Not logged in
Click here for instructions on how to embed "Platformers community blogcircle" into an external webpage.
The Platformers Podcast
From here:
•
The Platformers Episode 67 : Karma Chameleon
by The Platformers
•
The Platformers Episode 65 : Go Play Brawl
by The Platformers
•
The Platformers Episode 6X : Buffer Overun
by The Platformers
•
The Platformers Episode 63 : GDC - Gamers Don't Cry
by The Platformers
•
The Platformers Episode 62 : Tranquility Base
by The Platformers
•
The Platformers Episode 61 : Twisted Podcast Black
by The Platformers
•
The Platformers Episode 60 : SuperCast VX
by The Platformers
•
The Platformers Episode 59 : Not Sixty
by The Platformers
•
The Platformers Episode 58 : Fifth Eight-th
by The Platformers
•
Used and abused
by Tyler Ohlew
at
Pressing Buttons
•
Gearbox better not be in trouble, or YOU'RE in trouble
by Tyler Ohlew
at
Pressing Buttons
•
My baby will have PC gamer blood in it
by Tyler Ohlew
at
Pressing Buttons
•
The crybaby's take on Mirror's Edge
by Tyler Ohlew
at
Pressing Buttons
•
Not Practising Dignity, or a terrible way to start off a post about NPD Chart discussion
by Tyler Ohlew
at
Pressing Buttons
•
Phoenix Down is provided, Tyler lives again
by Tyler Ohlew
at
Pressing Buttons
•
aaahhhhh!
by noreply@blogger.com (JD)
at
The Loud Music of the Sky
•
Celebrating One Year of Tamboril
by brian@clintonhillfoodie.com (Brian)
at
Clinton Hill Foodie
•
(Untitled)
by Brian R. Belida
at
appropriately[untitled]
From treedub:
•
Read Recently
by Chris Willmore
•
Travel updates
by Chris Willmore
•
Thesis is turned in!
by Chris Willmore
•
Read Recently
by Chris Willmore
•
Interesting sample pair
by Chris Willmore
•
Blog redesign
by Chris Willmore
•
Wasting time with PyOpenGL, or, Spherical coordinate systems are awesome
by Chris Willmore
•
A couple puzzles
by Chris Willmore
•
Recently read
by Chris Willmore
Page 1 of 50 >>
I've always been this staunch believer in supporting the industry.I've very rarely bought a used game, and have only done so when the game is clearly out of print.And before I got on any further, I'm not tooting my own...
It would probably do more harm then good, but do you ever wish everyone had the same taste as you?I certainly do, because then I wouldn't still be wanting an unwarranted amount of time for Beyond Good and Evil 2.But...
With my girlfriend's laptop inching ever closer to becoming "our" laptop (one with diminishing harddrive space due to my less than cautious downloading habits), I've adopted it as my poor performing gaming rig.That's right consoles, I've gone over to the...
Mirror's Edge accomplishes what I wanted it to. I wanted the sensation of actually controlling a human being, something I never felt in any other title from a first person perspective. Half Life 2 scores highly for interactions with other...
So October's National Product Diary results were published yesterday. The thing's become my menstrual cycle. All month I'm feeling nice and chipper, and then that beast comes and makes everything feel like cold, emotionless chalk. It's not the results really....
If you came into this expecting a Final Fantasy post, you really need to turn around now. That included image is as close as you're going to get, so enjoy it in it's compressed glory ladies and gents. When I...
An absolutely fantastic video of a small group of traceurs in Tokyo, Japan. Shot, edited and directed by the very talented Kaspar Astrup Schröder this has quickly become one of my most favourite parkour videos yet.
Enjoy.
I've done a little housekeeping regarding the links and reviews and other assorted chicanery on the right hand side of the page. There are a few local blogs, food-related and otherwise, who've been kind enough to link to CHF, and I wanted to reciprocate. If you're a regular reader and write a blog that has anything to do with Clinton Hill or Fort Greene, please let me know and I'll add you. I love reading local blogs, especially ones who offer more than just the same things we get at Clinton Hill Blog and Brownstoner.
