Star Wars and Soul Caliber

Came across an interesting video today. I'm not a Soul Caliber IV hater, I've just never gotten into the series, but I respect it no doubt. I might just have to buy SCIV though simply because I'd love to play as Darth Vader or Yoda. How cool is that? Flipping around with Yoda or throwing people around with the forces Darkside using Darth Vader sounds fun. And the graphics are slick too. Check out the vid.

-Jeremy aka Adridius

Guns are to blame for school shootings? Whodathunk

I think people were worried about her other *ahem* assets before they worried about her guns.

Wouldn't you know it; someone is actually blaming guns for school shootings rather than video games.

Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence said:

We are seeing more and more of these gun incidents, from a kid waving a gun around right up to the level of mass shootings. Amazingly, no one keeps official statistics at government level about shootings in schools and colleges, but we can see from news reports and research that it’s increasing. One of the main reasons is that it is so easy for the wrong people to get hold of guns in this country…

It tears me apart. It’s become such a common occurrence and I keep asking why we allow this to happen. I’m not sure that psychological factors or violent movies and video games are any different here than in other countries - the difference is how easy it is to get a gun.

What's most interesting about his statements is that he says there are no official statistics at the government level on school shootings. That baffles me. There is a study on everything known to man and one of the biggest news headliners in the past decade doesn't have an official record? That's for another blog on another day.

Seeing as this is a video game blog I feel I must point out that he's right about the violent movies and video games being the same in other countries. And yet they aren't having the same types of mass school shootings that we are. Have you ever watched an uncut Japanese anime cartoon before (see Akira)? If you haven't, those cartoons make some of our rated R movies look like G rated movies. And yet, when is the last time you heard about a mass school shooting in Japan.

Look, I'm not going to get political on this video game blog when it comes to the question of should we ban guns or not ban guns, but just like the Virginia Tech shooting, no one was responsible for all the horrible deaths of the innocent students other than the person pulling the trigger. If guns didn't exist, people wouldn't get shot. But since they do exist, how about we focus more on how the gun got in the child's hand and why the child did what they did, rather than focusing our attention on video games, movies, and gun laws themselves. As always, feel free to leave feedback.

-Jeremy aka Adridius

When you think video games, you think EA? I hope not

Just because the dinosaur is big DOESN'T mean he is better than Mario! Duh! (if you are confused, read on).

An interesting little quote came across my eyes today and it's from EA, specifically from head boss John Riccitiello.

Interactive entertainment is going to determine one great company and I think it's this one. One of the reasons I've come back is to try to take it to the next step.

Umm.. Ok hold on. (takes a long pause). What does EA even have besides Madden? Think about it. Ok you done? Did you think of anything huge? Oh I know! They have Mario, oh, wait, no. OH! They have Sonic! Oh, wait...no. HEY! They have the GTA franchi...wait what, they don't have that either? Fox? Samus? Donkey Kong? Call of Duty? BioShock? Final Fantasy? God of War? Ninja Gaiden? None of those? How about this, how about this. They've got NFL Tour (BWAhahahahahaha! That's a good one).

If you want to be video games (or "interactive entertainment's") one great company then when you think video games you have to think (enter in your company's name here). All I think about when I think of EA is how they bully their way into trying to take over other companies to get profit on games they didn't even come up with (see EA trying to take over Take-Two because of GTA IV). I think of how they bullied 2K because they knew that 2k would rip them a new one with the 2k football series. So instead of just making a better game of Madden, they go ahead and get an exclusive deal so they are the only company to make NFL games. When I think of EA, I don't think of a development company, I think of a publisher that puts their name on everything that is good that they don't make (see Rock Band). When I think of EA, I think about two horrible years of Madden on next gen systems. When I...ok you get the picture. When I think of EA, I don't think of a gaming giant because they are geniuses, I think they have a lot of money publishing titles and owning the biggest football franchise ever. Does ANYone recall Superman?

Guys and girls, honestly, when I think about video games I think of classics and wonderful characters with wonderful story lines. When I think about video games I don't associate a big game publishing giant who seems more interested in the bottom line than making great games. Make some great games first and rely less on your name EA and maybe I'll think about associating you with the word video games or "interactive entertainment."

