January 2011
A Very Brief Review: Shutter Island
I can appreciate good psychological thrillers, and nothing about the visions of psychosis Scorsese offered stimulated me. It was as if he concocted the most droll, uninspired look into the dreaming mind of a mental patient. Shutter Island lacked a special flavor required for films such as this one. Had I not been with friends, I would have turned it off — at the very least, mentally....
“There’s no such thing as lame. Just lacking in awesome.”
– Anonymous
Give Peace A Chance.: What's Happening in Egypt... →
promotingpeace:
The basics: Egypt is a large, mostly Arab, mostly Muslim country. At around 80 million people, it has the largest population in the Middle East and the third-largest in Africa. Most of Egypt is in North Africa, although the part of the country that borders Israel, the Sinai peninsula, is in Asia….
I'm Just waiting for you to talk to me...
& When you do I’m like…
Dead Space 2 review at VGW.com! →
Need some more perspective on EA’s latest horror epic, Dead Space 2? Then check out VGW’s review naow! Or, you can read it later if you want; It’s okay if you don’t want to, but it’s an awesome read!
Kongregate Blows Up (Again) on the Android Market →
I'll Entertain You If You Entertain Me
http://dagamdagee.tumblr.com/ask
http://dagamdagee.tumblr.com/ask
Do thy worst.
6 tags
Battles Evolve for Pokemon Black And White →
6 tags
8 Bits is the Ultimate Love Letter to Video Games →
“When you look into a mirror, you are seeing what you were half a billionth of a...”
– Dr. Michio Kaku
Silent Hill: Downpour Details Revealed With a... →
On Politics
John: This is so amazing. I wonder if you guys have similar interests...
Also, Rep. John Boehner must be a real 'boner' for paying so terribly. *slaps knee*
Me: Yeah, he's a big Boehner waver, and by Boehner I mean his boner, which an allusion to his dick-- which he is.
thelonius asked: Totally get what your saying, but for me it's just a matter of the community. Trust me, if a majority of my friends where on PSN, i'd be all over the PS3. But sadly, I'll have to put up with this "premium membership" bullshit until further notice. grrrrrrrr.
Okay, I never thought I would get this...
thelonius:
But does anyone have an Xbox Live 48 hour or one month code? I really hate that it’s succumb to this but screw it, I’m really bored and I miss live. sadface. Netflix, my sweet precious Netflix.
Message me on fb or tumblr if you do.
lulz, maybe get a ps3 so we can haz onleyen gaemz 4 freeziez?
I can’t believe I just went there either…
Snapshots of Video Game Criticism
Me: http://tumblr.com/xfc1c6dnl2 I think it's [Darksiders] a miss for people who truly don't like video games.
Kristen: There're lots of games selling today that I would compare to SmashTV, but DMC and GOW? not so much...
Me: Moving from square arena to square arena with a stream of enemies whose deaths lead to the next square arena full of enemies? Sounds like GOW or DMC to me. But that's only a mean to the main point. I dislike how critics will get down on a game because Y (new game) is like X (established ip) but Z (slight variant). Then the reviewer is like, "M'kayp, let's call it a day!" and then goes about his business.
Brandon: DMC arena's aren't very square, and combat is much more nuanced. Also, there are puzzles and exploration that don't exist in Smash TV. You can boil ANY game down to platitudes and base components.
Also, critics have been doing what you're ...describing in other mediums for years movies, art, comics. It's not necessarily wrong of them to make the comparison, even though they may be overlooking something in the process. Sometimes, and really more often than not, something is just like something else only slightly better or slightly worse.
What critics are you referring to when you talk about this though? Criticism is just opinion; I imagine you don't read the critics that do the bad things you're describing, so why worry about what they say?
Me: Well, you basically said my reply, "It's not necessarily wrong of them to make the comparison, even though they may be overlooking something in the process." That's the issue I take with criticism is making the comparison and overlooking the nuances. You and Jim had this discussion earlier, and I think the gist is that you read or listen to better critics than we do.
