Image via Wikipedia

Maybe I am a bit old school here, or maybe I just really bought into the idea that cheaters never prosper, but when it comes to the subject of using cheats in a video game, well I just don’t get it really. I mean sure a cheat makes the game easier, it can also get you past a tough part of a level, or give you super invulnerability so you don’t have to worry about dying.

Yet for some reason this just seems to be counter productive to me. I mean what the hell is the point of making the game easier? I thought the whole point behind playing the game in the first place was to engage it on its level and see if you could still win.

Again I just don’t get it. For me (and this means for me, not for you) the joy of gaming is in the play, its in the fact that I have to use a set of skills to get past a monster, trap, or other devious obstacle that are all designed to frustrate me. When I do, I get a sense of accomplishment, I feel like I did something.

If I were to use a cheat I would just feel like I used a cheat. How can I actually say I beat a game if I used a cheat to do it? How can I actually put the game away with a feeling of time well spent, when I know inside that I had to cheat in order to do that?

Perhaps I am old school and will never understand using a cheat to win a game. Yet I kind of have some pride in the fact that when I say I beat a game, that means I took the time to actually figure out how to win, it also means I used my own skill, and my own cunning to win. Maybe its just me but it will be a cold day in hell before I ever go online and type in the phrase top PS2 cheats or anything similar.

No Comments Yet »

Image by Lady Madonna via Flickr

Ever since the success of the prepaid phone card, everyone seems to finding a way to tap into the idea. Now everywhere you can look, you can find prepaid cell phones, credit cards, and even prepaid game subscriptions. I suppose it is the nature of who we are as people, to follow trends that make sense.

I can’t say I have a massive problem with this, after all most of the time it makes my life simpler. In fact one of the newest developments going on right now is the Wii points card. This is a great idea in my opinion. I go find a points card, take the card to a counter, pay the amount of money I want for the amount of points I want, then I go home. Once I am home I fire up the old Nintendo Wii, go to the online section, select the games I want to download, input the card information, and now I have a whole new game to play.

The only real question I have about this whole concept is how long it will take everyone else to follow suit. I mean this is great, its like having a virtual game library that allows me to pick a game whenever I am in the mood to buy one without having to wonder if my local store has it.

In fact it is my opinion that this may be the new way to distribute even new games. Download speeds are getting faster, meaning that once would of taken days to transfer, now takes seconds. As this technology improves it may not be to long before we see the first prepaid console.

You simply by the console, hook it up to the internet, then pay a monthly fee, or a per game fee, and now you have a console with all the games it offers without ever having to leave your home. I really can’t wait, I think this is a great idea. However there is something nice about opening a game case for the first time as well. Who knows, I am sure it will all figure itself out.

No Comments Yet »

I’ve been hearing about Bleach for about a year now. Nothing concrete, just a lot of really good press. Which I must confess tends to bug me after a while. If it’s really that brilliant, then surely it shouldn’t be hard to tell me exactly why it’s great. Well, regardless, when the game was released for the Nintendo Wii I figured I may as well pick it up and see what all the fuss was about. Now, to be honest, I really wish I hadn’t.

Calling Shattered Blade a bad game would be a little too harsh. But that statement would be equally true of calling it a good game as well. It has enough elements in play that it could have been a good game, but they were poorly implemented.

Even on Hard it took me less than an hour to finish each of the story modes, with no real challenge apart from the odd bout where the console seemed to decide ahead of time that I wasn’t going to win regardless of what I did.

This was a real disappointment for me. When I was growing up, SEGA was always the company I looked to for gaming. Nintendo didn’t really come into their prime until the Gamecube in my opinion. Never a bad company, but very much a lot of potential rather than actual results. And now, after man years of both companies refining their methods I expected more. Much more.

Perhaps if I had watched the series before, perhaps then I could appreciate the nuance of the game more. But I very much doubt that. I’ve seen a lot of game tie-ins over the years. Some of them good, some of them great, and some of them just plain travesties (but reviews of Enter the Matrix are for another time, ahem).

Sadly, Bleach seems to fall a lot more closely into that last group. There’s no real plot to speak of, just a bit of a blurb at the beginning, and then again after the final battle. Different, of course, for each character, but tied loosely together because each of them is hunting for the same thing. The Sokyoku shards.

