Ahh multiplayer games.

They can be so entertaining. People playing, laughing, and having a good ol' time together. I've always loved playing games with chums. The sense of either working together to punish some baddies or kicking the daylights out of your friend's digital entity. Of course nowadays we have the choice of playing online, offline, or even a bit of both. But there's one thing I haven't gotten used to. Playing with complete strangers. Now don't get me wrong, you all out there MAY be nice. But overall I still think you're a bunch of twats.

One of my fondest multiplayer memories is actually pretty recent. About a year and changed ago, my good friends finally decided to get 360s. The first game we all played together on the system was COD4. Now I had my 360 for about a year or so prior to my friends getting it. It was cool playing on Xbox Live with randoms or what not. But to play with my friends was to me a totally different experience. It just gave us a chance to hang out even when the weather was crummy or if one of us wasn't feeling well. Gave us all a chance to just BS about our days at work or what not. But most of all, it gave us a chance to blow crap and other people up together.

A few weeks later, I got Rock Band. I gathered everyone to try the game out, boy was that a blast. Whether it was myself belting out Blondie or my friends just rocking out on the drums and guitar, it gave us all a chance to goof off and enjoy the moment. It's now a bi-weekly thing that we do on the weekends.

Games have such a special place in my heart. They give me a chance to slip out of reality for a bit, take out my frustrations and stress from the real world. And now with my buddies on there as well, it gives us all a chance to experience that together. Most of all, it makes me feel like a kid again.

I know this is probably a topic that has been beaten to death on many blogs, LAN parties, and D&D sessions. Maybe it's just that this is something that's bothered me for some time. Maybe it's just the fact that like the title says, I do feel like a whore on a Wednesday (apparently that's a slow day for them [I made that up]). Or maybe it's because I'm up at work at 5:30 this morning and I'm tired or slightly delirious.

Yeah, that must be it.

Anyway, have you ever played a game that took you on such a crazy roller coaster ride that you couldn't wait for the ending? You put so much time, so much effort into leveling up your character or learning certain strategies to get past all these puzzles and mazes that you feel that you've EARNED a big payoff. You want that money shot. Yet you get the equivalent of "two girls one cup". Ok maybe that was harsh, but you get the idea.
Developers, I understand that gameplay must and should come first, and hey, that's the way I like it too. But if you want to involve a story in your game, come on, work with me. Don't take a player through your crazy concoction and not give me a satisfying ending. Make me feel good when I beat your game. Don't give me a 2 second CGI clip then scroll Thanks for Playing! onto the screen. I understand that you may want to leave things open for a reason for possible sequels and such. But if you leave me and the gang unsatisfied with the videogame equivalent of The Happening (gosh what a stupid movie), we will be annoyed. Granted, we are a very picky bunch so anything less than perfection and well, you get sharted on. Just try and give it some effort though? Finish the game up with maybe something fun like at the end of Sam and Max Hit the Road or a nice little wrap-up of where or how the characters are and how situation X effected them. Think less like the end of Halo 2, Gears of War(1 and 2), FEAR, Condemned, or Half Life and more like the end of Grim Fandango, Prince of Persia, or Under a Killing Moon. Wow, I had to go back to think of some good endings. But I may be wrong. I haven't played everything under the sun so I can't say for sure if the quality of endings has become better or worse. But regardless, that's just how I feel and dagnammit, I'm sticking to it.

But what are your thoughts? Which games in the past 5 or so years do you feel have made you feel a bit short changed? Which games made you feel all warm and gooey inside?

After my first failed attempt at my 15 seconds of internet fame didn't work out with my monthly musing, I went
back and thought about this topic. I thought long and hard. Then it hit me. Mario was a destructive little
plumber. And Super Mario Bros was my first experience in virtual destruction.



When you think about it, Mario wasn't a happy go lucky guy frolicking about without a care in the world. No.
In fact, he was pissed.



A friggin big ass Koopa took his girl. I mean, wtf is a Koopa anyway? Shit, that alone would piss ME off. So
what does Mario do? He decides to take the fight to this Bowser guy and leave nothing alive in his path. The
Irate Italian is so dedicated to take his girl back and kick the living snot out of Bowser he even takes fungal
and botanical "enhancements" to upgrade his mayhem. He breaks bricks with his head and scorches minions
with his flower power. Yeah they had to tone it down to flower power because he was already too
awesome. Jack Bauer has nothing on this cat. Running around causing a shitstorm through land and sea,
damn that's like a blockbuster movie in the making (oh wait..scratch that).