Brandon: Well, not necessarily better, but critics who I agree with and have spent time learning their gripes and bias. That's the difference I suppose.
But most people overlook the nuances of games, critics moreso than most, because they have a sho...rt deadline to play something in most professional cases. It's not often you see a review of something two months after it released and the critic has been getting into the depth of it. Most of them are getting a shallow - but from start to finish complete - view of it at best.
Demon's Souls is a great example of this. I'll bet dollars to donuts most critics never played through the game more than once or even to completion the first time, spent any time with the PVP aspects, or dealt with the world tendencies. A large number of them simply couldn't beat the first level - and these are critics I like and "trust". It doesn't lessen their opinion of it; the game had a really high barrier to entry. Some loved, some hated it, and some critics I love hated it.
My point is, it seems the vast majority of critics (both good and bad) shy away from learning the nuance of a game, and the games that have ease-you-in-gameplay, tend to review high.
I guess if your goal is to change that, start by reviewing things and coming back to them later in their life cycle.
Me: To be honest, I've done that before. Too Human was a target of a blistering rant from me during one of our podcast episodes. I think I said something to the effect of it being the worst game ever-- I know I had some very clever remark, bu...t I can't recall it. However, my return to the game a year later was a completely different route, avoiding the conceptual thoroughfare of DMC mechanics I initially expected from the game.
The reason for my reexamination, however, was due to my eye-opening realization that I didn't understand CRPGS on a fundamental basis. Honestly, I did not understand skills or talents on a conceptual level.
My second play-through of the game netted a completely different reaction from me, and I sheepishly--albeit graciously-- recanted my previous thoughts on the game.
It's all a process; the honing of one's critical chops take time. The matter at hand unfortunately deals with established critics making these lazy generalizations. I have said before that my generalizations are often made in a mocking tone, but the poignancy is a nuance that I feel is over-looked-- perhaps the provocative nature of the remarks make such nuances moot. I think, retrospectively, I could tone it down, but where's the fun in that?
Brandon: Sure, but having constantly hyperbolic and over-the-top examinations in your reviews means that people likely won't take your critical eye seriously. When you compare two games that clearly don't have that much in common and use that as your weapon of attack, you're going to net this kind of response, and with good reason; it makes people question your perception, and ultimately your judgment.
In fact, if that little paragraph were in a review instead of an op-ed piece, it would turn me off from playing Darksiders.
That being said, I wouldn't play Darksiders anyway because I hate 3D Zelda games.
Me: Well, now-- Wouldn't you say that's a bit of a generalization about me? I understand what you're saying. Sure, hyperbole can often be misconstrued as fanboyism and flame bait. However, such grandiose bravado and rhetoric can grab one's attention; it certainly grabbed yours, no?
I think what you say is true about my rhetoric, and I will hold firm to it. I think I use it tactfully--certainly better than most-- and I want it to repulse and rub people the wrong way. This sort of rhetoric weeds out those that I will not take seriously in the first place.
All trolololing aside, everybody has their own taste in games, and I understand that. But, I think it's incomprehensible how lazy it is to label a game a clone, and then call it a review. Again, this boils down to nuances and details, and I believe those are slowly being taken away from reviews.
For example, IGN is a site I used to love visiting a few years back. Their reviews were by, and large, the best that I saw, and they were massive. They often spent pages and pages explaining how all the mechanics came together in a game. However, their reviews now are merely marketing blurbs and footnotes with a score attached.
Brandon: Yes, it can grab attention in an op-ed piece. No, I do not want it in my criticism of a game. You are clearly writing "for clicks" at that point, and that is less interesting to me as a consumer of information looking to be informed inste...ad of attacked, or as in the previous example, baited by obviously incorrect statements and broad strokes viewing.
And you're right, it is a lazy review to call something a clone... but it is THEIR view of the product. But sometimes calling a spade a spade isn't the wrong answer. They didn't see the thing you saw in it and they might not ever see it even if you point it out to them in a wordy review. That's the downside with reading all criticism, it comes from someone other than yourself. Which is why it's all about finding critics with whom you understand and agree. Criticism seems to be more about bolstering your own existing opinion.