The Google Map also could use some updating. If you know of a restaurant, cafe, coffee shop, pizza place, wine store - hell, anything - that isn't there, leave a note and I'll be sure to get it up. Some have asked why some restaurants get links on the right and others don't. The answer is that i'll put a link to any restaurant/bar that I've personally been to (whether I've reviewed it or not) and that has their own website. Many places around here seem to rely on Yelp or Citysearch pages, which is great, but I'd rather link to sites run by the restaurants themselves.
Happy eating!
The Boomers are gone.
Vietnam is over.
This is what history looks like.
I was on the other side of this, twice, four and eight years ago. I was pissed off. Bitter, even. Convinced my nation, my great nation, had been fooled and betrayed. I said here, four years ago, you can be right and you can be good, and it still not matter.
What I failed to realize what that my party's failing was no the failing of America. We were right, yes. And we were good. And no, that' wasn't enough-- it wasn't enough because we assumed everyone else thought the same way, that our rightousness was as obivous as it was true. We didn't stop to consider that when the majority of Amierica rejects what you're selling, that there may be a reason for that, a perfectly logical and understandable reason.
All things have a reason. The reason Barack Hussien Obama is your new president isn't because of conspiracy or stupidity. It is because America had finally had enough. Enough of division and anger. Enough of attempts to legilsate a very narrow morality. Enough of being told to settle, to make do. Enough of being told that government is essentially ineffective and that we were on our own, helpless against greed and avarice.
Now the next four years aren't going to solve all this. America isn't stupid. That's been Obama's main point over the past six months. That we're not stupid, that we're not beholden to the same division that we've been subjected to for the pas eight years. That we deserved better-- That we deserved to fight for a better future, because the alternative was to huddle in a corner and await the dark time to overtake us.
This is why I stand with Obama. Because I believe it is better to fight against that dark horizon; that, even if it is futile, that even in the end we're all doomed that we will at least be able to meet the barbarians with blood in our teeth. It is better to fight than to cower. It is better to struggle than to give in. It is better to try. It is always better to try.
Today we were given a choice. The choice to await the darkness or rail against it. We have chosen to fight. We will meet our enemy with blades drawn. We will not succum to apathy. We will make our parents and our children proud. We have chosen to shape history.
We are good. And we were right. In the next four years we'll show you why.
Tamboril: election party, live DJ, starts at 5:30pm
candidate cocktail specials all night: obama slama, mccain “maverick” juice, biden bounce and the palin “i could see russia from my house” martini.
2 for 1s happy hour 5:30 to 7:30pm
Moe’s:
In ‘04, this was the place to be. They already have signs up. Check it out tonight!
Le Grand Dakar: PIERRE THIAM INVITES YOU TO HIS PLACE TO VIEW ELECTION NIGHT RESULTS.
WHERE: LE GRAND DAKAR
285 GRAND AVENUE
CLINTON HILL, BROOKLYN
718.398.8900
WHEN: TONIGHT AT 7 PM UNTIL
WHAT: WATCH HISTORY UNFOLD AS SOON AS THE VIRGINIA POLLS CLOSE AT 7
DJ AYO provides a long set of socio/politico commentary/satirical danceable funk from the 70s and 80s before embarking on the celebratory AfropunkSalsaElectroreggaefied disco sound system
An abbreviated WAW today, as I spent most of Tuesday wandering around Manhattan in the pouring rain and I think somewhere outside the Citigroup tower I was able to pinpoint the exact moment I contracted pneumonia.
So if you're concerned about not seeing Disney Faries: Tinker Bell, Singstar Country, Rubik's Puzzle World, Six Flags Theme Park, High School Musical Three, MySims Kingdom or Scene It Office Smash, I assure you they came out this week, and they're all crap. And then there's this crap:
Okay, so at worse it's going to be Oblivion with a Mad Max skin. I don't think there's any real reason to think it'll work out that way, but that's your baseline. Bethesda doesn't make bad games, and provided you're willing to pretend Brotherhood of Steel was never produced, there's never been a bad Fallout game. And really, even if it's not a hundred percent faithful to the Fallout universe or ethos, isn't it about time we had a western RPG that broke free of high fantasy?
Y'know, one not already made by Bioware. What I'm saying here is that, at worse, you're still looking at what's probably going to be the best WRPG of the year. If it can live up to it's promise, then it's going to be very, very special.
