Video Game Review: 50 Cent Blood on the Sand

In the world of video gaming there is the latest release from former crack dealer 50 cent. In yet another attempt to create an image beyond the sell-out corporate minstrel, 50 cent has put out 50 cent: Blood on the Sand. It is a self-serving glob of software, styled in a 3rd-person shooter format.

There is nothing that can really be said about this game that is new or innovative. The screen is cluttered, the levels repeatitive. And on top of the monotony is the distraction of soundtracks from 50 cent. So the game is uninspired, rehashed, and targeted to hip hop culture so it can make a quick buck for the name it sports.

Honestly I've seen better video games based on movies. We all know most of those are crap made just to line someone's pocket. But here is a snippet of a review from Gamespot.com

"It is then that you commence shooting anything that moves. 50 and his chosen G-Unit companion (Tony Yayo, Lloyd Banks, or DJ Whoo Kid) traverse a war-torn urban Middle Eastern landscape, slaying countless goons while pursuing one criminal figure after another. Though there are a few vehicle segments to vary things up, most of the locales kind of blur together in a blend of gunfire and earth tones."

This is from a review that garnered a 7.0 - hardly worthy of shelling out $60. Plus the rating of those poor souls that did buy the game so far is a depressing 6.4. If that doesn't say wait for the $5 bargin bin, if you must have this, I'm not sure what will.

Well maybe this can help. IGN reviewed it with these interesting statements

"Much of Blood on the Sand is utterly ridiculous -- explosions send bodies flying a hundred feet in the air and Fiddy waxes poetic with expletive-filled taunts while taking rocket-propelled grenades to the face...There's little if any challenge in slogging through the endless waves of enemies on your way to victory, but that's really not the point. After all, Fiddy is leading the charge, so victory is inevitable...If Gears of War 2's mantra was "Bigger, badder, more bad ass," then BOTS's should have been "Fiddy, Fiddier, more fiddier." Instead it's just one five-hour "Fiddy."

But the shock is really how the game came about to be in the first place. What might have been the inspiration you ask? Well according to 50 cent

"After performing for the soldiers, you look at the people there and you use your imagination to say, 'What are they actually feeling? What are they going through?'," he said. "It was an experience but the game itself, I brought some of those experiences I had in to it and that's why it looks the way it looks"

So the act of performing for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, who are fighting a war against religous fanatics that would see women illiterate and the freedoms of the Constitution obliterated, inspired a game where a band of ex-convict corporate minstrels chase down a diamond encrusted skull, killing almost everything in sight. It sounds like a bad Scooby-Doo episode.

Somehow I believe our soldiers, or the enemy, are hardly running around shooting people to hoard gemstones. The feeling of greed, somehow seems less important than the preservation of life and love of your comrade in arms. Then again, 50 cent believes in the ghettofabulous life of thugs. So it's always about money, even if it means selling-out.

Perhaps there were a few too many mind-altering substances available to 50 cent while he was overseas. Then again, a poorly educated criminal is not someone I'd expect to see more than an opportunity of greed from. Which the game essentially is.

Now I also believe that this will make enough money that yet another 50 cent name touting game will be created. I cringe for the reviewers that must play these games. It has to be a painful way to earn a living.

Movie Review: Death Race

I was able to get out to the theater this weekend and went to see Death Race.

I had previously previewed the film, so I was walking into the film with relatively high hopes. This is not an Oscar worthy film; it’s an action movie and so has to be judged as such.

The film starts off with a bit of homage to Death Race 2000, starring David Carradine. It was driving me nuts throughout the film trying to place the voice, and the end credits were the only way I figured it out. Beyond that, the opening sequence gives you a pretty good idea of what to expect in the film.

That idea is a good one. The film is short on dialogue, easy on plot, and frequent with gunshots and explosions. It’s exactly what an action movie is supposed to be.

Let me stop to discuss the visuals. This is a gritty movie and the scenes match it well. Everything is dirty, and you just get a feeling of frustration and a breaking down of society. Even the daytime sunny scenes are gritty with dirt from the prison, and a body of water that is best described like the Hudson River. On a bad day. It’s a great tone.

The race scenes are filmed well, with an eye out to capture the speed of the race, yet not blurring the details. And when the film slows down to give us a bit of background everything is a bit more shaded and dark. In fact there isn’t a scene in the entire film that is cheerful or bright with the exception of the introduction of the female navigator prisoners. That lasts about 10 seconds. But the ladies do look good.

But there is a bad spot in the film. Just before the big race the camera goes to a steady-cam shot. It is anything but steady. It’s shaky, with bad angles, and distracting. The rest of the film had no scenes like this, or at least that you might notice, so the change is jarring. I imagine that this was a reshoot, separate of the main filming. Thankfully it only lasts about 1 minute.

The sound is good. The roar of the engines doesn’t overpower any of the vocals, but is a powerful background reminder that everything is happening at speed. Explosions are crisp and powerful, the big guns sharp and constant. And the crunch of another driver going down is painful, but not enough to really clue you into the violent deaths that just occurred.

Actually the race looks like it could be an excellent video game (if a designer actually took time to make it right and not just throw out something for a quick buck) which is a bit of a reversal on the theme these days.

The race is simple. One lap around the track to get speed and bump the opponents. On the 2nd lap electronic devices are turned on that activate weapons and defenses on the cars, all a driver needs to do is drive over such a spot before another driver. And there is a 3rd device that activates kill traps. Basically spikes pop up from the ground to impale an unlucky car, and retract with the pieces ensuring a kill. Honestly any person that’s driven a racing game in the past 15 years will understand the concept.

There are 3 laps to a race. 1 race a day for 3 days. Qualifying for the next race is as simple as surviving the race. The winner is the first to cross the finish line in the third race, usually also meaning that you are the only driver left alive.

The rules are only this, win 5 races (the winner of the 3 days) and you get to go free. In 7 years of races no one has won.

**Ok here come the spoilers – you are warned.**

Jensen Ames (Jason Statham) was framed for the murder of his wife, so he could replace a popular driver who wears a mask and is called Frankenstein. Frank as he is called has won 4 races and needs one more to win. Ames (Statham), in the mask, only needs to win once and he can go free – reclaiming his infant son from a court appointed family.

Adding to his motivation is the fact he recognizes the criminal that killed his wife, the white supremacist scum that picks a fight with him when he enters the prison. The aryan uses the false charges of killing a woman to ensure that no other prisoner will help out Ames – with full knowledge that this is a lie.