As a child, being able to guide someone with such rage was just mind boggling. How can you harness this
power? Thankfully, the controls were smooth and guiding Mario through his wave of face stomping, shell
crushing mayhem was a delight. The game play was simple like his mission, but satisfying. Rip shit up in
World X, slide down a manly pole, rest at some chocolate covered White Castle, and repeat. Sure it sounds
like it'd be a bore, but it wasn't just about beating everyone into a pulp. No it was also about jumping vast
distances and carefully timing certain traps of death for our vengeful hero. Now don't get me wrong,
Bowser was a sly one; laying out all those traps and making it as difficult as he could for Mario. But it didn't
matter, Mario could not and would not be stopped.


Mario was out for blood. Oh and yes, there will be blood. Just...pixelated and really hard to see since well,
it's not actually there. Whatever, he still kicked some ass. One can dream can't they?

This month's theme is a rather difficult one. Reason being that well, there's a chock full of games out there that pretty much in some way let you beat, break, rip apart, or even humiliate someone's ego. But my choice for this theme was something that hit close to home for me.
Why you may ask?
Well dear reader as the Burnout series is about fast cars and big Hollywood style crashes, I myself had an experience of my own. I guess you can say I and my chariot at the time was taken down by a bigger, stronger metal beast. I was hit by a Mack truck. Literally.
Hit the jump to read more!




Unfortunately, I've lost pictures of my car after the incident. Thankfully, I didn't get hurt. The truck pretty much folded in the back of my car. But I've got to tell you, when you're about to get hit by something that big, time really does slow down. I was being dumb and irresponsible. I could have not only lost my car, but possibly my life. So a few weeks after the incident, I got a chance to play Burnout 3. The first thing I noticed about the game was just how well it made you feel how fast you were going through some motion blur effects and the wind ripping across the vehicle. The controls were tight and the game ran great. Then I got into my first crash of the game, which was probably about...30 seconds into the game. I had a little flashback of my incident, but luckily, this was just a game. Damn did it look and feel so much cooler there. Kudos to Criterion for doing such a good job in getting the sound effects.


Oh yeah, this happened a lot in the beginning...

Burnout 3 Takedown takes what most people hate about racing games (crashing) and makes it damn fun.

Oh and slamming an opponent into oncoming traffic or into a wall? One of the most satisfying feelings I've ever felt. Impact mode, where you can still try and take out someone even when you're Not only is there the typical racing modes (with a bit of smashy smashy in it), but they threw in a crash mode with the sole purpose of taking out as many things with you. Watching those replays, and seeing how much havoc I wreaked visually and monetary wise was a sick twisted feeling of fulfillment. I know Burnout Paradise is out, (and I do own it) but Burnout 3 is still the king of beautiful metallic destruction. It truly is art in motion.





F'ing sexy.

Wow it's been forever and a day since I wrote anything up here. Lot of games, so little time...gosh I need to
find a way to quit my job and still be alright financially so I can friggin beat or get good at the assload of
games I have laying around (I'm looking at you NBA 2K9...). But I'm happy, we're getting some good titles
for all platforms out there. Competition is a good thing. MS and Sony can keep having their drawn out cat
fight so long as I keep getting good games and longevity of my purchases. I guess the flip side is that since
there are so many good games out there, it is kicking the shit out of my wallet. Seriously, I don't think I've
seen a greater asskicking since this:



So NXE came out...that was fun. I always get giddy about new and shiny things that come out. In fact I even
went out and got a Netflix account! I added some stuff to my instant queue only to then to have my queue
quartered by the silly "not available on Xbox" message. Damn you Columbia...
Overall, I'm happy with the NXE, it's shiny, smooth, and fast. And dare I say a bit more intuitive.Group chat
worked great, and I actually got to play Left 4 Dead with more than one person. T'was fun for all. Though
after having a good time blasting away with zombies, a cold chilling realization creeped up on me.

I friggin don't have friends on Live. In fact, I don't have friends in THIS community either!




F you guys.

No no, you read that right. I did get my ass kicked in. By a 13 year old.

In a local Halo 3 slayer game.
The score? 25-0. Yes, 25 to nothing, zero, zlich.


Let me be straight up about this though, I am awful at FPS's. I get the idea of
understanding certain strategies and learning the maps, etc, etc. But I don't care! I just
want to blow shit up!


Apparently he was better at it then me.


So this little guy is one of my family friends. I've seen this kid grow up to become this
beast. It's funny because I remember when he was an even smaller pip-squeak, I had to
show him the ropes on many a games and even beat him down in some. Now the student
has bested the master. Sorry, bested isn't the proper word, he obliterated me. But it
was all in fun (though frustrating).

What amazed me about this experience is how quickly these younger kids pick up these
games and master them. And yes I know there are a buttload of these kids out there. I
see them all the time on Live. I mean, back in the 16 bit days it was just a few buttons and
a D-pad. Now there are trigger buttons, pressure sensitive buttons, and friggin analog
sticks!
Gaming has come a long way, and the generation has stepped up to the challenges. For
that, I tip my hat.




Now about my bruised ego......I guess I could just punch him in the face and call it even. ;-)