16 posts tagged “games”

I think what Tod fails to realize is that this is just a VIDEO GAME!  It's video entertainment, on a gaming platform (PS3, PS2, XBOX 360, PC, Wii), it's not like the user will become some form of celebrity from playing this game.  Well, unless they're going for the world record of best player for the game.  You're not going to see people lining up to buy tickets for Guitar Hero/Rock Band performances other than some kind of large drunken party.  Get over it and STFU!  Another thing I'm rather tired of hearing is how some will claim to be good at one but not the other.  I heard one person say they were a professional musician and looked down on the games RB and GH.  I was tempted to ask them about their last album cycle, current record sales and even their previous US or World tour.  This person couldn't say they experienced any of those things.  So, unless, you're signed to a major record label, knocking out album after album, you're NOT a professional musician.  It's secondary.

I've appreciated music for years, I played guitar as a kid but walked away from it once I hit high school because I was wrapped up as a 3 sport athlete.  There were times when I'd still pull out my Ibanez DT-350 and pluck away at songs I knew.  At 18, my parents sold my guitar and while upset, I didn't try to pick up the guitar again.  It wasn't until the first Guitar Hero hit that it rekindled my interest in playing.  I collected all the games because of the wide variety of songs on each setlist that the user can play.  The game did help me with coordination and finger dexterity using the controller.  That's it.  I loved just playing the game for the sake of it being a game, but it felt as if something was missing.  So, I bought a couple guitars and started to play again.  I think had it not been for each gaming franchise, I never would've taken the initiative to start playing again. 

The games offer the music to the gaming masses, it can help introduce people to other forms of music (rock, classic rock, metal, ect..).  Maybe it can even help bring people over from gaming and into music (like myself).  I think the dumbing down of music lies in rap.  The same autotuning crap, recycled beats and nursery rhyme style lyrics into some non-coherent 'song' with the person talk-singing, that's not music. 

I remember spending hours playing on the original NES.  One of my favorite games was The Legend of Zelda, I'd lose track of my nights and weekends because I was glued to the tele.  I also remember how stoked I was when I first beat the game, of course I entered my name as "Link".  I wasn't too pleased to find out that by continuing to play the game, the levels and maps would change.  BAH!

I still played the game even after I snagged the SNES and the followup game The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.  I have the Legend of Zelda on my PC, but haven't played it.  I think that I miss that old school controller.  Oh well, I don't plan on trying to hunt down those original units on eBay anytime soon.  I guess it's the PC for now. 

I laughed loudly when Robot Chicken took on the Zelda series.  Poor Link.
One of my favorite bands, System of a Down even paid tribute to this great game.
Cheers

\m/

Growing up, I remember that I used to visit arcades, roller skating rinks, even places like Dairy Queen that used to have the classic arcade games just to waste my quarters.  I wish that I could provide an accurate number in dollars as to how much I reallly used up on those arcade games, but I just can't.  This was before the arcade industry pumped out titles like Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, or even Killer Instinct to save the industry from going under for good.  I remember playing games like Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, Tron, Spy Hunter, the classics.

A few weeks ago while flipping through the channels on a Sunday afternoon, I caught "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters" on G4 and actually watched it.  It really wasn't bad at all for a documentary.  I could give a review on this one, but chances are you (the reader) really wouldn't check the title out.  So, I'm just using the documentary title and classic gaming subject to tie-in this video clip from Robot Chicken.  It's called "Donkey Kong Meets Halo".  Now where was this game when I was a kid?  Shyte... I feel cheated.  HA!

Cheers

Since I couldn't find the arcade game Killer Instinct or Killer Instinct 2 to buy and place into my apartment, I did the next best thing.  I loaded KI and KI2 on to my PC.  I didn't realize how badass this game actually was until I started to play it. 

The characters, moves, combos, combo breakers, humiliations, and overall storyline really separated the game from the likes of Street Fighter or even the first Mortal Kombat game.  I really think that the KI franchise did their part in bringing back the arcade games from extinction.

I'd really like it Rare and Nintendo would get back together to make another version (KI3) or remake the previous releases for home units.  I read online that Rare's statement pretty much killed any hopes of seeing a KI3 in the future.  Damn the luck. 

Oh well, I'll just have to get my fix while playing it on my pc.  I'm still trying to figure out how to use the controller vs the keyboard.  It really sucks trying to pull off combos w/the keys.  It's just not the same.
 

Recently Blizzard entertainment acquired the domain name Diablo3.com which tells me that the game is just around the corner!  WOOHOO!  It's about time.  Diablo is a franchise game which I've logged in countless hours over the years. 

I've yet to take a crack at Diablo II or the expansion packs that go along with it, but I will.  I'm wondering how they'll manage to improve upon the game play and overall storyline?  Between Diablo 3 and Unreal Tournament 3 both coming out, I'll be staying in for awhile.  HA!

I barely found out about this last night, apparently there's a nation wide Guitar Hero Tournament going on.  Teams vary from 4 year universities, community colleges, even teams from high schools have registered to compete in a March Madness style tournament broken down into regions.  The championship match will be held down in San Antonio, Texas.  How crazy is that? 

