Malik
(2/8/10)
On Saturday I finally tried out the last feature of The Beatles Rock
Band that I had neglected since the game launched. I'm talking about
the multiple vocal track feature. I was able to play with two
friends on vocals, while I took the third part while playing expert
guitar.
Originally, I thought The Beatles was a good game and built on the
RB style nicely. However, after doing this triple vocal play, my
impression has only improved. I mean being able to get additional
vocals is a blast, and it's a bit fun doing the chaos of expert
guitar while also adding to the backing vocals. Of course, I didn't
exactly hit my pitch too well, or play my guitar part all that
solidly when I had both parts to do. Since the backing vocals are
not required for the vocals to stay afloat on the rock meter, this
was not a huge problem and made it all that much more fun when we
could hit a triple fab rating (perfect on all three vocal parts in a
vocal phrase).
Anyway, the big event of the weekend was the Super Bowl. I have to
say I enjoyed the game, even if the announcing team sucked and the
ads were mostly mediocre (not to mention insulting to see $2.5
million was spent by the US government on those annoying Census
commercials during a budget crisis). I mean the game was excellent
and the half time was great (I mean it's The Who).
I'm glad that the Saints won. On one hand, they were the underdogs
and really deserve to finally make the big time after having such a
bad run of post season play in the last 40+ years. Also, when a team
plays this gutsy of a game plan, it's even more exciting to see them
win with some amazingly ballsy plays. The first quarter was a bit
lame with the constant failures of the Saints on defense (if you
pressure Manning too many times, he'll just use the run game to
humiliate your defense), but it all turned around with some nice
high risk plays. For me, the play of the game, and the play that set
the tone for the rest of the afternoon, had to be the second half
kick off. An on-side kick is a risky move when you're down with only
a few minutes left to play. When it's not a distant game (it was
four points to start the second half), and after keeping the other
team away from the ball for the last 15 minutes of play, it is a
statement of who you are and what you're going to do for the rest of
the day.
Then, when you add in the two point conversion and the interception
that was ran in for a touch down...well, it's obvious the Saints
came to Miami not only ready to play, but ready to destroy anything
in their way.
Best of all, with the Super Bowl done, I can now leave the NFL
behind for the next half a year. After seeing how low the Seahawks
could go this year, I need the break from sports. MLS and MLB are a
couple months out, so I can now focus on taking back my weekends for
a while and getting back to a reality that is not full of
disappointment and pain.
Malik |
Malik
(2/10/10)
If you were in the
right, or wrong, market/region during the Super Bowl, there was an
ad that played itself to death. I'm talking about an ad that ran in
the Seattle area at least four times, probably more. It also ran
around San Francisco, Dallas, and Las Vegas. It's another one of
those ads, like the American Census ad, that can make you pretty
annoyed when you consider how much money it cost to air and produce,
since it's another government funded ad.
I'm talking about
the Air Force Reserve recruitment ad that showed hip young people
doing hip young people extreme (or is that, when the government does
it, "x-treme"?) things. In other words, it's one of the two standard
templates for military ads. Either you're an elite soldier or you
are a cool person who will not be brought down by the military since
they obviously must welcome a hip culture.
The funny thing
about this ad is that it made at least one of my friends comment on
how the song being played in the background should be in Rock Band.
We all agreed. I mean we knew and loved the song, since it's none
other than
"Fell In Love With a Girl" from The White Stripes. Yeah, the
vocal track and the drums were omitted, but the guitar riff was 100%
unique and obviously Fell In Love With a Girl.
The incredibly
funny thing about this ad, and I mean hilarious and not just
anecdotal when I say "funny" is the response
from this. Ok...it's neither funny nor anything else except
obvious when The White Stripes will come forward, naturally a little
unhappy, since they "don't want to be a cog in the wheel of the
current conflict." The funny part is how adamant the US Air Force is
being in saying that
this is an original song made by an ad agency only for the
commercial and "any similarity or likeness to any other music is
completely unintentional."
The Air Force
Reserve is using the same line of arrogant logic that had Vanilla
Ice saying the bass line of Under Pressure was not ripped off for
Ice Ice Baby. Or the same logic that has Carlos Mencia or Dane Cook
claiming to write original comedy material.
I just find it
funny in the modern age how so many things are so clearly ripped off
by people who have the charisma to reach an audience, but are too
damned lazy or uncreative to generate their own unique
message/work/whatever when they finally reach their target audience.
