Acid for Blood

"I have not seen your face hitherto"

It's been a long time since I updated this thing with my current gaming activities. I have made some significant purchases in the past several months, most notably a Wii and a PS3.

For the Wii, I have two games: Mario Kart Wii and Okami. I played Mario Kart for a few weeks, and did enjoy it for the most part, but I haven't really played it after the initial shine wore off. I haven't even touched Okami, sadly. The Wii gathers dust, though it's more a sign of my lack of time in recent months to devote to games than a dislike of the console.

I bought the Metal Gear Solid 4 80 GB PS3 bundle. I played a bit of MGS4, but that's largely untouched to this day, and not because I don't like the game. I'm either too busy to play games these days, or there are other games I'd rather be playing.

I got completely hooked on Pokemon Diamond from late Spring to mid-Summer. Even though I had the Wii and the PS3, the lure of Pokemon proved very strong. I haven't finished the game yet, as I am bored of level grinding, and I don't want to move on without a stronger party. I've mostly stopped playing Pokemon right now, but I'll pick it up again later on. It's a great game and I do want to finish it.

Shortly after I got my PS3, I got Rock Band. Holy crap, is this game good. I'd been playing it at friends' places since it came out, so I'd been eager to get my own copy. I recently got my PS3 online and downloaded quite a few songs. I love this extension to the lifespan of my game. I played Rock Band avidly for several weeks, but after I got stuck on "Green Grass and High Tides" on drums (Medium), I decided to take a break, much like I took a break from Guitar Hero III after I couldn't defeat Tommy Morello in the boss battle.

Recently, I was given the gift of SingStar to cheer me up during a particularly stressful week. I've wanted this game for a really long time. I actually don't own any karaoke games for the PS2, which is probably surprising since I really enjoy karaoke -- though I have no vocal talent to speak of. SingStar caught my eye several years ago when it was initially released on the PS2, to great acclaim in Europe. One look at the song list guaranteed a purchase in the future, but with the proliferation of SingStar themed games, the threat to my wallet was great. I decided to hold off until I bought a PS3 and could pick and choose songs to download.

I've been having loads of fun with SingStar. It's harder than Karaoke Revolution, but I like it a lot more than KR. I like that SingStar plays the original music videos to the songs you sing. I also like that it's no-frills -- you don't have cheesy, brightly-coloured characters or customisable avatars prancing about, singing along with you. It just gets on with what you're interested in -- singing. Having said that, I do like the left-to-right scrolling text and tone indicators that both Rock Band and Karaoke Revolution have, rather than Sing Star's bottom-to-top method.

I've been eagerly anticipating the next North American SingStore update, which will be out later this week. I downloaded a bunch of songs last weekend, but I really hope that the North American SingStore catches up with Europe in terms of number of songs available and variety. I looked online to see which songs are available in Europe and in the States and I'm pretty disappointed that I can't buy up absolutely every Coldplay song available for SingStar. Why is "Clocks" available as standard on the disc, yet I can't buy "The Scientist"? Both are from the same album. Why can I buy a few songs from X&Y but not others? I would understand the licensing issue more if certain regions were denied access to entire albums, but individual songs makes less sense. The whole situation is a little frustrating. I've read about some workarounds whereby North American players can purchase, download, and install songs from the UK SingStore, but it all seems like quite a lot of effort just to give Sony my money.

I downloaded a few demos from the PlayStation store. Right now I'm playing Echochrome and Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War (official site).

Echochrome is this neat puzzle game in which your character, a featureless figure, wanders about a black and white world where the physical reality depends upon perspective. You can rotate the three dimensional stages around to help your character reach marked locations on the map. It's a lot of fun. The puzzles are challenging, though having to complete them within a time limit is a little annoying.

Bladestorm is a squad-based tactical hack-n-slash action game in which you assume the role of a mercenary in the Hundred Years' War between the English and the French. The action is largely mindless fun, though you do need to plan your attacks appropriately by selecting the correct type of troops and your approach before you rush off into a skirmish. The voice acting is quite bad, but awesome all the same. The graphics are pretty good and look great on the PS3, but the art style is uninspired. The game is mediocre as a whole, but I shamelessly admit that I'm having a great time with it. If I haven't had enough mindless action after I finish the demo, I'll probably get the full version.