Of course the warden (Joan Allen), a ball busting woman with an eye to profits, has no intention of letting our man go free. Either he can chose to lose, win and elect to stay for further races, or she will kill him on the track and substitute another racer as Frankenstein in the mask. And she has no problem with the fact she organized the frame that got Statham convicted.

None of the other racers are allowed to know who Frankenstein is, except the pit crew and navigator. Anyone that tells the secret is killed, so there are no loose lips.

As the film progresses, and the number of drivers drops, Ames becomes aware of the plot to kill him. He comes up with a plot to escape based on a weakness in the prison that has been overlooked. To do so he needs the help of the key driver looking to kill him, or actually Frankenstein. Prior to that he does kill the white supremacist purposefully (getting out the car and walking over to the guy to snap his neck as he begs for his life)… and no one missed the character I’m sure.

The escape makes sense, and works – though the timing of a train being in the area, and so close to the prison is a bit silly. And of course at the end our hero gets the girl. He also may have acquired a gay male companion.

Perhaps one of the most interesting things in the film is Tyrese Gibson as Machine Gun Joe. This chatracter is constantly referred to as being gay. He is the only driver with a male navigator (actually several as he keeps killing them if actual racing doesn’t). It’s clear that he is not a nice person, but his actual sexuality – and the crime he was convicted of – are never revealed.

Now I find it interesting because the film goes a long way to convince us that he is someone to cheer. He wants out of the corrupt prison, he’s murderous and volitale. He severely hates Frankenstein, whom he does not know was replaced.

Yet by the end of the film he has not only escaped, he is with Ames and seemingly on friendly terms.

I also think it’s a brave move for Tyrese. His persona in most films and rap back up an image of a tough bad ass. Yet in this film the question of his sexuality is prominent. That would generally be seen as a negative to his career, and a difficult sell to Black women. Actually the thought of gay African Americans is so taboo that I can’t recall any film that touches on the subject besides the Crying Game – though that is a British film and seen differently here. So he gets a mention for the choice of this character, not that his acting is above average.

**End Spoilers**

Overall I love the film. It delivers on what it’s supposed to be. Mayhem and violence. No big statements on society or politics. No attempts at trying to be overly clever or artsy. Just simple get-your-pulse-up crashes, bangs, and booms – with just a dash of a cute girl for spice.

Career choices - play Guitar Hero or be a comatose lemming

In-between the latest bit of ambulance chasing news of Greta Van Sustern (in my opinion), and the various spills of the Olympics I ran across the possibly most idiotic piece of new of the year (to date anyway). What could be worse than Greta reporting endlessly on news events that the majority of people no longer want to hear about, or the endless discussions of which group of Olympic athletes look best? Simply this, a kid quit school to play Guitar Hero.

It can’t be said enough, a 16 year old boy (that I’m willing to bet money is White – just because I cannot imagine a Black mother going along with this kind of idea) gave up on going to school to pursue a dream of playing video games, Guitar Hero in particular, for a living. This is not being a play tester for a gaming company – which is a career – just playing for competition.

The parents of this kid need to be slapped. Then the kid needs to be knocked about a bit, and then the parents again.

Now the fact the kid was an idiot, and could not do well in high school, and was not liked or popular is beside the point. That is not an excuse to just give up. And I realize that the kid is now getting tutored which has improved his learning. This is still not the same as getting a high school education. Part of high school is learning to interact with people, not all of which will like or value this individual or that one. Such is life.

This kid is hoping that Guitar Hero will remain popular, for his lifetime, in order to earn a living. The best in the industry – of which there are few – generally earn $25,000 which isn’t much. And I dare anyone to name a video game that is as popular 10 years after the first version of the game as the first. I’m a gamer and I can only think of one, Resident Evil. And it has its own ups and downs.

The parents of this kid have decided to ruin their child’s chances of earning a living, ever. If the kid was learning to program games, cool. If the kid had a real job as a back up, great. But this loser has 1 thing he can do. Play Guitar Hero. He might as well as commit suicide (I’m not being exactly literal) and save himself the anguish of life as a peon without social skills or marketable job qualifications.

This loser might even capture a few pre-teen girlfriends that he can wine and dine with his winnings of fast food gift certificates. But somehow I doubt that anyone else would be the least bit interested.

What bout of brain dead malfunctioning would allow parents to ok such an act? I have nothing against video games, they are a fun distraction. And I respect those that worked hard to learn the skills to create this impressive graphic computer marvels. But playing a video game is not training for the Olympics, or even viably planning for the future.

What happens when a new harder version of the game comes out? What if the game becomes unpopular? What if the supposed skill he has at this game is non-transferable to any other future game? The kid will be lucky to get a job hauling manure (and I really don’t mean it insult the people who haul manure, they at least do an honest days work unlike this kid). And sadly that means that both the parents and inevitably the Government will have to support this anti-social half-wit. My taxes are worth more.

I really cannot impress upon you my disgust at hearing this news. Yes I am upset that this kid believes his only claim for existence is that he can PLAY a game better than most (not even best). But I am insanely more pissed off that these parents have such little faith in their child’s abilities, and their own obviously detrimental parenting skills, as to destine this child to a life of poverty, ridicule, and about as much intellectual growth as a comatose lemming.

Please, do not do this to your children.

Age of Conan - MMO review

I hope that everyone has enjoyed the Memorial Day holiday that is provided to us by those servicemen and women that have given up their lives for our freedom and comfort. As for me, this year the holiday was marred by news of the death of a friend, and another very good friend’s parent.

But let me not dwell on that. Let me discuss Age of Conan, the massively multiplayer online game (MMO). This is the latest major MMO to come out and was much anticipated. It’s based on the artwork and original storylines of Conan the Barbarian. I don’t mean the movie starring the Guvernator Arnold Schwarzenegger, but the original source that inspired the movies.

Like the source material the game is for adults, and very dark. When I say adult I mean just that. Bare breasted NPC characters and decapitating foes in battle are just a few of the things that make this game not suitable for kids. So don’t say you weren’t warned if you let your kids into the game.

Now I’m running the game on a modified older computer. With 2.5 RAM, and a Raedon 1600 Pro video card this is not the fastest computer out there. If you have similar configurations expect to drop several of the video options below the low default setting to garner a framerate of 10 -15 on average. And that’s with a cable connection.

But the graphics are very good even at this setting. And you can fight without much difficulty; though in an area with 5 or more characters fighting, expect to have problems.

The sound quality is nice. Though the voice track for quest givers really can’t be heard unless you max your volume, but then the background music will be staggering when you’re done. Other than this glitch the sound is good and not distracting from the game.

But how is the gameplay?

