• 20Aug 08

  Gamespot please bring back the My Games pop down menu.

  All in all the changes with Gamespot "wide" are a step in the right direction. Good work. The days of hard coding the page width to 800 are hopefully long gone. And while the "wide" doesn't really utilize the entire screen, it's still looks nicer than the old Gamespot.

  That said I'm very bummed they basically rendered my *favorite* gamespot feature useless. I'm talking about the pop down menu that was labeled My Games. I used this to track around 75 - 100 games I was current interested in playing or buying. It was something I'd do many times per day. This was my direct line to all my current games. One click and I could see all the games I needed to watch, or one click and bam! I was directly pointed to the game in question.

  Yes, yes, I know I can go through the trouble of clicking the expand arrow, waiting for the data to show, and then click the My Games pop down menu, only to have it disappear again when the page refreshes. Who wants to jump through a bunch of hoops, when previously it was amazingly simple and easy to do?

  I'd recommend moving something much less used that's taking up valuable space in that area, such as logout and prefs. How often are those used? Never, once or twice a month, a year? Keep the expand arrow, but put the My Games pop down menu back in place please!

  • Posted Aug 20, 2008 10:22 am PT
  • Category: Editorial
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• 26Dec 07

  Rock Band

  I bought Rock Band the day it was released for the 360. I've been playing the heck out of it ever since, and have even downloaded most of the additional content. The concept of Rock Band is awesome, there is nothing like getting together with 3 other friends and rocking out to some decent music. Or jamming out alone, or with the wife unit. It really is a fun game. I hope the trend of music based games continues, but more importantly, continues to improve.

  Now here comes the rub.

  The hardware seems to be sub-par, at least from my experience. The mic seems nice. The guitar is decent, but seems not as well built as the GH3 guitar; I much prefer to use the GH3 guitar on Rock Band.

  Onto the drums... The drum set is the number one reason I bought this game bundle. Overall the drumming is fun, but the hardware really isn't up to speed yet.

  Problem 1: I've spent numerous hours trying to calibrate the lag, with no luck (I have a larger DLP HDTV) with stereo components for sound. After awhile you get use the the lag and just compensate for it, so ok, I can live with that.

  Problem 2: The drum heads themselves ignore about 1 out of every 8 hit when played with normal pressure. I've tested this countless times and still have come to the conclusion that the heads just don't register the hits.I'm not talking about quick repetition, I'm talking about easy, slow, quarter notes. If I play the notes harder, harder than I think was intended, many more notes are registered, but about 1 in20or so will simply be ignored. This is very frustrating to have a note simply disappear.

  Problem 3: The broken foot pedal. I knew my time was coming. I called in today for a replacement pedal, as mine broke yesterday. A few other friends have already complained of the same issue. I'm happy to hear they have a return policy, though the outrageous holding charge to my credit card feels like robbery, when I can go buy the entire drum set for cheaper.

  Problem 4: Trying to simulate music that obviously was designed for double bass foot pedals with a single bass pedal. I'd rather have access to the songs, even with a single pedal, it's true; however I know a lot of the songs when played for real are using double bass; maybe a double pedal for Rock Band 2?

  Here's to hoping they improve the hardware significantly with the next game. I'd love to see a buy back policy where I can send it my sub-par kit and get a replacement. Oh... and while we are hoping; maybe a better track list for #2.

  • Posted Dec 26, 2007 6:52 pm PT
  • Category: Editorial
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• 5Dec 07

  The Gamespot crew speak...

  I've listened to the current Hot Spot which discussed the recent release of Jeff from Gamespot. I decided to keep my previous day's blog post rather than modify / delete it. The only misconception I'd change was possibly the protest to Kane & Lynch, though I still plan to never buy the game.

  I still think CNET handled the situation very poorly. I'll feel bitter about visiting Gamespot until CNET as a Company says something to justify their decision or apologize for their mistake, but will visit because I know so much heart and soul from the real Gamespot crew are still doing their job.

  My previous blog was never a remark at Gamespot itself, or it's staff. I saw a lot of subscribers blaming Gamespot and probably didn't realize they were pointing their anger in the wrong direction. Hopefully they listened to the Hot Spot and have now figured it out a little better. I know the staff (and members) at Gamespot are the guys who've made the site what it is, which is why I hang out here almost exclusively for gaming information.

  • Posted Dec 5, 2007 10:21 am PT
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