Welcome back to the Randomizer!
You know what's kind of missing from the Randomizer? More
random things! I've talked about all sorts of things ranging from films to
fantasy to historical subjects. But that's probably not going to be enough for
your taste-buds is it? It also means that this blog will be completely
misleading! You wouldn't want that now would you? So what could I talk about?
Video Games.
I might look like a love child between Cousin It and Ozzy
Osbourne obsessed with rock music and dragons, but believe it or not I used to
play quite the bit of video games in times past. From more obvious titles like
Sonic the Hedgehog, Mario and Grand Theft Auto, to some others like Okami, Alien
Storm and that really surreal game called 'Another World' where I always died
at the hands of some fucking wolf spawn from 'The Hunger Games'.
(Seriously, I tried looking it up as I was writing. You play
this blonde guy that gets sucked into this different dimension and then gets
chases by this wolf thing. Look it up on Youtube, it goes through all the
multiple ways you can die haha J).
So why do I want to talk about video games? Like wrestling,
I had a great love for playing these games, but over the recent years I had lost
my appetite somewhat for video games as I've grown older, becoming more focused
on my novel and film-making in general. But I still played the odd game every
now-and-then albeit causally more than anything else. And I do keep up with a
few games being made and look up games I have played in the past.
And I'd be living in a cave, underwater, below a small
island, on a huge planet, in another part of the universe and asleep if I
hadn't heard of the forthcoming eighth generation consoles: the sounded awesome
PS4, Wii U and the so far unpopular Xbox One (ha ha ha). So far if I was to get
one of those consoles, it would definitely be PS4. From what I heard, it seems
quite fun to play and with all the digital stuff it allows you to do with
friends, might be onto something.
So with doing this article, I can reflect back on what games
I've played on what console (believe me there will be quite a bit), what is my
favourite console of all-time (for the moment) and see whether, just whether, I
would be tempted to become integrated back into the world of gaming. So far
it's quite a possibility.
I won't be including WWE games on this since I've talked
about them already in my wrestling article. Fun as those were for me, I don't
think many people will be as geared up to read me ranting or harping on about
the video games. (If you are interested, drop me a comment hehe and I might
considered it in the future).
So here then is a reflection of my history in Video Gaming.
Yes, this is sometimes what it consisted of.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
So let's start with the first console I (and my brother) ever
had: the Sega Mega Drive.
If you have orgasmed from looking at this console please go
clean yourself up before carrying on.
Released in 1988 in Japan first before America and Europe,
the Mega Drive was a force to reckoned with, carrying on from its Sega Master
System console. Over the years, it released very memorable games such as the bloody
controversial Mortal Kombat, the raging furry popular Altered Beast,
and......some blue hedgehog apparently? Frank wasn't it?
Anyway, the console itself managed to not only carry on its
popularity in Europe, but also made a mark in North America selling 39.7
million units worldwide. And it's worth mentioning that though the console itself
is called 'Mega-Drive', in America Sega could not gain the rights to use the
name, so they ended up using 'Sega: Genesis'. Not exactly the best name to give
a console in my personal opinion, though it did give rise to the tagline:
'Genesis does what Nintendon't'. Apparently they also used quite adult material
to promote a joystick connected with the console, stating 'The more you play
with it, the harder it gets'. .....ok then. Don't remember fiddling around the
joystick that much when I was a kid.
Two years on, the Nintendo SNES (Super Nintendo
Entertainment System) was released and soon, the two companies developed a big console
war rivalry for dominion over the world, eventually coming out on top selling
nearly 10 million more than the Sega. Though this was due to the fact that
Nintendo was still popular in Japan, selling 17.7 million. So thanks to Japan
(and psychopathic rabbits concerned), Nintendo had the edge. Everywhere else though,
Sega seemed to have won the majority.
