9 February 2002
16 January 2002
HALO sucks.
28 Nov 2001
I've begun ranting again. No good can come from this, especially since my status as math major has caused me to not have to write ANY papers, thus letting my writing skills atrophy completely. This rant is rather scattered, but I'm putting it up for comments anyway.
Multiplayer Games Suck.
29 Aug 2001
I've updated the XBox page enough that I really ought to give it a real place on this site. The latest offense here is that good old MICROS~1 made the controllers in the US TOO BIG for human hands, but since those wily Japs have such small hands, MICROS~1 made the Japanese XBox with smaller controllers. Should you care?
Find out, with my Guide To Why the XBox Sucks.
28 Aug 2001
I recently (at Kicks, as a matter of fact) had the opportunity to play Devil May Cry. If anyone tries to tell you this is a survival horror game, inform the person that he or she is a lying prostitue from SPACE. This game kicks ass. As much as John Woo's movies suck, this game, which plays like a John Woo movie, r0x like Sp0xx!
While the game's character style is rather banal, with stoopid VampyredemonwarlordfromHAYDEES stylings, the monster designs and environments are fantastic. The gameplay, while not immediately intuitive, comes rather nicely with time, and the jump puzzles in the game vary significantly from jump puzzles of yore (read: they don't suck). Jumping, basically, is an automatic thing. Just hit the button close enough to the edge, and the jump is done! It's even easier than it was in Prince of Persia (the only game that's ever successfully made a puzzle out of jumping around).
The action is also very cool, with lots of huge jumps, recoil effects, and monster abilities. You can throw an enemy into the air with your sword and keep them there with akimbo pistols. Infinite ammo makes this a great pastime.
If you ever get the chance to play this game, do. If you ever get the chance to buy this game, do. If you ever get the chance to ramble on about this game, do what I did and do. It's lots of fun.
30 Jul 2001
FF10 is for sucks.
23 Jul 2001
My passion for video games is no secret. When I was first forbidden from having a Nintendo in my youth I was intrigued by them. I was for some reason allowed a Game Boy later on, and PC games were no problem, but my parents had this idea that the console games were a bad influence. This is especially ironic, because console video games are of the highest quality, generally.
Sometimes I would accompany my brother to a friend's house, and he had an NES and a Genesis. Later, he got a Super NES. After we'd seen the wave of first-generation SNES titles, we came across a game I will never forget: Final Fantasy II (US version). This began my passion for console RPG's, and Final Fantasy in particular. I was introduced to the work of a man named Nobuo Uematsu, and later on to the artist Yoshitaka Amano. The mingling of various art forms within a new format for storytelling is one of the most intriguing things I've ever experienced, and I've been eagerly watching the development of console gaming toward being recognized as a legitimate art form.
So I'm setting up this section of the GeorgeBox site as an ongoing homage to great titles. While there is little need now to laud such classics as Final Fantasy 7, there are some new games on the horizon that deserve attention from everyone.
ICO is emerging as one of the most beautifully crafted games ever. It deserves a look from anyone who's interested in any kind of art. Sony is translating it, but not pushing it, so it's up to the fans to do it. Spread the word on this one.
The GIA is a great place to look for intelligent and witty reporting on console gaming news. They don't cover all genres, but they try to make exceptions for games that both deserve and need the extra attention. It really is a great site run by great people, and you'll find me linking to it frequently.
Penny Arcade is one of the funniest and best drawn comic strips I've ever seen, and it just happens to be about games. It's made by a couple of guys who are equal parts PC and console gamers, so they cover a pretty broad spectrum of stuff. There's the occasional inside joke to those who've been following a particular game, but they always provide adequate context in their news updates.
This page is a little disorganized right now, but I'll be sorting it out as time goes on. I've also put up a few thoughts on console gaming at Emulation. Have a look if you're interested.
