[browse entry tags]

weblog entry excerpts for August 2002
/ Defense of the Scrub, Defense of Fun / Game Review / Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (GameCube) / I'm with Turok / Is it too soon to whisper Oscar? / A Very Important Weekend / What the hell just happened? / Your comments welcome.

08.07.02: Defense of the Scrub, Defense of Fun
posted by Joe

An interesting article popped up on Penny Arcade a couple of posts ago... an article about Playing to Win. At the risk of paraphrasing a summary, it's about how a truly great video game player will take advantage of any and all opportunities to win the game. The article uses Street Fighter as its visual aide, but the lessons here apply to just about any game, particularly multiplayer video and card games. Go read it for the full, true flavor.

Now. That guy is a dick.

His theory justifies everything that is wrong with the contemporary multiplayer gaming scene. In fact, taken one step further, his arguments would allow the use of cheat codes as long as all players have equal access to them. And you thought WarCraft 3 couldn't get any more fun. Let's start at his beginning.

[continue reading "Defense of the Scrub, Defense of Fun"]

permalink
TAGS: Assholes Penny Arcade Rant Recommended

08.13.02: Game Review / Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (GameCube)
posted by Joe

It was the sanity effects that won me over.

Before I heard about those, Eternal Darkness wasn't even on my Maybe I'll Buy It list. The only screenshots I saw indicated some kind of Gladiator vs. Zombies thing, and the title: subtitle just cries of melodrama. Let me guess... ancient nameless evil seeks to enslave the world and you're the one guy that can stop it?

Sort of. The ancient evil has a name though. And there's three of them.

Eternal Darkness begins with Alexandra Roivas, who has just learned of her grandfather's murder. When the police have no answers, she vows to explore pappy's homestead herself in search of clues. What she finds instead is pages from an aged book made of skin and bone. These pages - supplemented by grandfather's research - tell the story of a growing evil and the efforts of humanity to stop it. When Alex finds a new page, the game turns the story into a level, with you taking over as the hapless person drafted into fighting the darkness. You'll control a Middle Eastern lothario, an Italian Renaissance architect, a WWI combat reporter, a 1990's firefigher, among others.

[continue reading "Game Review / Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (GameCube)"]

permalink
TAGS: Eternal Darkness Game Review GameCube GameCube Review

08.14.02: I'm with Turok
posted by Joe

"A marketing ploy to turn humans into living adverts is proving a hit with thousands of people who have applied to change their name to a computer game character in exchange for 500 pounds." (entire article)

Acclaim UK will pick 5 people out of those thousands... they will legally change their names to "Turok" for a year, and they win a bunch of Xbox junk, plus the money. I'm not entirely impressed by this. Seriously, what possible marketing value does a first name have? If my waiter's first name happens to be "Kleenex," I'm not going to become magically enamored of Kleenex products. I'm certainly not going to assume that the person somehow embodies all the positive qualities of Kleenex brand tissues, or vice versa. Particularly considering that people can and will name their kids/themselves absolutely anything... I'd probably just figure he was some punk trying to make a statement about the artificialness of labels in today's society.

[continue reading "I'm with Turok"]

permalink
TAGS: For Serious?

08.19.02: Is it too soon to whisper Oscar?
posted by Joe

When it comes to sports video games, I'm woefully ignorant. I've never stepped into Madden or Tony Hawk, and I can't even name a baseball franchise for the triple. The only "real" sports title I follow is EA NHL, and that's because I see video game hockey as an arcade game. For me, the players are instead mobile cannons, and the sole ammunition available is a single floating bullet, which I must fire at the enemy's netted weak spot. And as my hockey-savvy friends can tell you, it's only been a recent development that I can be reliably trusted to stay inside the norms of hockey... and not go offside right away or make insane power shots from across the rink.

Only one other sport graces my video game library, tennis. Represented by Wimbledon Championship Tennis on Genesis and Mario Tennis on N64, tennis is another sport I can actively understand in arcade terms. Smack ball so that the enemy can't smack it back.

[continue reading "Is it too soon to whisper Oscar?"]

permalink
TAGS: Aggressive Inline Beach Spikers Game Impressions NHL

08.23.02: A Very Important Weekend
posted by Joe

As far I'm concerned, the official Year in Gaming 2002 begins this weekend.

...because this weekend is the last weekend in my entire life that I will not personally know the glory of Super Mario Sunshine. That makes this weekend perhaps the longest weekend ever, although I intend to whet it down with a quickie purchase of Duke Nukem Advance. (My wife persists in rumors of some kind of "fabulous warehouse sale" this Saturday, which I know from experience involves a great deal of me standing in a long, long line while she continues to shop. Friend Duke will come in extremely handy.)