Addicting, like most good MMO’s. Conan starts you off with a simple storyline of a slave surviving a shipwreck and losing most of your memory and skills. The basic movements are straightforward, and reminiscent of all MMO’s. The GUI is similar to WoW and others in that the main skills are on the bottom of your screen. All the HUD boxes are of decent enough size to be seen and used but not obtrusive. There is no side skill bars but that really isn’t important (at least as far as level 25 that I can speak of).

One of the first major differences you will notice is that there are 3 directional buttons between the ability and fighting combo buttons in the skill bar. They are important and vital. Unlike any other MMO fighting is not just mashing button but it’s also about selecting direction of attack. Thus the arrows. And it makes a difference.

When facing an opponent you will be faced with shields surrounding the target. The more shields, the less damage and vise versa. Depending on your foe, and the level they have, as the battle goes on the shields shift – thus necessitating different combo attacks and style. Several targets will have similar styles in this defense, but the early game is pretty easy to lean and obvious. Questing and searching is easy enough, as is gaining new abilities and skills. Feats become available at level 10, and I’ll discuss that later.

The tutorial for the game is essentially the beginning section of the game. In this part you will be alone in the world during the daytime. You will have a NPC companion, but don’t count on her to do anything for you; she’s only there for looks at this point. Still you should have little difficulty getting through this section if you’ve played a MMO before. If you haven’t expect a couple of deaths before you get the hang of it. I doubt if it would take more than 5 unless you try to go Rambo about it.

Once this section is finished you will enter the game world, sort of. You will enter an area (at level 5, possibly 6 if you get lucky) that is the staging area for your character. A small island that you cannot escape (sort of) until you reach about level 20 is you are strictly soloing (which most seem to be doing). There are several fetch quests here, and more than a few kill X number of this guy quests. Leveling goes pretty fast up to about level 15.

One thing that is of note is that quests provide better experience than power killing in my opinion. In fact it’s hard to camp an area, though respawns are even-paced. There just are too many people in the zone to let you really hold a spot. And since the main quest areas are not instanced, be careful running too far into an area that seems extra empty. You may find that the respawns will set you beyond your capabilities quickly. And don’t expect a lot of help from passerbyers, most will leave you to your circumstances (and more than a few I noticed used my impending death to help them capture quest items).

I believe you have an option to skip the main portion of your progression in the staging area, called Tortage Island, but I have yet to take this option. And as I mentioned above this is not the main game, because you will need to pursue the night time option to advance your characters path off the island. And when you get to the end of that path, you will be given the option to go to the final stage. This is an instance, and enemies will not respawn (except in one section). But once you enter this stage there is no retreat. Any unfinished quests are unavailable, as is returning to the daytime zone, so keep that in mind.

Once this path is done you will be transported to the appropriate zone based on your nationality picked in character creation. In each you will find a few easy fetch quests, as well as several that will require you to travel to several zones far away. And at about 20 you can start to collect resources to be used for eventual crafting (which is only available at level 40+).

So what are the problems? Benefits?

There are many minor problems on the game. It’s very easy to flip or delete the directional arrows in the middle of a battle. That can be very problematic. The skill bar has plenty of space for the beginning levels, but could use more space after level 20ish. The trader is inaccessible, in Stygia at least. The bank is nowhere to be found. There are no guides to pint you towards any critical area (like a trainer or bank) though they do usually show up on the map – usually. The gem cutter crafter does not work if you don’t have gems in hand (hold onto the early gems you receive if this interests you). Space in your inventory is highly limited – just one bag – and I have yet to see an extra bag anywhere. All the weaving trainers are broken except for the one in Portia which is buggy.

A bigger problem is the feats tree and armor/weapon upgrades. At level 10 you get a feat tree with several options. Some are general and some are class specific. You may note that there are effects mentioned in feat descriptions, but you can’t find out information on them. There are really incomplete answers on the feats as well.

This works hand in hand with the gear. There is no explanation of what is better a high quality low level item or a higher level low quality item. In fact there is no way to really see the difference in one item or another. Armor for example tells you nothing about its total damage it will absorb. Just that it has X additional benefits. So a high quality low level item, like a blue (high quality) chest plate, may or may not be equal or worse than a white or green (low quality) item 2x it’s level. The weapons are a bit more descriptive since they give damage output, but it’s still not overly clear.

The game manual that came with the game is very light on information. The same can be said of the in-game manual. And the chat box channels are odd to me.

Now with these annoying problems you might think I find the game unappealing. That would be untrue. I have played one character to level 25, 7, 5, and 5. I enjoy several of the areas, except the Purple swamp which is just too dark to be real useful for anything.

Overall it’s a good MMO, but it’s not WoW. But also unlike WoW it’s not overly crowded anywhere.

Is this better than Vanguard, yes. Better than Pirates, absolutely! Does it beat Lord of the Rings, yes. Will you enjoy the game and feel good about the money you spent – so far I have to say yes. Hopefully some of the bugs I mentioned, and a couple of broken quests, will all be fixed soon. The game is less than a month old so may fixes are bound to be on the horizon.

I say it’s worth the time you will invest in it. Now how I feel in 3 months is another question. Especially when Warhammer is be out about then. So we will see.

The collectibles in the attic

Everyone knows that stamps and coins are collectibles. Every so often any one of us has looked up an odd coin that we found in a pocket while doing laundry or stuffed in the sofa. Some may go through old letters of a family member when moving from one house to another and thought about looking up this or that stamp. It’s obvious and known that these are potentially valuable items. Baseball cards are perhaps the best know must check items. But there are so many more.

The world has changed in many ways over the last 4 decades alone. Technology has improved and the culture has changed. Thus many items are now considered valuable that once were worthless (or at least to a mom cleaning up a cluttered house). I know that firsthand even way back in the 1980’s when I lost my first comic book collection to my mother’s spring cleaning effort. I won’t even say how much that collection was worth, simply that it included a couple hundred of the earliest Spiderman, X-Men (including #4), Hulk and other issues.

But for the sake of younger more modern collectors I took a look at video games, books, cell phones and the like.

In looking at video games most are older than the current youth generation. In fact I’m sure most kids under 20 probably have never seen the game consoles that play these games. Still I’m sure that in more than a few closets or attics there lies these gems waiting to hit eBay. The best item to find is quite rare, in fact only 26 exist but they are out there. It’s the Nintendo World Championships: Gold Edition, worth at least $10,000 each. This game for the NES console is 18 years old, and in terms of gaming the equal of dinosaurs. But if your mom runs across a gold colored cartridge game, check it out before she throws it out.

