• 21Jun 08

  If Spore does not get 10/10 I will be very surprised.

  I've never been more excited for any game in my life. Even the monstrous hype for Super Smash Bros Brawl, Grand Theft Auto 4, etc., failed to suck me in. However, Spore is special. The game concept sounds like it will be the ultimate game. I mean, let's break down some of the great things in video games. Customization? Endless. Gameplay? You're controlling the fate of an entire species, what more do you want? Control? Total (even more than any other game). Story? Well, the life of your organism will tell itself, and there are so many ways that the "plot" can go. So yes, the scale of the game is great, greater than SimAnything, greater than Civilization, greater even than Black and White.

  So yes, if done right, it will be the greatest game ever, and possibly anyone can enjoy it (unless it becomes too convoluted for casuals to handle). It's even educational, so I can see this greatly improving gaming's image. I really hope that reviewers will be able to comprehend its greatness, though. Right now, it seems like they are more interested in more conventional games like Shooters, Fantasy Adventures, etc. Of course, those kinds of games have nothing on Spore, because you are controlled by the developers' desires, not your own, but Spore's unconventional nature might put reviewers off. Not that it really matters; I'm not going to let some reviewers influence my decision to get Spore, but they have the power to influence millions of people, and it would be nice to get them to understand that Spore is just as significant, if not more so, than Grand Theft Auto 4, Metal Gear Solid 4, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Mario Galaxy, etc.

  Maybe I'm overhyping this game. As everyone knows, hype inevitably leads to disappointment. But since this is the most groundbreaking game concept to date, I feel that I am obligated to be very excited for it, for undoubtedly the innovation of this game will encourage other developers to attempt to top this and become even more creative. Who knows what frontier gaming will explore next?

  • Posted Jun 21, 2008 7:11 pm PT
  • Category: Games
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• 20Mar 08

  Should reviewers abolish review scores?

  Many people (not just on this site) are irritated by the community's seeming overemphasis on the score that games (or any medium, for that matter) are given when they should really be focussing on the actual content on the review. I definitely agree that the written analysis of a game is much more important than what score it is given. After all, a game can be considered "the greatest game ever", but if you don't like the genre of game (for example, someone who is not a fan of RPG's or FPS's), then you won't enjoy playing it, regardless of how great the reviewers regard it as. Or maybe the game does not have elements you are looking for: innovation, for example. Maybe a game is just a very good upgrade and not an "out of this world" experience, yet it gets a high score anyways. Plus, game scores tend to have different meanings for different games: for Super Mario Sunshine, an 8.0 is a disappointment score to the reviewer, but for a game like Trauma Center, it's a pleasant surprise.

  On the other hand, review scores are helpful in determining a play or don't play. In terms of a small range, such as 7.5-9.0, they really don't say much, but on the huge scale, a 4.5 game is significantly worse than an 8.0 game, and when a game gets a 1.0 range score, that tells you to stay far, far, away. For math nerds like me, they also help quantify quality on a site like GameRankings, but of course, you can't really express opinions through numbers.

  In the end, review scores are likely here to stay, and I personally wouldn't want them to go away anyways. They are a helpful guide, but the written review will always trump the number, so they should not be followed religiously. One of these days, though, I'd like to see Gamespot or any reviewer abolish scores and gauge their readers' reactions (perhaps April Fool's?). Or better yet, there should be a reviewer that writes without using scores at all.

  • Posted Mar 20, 2008 2:14 pm PT
  • Category: Writing
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• 6Jan 08

  U.S. Americans or Why the USA Needs to Change its Name

  I semi-promised myself that I would not use this blog for anything except video game related material, but something recently came to my mind that I felt had to be posted here. Something I am surprised that no one has brought up.

  I am referring to the infamous response by Miss South Carolina (Caitlin Upton) to a question about why 20% of...er...residents of the U.S.A.can't locate their country on amap. At first I chuckled along with the mob,but your brain does funny things on MOB(TM). Then I realized that it was very strange for the mob to be laughing at the "U.S. Americans" remark. "How dare she call us U.S. Americans! Doesn't she know that we control the entire continent?"

  U.S. foreign policy jab aside, apparently a lot of people living in the U.S.A. don't realize that America refers to the entire continent, not just their country. After all, people living in South America have to call themselves Latin Americans, not to mention the residents of India have to be referred to as East Indians after some European got America and India mixed up, so why not U.S. Americans? Wait, I know. U.S. Americans sounds awfully tacky. Well, in that case, I suggest that the U.S. change its name.

  Honestly, after 200 years, the world's most powerful nation could not come up with anything better for a name than United States of America. For being so great, they sure are unimaginative when it comes to naming, resorting to stealing European city names (New York, New Orleans) and the continent's name for their country. I mean, the rest of us...er...Americans have found better ways to distinguish ourselves already (Canadian, Mexican, Cuban, Venezuelan, etc). Personally, I'm impartial to Freedonia, but that's not my decision.

  Interestingly enough, I recently checkeda British newspaper blog entry and they found nothing offensive with the "U.S. Americans"term, let alone the entire first sentence of the response (the site can be found here, and it is a more intelligent discussion of the issue and its implications than the idiotic responses on YouTube). And yes, the second sentence of the response was incoherent, but apparently since so many...er...U.S. Americans can't distinguish their country from their continent, it brings to mind thefamous "People who live in glass houses should not throw stones." anecdote.

  • Posted Jan 6, 2008 8:44 am PT
  • Category: Rant
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