Imagine Party Babyz (Wii)
You have to admire the breadth of vision with Ubisoft's Imagine series-- not only is it a full-on assault against good gaming, but it also actively reinforces gender roles by convincing young girls that their proscribe career paths involve babysitting, tending house and little else. Now we have Party Babyz, in which Ubisoft makes the argument that babies should be used as personal combatants in frenetic party games. I can't say I'm disappointed with this development, as the next obvious step is Imagine: Baby Cockfights, where you strap kitchen knives to infant foreheads and the the little runtlings scoot about until one baby is left crawling.
Now here's the sort of stereotype-shattering title that only hardcore gaming can deliver:
Yeah, it's a good thing no one at NOW owns a DS, otherwise we'd be fucked. Still, there's nothing about this game that's convinced me I can't not buy it.
Motorstorm: Pacific Rift
As much as I've enjoyed the antics of lolSony over the past two years, I gotta admit to indulging in more than a bit of fanboy jealousy over the Motorstorm franchise. It's simple, well-constructed arcade rally action, something that Sega just can't get right anymore and Codemaster's Colin McRae games simply aren't interested in doing. Plus, it looks simply fucking stunning in HD, one of the few titles that you can point to as being unquestionably PS3-like as far as graphics are concerned. Pacific Rift looks particularly neat, as it's taking Motorstorm's formula and adding evolving track design that features paths that can be each be exploited in thier own way by Motorstorm's varied vehicle classes. I want to play this, and am annoyed at the utter lack of an analogous title on the 360, especially with with no recent news on the horizon of the Rallisport followup Turn 10 is supposedly working on.
NEXT WEEK~!
NARUTO: ULTIMATE NINJA STORM is MOCKED AND DERIDED
I attempt to summon interest in GEARS OF WAR 2 BRATZ KIDZ: SLUMBER PARTY threatens to bring SEXUAL DEVIANCY charges against me!
Quick Bolognese
Ingredients:
1 yellow onion, diced
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp minced garlic
1 lb ground beef
1 cup dices tomatoes
3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp pepper sauce
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
1 lb pasta - for this, I used calamarata, but everything from elbows to linguine works fine
Directions:
In a skillet, heat up the olive oil and toss in the garlic and onion to start the base. Stir so that the onion is well coated and let simmer until it's translucent.
Add the ground beef and break it up with a spoon. Stir together so that the beef browns evenly.
Add the Worcestershire sauce, pepper sauce, spices, and anything else you want to add, like the mushrooms I threw in. Stir.
Add the tomatoes. Stir.
Let the whole thing simmer on low heat while you cook the pasta. Once the pasta is al dente, strain and add it to the sauce and mix it all up.
Zombies and video games go hand in hand. Of course, I'm sure that were I writing about soap, I'd say that it went hand in hand with our favourite past time. But just stick with me here. While it's hard...
Oh my lord, don't ever count on me to rebuild the world's structures should anything happen. I'm likely to be deemed the world's worst engineer. Don't put any of those fancy designers on the either in our time of need....
The dramatic rise in demand for technology has seen a rise in the demand for professionals within this field. Anyone wishing to enter a career in computer and information technology will find a variety of suitable degrees and courses that can help with their career. Those already working in a computer and IT related field [...]
Excellent title, or excellentest title? Probably neither. Ladies and gentlemen, Dead Space is officially a great game. Despite the entire universe proclaiming this to be true for a week or so, I've put my tramp stamp of approval on it....
Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?: Make the Grade (DS)
This is actually a pretty neat game, as it's very meta. Here's how you play:
1: Buy Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader
2: Find a 5th grader with DS
3: If said 5th grader is playing any game other than Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader, you fail.
Back at the Barnyard: Slop Bucket Games (DS)
The existence of Slop Bucket Games raises a number of troubling questions:
*Why does THQ hate us?
* If you're in the market for Slop Bucket Games, do you consider yourself above the Harvest Moon series?
*Is there an artificial insemination minigame using the stylus as a syringe full of cow semen?
*If not, why?
*Why on earth is this being sold for thirty bucks?
Bioshock (PS3)
It's good to see the PS3 finally become as viable as the 360--
--from August 2007.