The console stopped production around the end of the 90s,
support being dropped in 1998 around Europe. But weirdly, it hasn't been
dropped around the world fully. In Brazil the Mega-Drive still looks to be around,
released under the name 'Tec-Toy' and using built-in games as opposed to using the
cartridges. Now that is weird, but kind of heart-warming at the same time. The
console itself looks to be still very popular if still in the 21st
century! So maybe then SEGA still comes out on top, perhaps spiritually.
I had a lot of fond and probably not-so fond memories
playing on the Mega-Drive, with a variety of games I played on with my older
brother.
The one game we played constantly was Sonic 3, which was
awesome. Obviously trying to collect all the gems so we could save Sonic's
world from the evil Dr. Robotnik (no, not Eggman. I know it's what he was
called in the original Japanese, but I just have the feeling that Robotnik
sounded better. Suck it). Considering how we actually did on the game, I'd say
we were good. The farthest we got was level 4 I think, the Carnival Level. And
that was mostly The Bro I think. The
most times we played on it was doing those 2-player battles, racing each other
to death with equal bitching at each other for doing this and that. All in the
spirit of brotherly love. Or what brotherly love could be mustered without
killing each other.
Another one we used to play a lot was Alien Storm. Does
anyone remember that? The beat-them-up with aliens and you had a choice between
a man, woman or robot to play with? This might jog your memory.
If that didn't help, you never had a childhood. Shame on you
for not buying this game. Alien Storm is a very good game to play, having
played it recently this week to jog my memory. It's your basic side-scroller
going through multiple enemies and killing the shit out of them Never completed
it at all, though the Bro has come close to doing it on the last level I
believe. Until a complete cock of an alien killed him. That was just rude. At
least I think it was an alien, and not Katie Price.
Anyway, there were some games I wasn't good at. One was
Super Thunder Blade. You flew around in a helicopter trying to blow up tanks,
big moving junk and other helicopters to achieve your goals. Sort of like an
Arnold Schwartzenenger or Sylvester Stallone action movie. This game was a bit of a bastard. I used to be
ok when playing it on the actual Mega-Drive, but now whenever I try to play now
on the Sega Mega Collection, just can't do it. Not to save my life, with all
the buttons all around confusing and getting blown-up frequently grrrr. Can't
pass on the 1st level at all. Sad Panda.
The other game I had no help with was Another World.
I....had nothing. This was such a ball-buster to even start with, death was at
every turn and I just end up getting killed by The Hunger Games wolf thing at
the start. That or drowning, or getting killed by that creature that lived in
the swimming pool. I don't care if it wasn't, it still looked like one to me! I
had no idea what to do on it, couldn't do anything at all, it wasn't the game
for me to play. Even though I attempted to.
I'm entering the Guinness Book of Records for most deaths on one sitting!
Despite some of those games, I really enjoyed playing some
of the Sega games available! Some we even played when we were down in Elmswell
near Bury St. Edmunds, with our old neighbours The Thompsons (Shout out!). They
had the more games to play I think, but they were still fun and took up hours
of our time to sort out.
Today, I still find some enjoyment from playing the games on
the Sega Mega Collection. I just feel quite nostalgic when destroying things or
living the adventure I had with them, it was just a barrel of laughs. And yes,
I am a man child. Nothing wrong with that at all :D.
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My next generation console was of course the popular
PlayStation.
Let me ask you one question: You can imagine Nintendo using
discs now, but can you in 1988?
Nintendo and Sony Entertainment came to an agreement in that
year to develop a CD attachment, called the Super-Disc, for the SNES. They initially
'showed' it in 1991 for multimedia use at first; using audio CDs, video data
and also a cartridge port for the Super Nintendo. Due to contract and licensing
issues, Nintendo decided to break the agreement and forge an unholy alliance
with Sony's rival Phillips. Whoops. Therefore, the original Super-Disc was
never released and Sony continued to develop the project further in their own time.
Sony actually made 200 of these original 'Play Stations',
but then made a decision to remake them and scrapped the design for more 'game'
opportunities. And the landscape of gaming changed forever. The new design was
dubbed the 'PlayStation X (PSX)', dropping the cartridge ports and focusing on
specifically on CD-ROMS, and changing the hardware to ensure a proper
responsive experience. And thus history was written.