Going even further back in time, the equivalent to maybe the first amoebas or protozoa’s, is the Atari 2600. I doubt that most under 30 even have heard of this game console, let alone played on one. But if you are an old gamer like myself, and a bit of a packrat, you may find a dusty copy of Air Raid. Now if you are so lucky as to find this, you may expect to get about $3,500. And this is not the game Air Raider’s, also for the Atari 2600 but nowhere near as rare or valuable. If you have a blue Atari cartridge game, that plays similar to Space Invaders if you have a TV that can play it, then I suggest you investigate it a bit.

Going into a different direction is something I never consider would be worth anything. Children’s picture books. We’ve all had them, we’ve all read them. More than a few of us may have even chewed on them. And if in your family these books have survived from child to child, you may have a windfall. If you can part with them.

There are several dozen books of some value. And it’s understood that many of these books will not be in pristine condition as they are for children (though values for an original in very good or better condition can double its base price). I’ll just mention 3 of my favorites, which I recall reading as a child some 35+ years ago. (My mother must have had excellent taste since each of these is in the top 15, two in the top 10.

The Story of Babar. A great book, first made in 1933. Current value $2,200 to $3,800.

The next 2 are in the top 10 and are favorites of mine. I very distinctly recall reading, and re-reading, the first of the 2:

The 500 Hats Of Bartholomew Cubbins. Made by the genius of children’s books, and memorable – at least to me. Dr. Seuss made an indelible mark on generations, and still counting. That mark is reflected in the value of this book. $3,800 to $6,200.

And my most favored book of childhood (and among my top books as an adult). I can still recite 75% of the entire book, word for word. Sounds odd I suppose, but if you are feeling depressed or stressed try reciting it. You may be surprised by how much you recall and how you feel afterwards. Written by the great Dr. Seuss in 1960. Green Eggs And Ham, $2,800 to $4,800.

Now there are numerous other items that are collectible today. I can’t possible cover them all. From collectible card games, cell phones, DVD’s, miniature figurines (ie. Warhammer 40,000), printers, pocket watches, ties and on.

Suffice to say, the next time you want to throw out that ancient doodad in the attic, check it out first. You may be surprised at what you have.

Dungeons & Dragons greatest Dungeon Master loses the ultimate battle - 3.4.2008.1

I have some very sad news to report today. While some of you may not recognize the name, others will be quite familiar with Gary Gygax. I hate to say it, but he has died at the age of 69.

Now I know gamers, most of us that are now a bit older and many are creating our own games, should be familiar with this man. For those that are not, he is one of the co-creators of the most popular gaming system possibly ever. Dungeons & Dragons. Along with JRR Tolkein he was responsible for sci-fantasy and RPG style gaming.

In fact I think you can draw a direct line from JRR Tolkein to Gary Gygax to Vampire: The Masquerade to The Witcher to MMO’s (Massively Multiplayer Online games). Without D&D there is no Everquest, or World of Warcraft. There is no Final Fantasy. There is no Resident Evil or any other game. And thus no movies either.

Some may think that D&D was simply a bad movie made by some Hollywood guy that was made into an MMO. In fact the universe of Dungeons & Dragons is enormous and highly profitable. From huge tomes regarding how to play in the 1980’s, a cartoon in the late 80’s, video games, trading cards, books, and movies the genre encompasses 3 decades and continuing.

The original game system was a real first. Before there were computers, groups of friends (yes some were a bit geeky, but it was hugely popular with the military too) would gather to pull out pieces of paper and become a Dwarven Thief or Elven Paladin or Human Mage for a few hours. Without the need of more than pencil paper and a set of 3-, 4-, 6-, 10-, and 20-sided dice entire worlds were created and enjoyed. Today those same types of worlds require years of programming and sometimes servers connected to the world.

The legacy of Gary Gygax is immense when you consider not only what he created for his friends to enjoy, but what became a multi-national conglomerate. You may not be a computer geek, but every time you play a FPS (First Person Shooter), RPG (Role Playing Game), or fantasy MMO you are living an extension of the mind of the greatest mage this side of Merlin.

Few are so creative, and touched so many. My condolences to his friends and family. He will be missed by this Dwarven Thief and many others I am sure.

Culdcept Saga - video game review - 2.8.2008.2

For those video game fans that enjoy a bit more strategy over action, and fans of the various collectible cards games like Magic: The Gathering, Naruto, and others there is a new game out that you may want to buy. Well it’s not exactly new. Culdcept Saga is the followup to the original game Culdcept that was on the PS2. The current version, which I own for the Xbox 360, became available this week.

Here are the basics. It costs $40, can be played via Xbox Live, and is rated Teen. You can play up to 4 players and it was the brainchild of BANDAI NAMCO.

The real questions though have nothing to do with the above. The game is based on a storyline where your character discovers they are a culdcept, essentially a magic user whose magic is based on cards in a deck that you use. As the game progresses you learn more of the destiny that you have as you battle to become the most powerful in the world. In-between plot progressing scenes, which are predetermined, is the meat of what the game is.

You will be lead by the plot to events where you and 1 or more culdecepts fight in a battle. Unlike RPG’s and other games this is not a physical fight. It might be best described as a combination between Monopoly and Magic. At the start of a battle you are transported to a battlefield comprised of colored squares arranged in multiple configurations. You roll dice to travel around the board, as you would in Monopoly, passing forts along the way back to your starting point. Each fort you pass adds a small amount of money to your pool, as does passing the starting point. If you land on any square that is empty you have an option, leave it be or claim it.

This is where the Magic portion of the game begins to appear. You have up to 6 cards in your hand. They are made up of creatures, spells and items. Creatures are used to capture colored squares, items are like buffs that allow increases to hit points and/or attack strength, and spells can have many effects, like increasing cash or throwing a lightning bolt. It’s all pretty straightforward.

If a square is empty you use a creature card and claim it. If your creature matches the color of the square you get a bonus. If another player lands on a square you have a creature on they can either pay you the rent (which increased as you up grade it – like adding houses or hotels in Monopoly) or battle your creature for the square.

In a battle there are several effects that can affect your winning or losing. Attacking first, special bonuses against certain colors, upgrading creatures, Items cards, and other factors can all help/hurt your chance to win. The actual battle is pretty direct with each card taking damage based on the creature/item used and the losing card being burned, smashed, or otherwise appropriately destroyed.

It sounds simple, but ask anyone that has played a collectible card game (CCG) and they will tell you that the strategy employed can be wrenching. As your character develops the playing field they gain value for all their properties and the first to hit a certain level (which increases as the game progresses) and reach the start point wins. The prize includes new cards for your deck, and upon reaching certain objectives gear that you can use to modify the appearance of your character in the plot scenes.

