We Keep It Real

Hiatus. Not, "Hi, hate us."

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 22:47:04 -0500

Even though it feels like I haven’t posted in an unreasonable amount of time, one has to recall February 2010. That month only experienced four updates, and they were all poor. I hate to toot my own horn, but I am extremely proud of what I have done this summer. Posting four to five times a week was semi-grueling, but I had a lot of fun doing it.

That being said, I have moved back into Wolpers Hall, and for the next few weeks I will be physically unable to post to this website. So, instead of leaving you readers in the dark, I’ve decided to tell you cool cats that I will not be updating We Keep It Real for the next two-ish weeks. I may be able to post some dinky content, but don’t expect substance.

It may have fallen through back in July, but when we return from our hiatus, expect your favorite blog to have a new look.

-Zach

/afk

Dead Rising 2 Scares Me

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 11:46:40 -0500

The original Dead Rising is one of my favorite games. When asked which current generation game tops my charts, my mind immediately jumps to Capcom’s zombie masterpiece. I can fully understand why several people dislike this game, though. It is extremely flawed, and has that odd controller-based difficulty that only Capcom puts into their games. I may sound odd that I (of all people) like a fundamentally flawed game, but something in my head always wants to go back and play through it. I was pumped to an unhealthy degree when details on the sequel started to appear, but now, I’m cautiously optimistic.

I have heard reports that the game just isn’t running well. There are framerate dips aplenty, load times that have exceeded several minutes, and that the game doesn’t have the same odd, japanese-y feel that the original did. I am excited to download Dead Rising Case Zero, which is a title that bridges the story of Dead Rising to Dead Rising 2 that uses the same engine as numero dos. Though it may only take twenty-five minutes to beat, I would be willing to drop five dollars in order to see how well the true sequel will run.

I just hope that one of my favorite games in this past decade doesn’t receive a poor sequel.

-Zach

Zach's Response

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 10:15:37 -0500

A week ago, I asked you people to fill out a survey with two feedback options:

1 - I want to see more…

2 - I want to see less…

Some of you offered legitimate feedback, while others saw a text box and took advantage of their web anonymity. Let’s go over the responses, shall we?

I want to see more:

Boobs.

Happy to oblige.

Cats with fruit.

Here you go.

Controversial, debatable topics. emails when someone responds to my post.

While the RealID post had a lot of debate and discourse attached to it, none of it pertained to what I wrote. It was an unintentional side effect that I enjoyed. As for the email response, we’ll see what Pado-san can whip up.

Your already doing a really great job but the blog seems a little one dimensional. Shake things up. Any average person can have a blog and write a review. This site has a lot of potential to be something really creative and interesting. Think outside the box, incorporate your other interests that excite you, and you will come up with something spectacular!

I like the positive attitude, but I’m a little offended. I always thought the depth of my posts came in the form of the personal touches I put into them. I have spent a lot of my time turning this simple website into something that houses my creative ventures. Average people don’t do that.

Zach Fleeman… oh yes…. you know what I want. But really, more coverage of the RealID thing, as well as a review of SCII

I have said my piece about the RealID system, and I will say my piece about Starcraft II if I ever get to it.

deeper subjects discussed/opened.

Will do.

Cool shit

That is the ultimate goal, is it not? Oh well, I hope this will hold you over.

gayness

I’ve always been under the impression that this was a pretty hetero blog. I’ll go nail a broad real quick, bro.

original reviews/stories.; like the xbox one, the iphone 4 review, arrested development etc

I do like writing them stories. I’ll try and do more.

Now, I want to see less:

Dicks.

I’ve never posted phallic content. But yes, I’ll try to post less of it.

telemundo

¿Cuidado?

alcohol.

I try not to post alcohol-related stories on here, because I understand that it is a sensitive subject for some. However, it would be odd to ignore this part of my life, because I like to imbibe every once and a while, and I enjoy posting about stuff I like.

…

Look who’s Mr. Clever! Found a way not to respond to the survey, eh?