It's one thing if you hire your own writer (that's called a business
relationship), but it's another thing when you just steal someone's
work and call it your own (and it's only worse when it's the
government doing said intellectual theft). I'd just love to hear
what the agency behind the actual "composing" of the song has to say
about this.
Also, I'm glad to
know that The White Stripes haven't gone the complete sell out path
in licensing their music to the military.
Malik |
Malik
(2/11/10)
I finally finished
Dragon Age Origins last night. I was trying to drag out the act of
finishing the game. I mean it's a very solid RPG experience, and it
felt a little sad to know that the end was coming...especially since
I have nothing else lined up right now to entertain myself on this
level. Also, it's a lot less fun to play games when you've stabbed
your hand a few days ago and using a mouse is a source of pain.
I may have started
off not too impressed with DAO, but by the end I was able to see the
genius behind Bioware's development. Yes, there were a few problems,
with the main one being the lack of streamlining DLC. Seriously, no
game should inform you, in the process of playing the game, that
your adventure is nerfed due to missing DLC. I had the deluxe
edition, which gave me Warden's Keep and The Stone Prisoner, plus I
bought Return to Ostagar on the first day it was given a permanent
release, but I still thought it lame when a friend, who didn't get
the DLC, went on to tell me about how the game demanded his credit
card to ensure the world is fully saved from the darkspawn menace.
At least the DLC, when purchased, was really well entwined into the
mythos of the standard game.
I also had some
trouble finding a reason to care about this world to start. It felt
like a bad Lord of the Rings clone, with nothing to really stand out
apart from any other generic RPG. Well, that's the most important
change in my impression of DAO as I finished the game last night. I
actually more than became interested in the world...I started to
care about the changes that would happen based on the decisions I
made during the game. Most of all, I honestly wanted more from each
of the characters. There was not a lifeless party member, in terms
of personality and story, and even the bulk of NPCs, in a world
filled with hundreds of NPCs, felt fully fleshed out and
enthralling. I haven't seen that in a RPG since...well...maybe I
have never seen this "living" of a game world before.
While there's been
some complaints about the ending on the inter-webz, I honestly don't
see where these complaints can really come from. The ending, any of
them (there are several), starts with a scene or two acted out in
the game. From there, you may have some interactions, or you may
not, with the people who fought the good fight with you. After that,
some nicely prepared artwork is displayed as text boxes appear to
inform you of what happened to the world, based on your decisions.
These text boxes are the source of many complaints...but when you
have hundreds (ok...dozens) of possible scenarios that could play
out, it may be asking too much to count on a fully acted out movie
to wrap up the game. Plus, with a lower tech ending method, this
means that many of your minor exploits will be explained at the end,
and nothing feels forgotten.
For example,
there's a kid who is hiding, in a cupboard, while undead ravage his
village each night. If you find the kid, you may talk him into
letting you use his grandfather's prized sword. If you promise to
return the sword to the kid, and do manage to return it to him
(which is not even a "quest" as much as just a possible dialogue
option you must go a bit out of your way to happen upon), then this
is explained in the ending. It will go on to say what the kid grew
up to become, and his tales of your character. This is a very minor
event, but with a text ending, it is an event that can be given
life.
I have never felt
as satisfied with the ending of a game as I have with DAO. This game
just makes you feel like a story has been completed, while still
leaving you awaiting the next tale in this world. Of course that's a
good thing with DAO Awakening (the expansion) coming out next month.
In the end, I can
hardly think of a single complaint about this game. Yes, the memory
leak is a bitch, but it can be handled by simply quitting the game
and restarting it every couple of hours. Yes, the DLC issue is
annoying, and RtO was a lame DLC not worthy of forcing it's way into
your game's story. Also, some of the game spells feel a little
underdeveloped (the animate dead spell is too useless for being the
final spell in a group). However, these issues can all be easily
ignored when they occur in such an amazing game.
Malik |
Malik
(2/12/10)
Next week will be
another round of
DLC for Rock Band with plenty of new artists. After the metal
stuff this week, it'll be nice to have things slowed down a bit with
some good old Otis Redding, and some Brian Setzer is nice as well.
I don't have much
else to say, since I'm in that state of limbo of feeling like I need
a break from gaming for a short bit. Well, not as much of a break as
much as I don't have any games lined up while I enjoy being done
with Dragon Age Origins. Also, I'm a bit out of gaming while I deal
with a hand injury keeping me from enjoying my usual favorites, like
Rock Band.
Malik |
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