Well, IGN (to me) has always been a shill site despite the breadth of their early reviews. They tend to place everything in the middle of the road to exceptional to maintain relationships (again, to me) rather than be serious about the role of video games in society (and their evolution).
Me: Ahgh, god damn it.. I just wrote a three paragraph statement that somehow got lost in the pipe...
Shit. Well.. TL;DR. You're right, it was a grandiose statement, however it did not appear in a post of mine. I like to exercise caution when I...'m writing. Despite my apparent mishandling of facts, It all worked out in the end to open up a meaningful discussion. The End.
“I have said before that my generalizations are often made in a mocking tone, but...”
– Me (lawl I’m my own best quotable quoter)
christianaaa asked: Aw thankyou, I'm flattered, really. :)
And you know, I don't read that much. I love some Poe, of course, along with some Charlotte Perkins-Gilman-- The Yellow Wallpaper is one of my favorites. I also enjoyed Alison Smith's "Name all the Animals" along with a lot of Historyeqsue books I've read such as Why are all the black kids sitting together in the...
And you know, I don't read that much. I love some Poe, of course, along with some Charlotte Perkins-Gilman-- The Yellow Wallpaper is one of my favorites. I also enjoyed Alison Smith's "Name all the Animals" along with a lot of Historyeqsue books I've read such as Why are all the black kids sitting together in the...
“So avoid using the word ‘very’ because it’s lazy. A man is not very tired, he is...”
– John Keating, Dead Poet’s Society (via deathorgloryy)
Questions?
Even if it’s not a question, I’m all ears right now.
http://dagamdagee.tumblr.com/ask
http://dagamdagee.tumblr.com/ask
On Today's Video Game Criticism
(Regarding Vigil Games’ Darksiders) “I think it’s a miss for people who truly don’t like video games. Sure, it’s heavily rooted in the mechanics of The Legend of Zelda, but that’s such a lazy way to criticize games these days. People think we live in a vacuum, and nothing is good unless it’s totally “original.” Please.. God of War or Devil...
christianaaa:
uptownvoice:
Pansexualism is gangsta.
I like you, I like you a lot.
Zeit² Developer Interview- Brightside Games →
This is why I love what I do; nothing makes me happier than interviewing video game developers who are passionate about what they do. I swear to Gud, I will never get sick of doing this.
lucbernard asked: what did you think of SteamPirates? I guess it's ok, at least it's coming to PSP too, there is a publisher looking after that
Calling it a Night
Love you all, really.
thelonius asked: Well I always meant to ask you this and I never really did so here we go. What exactly is your background in the games industry? Sites you may have freelanced or even worked for, your writing specialty (reviews, editorial, etc.), and whatever else you can share.
lucbernard asked: which game do you think I should focus on getting out more this summer?
Imagination Is The Only Escape or Reaper?
Imagination Is The Only Escape or Reaper?
lucbernard asked: add me on your PSN LucBernard
I kind of don't know what game to get next for my PS3, any advice?
I kind of don't know what game to get next for my PS3, any advice?
So yeah, some questions would be nice right now.
I’ll take anon, personal or whatever else. Seriously— entertain me.
christianaaa asked: Thankyou :)
thelonius asked: To tell you the truth I have no idea. I casually watched it when I had a few poker games with some of my buds, but that was it. But if I had to choose a team i'd say I was rooting for the U.S., Brazil and Ghana. As far as the paper goes, i'm writing it because I cut soccer class a few too many times to go eat lunch. Damn my lunchless school schedule!!!
lastdaysofabittersweetteenager asked: Oh no I am not from there!
I should really be supporting the Colts.. but i dont like them at all..
my main teams in the past 6 years have been the pats,packers & cowboys!
I should really be supporting the Colts.. but i dont like them at all..
my main teams in the past 6 years have been the pats,packers & cowboys!
lastdaysofabittersweetteenager asked: I was just wondering , are you my anon?
