- kbaily
- Rank: Stylish Crazy Action
- Member since: Jun 2, 2007
- Last online: 05/24/13 3:28 am PT
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kbaily's Blog
Like my banner? Want one like it? Email me and I'll see what I can do. Check out more of my artwork in the images section.
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19May 13
For some time now, many have been speculating on if gaming is setting itself up for another crash. Maybe not like the one in '84 but seeing a number of studios closing, and the AAA games being bigger and more bloated and not making back their production costs (see the Tomb Raider reboot), and the industry's greed getting worse and worse. It's not unrealistic to think the PS4 could be a $700 system with $70 games. The average Joe doesn't have tons of money to put into high end systems and games and has cheaper alternatives in the form of tablet games. Meanwhile the hardcore gamers and the studios seem to be blind to this more interested in fancy graphics and "emotional polygons" and honestly I'm tired of it all. I like games but I'm tired of the industry greed, developer's egos and fanboys..oh the fanboys but instead of writing a big long editorial discussing about this possible crash I saw The 25th Hour and I heard Edward Norton's famous monologue about NY and I started think of a verion I had for my thoughts on all this. Of course I had to censor it because GS doesn't like naughty language so either you are all going to love this or hate this.
F*** you? F*** me.
F*** this whole gamer culture and everyone in it.
F*** the Xbox Live brats, screaming their racist, homophobic slurs into headsets. Stupid spoiled brats.
F*** EA, money grubbing corporate pigs, self styled masters of the universe with their DRM and on disc DLC figuring out new ways to rob gamers blind. You think we don't know about this. Give us a break. Activison, Microsoft, Sega Nintendo. All of you.
F**** the stuck up elistist PC gamers and they're $1000 gaming rigs. Not all of us are made of money you know.
F**** the "fake geek girls" with their anorexic bodies and fake boobs making it hard for us legitmate girl gamers to be taken seriously. You're not foolin' anyone honey!
F*** David Cage and his "emotional polygons."
F*** the hypocritical parents who condemn games for making their kids violent then throw an Ipad in the little snot's faces because it's a cheap baby sittier.
F*** the NRA using games as a scapegoat. Yeah let's destroy the 1st Amendment to protect the 2nd amendment. That makes a lot of sense.
F*** the mobile game makers, making half assed things, calling them games then shoving as many microtransactions into them as possible.
F**** Gamestop and their crummy trade in value and their overpriced used games. You force your employees to shove preorders and magazine subscriptions down our throats and can't even pay them decent wages.
F*** the fanboys and their whiny malcontent.
F*** this industry and everyone in it. From Japan to Europe. From the studios in California to the lofts in New York. Let an earthquake crumble it. Let the fires rage. Let it burn to f***** ash then let the waters rise and submerge this whole, rat-infested industry.
No. F**** you kbaily. You're getting too old for this.
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14May 13
Anyone who frequents Gametrailers can't help but notice that they've been doing ALOT of videos regarding the reveal of the next Xbox. A lot more than we saw for the WiiU or PS4. I'm sure i'm not the only one who sees this.
Maybe if I got back I'll see more videos building up the reveal of the other consoles but I don't know. Someone commented that GT pairs with SpikeTV which is owned by Viacom who has a partnership with Microsoft which wouldn't surprise me.
Then again, not all the vids are super positive and let's face it, ever since Adam Orth's comments and the on again off again rumors of an "always online Xbox" most of us are looking towards the nextbox reveal with some degree of skepticism.
Voice of GT talking about how Kinect needs to be better. http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/77lluh/next-xbox-one-man-s-kinect-experience "Most of us would say 'get rid of it."
Xbox E3 screwups: http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/7eghir/next-xbox-lighter-side-of-xbox
10 Games we want from Rare. Yeah try not to lay on the floor and cry watching this one. Or as I call it "10 games we'll never ever see." http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/t0nuqf/gt-countdown-top-ten-games-we-want-from-rare What a shame as it would be nice to see Xbox exclusives that don't involve guns.
Guess I can't blame GT for doing a bunch of nextbox coverage as there isn't much else going on right now. E3 is a way off yet and no major releases are out any time soon but seriously GT, I don't recall seeing this much stuff for Nintendo or Sony.
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4May 13
So I haven't written anything in a while. Lately there's so much news about everything and I keep making the mistake of scrolling down through the GS comments under various news stories and reading things that make me say "I must go kill myself now." But instead of going on another editorial rant, I thought I'd talk about what I'm currently playing as so far these are two of the best games I've played in 2013.
Poor Sly had been sitting on my shelf for some time. It's not that I didn't want to play it, I just had a backlog of stuff to finish and was trying to make a dent before starting something new. We've all been through that. Thankfully Link's Awakening, Paper Mario Sticker Star and Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed all got finished. With Sonic's game I got the credits but still need to try to get all those stupid stars to unlock Reala and Ages as well as finish the GPs to get Eggman. But booted up Sly 4 and so far I'm loving it. Maybe it's just my love of platformers starring cartoony mascots and it had been a while since I finished the Sly collection. OMG HE'S NOT WEARING HIS MASK!! This is actually amusing as Sly being a racoon wore a mask over his mask so he really doesn't look all that different. I love the visuals. Sly looks amazing on the PS3 and it's always nice to see an HD game do something besides make dirt look good. And as usual as soon as I entered the first main stage, I wasted a ton of time running around collecting bottles so I haven't gotten to play as one of the ancestors yet. It's also nice to see they finally got a decent voice actress for Carmaletta. Also I can't believe Bently turns the van into a time machine without making a mention of 1.21 Gigawatts or Flux Capacators. Come on, isn't that a given?
I'm going to be honest. I didn't love the first Luigi's Mansion. I liked it ok, but I didn't love it. I borrowed it off my nephew long after I had a Gamecube just to try it. In fairness it was better than Luigi's last starring role Mario is Missing but smashing your hand with a brick was more fun than Mario is Missing. So I was not going wild for the sequel, but after seeing so many stellar reviews particularly perennial Nintendo hater Yahtzee of Zero Punctuation liking it, I was curious. I played the in store kiosk a few times and once Paper Mario Sticker Star was beaten, I traded it in for this and so far, it's pretty good. I like the playful ghosts and the polterpup is adorable. Seriously I love the ghost puppy. He's cute and a little derpy and I think he needs to be a Pokemon for X/Y. Who wouldn't love a ghost pup who's strong against psychic Pokemon?So now for some shameless self promotion. Seeing as how I have over 500 followers I might as well promote my other works here. First of all, I write reviews. That was the main reason I first joined this site so please read and like my reviews. One a note, I recently wrote an Epic Mickey 2 review and it's under the WiiU version but the version I played was the Wii version. Not a big deal as it sucks no matter which console you play it on.