EDIT - 20 August 2008: I have been gently reminded that I also played Odin Sphere briefly in the early part of the summer. Odin Sphere is a fun multi-perspective RPG/side-scrolling beat 'em up. I love the 2D Japanese art style, and I'd also like to call out the fantastic use of colour throughout the game. The music is also really good as well. Unfortunately, the English voice acting is gross. I originally started playing with Japanese voice acting enabled, but I decided to do a comparison with English. I quickly switched back. If you want to read a more in-depth review of Odin Sphere, you'll find a lot on the web. I stopped playing because my ability to stick to one game and finish it is lacking, as we've seen from the first part of this post. :-P

Guitar-ing and Racing

My, my, it's been a while. Let's do a brief gaming update.

• Have not been playing Guild Wars like I said I would. Am planning on playing for at least a few hours this coming weekend.

 

• Have, however, been playing Mario Kart DS and Guitar Hero III.

 

• Sadly, have not gotten a Rock Band fix since last year.

 

• Got a free-to-play copy of Lumines for the PC. Have not played it as much as I would like. Apart from being busy, am fearful of addiction.

Let's drill down.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

For me it's not as good as Guitar Hero I and Guitar Hero II for a few reasons: 1) boss battles, 2) story mode, and 3) changes in a few of the characters. Overall, I do like the game. I bought the game mainly for the music, and I got the one with the guitar so that I could play with someone else. Most of the music is great. There are loads of songs that I'm familiar with and that I like, as well as songs that I've never heard before which appealed to me. I have no complaints about the music and actual game play, so I'll go into detail about what I disliked.

Boss battles are pointless, unskippable interruptions in gameplay. I just wanted to continue unlocking songs. The first boss battle, with some guy named Tom Morello, was bloody difficult for me to get past. I got really frustrated because I didn't get the hang of how to defeat him. I ended up not playing the game for a few weeks because I was so fed up. When I did return to it, however, I defeated Tom Morello on the second try. Fucking Tom Morello...

As for the storyline, which is shown to you in a series of cut scenes when you unlock a new group of songs, they also interrupt the flow of song unlocking and rocking out. However you can at least skip them. The cut scenes are a minor interruption, but I found them just as pointless as the boss battles. I didn't care about what was going on. I just wanted to carry on playing.

Most of the glaring irritations are the character department. The first is the removal of Pandora, one of my favourite characters from the first two Guitar Hero games. I didn't see the point in taking her out of the third game. She was great, so why mess with greatness? The designers also decided that it would be a fantastic idea to depict Casey Lynch and especially Judy Nails in a sexually objectified manner. The also added a new female character, Midori, who quite frankly is a guitar-playing, sexually-objectified racial stereotype. Another character I disliked intensely is the generic female lead singer (when you play a song in which there is a female lead). Her mannerisms and attire are so repulsive because it's clear the decision to do this was to appeal to a male gamer. Content like this simply alienates me. I also really disliked the fact that, at certain times in the game, these female go-go dancers appear and dance suggestively to your guitar playing. The first two Guitar Hero games enjoyed much success, and it wasn't because the Harmonix decided to depict the female characters in a glaringly sexist way; it was because the game design and music were great. Neversoft should have understood that if they make a good game, people will buy it even if the female character designs don't pander to the male gaze.

Mario Kart DS

I got this game because I like Mario Kart. In fact, Mario Kart is the only Mario-related series that I really like. I have avoided the Mario platformers since Super Mario World on the SNES. I also got this game because I wanted to use the non-default karts when we have DS gaming lunches at the office. I have not played a Mario Kart game avidly since Super Mario Kart for the SNES. This means that I really, really suck compared to my significant other, who has played nearly every Mario Kart game to death. Despite my poor racing skills, I do enjoy the game. I am still trying to figure out which character most closely matches my driving style, though.