I was actually going to try and register a team name last night, but they locked the boards.  UGH  So much for that, oh well.  I guess this will teach me to pay attention to the boards and keep an eye out for future tournaments.

Teams that manage to make it past the 4th round get to go for this:

Not bad eh?  Anyway, here's the bracket set up. 
Here's a list of the Registered Teams:

Academy of Art University of San Francisco

Altoona

Angelina College

Arizona State University

Arroyo HS 

Art Institute of Pittsburg 

Auburn University 

Austin HS

Baldwin HS

Ball State University

Beacon HS 

Belle Plain HS

Berlin HS

Boston Latin School

Boston University

Bowling Green State University 

Bremen HS

Bringham Young University 

Brooklyn University

Bucknell University 

Butler University 

Cal Poly (California Polytechnic State University) 

Campbell University

CEMAC HS

Central Michigan University

Central Oregon Community College 

Central Piedmont Community College 

Cerritos Community College

College of Saint Rose

Colorado State University

Columbia University

Concordia University Chicago 

Concordia University Irvine 

Cornell University

Cosby HS 

Crossroads Alternative HS 

Culinary Institute of America 

Culver City HS

Danville HS

Depaul University 

Devry University

Drexel University

Duke University

Duncanville HS

East Stroudsburg University

Eastern Michigan University 

Eastern Nazerene College

Eastern Washington University 

El Camino Real HS

Ennis HS 

Fairview HS 

Florida Atlantic University

Florida State University

Fordham University 

Fresno City College 

Full Sail College

Galesburg HS 

Georgian Court University

Graceland University

Granada Hills HS 

Greece Athena HS  

Greenwood HS 

Guilford College  

Gustavas Adolphus College 

Gwynedd Mercy College 

Hayfield HS 

Hofstra University 

Indiana University

Ithaca College

Jefferson Community College 

Jefferson HS

J Sargeant Reynolds Community College

Kansas University

Kansas State University

Keene State College 

Kennesaw State University

Kent State University

Kentucky University 

Lehigh University 

Lewis and Clark Community College  

Lincoln University 

Loyola University of Chicago

Mansfield University 

Marlboro HS 

Mary G. Montomery HS

Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

McHenry County College 

Michigan College of Beauty of Waterford 

Michigan State University

Michigan Technological University 

Missouri Southern State University

Montville HS   

Mount Hope HS 

Murray State University 

New Mexico State

New Smyrna Beach HS 

New York University

Newton HS

Niagra University 

North Andover HS 

North Boone HS 

North Carolina State University

Northern Illinois University

Northwestern Oklahoma State University

Northwestern State University of Louisiana 

Oakland Tech 

Ohio State University

Owens Community College 

Papillion-Lavista HS

Penn State University 

Pitt Community College

Pittsburgh School of Law 

Purdue University 

Quinnipiac University 

QVC College

Radford University

Ramapo College on New Jersey 

Regis University

Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)

Rhode Island College 

Robert Morris College

Rochester Community and Technical College (RCTC) 

Roosevelt University (Chicago)

RPB HS 

Rutgers University 

Sacramento State University 

Saddleback College 

Saint Andrews School

Saint Martin's University 

Saint Mary's College 

Saint Phillips College 

San Francisco State University

San Jose City College 

Smiley HS

Sonoma State University

South Texas College (STC)

Southern Illinois University Carbondale 

Springville HS

Stanford University

Storm Lake HS 

Stow Monroe Falls HS 

Suny Binghamton

Suny Buffalo (University at Buffalo)

Suny Stony Brook

Syracuse University 

Texas A&M of Corpus Christi

Texas A & M University

Texas Tech University

Thomas College

Thomas Edison State College

Tufts University

Umpqua Community College 

University of Alabama 

University at Albany

University of Akron 

University of Arkansas

United States Army

UCLA

Union HS  

University of California, San Diego (UCSD)

University of California-Santa Cruz

University of Central Florida 

University of Cincinnati  

University of Conneticut

University of Dayton 

University of Findlay

University of Florida

University of Georgia

University of Hawaii 

University of Houston

University of Idaho 

University of Illinois

University of Illinois-Chicago 

University of Indianapolis

University of Iowa 

University of Louisiana at Lafayette

University of Maine at Farmington 

University of Maryland 

University of Massachusetts

University of Massachusetts Dartmouth 

University of Memphis

University of Miami

University of Michigan 

University of Minnesota 

UNL (University of Nebraska Lincoln) 

UNC (North Carolina)

University of North Texas 

University of Oklahoma

University of Oregon 

University of Redlands

University of Rochester 

University Saint Thomas

University of Sioux Falls 

University of South Alabama 

USC (University of Southern California)

University of South Carolina

University of South Florida

University of Southern Maine 

University of Tennessee 

University of Texas

University of Texas at San Antonio 

University of Washington 

University of Wisconsin

UW-Milwaukee

University of Wyoming 

VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University)

Virginia Tech
 
Wake Forest University

Wartburg College 

Washington State University 

Webber Township HS

Webster University

West Essex SHS

West Linn HS 

West Virginia University 

West Virginia University at Parkersburg

Western Kentucky University 

Western Washington University 

Westminster College

Whitefish HS 

Worcester Polytechnic Institute 

Yale University