I got to say I agree with most of the article.

Here's the article itself:
Article link is NWS. Proceed at your own risk.

http://www.cracked.com/article_18571...ure-gamer.html


As for my thoughts:

Point 5: I know plenty of normal people who play video games, but I run into games all the time who not only fit the stereotype, but also brag about it.
Point 4: Pretty much true IMO. Too many games overplay those elements instead of raising the bar. Fortunately, plenty of games don't do the same thing (and happen to not be popular too).
Point 3: Dead on. I feel most video games are following the "telling" part instead of "showing" part of storytelling. It comes out as hamfisted when compared to other artistic mediums.
Point 2: A reason I dislike talking about games is because a lot of people focus on small points that have little bearing on ...

A new Suikoden is coming out in March, so why not have a quick recap beforehand? Suikoden is an RPG series done by Konami, and is often referred to as a "hardcore gamer's final fantasy" (due to being popluar, yet still hidden in the mainstream).

Suikoden (PS1, B-): This is where all the fun started and parts of it haven't aged well. Graphically, it reminds me of a SNES title, with only some of the magic attacks reminding you that this wasn't possible on that console. I remember playing this at first and was unimpressed at the look of it. However, I stayed with it and was given a unique story, a massive amount of characters to interact with (108 in your party) and a six person combat system that was fast! Certain aspects of the game (you can't run unless you have a team member with a Holy Rune) definitely remind you that this is an older game. It gets a lower score mainly because the other games have made some smart choices in updating the gameplay (making them...

I was having a discussion with my brother sometime back when we got to the topic of music. As he was talking about how he enjoyed Dr. Dog's recent album "Fate", I asked him what genre it was. He calmly said it was "indie", to which I replied that is a vague definition and somewhat dodging my question. To me, "indie" is "music that is recorded on an independent record label", not "a music genre that is specially defined by it's independent recording nature".

Even a genre like "indie ______" confuses me, since the music is being mainly defined by it's production rather than its genre. Imagine the genre of rock music. It has plenty of sub-genres, allowing further definition into the kind of music it is. The problem with a term like indie is that it is amazingly subjective and really has no solid definition for an artist. What may be independent today could easily turn mainstream overnight, so how can it be used to classify...

This is my Trigun box set, signed by series creator Yasuhiro Nightow. I was thinking of selling it, but I can't gauge any sort of price on it as ebay can be very inaccurate with anime pricing and it's hard to find a market for this.

I want to work with that industry, but it's hard to when many magazines come off as biased, unfair to some games while being too generous with others, etc. I mean, how does Madden get by with near perfect scores every year, but Dynasty Warriors gets the shaft for doing the same thing?

I believe CAG has a good userbase and could make for a fine set game reviewers and such.

...

I mentioned piracy last time around and had some more thinking on the issue. I still stand by my statement that piracy is not the primary problem regarding videogames today.



Now, I'm not going to deny that piracy can harm the industry. If left unchecked, it can damage software sales. Capcom recently reported that piracy was to blame for the low sales of the PC version of Devil May Cry 4. What about the later release compared to the console versions (six months later, IIRC)? The lack of marketing? Sad as it may be, console ports to the PC are often poor sellers.

Portable systems like the PSP, or the DS are prime piracy targets, due to the general ease of getting them up and running. However, most gamers outside of the internet don't know of the existance of things like "custom firmware" or "flashcarts". PSP tends to get more of the "piracy is killing this system" talk than the DS, despite DS piracy being far easier...

Just some thoughts I have in mind...

A 7 out of 10 is not an average review score:
Too many people I know believe that if a game scores less than this, then it must be a bad game. My guess is that this line of thought comes not from gaming magazines (although they share some blame), but from school. Since a C (which is 70-79) is often thought to be an average grade, a 7 is the equivalent of that in the world of gaming reviews. Sadly, this makes a 5 come off as a negative score rather than the midpoint score of the 10 point system.

The real problem is that this thinking creates is causes reviewers and people to overrate games by giving an average title an above average score.

Console Wars are stupid:
Any visit to a gaming message board shows users defending one system and bashing others. I'm not saying that it's wrong to discuss and point out criticisms in games or systems. What I'm saying is that a console does not need people to defend...

Ports and remakes are an easy way for game companies to safely make a buck. You got a familiar series, you got a new system lacking a game from that series, the market literally makes itself. However, with the glut of
re-releases and new versions of titles, it can hard to remember which is which. Here's a brief but general guide to identifying the difference.

Ports:
A port is a game that was originally developed and released on a system, brought over to another system for any number of reasons (expanding the potential market, ala Resident Evil 4). Ports are mainly untouched from the original version of the title, focusing little on adding any game changing content and more on having the title run on the new platform. If changes are present, they are usually outside of the main game itself and appear as bonus areas/items/modes.

Games that come out for multiple systems at the same time are not ports, while collections/anthologies of a series would be...

When it comes to video game collections on CAG, many users are often unhappy with the size of their collections. The constant barrage of game sales can easily bloat your shelves and make gaming more of a chore if you don't keep up with it. Even if you don't play them, knowing what to keep and trade/sell away can be just as daunting. Thankfully, you can be a cheap ass gamer rather than a cheap ass game store, by keeping some simple thoughts on mind.

Tip 01: For the most part, video games are not collector's items
Video games are often printed in mass quantities, even "limited edition" versions. Only a few games (Suikoden II, Marvel vs Capcom 2, etc) are worth alot and there is no guarantee that they will hold their value over time, as reprints, collections, and re-releases of these games can easily reduce their cost.

As distgfx pointed out in the comments, some games/game bundles (40gb Metal Gear PS3, Marvel vs Capcom 2) can easily be collector's...

Congrats on the new site design and blog feature! It looks pretty good so far and I hope CheapyD and the others enjoy the fruits of their labor. With this blog, just expect some of my thoughts and ramblings on todays news, gaming or issues about games, so let's get the thought train a rollin.

As many other CAG's have reported, Square Enix is releasing Chrono Trigger to the DS. However, I would like to take a moment to look around that issue and discuss the "let's port older games to a newer system" trend.

For a long time, the PSP has been known as a welcome house for porting old generation titles into the portable realm, most released to mixed results. Despite the great promise of taking a classic game anywhere, most of the ports are either not adapted for the portable nature of the system (Valkyrie Profile) or not touched up/optimized in a significant way (Breath of Fire III). However, the main downside of ports is that it has to rely on the great games...