You Will

I'd like to give a big hello and welcome to my little corner in the virtual world. Now I've never thought of myself as a journalist, I still don't. But entertain me for a moment as if I were one. If you want my mushy emotional trash, just go to my Xanga blog and look for IsntThatJustPrime. This... this here is where I let my fingers do the walking on that tiny keyboard all lappies have and indulge you guys with menial, likely boring stuff. Did I say boring? Oh I meant the awesome stuff you don't get anywhere else, and by anywhere else I mean likely everywhere else. But it's my fifteen right?