The cards for your deck can be modified by you in-between battles. So you can set it to specialize for a particular battle or your own preferences. The better you win the rarer and powerful the cards you can win, as well as a higher number of cards are provided. At a maximum you can get 12 new cards for an outstanding win, and there are hundreds of different cards available. It’s unlikely you will win, or even see every card available in the first run through.

The graphics of the game are most noticeable in the illustrations used to show the card effect/creature/item. Like with Magic they are fantasy oriented and highly stylized. The artwork is very improved from the prior version of the game. The artificial intelligence of the game is also much better, increasing in strength more evenly as you progress. While the first couple of battles will be very easy, and the game will give you a tutorial as you engage in the battle (which makes logical sense as they tell you about new abilities and options), later battles will become more of a challenge.

Each battle can take up to about an hour to finish. Like I said it’s not as simple as checkers, but far easier to learn than Chess and more engaging than Monopoly, I think.

If you like hack and slash, FPS, real time strategy games or anything that needs to involve spies, rifles, world wars, or aliens wielding ray guns you may not enjoy this game. If you like to work through puzzles, outthink opponents, and tweak your performance with upgrades and substitutions to your strategy, this is your game.

Fans of the original will like the increase of creatures and items, plus the improved AI. New players that are even moderate CCG players will enjoy the animation ability to play online. Complete neophytes to either will likely enjoy this as a great change of pace game.

I have been looking forward to this game, and thankfully it has lived up to my expectations. I expect this to be a sleeper, and a hit, much like the first was. Check it out and let me hear what you think of it.

Reviewing the Witcher and SimCities Societies - 12.12.2007.2

Now that it’s the prime selling season, and every nice mom and dad is running around looking for goodies to buy the kids, I wanted to add my 2 cents on 2 recent video games. They are both for the computer, and one I like, the other not so much. Let’s see if you can tell which is which.

The first game I want to mention is SimCity Societies. As the name implies this is based on the award-winning mid-1980’s game concept, SimCity. The concept for those that have never played this is simple. You start with a map of land, and on it you can build an assortment of buildings, streets, bridges, subways and so on. You start with limited money to start off your megopolis-to-be, and as you attract people and employ them your revenues increase. There are of course natural disasters, fires, floods and other events that can cause massive chaos. You can even create them if you are bored or love anarchy.

Those are the good points, and they are holdovers from the original game concept. But this new title takes the original game and waters it down. I presume that the game designers felt that the original game was too difficult, or required too much thought, for the youth of today and thus dumbed-down the game. It’s a shame.

Whereas previous versions made you have to plan each step of your grand design, little thought is needed here. You have multiple options for power generation that includes nuclear, hydrogen, and renewable sources. You can put them down ANYWHERE on the game map and you have power for all your buildings. No need to connect anything with power lines. The same goes for the subway system. Just put down a station and you have an instant metro system. And bus routes too. No planning needed. The trade off there is that you can’t modify the terrain (not a single control for that that I’ve seen). So you have to build around slopes and high grades.

And it gets worse. Societies has several ‘themes’ that you need to balance. This supposedly is to keep your Sims happy. It’s virtually impossible not to. Any value that might be low requires just another building and instantly you move that value up. It doesn’t matter if you drop it in the middle of a business district or residential. And if you keep the values relatively even, the money pours in so fast you will wonder what else to build.

While this might sound nice, it’s boring. The biggest question is where to put new buildings. In a matter of game days your surplus will be overflowing with tens of thousands of dollars. Zero challenge. Not even close to the thrill or intensity of the original game.

This might be a nice game for someone with a lot of time to kill, low expectations, and limited mental abilities, but I think even 5 year olds will bore with this in a day. It’s almost a decent tutorial for learning the original game, except that involves careful planning. At $50 it’s a waste of money, and reminds me of the failure that was SimTower.

On the other hand there is a game that is more interesting and involved. It’s called The Witcher. Now this is an engaging game. But definitely not for kids. It’s an adults RPG.

What you get in the Witcher is moral complexity or ambiguity if you prefer. The world is hardly idyllic, but firmly in the fantasy realm. Magic exists, not that you really use any. You do get potions instead, though your choices are severely limited in what you can make. Weapon options are similarly limited and generally useless beyond the main 2 weapons you start with.

The game is rendered quite well, looking very nice. Sadly you can’t really explore most of it. Don’t be confused, while there are side missions there is no comparison to NeverWinter or Morrowind. This is NOT open-ended.

But as I mentioned there is a level of complexity. No one is without some guilt or wrong-doing. You let one group get supplies, you enable an assassination. Need information, give a junkie his fix. Do someone a favor, you help a criminal. And it keeps going. Nothing is ever just a one way street. And your choices help one side or another more often than not.

And then there is the sex life. Your character is not above paying or saying whatever it takes to bed most every lass in the game. And you get cards to keep track of the notches you get. There are no sex scenes or nudity on the cards though (at least in the U.S. version).

Still don’t think this is a horrible place to have your character stroll through. He is far from a Paladin While not evil, he is up for hire for most any action. You can always say no, but where is the fun in that?

Expect a lot of foul language, adult situations, and immoral characters – minor and major. But the game is fun. It’s definitely a nice change for the morally high-handed hero most games in this genre take. And it’s interesting to see the outcomes of the choices you make.

So if you are not attached to taking the high road, can live with coarse language, and wonder what you can get away with as an infertile, infection-immune, ambivalent monster hunter with a grudge, this can be a fun game. Just don’t get to upset you can’t wander off the beaten path.

10 video games not to buy for kids

Some interesting news is out about a list of 2007 videogames that is unlike most lists you may have seen before. Unlike the usual top seller lists, or the Best of 2007 that you are going to see from various retailers and websites, this list details what not to buy.

It’s not a worst of the year list either. This is a list that focuses on the most violent and child-inappropriate games in the industry. I have to say that the list is accurate, though to be fair, the games on the list are all rated for mature gamers. These aren’t games intended for the Game Cube or Wii. In fact I would imagine that the titles alone are enough to make most parents realize that a young child should not get or play this game.

Without guessing I’m sure you can imagine the #1 game on the list of 10. Obviously it is the drug and violence promoting Grand Theft Auto. It doesn’t matter which iteration of the game you want to think of, they all are equal on this subject. Even worse if you consider the abysmal portrayals of African Americans and Latinos/Hispanics.