It might have been more enjoyable, perhaps, if there were some diversity between the playable characters. But for the most part the game just revolves around either waving the mote up and down or left to right a lot. And occasionally pressing the A button for a more powerful attack.

Even awakening the Bankai spirit within the character you choose adds little to the game. Though the cinematics of the summoning itself are rather nice. Explosive, but not dragged out so they don’t spoil the flow of the game.

However, it’s not all bad. It never is. There are a large number of unlockable gallerys or both pictures and voice samples, amongst other things. Which, whilst being not particularly difficult to obtain, they do add a certain amount of replay value for those of us who suffer from OCD (like myself).

And when you think about it, the ease with which the game can be played does add a certain juvenile charm. The very fact that it’s so simple gives it a great pick up and play value. Something that you can easily while away some spare time with if you don’t have the patience for something more involved.

In all though, I don’t think the game will really appeal to anyone but the most fanatical of Bleach fans. But even then, it would likely be more of a disappointment. A dirty little secret that you don’t tell anyone else about if they know the secret handshake of a true fan. Perhaps something to keep in your attic, so that you sneak upstairs in the middle of the night for you little fix of pure cheese.

If you really do plan to play the game, or even buy it, I suggest waiting for it to drop in price. It’s not going to be something you will come back to consistently. But it may keep you occupied for a half hour or so from time to time.

Image via Wikipedia

Before I get started I am going to make a statement. I in no way agree with using cheat codes in a game until you have beat it fair and square. Now that I have said that let me make a small differentiation between cheating, and getting help.

Cheating is when you punch in a code, or alter the code of the game in some way to give yourself and advantage that makes the game easier to play. Getting help is when you ask a friend how the hell you get out of the room that you seem to be stuck in. One I believe is pointless and makes the game no fun to play. The other I try to not use, but there are times when I am damn glad it is available.

One of the great things about PC games (and games in general lately) is that they often have one or more places that require some real thinking to get past. Also they have lots of fun Easter eggs and reasons to replay the whole game from scratch. However this is also the annoying things about a lot of PC games.

I can’t count the times I have spent hours retracing every step looking for a clue or item that I know I had to miss to get further along in the game. However, with the internet, this is no longer the way it has to be. Now if I get truly stuck (and to me that means I have tried every possible thing I can think of) I can go on the internet type in help me figure out this game, and boom I can find a place where players either a bit smarter or more motivated (not sure which half the time) have figured out what to do when I get stuck.

I love these PC game hints and while I consider cheat codes an aberration, I consider this a totally fair way to beat a game.

I know this may seem hypocritical, and maybe it is, but I look at using a walkthrough as more akin to calling my friend for directions to his house, while I look at cheat codes as akin to copying your neighbors test answers. Call me crazy but that is where I stand.

No Comments Yet »

Image via Wikipedia

If there is one thing I have learned about the gaming culture in the time I have been part of it. It is that we are fond of lists. Actually we as a culture are not just fond of lists, we are absolutely compulsive about lists. We create lists of the worst, the best, and the most mediocre.

We make lists to track our progress, to track other people’s progress, and even to track the worlds progress. In fact if there is a question that has ever been asked, a gamer has found a way to make it into a list. I don’t know if other social sub groups have this same tendency, I mean Dave Letterman has a list every night, but I don’t if he is a gamer or not. What I do know is that I like other gamers love my lists.

While I love lists just as much as the next guy, I also have a problem. None of the lists I make ever match anyone else’s list. I don’t know if this is because I am that much different from everyone else in the universe, or if I am just willing to have a different opinion. Whatever the reason my list’s never seem to work out looking like someone else’s.

Case in point, I have been kind of kicking around a best Xbox 360 games list. I think that really it’s a bit early to create this list, but I have been forming one none the less. As I have considered games for this list some were pretty obvious to me.

Oblivion was a no brainer, same with rock band (which really belongs on the all time kick butt list), but after those two I kind of can’t really think of any thing else. I know, I can already here you screaming at me (which proves my point) but Halo 3 is not ever going on my best Xbox 360 list, it might go on my most overhyped, my most over rated list. It might even show up on my worst FPS ever list. However Halo will not show up on my best list.

See what I mean? I don’t even feel this way just to be different, I really didn’t like Halo, so maybe I am not a gamer. I hope that is not the case, after all I have spent a lot of time being a gamer, it would kind of suck to discover I am not one.

No Comments Yet »