We Are Really Vulgar

There's a little rhythm game called Rock Band which has been making the rounds. Whilst I own neither the Xbox 360 nor a PS3, I am lucky enough to have friends/colleagues who do, so I've been able to play. Every Monday night several of us tromp over to Xaroth's and JavaLuv's place for band practice, which has supplanted the pre-Rock Band arcade and console gaming.

On the day that Rock Band was released, Xaroth, who had not pre-ordered it, queued up to obtain his PS3 version. He was able to snag one, and he brought it to work. When I arrived at work that fateful morning, I found that it had been set up in one of our conference rooms, and people were already jamming away. After securing my mug of morning tea, without which I function poorly, I walked down the hall and joined in. I played a couple of songs, once on the drums and a few times on the guitar. The morning session ended shortly thereafter, as everyone needed to get to work. Come lunchtime, however, it was time to rock out again, and rock out we did. We feared that the noise from our incredibly awesome playing may have disturbed the office building's other occupants, however no one complained. Playing Rock Band at work on the release day was incredibly cool. It's truly a special thing to be able to play videogames at work with your colleagues and friends.

Since the release of Rock Band our group, Really Vulgar, has met every week to jam. The roster sometimes varies, depending on the availibilty of members. I have missed a few band practices due to illness and whatnot, but I join in when I can. Recently, one of the fellow bandmates/colleagues shared the Rock Band soundtrack with us, the reasoning being that if we're more familiar with the songs, we'll be able to perform better. I've been listening to the Rock Band songs for the past two days.

My favourite instrument to play in Rock Band, like many others, is the drums. Whilst the feel of the Rock Band guitar is new and different and also quite fun, the drums require new skills and I like the challenge. I'm still not quite used to the guitar, but I expect it's only a matter of time. I do like the feel of the guitar, though I often find myself accidentally hitting the orange fret button (I only play on Medium) when I mean to hit the blue one. I'm a terrible singer, as are most of the other band members, but we all still try anyway. We need to. When people created their characters, someone designated the singer as the leader, and apparently the band cannot play without the leader.

Another annoying aspect of the game, which I've seen people mention as well, is that the game's characters are tied to their instruments. Everyone in the band switches from instrument to instrument, but our characters cannot. This is understandable if you're trying to make it as close to reality as possible, but it's a game. We should be able to have our characters follow us. It's silly to expect that gamers will only play one instrument and never try anything else, and irritating that a game which provides so many customisation options would not permit players to take their characters with them when they swap instruments.

There are a few other irritating aspects of the game, but it's still loads and loads of fun.

The Week in Not-Blogging and Gaming

I've been quite busy over the past week. I have some new responsibilities at work, a new flatmate (my generally non-gaming brother), and a friend is visiting for a spell. All activities related to these have supplanted blogging, and to some extent, keeping up with gaming news and gaming. As usual, I do try to keep current on the blog-reading, though the commenting may be light. I am posting this to make sure you internet people don't think I've simply vanished. Maybe I'll have something with more substance soon.

Computer Update

No progress. I'm afraid to turn it off in the event that it never again starts up. I haven't made any time to deal with it. Will try to get to it this week. Maybe? Need CD-Rs.

Gaming Update

Played Guild Wars yesterday. Made decent progress in Nightfall with my Paragon. I looked at the list of Paragon Elite Skills and again came away disappointed with how situationally specific most of them are. I'm continuing to keep the faith, though. I like my Paragon. I'll just try and make the most of them.

Created another Guild Wars character. I didn't want to take my Prophecies Mesmer out of Pre-Searing, but I've always wanted to play a Mesmer Primary. Created a Nightfall Mesmer. Spent an irritatingly long time deciding upon her first name, as per usual.

All nine character slots in my Guild Wars account are now filled. I don't delete the unused characters for various reasons, mainly birthday-related. I will revisit this policy after the respective characters reach their anniversary dates. My first Guild Wars character, my Necromancer/Mesmer, will turn two next month. I'm excited.