Released in 1994 and finally on our shores in 1995, the
Play-Station proved extremely popular, already having one million sold in Japan
after released in six months, and by 1996 had sold 7 million worldwide. It was
originally priced at $299 dollars and, while a bit expensive, was $100 dollars
cheaper then SEGA's new console: Saturn.
In particular, the CDS quickly overrode the use of
cartridges as the new format could offer more space and allow for better
production values. So really, the SEGA Saturn and the upcoming Nintendo 64
hardly had a chance to have a proper console war, having to settle for third
and second place respectively (I say respectively, it was probably more like
"....shitfuckballs"). Both SEGA and Nintendo dropped the cartridge
format afterwards for their next product.
After 11 years of shelf-life, The Play-Station was discontinued
and now can be seen in various Ebay accounts or the attic in your house. And
how many did Sony sell altogether? Well, the Sega Saturn sold 9.5 million
worldwide (compared to its predecessor is a very big margin). The Nintendo 64
sold under 33 million. The Playstation sold just a tiny, weeny, little bit
more. 102 million. Console War? Probably not.
So what can I say about the Playstation? Well, I must admit,
I never really played so many games on it. As a kid at the age of....7/8 and
having it from 1997, the games I played on it were far and few in between. OK
maybe VERY far and few in between.
One game I do remember playing on it was Rugrats. .....Yea,
Rugrats. I remember playing this quite a while ago and completing it in about a
day. Seriously it was that ridiculously easy. Well some of it was. But when I
was younger, some of the levels really annoyed the fuck out of me. Like trying
to find Cynthia the doll in some sewage system, avoid a goose with false teeth
in them and doing that mini-golf game. That was the only time I remember losing
a life once when I played it just the other day. So yeah that was piss-easy.
Erm...what other games did I play that wasn't WWE
related.....I did a few demos on it once, like games like Spyro....which I
really don't remember playing so much.
And Crash Bandicoot as well....for a little while.....
Oh! There was one game I did attempt to play. Heart of
Darkness. Whoever remembers this too, you are good with me. For those who don't
know, the plot follow a kid called Andy whose dog called Whisky was captured by
the Darkness. Erm...Whisky the Dog. Did Andy like a bit of the Jack Daniels or
something? At his age? But I digress. Andy obviously to save and is quite a
child genius, somehow conviently having made his own spaceship and going to the
other dimension to save him.
That darkness demon is offering them some Old No.7
Putting aside obvious plot holes, the game was mildly
annoying. I kept dying at every different moment, which was probably why I
stopped playing it in the first place. I must say, the death scenes can be
quite graphic. Even if no blood is shown, this kid can eaten up, incinerated
and even have his neck snapped. Well, fuck me sideways, and call me Shirley. I
am dead serious. And you can call me Shirley if you like.
As I mentioned I never completed this game, only got up to I
think the swamp monster part. Without cheating I think. I think I did it once
to complete the game because I wanted to get to the end. But honestly it's been
ages.
Ahh, another game remembered! One that I also enjoyed! Batman
Forever: The Arcade Version. Playing as Batman or Robin, you basically beat up
anyone that walked into your path and got some very interesting power-ups and
special moves where you actually use the Bat-Grapple to fly your opponents into
the screen. I wanna play that again! Nothing really special to it at all, just
a fun game to beat the shit out of the bad guys!
I suppose I really don't have that many vivid memories
playing on the Playstation. Never played stuff like Spyro the Dragon, Crash
Bandicoot or even Final Fantasy VII. Only on ones like Star Wars: The Phantom
Menace (bastard to play), Yu-Gi-Oh Forbidden Memories (fucking bastard to
play), Batman and Robin (good thing that was rented) and 007 Racing
(good-fucking god I won't go into any detail on this one!). Only a few good memories
of being on that machine as a young kid, with many exceptions.