Also I used to head 2 unions but my job changed and I no longer had the time or energy to put into maintaining them.
One such union was titled Under the Radar which was devoted to not only indie games but smaller, less promoted games that often got overlooked. It came about when I got tired of people constantly complaining about no good Wii games and ignoring such great gems like Little King's Story, Muramsa, Klonoa, as well as other overlooked gems. But recently the current leader of UTR wanted to start it up again and we're looking for new members to help us. http://www.gamespot.com/unions/Underradar/forums.html
The second union I am still leader of I have let falter and only 2 or 3 of us post regularly there. This one is called The Serious Discussion Union. If you liked some of my more serious, in depth blogs and want to further discussions on things like whether or not there will be a gaming crash as well as current events and such. It would be nice to have some contributions there as well.
http://www.gamespot.com/unions/SeriousDiscuss/forums.html
Well it's too nice a day to be sitting inside playing video games. I'm going to sit out on my porch and play my 3DS.
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17Apr 13
So I really don't have time for one of my longer more insightful blogs but I feel like I need to put something new out there so let's talk about inconsistencies among what gamers think is "lame" and "awesome."
Now as you all know I love Wind Waker. The sailing never bothered me. I love the story and while I was hesitant of the art style at first, I grew to love it.
But on at least two occasions I encounter people who say something along the lines of "Wind Waker would be better if it looked like Twilight Princess. It was too cartoony." We all dealt with this crap. People who swore off Zelda the minute we saw "Celda" as it was called but then TP came out and everyone complained it was just Ocarina rehashed and let's face it, no matter what Zelda game comes out, fans are inevitably going to hate it for not being Ocarina of Time.
But that's not what bothers me about this particular brand of WW dislike. It's the fact that no long after that conversation they started going on about how awesome Kingdom Hearts was. I'll pause and all intellegent gamers will see my point immediately.
Yes the game that ends with *SPOILERS* a young boy stabbing an evil wizard in the face is "cartoony" and "childish" while the game where you run around Disneyworld wearing big yellow clown shoes accompanied by Donald Duck and Goofy while swinging around a giant key is "mature." And no I don't buy the KH fan argument of "well it's anime so that's different." Anime is defined as cartoons from Japan.
So for the record the argument is THIS is too "cartoony." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wHEgTA5iLE
But this is totally meant for mature gamers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py2cajc6dP8
And no I'm not dissing KH just the dumb f*** gamers who aren't consistent in their judgement.
Also I love finding Bronies who like to accuse Nintendo of being too "kiddy." You like watching a cartoon about bright colored ponies aimed at 6 year old girls. A bit of hypocracy there huh?
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6Apr 13
So yesterday the internet exploded when MS Rocket Scientist Adam Orth decided to tweet his feelings about fans reservations about the next Xbox requiring an online connection at all times. Now after the disaster that was SimCity 4 (as I stated in a previous blog of mine) you'd think MS would see that mess and say "maybe forcing people to be online all the time to play non online stuff isn't a good idea."
Apparently not. http://www.gamespot.com/news/microsoft-creative-director-doesnt-get-the-drama-around-an-always-online-xbox-6406464
So by now we all know about Mr. Orth's rather insenstive comments most notably critizing people who lived in smaller rural towns who don't always have the best internet service saying "why would you live there?" In the linked article MS came out and made an apology but didn't dispell the rumors of an "always online system" but most people agree the damage is done. Going on various sites and reading user comments, alot of long time Xbox fans responded to his "deal with it" comments by saying "I'll deal with it, I won't buy the next Xbox." or something along those lines to which I say "more power to you." Companies exisit to make money but if consumers aren't happy with your product and you don't acknowledge their concerns and act all flippant and arrogant, they'll move on to something else. This is how the free market works.
I've never been a big fan of the Xbox or Microsoft's business practices when it comes to gaming. I don't like that they charge for something everyone else can do for free. (My PC and PS3 online gaming work just fine, thanks) My husband and I had 3 Xbox 360's die on us. 2 got red rings and the third glitched out and erased our entire hardrive to which after that we said "screw it" got a PS3 and never looked back. Their Points system that makes no sense. I hate that on top of that monthly fee you get a dashboard cluttered with ads (don't have that with my PS3, Wii or 3DS) and their most grievous crime watching: Rare's slow crippling death under their mismanagment killing all hopes of ever seeing a true Banjo or Conker sequel. Also I don't like FPSes meaning the 360 had little that interested me in terms of exclusives. So yeah if the next Xbox goes the way of the Dreamcast, I won't be crying.
But seriously to flat out insult consumers and their genuine concerns with such a flippant attitude is inexcusable for any company. It would be like Ciggarette companies responding to all the health problems smoking causes by saying "well something's gonna kill you." I get that companies are worried about piracy but forcing everyone to be online and DRM do nothing but punish those who did nothing wrong.
More and more I watch video blogs and read articles and the tone of gamers in general is the thought that the industry is going to crush itself under the weight of it's own bloated greed and that it doesn't seem to care. The industry has this mindset of "hey if we're going down, get all the money we can then!" As opposed to trying to asses the needs and concerns of its consumer base.
But I honestly didn't want to get into this. I had plenty of more lighthearted topics I could be writing about. So here's my favorite internet cat right now, Grumpy Cat who celebrated her 1st birthday on April 4. Let her adorably grumpy face cheer you up.
Happy Birthday Grumpy Cat. Your face expresses how a lot of us feel about Adam Orth's comments.
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28Mar 13
This is a blog I've been trying to write for a while but too many times when I was drafting it, it went off into different tangents but everyone knows I'm a big advocate of the industry at least trying to put forth effort when it comes to games geared at kids instead of going by the lazy ass mindset of "who cares if it's crappy, kids are stupid and buy anything." Yeah kids are less discerning when it comes to entertainment but I agree with the Nostalgia Critic in that just because it's made for kids is not an excuse not to try. And I also agree with the Nostalgia Chick's comments on the fact that entertainment is the one thing parents will look at and say "who cares if it's crappy, it's just for my kids." Seriously parents, you wouldn't say that about a car seat, or food, or their bed.
And all too often I find comments regarding the consoles and see comments along the lines of "Well I got the Wii for my kids so they could play it while I'm playing Call of Duty." And part of me wants to just go over and say "you know instead of using a game console as a babysitter, why don't you go down and PLAY something like Mario Kart with your kids and you know BE A F***ing parent" or that's what I'd say if I was an angry person.