A couple months ago, I said that I was aiming to become all "hardcore" and play as much as possible so I could actually progress in Nightfall and the other campaigns. This hasn't quite worked out, because there's like, this pesky world outside games that I've had to deal with. Weekends are generally when I can devote quite a lot of time to gaming, but my weekends have been kept pretty full over the past few weeks. This coming weekend is no exception, with all-day outings to Santa Cruz and San Francisco planned. Weeknights are generally filled with light gaming (my house guest is playing Odin Sphere, and I engage in the classic past time of watching the story unfold as someone else does all the 'work'), errand-running, life administration (e.g. bills, cleaning, etc.), and sometimes social engagements.

A colleague has a DDR machine in his flat. Went there after work last week to play. Was cool. He has just about every single DDR mix ever. I'm so out of practice. I was fairly worn out and just settled on playing arcade games. He has an arcade cabinet crammed with them. Beat the Aliens vs. Predator arcade game, which was so awesome.

Return of the Shred

Whew. I am back. I have been away doing beach stuff for several days. Also, I've been on a break from Messenger, which is why people haven't seen me online. I'm alive, I assure you. :-) Glancing at my Bloglines is a bit scary. I am afraid that most of those will go unread or at the very least simply glanced at.

I got Guitar Hero (Wikipedia entry) last Friday so that we could have some multi-player guitar action when we weren't outside doing beach things. I spent part of Saturday morning beating Guitar Hero on Easy mode and unlocking some of the songs on Medium mode. Contrary to what I had believed when I first played Guitar Hero in January, I am not pre-disposed to sucking at the game because of a mysterious defect in my hands or because the controller is too big. I am actually quite decent at it, and Guitar Hero is a very enjoyable game partly by virtue of me not sucking. Spare moments during the rest of my stay there were spent unlocking most of the songs on Medium mode and buying bonus songs using the cash-money I earned playing gigs.

An interesting thing about Guitar Hero is that if you play it a lot, and you listen to rock music, you start sort of thinking about how that song would play out in the game. One of my friends, who is nuts about the game, told me that this happened to him. He'd hear a song, and sort of imagine the scren and the fret keys and the whole thing.

I need to find some cool stickers for my guitar. The game comes with really crappy ones.

I also need to train my fingers to move independently of each other. Trying to hit the red and the blue fret keys at the same time is so hard without sliding my hand down the bar and using the "wrong" fingers.

Dance Game Videos on YouTube

Spent entirely too much time on YouTube watching DDR freestyle videos yesterday. These are some of the best.

Miscellany

Weekend gaming consisted mostly of Guitar Hero, when I could actually get a turn. The song line up for this game is really great. It would have been cool if they'd had a song (or two) from The Darkness, Poison, and/or Guns n' Roses (maybe unlockable?). Oh my God, that would be sweet. Great game, though. If only I knew someone who has it around here. I can't really spend the cash on more games now (and Guitar Hero is $80.00), since I have mentally allocated my money to other titles.

I think I'm going to try to get back into DDR seriously. I'm very firmly stuck on Standard, and it would be nice to consistently pass Heavy songs. Playing on a semi-soft dance mat is underwhelming, since I learned how to play DDR at the arcade. Perhaps I could reward myself by saving money for a nice metal dance pad later on, if I improve enough. I guess I'll check my progress in six or eight months from now, and decide whether I've improved enough to think about a metal pad.

I got a call from one of my D&D mates last night with an update on the campaign. I have missed the last two Sundays of D&D due to other obligations. Apparently our Psion has died; killed by a Drow Rogue on a rooftop. The party had saved the enemy's armour and weapon for me, because it is best-suited for my character. I am the only full Rogue. A couple of others have taken a Level of Rogue, they wouldn't be able to use this armour and sword as well as my character. So now I have really awesome armour and an awesome sword (possibly the best equipment in our party), and I haven't been there in a fortnight. I feel bad that my character is going to be using the equipment that the Drow used to kill our Psion.