Really, I was probably more of a traitor to the Playstation,
for I played on the N64 more times. And that was my brother's console!
Seriously, how could I not? With games like Mario Kart, Mario 64 and of course
the legendary Goldeneye 007, the N64 wasn't one to be ignored. Of course we
didn't really get the other famous ones like Ocarina of Time and Star Wars:
Shadows of the Empire, but I think that didn't matter. We still had more fun, especially
nowadays where I can kick my brother's ass on Mario Kart and Goldeneye 007,
it's a barrel of laughs ;). Maybe from personal experience I just had more fun
on that, and think fondly of it more so than the Play-Station. Also maybe we
should've switched the consoles with each other.
I regret nothing
-----------------------------------
Soooo, how do you go one step better than one of the most
successful consoles of all time?
I think the picture
speaks for itself.
In 1999, the console was unveiled by Sony and showed off its
range of functions. It could act as another DVD player in the house and,
probably much more importantly for some ardent fans, playback the original Play-station
games. For a launching, it looked and spoke impressively. In fluent French I
believe. However, its first batch games were not very good to sater tastes.
Some games were apparently meant for the original Playstation, such as Dark
Cloud and Gran Turismo 2000.
When it was finally released in 2000 in sporadic months, it
was up SEGA's latest forae and soon nostalgic memorabilia, the Dreamcast.
Released earlier two years ago, it had some initial success and some
well-remembered games. Apparently. I never took much notice. Some of those
games include Crazy Taxi and Shenmue. Unfortunately, among the financial difficulties
and looking not as impressive as the PS2 in general, SEGA announced that not
only would they stop producing Dreamcasts, but also they would not make another
console in future. It was a depressing end for one of the best makers of the
Mega Drive. And in hindsight, this was not the true console war for the 'Sixth
Generation'.
Alas poor Dreamcast, I could care less
The Playstation 2 slowly gathered momentum with its first
million dollar game: Onimusha: Warlords 15 months after release. After that, more
releases came into the fold over the years. Final Fantasy X was released to great
praise and memorable characters. The Grand Theft Auto series released 3 games
in the space of 3 years with GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas reaching great
praise. And of course there is the God of War series, maybe being the main flagship
series for the console in general.
Trying to catch the PS2 tail's were two equally famous
consoles. The first, Nintendo released their Gamecube in Japan 2001 and
obviously kept their popular series in tow, releasing Mario Kart: Double Dash
and Super Smash Brothers Melee. Despite selling 22 million worldwide, I don't
really remember many striking titles from its gaming library at all outside all
the ones featuring Mario in some form. I never really took much of a proper
interest in it and it didn't exactly appeal to me as a gamer. And apparently,
it lacked the other technical features like the PS2 which didn't help matters.
In the end, its sale figures lacked those of the N64, and it was discontinued
only 5 years later. That surely was a bad sweet to swallow.
The second was unveiled by a very familiar company called
Microsoft, and would start to set the world alight. The Xbox. Or as I might
call it: Meh. Released in America in 2001, the Xbox had a steep mountain to
climb after the PS2, launching the first of its acclaimed series, Halo: Combat
Evolved and having its own save storage system instead of the memory card used
by the PS2. A year after its release, the online service Xbox Live was created
and innovated an inevitable future: online game on consoles. Despite the range
of popular 1st-person shooters like Halo's popular multiplayer sequel
(which I have played), the Xbox's sales could not amount to the dominate PS2,
clocking around 24 million consoles sold. But things would get a little bit
better...
Anyway, sorry for my talking a lot about the Xbox. It won't
happen much again.
After a couple years, the original bulky design of the PS2
was revamped into a smaller and thinner model, appropriately called the
'Slimline' version. Originally in black, they actually released a silver
version over here in the UK, one of which I brought along with my bulky PS2.
Despite lacking some technical features removed from the bulky version, it
didn't dent sales at all. Also one thing to note is that some actually came in
different colours, as opposed to the usual black scheme.
