Tunnels of Doom

I suppose you could say that the $60 a Month experiment has been successful. Using only $60 of my monthly income I’ve managed to accumulate a pile of games so vast that I can’t finish them all. I barely even have time to play them, which means a certain meritocracy has formed in my game library where only the games that command my attention are given it and those which may even have plenty of merit but aren’t forceful with their insistence to be played sit idle.

Meanwhile, March was a sad month for games. Very little worth noting came out and nothing was released that I couldn’t live without. As a result I did some light trading and rented a couple of titles which filled up about a week apiece. None of this is necessarily a bad thing; somewhere down the road there will be a month with a number of releases that I can’t afford on my base budget alone. Perhaps the carryover here will come in handy.

Sometimes the worst part about having a budget is feeling like the money is already earmarked. It becomes a strange circumstance where you almost feel like you need to spend the money or else you’re not doing something right. Toward the end of the month I started feeling that way which prompted a second rental. The more I thought about it, the less I felt like I needed to spend all or a significant portion of the budget.

I did find myself occasionally staring at the shelves lined with games I intended to play or was halfway finished with and felt stuck either with overwhelming options or a lack of true desire to play anything specific which led me to my biggest feat of the month which was offloading a number of games I’d been clinging to without really having just cause. I tell myself often that I’m not a collector of games and yet titles that I really enjoy I often find hard to part with for sentimental reasons. Since there wasn’t anything I was dying to buy and I didn’t have a lot of Goozex credit to look for additional trades I instead began listing games that I didn’t have plans to play any further or games that I had intended to play more but found myself frequently passing over in favor of other options. The clearing house that occurred was rather cathartic and the money remaining will go a long way next month as I anticipate the GTA IV launch.

Budget

Last month’s antics left me with a mere $3.58 to work with so after adding the usual sixty bucks, I had $63.58. I did no recycling this month which means I have recyclables that have been collecting since January’s run; I may earn as much as $20-25 next time I need to take them in.

The Game List

1. Army of Two
   Platform: Xbox 360
   Method: Rental
   Cost: $6.50
   A mediocre game at best, surely a rental only title. I can’t complain too much about the price for completing a new title but the game itself is so flawed and derivative that I might have appreciated the cost savings more had I not mostly wished I just skipped it altogether.
2. MLB 08 The Show
   Platform: PlayStation 3
   Method: Rental
   Cost: $6.50
   Sports games are tricky acquisitions: Rentals seem like too short to fully invest in them but purchases feel like a ripoff since they tend to be annual releases that don’t retain their value at all. I went with a rental here but I have requested the game from Goozex on the strength of the time I’ve spent with it. Parts of the game not showcased in the demo are important enough to warrant a bit of up-front cost before commitment and I don’t mind the sacrifice here.
3. Ninja Gaiden Sigma
   Platform: PlayStation 3
   Method: Goozex
   Cost: Trade
   Essentially I traded up from Ninja Gaiden Black which, while nearly identical, was also run only in backwards compatibility mode on the 360 and that experience isn’t the best. It plays nicely on the PS3, looks great and is still a fun game despite being unapologetically difficult.
4. EA Replay
   Platform: PSP
   Method: Goozex
   Cost: Trade
   A miserable compilation of games that haven’t retained their appeal for the most part. I picked it up for Syndicate which is interesting but not strong enough on its own to hold onto the game. I re-listed it on Goozex almost immediately and if I don’t get back to it before someone requests it, I won’t be upset.

List Breakdown

A short list this month and not all good news. Still I came up with a better version of Ninja Gaiden and a week with The Show so a fifty-fifty split good and bad.

Sacrifices

As part of my library clearance trades I parted with Assassin’s Creed, Ninja Gaiden Black, Resistance: Fall of Man, Burnout Paradise and Meteos. I was probably most sad to see Assassin’s Creed go because while I was getting tired of searching for flags just to have an excuse to step back into the game, I really enjoyed the heck out of it while I was playing. Resistance was forgettable and not as good as I’d hoped, Ninja Gaiden Black went as part of my effort to replace it with the newer Sigma for PS3. Burnout Paradise was a tough call because I really wanted to like the game but despite its promise and general enjoyment I think I needed a close friend to get hooked on it to make it worth my while.

I also listed a slew of other games on Goozex which had not been snapped up as of this writing but watch this space next month for more surprise trade-ins.

Results

Budget-wise there was no better month for coming out on top. Of my available $63.58 I spent only $13.00 leaving me with $50.58 for next month. That means that starting off I’ll have $110.58! I didn’t choose all that wisely this month though even with my few new game selections, but with a lack of new game fodder out there, pickin’s were slim to begin with. Hopefully the late-month trade-fest will result in some better titles early next month to tide me over until GTA and in the meantime the bounty from previous $60 a Month efforts continues to pay off with plenty of great titles clamoring for my attention.