But even with video games removed from the equation, this is all too common in today's society. Familes who don't spend time together when they're at home. I mean how many of you come home, eat dinner, do homework and spend the evening on the computer or playing games, your mom is downstairs surfing the web on her Ipad, Dad's watching the game on TV, your sibling is in their room doing their own thing. It's kind of sad. Then we wonder why there are so many troubled teens, or kids going on crazy school shootings, or whatever and instead of blaming violent media maybe parents should actually take time out of their day to do stuff with their kids including play video games.
This past Thanksgiving I went to visit my nephews. I have 2 young ones (the oldest one is working in Montana now). The youngest one is 6 and with some of my influence is a big fan of Mario, Zelda, Sonic and more recenlty Kirby. But he rarely has anyone who will play with him. After dinner most nights, his dad will go up to the bedroom and hold up in there the rest of the night watching TV and posting his strong right wing views all over Facebook because slapping his poltical beliefs all over FB is clearly more important to him than spending time with his kid. My sister in law isn't much better. She has a PS3 in her room so she's either on that or her laptop looking at stuff on Pinterest. My youngest nephew was so happy I was visiting because he knew I'd play Smash Bros. and Mario Party 9 and whatever else with him.
Now some nasty naysayer will call me out saying "well yeah you're a Nintendo fan so you'd play that stuff anyway!" And you're right. All too often I'm playing a lot of Nintendo games on my own, but I will say that at least during this particular holiday weekend both the 13 year old nephew and my husband also played with us. The 13 year old is a great kid. Sure he has his own stuff in his room like his 360 and his Kindle and while he's getting older and gravitating to stuff like Metal Gear Solid. (interestinly enough he was introduced to Snake though Smash Bros. Brawl) he will still take time and play with his younger brother. Often helping him get through some part he stuck on. And my husband who isn't a Nintendo fan also sat downstairs and played a couple rounds of Mario Party 9. Why? Because it was more important to him to spend time with his nephews.
And I'm sure I'll get yelled at by someone who will point out that I don't have kids and I don't understand. And yes I don't have children of my own. I'm trying to but it hasn't been easy for me. And yes I do look forward to sharing my love of Nintendo characters with my kids someday just as parents who loved old Disney/Pixar movies share them with their kids. But I'm sorry if the idea of taking time away from teabagging in Call of Duty or blogging on Gamespot to spend time with your children playing some "silly kids game" is a huge inconvience for you, then you suck as a parent. No one's making you give up your big boy games to play with your kids but being a parent is about sacrifice. Video game consoles should not be babysitters.
And I'll leave you with this immortal words from Bender B. Rodriegez.
Have you ever just thought about turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids...and hitting them?" But we're so busy! "Well make time!!"And to those of you gamer parents who do take time out of your hectic day and play games with your kids. Good for you and I'm sure you learned that the "non working controller" trick only works for a short time. lol
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25Mar 13
So recently I got into playing this title I downloaded on my 3DS:
This is a title that often gets overlooked in the Zelda series and it's a shame because honestly this is one of the best ones I've played, up there with the criminally underated Minish Cap.
So for those who don't know the story. According the official Nintendo Zelda timeline this occurs in the "Defeated Link" timeline where he lost to Ganon in Ocarina of Time. Originally it was the direct sequel to A Link to the Past but actually now follows the 2 Oracle games (which as of now are the only 2 Zelda games I haven't played. Hoping to change that.) Fearful that Ganon might rise to power again, Link sets off to sea on a sort of spirtual quest to prepare himself for future battles. He gets caught in a storm, and gets shipwrecked on an island where he learns that if he wants to leave he has to collect 8 magic instruments to wake a magic whale who sleeps in a giant egg on a mountain top. Makes perfect sense.
Actually the story does make Link to the Past somewhat unique much like Majora's Mask. There's no Zelda, no Ganon and no Triforce and unlike MM there isn't even some looming threat of total annihlation. At one point the game hints that "if the Wind Fish sleeps too long, the hero's life is gone" but no giant threat of someone destroying the world.
Probably even more interesting about this game is the number of Mario cameos almost making this a Zelda/Mario crossover. Tarin most notably, a mustachioed man who's hunting mushrooms but several Mario baddies lurk in dungeons as well as Wart, the main baddie of SMB2 makes an appearance as the Frog King. Even Kirby and Dr. Wright from the SNES Sim City come along. Also early in the game you can get a Yoshi doll to trade later on.
Even more interesting about Link's Awakening is a lot of elements here would later show up for the next game Ocarina of Time. Such as the Ocarina itself. Now of course the original game had the magic whistle that warped you around the map but here, Link gets an ocarina and then has to seek out characters to teach him 3 different songs. One of which is taught by old Wart here.
Another element of this is the Trading Sequence. Everyone knows of the long tedious quest to get the Biggoron Sword in OoT but LA has it's own rather long series of trading items for something else eventually getting you the boomerang which in this title is insanely powerful so it's actually worth it. You also have the shell collecting where 20 shells upgrades your sword which isn't nearly as tedious as the Golden Skulltulas. The DX version has a "Color Dungeon" which was an optional bonus area where completing it allowed you to upgrade attack or defense.
If I had any complaints with this Zelda title it's that bosses are a bit easy. I fought a giant angler fish boss and killed him in a matter of seconds before he even really attacked as well as the boss of the face shrine can be killed easily with bombs. Also there's a fair amount of backtracking and though Kolohint Island is smaller than other Zelda worlds, it's not the easiest to navigate.
I'll save the rest for my review but this could end up being one of my all time favorite Zelda games.
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13Mar 13
So I finally beat Skylander Giants. No I didn't buy every figure out there. I will say while I did set it on hard mode, the game actually gets tough especiallly in the later half though some of the enemies are a bit on the cheap side and like with a lot of games, there's a lot of side stuff I can go back and do like finish heroic challenges or battle arenas or go find all the hats and treasure chests.
But that's not what I was going to talk about.
In Skylanders you can find hats for your characters that increase various stats and I honestly think the devs went out of their way to make some of the silliest hats around that have the best stat enhancers. One is a pair of heart print boxers, one's a traffic cone, there's a pimp hat, an atom, a bowling pin and so on but on the last level there is a tweed looking sideways ball cap that looks all too familiar.
Yep Scumbag Steve's hat is a hat you can equip in Skylanders. I hunted around to see if I could find a decent screenshot of it. I put it on Prism Break, a rock creature that lights up and shoots beams.