Of course, all good things must inevitably come to an end.
On January 4th 2013, Sony announced that the PS2 would be
discontinued. 12 years and 10 months of being the shelf is a very long time,
outlasting all its major opponents in a decade. And how much did it sell
overall? Over 150 million units. Over 50 million more than its predecessor.
That is a very big margin. And again, no console war, just complete domination
by Sony.
The PS2 brought me properly back into the fold (after I
begged and grovelled for disrespecting the Play-Station) and this was the
console that was probably just right for me. And the number of games I had for
it was so much more extensive. I had a range of everything, from singing games
to action games, RPGs and driving games, it was all fun. So much more than the
Play-Station could ever really muster.
One of the bigger games I played on was Final Fantasy X, my
only entry into playing Final Fantasy ever. And I found it interesting to play.
The bad side of it was I could never play that underwater league sport game
Blitzball. Always tackled, always letting in goals it was a hampering
experience. The plus side was I got to understand how the gameplay worked, how
to build up the characters strength and got to play with the various Aeon
monsters. I did think that the story was good and I can't think of anything
specifically bad from it. But I just couldn't complete it, due to my own
mistakes in selling stuff which I shouldn't have done and eventually felt as if
I couldn't carry on. As well whenever you're in the middle of something, a
monster of some variety comes out of nowhere and attacks. It's one of those
games I liked, but never got around to loved.
Is she turning herself into a mermaid, or giving herself a huge tail?
Now I hear that they are planning to re-release onto the PS3
and I might consider playing this game again, perhaps in a hope of redeeming
myself.
The action game I had some difficulty with was James Bond:
Everything or Nothing. Believe me, sometimes it took an age to try and complete
these levels. Some of which, you had to get the timing exactly right when
riding a motorbike to catch onto a train, avoiding being hit while in the air
to catch the Miss. Bond Girl 2004 and defeating Willem Defoe in an unexplained
villain revenge that's never really heard of. Just for plot convience. The game-play
was a tad annoying, though the driving levels were quite fun to play when you
had an access to a number of vehicles. And it had a co-op mission thing that
was pretty stupid anyway. Despite those parts though, I did have some fun with
it. It is like a James Bond Movie, and allows you to actually be stealthy as
well as shooting everything in sight. It was enjoyable, though I don't think
I'd take much of an interest in it again. It's been too long since playing it
and I'm not sure I'd enjoy it as much again.
One game series in particular that I got into is the LEGO
movie series, starting with LEGO Star Wars. Despite it being a kid's game, I
didn't give a shit. Played it, Completed it, played it over so I could unlock
everything, I just had fun. Despite some levels being quite tedious to get
through and the inevitable spoilers it came with, it didn't stop my overall
enjoyment. The puzzles were challenging but not overly difficult to complete.
The flying levels were limited, but you still got a chance to blow stuff up.
Overall, it was a perfectly balanced game. Since having LEGO as a child (who
didn't?), it's actually stayed with me for over 24 years even though I haven't
built a model for a long time. And the humour in the series is very good, being
slapstick and more facial expressional than anything. Since then, I have
collected mostly all the LEGO games AND will hopefully still collect them to
this day!
Some of the other games I have that deserve a mention are:
Star Wars Battlefront 2, which I had good fun with, and enjoyed the conquer
mode when playing as a faction to destroy the enemy. X-Men: Legends was a good
romp through, with a nice storyline and a cast of characters to choose from.
The Sonic Mega Collection brought back some nostalgia and allowed me to play
through the Sonic Games I had not come across. And finally, I should mention
Singstar. Only had the 80s versions properly and sang through most of them. Some
were good, some iffy.