MGS4 Headset

AWESOME!!! AWESOME! AWESOME!!!

I'm a geek (as if you didn't know), and I like geekish things (this should not be confused with being a nerd). Well, I just heard about a Metal Gear Solid 4 headset for the PS3, and man, am I ready to drop some cold hard cash on this little bugger.

Not only is it a headset to talk trash on PS3 games, but it's Bluetooth; so I would imagine it would even work for my (GASP!) phone too!!! How awesome is that?! And maybe even my Bluetooth enabled computer! AWESOME! But even if I can only use it on my PS3, that's still awesome. Heck, it's MGS4. Konami could make a brand of cologne with MGS4 "Smell like Snake" and I'd buy it. That's all for now, check back often.

-Jeremy aka Adridius

Resident Evil Racism?

Check out the trailer to see what you think.

If you do not know, I am black. African-American, Afro-American, shoot, American, whatever you want to call me, I have brown skin and my origin is from Africa (even though I was born in America, let's not forget that we don't call people who are originally from Europe, European-Americans).

I stumbled across an article on D-toid by none other than Jim Sterling, who is white by the way, nothing against him, just pointing it out so that everything can be fully understood in this post. What I find interesting is that black people, with means to get their opinion out there, are really in an uproar about Resident Evil 5. They aren't mad because it's gory. They aren't mad because it's violent. They are angry because a white man is shooting up black people.

Now in all fairness making a game about a white person shooting up only black people is racist. Just like if there were a game where a black person was shooting up only white people is racist. If those white people are his oppressors, thats a different story, but you understand what I mean when I say hate is hate and shouldn't be tolerated in either form.

BUT, Resident Evil 5 does not fall into this category. Let me repeat that. Resident Evil 5 does not fall into the category of racism. Let's have an information session shall we. RE is about one man killing zombies. The last time I checked, no race in a fantasy world is immune from zombies, so therefore, any race can be zombies. The fact that RE is taking place in Africa I would expect the population of people that are infected and become zombies would be of darker skin since most of the people in Africa are...well...black.

Personally, I'm not offended by this. Once the people in Africa turned into zombies, that's when the main white character starts to shoot them, not a minute before. So really, being a zombie knows no color bounds. But if you are going to put the game in Africa, you can't just have a slew of random races in a place where the majority is black. It just doesn't make geographical sense. What's the reason for the story-line being in Africa this time? I think that's the main thing, and that has more to do with the game than any type of racism.

-Jeremy aka Adridius

No freeloading for Mario Kart Wii

Try sneaking them into the country on a plane rather than a Kart which has the ability to leave a trail of banana peels.

I have never been big on importing games for my U.S. consoles, or buying a CD, DVD, or cartridge so that I could play foreign games. I definitely was missing out. Then I heard about FreeLoader for the Wii that allows you to play games that were not made for your region. I was pretty excited for a couple of reasons, but mainly because I could play Japanese titles earlier than I ever thought possible. Well, I bought FreeLoader and haven't been able to test it out yet. Sadly, I just found out that Mario Kart, from Japan, will not be able to play on my Wii even though I have FreeLoader.

Luckily, I don't care about that. I can wait until Mario Kart comes out in the U.S. That's not a big deal. The big deal is this. Why is Nintendo doing this? I recently found out that the PS3 will play any game no matter what the region. I like that. I think if you buy a system it should be universal. If you are a gamer, and you like games, you should have the option of buying a game in the Japanese or European market if you live in the U.S. Even if you can't read Japanese, sometimes wanting a game so bad merits you getting a game where you have no clue what the characters are saying, (thank the Lord for subtitles though).

I realize this is probably a savvy business move by Nintendo, but come on let us play our games no matter what language or country code they are in. This just goes to confirm my love for Sony. Nintendo, I love you too, but why are you undercutting the consumer when FreeLoader is not advocating piracy. It's only advocating being able to play titles you currently don't have in your own country. What is so wrong about that?

Please feel free, whether you are from Nintendo or not, to leave comments telling me what you think.

Adridius

BioShock(er)! PS3?! What?

Apparently 2k is trying to make a sequel for BioShock that will be included on the PS3. Or it won't. Or it will. Or, wait. Ok here are the facts. 2k posted a job opening and in the job description included.

Experience working with recent generation game console technology (Xbox, Xbox360, PlayStation2 or PlayStation3) and Playstation3 experience is required.

So, that's interesting. If I simply owned a PS3, this would make me very excited, but I own both, so I'm not freakishly getting antsy about whether this statement could indicate that a Bioshock 2 could be coming to the the PS3. But since I am so loyal to Sony (although I might still buy GTA for 360, sorry Sony it actually pains me to think that way), I do want a great game to come to their system. Make of this what you will. What do you all think? Does it make you excited to know that there may be possibly kinda maybe sorta in a slight manner be a less than small or bigger than you think chance of BioShock 2 coming to the PS3? Let me know.

-Jeremy aka Adridius

Just when you thought Plastic was Phoolish

Thanks for the image Kotaku. Now for the caption.
"14.99? Isn't it just plastic? Does that mean it's recycled?"

Many people (I would imagine) upon first hearing of the Wii steering wheel peripheral for Mario Kart Wii either said, "Wow that's awesome!" Or they said, "What the heck, it's JUST plastic?" I was one of those people that mentioned the latter. Apparently I was wrong. It's not simply plastic. The wheel has been through 30 prototypes. There have been rumors that engineers, yes engineers are involved to make the final product the best it can be. There have been words such as, comfort, weight, and ergonomics used.

Engineers? Really? Wow. I need to take back all my negative thoughts about this being a good way to rip off people for a piece of plastic that they don't need. But when words like ergonomics are being used along with engineers, well I have to open my ears (get it, they are all 'E' words. Get it? Nevermind.).

I have to say I'm pretty intrigued. And by the sound of the words aforementioned I have to say $14.99 is not asking too much. It's Nintendo, I don't think they would add a steering wheel just to add one. I could be wrong, but it's not like they just need more money. Wait, on second thought, scratch the "I don't think they need more money". This is a business, everyone wants money. Have a good one folks.

-Jeremy aka Adridius

The Madden Jinx...it has to start with someone

It's getting kind of slow this time of year. Game's aren't coming out at a fast pace; football season is over; GTA IV isn't out yet. So you know what I thought I'd do? I thought I'd go ahead and give you my prospects for who will make the cover of Madden this year. I figured I'd go ahead and get a jump start on anyone else who is planning on doing this article, because hey, it's never to early to start thinking about a game that's only four months away and a football season that's only five (really...five? That's it, wow, it seems longer, go cowboys). So here you are, here is my list (and let's hope it doesn't insight as much hate as my last list, gee wiz).



Tom Brady:

You don't throw 50 touchdowns in one season, date Giselle, and basically be adored by every female that has hormones in the New England area and beyond just because you play football. No, Tom Brady is the real deal. As much as I was hating on his team last season, I still never said Tom wasn't good. Tom is great (I'm not ready to crown him as the best QB of all time, but hey, I'm not blind). I would be surprised if EA didn't even approach him about being on the front cover of Madden. I mean for goodness sake, he's Tom Terrific. Do I really need to explain this anymore?






Braylon Edwards:

I'm a Dallas Cowboy fan, so of course I wasn't rooting for the Browns last year (lousy 22nd pick). But I was in awe and amazement when I saw Edwards make his catches last year. If it hadn't been for Randy Moss, Edwards would have gotten more publicity. And hear me on this, cause I won't repeat this twice (on this post anyway), Edwards year was not a fluke, the man is going to either match what he did last year or do better. Why? Because he has a QB. Look I'm not saying Derek Anderson is Joe Montana, but he's a heck of a lot better than Kelly Holcomb and Tim Couch, no offense to either person.







Patrick Willis:

Who? I know that's exactly what some of you thought. This guy was a rookie last year who played for the San Francisco 49ers and he is a Linebacker. This guy is a beast. He was the defensive rookie of the year and he finished with 174 tackles with a staggering 135 of them being solo tackles for the season and had a couple games where he had 18 and 20 tackles. We need to give the defense a bit more love all around in both video game football and regular football. He deserves to be up here with the big names.








