• 23Dec 07

  Happy Holidays!

  Well, just to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

  2007 was a great gaming year, and I hope everyone will be playing some great game at home. Me? I'll be playing Super Mario Galaxy, Dementium: The Ward andRE: The Umbrella Chronicles. I hope you're enjoying other great games

  • Posted Dec 23, 2007 4:44 pm PT
  • Category: General
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• 25Nov 07

  Is violence in games really necessary?

  This is the first real editorial I write, and it was inspired by my recent gaming. Once, a friend of mine was checking out my library of games and he told me "Man, haven't you noticed? Most of your games are violent and rated M!" and I was like "Whoa, I hadn't noticed that, but I'm kinda blood-thirsty" . I won't lie, I really enjoy violent games, such as Doom, Ninja Gaiden or Resident Evil, personally I enjoyed the decapitations found in RE4 and felt a satisfying chill through my body. But I'm also a Nintendo fanboy, I have to admit, andsome people find it weird that I enjoy playing Mario Kart next to those games.

  

  This generation of gaming, I haven't seen much that attracts me. Honestly, I haven't jumped on the 360/PS3 bandwagon, and I got a Wii despite the lack of games just to get the new Smash Bros. Why haven't I? Well... besides RE5, there aren't many games that I want. I may get flamed for this, of course there's Manhunt 2, Mass Effect, Halo 3 and all of those games, but it all seems the same to me, like the formula's getting tiringly repeated. But well, that was until I played Super Mario Galaxy.

  Last time I went shopping, I got Super Mario Galaxy and RE: The Umbrella Chronicles - I know, an odd pair - and I must say, although I knew Mario Galaxy was good, I wasn't looking to it as I was to RE, but I was VERY mistaken.

  

  Let's get something straight. Mario Galaxy kinda annoyed me the first time I played it. Mario's voice sounds more cutesy than usual and the whole environment looks very kiddy-friendly, and well, I got kinda disappointed, but I heard reviews were good so I decided to kinda fake that wasn't there, but after a couple of hours, OMG! Not because of the graphics (which are good) nor music (which is even better), but because I'VE NEVER HAD SO MUCH FUN PLAYING IN YEARS! I felt like a six-year-old again, like when playing Mario 3 in those summers years ago. I remember having read somewhere that Miyamoto said his idea was that Mario was actually having fun while on his quest, and it's really reflected in the game: Mario "Yahoo!"s across the game, running and jumping, going through fun and delicious galaxies.

  Did Mario need to steal cars, behead zombies or go on a killing spree in the shadows? Nope. All he's doing is trying to rescue a princess that has a gift for him and is in need for his help, and he's having a blast! I must admit, I had a couple of tears on my eyes while playing this, it overwhelmed me, the powerfulness of a concept so simple yet so inventive (yet, with no blood whatsoever): it's like a virtual fairy tale, the awesome music that is both sweet and charming yet very melodic (and even more excitement when I heard Mario 3 music).

  

  Where do I want to get with all of this? Well, maybe I'm getting my point mistaken, by no means am I trying to say violent games aren't good. As I said, I love violent games, but somewhere along the road some developers and publishers (I'm looking at you, Rockstar) seem to be just trying to push the boundaries of violence without pushing boundaries in gameplay or in finding ways to makeA FUN GAME. As you can see, I'm talking a lot about this game so I'll review it soon, but the editorial isn't to brag about Mario, just to brag about having seen that a game can be pure fun, just that developers need to work hard on it. I hope Mario Galaxy gives an example to other developers, that a game doesn't need to be ultraviolent to be fun and really touch your heart.

  

  • Posted Nov 25, 2007 9:55 pm PT
  • Category: Editorial
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• 14Jul 07

  Wii want to play!!

  Yes! I finally have a Wii! I went last Monday on another Wiiscavenger Hunt but again, without luck. Anyway, I live in Mexico but since the Wii costs less in the US and I live on the border, I can go, but I haven't found it, ever. So, I had almost given up... until my family saw a Wii here in Mexico... it was more expensive - it costs aproximately US$400 here - but I spend a lot on gas and paying the border-crossing fees, so it was worth it. Now I need games, since I only have Wii Sports. I plan to get RE4 ASAP, and possibly a Wii Points Card to download some games. Yay! I'm-a so happy! It's really cool to use the controller, and I noticed GameCube games look slightly sharper on the Wii. I think I'm gonna store my GC hehe
  • Posted Jul 14, 2007 3:16 pm PT
  • Category: Editorial
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