After trying demos for both of this year’s licensed major league baseball games, I came away feeling that 2K’s “innovative” control mechanisms were egregious and contrary to what I look for in a baseball game. So when I went to the video store to find a game to rent (realizing as I did so that there has been such a shortage of worthwhile titles released this month I’ve experienced a whopping two new games since February) the alternative title, MLB 08 The Show for PS3, was going to be in my shortlist of possible rentals.

Ultimately it came down to dark and violent horror-tinged brawling with Condemned 2 or mild and inoffensive computer-assisted baseball simulation with The Show. I left the decision up to my wife and she heartily recommended the relative tranquility of sports.

The Show is what I guess a good baseball simulator should be. It captures the feel of watching a major league baseball game on TV pretty admirably while allowing you to have some influence on the outcome. I realize that suggests that you don’t actually play the game in its entirety which isn’t precisely true, but while you are given control of the key players and moments in the game, it’s difficult for me to shake the sensation that the outcome of my actions are based exclusively on a series of algorithmic computations in which my button presses serve to, at most, seed some random entropy into the calculation.

Logically I know this is functionally true for all games, but The Show wears its skirt higher and less is left to the imagination.

The way the interaction is supposed to take place works quite well when it comes to pitching. When defense comes into play the interface struggles a bit since the computer selects the player you will have direct control over who is not always the player you would either pick or that you want. As a result you react with a certain concept in your mind about what you need to do only to realize, four times out of ten, that you’ve just sent your shortstop out into center field because you assumed that the ball dribbled down the third base line would be attended to by the third baseman. Likewise throws don’t always execute as you expect and sometimes you’ll miss easy plays because the input for throwing uses two separate mechanisms simultaneously which are sometimes at odds with each other for which should be employed resulting in, say, a sharp grounder to the second baseman who stands calmly in place after fielding the ball while the opposing catcher meanders idly over to first base several minutes later.

Batting has its own share of frustrations; even swiping the slider as far toward n00b-friendly forgiving as it will go, the timing window is punishing and the guess pitch mechanic is more meta/mini-game than actual factor in the game’s outcome. Unfortunately the standard baseball video game problem still persists: The only sure-fire way to score a decent amount of runs is to start slapping longballs over the fence. Manufactured runs are far less common than they appear in a real baseball game and frustratingly difficult to achieve against a CPU opponent that hasn’t been explicitly nerfed via sliders. The result is a game that looks quite good, plays passably and simulates a game that almost but doesn’t quite actually exist.

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What with the new HD rig and all, plus the new-trinket fun of being a new PS3 owner, I’ve been thinking about the Xbox 360 vs. PlayStation 3. Now, obviously experience isn’t something I can rely on here since I’ve had the PS3 for significantly less time than the 360 and direct comparison is by no means going to be a sure thing either since I have mostly avoided playing the same game on both systems.

But what I can do is provide some non-fanboy comparison of the PS3 to the 360 that doesn’t focus on the number or quality of titles for any respective system. I think we all realize by now that the Xbox has a richer and more robust library than the PS3, so that’s hardly the point here. My comparison points are below, but please note this is merely a trivial exercise. I’m certainly not making purchase recommendations here, as far as I’m concerned the only reason to choose one console over another is the available games.

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You may have heard that Wizards of the Coast is releasing Dungeons and Dragons Fourth Edition. Wizards describes the changes going from 3.5 to 4 as evolutionary which is supposed to mean that people familiar with the existing rules won’t have to start playing what amounts to an entirely new game. Which is fine and makes sense for Wizards of the Coast.

But I’m not here to talk about specific changes to D&D but rather to ask a question: Considering that D&D is basically the flagship product not only for WotC but for role-playing in general, what ought 4th Edition look like? What changes need to be made to this essential title to meet the varied criteria for a) New players b) Veterans and c) Lapsed players, especially those who may have felt put off by the changes from AD&D 2nd Edition to 3rd and 3.5?

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I listen to a lot of podcasts. I have a long commute and while I mix it up with some music and bouts of NPR, I figure if I’m going to listen to people talk about stuff, it might as well be something I really want to hear about. So I subscribe to and regularly tune in to a number of gaming-related podcasts.

From listening to these podcasts, I’ve been able to cull a few tidbits of information that I think would help me if I were ever to do a podcast based on the high and low points of the ‘casts I subscribe to. Perhaps you may find some of this useful as well.

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It was a fairly special gaming weekend as it marked the first return to game-days of old now that my good buddy Thom has returned from his overseas jaunt. He parked himself on our couch for a couple of nights and we spent two days playing an assortment of games ranging from multiplayer handheld titles to non-competitive card games to some old standby board game titles to two player XBLA selections. I also put a wrap on one of my recent casual addictions, put some extra time in on a couple single-player PS3 titles and lament the XBLA DRM glitch that prevented me from sharing one of my favorite Arcade titles of last year with Thom, whom I feel is the epitomy of the game’s target audience.