These aren’t the droids you’re looking for…

Are you making fun of my phone? I don’t get it.

guys.

I post about video games, mostly. I don’t think I post about guys that much.

Vigi game/bullshit

You are clearly reading the wrong blog, sir.

about your life

See the above comment.

random clips

Aw, I thought people enjoyed those. I know I do. I’m going to ignore this suggestion, because I don’t think people should complain about what they can watch for free.

You can continue to fill out the survey if you like, but let’s try and keep it more constructive from here on out.

-Zach

Froyo a Go-Go

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 09:58:00 -0500

The news that original Motorola Droid users will be getting Android 2.2 “Froyo” sometime this week gives me a reserved feeling of excitement. Why is that? Well, let’s say that Droid users were teased with Android 2.1 an unreasonable amount of times before it actually landed on my phone in April. I had to struggle to make that sentence longer in order to fit all of the disappointing posts.

So, we’ll see if this update actually happens. Let’s just say I reserve the right to be skeptical.

-Zach

My Loss

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 08:57:00 -0500

Last week, I was watching Arrested Development on my Xbox 360 while comfortably tucked into bed, and I realized a couple things: I was sweating, and I had the volume turned up to an unreasonable level. Both of these inconveniences could be traced back to the Xbox. Everybody knows that Microsoft’s little-console-that-could runs hot, but it has yet to be rightfully advertised as a space heater.

In order to prevent unfortunate rings, the system’s fans were spinning at a rate that drowned out Tobias’s gross one-liners. Annoyed, I cranked the volume, and tried to enjoy my Netflix experience in a puddle of sweat.

I knew what the obvious solution was: buy the remodeled 360, and sell your old one. So, the next day at work was spent researching the new model, and I eventually took the plunge by purchasing it. Now that I was all giddy, I rushed home to back up all of my data. I had pretty low expectations about the ease of backing up my game saves, so I was very surprised when I saw a nifty menu item labeled, “Transfer Content” staring me in the face.

Now that all of my content was on my portable drive, I removed it from my old Xbox only to get told to reinsert the device. Thinking that there was some sort of ‘safe eject’ feature I was missing, I went into the USB memory menu and thoughtlessly selected ‘Remove Xbox 360 Storage’. Once a progress bar appeared, I immediately knew something was wrong. After it was safe to eject, I unplugged and plugged the stick back into my console. With trembling hands, I navigated back to the memory menu, only to have a dialog prompting me to format my stick for proper use.

All of the air in my lungs: vacated. Bowels: shaken. Tears: formed. I had just lost every save file on my Xbox 360. I thought this was something that happened to other people. I have never turned a blind eye to format warnings, and thought the people that accidentally formatted their drives were just stupid. Now that I am one of those people, I began to feel sympathy for them. Maybe they were misled like I was. I misunderstood this semi-cryptic menu option, and now I’m left to suffer.

In order not to collapse and sink into self-destructive pit that could have been borderline Durden-esque, I asked myself if I really needed those saves. The only game I was playing through at the time was Crackdown 2, and that only took me around eight hours to beat and get a whole bunch of orbs. That is going to be an easy replay later this year, but I can’t say the same for Puzzle Quest 2. That is a game that will never be finished by my hands, because I refuse to sink another fifteen hours of my time back into its single player. Oh, and Commander Shepard? He’ll be fine, considering that I will undoubtedly be playing through Mass Effect 1 & 2 again before the third comes out.

Now that all of my panic was subdued, I decided to move on, and start my New Xbox Experience on a very clean slate. Though, after fumbling with my power supply while my Xbox was in a shutdown state, I was greeted with this screen when I flipped my power back on:

This was a no-biggie, because I had all of my digital rights migrated to my new console. Annoying? Yes. Fixable? Yes.

So, what have I learned from this terrible mess? Not much, but my incessant whining for a cloud-based save system will only get louder.

-Zach

Starcraft II for I

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 10:19:00 -0500

Starcraft II was released a few days ago to millions of odd fans across the globe. Why do I call them odd? Well, when I see people cry over an obsolete plastic disc, I tend to be a little weirded out. There are several other things that confuse me when Starcraft is being discussed, and a few issues that I believe are being overlooked.

I own a copy of Starcraft, and I have put what I would consider a considerable amount of hours into it. My purchase was driven by curiosity back in high school because of all the amazing stories my friends would exchange about their online experiences with the game. They would rave about how they were messing with people after playing a few mod maps, and then changing their names to something like, “I Stole Corn.” It sounded like a blast. So, I dialed up, played some mods with them, and completely ignored the single player campaigns (which are conveniently summarized here).

Most of my Starcraft shenanigans took place back in 2004, six years after the game released. I always found it odd how a game so old could still have a massive online following. There were still thousands of people playing this game online, even though I considered it to be irrelevant to the majority of the population. I thought Starcraft’s core gameplay mechanics were pretty bland (probably because I had been playing a lot of Warcraft III at the time), and it was only interesting because the mods were something I had yet to experience in an online community. Why was this game insanely popular during twelve years before it’s successor was released? I think its simple, back-to-the-basics fundamentals resonated with a few gamers; it’s the same effect that Dragon Quest IX is currently having on me. It has a simple formula that takes the genre back to its roots.

The fact that Blizzard is wasting their time by pumping out a retail copy of this game is troubling. Your retail disc doesn’t do anything extra-special-cool that somebody’s digital copy lacks. Tangibility is an outdated desire, and needs to be wiped out of our minds. Even though this game is sixty dollars no matter how you buy it, at least you don’t have to pay tax on a digital copy. Save some money and shelf space, and visit Blizzard’s website to drop your money on a twenty-five-character activation code.

I’m not afraid to say that the driving force behind the development for Starcraft II was nostalgia. It is hard for anything to stay relevant in the public eye after a twelve year hiatus. This game could have been canceled a year ago, and you would only hear an uproar from the die-hard fans. Now that the game has been released to unbelievably good reviews, the Starcraft brand will be hopping back into the spotlight not only because it has a massive fan-base, but because it is a great game.

I have yet to buy Starcraft II, but I have received a guest pass from a friend which lasts fourteen days or seven gameplay hours. I will give this beast a spin over the weekend, and pass judgment on whether or not it is worth the absurd sixty dollar asking price. I am extremely excited to see how the mod community will work with this game. IceFrog better have his mitts on this one…

-Zach

Working for You

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:37:00 -0500

In an effort to try and create hip content for you cool cats to read, I’m going to force you to take a survey! Let me know what you want to experience on this website. Go ahead and take this survey (it has two questions, you can do it), and help me create a blog you want to visit.

Click here to take survey

Sorry for the lack of originality, but I’ve been watching too much Arrested Development to be creative. In the meantime, here’s a video of me driving to buy bland DVDs during work. Please to enjoy.

-Zach

Episode 9 of the World 8 podcast is up. You should listen to...

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 08:27:00 -0500

Episode 9 of the World 8 podcast is up. You should listen to it.

Listening options:

Listen to it in this post.
Download the .mp3 here.
Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes
Do what you whatever you want with the RSS feed.

We talked about several games we’re playing, Dragon Quest IX, Crackdown 2, my side quest post, and difficulty in games. It’s long, but full of substance. The topical portion starts at the 55 minute mark.

Listen while you work!

-Zach

Sign of Things to Come

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 07:29:00 -0500

You want a WKIR Freq? You got a WKIR Freq.

I had a lot of fun being a guest on the World 8 podcast, and it has inspired me to think of new ways to muse about the most interactive medium. The episode should be up very soon (it probably is by the time you’re reading this), and I will go into further detail on the morrow.

-Zach

A Plea

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 07:31:32 -0500

Last night I signed up for a free trial of Netflix so I could get Rob & Big Season 3 shipped to my house. I was surprised to see that I was able to stream their online catalog with my trial, so I excitedly opened that Netflix disc that came with my PS3. After I configured all of this madness, I noticed that Sony announced that there will be a software addition to the cross media bar that will make my cumbersome disc even more obsolete. Cool beans.

After giving the Playstation Netflix experience a go last night, I really hope the software solution fixes a few of the problems I currently have with the service. Due to the fact that the current software is running off of a disc, it is very slow; this will undoubtedly be fixed if the speed of my experience isn’t at the mercy of how fast the physical medium can spin. Waiting several seconds to switch menus is infinitely infuriating. I also hope that they completely scrap the current design and adopt something similar to the Xbox 360’s version, because Netflix is butt-crack-ugly (I hope that phrase catches on).

I realize that Microsoft undoubtedly has some death-grip on their moving panel design, but anything would be better than what you see above. It’s awkward to navigate, and I don’t like it. Until I see what the new update has to offer, I will be using my Xbox 360 to service my video needs. I just hope the sound of a jet plane taking off doesn’t distract me from Arrested Development.

-Zach

LIMBO (XBLA) Explained

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 23:12:00 -0500

Listen Here

Disclaimer: There are several, SEVERAL spoilers about the XBLA game LIMBO in this post. Cease to read if you want to play this game.

Before you read the rest of this post, you should go ahead and listen to Cousin and I state what we think happened at the end of LIMBO.

If you’ve beaten this game, and have no idea what the hell just happened, let me put it simply: your character and your little sister(?) are straight up dead. After the credits roll, you see a broken treehouse in the top right corner of the screen. Tilt your eyes down a little bit, and you notice two swarms of flies hovering above the ground. Throughout the game, there are swarms of flies around dead things, so in my mind, flies = dead children. You two clearly fell out of this treehouse. In my mind, this game is one instance of your character (let’s call him Charles from now on) trying to escape Limbo: the place where children without original sin go after they die.

Now that we know our hero is dead, let’s turn our attention to the rest of the game. You awake in a forest, and you just wonder around for a while until you realize you’re in some pretty hostile territory. Giant spiders and bear-traps naturally spur the thought of “DO NOT WANT” in Charles’ head, and he tries to flee this area.

After encountering the other living beings in Limbo, you notice they are other children. I believe that they are other kids in Limbo who have accepted their fate, and have begun to turn savage. I think it’s kind of fun to think that some of the corpses around the area are some of your previous endeavors in Limbo, and this play-through just highlights one more attempt.

The further Charles goes in this area, he begins to uncover some gears and cogs that I believe are creating/powering Limbo. Think of it as if Charles metaphorically “peaked behind the curtain” and he wants to find out more. In Chapter 18, Charles begins to have powerful memories of his sister (on the day they died) that drown out the environment around him. A “head worm” sends Charles back into reality, causing him to lose grasp of this memory.

The ending of this game had me scratching my head for some time. After Charles bursts through the glass (jaw-dropping, in my opinion), he wakes up, and finds his sister. Charles has spent the entire game trying to find his sister. He has to be wondering, “Did she die? Is she in this haunted land?” throughout the entire game. Once he finds her, they share a stare, and the credits role.

I loved every bit of this game. The only part that has me confused is the giant HOTEL sign that makes multiple appearances. Let me know if you have any theories to what that is in the comments.

-Zach

Done With Side Quests

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 07:03:51 -0500

As you may have heard, I’m playing through Dragon Quest IX and having a blast. Brilliant animation, solid gameplay, and presentation that is through the roof make this a fantastic Nintendo DS game. My biggest gripe with it opened my eyes to a new found annoyance I have with certain games. I’m not a fan of side quests anymore.

I have yet to play a side quest in Dragon Quest IX that I liked. So far, they just seem meaningless. Fallout 3 had some great side quests; they were entertaining, and had deep stories that sucked me into some more so than the main story. Dragon Quest IX has me dancing for ladies, gathering herbs, and lubing up a fat dude. As enthralling as those may sound, I want to see a new initiative with side quests: Make the player do them.

