When you just need to let the trials and tribulations of life flow outwards from you like a river, this is what you need to do.

[rant]Hey, you know what I like Sony? I love when I go to my local retailer to pick up a highly anticipated title, go home and throw it into my severely disowned system and am greeted by a 10 minute install. Not to mention when I finally get excited to play after that, I’m kicked in the balls by another 438 MB patch that has to be distributed by the brutally slow PSN.[/rant]

All the BS I have to endure to just enjoy some Socom…

       ]]> http://boomboxhero.com/2008/10/15/really/feed/ boomboxhero http://boomboxhero.com/2008/10/08/the-gaming-drought/ http://boomboxhero.com/2008/10/08/the-gaming-drought/#comments Wed, 08 Oct 2008 18:57:08 +0000 boomboxhero http://boomboxhero.wordpress.com/?p=85

I am at a real loss for quality games right now. Although I have a landfill-like pile of backlog, I NEED A NEW, AMAZING GAME! It’s really bad. Almost all the time I’m playing with friends, we’re all talking about the drought of AAA titles right now. There have been some solid joints released lately (Wipeout HD, Pure, Mega Man 9) but nothing that made me go, “oh shit!” The game that I am joyfully anticipating is Dead Space. I really really hope that this game turns out to be something special. I’m specifically looking for a damn good survival horror game. Plus I’m leaning towards the PS3 version of this game because of my lack of titles on it and the trophy implementation. The good thing about if it doesn’t pan out to be great, I still have Socom: Confrontation that same week, followed by Far Cry 2 the next week, and finally ending the month with the greatness that will be Fallout 3. The holidays have officially arrived. Break out those wallets and credit cards ladies and gentlemen.

A lot of shit has transpired since I last wrote here. I’m jobless, single, and trying to right the wrongs of my past doing. Enough of all that shit though, I’ve been compelled to come back here and talk about how much of a damn good night it’s been for me. I get off a bullshit night of Halo 3 to find the new Termanology album (which sounds fire from my skim through BTW) but I also catch the new Murs, Heltah Skeltah, AND Madlib! Not to mention the new Jake One is going to be out in the next couple weeks! The Scion will be beating down the fucking road for the next few months.

I gotta give it to EA on this. I couldn’t care how derivative that the next Need for Speed may or may not be, but this trailer is amazing. This may be the first time I’ve seen a video game trailer almost look like a movie trailer. Granted the actors here aren’t great, but I like the marriage between gameplay (seemingly) and their cutscenes. I am really getting a NFS: Most Wanted vibe from this game, and if that’s the case, there might be something good behind this recent change the series has made.

I really don’t know exactly why I like Paramore. As a group, all it really sounds like is some manufactured teen angst shit, but it’s something about their songs that really keeps my attention. This isn’t any landmark joint, but it sounds good. The lead singer is decent eye candy and can at least hold a note. Some of their rhythms sound nice too, but again, nothing amazing. I can’t really put my finger on why I’m so entrhalled by them, but I should just shut up and enjoy the shit.

I’m all aboard the hype train now. Next stop, holiday ‘08.

Not much to say about this, but god damn it’s funny. I’m console agnostic, so it’s not much of a big deal to me, but damn. You would have thought that the Lord himself came back to disavow all the scriptures the way the internet has been reacting. It’s a huge kick in the balls to Sony, but maybe they’ll have something tomorrow that will be almost as huge of a megaton.

I’ll preface my semi-rant by saying that I’m not too hot on the new avatar system that Microsoft announced today. It reeks of them trying to copy the “cool kid.” And while it is something to try and appeal to a casual market and even make Xbox Live a little more human like, get ready to see Hitler, Jesus, Mike Tyson, and all your favorite (or not so favorite) iconic figures while browsing through your friends list. Also, thanks Microsoft! All those consumers that purchased the themes and gamer pics you so heavily marketed to us are so appreciative that their points were wasted on something that you would totally abondon. While in the meantime, prepping us to spend more money on extra outfits and hairstyles for our Mii wanabes. You won’t catch me on that boat Mr. Microsoft…

Edit: Might I add that some of my rant is based on speculation. MS could come back and say that there will still be functionality with the themes and pics. But the avatars are still horible. That won’t change.

Rock Band 2 is nearly here! Which sounds pretty ridiculous considering the original was only released about 9 months ago. I’m not mad at Harmonix though. Rhythm games are probably one of my new favorite genres. So anytime I can get a nice fix of new songs and some fair upgrades, I’m all for it. With the new announcement though, there has been alot of chatter about the battle between Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero: World Tour. I may or may not have been the first to say this, but I think there is enough room in the market for them to each hold their own niche.

While Guitar Hero: World Tour may seem like the more revolutionary game, it looks like that change will be coming at the price of cutting off the casual market. Granted the name alone is mainstream gold, the price is going to scare off alot of your everyday “Wal-Mart shoppers.” For that reason alone, I could see the stand alone disc totally being the way most casual gamers go. That issue aside though, as amazing as the song creation aspect of the game is, I highly doubt this is something that the casual market is going to take any prolonged trip into.

Which leads into why Rock Band 2 is in a pretty damn good spot. They may not have the same popularity as Guitar Hero, but with Harmonix ironing out some of the kinks in the user interface, allowing already purchased DLC to carry over, and the possibility of bringing all of the songs from the prior game into the new one without having to switch discs, things are definitely in their favor with them establishing a platform. Not to mention, Rock Band is noted as being the easier of the two games, making it simple enough for any Joe Blow familiar with a toy guitar to look like they know what they’re doing. Another notch in Rock Band 2’s belt is the fact that they are opening up to 3rd parties to allow them to make instruments for the game. This allows for the possibility of better or even cheaper instruments, making it look a little more appealing in the price department.

With all this said though, I totally see World Tour taking a life of its own. People are going to take the song creation mode and put that shit on its head. I can already seeing some talented people out there doing whole shows with the game. All of that’s for the hardcore though. That’s not a bad thing either, it’s catering to its own crowd; which is exactly the same thing that Rock Band 2 is doing. All this goes to show that while these games may be competing in mind share, there is more than enough of room in each game’s respective niche for them to both be successful.