Archive for the ‘Video Games’ Category

I usually try and avoid what I consider spoilers for any of the shows, movies, and games I enjoy, but rumors and almost-facts seem to pop up so frequently once they are known that they are impossible to ignore.

Rumors are a constant for pretty much anything in media. The sci fi and fantasy rumor mill is just as bursting at all times as any other. We can take some pride in knowing that some big rumors we discover end up being the hard facts later on, but there is never any real way to know until the official statements are made.

In the meantime, let’s gossip.
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Downloadable content or DLC is a newer phenomenon for our current gaming age of PC and console systems. Sure, there were some precursors to the idea, even going so far back as to a special edition of Earthworm Jim offered over the Sega Channel, but even that was more of a standalone title, not additional content to add to an existing game.

DLC has exploded in recent years as a way for gaming companies to make more money, give their customer’s further story for games they already love, and keep interest in a title between sequels.
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It is official. Marvel confirmed Chris Evans as Captain America. You won’t be getting anymore updates from me. Frankly, this whole mess has me exhausted. I await with you all the result.

I have faith in Chris Evans, but he is going to have to step it up a notch and explore some previously untapped talents to pull off Cap without just making him Human Torch in another costume.

I know I was supposed to have a blog about some of the upcoming comic book movies that look very promising for this year, but I have decided to postpone that a week in honor of Easter. Instead today I would like to talk about Easter Eggs.

No, not actually painted eggs. This would be the geek version. You may know them best as the hidden videos and bits of information found on DVDs, video games, and occasionally thrown into TV shows or movies as a fun game of ‘who can spot the inside joke’.

I’m not talking about really clever cameos, like the original actor who played the Hulk in the TV series, Lou Ferrigno, playing a security guard in both Hulk movies. That could be considered an Easter Egg, but it was pretty much given to us and right there in front of our faces, even if you did have to have enough sense to recognize Ferrigno to get the joke.

No, Easter Eggs are those little secrets in the background that most people don’t even realize are there until they hear talk of it later online.
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In my early years of gaming I began like many others, first watching my siblings and then trying my own hand at classics like Super Mario Brothers and Burger Time.

I eventually matured to the Final Fantasy series, Xenogears, Diablo, and Metal Gear Solid, and was just as willing to attempt the next RPG as I was a mindless excuse to kill things as can be found in most Blizzard Games.

Those styles of gaming all still exist, but many of them have something a little extra these days—a choice between good and evil.

What I mean by a ‘good vs evil’ game is this: A game where the storyline is directly affected by the player’s choices, which determines whether the protagonist will become a selfless hero or a self-serving bastard.
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Forgive me if my heart is not quite in this blog entry as I had already completed it to my great satisfaction last week only to have it wiped when a virus attacked my computer at work. But as one of my faithful readers said,

This just goes to show that these new-fangled transistors are unreliable. We need to learn about steam technology as quickly as possible!

And so I return.
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To even begin my review of the new PS3, Xbox 360, and PC phenomenon, Dragon Age: Origins, I must first discuss the company responsible for the masterpiece as well as many other claims to fame: BioWare.

BIOWARE

BioWare is a Canadian electronic entertainment company that started up in 1995 and is responsible for some of the more cutting-edge and popular games of our day, like the Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights series, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and the Mass Effect series.

These guys know their role-playing video games. They are known best for allowing for substantial customization in both player character appearance and in the options given throughout the games in choosing various paths, ie Light Side vs Dark Side.

Dragon Age: Origins is a culmination of years of successful gaming, and at this point I can only imagine that BioWare will continue to do better and better.

BioWare is currently a part of Electronic Arts (EA) but has retained its autonomy. It is safe to say that EA appreciates and understands the cash-cow they have in BioWare, and they are even restructuring their gaming development into a new RPG/MMO team headed by one of the BioWare founders, Ray Muzyka.
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I am torn on this one. With the other versus blogs I had a clear favorite even when most of the time I greatly respected the opposing side, but with this particular debate it is harder to choose. I would say Marvel simply because Spider-Man, Deadpool, and the X-men are some of my favorite characters of all time, but then DC has Batman, and it really is hard to compete against Batman.

There is a lot more to cover with these franchises than with any of the others I have compared thus far, so bear with me. Onto a brief history of each of these incredible comic publishers.
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I once got into a heated debate over how only an idiot would think Harry Potter wins in a comparison with Lord of the Rings because the writing is so superior. Me? I was on Harry’s side.

To some readers J. R. R. Tolkien drones on and on about the details of a leaf when we just want to get to the story, while J. K. Rowling has readership with children barely in their double digits as well as with their grandparents with equal success.

So what is the definition of ‘superior writing’ exactly?

As with my previous blog entry, Star Trek vs Star Wars, I do not want my opinion to further cloud this comparison, as I see great strengths in both franchises. Let us begin then, as before, with a quick history.
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“I would like the world to remember me as the guy who really enjoyed playing games and sharing his knowledge and his fun pastimes with everybody else.” — Gary Gygax, 1938-2008

Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson—may they rest in peace in a land where skimpy chainmail really does protect better than full body armor on big-breasted women—created D&D and published its first book in 1974.

It was different from tabletop wargames in many ways, allowing for each player to essentially create and become a single character of their design to embark upon adventures in a fantasy setting. This was all guided by the Dungeons Master or DM.

Besides telling the story the players’ characters live through, the DM’s job is to try and kill the characters off. Hopefully, your DM wants you to succeed, but if they’re not throwing challenging monsters and puzzles your way that could potentially kill your character at every turn then they are not doing their job.
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The first question, of course, is what is WoW? With over 11 million players worldwide, most people already know that answer, at least enough to say that it is an online video game also known as World of Warcraft.

More specifically, WoW is an MMORPG, or massively multiplayer online role playing game. This means that not only are you playing online as your own character, but you are playing with everyone else’s character too, almost like an interactive chat room with depictions of yourself that can go off and kill things after you’ve had that meaningful conversation.

Created by Blizzard Entertainment, WoW was not a new idea in scope or setting, following the Warcraft series of games that first began in 1994 with Warcraft: Orcs & Humans.

Going the MMO route, however, was new as the previous Warcraft games were all RTS format or real time strategy.
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