The rest of the list includes 3 movies conversions, 2 video game dynasties, a rapper and a few other popular games. The full list follows:

• 1. Grand Theft Auto
  
• 2. Manhunt
  
• 3. Scarface
  
• 4. 50 Cent Bulletproof
  
• 5. 300 The Videogame
  
• 6. The Godfather
  
• 7. Killer-7
  
• 8. Resident Evil 4
  
• 9. God of War
  
• 10. Hitman Blood Money
  

The things I can’t imagine are why any parent of a young kid would buy them these games. I mean Manhunt? Hitman? What do you want your kid to group up to be? Are they also looping The Professional and Reservoir Dogs for the kids as a bedtime story?

I will say this though, this is the first list that includes the bewilderingly insipidly named rapper that I think he deserves and I’m happy to know about. If for no other reason, if this prevents the sale of another product targeted directly to African Americans (and yet oddly enough bought mostly by White Americans) that depicts us as mindless criminals’ intent on nefarious activities, then I am pleased to blog on it.

I will also note one other thing. I love the Hitman and Resident Evil series. I think they are some of the best done games each time they come out with a new version. I equally feel that there is no way I would let a little kid play or watch any of them either.

Some things are just obvious.

Review of the Hitman movie - 11.28.2007.1

So I went and saw the Hitman movie recently. I have to say it was worth the money and time. For fans of the video game, it does pay attention to the game. For those that never played it you won’t be lost, nor enjoy the movie less.

I am a fan of the Hitman video games, so I went to this movie with a bit of trepidation. Far too often videogames turned into movies are a let down. Either they ignore the source, or they fail to expand on it. In increasingly rare numbers we see glimmers of all the right things, and this movie gives us just that.

Prior to seeing the movie I questioned whether Mr. Timothy Olyphant could pull off the role. While his work in Live Free or Die Hard was quite good (I own the DVD – the uncut version is barely different than the official theatrical version) it was not outstanding. Any of his other work was not really memorable so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Happily he hits the mark in the movie, being stolid and rigid as the nature of his character demands him to be.

In fact the 3 most funny and memorable no-action events in the movie works because of his detachment to everything but his work. But there are a couple of glimmers of humor and bewilderment in his eyes in those scenes as well, giving us a clue that more is going on inside #47 and that he is in fact human. And every geek in the world will understand the awkwardness that #47 feels in certain situations (actually I’m sure every guy can relate to it at some point in their lives).

The action of the film is well paced. There are plenty of scenes where the number of bullets flying could equal any Rambo film, well maybe not a full film but you get the point. The best thing about the action is that like the video game, and unlike most films of this nature, it’s well rooted in reality. A shot from a handgun doesn’t send a bad guy flying 15 feet, explosions affect everything in the area of the blast, and the main character knows he’s not bulletproof no matter how good he is.

And it’s not just a shoot’em up film. There is a reason for every shot, and where it lands. Nothing #47 does is without reason. He is as sharp in his planning as the creases in his clothing. And he knows how to get physical when bullets just won’t do.

The female lead, Ms. Olga Kurylenko, is fun and slutty as the character demands. I think she pulls off perhaps the best line of the movie (I will tell you it happens in the car with #47). While she doesn’t have a lot to do, beyond be a temptress and drive me nuts about the implication of her tattoo, she does hold up her part of her scenes.

For those that are considering letting younger kids see the film, beware even though there is no sex scenes. In fact there is no sex in the film, which is a nice break from the usual trend in this genre. Actually you may find yourself watching and hoping it doesn’t happen. Though that could be me, because I think Ms. Kurylenko seriously needs to “eat a couple of Big Macs” as a good friend likes to say. You really notice it in a couple of scenes where there is frontal nudity.

Overall the film is an example of precision in action. It’s logical, purposeful, and filled with action. There isn’t a lot of dialogue, and the action is big. Will it win an Oscar? NO. Will it be noted as a great film? No. But will you enjoy getting caught up in the film and following #47, absolutely. Perhaps the main complaint I have is that the Ave Maria (sung wonderfully by Christina England Hale) we hear in the trailers is not in the film beyond the opening scenes. I love that song and its tempo is perfect for the film, but at least it’s in there.

The levity of Parody - 10.11.2007.1

Well after all the serious posts I wanted to take a bit of a break. Adding a bit of levity, and getting back to the entertainment core of the blog.

So I found this video at Video Gaming Blog That I thought was really good. Enjoy!

Black College Footbal Experience - 10.4.2007.1

Get ready for a video game that has some color that you haven't seen before.



Do I need to say more?

Video game leagues now less of competition to WNBA - 9.14.2007.2

Imagine my surprise, the World Series of Video Games has closed it’s doors in the middle of it’s second season. You might be wondering, Who? That’s the problem.

The World Series of Video Games was an attempt to televise video game playing in a manner similar to NFL football, MLB baseball or other national sports leagues. For all the attention they received, the 1 hour of televised coverage on CBS Sports, and Intel as a sponsor the final outcome is what most expected. Watching people play a videogame on television is even less exciting than Bass fishing or the WNBA. That really is a low point.

Of course they aren’t the only ones trying to make this concept work. There still exists the World Cyber Games, and Championship Gaming Series. Ultra-couch potatoes that find turning on their respecitve game consoles and mashing the various buttons too strenuous still have a chance to live vicariously through the 2 remaining leagues. I suggest TIVO of the events (videotaping them would require too much effort) because I expect both to go the way of indoor football or the Canadian Football League.

Don’t get me wrong. I love video games. Competitions to see who is the bast gamer, whether among friends or large groups of strangers sounds like fun. I doubt I’d win such a competition but I’d enter just for the thrill of it. The key is active participation.

I can’t imagine how watching someone play a game would be more interesting that putting the same game on and playing it myself. Every gamer I know would do the same. So who is out there watching these programs befuddles me.

Well never fear, Games Media Properties, which owned the World Series of Video Games and funded in part by William Morris Agency (the people who give us all the stars that look good above most all else), has a back-up plan. Sticking ads into the video games we love to play. Talk about the top of my pet peeve list. Hopefully they are as good at that as they were in running the league.

PS2 video games worth owning - 9.12.2007.1

With the ongoing move from the old generation of video gaming platforms to the latest versions, deals are out there to be had. For those that have yet to switch over to the new platforms, and owning the Playstation 2, you may be wondering what to do. Well there are several choices out there that you may have missed on their initial release, or just didn’t hear enough about to realize they were worth owning.

This list was compiled at Racketboy.com, and I agree with several of the choices. The prices are about as good as they get and more than worth the gameplay you will receive. I’ll just mention a couple of the video game choices I have owned and/or played. (Prices are as stated from the Racketboy.com list)

Gran Turismo 3: $7
Gran Turismo 4: $10
I love this series. Great racing, intensely realistic. You won’t get away with moves that you will in other racing games, and you will be glad about that. Challenging and great graphics.

