Ahem. If you own a Wii, go get this game right now. Actually, I’m inclined to tell you to go get this game anyway. Apart from a less than perfect online system (which can be made better, by the way), it is as excellent as I had hoped. It does not reinvent the wheel, but it really didn’t have to.
That’s really all I wanted to say. By the way, if you still read me (both of you), let me know. I’m feeling lonely.
I was under the impression that I was supposed to write a new entry here at least once a week. I haven’t done that lately. I apologize.
So, with that out of the way, it’s been incredibly busy at Xbox 360 Fanboy lately. In the space of one month — the short month of February at that — I contracted two new writers, coached them through their first week or two, went to GDC, and started producing video features. Sweet googa mooga, I can’t keep up. I barely find time to play games anymore, honestly. I have worked out a way to get some more time though, but perhaps I’ll talk about that some other time.
For now, I have to say this: I interviewed Peter Molyneux. One on one. It is thus far the highlight of my career as a games journalist. It was great.
As for everything else. I’m enjoying putting together video features. I picked up an eyetv hybrid from ElGato, which allows the capture of video to a Mac computer from any composite or S-video source. Combined with a distribution amplifier (a purchase I was hoping I wouldn’t have to make unfortunately) it works like dream. If you read X3F (which is more likely than you reading this) expect to see a lot more videos in the future.
That’s it for this week. It’s effing cold here right now.
Yeah, you probably noticed that posting stopped for a while. You may have heard on X3F that a vicious winter storm blasted Oklahoma (and many other states) a few weeks ago. Annie and I were actually very lucky, as we only lost power for a day or so (some people didn’t have power for weeks). We did, however, lose our cable/internet/telephone for pretty much the whole week. That meant I had to do my posting at my parents’ place, which was difficult. Don’t get me wrong, I love going to see my folks, but it’s not my work environment. As such, I was behind on my posts in December. I’ve got some nice pictures I figured I could share, so enjoy.
My neighbor’s Car
Our car (AKA Annie’s car)
Glass grass. I took a lot of these.
More glass grass
Lenny is confused.
Oh look, glass grass!
Yet more grass
Another neighbor’s yard.
My car’s antenna
My car’s antenna: EXTREME CLOSEUP!
Leaves
Glass grass: the return
Shopping carts don’t know it’s cold.
The street was completely blocked to the east
So there you go. Crazy, no?
Oh, and, just so there is at least one reference to video games in here, I’m incredibly excited about Bionic Commando Rearmed. If you haven’t seen it, go take a look.
So, yes, the holidays caused quite a slow down around here. I started working on a post about the massive ice storm that blew through Tulsa before Christmas, and you’ll get that soon, complete with some great pictures. In the meantime, I thought I’d put up an update to let all five of my readers know that I’m not disappearing again. Just so this post isn’t completely devoid of things you might actually enjoy reading, here’s a rundown of my gaming related Christmas and B-Day gifts (my birthday is December 20, by the way).
Rock Band — complete surprise gift from my mom. And before you ask, yes, I do know how to play a whole song on my guitar, even though it’s just four chords repeated over and over again. I’m not sure she knew that, but I’m not exactly complaining :)
Super Mario Galaxy — some of the purest fun I’ve had in a while. The only gift I really wanted this Christmas, and I got it. It’s Mario and it’s good. What more do you need?
Halo: Contact Harvest — the fifth book in the Halo series. So far, it’s excellent. Much, much better than the Mass Effect book, which I’ve yet to finish. If you enjoy reading about the interactions between the various races of the Covenant, I think you’ll enjoy it. For instance, if you know what a Huragok is, go get this book now.
That’s pretty much it. I’m currently awaiting Overlord from Gamefly, really looking forward to it.
Oh, and I should mention that the 50th episode of the Xbox 360 Fancast is now available and I’m really happy with it. It took a full two working days to put it together and I’m glad I’m done with it. Go check it out and let me know what you think [whoops, forgot to add a link. There you go]. Also, a sneak peek at some of the images coming your way from the Ice Storm of ’07:
My neighbor’s car
So, as usual, I’m in the middle of editing the Fancast as I write this (update, Audacity just crashed. I lost four hours of editing or so. Fuck). This week, we had tremendous recording difficulties. One of our merry band, you’ll find out whom once the show is uploaded, had his internets destroyed by a vicious snowstorm. As you might expect, this had something of an effect on his Skype connection. This resulted in some hilariously glitchy audio. You’ll hear plenty of that in our outtakes. So, fun to listen to, not so fun to edit.