Overall, I had a lot more fun on the PS2 then its
predecessor. Yes I did play some games on the Xbox and had some fun on them
too, but I never been fully influenced to buying one. I'm always hearing how
the Xbox is better in comparison, but from what I've read I'd disagree
strongly. The PS2 has the bigger library for games overall, the better selling
rates, and I just had more fun playing on that particular console than ever. It
was really my time as a video-game player, and I wouldn't have passed that time
up for much else at all. The PS2: One of the best consoles ever in the world.
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After dominating the world for over a decade, Sony would
finally be brought down to level with Microsoft and Nintendo in the Seventh
Generation console. And appropriately, this will be as far as history goes.
Microsoft released the Xbox 360 in November 2005 close to a
year before Sony and Nintendo, putting it in the hopes of dominating the world
market early before the others had a chance. And to start with, it did seem to
be doing just that. The console sold out in the UK and over 326,000 sold in
that same month in the USA. Clearly, they were probably planning this after the
Xbox was released. However, the dreaded 'Red Ring of Death' became common-place
for gaming fans as the console became suspectible to hardware failures, warning
them that the console people brought with them had a deadly curse brought on
them......huh, must've been that evil witch called Sandy Orion Nebella
Yaravitch. Russian you know. Despite this problems however, the Xbox 360 has
been very successful, selling over 78 million worldwide so far, a huge step-up
from the Xbox.
I feel wrong for having this picture included
Nintendo in the meantime overcame their Game-Cube efforts,
and released the famous Wii console. This console brought motion-control to the
gaming front with their own Wii Remote, as players could now attach it to their
wrists and subsequent found they have broken TV screens if the remotes happened
to fly out of their hands inconviently. Some of the games I have read reviews
for weren't probably helpful for the Wii and its new remote, but it's had some obvious
successful ones. You can guess which ones. Nintendo wanted the game to be for
everyone from young people to an older generation and not focused only on the
one gamer, which made sense considering the added incentive of Wii Sports as
the first bundled game. The console was a great success for Nintendo, selling
over 99 million consoles and bringing it back into the fold across the world.
The PlayStation 3 itself was launched on 11 November 2006, a
week before the Wii. Like the Wii trying to bring something new to the table,
Sony decided to go in a technical direction. All the PS3 discs would use
Blu-Ray technology and be a secondary Blu-Ray player for films alike. Along with
this, they made their own PS Network so people could buy upgrades for games and
other tid-bits for their own profile on the system. So everything seemed in
good order and funky dory. How did it all fuck up?
I should have used protection more.....
From the start the console suffered a series of set-backs
which probably led to the floundering reputation it mercilessly picked up.
Firstly, the console was delayed by at least 5 months when
it was finally released in Europe of March 2007, being the last of the Seventh
Generation to be released in this time. Despite that setback, it sold 600,000
in the first couple days. This would only be the start of the trouble.
Secondly, On March 1st 2010 as some of you might
remember, some older consoles had a problem with their internal clock and
players were having trouble trying to log into the PSN. Some had noted that a
string of numbers came up spelling out: 8001050F. This was an apparent error
that affected logging in, the number of trophies collected and even games that
were offline. It was even pointed out that the clock had reset to December
1999. Obviously someone still wanted to try to end the world a decade after it
was supposed to. Douche. But this problem was soon rectified by Sony over two
days and everything was back to normal.
But over a year later, another problem would spell
'FUUUUUUCCCCCKKKKKK' over Sony in dry white paint, possibly with a big green X
in the middle.
On April 20th 2011, Sony announced that it had
discovered an extensive intrusion in its PSN and shut it down. By then, the
damage was done. It was revealed that a few days beforehand, hackers had
entered into the network, proceeding to take user data and personal
information. Sony had found something amiss a day before and took measures to
close down their network until further notice. It was possible that all 77
million accounts at the time could have been affected and Sony apologised for
the outage, becoming infamously known as the PSN Outage. 29 days after the
first steps occured, Sony finally brought the network back up on May 15th,
with new installed protection. But the consequences were far-reaching. It cost
Sony 171 million to bring everything back to normal and as Colin Moriarty of
IGN states:
The mentality of PS3 gamers
changed by the time the outage was over. Many Podcast Beyond listeners noted
that they no longer trusted Sony with their credit card information and instead
opted to use store-brought PlayStation Network cards. Others refused to buy
anything off the PSN Network at all
Though I have read through the comments on this page and
some people have said that they still trust Sony, which kind of puts that quote
into perspective.
In the years since it has been released, the Playstation 3
has sold 75 million units so far. While that is considerable, when compared
with the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii, it is pretty bad. Way under half of what
the PS2 had sold. Maybe the incidents in question did damage Sony's reputation
and allowed Microsoft and Nintendo to capitalise effectively into the market.
Nintendo had regained its lead of selling the best console since the 80s and
Microsoft had effectively gained something at least. A cocky personality.
For Sony, the
PlayStation 3 must be considered the dark horse with as many problems as the
Twilight Saga. Its reputation has climbed higher in recent years again, having
sorted out its problems as fast and best as they could. But should the
PlayStation 3 really be classed as a failure in the gaming world? Perhaps yes.
These incidents had happened and the console itself has sold less than perhaps
expected. Maybe Sony has learned from them when they finally release the PS4
later this year.
My experiences with the PS3 came after the Outage, and
needless to say the only few problems I've only had was:
1)
With the updating I have to do every so often. I
find it an absolute bugger because it's all the waiting and I want to play the
game! Not have to wait the updates to do their work. Argh! Updating this,
updating that, it's a nightmare.
2)
The non-existent backwards compatibility for PS2
games. Recently the PS3 consoles only accept the original PS games as opposed
to PS2 ones. Why? I suppose there wasn't much point if many people already had
a PS2 already. That makes sense right? Hmmm. Maybe I'm just expecting too much.
Apart from that, I haven't had a peep at all. Everything
else is alright.
The games I've played are quite enjoyable. The first game I
ever brought was Wolfenstein , which was quite difficult, but still fun to
play. You got a variety of weapons to play with, especially using the Tesla Gun
and Particle Gun to destroy your Nazi enemies. And you got to have your own miniature
open world to explore, find upgrades for everything and finding out all the
secret areas to go through, it's a little Grand Theft Auto....with Nazis! This
was one of the games I actually managed to complete in good time, even though I
didn't explore enough of the secondary world the first time around. The levels
are nicely paced, the world very grimy and of course, there's quite the gore!
You can't have a game with Nazis and not have some amount of blood! Needless to
say, a good game all around.
Another game I had a good time playing was Skylanders:
Spyro's Adventure. Some of you might have heard about this, where you have to
use a portal accessory to use mini figurines that appear on-screen. I had a
good laugh playing this when by myself or with a friend, as we went through the
different challenges and had to collect all the different models to play with
to open up new areas. I especially
enjoyed the psychotic ginger model with the guns on both hands, haha! Admittedly
I haven't played on it in ages, but I have some good memories playing it. Maybe
it's something to try again since I actually had a good time. I actually was going to, but then I found I
didn't have all the models I brought Argh!! It's hiding somewhere.....maybe the
cat's nicked it. Still, when I find it, I will give this game another proper
go.
The one game I found quite annoying was 'Brother's in Arms:
Hell's Highway'. When I first started playing I didn't find it too bad, but as
I went along I just kept dying and dying from bloody Nazis. I think the
controls weren't very helpful either, as I had to find cover and switch through
weapons, give my men orders through hand movements and such by sending them to
their deaths, get shot on a daily basis. It was like a check-list you had to
complete by screwing up a lot and I'm pretty sure I did all of those things.
Needless to say, I gave up after a few tries on the third level I think it
was....and have never really touched it since.
That's kind of how it is with the PS3 at the minute, not
playing on it at the minute. With the different going on's in my life, I
haven't taken much of an interest in playing on it at all, least until this past
week. Obviously some of the games I have played have been good like what I've
mentioned, along with Red Dead Redemption, Sega Mega Collection and Call of
Duty (because what can be said about call of duty that's original?). It doesn't
mean I don't enjoy playing on it, just I have other interests that have cropped
up and now I'm turning into a workaholic. That's probably not a good thing.
