Dare to Play the Game

Little Big Planet causing controversy, Rockband goes a little country, and Golden Axe: Beast Rider is a bunch of rubbish – Welcome to the column that would say something about Ohio but there are people with pitchforks & torches and the Amish are a little poed off too known as Dare to Play the Game.

I am currently sitting in Ohio. Oh Hi Oh. We’ve had a nice time in the Buckeye state but keeping it mostly simplistic. The temperature has been very cool for this time of year at least for me. As a result I’ve come down with a slight cold or allergies or something that makes me all sneezy, runny nose, stuffy nose and general bad things with my nasal region. So consider this article written under not the best of conditions. I have a feeling I will be sick until I step back on the plane to Texas and then it will be as if nothing happened. Crazy how things like that work. So I sit here with a tissue, and plenty of juice to guide me through the next couple of days. I hope I at least get well by tomorrow so I can enjoy the last day here.

In video game news for myself, not much to report. We do have a 360 here and I did bring a few games but mostly of the play with or against each other variety. Though I did do one odd thing while I was here. Score 1000 achievement points on a retail game, in 3 sittings. NBA 2k6. Too bad it was on somebody else’s profile. The one time I get all of the achievements for a retail game and I get no credit for it except in my brain and to those that took the time to watch.

Ode To Morgan Webb Mila Kunis



















As you might have noticed Morgan has been replaced for the week. Why may you ask? I have found a new covergirl, at least for the next seven days. Mila Kunis. She’s was part of the 70’s show cast, is in the new Max Payne movie and most importantly, former World of Warcraft player. Check out the youtube clip from the Jimmy Kimmel show. She speaks quite the educated gamer tongue and looks hot doing it. However, she claims that she quit a year ago but yet she knows about Lich King. Ummm, she still plays, she know she does. Now if I could only find out what server she played on.

Golden Axe

The editor in chief of Play magazine, Dave Halverson, has some harsh words for anyone who scored Sega’s Golden Axe: Beast Rider below a 7 out of 10: “Be wary. The majority of these people (can’t call them critics) either didn’t complete a fraction of the game, don’t
understand game design, or just plain suck at games.” At last check,
all outlets but Play have reviewed the game well below Play’s 9 out of
10 — the GameRankings average is currently at 44%. Halverson derides
these “sad reviews” as an “ever pervasive sign of the times.”

Who out there has the game, has played it and either agrees or disagrees with Halverson’s glowing review and subsequent rant?

So how much is Dave being payed? Or being enticed might be the more operative word. I can’t speak to the overall quality of the game either cause I have a hard time ponying $60 for a game that doesn’t even have all of the original Golden Axe members. It might be a decent game, but I think there is a more serious offense here. Calling out your fellow reviewers and telling them that they either didn’t play the game far enough or don’t understand game design is pretty unneeded. Especially when the overwhelming majority of reviewers rated this game the equivalent of a turd. Speaking for myself, I’ve often found titles that have been rated pretty low on the gaming chain by others a decent or even good game. However, I’ve never had the gal to call out fellow reviewers. So perhaps Dave needs to step back a little and reconsider that just because you think a game is uber, doesn’t mean everybody else has to as well. Dave, hope those incentives from Sega smell really sweet.

Rockband

Don’t let the name fool you. Rock Band won’t always be about the rock.
Responding to a rumour that the game will soon be receiving some
country tracks, a Harmonix staffer has said:

It’s not a shock, don’t worry. Those who can recall the first Guitar
Hero will of course remember that the best damn song in that game was,
surprisingly, Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Texas Flood. Which last time I
checked neither rocked nor rolled.

Rockband also listed their 20 free songs for those who bought Rockband 2 this week. I suddenly don’t feel so bad for not getting the game on release week. But it’s a very nice selection of songs nevertheless for those who did get the game before it hit the used market. Anyhow, always happy to see a lengthy range on song releases spanning the vast culture of music as we know it. I’m a glam rock head primarily since I grew up in the times of Bon Jovi, Poison, Motley Crue and so forth. But I do like a little bit of country like Alabama, Brooks & Dunn or Big & Rich. And there are plenty of people who like ska, hardcore, goth, emo, and other things I probably wouldn’t go near. Doesn’t mean it’s bad music though. However, as to the original columnist who claimed Texas Flood is country, that isn’t entirely true. It’s a little bit country, a little bit blues and some good ole fashioned rock n roll. It’s plain real music and should be in any collection of guitawesome tunes.