I question if Bioshock can still hold up as a AAA title. I loved the game when it first came out, and consider it GOTY for 2007, but perhaps more than any good game in recent memory, it doesn't really hold up well after the initial play through. The vaunted Little Sister gameplay mechanic never fully realized itself, and the Big Daddies held little threat after the first five hours of gameplay. It was a game victim to it's own multitude of options-- once you started exploring the levels and gaining weapon upgrades and powerups, the game became almost absurdly easy. But the story and setting are enough to make this must-play material for hardcore gamers, it's just a shame the game never really lived up to 2k's own expectations.
Disney Sing It (Wii, PS3, PS2, 360)
I can remember a time back in the 32 bit era where a Disney karaoke game would be contending for the most embarrassing thing to happen to gaming for the entire year, between the N64 shaped like Pikachu and news that Sega was calling their new system the "Dreamcast". We would stand around the Babbage's counter, share a laugh about these developments while talking about how awesome Parasite Eve before going home alone to masturbate to jpgs of hentai pornography.
Now I'm not sure I'd be willing to call Sing It the most wince-inducing videogame so far this update.
Eternal Sonata (PS3)
Note to PS3 owners: don't bother sending out resumes to Ernst and Young.
Fable 2 (360)
I loved the original Fable to death, right up until about the three hour mark where I realized I was basically playing a fenced in Zelda with funny accents. That said, I felt Fable could be a legitimate AAA game if it weren't for a few fundamental flaws:
* A main quest that lasted all of five hours
* No consequence at all given the lauded good/evil gameplay mechanic
* Three-foot high fences that were impervious to jumping, axes, magic and swearing
To counter these complaints, Peter Moleneux endowed Fable 2 with the following:
* A seven hour long main quest
* Map dog
More distressing to fans of the original game are Moleneux's pleas to the gamer press to "Please don't review this game in the same way that a hardcore gamer would. In fact, if you could get non-gamers to review Fable 2, that'd be better. Maybe someone blind and without thumbs. Do you have a dog? Dogs are good. Hey, you remember Dungeon Keeper, right? "
A month ago, Fable 2 was up there on my list of must-buy titles of 2008, along with Fallout 3 and Mirror's Edge and Prince of Persia: The Next One. Now Fable 2 ranks somewhere between elective spleen removal and purchase of a grocery bag full of skunk anal scent glands.
Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon (PS2, PS3, PSP, 360, Wii, Sinclair ZX Spectrum,-- just kidding, it's not actually on the PSP )
There are some concepts so brain-dead obvious for translation to videogames that developers just can't get right. Transformers games, for instance. You'd think a game about cars and jets that turn into robots would be a natural for the digital form-- but the Mech Game Corollary comes into play and ruins any attempt at creating a decent game of the concept.
Same way with dragon games. They're huge, breathe fire, fly, eat villagers, generally ruin shit. It seems like they'd be obvious candidates for the basis of good gaming-- However, unless the game features Panzer Dragoon in the title, dragon-based games are downright horrible.
So wither the Spyro franchise. which has had sixteen games, five developers, and virtually every game-capable hardware platform to create a single memorable videogame experience, yet when you ask hardcore gamers what we think of the series we're stuck trying to remember if that was the one with the commercial of a marmoset screaming into a bullhorn outside of Nintendo HQ.
As far as this particular Spyro goes, this is the first game in the series that allows the player to fly at any time during the game-- which, I dunno, you'd figure would be the main component of a game series based on being a flying, fire-breathing lizard. It look these people ten friggin' years to finally think that free flight would be a good idea?
Media Molecule has exceeded my wildest expectations with this title-- If I had to guess any company to finally unleash the Jihad Al-Talib upon gamers, it'd have been Sega. Good work, guys.
Lovely Lisa (DS)
I'd do more research on this title, but I'm positive I've been placed on a New York State pedophile watchlist just for looking up the box art on Gamestop.
Master of the Monster Lair (DS)
This would appear to be a combination of Tecmo's Deception and Monster Lair using the DS, and if hearing that doesn't cause a tingling in your nether regions then you're reading the wrong website.
Midnight Club LA (360, PS3)
I'm not really sure what Midnight Club is doing anymore that Need for Speed doesn't do every single year.
But it's a dry year for quality racers, and it's not like Rockstar makes bad games. That said, you'd think Rockstar would be clever enough to figure out a way to include Midnight Club cars in GTA4 and vice versa.
Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution 2 (Wii)
Fuck this noise, I'm going to use this paragraph to talk about a real ninja game-- Legend of Kage 2 for the DS.
I've not been shy in my opinion that ninja games make the very best videogames-- even the passing presence of ninjas can largely suffice to make an otherwise annoying and obtuse game kickass, as evidenced by Metal Gear Solid's Cyberninja.
LoK2 is the very essence of a ninja game-- insanely high jumps, air dashes, rampant eviscerations, busty women in improbably loose-fitting gis-- add in a giant rock dude and a healthy dose of superfluous bare breasts and you've pretty much got Ninja Scroll, the videogame. It's development was quite obviously a labor of love from Tatio, much like Space Invaders Extreme before it, and it's presence makes me yearn for the same treatment to be given to Shinobi and Ninja Gaiden and (especially) Strider.
It's not perfect, but then what is with gaming, especially when you're dealing with a very deliberate throwback to the 8 bit era-- the graphics are sparse, the levels largely interchangable, the DS Lite buttons entirely too small and indistinct for the type of game you're playing-- but it represents what I feel to be the very essence of gaming, and encapsulates so many things of what made me fall in love with the medium that I can easily overlook it's faults. At twenty bucks we should probably all own it, if for no other reason than to become a little more grounded in an age of Wii Sports and Guitar Hero and Brain Training. This is a videogame, unapologetically so, and something that deserves our attention, if not devotion.
Pass the Pigs (DS)
We now have a videogame based around a game based around tossing rubber pigs on a table and seeing how they land. We're talking about a mechanic barely a step removed from tossing coins in the air, and THQ is selling it to an unsuspecting public for twenty dollars. A random dice roller is more sophisticated than this game! I don't know to be horrified or amazed.
Penny Racers Party (Wii)
Prior to filing this report, I had the pleasure of being privy to an exclusive interview with Tomy CEO, Kantaro Tomiyama:
Nfinit: It's a pleasure to meet someone with such an initmate connection with the industry an how our games are HOLY GOD WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR EYEBALLS?
Tomiyama: Shortly before my company got into the business of producing videogames, I was invited aboard the experimental starship Event Horizon. Upon that ill-fated voyage I saw sights so horrific that I felt compelled to tear my own eyeballs free of their sockets. In unrelated news, I recently promoted myself to Tomy's Quality Assurance team lead.
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
Funny thing about Web of Shadows-- it may wind up being a better Fable 2 than Fable 2 itself. At the very least it looks like it may actually deliver on a storyline the player has some actual input in the outcome of, and something actually resembling a good/evil mechanic that does more than effect housing prices.
It looks incredibly well-done, which surprises me, as I associate Treyarch more with Call of Duty games and cash-in movie tie-in games than AAA-contender titles. The fact that comic book games have generally sucked since Capcom stopped doing Marvel Vs games doesn't help its pedigree.
Star Ocean: First Departure (PSP)
The only thing this game does is annoy me that we're never ever ever ever going to see a proper Phantasy Star V.
Touchmaster II (DS)
Upon closer inspection, this game has absolutely nothing to do with Ifeelmyself.com. I feel betrayed. And drowsy. But mostly betrayed.
Wii Music (Wii)
I'm not going to get into the argument if Wii Music is or isn't a game, all I know is it's a game that I have no interest in whatsoever. But that's okay, I'm not interested in Beverly Hills Chihuahua either, but it doesn't keep me from enjoying W.
The larger question is if something like Wii Music-- which firmly establishes Nintendo as a lifestyle company instead of a videogame company-- is harmful to the industry as a whole. May be. But I know this is also the same industry and same console that allows me to play No More Heroes and Mad World and Mega Man 9, so the damage must be limited in scope-- after all, we're talking about the same industry that generated 13 billion dollars in 2006 while selling Okami and Gears of War and Twilight Princess. There's simply too much money to be found selling games to hardcore gamers for something like the Wii Music-- or the Wii in general, really-- to do any sizable, long-term damage.
But you do have to be worried about Nintendo-- when Shigero Miyamoto is no longer interested in Zelda as much as he is in flailing his arms vaguely in time with the theme to Zelda, you may have a real, quantifiable problem.
