Stuff..
February 23rd, 2008 by Erik Benerdal
I got a PS3..
It’s so shiny!
An Ipod Nano.. (thanks to Ksatria ^^)
It’s so small!
The Odin Sphere soundtrack..
It’s so beautiful!
Archive for the 'Games' Category
Phinally!
February 2nd, 2008 by Erik Benerdal
Ever since I got my first Phoenix Wright game I’ve been a fan. It’s an amazingly well-written adventure game that puts you in the role of Phoenix Wright, attorney of law. It’s actually more like a detective story game. With each murder case you need to figure out what happened, who did it and so forth. Once you know who did it you still need to convince the court using your collection of evidence and your wits. The characteristic prosecutors will do anything in their power to keep that from happening.
Because I got my DS relatively late I had to start with the second game and I finished the third game over christmas. The first game has been notoriously hard to find. When I was still living in Singapore I scoured every game store I could find for it but only ended up ranting about how they suck for not selling old/used games.
Last month I finally found a website that had it so I ordered it as fast as I could. Three weeks later I got a notice saying they were unable to find a copy for me. Doh! I searched the internet and found a website that sold used games and they apparently had a copy in stock. I ordered it and sure enough, three days later a parcel drops into my mailbox. I open in to discover they sent me the third game instead of the first (which is funny because Trials and Tribulations isn’t out in EU yet). Double-doh!
I contact their customer’s service and low and behold, it was a simple packaging error. They told me that they had sent me the correct game along with stamps so I could send back the one I wrongfully recieved. I got it two days ago and finally my collection is complete ^^
There’s even a new “Phoenix”-sequel coming out this month! Apollo Justice! Despite the equally ridicilous title, I can’t wait!
Fox doing what they do best
January 22nd, 2008 by Erik Benerdal
I saw this video posted on joystiq.com today. It’s the kind that makes every gamer grind their teeth. But these kind of reports are not uncommon for Fox, so obviously it should be taken with a large amount of salt. The channel is well-known to thrive in fear-mongering and poor journalism. Let’s look at this video as another case study.
We have, two “experts” (I put experts in quotes since Fox have been known to hand-pick and ‘educate’ their experts in the past). They both give their arguments. Both the phychology expert and the moderator admits that they’ve never even played the game. Then half-way through the report the relatively balanced argument is shoved aside for a panel of four conservatives of whom all share the same biased opinion. Neither of the four panel members seem to have played the game or in any case have any basis for what they’re saying and in the end I couldn’t help but to laugh out loud when they show their pity for the ‘unfortunate’ parents who have to look after their children.
[Update]
Jeff Brown of Electronic Arts, the (enormous) publisher responsible for Mass Effect responded to this debacle of a report, saying it was ‘insulting to the men and women who spent years creating [Mass Effect]’.
Martha MacCallum herself brushes off the complaint. This story is most likely already behind her and she’s moving on to warn about the next parental fright.
[Update #2]
At first I thought this story would go away, to be forgotten and passed on as another good example of poor journalism. But evidentally I wasn’t the only one to take offense. Earlier in this post I pointed out above that Fox had a tendency to educate their “experts”. This case seemed no different and it turns out it wasn’t. To regurgitate what’s in the article; Cooper Lawrence (the woman psychologist seen in the report) said this an interview to the New York Times: “I really regret saying that, and now that I’ve seen the game and seen the sex scenes it’s kind of a joke.” She goes on to say: “Before the show I had asked somebody about what they had heard, and they had said it’s like pornography. But it’s not like pornography. I’ve seen episodes of ‘Lost’ that are more sexually explicit.”
The thing that I find really unnerving about all this is not that a perfectly good game is being wrongfully treated by a mainstream outlet, or that it was such an obvious lie. It’s that it was a lie in the first place. It’s not uncommon for less serious news outlets to “spice up” their reports, but to invent news for the sake of ratings? That’s wrong in more ways than one.
Oh Singapore..
November 15th, 2007 by Erik Benerdal
Another triple-A title bites the dust. The non-interactive sex you can perform with the ladies in Mass effect was a bridge too far for the Singaporean government when it became clear that the player can be a lady too.
Story here: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6182936.html
Alien tushy here: http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/16069
[Update]
Turns out they changed their minds. Go MDA!
