Random Encounters II

Every now and then, I will sound off on a number of topics that are on my mind lately. As the Triple-A titles start rolling in this week, here are a few of the things occupying my grey matter this week:

1. Shadow of the Colossus is such a great, artistic game that makes you feel like a tiny ant next to these behemoths, while also making you feel like a bad-ass when you take them down. But then you feel terrible at seeing such majestic creatures tumble in agony and you question whether or not you are the hero in this game. Also, I love the simplicity of it. Find a Colossi, kill it. That’s it. No fetch quests, no nothing. Want more like this. Can’t wait for The Last Guardian

2. Final Fantasy XIII-2 comes out on the 31st and I am pretty excited. I don’t really care for much for the story of this game, but the time-travel aspect has me more intrigued than I should be. As long as the battle system is improved or unchanged, I know I will enjoy my time with this game. Having spent the extra twenty bucks for the Collector’s Edition, I can’t wait to hear the soundtrack that accompanies it.

3. The SOPA blackout was a success as the legislative momentum has died out, but I would like to see more alternatives to combating piracy from the groups opposed to the bill. The solutions I see most are getting more content in an easier place for people to access, but most things are already plenty easy to obtain. The most pirated movie of the year in 2011 was Fast Five, which clearly shows we are dealing with a species unfamiliar with quality. Fast Five was still successful, but also making the list was Source Code, I Am Number 4 and Sucker Punch, all of which had lackluster revenues. I can’t help but think piracy had something to do with this and I would like to see the brilliant minds of the Internet devise a workable solution to limiting piracy.

4. I drive myself crazy trying to decide whether to trade in a game or keep it. Some are easy: Dead Space 2 and Killzone 3 were fun, but I don’t see myself ever going back to either of them. But Uncharted 3 and Batman: Arkham City are so fun and there are moments I want to go back and relive or in Batman’s case, collect all those Riddler trophies. I always tell myself that I will do it when I have the time and have no other games to play, but will that ever happen again? I have less time every day and more games coming out every week to play. I honestly don’t know what to do.

5. I hear talk about people Occupying E3 for some reason that I have not bothered to pay attention to and all I have to say is: No. Stop it. As ardent a liberal as I am, the Occupy Movement had its place and it raised awareness for the issue of income equality so much that it is being used to damage certain candidates in the Republican Primaries. It was a success. To leverage it into a protest at E3 is just annoying and unimaginative. It’s become a trend and it should be stop before it becomes the political version of a flashmob.

6. Finally, I plan on getting Xenoblade Chronicles for the Wii, which releases on April 2nd. It’s only being sold through Nintendo’s website and GameStop. Trying to avoid ever setting foot inside a GameStop again, I went to Nintendo’s site and there is a disclaimer that they will begin shipping at the end of April. The game comes out on the 2nd! WTF! Sorry, Big N, but you just drove me right to GameStop. Why would they make it such a terrible deal to get the game from them? This is Nintendo! Surely they can pull some strings and get better shipping times for people! My only hope is that enough people buy this game that Nintendo decides to bring The Last Story to the U.S. as well.

Well, that’s my take on these topics. What’s your view on any of these? And what else is on your mind? Pull up a chair, pour yourself a nice cup of coffee and let’s just talk.

Written by

Age: 34 PSN ID: Starkiller81. I've played games since before I can remember, starting with my dad's Atari and I haven't stopped yet. Keep them coming and I will keep playing them.

3 thoughts on “Random Encounters II”

  1. Sounds fun

    1 – I actually played through SotC and Ico for the first time over the past week. Both truly fantastic games. As much as it makes me sound like a game-snob I truly believe that after 10 minutes of playing either game there will be people who “get it” and people who don’t. Just go and look at some user reviews on GameFAQs or Metacritic for SotC, it’s almost a perfect 50/50 split between 1’s and 10’s. The Last Guardian looks great but what with delays and people leaving the project I am a tad wary.

    4 – I still can’t bring myself to trade in games. Even if I hate them there’s always the chance I will want to replay them at some point.

    5 – I haven’t heard anything about an Occupy protest but I do know that several game sites have pledged to not cover E3 due to the ESA’s support of SOPA, PIPA, ACTA etc.

    6 – Yay, one of the few times people in Europe didn’t get screwed. I actually got Xenoblade for Christmas and am waiting until I know I will have several days free to start it and sink lots of hours into it. As for the Nintendo store, I’ve never used it personally but I’ve yet to have a positive experience with a game companies official store. Everything is always overpriced, the shipping speed and prices are terrible and the customer support is usually really slow. I’ve used Ubisoft’s, Capcom’s, Valve’s, Telltale Games’ and Rockstar’s stores and the only one I could really recommend is Telltale Games but even that I suspect was due to them being a rather small company. My bad experiences also probably have something to do with being in the UK.

  2. (1) I loved Shadow of the Colossus…even if the controls seemed awkward at times (mainly the horse controls and climbing was sometimes unresponsive) because it was so focused. Find and kill Colossi. It also had simple yet effective narrative during cinematics, which adds to the minimalist nature of SotC. It knew what it wanted to be – a boss slayer platformer – it knew how it wanted to do it, and it didn’t bother with fluff, which is refreshing especially nowadays when games that don’t have singleplayer, multiplayer, and cooperative horde modes are considered incomplete. I’d like to see more games that are streamlined and refined, and they could be sold for less than $60 via DLC. People will prefer to buy gourmet games, and for a smaller price, more people will buy the games.

    (3) SOPA, and I think PIPA too, was/were killed, but ACTA was passed or is in the process of being passed. The majority of ACTA was developed behind closed doors, and in other countries other than the USA, it was passed without consent of the people or even most of their governments. ACTA is worse than SOPA and PIPA could ever dream of being. Dear God, I want these moronic censorship bills to just stop. Why are these politicians so adamant about playing the evil empire game when it’s all in the name of an outdated business model? I want my kids to grow up with a free internet, and I want to listen to music on Youtube, dangit!

    (4) I dabbled in trading in games, but it turns out it’s a waste of time and money. You send in a couple games for a $20 discount pretty much. I’d rather keep the games for posterity. I do like to revisit games after a long time, so I hold onto games now. Luckily, my most recent purchases have been well worth keeping (Deus Ex Human Revolution and Skyrim).

    (5) Ugh, the Occupy Movement. It was a nice sentiment but it was a flop afterall. I’ve been trying to get news about it from both those who support it and those who are against it. It turns out it’s largely a just a Communistic Generation X whine-and-complain fest. The Occupy Movement blames the rich for being rich. No! That’s not the problem with America or even modern society! The problem is that the people with power are powerless and complacent in dealing with corruption. The Occupy Movement should have been a protest that angrily defied the banks and corporations that got us in the 2008 Recession. Everybody was at fault – people who couldn’t afford expensive houses, realtors who set up the deals for said people, the banks who bundled up good house loans with terrible ones and sold it on the stock market – but the government gave money to the corporations and banks for screwing up, and then the corporations and banks gave their top people raises and golden parachutes. They rewarded incompetence and corruption! With tax payer money! That’s what the Occupy Movement should have been protesting; the fact that they’re money – and a lot of it – was used to reward the morons who got us all in this crappy situation. Instead, it was just a laughable Communist parade. Cool.

    Hm, I’ll try to end a positive note.

    Well, I have 124 hours and 12 minutes of time on one character in Skyrim, and I still haven’t gotten the “Dah” for Fus Ro Dah. Yeah. I’ve done a whole bunch of other quests.

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