Devil May Cry: $7
A bit repetative after a while, but at this price well worth it. It shouldn’t take too long for most to beat this game, but you’ll have fun bashing the bad guys along the way.

Resident Evil 4: $16
A must have. The Resident Evil series is a must have. The challenge is at the top end of gaming. At this price how could you ever not play it on a PS2?

Burnout 3 & Burnout Revenge: $12 each
Less realistic than the Gran Turismo series, but then again you aren’t looking to see who is the most skilled driver, persay. Hyper-fast, good graphics and lots of fun. Play your kids, friends or girlfriend/wife, they will all get suched into the competition and watching cars go boom.

Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus : $11
I may be a bit old for the game, but so what. I got it for my nephew when it first came out and paid full price then. It’s worth it still now. A good challenge and just fun. A great way to just waste time with your kids (or nd nephews) on a rainy day. Or just play it as an adult and keep it quiet.

The Mark of Kri: $8
A decent game with a unique system of targeting and attacking enemies. The storyline isn’t too simplistic either. It felt quite short to me, but it was an enjoyable time. Worth the money.

Star Wars Starfighter : $7
Fun. I had this and loved it. Again it was a purchase for my nephew that I just enjoyed playing too. Like you don’t want to pilot a Star Wars fighter yourself!

One thing I want to add in. On the list mentioned and linked above are the GTA (Grand Theft Auto) video games. I do not support those games. I disagree with their images, game play and philosophy. I don’t like them for kids or adults. I find them insulting.

Others may enjoy GTA, fine. I just won’t advocate that gaming software, ever. But it’s on the list.

This is what I think, what do you think?

More ads per minute than ever before - 7.23.2007.1

Ok, there goes the virtual neighborhood. A colleague of mine send me a link to Educational Games Blog, and a particular post. My position on ads in-game is pretty well stated I think. Well this just confirms why the ads are not only not going away, but how much they will increase.

Yes, increase. If you are annoyed by the number of ads so far, you haven’t seen anything yet. The reason is simple.

“…the researchers discovered that two thirds of gamers looked at in-game ads at least once each minute, and over 80 percent look at ads at least once every two minutes.”

There isn’t an advertiser in the world that will pass that up. If the average game takes let’s say 12 hours to finish (if you are a bit older like me, it’s probably closer to 20) that means an advertiser can get their image in front of you potentially between 288 to 576 times at least. And that’s assuming one advertiser!

Yes I can see it. Meeting with some friends online, you go to a village and learn about a dragon nearby, and thus you are on the quest to retrieve its treasure and the fabled Nike sword (the sneaker company, not the Greek goddess). Perhaps you’ll be be in a FPS (first person shooter) and you will need to find your Coca-Cola energy boost to get to the next level [wait aren’t they doing that already?] How many ads can you see on a particular race track? More than you see now. And all this will be coming to a game near you soon.

Don’t you feel happy?

Video games, a good buy or good bye America? - 7.3.2007.2

It’s interesting how video games are acknowledged as one of the fastest growing forms of entertainment and yet slapped down as being the leading cause of the downfall of civilization. The AMA wanted to say it causes addiction, various politicians have jumped on bandwagons from time to time to say games are too violent. Meanwhile Hollywood finds it to be a source of quality movie fodder and Wall Street has rewarded shrewd investors that have seen the potential.

It’s like one hand can’t see what the other is doing. I don’t understand how Wall Street analysts can say that companies like Electronic Arts deserve an overweight rating, and then also says

While we believe the current video-game cycle is likely to see accelerating industry growth over the next 24-months, we view the risk-reward for the sector as neutral in the near-term and look instead toward 2008 as the key inflection year for the industry.

I mean, it’s the summer. Of courser the near term is weak. The Christmas holiday season is the big push for virtually all software companies. Yet the outlook matches estimates that interactive gaming will out perform all music sales and will approach movie ticket sales soon.

But for an industry that makes so many, so much money it’s downplayed as something for kids. They ignore any of us who have grown up with video games and play them now in our 40’s. The games are constantly assaulted, but a movie based on the game is fine. The movies target the 21-35 year olds, contain violence on par with a Terminator meets Leatherface scale, and no one blinks an eye.

Where are the protests about Bloodrayne, or Hitman (movie will be out this fall - looks good too), or Resident Evil (the final story, Apocalypse, will ber out towards the end of this summer. Alice kicks butt.). Actually I’m glad there aren’t (well except for Bloodrayne which was pretty bad). But the point is I’m tired of being told, as a grown consumer of video games, that I can’t play XYZ because it is too violent to be made. I’m tired of being told that the government needs to stick their hands into what can and cannot be made. [Like anyone can name one thing the government regulates well] All the while Wall Street and politicians make money while being the monkey on my back.

Maybe it’s just me. But some need to back up, plug in, and blast a few zombies. I’m sure they will feel better. Thanks for listening to me rant. Now I’m off to find a few orcs to crush.

Video games have grown up - 6.23.2007.2

It’s funny when you think about it. I read an article recently and I started to think back. When I was a teen, I collected comic books, played Dungeons & Dragons, and read the Lord of the Rings. Among most of my peers that set me apart somewhat. Not enough to be a geek, but definitely a bit nerdy.

Today, my comic book collection has a value of some high end sports cars, the original D&D books are a collector’s item, the LotR trilogy has become one of the most successful film series ever (with well over $1billion in sales), in addition to spawning several video games and an MMO (massive multiplayer online game).

Back in the day, when the Atari first came out and then the subsequent other systems, video games were called nothing more than a fad. With the advent of the Sony Playstation, video games became a ‘minor trend’ and those that played them were ‘geeks without a life’ in the general media.

Today a recent research report by Pricewaterhouse Coopers, states that this will be the first year that video games will exceed the music sector. Not consoles, the games themselves. I’ve seen ads on television for higher learning to become a video game designer. More and more movies are being made based on sucessful game titles, and a successful game series sells faster than virtually any form of entertainment. The top action actors are all lining up to be considered for the leading roles in movies such as the reported Halo movie.

It’s just funny when you think about how things have changed.

Video games still under the gun - 6.22.2007.1

The entire video game industry just got very lucky. They nearly took a big hit, and the proponents of videoholics nearly got a huge boost. How did this all quietly happen? When and where?

The how and when is the final Virginia Tech report, made by Health & Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings and Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez and given to President Bush, which made no comment on videogames though critics Jack Thompson and Lyndon LaRouche tried hard to make the connection. This could have been devastating to the industry to be linked to a deranged mass murderer like the shooter at V-Tech.