Ban reversal story here: http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7987&Itemid=9
Wanted: Imagination (dead or alive)
November 13th, 2007 by Erik Benerdal
I’ve noticed a trend in video game character design: Faceless guy in futuristic armor and helmet.
As games move more and more into realism, game developers find themselves having to answer the question: How do you put the player in a realistic environment but give him supernatural powers?
The easiest, no-brainer answer is to give them a power suit and set the game in the near-future. It’s important to distinguish the future from the near-future. The future means the game plays out in outer space and the human race are either at the bring of extinsion or they’re the commanders of the galaxy waging an interplanetary war. The near-future means the near-almost-now, but not-really. In essense the real world, but with addition of cool inexplicable technologies. Like power suits.
MEDIC!
November 6th, 2007 by Erik Benerdal
Stupidest bunch of rounds of TF2 I ever played.. but dang was it fun.
Team Fortress 2 (rant)
October 23rd, 2007 by Erik Benerdal
I’ve been playing a lot of TF2 lately. It’s a really fun multiplayer game but I’ve found that it can also be extremely tedious. This is because it’s a team game, and sometimes the team you’re dealt isn’t really what you hoped for.
So when I start a map, I always pick the Scout and rush the first capture point. If I have another scout accompaning me then that’s a good sign that at least one in my team knows how to play the game. Usually there’s a small skirmish with the opposing team before one of us takes the first point. I usually only play Scout for one round and I use that first skirmish to gauge whether I should go for offense or defense next. Mostly I pick Sniper which is something I can play both offensively and defensively.
But I’m constantly switching between the classes when I play depending on the current situation. If the opposing team have a lot of spies cutting the backs of my team I’ll go defensive Pyro and burn anyone looking suspicious. If we’re having problems holding a capture point I’ll consider switching to Engineer and build a sentry gun. If they have a firm defense with snipers and sentryguns, but not any pyros I’ll go Spy to help our team push through. You get the point.
However.
Sometimes I get put in a team made out of the worst case idiots I’ve ever seen. They pick whatever class they think looks cool and then they just play it like a regular shooter. The kind of player that would rather run around a capture point than on it. The kind that heals opponent spies. The kind that builds sentry guns at locked capture points. The kind that plays scout during the sudden death round. The list goes on and on..
Team fortress 2 gets so frustrating when you’re playing the (parton my arrogance) “intelligent” way I do and your teammates does nothing to help. Just one guy on your team that does what his class is supposed to do can be so powerful and make the difference between winning and losing. Hopefully people will learn this fact with time.
F yeah!
October 19th, 2007 by Erik Benerdal
Bionic Commando was one of my favourite NES games back in the days. I can’t remember which of my friend who had it, but I’m pretty sure it was one of the main reason why I would come over again and again.
I don’t have to tell you how awesome it is, just look at this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmhrAE2_a10
Hard to beat, huh?
Okay, well what if it looked like this?
http://www.gamespot.com/video/943678/6181311/videoplayerpop
I’m really excited and I have good faith in the swedish development team. I admit I’m a bit envious of them. It would really had been a dream project for me to work on.
Orange box
October 16th, 2007 by Erik Benerdal
I bought The Orange box on Steam. Besides being a completely painless online purchase the package is just rock solid. I’ve been playing Team Fortress 2 for a few weeks now (I got access to the beta because I prepurchased it) and it’s just great. It’s a brilliant looking game accessible enough for noobs that still rewards skill.
Portal came as a surprise. I knew it was supposed to be funny, but damn. I want to compare it’s sense of humor with the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, which should say a lot. I’ve replayed that game 2 or 3 times only to listen to the ending song (It’s just so cute and funny). It’s been getting a lot of attention in the online press lately and I’m glad I was able to play it before all of that with an unspoiled mind.
Episode 2 was the last of the bunch I played. I burned right through it in a day.. and while it “only” took 4.7 hours to complete it was like watching a 4.7 hour long blockbuster movie. Valve isn’t getting enough credit for the quality of their work. I’ll probably replay it once more to get all the achievements.
If you’ve got a Steam account you can add me to your friends list. My SteamID is Scarabus.
This is why I love the PSP
August 22nd, 2007 by Erik Benerdal
By running custom firmware and a homebrew called RemoteJoySDL I’m able to play Disgaea Portable on my PC. While it might not be incredibly useful, you have to admit it’s pretty damn cool. XD