I'm going to become pretty busy in the next few months, due to my involvement with Otakon. I'm a Department Head at Otakon, and also in charge of another Department-like entity for Otakorp, Inc., the non-profit corporation that runs Otakon. The latter position is effectively a Department Head position, though the event does not take place during Otakon. Otakorp sponsors an anime film marathon at the National Cherry Blossom Festival and for the past few years, I have been coordinating that. These commitments will likely mean fewer posts and fewer reading of blogs.

Interlude

I'm in a meeting right now. Not much gaming occurred in terms of Guild Wars, though I did attempt the bonus of a Mission that I have been trying to complete for ages (Divinity Coast Bonus, though I still need to do the Bonus to D'Alessio Seaboard). I didn't get very far, because I kept getting interrupted, and it's hard to concentrate in this environment as well. Too many things going on, too many people to talk to/socialise with, and too much serious stuff to discuss.

I had a brief look at the templates for the Assassin and Ritualist PvP characters. They look cool, especially the Assassin. Wow. Hot stuff. One of my friends here was telling me about some of the Assassin Skills and they seem really awesome. Can't wait to get home and try them out.

I played some Dead or Alive 4 and I wasn't too impressed with the game, though I am not a DOA player. The Xbox 360 controller is very nice, though. Very nice indeed. I may check out this same controller for my PC.

Played some late night DDR on sweet Cobalt Flux hard pads last night. A more skilled player complimented me on my technique, saying that I'm moving the right way to play at a more advanced level. I usually play on Standard Mode, though I have, when I was on top form, passed a few Heavy Mode songs. I didn't play nearly as long as I wanted, since it was getting quite late. Went to sleep at around 03:00. I love hard dance mats. Wish I had one.

I played some Guitar Hero this morning after breakfast, and I am convinced that the controller is too big for my small hands. I was having problems pressing the buttons. It's great fun, though.

I could use some Tekken 5, but everyone here only seems interested in rhythm games. I love rhythm games, but I love Tekken 5 as well. Maybe tonight, if I'm not doing anything else.

Some Karaoke Revolution would be nice, too. Don't know if anyone brought that.

More later.

Bunch of Savages in This Town

This incident happened over a year ago, but it demonstrates the importance of one of the most hallowed and timeless cultural conventions in arcade gaming: the coin-queuing system. Whoever invented this meme, this cultural nugget of information and behaviour patterns, was a genius (probably British as well). The coin holds your place in the queue. It's rather organised: you see a neat line of coins (be they tokens, quarters, pound coins, or what have you) on a visible part of the arcade cabinet, usually near the screen. Each person knows which coin is theirs. The person who's coin is behind your coin, knows that your coin is in front of theirs. When it is your turn, you pick up your coin, put it in the machine, and play your game. This queuing system seems to be fairly universal, as I've found it to be the standard operating procedure in Asian, European, and American arcades, regardless of whether you're playing a fighting game or Dance Dance Revolution. This system works marvelously, because space is often tight and crowds are heavy at the arcade. You keep an eye on your coin, you respect the others in the queue, and you wait your turn.

This is an account of what one should not do at the arcade, because it makes mild-mannered people like me angry. It happened on a Saturday in February. Here is my story...

At the time, I hadn't been to the arcade in months; the previous autumn, in fact. I go very infrequently, because the location is inconvenient, and there are relatively few of them in my area. I was queuing up to play DDR Extreme, and I dutifully put my token on the machine in order to hold my place in the queue.

At arcades in the West, and especially with DDR you often have gangs of regulars who hang about the place. They can be obnoxious young males of the urban hip-hop culture variation, and can be of any race. Usually, at least at the arcades I have visited, one sees an inordinate number of Asians (mostly male) around the DDR machines. Many of these guys are obnoxious, and they act like they own the place. Roving bands of arcade regulars can become loud and rowdy, which is fine. They're having fun, and I probably would be the same if I had a large group of friends who enjoyed going to arcades. I don't mind people having some sort of territorial familiarity with areas which they frequent. I admit to it myself. When I frequented the Trocadero in London, I felt like it was a second home, but I was always mindful of others precisely because it was a public place. Territorial familiarity does not grant one ownership over arcade machines. Being able to play the Expert/Maniac/Heavy difficulty level on DDR does not grant one the right to move ahead of others in the queue.