The guitar quest is going apace. The fingertips on my left hand are beginning to develop the thick carapace prized by guitar players the world over. Said carapace has advantages and disadvantages. Advantage: holding down guitar strings doesn’t hurt like hell. Disadvantage: in addition to dulling pain, all sensation is deadened. I guess I’ll get over it.
Someone asked me about my opinion of the whole GameSpot / Jeff Gerstmann issue. If you’ve been living in an internet-proof shelter for the last few days, GameSpot fired its Editorial Director under some curious circumstances. Essentially, he trashed Kane & Lynch. GameSpot, as it happens, had loads and loads of Kane & Lynch ads plastered all over the site. There are other pieces to the puzzle — feel free to sift through them at the link above — but I’ve given you all you need to put together where “the story” began.
Anyway, do I think he was fired because of a negative review? I honestly don’t know. What I do know, is that it looks damned shady. CNET and GameSpot have done very little to assuage the fears of gamers and game journalists everywhere. The fact that plenty of former and current GameSpot employees have spoken about the issue says volumes as well.
I’ve seen a range of comments on the subject, one of the perks of running a site about such things. I’ve seen comments against GameSpot and I’ve also seen plenty of blasé comments from people asking why we should care. So someone got fired, who cares, right? Happens all the time. Comments like that are really missing the point. It’s not that he was fired, it’s why. Granted, we don’t have any proof, and it’s likely we never will, but if the story is true, it puts a mighty black eye on game journalism. Then again, it’s not like all critical fields aren’t fraught with problems anyway. Websites are given bribes (i.e. games, swag, etc) by the companies they write about, they’re whisked away to exotic locations to play fucking Dead or Alive Extreme 2, and so on and so forth. It’s the same in the movie industry, and probably every entertainment industry. Don’t misunderstand me, companies give stuff to X3F, but we turn around and give it to the community. We also get offers for junkets, but refuse them out of policy.
Frankly, I never visit GameSpot anyway, apart from finding the occasional news story. Most of my need for reviews is more than satisfied by Metacritc (update: I’ve learned Metacritic is also a CNET company. Small world.).
Anyway, rambling a bit. The point is that the critical field is crooked. Blogs are a little less crooked (especially the fine establishments found on the Joystiq network), but they’re susceptible to the same temptations. This GameSpot issue really just throws the whole problem into sharp relief, with the possibility of bringing it into the public eye. If GameSpot does go down because of this, don’t go thinking that any other site is any better (again, except for the integrity-ridden blogs on the Joystiq network). Finally, the fact that the industry is crooked isn’t exactly news, but someone actually getting fired because of it … that’s bad.
Here we go. Here’s my silly little Halo 3 comic. Just click the title below and enjoy.
Okay,
I’ve actually gotten a request to start blogging here again, so I’ll see if I can’t oblige. I made a nifty Halo 3 comic using the screenshot feature and Comic Life, a handy comic making program that came with my MacBook Pro. Oh yeah, I have a MacBook Pro now. I’ve had it for a while, but this is actually my first 8bN post written on it. Anywho, I’m sitting at a Panera and seem to be having trouble uploading the comic. I’ll try again when I get home.
So, here’s a request. If you’re reading this, leave a comment. It’ll help me gauge how often I should update this thing. See you soon. I cannot fucking wait for Rock Band. No. Can’t do it. Must have it.
That is all.
I never intended this to be the sort of blog where I would leverage any personal messages. I usually make a concerted effort to keep that sort of thing relegated to my private life. However, I’m positively sickened by some of the things I saw in Michael Moore’s SiCKO last night. Our health care system is a joke. It’s a big fucking joke and it needs to be changed. You listen to the story of a woman whose child died because the ambulance took her to an “out of network” hospital and try to tell me our system isn’t fucked three ways from Sunday. That’s it. That’s all I wanted to say.
Hey all,
Just a tiny, tiny update letting everyone know that I’ve been invited into the early “Friends and Family” phase of the Halo 3 beta. Um … fuck yeah!
Anyway, that is all.
Hey, hey, hey.
Just an update real quick-like. My wife and I are buying a house. As such, I’ve been swamped with extra things to do, many of which have hampered my blogging (for work). Still, we found a great house and we’re really excited to move in. We just got the inspections done and are waiting to see what we can get repaired by the owner (who is responsible for a certain portion of repairs). Dustin Burg, one of our writers at X3F, commented that the house looks a bit like the ones in Fable. He is right, and I am even happier :)
I’ll try and post a pic of the house sometime soon, so everyone can see what it looks like.
Peace out.