In games like Grand Theft Auto IV and Red Dead Redemption, you are littered with things to do for some extra cash. Problem is, I never need the extra dough because the main missions fatten my wallet more than a wallet-fattener (couldn’t think of anything funny, sorry). Instead of giving me money for doing the story-crucial missions, reward me for playing the useless filler. I think I would find some sick pleasure in driving pedestrians around in my cab in order to afford some fancy new machine gun Little Jacob is packing.

So, developers: Take my nuggets and chew on them. They taste good, and are made with whole grains. Better for your poopy-schmoops!

-Zach

Whiskey, Games and Movies

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 11:47:00 -0500

In an effort to make my posts even more personal, I’ve decided that Monday posts will be about awesome activities I did during the weekend. This initial post is only driven by the fact that I did have a great past couple of days, so we’ll see if these posts become a trend.

This story starts on Friday. My death-stare directed towards the clock was initiated earlier than usual. I was anxious to leave not only because it was the weekend, but I had some legitimate plans. These plans included a whole bunch of Dragon Quest IX and a trip down to Fulton, MO to visit my fellow bros on staff in Wolpers Hall. After I clocked out (with a vengeance), I was on the road with Big Chief and Pookie within a couple of hours.

On my way down to Churchillville, I was able to restart my Dragon Quest IX quest for the third time. I didn’t screw anything up, mind you, I just didn’t like my main character’s name. This may sound pathetic, but I was uncomfortable with NPCs calling me “Benevolent Zach” all the time. Being the indecisive clown that I am, I got onto the fantasy name generator, and tried out the names Zeke and Lyeton. After ditching those two for different reasons (Zeke reminded me of inFamous and Lyeton just looked weird), I altered the spelling of the latter and settled with Lyton only to prevent any further obsessive compulsive urges.

We all met up at our friend’s nice place and swam, ponged, and kayaked for countless hours (probably three) until we decided to pop into the house we’d be staying the night in. Stories were told while some booze flowed, and we all had a grand ole time. I got back to Columbia in a haze the next morning, and treated myself to a few more hours of Dragon Quest IX after a workout that confused my body. As the night was drawing to a close, I realized that a hideous stench in my room was being caused by the hideous sack of dirty laundry nestled deeply in my closet.

It was around nine thirty when I occupied every machine in my apartment’s basement. I only had enough coins to operate two washers and two dryers (four dollars in quarters) This amount would normally be able to get the job done, but my sack had several pounds of cloth. Knowing that my load would require more than forty minutes of drying time, I hopped in my vehicle and drove to the nearest ATM. I withdrew twenty dollars, and had no idea where to go from there. Where do you get change for a twenty at 10:30pm on a Saturday? The next logical step (apparently) was to go to a laundromat, where there would undoubtedly be a change machine.

I pulled up to a shady laundromat off of Paris only to see that it was closed. A shimmer of hope came in the form of an obese woman I could see through the glass door effectively mopping up the place. I placed my twenty up to the glass and knocked with a desperate look on my face. She opened the door and asked what I needed. I explained to her my situation, and she gave me ‘change’ for a twenty by placing one ten, one five, and five ones in my hand. Chuckling, I said, “Oh, I was wondering if you could turn this into eighty quarters.”

Opening her toothless mouth, she said, “We don’t do that here.”

Defeated, I got back in my car and drove to the nearest gas station. Much to my surprise, they gave me a roll of quarters in exchange for my ten, and sent me on my way. Triumphant, I finished my laundry and crawled into bed.

I awoke Sunday morning with one goal in mind: “I have to see Inception.” So, I called a bro, and we caught a matinee of the flick. Before you finish reading this sentence, do me a favor and go watch that movie. It was action-packed, thought-provoking, and reminded me that little Mr. Nolan directed a movie called Memento back in the day.

I wrapped up Sunday by playing more Dragon Quest IX than I’d care to admit, and watching the entirety of Afro Samurai (overrated).