Terrell Owens:

Let me state something. I love this dude. Yeah you can talk about team player this, mouth that, but T.O. has the numbers, and the stats, and the dynamic play you need out of a receiver. And he led the NFC in TD receptions last season. He's already been on the front cover of a video game when the 2K series was still making games, but regardless, the numbers he has put up the last two seasons serve as more than enough for him to merit being in this conversation.






Randy Moss:

You can't talk about the 50 TD's Brady threw for without mentioning the 23 that went to a little known guy by the name of Randy Moss. By my account, a receiver has never been on the front cover of Madden, there have been 3 RB's, 4 QB's, and one LB (the defense needs more love people!). If any year called for a WR to be on the front cover of Madden, this absolutely is that year.




Adrian Peterson:

Or A.D. (All Day) as he would rather be called (it's confusing, but go with it). When I was playing fantasy football last year and my girlfriend took A.D. right out from under my nose in the 7th round when I passed over him in the 6th for Randy Moss (I guess it wasn't so bad), I was furious. She ended up coming in 2nd in the league and I came in first (HA!). But all season long I was envious of A.D. That man was by every account a man among boys. 296 yards in one game? Come on, that's sick! If I were him, I dont know if I'd want to be on the front cover. Sophomore slump, Madden jinx, can he do everything he did last year. Lot of pressure to get over. But if anyone can do it, A.D. can.




Ladanian Tomlinson:

Or L.T., if you didn't know. Word on the street is that EA asked L.T. to be on the front cover last year and he turned it down because of the jinx. That was actually a good move by him, RB's careers are in jeopardy from year to year enough as it is regardless. As long as L.T. keeps being L.T., he'll make it into the speculation of who will be on the front cover of Madden every year.






David Garrad:

Surprise surprise. As good as this guy was last year (only 3 int's in the whole season, that's less than Tom Terrific folks), he flew under the radar. He came into the starting roll when Jack Del Rio cut Byron Leftwich and named Garrard as the starting QB. I personally thought this was dumb, but at the same time, I like Del Rio and I thought that he knew what he was doing even though I didn't trust Garrard. Well, I was proven wrong like the earth was proven not to be flat. Garrard is someone to watch out for because in his first season starting he takes his team past the wildcard round and into fight the dominant New England Patriots. And even in that game, he was poised and played pretty efficiently. He has tremendous upside when he can actually become a full fledged game changer. Because he is no longer a caretaker QB, but if and when he moves into an elite status, watch out.






Peyton Manning:

I'm actually surprised this guy hasn't been on the front cover yet. He has every other endorsement known to man, even Oreos, but has never managed to wind up on the front cover of Madden. When your pockets are so fat, a few more inches is hardly noticeable, so I'm guessing he doesn't need it. But just like L.T., if Peyton keeps being Peyton, he'll always be in this discussion.




Eli Manning:

I hate to admit it, being a Cowboys fan, but Eli did his thing in the playoffs last year, and he deserves respect. He did the impossible (by most) by beating the Patriots and taking them on a drive that will go down in history as one of the best drives ever in Super Bowl history. If not the best drive, he gets the nod for the craziest play. Yeah, Eli was inconsistent in the regular season, but seriously, who has the ring?


Hope you enjoyed it. Let me know what you think and if you think there was anyone who you think should be on the front cover (because honestly, there are probably SO many more to choose from for good reason).

-Jeremy aka Adridius

Hulk Trailer

Guys (and girls), check this out. Remember how cool the last Hulk game was, Hulk Ultimate Desctruction, well this new Hulk game looks even better. Game-play wise, not sure how it's going to compare to the former, but it looks so much sleeker and cooler. And it makes me excited because maybe a Super hero (or a person with super human powers that just goes on destructive rampages) can actually have two more than decent back to back gaming experiences. Since it's trying to correlate with the movies release, lets hope it doesn't fall under the dreaded movie to video game curse (see Superman Returns). Here's a video from Gametrailers. Enjoy.