Little Big Planet

The European delay of LittleBigPlanet we mentioned earlier has blossomed
into a worldwide recall of the game due to passages from the Islamic
holy text Qur’an being included in the background music in one of the
levels.

1- In the 18th second: “كل نفس ذائقة الموت” (“kollo nafsin
tha’iqatol mawt”, literally: ‘Every soul shall have the taste of
death’).
2- Almost immediately after, in the 27th second: “كل من عليها فان”
(“kollo man alaiha fan”, literally: ‘All that is on earth will perish’).
Thanks to NSider for providing the link and translation.
We’ll keep you updated as we hear more on how this recall effects release dates.

Ouch, where is Bible Adventures for the NES when you need it? While I don’t mind a little bit of Biblical or other religion in my games, it varies from game to game. Little Big Planet as far as I know is supposed to be a family friendly game. Somehow, I don’t think passages about souls tasting death or the pending nature of dieing need to be anywhere in such a game. If it was M rated or even T for Teen, it wouldn’t be such bad. But come on guys, somebody at the ole Sony board should have spoke about this when it reached certification. However, due to the the language one can guess how the artist put one over on the development crew. I wouldn’t expect to see a recall, but we can expect to see a patch rather soon to either strip it entirely or make it an option to turn it off. Toggle: Remove Islamic Banter On/Off.

Most people know how I feel about Portal. The game has impressive graphics, good gameplay but unfortunately gives me a splitting headache. So needless to say I won’t be purchasing the Portal sequel no matter how cheap or how wonderful it is. It’s 1200 points, has quite a few levels (but not story related in anyway), and should delight just about anybody who enjoyed that part of Orange Box. As for me, I’ll probably go back to Half-Life instead.

It’s a party!! Or so it claims. Yet another Tetris title for those who need their line completion fixes. The game has a number of new modes including Beginner’s Tetris, Field Climber & Shadow. Shadow is an interesting one since it is requiring you to fill in a puzzle using tetris pieces but you can’t go outside the puzzle. Beginner’s Tetris also has an additional mode where you can use the Wii Balance Board. Tetris has been done over and over again, but if you don’t have one for your Wii, then this might be the ticket.

Also supporting the balance board, here is a title that offer a cheap price and is probably old as dirt. Ever remember those old wooden labyrinth table top devices where you had to roll the ball by turning a couple of knobs into a hole at the other side? Well here it is in digital form. It is quite the cheap time waster and even includes a challenge mode. Just don’t look for too much in the title.

The floating boxing glove game. A rather odd choice for Turbo fans this week. This boxing title features 3 opponents(Marciano, Mick and Samson) where you fight 3 minutes for 12 rounds. Kinda bizarre boxing title and I really can’t say much more cause there isn’t too much information on the game and I’ve never played it.

Gradius, one of my favorite shooters comes to Virtual Console. This second incarnation, release on the Turbo Graphix 16 CD-Rom never quite made it to the North America shores until now. This one features some decent music and classic Gradius graphics. Featuring the same selection bar from the prior releases, this includes quite a few choices such as missile, laser and shield variations to make the best Vic Viper configuration to defeat the enemy.

WoW time. 53/30/30/17. As you probably have noticed, I got Talloween & Leifrick both up to level 30 and they both have their mount as well. Even though I really do want an Elekk for my dwarf, that will have to wait until I can get enough rep. I really could care less if Leifrick, the blood elf gets a flightless bird though. He got his final 9 marks and got the Warsong Gulch trinket. The first time I’ve had a character under 50 that has both of his trinket slots full. Just need to find a better bow now. I’m kinda sad to see the 29 pvp bracket go for my hunter. He amassed 90 marks in WSG and Arathi Basin and in his last dozen or so fights he was constantly at the top of the leader board. I might not get the fancy exotic pets due to my spec (Marksman) but he can show up to any fight and stand a chance in winning it. Welp, that’s about it for now folks. Enjoy the rest of your week and I’ll try to enjoy mine, hopefully I get well soon. Take it easy kiddoes!

As Always,
Kedrix of Aldrianian
(*The Forgotten One*)