- EA held a press event in the city last night and I was there. It was mostly sports titles for the Xbox 360, though there were a few PS2 games here and there.
Right off the back, I gotta say… as much flak video game journalists get, most of them aren’t nearly as bad as those who write for men’s magazines. Also, I actually prefer to attend press function during the day and at a hotel suite via scheduled appointments, and not a free-for-all at some swanky bar/lounge like last night’s, since the aforementioned journalists become ten times as obnoxious when there’s booze around. The worst was watching two drunk guys acting like total dumbasses while trying to play the new Harry Potter games; either it was their attempts at observational humor, or the fact that they were doing it to impress some poor EA rep.
I’m no sports guy, but I am a racing nut, hence why I spend quite a bit of time with Need For Speed: Most Wanted, which marked my first time ever handling a 360 game btw. It wasn’t that bad…. visually, its very nice, though the frame-rate was only at 30. Hopefully it’ll be sped up in time for its release. But I wasn’t too found of the handling. And I don’t like the means to trigger events (the ones that causes explosions and wreck havoc with the cops) a single bit… far too much hand-holding. But I do like the use of slo-mo…. not sure if they are the first to do so in such a manner, but its both stylish and inventive (too bad the controls hurts it).
And that 360 controller is easily one of the most comfortable I’ve ever touched.
I also got the chance to check out Black. The only reason why I bothered to even give it a look is because its from the same folks who do Burnout, and despite the fact that I dislike first person shooters, I was very impressed. I like the philosophy behind the game (its less about killing folks as it is blowin’ shit up… which in turn kills folks) and its pretty fucking gutsy in this day and age to make a one player only FPS.
Later that night I decided to pop in some old PS2 demo discs and decided to give Half Life 1 a spin. I got dizzy in about five minutes. Hence why I don’t like FPSs.
- So the war is on in California. The Entertainment Software Association filed a lawsuit to overturn the recently passed law that restricts the access violent video games via some extremely vague language. And now the Governator (yeah I know… but I’m too lazy to check the proper spelling of his name) is standing strong, vowing to defend the law to the fullest extent.
And here’s what Leland Yee, the assemblyman who drafted the bill originally, had to say about the lawsuit:
- NextGen reported something this morning which made hardcore gamer-types all pissy, even though its the god’s honest ruth for the rest of the world: buying video games is pretty fucking difficult.
- I forgot to pass this along earlier in the week: for you SNK/2D fighting fans out there, here’s some artwork and screenshots from King of Fighters 94: Re-Bout and Samurai Shodown V. I’d post the pics here, but there’s just so many, and my bandwidth bill is already high enough (though ImageShack is already proving to be flakey). Anyway, here’s one (and featuring the ladies… of course):
- Take a look at what Kojima makes his crew go through, all for the sake of making a video game. Talk about hardcore. Too bad no one else goes through such lengths, though I hear Itagaki, the man who runs Team Ninja, makes sure that all his folks can hold their liquor.
- And check out Final Fantasy X for the Famicom.
- Meanwhile, in the world outside of video games, Joe passed along a link to trailer from the same folks who turned the Shining into a romantic comedy: West Side Story as a zombie flick.
- Perry Bible Fellowship is almost always good, but this one is easily one of the best.
- Scary Go Round is a webcomic which I’m just starting to check out. I just love the art:
- Anyone who’s a fan of old PBS programming for kids, specifically the show Zoom, might wanna check this video out. Or at least those who love songs about math.
- And as found by Sarah, who’s been doing this blogging thing far longer than I, check out this crazy cute shirt:
