So many other blogs do the whole comment of the week thing and I figured, "Hey, I have a ton of time and read Dtoid all day anyway, why don't I do it?" So I'm going to.

The first one is slated for Friday, with comments from yesterday to then. If you see any funny/clever/pithy comments that are worth reading, send em my way, as I'll surely miss a bunch.

Thanks for the help in advance and keep the good comments coming.

Both...

...can cause you to break things

...are better with friends

...can sometimes get to ridiculous levels of competition

...are expensive habits

...have good relationships with junk food

...make certain types of people cry

...make you wonder where the time went

...can be used to escape from our boring lives

...are conducive to storytelling

...can be very, very macho or very, very effeminate

...can cause us to become out of shape

...cause certain people to scream obscenities/racial slurs/generally be jerks

...bring people together

I am a big sports fan. Sports and video games (oddly, not sports games) take up a ton of my free time. Lately, ESPN has been running with this idea of a Mt. Rushmore of sports – basically, the four most influential faces of sports.

I think you can see where this is going.


Like this, but geekier.

I plan on making this a three-part feature. Part two featuring more nominees and the final eight, and part three with the final four. Here are my initial candidates for the Mt. Rushmore of video games:

Mario (Mario series) – No doubt he makes it on. The only slam dunk candidate. His influence spans nearly the entire existence of games and he's featured in so many classic titles it's crazy. Hell, he'd make it on the one-of-each music/literature/games/film Mt. Rushmore he's so popular.

Link (Legend of Zelda series) – Link is a Mario with less titles under his belt, and to some, that's a good thing. The original NES Legend of Zelda practically invented “open-ended” games, while Ocarina of Time is hailed as one of the greatest games ever made. A very strong candidate indeed.

Solid Snake (Metal Gear series) – Although he may not have a the hefty pedigree as the previous two, Snake is iconic for his uniqueness. While his NES title was not as highly played, Metal Gear Solid for the PS is one the best games ever and offered gameplay that was completely different: stealth. As his games blur the line between film and game more and more, he has to be recognized for moving the medium forward.

Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic series) – People forget due to his recent struggles, but Sonic challenged Mario at the height of his reign. Sonic the Hedgehog and its sequel are wonderful games that offer a sense of speed never before seen in any game, much less a platformer. His X-treme attitude proved to be a mistake once the 90s ended, but he is still widely-loved nonetheless. Please make a great game for him this generation!

Gordon Freeman (Half-Life series) – While the FPS genre was still young, Half-Life pushed it to places no one thought possible and that many games in the genre today have yet to surpass. While he is a silent protagonist, we never leave his perspective during the sweeping narratives. His everyman status makes him all the more appealing.

The straight piece (Tetris) – It may be the most widely played game ever and the straight piece is it's poster child. With nary a word of even human form, the straight piece is a beacon of comfort in an otherwise chaotic world.

Ryu (Street Fighter series) – He is the face of one of the grandfathers of a beloved genre – the 2D fighter. A badass through and through, he spoke softly and carried a big Dragon Punch. It seems he may have been hanging out with A-Rod as of late, but hey, there's no performance enhancing testing when it comes to mountain faces.

Megaman (Megaman series) – The blue bomber is nearly as popular as Mario and Link, but he remains a relic of times gone by. Megaman 9 was a huge success, but his jump to anything but 8-bit greatness leaves a little to be desired as far as his candidacy is concerned. There are some kids who have never played a Megaman game. I doubt there are any who have never played Mario or Zelda game.

Black mage (Final Fantasy series) – Deciding who to represent this venerable RPG series was tough. Do you go with Cloud, the protagonist of FFVII – hailed by many as the best of the series? Maybe Cid, a character who (in name, at least) has appeared in nearly every installment of the series? A chocobo? Ultimately it came down to recognizability and the black mage has got it. The floppy hat, the glowing eyes and an appearance in some form or another in a vast majority of the series gets him the spot.

Master Chief (Halo series) – He may be younger than the other noms, but his influence is clear. His debut on the Xbox pushed FPS' in a much more epic and cinematic direction. It also popularized the two-stick control scheme seen in nearly every console FPS to date. Millions and millions of gamers have taken him to Xbox Live, and while he may be another quiet space marine, he draws a lot of water.

[Authors note: Stay tuned for part two, featuring the rest of the candidates. Also, feel free to nominate your own candidates in the comments. Full disclosure: This also appears on my Examiner page, which you should totally visit.]

So the Halo Wars demo hit today with very little fanfare. I had no idea it was even dropping until turning on my 360 today.

