ROMs Are An Eye Opening Experience

For the better part of my long fascination with video games and entertainment, very few monumental changes have occurred in that time-frame.

The first time I booted up Super Mario Bros. (actually, I wanted to shoot ducks first with my plastic light-gun) and the first time I saw the shitty Super Mario Bros. movie with John Leguizamo (sp?), all of these instances changed my gaming lifestyle forever.

Each gamer has had his or her own set path of these game-changing events.  For me, it was the first time I was engrossed in a game of Left 4 Dead that I started to fear and care for my buddies playing the survivor characters, it was the first frantic chainsaw duel in the Gears series, and it was my first paradigm shift in Final Fantasy XIII (also the first time I played a Final Fantasy game).  You could also throw in the purchase of my brand new, bigger, 1080p high definition TV (after living with a 32 inch TV from 9 years ago), but that only really counts as seeing the games in a new and better way.

After all of these great moments in my gaming life, and I think I'm on the verge of another one of those game changing events.

Gearbox Community Day 2011: The Party That Was 15 Years In The Making

A couple of weeks ago – okay, it was a long time ago - (June 11th, 2011), Gearbox Software invited all of its fans in the Dallas, Texas area to come on down to the Palladium ballroom and enjoy panels and gameplay demos from their wide range of upcoming and released titles.  It was a similar format I had seen in the past at Quakecon, with developers, artists, and engineers all taking the stage to answer questions and give video gamers’ an inside look at the titles they make for us to play.

Community Day was just packed with fans.  I had no idea there would be that many people in line at 9am on a hot Texas Saturday.  Sure, I can understand the draw of QuakeCon with its huge Bring Your Own Computer LAN party and plush atmosphere of the Hilton Anatole hotel.  This was at a glorified Texas bar.  It was just a few short steps away from the stereotypical honky-tonk bar with a mechanical bull.

Coldplay Rips Off Super Mario Bros.

Normally when we see the band name Coldplay we think of the overly effeminate dudes in touch with their “sensitive sides” and make fun of them (trust me, it’s okay for you to make fun of them, they deserve it).  I just want to yell at them, "Hey man, how about you listen to something more manly; it will put hair on your chest!"

Coldplay has become the gay-er version of bands in the same line as Nickelback and Creed, only with some added musical street cred.  You really shouldn’t like any of these bands unless you’re a 18 year old girl with a vagina, or you’re trying to get into said 18-yr old girl’s vagina (we gotta keep it legal here people).

”Yeah, Viva La Vida is my new favorite song of their newer stuff, but I really like the earlier Parachutes album better….it’s more “indie” and unheard of. Ya know, like, before they went "mainstream".”

Here is a Youtube video clearly showing that Coldplay straight out ripped off the familiar Mario “Star Invincibility” theme to make their Viva La Vida song more catchy and recognizable....but subliminally.  You don't know where you heard it before, and why you like it; you just do.

[via Today's Biggest Thing]





P.S. Yes.  I am that dude that likes a few newer Coldplay songs but likes Parachutes better.

Review: Beyond Good and Evil HD

Eight years have passed since we last saw Beyond Good and Evil in our original Xbox or PS2 disc trays.  It’s been that long, but Ubisoft is giving fans of the original a chance to experience one of the best and most underrated games ever.  I can see why though:  it features a female protagonist, a pig companion and passive gameplay with not a whole lot of combat.  She takes pictures of weird new animals and shit?  Yeah, not exactly on par with some of the other Xbox games that was released around this time (*cough* Halo *cough*).

But what Beyond Good and Evil lacks in combat and fighting grit, it makes up for with its engaging open world, its story and its characters.  The game was ahead of its time in these aspects.

My Very First GT Racing Wheel

Not having had a gaming racing wheel before, I decided with the lowered price of the Logitech GT Wheel that this was a good deal to go with my recent purchase of Gran Turismo 5.  What I found after hooking it up to my PS3 is pure, unadulterated video gaming bliss…..

To give you a little back story to my thought process, I think it is retarded to buy gaming accessories to play one game (Rock Band aside).  Wii tennis rackets, golf putters, and baseball bats to fit the Wii controller into will never find their way into my gaming cabinet.  It’s flat-out retarded and wasted plastic from Indonesia.  You shouldn’t need that extra $1.99 piece of shit plastic bat to make you think you’re in Wrigley Field hitting a home run.  Does that even happen, ever? No, it doesn’t.  These are purely instruments for pain as you swing your arms around wildly with the family you love close by.  No thanks.  I somewhat “like” my family.