Now that your eyes are bleeding because you read so much, why don’t you take some time to tell me that your weekend was better? I’ll tell you right now that it wasn’t, but you can give it a shot.

-Zach

The Third One

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 10:30:03 -0500

If you think I’m writing this to express my undying love for stereoscopic 3D invading every aspect of entertainment, you’re wrong. If you expected this, turn away right now. Go to a competitor website, or something. I don’t like this stereoscopic 3D business. I wish it would go away. Seeing this gimmicky crap plastered all over some of my favorite blogs is infuriating. When this craze takes a giant dump on PS3s across the country later this year, there is one game I would actually like to see in stereoscopic 3D.

Echochrome is the best game I’ve never played. Now that I have a PS3, I fully intend on downloading it when I finish some prior obligations. If you have no idea what this game is, then let me paint you a mental picture with my words. Imagine you just got flung into an M.C. Esher painting, Super Mario 64-style. It is now your job to navigate to the end of this maze by manipulating the angles in which you see this monstrosity. It’s a cool game, and I have fond memories of creating a Japanese PSN account on my buddy’s PS3 a couple of years ago just to download a demo.

Now conceptualize this game in stereoscopic 3D. Couple it with the head-tracking that the Playstation Eye offers, and you could be peaking around mazes to try and find out how to get your manikin guy across some dangerous pit. I think I could just stare in awe at some of the things that would be popping out of my screen. We already know that Echochrome 2 will have Move support, but why not make the game even more gimmick-tastic by throwing in some 3D glasses? I don’t see myself shelling out the kind of money it would take to experience this game, but I would love to see it happen.

-Zach

P.S. Who knows? If we’re lucky, we might get to a game similar to this show up on the Nintendo 3DS: a system I have yet to rant and rave about.

Don't Touch

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 09:27:00 -0500

I’m starved for any compelling content, so I’m going to be a lazy-ass and post something that somebody else has made. One of my friends tipped me onto this odd craze: Avoid the 1up mushroom. I would explain to you what it is, but I feel the video can do a better job.

Not only is it this video hilarious, it brings up an interesting trend that I want to see more of. Start making new games out of old ones. You can obviously go back and play old games for their original content, but that is sometimes driven by nostalgia. I’m not a big fan of nostalgia. These guys made up a new game in their head that is based around the mechanics of an old one, and it sounds like they had a great time. Needless to say, I will be avoiding mushrooms the next time I run through Super Mario 64.

-Zach

Confessions of a Fat Kid

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 10:02:00 -0500

Gaming: it’s not a physically intensive task. Because of that fact, I was a chubby kid in middle school and early high school. Awkward body changes and a physical education course snapped me out of that ‘phase’, and I’ve been a relatively skinny a-hole since then. What has kept me in this state? Fear. Being a fat kid caused me to inherit some body issues that will indefinitely linger in my mind.

This summer, I have been logging near forty hour weeks at my job, and working out at the recreational center on campus. While I used to exercise about once a week during regular semesters, I have been religiously working out about at least five times a week for the past month and a half. This change of pace has noticeably impacted the one thing I really like doing with my spare time, and I don’t know what to think about it.

By no means am I ever enthused about working out. I hate it. Having your heart beat that fast for an extended period of time does not sound like a good time. Fans of my words will remember how I stated my displeasure with body-improvement last summer. The entire process of working out (driving home, getting properly clothed, driving to the Rec, exercising, showering, driving back home) takes nearly two hours, and if we repeat that five times, that means I’m losing ten hours of video game time each week. Do you know how many video games take less than ten hours to beat? A whole bunch.

I realize it is important to stay physically fit, but at what cost? Sitting on a couch playing games is so much more appealing to me than watching my pulse climb exponentially on a treadmill display.

What I think I need is some way to relate exercise to a video game experience. Some may suggest I treat it like an RPG, but I think that is a little too cliché. I want to hear your stories. How do you cope with the lack of gaming caused by your exercise routine? Does it even bug you people?

Yes. You people.

-Zach

Is Crackdown 2 Good?