So, how does this console RTS play?



The RTS may never be right on the console, and it seems as though Halo Wars isn't going to change that much. The "revolutionary" control scheme they developed is very shallow and somewhat clunky. Right stick controls the camera and left stick moves your cursor. A selects a unit, X sends it moving or commands it to attack, and Y is a special attack. Left and right bumper selects either all units or all "local" units. Really, that is it. The controls make it difficult to select two fronts or a certain unit type and makes combat a "select all, attack" affair. Not very strategic.

Resource management is very bare bones, as the game's focus is combat. You really only need one type of resource (some nondescript crates) and a few reactors to build nearly everything in the game. A few supply buildings and you're set. Some of the bigger units require three reactors, but it is very, very simple to manage.

Since resource management is minimal, the game's combat has to be fun. And it is. Controlling units from the Halo universe in large-scale battles is fun and a sight to behold. The special attacks - such as the Warthog ram or infantry grenades - are pretty awesome and the leader abilities - such as the Prophet of Regret's cleansing beam - are a sight to behold. But, as it does in all RTS' - combat boils down to rock, paper, scissors.



The demo also was not very difficult. After researching a few simple technologies (of which I hope there are a lot more in the final build) and building a few of each unit I was able to easily overwhelm the second level of the demo. Since there was very little resource collection, I felt the victory was a little hollow and unearned.

There is a tutorial - basic and advanced - that explained the controls well. But the demo levels seemed like an extension of that tutorial, as the game holds your hand most of the time with arrows showing you your next objective or NPC voice overs telling you what to do.

I was surprised that the Halo Wars demo was out today, and thus, had little expectations. I was not blown away, and don't think this is the game that will make the console RTS a force in gaming. I dabbled in Civ: Rev and felt that was a much better title. I will not be buying this unless it comes to light that the game is a lot a deeper than this demo.

Copy/pasta alert! But these are too great not to be posted.



Now who wants to put together essays about these games like 33-1/3 with me?

10. I like to write about a ton of shit.

Be it video games, sports, music or ye olde boring news articles, journalism is my passion. I've done quite a bit of quasi-professional writing and hope to remove the quasi part some time soon. I write reviews for Popmatters (free games), covered music in Boston for BostonMusicSpotlight (free shows) and got into a bunch of random events at my college because I was "with the press" - which is always fun to say.

9. I'm a college graduate and unemployed.

As much as the second part of that sucks, it's a part of me now. The economy sucks and newspapers are struggling so finding a gig is tough. But hey, games are a great way to pass the time between looking on craigslist.

8. I have a girlfriend of six+ years.

It's pretty crazy to type that, as we're almost at "common law" status. She's great and helped me through a ton of tough times. Not a gamer (I've tried), but she understands and even puts up with talking to me on the phone during Halo of Left 4 Dead sessions.

7. I love Dtoid and want to become more involved.

I am sure this applies to everyone making one of these, but this site is great. I check it like fifty times a day, feel like I know people who I actually don't and generally think this place is rad. I've gotta get into some FNF or something and hang out with ya'll more.

6. I'll secretly never forgive my parents for trading in my old systems or whatever they did to them.

I had NES, SNES and Genesis and a fair amount of games for each. All gone. No idea where they went. I am eventually going to re-buy them, as those systems kick a megaton of ass and my gaming rig is pretty sparse.

5. I am a chronic game un-finisher.

God of War, Shadow of the Colossus, Mass Effect, MGS 3 Snake Eater. These are just some of the biggest titles I have yet to finish. I feel terrible for it. When a new game comes along, I get obsessed with it until the next game comes along. Or I get to the very very end and just don't do it. It's weird. Thus, I have a stack of unfinished titles that I really want to end someday. I am getting better though.

4. My favorite game ever is Final Fantasy VIII and I won't be convinced VII was better.

That is all.

3. My nick comes from the metal band Mayhem, who I don't even like.

I just thought it was badass and it stuck, all the way from Halo 1. The guy is pretty crazy though.

2. I have a horrible sense of direction and get lost VERY easily.

Even with printout directions I get lost. It sucks. So I try to drive as little as possible in unfamiliar lands.

1. I am a grammar Nazi so rub it in my face if something is wrong, I am used to it.

It's a journalism thing. Comma usage, "people are a who," never using semi colons and a bunch of other odd writerly things were drilled into my brain. I even text and talk online in as proper English as time allows.


It's been awesome reading all your lists and way to go SilverDragon on starting a good thing here!