[continue reading "A Very Important Weekend"]

permalink
TAGS: eReader Gaming Plans Kingdom Hearts Mario

08.26.02: What the hell just happened?
posted by Xian

I went into this last weekend fully expecting to cuddle up to Apple's newest operating system release, Mac OS X 10.2. My wife and I planned on getting massive amounts of work done for our wedding reception / website / etc, but I justified any investment in 10.2 as time well spent. So I was jazzed about the whole thing.

The problem: I never actually bought it. Let me explain.

Saturday, we're working in our office. I'm in Photoshop scanning in pictures and working on web graphics. My wife, waiting for her turn at the Mac, looks over at me and says "This would go a lot faster if I had my own machine."

[continue reading "What the hell just happened?"]

permalink
TAGS: Mac Matt OSX

08.30.02: Your comments welcome.
posted by Joe

Ever since I debuted this version of fourhman.com (the "red" version), I've been stymied by the division of sections. In previous iterations, I had bounced from having no sections to tons of sections, and I never liked either. Having a list of links seems like an obvious separate page, even if the concept of a link page is so overdone that you couldn't even order it at the worst steakhouse in Montana. That leaves me with card games and video games, which are the only two broad categories that I wanted this site to concentrate on (aside from this opening weblog.)

Unfortunately, I still don't particularly like either's layout. My big problem with card games is that there's very little reason for regular updating, so it always seems old to me. I've been trying to add some more Doomtown content, but that is sporadic at best. Video games is a different story; new content is generally not a problem. But the design was. Plus, it was all hand-coded, which made updating a chore.

[continue reading "Your comments welcome."]

permalink
TAGS: fourhman.com Movable Type

prev   July 2002   September 2002   next

weblog features
>AC Wild World Diary / 28 entries
>Animal Crossing in Pictures / 12 entries
>Animal Crossing Log / 31 entries
>Cheapo Game Shootout 07-08 / 11 entries
>Cheapo Game Shootout 2009 / 4 entries
>Farewell to the GameCube / 18 entries
>Farewell to the PS2 / 23 entries
>Gumby Book of Letters / 7 entries
>Our Trip to Korea / 7 entries
>Pokemon LeafNotes / 17 entries
>Pokemon Pearl Journal / 20 entries
>Pokemon Sapphire Diary / 23 entries
>Sam and Max Hit the Road / 32 entries
>Slashdot Comment History / 7 entries
>Smash Brawl Photos / 16 entries

weblog archive
>July 2010
>June 2010
>May 2010
>April 2010
>March 2010
>February 2010
>January 2010
>December 2009
>November 2009
>October 2009
>September 2009
>August 2009
>July 2009
>June 2009
>May 2009
>April 2009
>March 2009
>February 2009
>January 2009
>December 2008
>November 2008
>October 2008
>September 2008
>August 2008
>July 2008
>June 2008
>May 2008
>April 2008
>March 2008
>February 2008
>January 2008
>December 2007
>November 2007
>October 2007
>September 2007
>August 2007
>July 2007
>June 2007
>May 2007
>April 2007
>March 2007
>February 2007
>January 2007
>December 2006
>November 2006
>October 2006
>September 2006
>August 2006
>July 2006
>June 2006
>May 2006
>April 2006
>March 2006
>February 2006
>January 2006
>December 2005
>November 2005
>October 2005
>September 2005
>August 2005
>July 2005
>June 2005
>May 2005
>April 2005
>March 2005
>February 2005
>January 2005
>December 2004
>November 2004
>October 2004
>September 2004
>August 2004
>July 2004
>June 2004
>May 2004
>April 2004
>March 2004
>February 2004
>January 2004
>December 2003
>November 2003
>October 2003
>September 2003
>August 2003
>July 2003
>June 2003
>May 2003
>April 2003
>March 2003
>February 2003
>January 2003
>December 2002
>November 2002
>October 2002
>September 2002
>August 2002
>July 2002
>June 2002
>May 2002
>April 2002
>March 2002
>February 2002
>January 2002
>September 2001
>August 2001
>July 2001
>June 2001
>May 2001
>April 2001
>March 2001
>February 2001
>January 2001
>December 2000
>November 2000
>October 2000
>September 2000
>August 2000
>May 2000
>April 2000
>February 2000
>November 1999
>June 1999
>February 1999
>December 1998
>November 1998
>March 1998
>February 1998
 
Play-Asia.com - Buy Video Games for Consoles and PC - From Japan, Korea and other Regions!

[fourhman.com home] jump to top