There have been constant critiques of video games, usually timed with tragic events or political elections, and the violence some games contain. Now there is the AMA. I think it’s just silly. There is no connection to either of these things in my opinion. To make a connection is a false premise, and only benefits lawyers and psychiatrists.

The fact is sick people do sick things. That’s not the fault of a video game or game manufacturers, but the sick individuals themselves. Looking to find an excuse beyond that is just a way to give lawyers another defense in court that shouldn’t exist, I think. Mark my words, this push by the American Medical Association to make videoholics a reality is probably tied to a court case of some sort, probably a class action lawsuit, against some gaming company.

I’m not against lawyers making money, or defending their clients as best they can. I hate when quasi-scientific ‘diseases’ are used to excuse why someone does something they know is morally and/or legally wrong. I feel similar with respect to psychiatrists. They can definitely help people, but not with crap like this, that will no doubt lead to extended sessions for parents who can’t ‘control’ their child. The kid will get plenty of medication to cure or control his ‘addition’ and the parents will lose tons of money.

This sounds so much like what happened when I discussed the Sexsomniac court case,

“I speculated that the research being done in October was a precursor to some legal case an attorney was preparing for. Lo and behold I was not wrong. On the 23rd of May, Mr. Scott Axelburg used this defense to justify placing his hands down the pants of a 16-year-old babysitter.”

Just wait and not only will there be a court case on this, I’d expect the usual political hounddogs to come out and get their pictures taken as they claim they will do something about this ‘epidemic’. It’s the same argument that came out after the GTA (Grand Theft Auto) Hot Coffee fiasco. Given all the senators and politicians that were making soundbites on all the cable news media, I’m surprised that nothing has changed and the issue was dropped for the next watercooler outrage.

Then again, I’m happy it didn’t go anywhere. I may not like GTA, or let my nieces and nephews play that or other violent games, but I won’t say that such games can’t be made. It’s not the kids buying these games, it’s the parents. Congress can’t make anyone buy anything, nor should they. This is a free speech issue [a favorite topic of mine] and a parenting one. The government has no place in it.

I’m sure this isn’t over yet, but at least on more hurdle is past.

This is what I think, what do you think?

Videoholics, the new addiction du jour - 6.15.2007.1

So you have heard of alcoholics, chocoholics, and recently sexsomniacs. Well get ready for videoholics. What would that be? People who are addicted to the internet and/or video games. Yes, the American Medical Association is currently trying to decide if that is a legitimate mental disorder.

Now while I do play video games, and I’m on the ‘net everyday I hardly consider it an addiction. I work on the ‘net, and own businesses there, does that make me mentally unstable? I own several video games, and on occasion I play a MMO (massively multiplayer online game) for an entire weekend. But is that the same as drinking bottles of gin til I pass out? I think not.

This is stupid. For a group of smart people this sounds quite dumb. I mean I can see alcohol, nicotine, even chocolate. They are all capable of having direct chemical changes in the brain. The sexsomnia I spoke about previously. This just doesn’t make sense. Maybe there will be an addiction to television that will be up for consideration soon. Most of America will fall under that one.

What says that like the sexsomnia situation this is a ploy for a legal case?

“I speculated that the research being done in October was a precursor to some legal case an attorney was preparing for. Lo and behold I was not wrong. On the 23rd of May, Mr. Scott Axelburg used this defense to justify placing his hands down the pants of a 16-year-old babysitter.”

How long until someone sues Playstation or Microsoft, or asks the government for disability pay on this?

This is what I think, what do you think?

My best/worst video games of 2006 - 12.27.2006.2

**My comments on the passing of President Ford can be found at www.mvass.com**

Well it’s that time of year again. Time for the best and worst of what was 2006. I’ve already mentioned some of my thoughts about the year previously, now for some lists. Come on we all love a good list, sometimes even a bad one. Hopefully I will have the former and not the latter.

First off are video games. Yes, the bane of wives, mothers and girlfriends. A good game is worth it’s weight in coffee, or caffeinated drinks if you prefer, and then some. A bad game makes you think the ladies are right (unless you are Mr. Samuel Jackson – his wife loves them and so he married her or so he said at the Spike Video Game Awards). My preference is PC games, though I have a PS2 as well. My thoughts on other systems is culled from Gamespot.com, a site I find to be quite accurate and useful.

The number one game I played this year has to be Worldwide Soccer Manager. Most may not have heard of this one, it’s a European game but it’s fantastic. Very addictive and fills the time until the next World Cup, or the next version, quite well. If you love soccer (football to the rest of the world) you need this. It’s not a action game, but watching the matches play out is so close to the real thing you will be caught in it’s web quickly.

Guitar Hero is the second best game of the year to me. Yes I know that Guitar Hero II is out, and I have that as well. But I like the music on the original better. There is nothing like rocking to a classic rock song and feeling like you are playing it yourself. It’s as close to being in a rock band as I will ever get. If you want to do well on expert I suggest extreme practice or knowing how to play a guitar, I’m still not near that point yet.

Third for me is Elder Scrolls IV : Oblivion. Immersive, graphically beautiful and open-ended. It’s hard to ask for more. There is little better than doing what you want in a world you can master. For the casual gamer it’s better than a MMO (massively multiplayer online game), and for those that are cheap. Expect to dedicate days and weeks to the game, looking for that better piece of armor, or sneaking into that one room to rob.

The new Wii system demands to be discussed as the sports are easily the best new innovation in some time. The Legend of Zelda has been a constant favorite since I was in college and the latest is no different.

On the other end are the games we really don’t want to ever remember playing.

First I must mention my hate of all the GTA rip offs. I find them to be playing to the worst stereotypes and making them glamorous. I dislike the thought and the intention. There is no benefit or justification of these games.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The kids all want this, and none of them should see it. Unless you hope for your child to become a buffed up, ignorant, pimp-drug dealing- gang member. I have nothing against violent games. I will not say that any game should not be made. But I don’t like this and never will.

Torino 2006. Like virtually any game that tries to cash in on a theme this fails. What more do I need to say than curling?

Superman Returns. Decent movie, crappy game. This helps to reinforce the idea that you never buy a game that is based on a movie. It’s just a way for the movie makes to suck away more of your money, regardless if the movie was good or not.

Infinity: The quest for earth. I’m not sure when this popped up. It’s supposed to be a free MMO, based in space. Of course like many of the new MMO’s (especially the free ones) it’s broken. Or not yet finished. Why it should exist as only part of a game I don’t understand.

2007 should be interesting. A lot of MMO’s are supposed to be coming out. Vanguard is the first one I think I will be checking out. That is after it launches and the bugs are found. Give it a month from launch and look for a review.

This is what I think, what do you think?