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This week I play fewer games, but pepper in some board game action, get telecharger crapscasino blackjackjouer a la roulettetop casino en lignejeu flash roulettela règle jeu roulettejeux de casino comjeu pc casinogagner casino en lignelocation jeux casinowww jeux de casinocasino video pokerslot machine gameplay blackjack onlineblack jack orchidtelecharger casino gratuitesjouer a la roulette gratuitementfree crapsslots machinesjeu loteriejeux slots gratisbonus pour casino 770video poker gratuitsla roulette en lignebonus casino playtechcode bonus casino770blackjack gamblingblack jack bootswww casino cafetariawww grand casinocraps en lignele casino gratuites sans téléchargementrussian roulettejack black benjeux casino a telechargercasino black jackdownload slot machinecasino le jeusalles de jeuxcasino vente en lignetelechargement gratuites casinojeu de hasardles meilleurs casinos en ligneblackjack onlinecasino bonus de bienvenusjeux video poker gratuites ,jeux video sur xbox de poker,jeux video pokercasino de baccaratcasino machine a sous gratuitesonline black jackplay keno game online down and frustrated with Ninja Gaiden Sigma and wonder why I’m being preached to by Army of Two. I also dip into some demos and much more.

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I spent half of the weekend being sick, which in some cases would mean extra gaming time but this particular flu made me mostly want to sleep. I did play some games in the earlier half of the week however including a new title I rented and I made some progress on a bunch of handheld titles I’ve had piling up plus I finally part ways with a divisive game I happened to enjoy quite a lot and I ruminate on the curious state of playing a game just because it’s already in the console.

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Gary Gygax, co-creator of the most popular and well-known tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, passed away yesterday at his home. The outpouring of sympathy and sadness on message boards and blogs was predictable as was the requisite “Can I get a res spell over here?” cracks. The general tone seemed to be one of loss and respect, many people thanking him posthumously for the game that enriched their lives.

One notable exception (to some) was PvP cartoonist Scott Kurtz’ limp “moment of silence” post that some fans found confusingly ignoble. Kurtz then posted an explanation/redaction:

Emails were getting more and more upset as the day went on, so simply to quiet the masses, I forced out a post. Shortly afterwards, I received some email from people who felt that my tribute was less than flattering.

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It’s just that despite everyone’s obvious connection to Dungeons and Dragons, I never felt a connection to Gary Gygax. For most to the time I played Dungeons and Dragons, I had no idea who Gary Gygax was.

What I don’t understand is why would you post a tribute to someone “just to quiet the masses”? Why would you “force out” a shout-out to someone who you “never felt a connection to?” The lack of sincerity suggests to me that Kurtz was filling a role he feels shoehorned into (nerd statesman) and nothing more. As if he felt pressured to conform to what other nerds were feeling even if he didn’t feel that way himself.

I don’t begrudge him for the lack of connection to Gygax nor do I think he should have felt obligated to say something on the topic if it didn’t resonate with him or he felt uncomfortable paying tribute to someone whom he felt had not played a significant part in his life, regardless of how true or untrue that may be. In fact I would find it significantly easier to appreciate him if he’d simply come out and said:

For me, Dungeons and Dragons was about my Dad and my friends…not about the authors of the modules we were running without any real true understanding of the rules. It was a legitimate excuse to hang on to the game of “let’s pretend” well beyond the appropriate age. It was an entry point for making our own stories with pictures. For me, it was my entry into making my own comic books.

Is it so wrong that I don’t feel a connection to Gary Gygax? That I don’t feel compelled to draw an Elven Ranger with his hand held across his hearts or an Owl bear with a single tear rolling down his left cheek? I just don’t feel compelled to do that. I’m sorry.

That’s completely fair and honest. You don’t have to feel a connection to everyone that your peers does. I appreciate what Alan Moore has done for comics and I love his writing but I find him as a person to be kind of arrogant and insufferable in the way he treats his work as if it were unblemished holy scripture unworthy to be interpreted by mere mortals.

Even Gygax himself, I didn’t feel a need to do more than post a short note on Twitter saying I was sad to hear the news, but I didn’t think it warranted to come on here and write a seven paragraph tearful tribute to the man. And my site is (well, ostensibly at least) more in line with that sort of thing than PvPonline.com is.

Frankly, I’m disappointed by Kurtz’s actions, in his caving to reader pressure and in trying to be sincere when he wasn’t to finally coming clean only to be defensive for something that is really indefensible. Maybe next time Kurtz (and let this be a lesson to all nerd statesmen) will find tranquility in the power of remaining silent when you have nothing constructive to contribute.

This week I played fewer games than I sometimes do, fixated more on a handful of titles rather than flipping around from game to game. The result is a deeper look into some current addictions and a perhaps surprising reaction to a demo for a game on my anticipated short list of March purchases that has me running back to the drawing board.

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