Boooo! It is cool to have a PS3 around at home, and have a nice collection of
games to play. But I suppose with all that's happening, I don't give myself a
break. And it hasn't been a bad break from it in honesty. It's not the best
console I've had, but it's up there somewhere.
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So where do I and everyone go from here?
Well, considering all that's happening now with the upcoming
Eighth Generation consoles of PS4 and Xbox One (why is it called that again?),
along with the recent Wii U.
My first impressions of the digital features came from the
Xbox and I was sceptical. While being the more expensive at a price of £429
pounds, their marketing for the new console has undoubtedly been a disaster.
Some of these original policies have been changed recently so I'll try to keep
up with them easily.
Firstly, the console gave the impression that it had to be
connected to the Internet every day, once every 24 hours, even for offline
games. If this wasn't done, this would affect your personal library and updates
for your game, as well as not allowing you to play those games you brought
unless you were connected. Secondly, trading games was possible if you had a
friend that was on your 'list' for 30 days, but you were limited to doing it just
once. As well for used games, if you uploaded one onto your system and pass it
onto another user, they would have to pay a fee to use that game because it was
connected to your profile already.
Xbox One would make a good HAL
Now most of these policies have been lifted by Microsoft in
an 'oh fuck, we should make everyone happy' moment and now there are no
restrictions on internet nor trading and selling games onto friends. But the
damage has been done. Fans were not happy by those restrictions and Microsoft
representatives weren't very helpful in explaining how this new system would
work before everything changed.
Sony took advantage of the Xbox Crisis, saying from the off
that the PS4 would have no limitations on used games and sharing with friends,
nor require online connection in anyway for playing games. And in addition, the
PS4 Camera does come separately but even buying that with the console, it is
actually still cheaper than the Xbox One, clocking at £393 altogether. So from
the looks of it, Sony has the better edge to keep its fanbase, and possibly
even luring Xbox fans away after the debacle. Whether Sony could dominate again
after this, it's impossible to say. The Wii U has sold over 3.45 million so far
since released last year, and could go higher even then. I have yet to play on
Wii U so I couldn't really comment for it.
If I was to buy one of the next consoles, you could guess
which one I'd go for. Wii U :P. Nah, the PS4 as I've mentioned at the start of
this article. I just don't feel as if the Xbox One has given e something to be
interested about at all, and I have no personal likeness for them much. Almost
always been a PlayStation, almost always will. And when looking at the amount
of games that will be released, there are some I might consider buying on first
impressions from the pictures and what was said about them, like Secret
Ponchos, DC Universe, and Wolfenstein: The New Order.
I will BOW to you
So you never know, watch this space! :D
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So after all my talking about my time as a gamer and
reflecting each console history and how I felt about them, one question
remains: Would I return to gaming on the whole, to play these games over and over
again and still feel as if I enjoy them?
Yes, but not on the whole.
I'll admit, I have had some great reminders of the games I
have played in the past and remember how much I liked playing them. But as of
now, the main focus of my life is writing as my developing profession. My
passion for gaming might have lessened somewhat for me not to play every week,
and I don't think about playing on a video as often because I am trying to
develop my own future. However, there is a little bit still there that I like
to do, playing as tiny LEGO figures, killing aliens without feeling bad or an
ounce of mercy, and driving cars around tracks. I'll still play them whenever I
just feel like it. As a casual, semi-retired gamer. Without so much as a
pension. Very bad.
So yes, I would still play games on the whole, but won't be
forgetting my future anytime soon. Unless Sony stops making consoles, which I
hope DOESN'T happen. Maybe one day, video gaming may become a major passion again.
But for now, I'm content in my state of grace in casual gaming.
And with that.....
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Thanks for reading the Randomizer as ever J. Til the next
fortnight, Good Night!