So just imagine scumbag Steve's hat on him with in game graphics.
Anyway I always find it funny when stuff like that pops up in games. Sadly no signs of Bad Luck Brian, Ermegerd or Grumpy Cat.
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9Mar 13
So by now we all know about the disaster that was the launch of the newest Sim City game. EA ever vigilant in trying to stop piracy and used games from hurting their bottom line continuing to punish honest consumers with on disc DLC, online passes and now making a game that requires you to be online all the time. Now mind you Sim City is not an MMO, it's a simulator where you build a city so there was no reason for them to make a simulator that required you to be online all the time. What made this worse is honest paying customers installed the game, booted it up and were met with server crashes, busy servers, long queues etc. for what? So EA's bottom line looks good.
Ever notice that all the companies doing the most scumbag of business practices are the big ones that make tons of money anyway like Activision, EA, Sony, etc. I also like to point out that you don't see Nintendo forcing you to pay for online passes or requiring you to be online all the time or charging you for on disc DLC but don't worry I'm sure we can find other ways to demonize them. We always do.
But Sim City is a cautionary tale for companies and how their paranoia of used games and piracy is leading to practices that do nothing but hurt honest gamers who pay for games fairly. My husband makes this argument that gun laws doesn't keep guns out of the hands of criminals, just punishes honest citizens but I'm not getting into that. For the last few years now companies like EA have been on a witch hunt of used games and piracy and the idea of making you be online all the time to play a game that you don't need to be online for is just another thing they're trying. And it blew up in their face. Meanwhile gamers who bought the game legally either through an online service like Steam or at a store are stuck not be able to play a game you bought because EA set up a system that doesn't work. We all remember that when it came out Smash Bros. Brawl had online issues of too many people wanting to play at the same time and while SSBB's online has always been messy at least you could still play offline and not be barred from playing it at all.
More importantly this should be a lesson to all game publishers that forcing people to be online a play a game like this just to prevent piracy is not the way to go. It's not fair to those who are honest in their purchase and those who didn't buy the game at launch day are going to read about these issues and say "screw that" and find something else. I saw that Steam actually had a sale of City Sims that didn't require you to be online like Tropico. And I'd say if you were going to buy the new Sim City but saw all this crap going on, I'd definintely at least hold off until this gets fixed or save your money for something else.
Also with rumors abound that the next Xbox wants to require you to be connected to the internet at all times, this may be a red flag for them. Imagine wanting to play the next gen Halo single player campagin and not being able to do that because of crowded servers. Especially if Xbox wants to charge for their online service again, something like this happening would really hurt them.
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25Feb 13
So by now everyone knows that the six Generation of Pokemon has begun with Pokemon X/Y and the WiiU's Pokemon Scramble. Now this is not going to be about if Pokemon is overmilked or if it keeps doing the same thing over and over again or why there's never been a proper console game. All those dead horses have been beaten repeatedly.
I was talking with someone on a forum about how I never really got into Pokemon which they seemed shocked. Though I am not alone both the Game Overthinker and Andre the Black Nerd aren't much of Pokemon fans either.
Black Nerd: http://www.screwattack.com/shows/black-nerd-rants/black-nerd-hates-pokemon
Game Overthinker: http://www.screwattack.com/shows/partners/game-overthinker/tgo-special-memories
Now Bob, Andre and I are all in our early 30s where most of you reading this probably skew about 5 to 10 years younger...most of you. And we are sort of First Generation Nintendo fans, weaned on the NES, who grew up with Mario, Zelda and Metroid and we stood by Nintendo through Sega and Sonic and even when we were being mocked for liking Nintendo and their "baby" console. And then Pokemon came out and it was everywhere. On TV, entire aisles in stores devoted to Pokemon toys. Nintendo made a new IP and it was massive hit....aaaaannnd us long time fans were not happy about that. We didn't like the idea of these little pocket monsters eclipsing Mario and Link. It's hard to imagine this and remember at the time the internet was in its infancy so you didn't have a ton of websites complaining about how this new IP that was getting youngsters all excited and helping keep Nintendo afloat while getting beat up by the PS1.
Hmmm. A new IP at the time.
Being super popular.
Bringing in a new audience of youngsters.
Making older gamers upset.
What does that sound like?
And thus brings us to the title. Nintendo fans are a funny bunch. We sit and scream and cry about not having new IPs but every now and then a new IP does come along that is suddenly REALLY popular and we get all mad about it. Because while we want new IPs, they can't be more popular than Mario or Zelda. Imagine if the WiiU introduce some new title that was an action FPS that was more amazing than any other FPS out there and this skyrocketed WiiU sales and became a massive hit. How many of you Nintendo die hards would get mad and feel like "Nintendo sold out?" and jumped on the grim and gritty bandwagon despite that this new game brought in new audiences? See what I'm getting at. And don't give me that "Pokemon's a real game! It's totally different" crap. That means you're totally missing the point.
This brings me back to Pokemon. I do recall some animosity of older Nintendo fans towards Pokemon at least at the beginning because it was annoying to see stores full of Pokemon toys and the anime running on TV all the time yet nowhere could you find Mario cartoons or toys (at least now we have the old shows on DVD and there's no shortage of Mario swag for sale). Pokemon for a while was like on the cover of every other Nintendo Power (RIP) issue. It was odd that despite it's massive populairity Nintendo has yet to make a proper console game version and maybe if there had been a Pokemon 64 maybe some of the older Nintendo crowd might have tried it. Really Pokemon didn't get fully accepted by Nintendo fans until Smash Bros. when Pikachu and Jigglypuff were on the roster.
I am not going to say I hate Pokemon. I have no reason to hate it. I never played a Pokemon game other than Pokemon Snap. Maybe I'd actually like it. I even asked my buddy Cloud that if I decided to give it a try which one I should cut my teeth on and he was quite helpful in suggesting titles. Maybe I'll give it a try. Either pick up an older one I can play on my 3DS or wait for X/Y.
In the end, the Earth didn't open up. Pokemon is still around but so are Mario and Link and Kirby and the rest of the Nintendo crew so when the whole "casual Wii game" thing started and people started crying that it was going to destroy gaming, I just rolled my eyes, had a good laugh because I lived through the last "end of gaming."
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23Feb 13
So Sony's announcement showed us a bunch of stuff everyone's talked about. So far the only thing that interested me was Knack (see previous blog) but most of us wonder about cost and it's lack of backward comptablility and all that.
More I see is Sony's whole "social intergration" thing. Honestly I'm not a fan. Remember this is the same folks who had that giant failed experiment called Home. Yeah remember how that was going to be so huge? Who wouldn't want to spend real money to buy virtual clothes and furniture in a Second Life knockoff?
But now I hear about how people can jump into your game and "help you" which I see being clogged up with the "stop having fun guys." For those who don't know who "stop having fun guys" are. Most commonly they're the ones playing SSBB who constantly go the "NO ITEMS! FINAL DESTINATION!!" But they manifest in other ways. When I would play World of Warcraft I often ran into players who would look at my gear or stats and say "wow your DPS sucks! Why don't you get better gear? You need to do this this this" And I often had to tell people that this was my first time playing and I was learning as I went and I didn't have another high level toon that could send me endless amounts of gold to buy up all the best gear at the auction house. Now in fairness my fellow guild members were polite about helping me out mainly so I could go on raids. Because the Catch 22 of WoW is you need good gear to raid but can't get good gear unless you raid. But I digress.
More and more gaming is trying to be this big social network where everyone knows what you're playing, when you're playing it, how you're progressing and this is of course reflecting back on our society where everyone wants to share everything all the time. Take a picture on your phone and a minute later it's on Facebook for the world to see. Heck my PS3 let's me post my trophies and any new PS Store purchases to Facebook. We may feel more connected but at times all this socializing gets on my nerves. I already expressed my annoyances with Facebook and how the wall is clogged up more with everyone posting random pictures or using it to shove their political/relgious beliefs down my throat.
For example my friend who is also a PS3 user is on all the time because he doesn't have cable and doesn't have a job and watches Netfilx all day long. It's either him or his daughter watching cartoons. And all too often I'll be playing a game and of course he can see what game I'm playing only to have him bug me later about what I was playing or why I was playing this instead of that. And since more and more games are wanting you to be online all the time, it's not like you can just sign off to get some privacy.
I'm not all that big on online gaming. I don't like FPSes and most of my experiences online haven't been enjoyable. Too many cheaters, trolls, and people telling me how to play. One of the reasons my husband and I got rid of our Xbox 360 was neither of us played enough online to justify that yearly fee. I've been in the camp of I don't think every game needs to shorehorn in multiplayer and sometimes you want to sit alone and just enjoy a single player adventure. I hate that single player modes are being ruined by forced Co-op with the AI partner being braindead (Epic Mickey 2) and I hate seeing a single player mode be gimped because the devs felt like the HAD to put a half assed multiplayer in there. I get annoyed in Little Big Planet 2 when I want to play a stage by myself and it's constantly saying "someone wants to join! Someone wants to join" and constantly telling it no. I like seeing people's creations but I don't want that experience ruined because some idiot 12 year old felt the need to butt in and constantly racing ahead of me making me die.
The worst part of this is more and more it seems like wanting to enjoy a solo experience makes you some anti social weirdo. I'm not. I like spending time with friends and family IN PERSON. I like playing stuff like Mario Kart and Smash Bros. with people in the same room so I can throw things at them if they start being dicks. lol And that's the thing, while all this online social networking might be nice, I'm sorry it is not a replacement for real human interaction.
And sometimes you'd like to be left alone.
Thanks for reading and if you want...
3DS Code: 2277-7938-7796
PSN ID: Slashingkatie
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20Feb 13
So Sony's big PS4 announcement. Yadda yadda yadda. Has a controller that reminds me of the Dreamcast controller with its little screen. Fancy specs, Cloud crap and all this social intergration I don't care about. Scanning through announcements...
And then I....
http://www.gamespot.com/news/knack-announced-for-the-playstation-4-6404208
Do my eyes deceive me?
A 3D platformer?
Cute cartoony visuals?
A new IP and not an indie thing like a full AAA game?
It's like a dream. The last thing I expected to see out of any next gen console was a cute, colorful new IP. Wouldn't it be wonderful if this game was a big hit and cartoony platformers dominated gaming once more killing all the grim and gritty shooters.
Ahh I can dream.
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17Feb 13
My last blog got the most response so far though you gotta love the number of comments from people who simply read the title and didn't bother reading the actual blog and instead assumed it was just another "why PC's are superior to consoles" blog. Seriously users, people take time and write thoughful and insightful blogs, I know some of you have ADD and reading more than a paragraph is hard because you get distracted by shiny objects but don't comment on something you didn't actually read especially when said comments are addressed in the blog.
It's been a while but I sat down and got several reviews written. Feel free to check it out.
- Super Mario 3D Land
- Little Big Planet Karting
- Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed
- Playstation All Stars Battle Royale
That is all.
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13Feb 13
So now rumors keep abounding about the next Playstation and Xbox. It's a safe bet that at E3 they'll show off their next consoles. We all know this. It's just a matter of wondering what the hell they're going to do and what games we'll see.
But let's talk about at least what's rumored right now because frankly I don't like it.
It's already rumored now that Sony patented some sort of tech that will make the console block used games from being played in it and that it's controller will have a touch screen in it.
But as for the Xbox "Durango" as it's code name is. Well here's this. http://gengame.net/2013/02/rumor-next-xbox-will-universally-include-kinect-require-mandatory-game-installs/
So let me get this straight, the next Xbox will require you to install all games, will not let you play used games on it, will require you to be connected to the internet at all time and multitask?
Congratulations Microsoft you made a PC...again.
Now before all you elitist PC gamers start bragging about how PC gaming is not dead and how superior it is and staring down from your ivory computer towers, let me explain something about us console gamers. The reason console gamers play consoles is so we don't have to deal with the annoying crap PC gamers seem fine dealing with.
I don't like the idea of having to tinker with my computer tower constantly replacing memory cards and graphics cards. I like being able to sit on my couch and play a game instead of hunched over my PC all the time. I do that all day at work. I like LOCAL MULTIPLAYER. Don't see a lot of PC games supporting that. Not even LAN support hardly anymore. I like console games because I have the freedom to trade in games I either don't like or don't want to hang onto. And over the years the nice thing about consoles was NOT having to deal with the headaches of constant patching, updating, and being able to trade in old games.
But during this last gen we've seen the consoles slowly trying to be more like computers. For a while games were leaving out local multiplayer which as shocking as this sounds, not all gamers are friendless losers. A lot of us like to have actual human interaction. Also we see more and more consoles needed to be updated and console games needing patched and more and more it seems as though the line distinguishing PCs from consoles is getting more and more nebulous.
This brings me back to my argument. Why should I bother with a PS4 or 360 when I have a perfectly good PC? You see while I don't consider myself a "PC Gamer" I do spend more time with my consoles, my husband is more of a PC gamer. When we first met, he loved playing PC games but money was tight for us and instead of putting hundreds of dollars into a suped-up gaming computer, it was more economical at the time for him to get an (original) Xbox. But now we have better jobs and more disposable income and thanks to sites like Tiger Direct and New Egg, he can get good deals on parts to build one. The PC we're currently using is a beast with six fans and even with the PS3, my husband found himself spending more time on his PC. While it's not my primary gaming platform I've spent a fair amount of time gaming on it as well. Do you really want to hear about the 3 years of my life spend in Azeroth? And I do agree that Steam is a great service that almost makes up for the inability to trade in old PC games.
When I told my husband about the rumored "abilities" of the PS4 and Xbox 720 or "Durango" or whatever. He agreed that what was the point of buying consoles that wouldn't let us play used or borrowed or rented games and if it's going to make us do all the crap we already do with our PC, what's the advantage? Kinect? Hahahahahaaha!! Exclusives? At least in terms of the next Xbox, what exclusives? I don't like shooters. Maybe with the few Sony exclusives I like but I'll see. And if my husband and I want to play stuff together, I still plan to get a WiiU because I like Mario and Zelda and that's the only way I'll get to play Mario and Zelda and it's not doing that used game blocking tech. But it appears for the forseeable future we'll be a WiiU/PC house.
You never know, E3 could roll around and Sony and Microsoft could say "hey you know those ideas we had to make our consoles not play used games and forcing you to be online all the time? Yeah we decided to think of the consumer first and not be greedy jerks on a witch hunt to stop used games." Yeah and monkeys could fly out of my ass.
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8Feb 13
So by now it's known that Rayman Legends is no longer a WiiU exclusive as well as it's going to delayed again until Sept. now. Now first of all while I am a Nintendo fan, I have no problem with this going multiplatform. 3rd party exclusives are becoming a thing of the past. We saw this last gen when once exclusive Sony titles like Final Fantasy and Devil May Cry jumped to the 360. Companies need to make money and to do that you want to get the title on as many platforms as you can leaving first party exclusives to push consoles.
I loved Rayman Origins. Easily my favorite game of 2011. After years of being upstaged by the Rabbids and being another obscure platforming star, Rayman returned in a 2D sidescroller that put all the others including Mario to shame. Amazing visuals, excellent controls and challenging without feeling cheap and thank God Ubisoft didn't do the stupid "downloadable episode" crap like Sega did with Sonic 4. I was psyched to play it especially after playing the WiiU demo. Mind you the only actual playable demo on the WiiU kiosks. Legends was going to be multiplatform but then was announced as a WiiU exclusive that gamers didn't have a hissy fit over now going back to multiplatform. Geez Ubisoft make up your minds.
What upsets me is well this... http://www.gamespot.com/news/rayman-legends-developer-attacks-shiy-industry-for-wii-u-delay-6403650
I simpathize with these devs. Imagine you work you tail off for months, spending time away from your family, working hard to meet the deadline then less than a month before release the suits come in and say "whoops, we're going multiplatform now and it's not going to be out until Sept. so you can do this." I'd be pissed off too.
Also supposedly the WiiU version of the game is nearly done? Why make this version sit on the sidelines just so the 360 and PS3 ports can get made and all be released at once? Release the WiiU version on it's set date, then release the other two in September. Everyone wins. WiiU owners get to play a title they've eagerly awaited. 360/PS3 owners who wanted to play it will get to. Everyone wins.
What most have said is even more disappointing about this push back to Sept. is that it's the same month GTAV as well as the HD WW remake are coming out. March saw no huge releases for Legends to have to compete with especially not on the WiiU. Poor Origins came out the SAME DAY as Modern Warfare 3 and thankfully managed to get an audience. Why would Ubisoft want to make such changes this close to launch? Then again this is Ubisoft and it wouldn't be the first dumb thing they did.
Still want to play Rayman Legends one way or another.
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2Feb 13
Thank you all for your patience. I know it took a while but things came up but here it is, I had to do some serious research to find the worst games that dared tried to copy the MK formula and there are some stinkers on here.
#5 Pocket Bike Racer
It's probably not fair to put this one on the list becauase most of us got it free from Burger King and it's like complaining about a crummy Iphone game that was free but still, Burger King and MS collaborated to make what is essentially a commerical. Though most people I know who got this one said it wasn't awful and was the best of the 3 BK games but still, I was amazed BK had enough mascots to make a racing game.#4 Kinect Joy Ride
I have to take a moment to go piss on Kinect once more. Here's a brilliant idea, make a racing game with an invisible steering wheel. And since MS doesn't have cuddly mascots of it's own, you get to use your Mii....er Avatars and it's probably not right to lump it in with MK clones because it has a lot of other modes besides standard racing but it is another reminder of how poorly any Kinect game not called Dance Central fails. I had found a video of a guy playing this where he basically sits there and barely moves and gets third place.
#3 Wacky Races: Crash and Dash
You'd think this classic Hannah Barbera cartoon would make for an excellent kart racing experience and from what I've heard, other illeterations of this are pretty good but this one for the Wii which my nephews owned is abyssmal. There's no acceleration button, the items are useless, the controls suck and the races are boring. It has very little challenge or excitement as you don't accelerate or break, just steer through an autoscrolling stage until you finish.#2 Sonic Drift
I had to put the first Sonic Drift on the list especially since I gave Sonic's most recent racing game the #1 slot. This came out not long after Super Mario Kart and it's easy to see this was Sega trying to quickly cash in on Sonic's sudden populairity as well as the populairty of Mario's kart racer. But it was only on the Game Gear, a handheld that sucked up batteries like Honey Boo Boo sucks up spagetti. The first one wasn't even released in the US and if you played it, it was probably unlocked on Sonic Adventure DX. You get a whopping four racers to pick from, Sonic, Tails, Robotnick and Amy. The screen is so small, it's hard to see and it's cut in half with a map taking up the top part, also due to the hardware, the draw distance is pitful. Sonic Drift 2 slightly improved it, adding Knuckles, Fang and Metal Sonic and having slightly better track design but overall, one of those games that not even the most idiotically devoted fans will defend. "Why am I in a car? And that's why Sonic Drift sucks!" -Sonic Shorts#1 M&M's Kart Racing
Talk about a shameless tie in. I like the M&M's characters in the commercials. They made one of the more memorable Christmas ones with a fainting Santa and who doesn't love M&M's but of all the shamless ways to make a buck. One of many games out there that's just a commercial tie in and hopes to make a few quick bucks off unsuspecting kids and casual gamers. Awful controls, bad graphics. Even got Gamespots Dubious Honor of 2008.So there's the worst MK clones around. It was hard to find worth contenders as many either had no reviewes to read or weren't as bad as I thought because when it comes to bad kart racers, we tend to avoid them so if you don't like my picks or think something was left out, go write you're own list.