My turn for DDR came, so I stepped up to the platform. Then this Asian kid in his oversized, white (unbuttoned over a white t-shirt) button-down shirt, slicked-back, over-gelled hair, and baggy white UFO-brand rave trousers quickly edged right in front of me, and began to put his money into the machine!

Me: "Uh... I'm next".

Asian Rave Trousers Guy: "Yeah, but I haven't played in a long time. It's been like an hour since I've played".

He then put his money into the machine and pressed 'Start'.

Me: "...!"

I was speechless. What could I do? Launch a protest? I'm not the kind of person who likes to cause a scene or make a big fuss in public. I don't particularly like the attention that sort of action would bring to me. It all happened so quickly, too. Asian Rave Trousers Guy also had about five of his arcade buddies around him who didn't protest his blatant and unseemly disregard for the queue. One of the regulars, who appeared sympathetic to my plight, then announced that I would be next after the Asian Rave Trousers tosser. Thanks a lot, non-conformist!

When my turn came, the Asian Rave Trousers Guy saw that I was playing alone, and he decided to join me. That's fine. There is no sense in 'wasting' a space on the platform when someone else can play DDR as well. But this wanker then added insult to injury by picking the first song. If you play DDR at all, you know that when you're playing with strangers, you usually take turns choosing songs. Him choosing the first song meant I picked the second song, and then he picked the final song. He utterly usurped my game! Two songs! I was on the platform first. I should have chosen the first song. His rudeness was overwhelming.

How does "not playing in a long time" give him the right to cut ahead of me? Why did he do this? Was it because I'm not a regular? Was it because I was not in a group? Was it because I'm female? Was it because I don't appear to be aggressive? Because I look 'nice'? Maybe I should wear a perpetual scowl on my face to scare people into acting properly. Would that work? Doubtful, since my features are, quite simply, incapable of instilling fear in another human being. Surely it couldn't be because Americans can't grasp the concept of the queue. Surely not. I grew up in America, and I know how to queue. It's not that difficult a concept. Perhaps he was raised by wolves? Finally, after attempting to figure out the rationale behind his behaviour, I could come to no conclusion except -- he's a jerk.

So there you have it. An account of a most severe and grevious transgression of the coin-queuing tradition. Do not try this in public. A lot of people might not be as tolerant as I was. If this ever happens again, though, I might be less averse to making a fuss.

DDR on My Local News

I forgot to blog about this yesterday in my excitement and pre-occupation with becoming a writer for Culture.Playgressive.

DDR was on the TV news again this week. A few months ago, it was on the Today show, and the other day it made my local Fox morning news show. Apparently it was a slow news day. The story wasn't too exciting, although they made it seem like DDR was a new thing -- a brand "new craze" that all the "young people" were into. Come on, Fox News! Just admit you're about five years behind the times! The story didn't portray DDR players as anything more than kids who like to game. In fact, it gave a pretty positive view of DDR, which is none too surprising, since it's one of the few video games where people are seen to be doing 'something'.

They mentioned DDR Freak and Bemanistyle -- totally mispronouncing 'Bemani', by the way. 'Bee-man-nee'? Whatever! It's 'bee-mah-nee'!

Anyway, they interviewed some players from one of my local area's mall arcades. That was where I had a 'run-in' last year with a punk kid who did not observe proper arcade queue ettiquette. My token was there first, damn it!

That place is so ghetto, and all these punks hang out there. You have the Asian hip-hop gangstas, the black hip-hop gangstas, the skinny DDR geeks, the cute Asian girls, etc. I don't know... I guess I'd have to hang out there more often to get a feel for the local players. I mean, once I started frequenting the Trocadero, I wasn't as intimidated by the local DDR stars, and found some of them to be all right. After that, even though my skills were far below anyone there, I had the confidence to get up there on the platform and play, regardless of the fact that I was only playing on Standard.