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 08:05:00 -0500

A few years ago, I played a demo to a game called Crackdown. After having a blast with that free nugget of Pacific City, I decided to buy a $35.00 copy of the game from a Malaysian distributer I found on eBay. A week or so passed, and I opened my package only to find that my game case was littered with some Asian script, and the tag “NTSC-J” on the disc. Fingers crossed, I popped the disc into the tray and hoped for the best. Turns out, I was lucky enough to play the crap out of this game for several mindless hours.

Flash forward three years, and we now have Crackdown 2. I had a similar experience with the game’s demo a couple of weeks ago, and now I own an American version that cost me sixty bones. I’m having a blast with the game so far, but the question of “Is this game actually good,” has been nagging me ever since I started. I guess you could consider this as my review, but writing more than a few paragraphs would be silly, considering this game was released three years ago. Only now, there are infected persons and more multiplayer options.

So, do I think this game is good?

Yes and no.

This game is bad in the sense that I would never recommend it to people who didn’t like Crackdown. Crackdown 2 doesn’t change the original’s mediocre sandbox formula at all. Even though this doesn’t bug me in the slightest, I feel compelled to point out that this disc is only packed with fan-service. I have always had the stance that rereleasing a game (or changing it very little) just to pander to the folks who will shell out the money to buy it is lame. Crackdown 2 is a cash-in, and I found that to be worth noting. Granted, there are moments when having this position on games has made me quite the hypocrite, but we all have our weak points.

In this case, there are a few things in the Crackdown formula that hit most of my weak points. First of all, how about that jumping? I have always loved platformers that have a strong focus on their core gameplay element: jumping. Crackdown (2) resonates with my jumping bone so well that I can’t not love this game. It may sound odd that a gameplay element as simple as this one can grip me so much, but it does, and I love it. Second, the game is so mindless that you can sit down with it for several hours, and just veg-out. Jumping around the city to do repetitive missions and collect orbs just works for me. I can sit down for a couple of hours after work with this game, zone out, and listen to a podcast. If a buddy jumps in my game to do the same, then that’s fine by me. People who really liked Crackdown will flock to the sequel. I am one of those people.

Should you buy Crackdown 2? Probably not. If you created a strange bond with the original (like I did), then yes, you should buy it. Is it worth sixty smackers? Not really. Given the semi-low scores the game has been receiving, I’d be willing to bet you will be able to find this one for cheap on Amazon in a few weeks.

If you do buy it, though, find me on Xbox Live. We will fly around in our Wingsuits together. It will be good times.

-Zach

Today's Post Sucks

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 07:15:50 -0500

How’s it going, everybloody? I just got back from a pretty awesome float trip on the Current River down near Jadwin, MO. These trips tend to take a toll on your body in the form of sunburns, sore limbs, and tired minds. Those three things combined with the lack of sleep caused by a late reentry into Columbia are a good enough excuse for a lame post, don’t you agree?

If you want a few personal touches to the website, here’s where you are going to get them. Pictured above is a screen grab of something we filmed with good buddy, Frank’s Kodak Playsport. Yes, we are in a dangerous cave, swimming in freezing cold spring water. You can expect some pretty awesome videos to come out of this trip.

As for musical ventures, you should click here for a “Muscle Museum” cover, and here for something completely different. Listen to these, because they’re funny.

I did manage to get the entire posse to begin reading Scott Pilgrim. I read volumes three through five on the trips to and from Jadwin, and I can’t wait until the sixth book comes out in a couple of weeks.

So with that, I implore you to accept the lack of quality today. Tired Zach is tired.

-Zach (Tired)

PSN Free is the way to be, G.

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0500

I really like my Playstation 3. I will like it even more when I play a few more exclusive games that I’m excited about. One thing I’ve never been a fan of, though is the Playstation Network. Before I owned a PS3, I hated on the PSN without even knowing what it really was. Sure, I knew it was their service that allowed people top play games online (for free) and purchase downloadable games, but I had never used it.