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23Jan 13
So we had the new Nintendo Direct show and at first I didn't think we'd see much.
Then they showed this....
and I was like....
And then they showed this.....
And I was like....
And then I heard how Monolith Soft is making an RPG for the WiiU and since they're owned by Nintendo that means a new Nintendo IP as well as at E3 they hinted at new Mario, Zelda, Mario Kart, Smash Bros. etc. And I was like.....
Time for me to get a WiiU now After getting a flat tire on my way home from work yesterday, this made me feel better and to all the naysayers who want to rain on my parade....
I LOVE GRUMPY CAT
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20Jan 13
Time for me to piss off "teh hardcorz" by defending a "baby game" or "game that's ruining our sacred hobby" just like Angry Birds, Wii Sports, etc. I will admit there's some "evil casual" games I like such as some of those evil Wii games. All too often people like to hate on games simply because they don't appeal to their personal tastes and are popular with other folks going back to the TV Trope of "It's popular therefore it sucks." And I see a lot of you that do that. I'm waiting to see how long it takes for Minecraft to become "overated" given it's boom in populairity.
But back to Skylanders or rather Skylanders Giants. As I said my friend won the game in some online raffle he did and since he already bought the PS3 "Portal Master Pack" (basically a cheaper pack for those who already had the first game that just as the disc and Tree Rex the Giant figurine), he handed it off to me. As I said in my blog last year where I experienced the first Skylanders, it was an intellectual curiosity for me. Whenever there's a game that comes out that is super super popular, I want to experience it just to see what the fuss is. I did this with Wii Sports, Wii Fit, Nintendogs, World of Warcraft, Angry Birds, etc. I have yet to try the demo of Mincraft. It's on my to-do list. And my experience with the first Skylanders was brief but enough to see the appeal.
Of course as been the case with this gaming generation the "hardcore gamers" always get their panties in a knot when a game comes out that appeals to an audience other than them, it's not enough to simply ignore and not buy the game, they have to complain constantly about how it's "ruining" everything despite never playing the game. So what I'm going to do is essentially go through every argument I hear regarding this and making a counter argument to show how silly it all is.
"They're killing Spyro!!" Ok "Spyro fans" when was the last time you actually gave a sh-- about the purple dragon who was once a PS1 mascot that Insomniac left behind for the Lombax and Chimera? Pretty much all post PS1 Spyro games were medicore at best. Yes I know now that you see some kid talking about how he loves Spyro in Skylanders and a part of you dies inside but I think this goes back to a blog I read about "Other people like it so I don't now." refering to the hoopla over both the new Tomb Raider's multiplayer and Bayonetta 2 being a WiiU exclusive of how we like something until it does something we don't like then we pout. I also think it's jealousy of the fact that Spyro's more popular now than he ever was on the PS1. Have you see the insane amount of Skylander merchandise out there now? And Spyros on most of it. This is the same as Nintendo fans all butt hurt because they would've rather Nintendo went third party like Sega then "sell out" to the mainstream crowd to remain in the console market. To which I say GROW THE F--- UP!!
"It's just a marketing tool to get kids to buy cheap pieces of plastic." Fair enough. But how many of you did the following.
- Bought 2 essentially identical Pokemon games in order to "catch them all?"
- Have a closet of Guitar Hero/Rock Band instruments piled up?
- Spend $60 a year for something everyone else gets for free....Xbox fans who still try to justify this?
- Bought Doritios and Mountain Dew to level up?
- Have a PSN+ subscription (raises hand)
- Have various plastic figurines/actions figures of favorite video game characters doing nothing aside from collecting dust and assuring you never get laid?
We are just as guilty as spending money on gaming stuff that we really didn't need or stopped using after a few times. The game industry is a business and a businesses exist primarily to make money. How much do we spend on DLC to get those extra maps, costumes, etc.? Most kids don't have credit cards for DLC and Activison found a way to compensate.
"I'm a parent and Skylanders is costing me money!!" Here's a brillant idea, next time your kid's at the store begging for another figure, just say "no." Or do what my friend does, when his daughter has a good report card or does her chores or whatever, he rewards her wtih a Skylander figure or sometimes a 3 pk depending. Or is this just making your child happy taking funds from the next FPS you wanted? Newsflash: kids are expensive. You think buying them toys is bad? Wait till you send them to college. I'm personally glad a company other than Nintendo is actually making somewhat of an effort to make a decent game for kids. I'd rather my kid play Skylanders than some crappy piece of lisenced shlock.
Also here's a quick rundown of what is actuallly required for Skylanders:
- The story mode can be beaten with the starter set.
- If you want to find all the areas you only need one of each element which there are 8.
- This means there's no reason to buy additional figures if all you want to do is play the story mode.
- Now additional figures do unlock additional heroic challenges and battle modes but that's it so there's no need to buy every figure in existence.
"It's a stupid baby game!!" Just like Mario and Pokemon and Kirby, hated by those who think the M rating means "quality." Most of us are intellegent enough to know that a game's rating is not a indicator of quality. There are excellent E rated games out there and horrid M rated games. But after spending time with at least Giants, it's actually challenging at times. I set the difficulty to hard and around bout the 4th level I was dying. The trick is when one character gets low on health you can swap it out for another.
And if the story mode feels too easy there's going back to stages to get the "find all the stuff" "finish in a set time" challenges as well as the Heroic/Arena challenges. Surprising amount of content actually. I'll get into that more when I get around to reviewing the game.
But guys, this isnt' going away any time soon. You know Activision will milk it for all they can and then there's this...
http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/c09sfc/disney-infinity-debut-trailer
Basically Skylanders
isney Edition and I am still convinced it's only a matter of time before Nintendo does this with Pokemon and makes all the money in the world. Look I'm not saying everyone go out and buy this game because it's the greatest thing ever but just get over it. It's like anything if you don't like it, don't play it and it won't affect your life aside from having to see it on the shelf at the game store.Also those of you waiting on my "Top Five Worst MK Clones." I'm still doing the research cause there's a lot of them out there. Thanks for your patience.
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13Jan 13
Ok sorry this took a while, I just got busy with a lot of things and my poor husband came down with the flu so I was being a good wife and taking care of him but thanks for all of those who offered input. Here we go mine and your picks for the Best Mario Kart clones.
#5 Diddy Kong Racing
Possibly the first or at least the most remembered MK clone, back when they made great N64 games, Rare would often take a Nintendo game and find a way to give it their own flare just like Banjo Kazooie built upon the Mario 64 formula and in some ways improved on it. DKR expanded on the MK64 formula by giving you the option to drive a watercraft or plane and more notably the Adventure mode which gave solo players more to do outside the usual grand prix races. The reason I put it so low though is that same Adventure mode gets really repetitive after a while. First you have to get first in all races, race the boss, then repeat them all AGAIN this time getting all silver coins and getting first, race the boss a 2nd time, then do the trophy race. But as an MK alternative at the time, it was still fun.#4 Blur
There's some debate where this one is a true "MK Clone" though it does have that more arcade racer feel and you do attack with items and there was it's ad campaing pushing it as a "big boy kart racer." http://www.youtube.com/watch? TAdv=08dbXQFyOLI The whole "play this because it's not a kiddy looking game" marketing ploy always annoys me because it underminds hardcore gamers that hardcore isn't how you play but an asthetic choice. That aside, going by what a few users said, it's still a solid arcade racer full of the crazy crashes and powerups for a good old time.#3 Modnation Racers
The PS3's answer to MK was a strong attempt with a heavy focus on user generated content. The real fun of this one, for me at least was going online and having a race that featured Sonic, Mario, Uncle Pennybags, Optimus Prime and Pinkie Pie. For me it was often more fun just to look at the interesting things people made. If it has a downside is that load times are horribly long thanks to the heavy user generated content and honestly I found the story mode lame. It felt like a series of bad pop culture references and two announcers, one who was too mean and the other was too much of a wuss. It's just a shame LBP Karting didn't have the same flair that this did. (yes I played LBP Karting)#2. Crash Team Racing
When Mario Kart 64 was tearing up living rooms with 4 player action, Playstation owners wondered what they could do to get a kart racing fix. Enter Naughty Dog and their PSone mascot, Crash Bandicoot. After a successful triliogy of platformers, he was given a kart racer of his own and while I myself haven't played it, everyone I talked to who played say this was awesome, maybe better than Mario Kart 64 doing enough of it's own thing to not feel like just MK with Crash copy/pasted on it. Some say unmatched in the MK Clone catergory until.....#1. Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed
Who knew that Sonic driving a car would actually be fun, let alone be the first game in a while that could hold a candle to Mario Kart? The first Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing was a pleasant surprise. The game had a nice roster of characters, great control and a bit more emphasis on winning through skill rather than luck. Thankfully the sequel took everything about the first and made it better as well as fixing some issues of the first game. More variety in the tracks. A great World Tour mode, more characters to choose from, and the use of the car/boat/plane transistion mechanic puts Diddy Kong Racing and Mario Kart 7 to shame. Honestly if Nintendo's working on Mario Kart U or whatever they're going to call it, if I were them I'd give Sumo a call for some pointers. Why is Sonic driving a car? Who the hell cares!?Ok so that's my top five Best MK Clones. Stay tuned for the worst list. Feel free to still contribute to that one.
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5Jan 13
Hey everyone, given I have a butt load of followers I want to do another Best/Worst list. Everyone likes those and it always gets me a lot of hits and comments but after spending a fair amount of time with Mario Kart 7, Little Big Planet Karting, and Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed it got me thinking, there's been a lot of Mario Kart clones out there. After all it's an easy formula to make a lisenced tie in but of course this leads to tons of horrid knockoffs so I want to recognize the best and worst of the MK clones but I haven't played all of them out there. This is where you come in. I need some input from the gaming community.
First off, here's some of the possible contenders for the "Best" or at least "Least Awful MK Clones"
Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed: I've gushed about this one long enough but IMO it is the best one I've played.
Diddy Kong Racing: Possibly the first of the "good" MK knockoffs. Yeah the story mode was a bit tedious making you play the same tracks 3 times but the edition of switching between planes and water hovercrafts would pave the way for future racing games.
Crash Team Racing: Never played this title but from what I hear it was the PS equivalent of MK64.
Jak X: Combat Racing: Should this be in the category of "kart racer" or is it different from that? Also anyone notice that Naughty Dog makes a triliogy of games followed by a kart racer. Does this mean we'll see Uncharted Jungle Racing?
And now the "bad" list which overflows with crap most of wich a lot of us haven't played though if you had the misfortune to play a bad MK knockoff, please share with me by all means.
Sonic Drift: You'll find defenders of Sonic Riders and even Sonic R but Sonic Drift is the definition of lame MK knockoff/cash in. Only released for the Game Gear, you had a whopping four characters to choose from. The screen is small and cut in half to put the map on the top half and the limits of the hardware make for pitful draw distance. Looking at "Transformed" Sonic's come a long way.
M&M's Kart Racing everyone loves to bash this title. The reviews made it pretty clear that this is a major pass. Not only is it one big commercial but it's bland and uninspired.
Wacky Races: Anyone who's familiar with the 1970s Hannah Barbera cartoon would know that it could make for an awesome racing game. It's a show about wacky characters in crazy cars constantly racing each other and a villian who's constantly setting up traps to stop the other racers from winning. My nephews had this game and while the premise could be awesome, the game is not because like most Wii shovelware lisecened games, it's done by a cut rate studio just trying to make a buck.
Kinect Joy Ride Some told me that this probably has more in common with Excite Truck than Mario Kart and maybe their right but seeing how this is the closest the Xbox will ever get to it's own mascot racer (unless they make Halo Warthog Racing), I feel it deserves the "worst" list because...well..it's a Kinect game that doesn't involve dancing.
So those are a few of my picks for best and worst but I want some other player input. Just a few guidelines:
1) Has to be a standalone game. If it was a mini game tucked in as bonus content, it won't be included because it wasn't the main focus of the game. However any downloadable titles can be included.
2) It would be nice if you actually played said game. First hand accounts are always nice and if you want to offer a video link, I have no problem with that. Seeing is believing after all.
3) It should be at least "inspired" by the Mario Kart formula in that it includes a collection of characters using items to trip up fellow racers. Of course the more blantant it rips it off, the worse it tends to be. A good MK Clone brings something new to the table.
Ok feel free to offer your input and I'll tabulate and make my "best/worst MK Clone list."