I think free online play is a really cool thing, but after using it a few nights ago to play some Little Big Planet with ex-editor David Marshall, I can easily see why it’s free. I started the night by signing on to the network only to get greeted by another firmware update. While I love updates (almost to a creepy extent), I guarantee a lot of people find these annoying. After the update finished, I was pleased to find that my buddy was already online.

Naturally, I went to my friends tab to accept his friend request. Once we were Sony-branded besties, I clicked on his name to join his session in progress. Much to my dismay, I could not find that option. I would later come to know that most of the online interaction in Sony-land is done through the game instead of the cross media bar. Mumbles and grumbles aside, I booted the game, found him on my ‘friends’ planet, and joined his level-in-progress (which was awesome by the way; odd bean-cows with ‘LOLZ’ painted on them could only come from David’s mind).

Playing his level for a few minutes was fun, but I realized something was missing: I wasn’t talking to the guy in any way, shape or form. Why, you ask? I blame it on the fact that I refused to buy a bluetooth headset for my phone a few years ago, when it seemed like a cool thing to do. This realization spurred another thought: how genius was it of Microsoft to include that cheap-o headset with every Xbox 360? Sony’s dismissal of online chat by not including any form of headset made my first experience with the Playstation Network one that will filed under ‘meh’ in my memory banks.

The newly announced Playstation Plus has caught my attention, though. Having a rewards program that ends up paying for itself (if you’re an avid PSN gamer) is a great way to blow fifty bucks. Even though this option exists, you can still play online for free. Good news, because I would not feel justified in shelling out more money to play video games with random twelve-year-olds.

-Zach

Last, First

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 08:31:48 -0500

A few days ago, Blizzard announced that with the release of Starcraft II comes a new rule requires users to use their full name when posting on Battle.net’s forums. This (understandably) has caused a massive uproar among fans of Blizzard’s games. While I’m not deeply involved in any forum community, I can see why this might cause some concern to people who think they need web anonymity.

Personally, I see a whole lot of good in this change. I believe this will clean up the forums at Blizzard either by scaring away the trolls who post senseless hate, or by driving away a large portion of their user base. As a person who is relatively new to Internet of higher speeds, I can’t say that I’ve seen much forum hate (with the exception of this awkward thread in which I felt I was treated with a little needless aggression), but I know it’s out there.

Sites like 4chan and Something Awful can serve as breeding grounds for Internet asshole-ism, and are places that I avoid just to protect my eyes. I guarantee you that if forums like these displayed something as personal as your first and last name, we would see a drop-off in the hate. In 4chan’s case, though, it might drop because people would fear being tracked down and murdered.

Regardless of what I think about this change, I fully understand a few of the more legitimate concerns with that come with it. The first valid concern I’ve heard is the fact that modern employers Google the crap out of your name to make sure you are ‘compatible’ with their company. Let’s say your would-be-boss has only heard negative things about World of Warcraft users; if he finds that you partake in this online community, he could just throw your application into a bin. Why you would want to work for such a lame person is beyond me, but I’m sure this scenario has happened before.

Second, I think women and children face a greater threat than some nerdy dude in his twenties. ~~Some~~ A lot of people on the Internet are WEIRD. Do me a favor, and pretend you are some nerdy, hot chick who was curious to see what people thought about a new update to a race in Starcraft II’s multiplayer (marry me?). If some freak-o sees the your name, Jessica Flirtpants, on that forum, what’s stopping him from Googling the name, tracking you down, and buying a plane ticket to visit their bride-to-be?

While I have no reason to remain anonymous online (Googling my name reveals several of my web-endevours), a few very real concerns arise out of this eminent change. Web anonymity has been around for decades, and (in my opinion) has the potential to unleash a few inner demons in some people. Being mean is really easy when the person you’re insulting is just a few lines of text and an avatar of some weird pear.

I know I have a lot of Blizzard fans that read my words, so let me have it. What do you think about this change? Do you have nothing to hide, or are you too cool for ~~school~~ the Internet?

-Zach