So like many people I picked up FFTA2 last week. Three hours into the game I made a dumb mistake and lost my save file *sigh*.
It's been too long since I played the first FFTA, so I can't do too much comparison, but I found the game to be pretty fun and oddly addictive. In fact, about 80% of the battles/quest I'm currently getting myself into has nothing to do with the storyline. I guess that's one of my rants about the game. I tend to get caught up in trying to get more raw materials to make new weapons at the bazaar and what not, that often times I forget that there's an actual storyline. You could argue that you could skip all these quest and just do the storyline quest, but who doesn't want to learn those new classes or get those new weapons to learn new skills? I'm currently about 14 hours into the game with minimal storyline quests done. This is going to be one long game.
My biggest rant by far would be the main character's clothing of choice. It is one UGLY looking outfit. I know Square-Enix usually doesn't do this bad with the outfits. I remember when I first saw Vaan in FF XII, my eyes were already starting to hurt, but this is beyond ugly. The colors all clash. Come on, what are they thinking about by putting a red hat with that green clover/sash thing? Is it Christmas or something? As you may know there's a class system where you can change classes of the characters. I was praying hard that his clothing would change with the class like all the non-main characters do, but no...he keeps this ridiculous clown outfit.
All I'm asking Square-Enix for are some decent looking outfits. I mean I do have to stare at this guy for the whole duration of the game. Hey, maybe I should be glad he's not a blonde, huh?
Five teenage hoodlums ranging from the ages of 14 to 18 were arrested and charged with first-degree robbery in Nassau County. At 11:30 p.m., They mugged a few people and used bats and crowbars to terrorize and damage property, beating up cars and vans that drove by until they were arrested by police.
"It was determined that they were emulating the character in that Grand Theft Auto game, going on a crime spree, using weapons and tactics inspired by the controversial video game," said Det. Sgt. Anthony Repalone of the Nassau police.
Maybe they were, or maybe they were just terrorizing society because they are misguided youths out looking for trouble at 11:30 p.m.
So does media imitate society, or does society imitate media? Since both are extensions of human nature, the answer can only be both. But as a video game, GTA is just a simulation - a make-believe world where you have no consequences for shooting peoples' heads off or cutting up cops with chainsaws while stoned off your ass.
These troubled teens have learned the hard way that reality doesn't translate well from video games and that they can't get away with everything.
Interestingly, this appears to be a microcosm which mirrors the fate of the makers of Grand Theft Auto.
Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive are literally paying for their controversial success as the Hot Coffee mod class-action was settled. Rockstar reportedly will be paying out $30,000 to 2,676 claims (I KNew I should have signed up!), and Take-Two Interactive is rumored to be stuck with much, much more. Video games and the realities of human nature don't always mix - and GTA looks to forever be the symbol of this fact.
Yesterday we experienced a huge spike in traffic largely due to the popularity of a certain Pokemon post. Eventually we exceeded our bandwidth for the month, and although we were anticipating the spike and tried to increase our bandwidth before we ran out, certain factors beyond our control kept this from happening. We were shut down for about 17 hours before we could remedy the issue. We feel sorry for all those who landed here looking for some insightful commentary only to be disappointed. Regardless, our recent surge in popularity only motivates us more to deliver great content for you, our loyal fans and groupies, to enjoy. Thank you for all the support and admiration - we love you too.
N-Gage? He's not talking about that paper weight, is he? As some of us may remember the N-Gage was Nokia's first attempt to turn a cellphone into a gaming device. And if you remember, it failed miserably. For a handheld gaming device the N-Gage was considered expensive and bulky compared to the Nintendo Gameboy Advance SP at the time. (not even mentioning the small library of games available) The N-Gage as a cellphone was horrible. Not only was that thing too big for pockets, but you had to answer the phone holding the device sideways. Sad to say Nokia made the device a total failure.
Well the reason I brought this topic up is because Nokia has recently brought back N-Gage. This time around the N-Gage isn't a device, but rather an application that runs on a few of their cellphones. When I updated the firmware on my Nokia N95 a few months back I noticed a new application called N-Gage under one of those files, so naturally I opened the program. To my surprise it was a trial of FIFA 2007 and Asphalt (not sure which version since it didn't really interest me at the time). I played FIFA 2007 for awhile and was semi-impressed. I basically just shrugged it off until I heard that the full version of the N-Gage Next Gen was officially out.
I saw great potential. The concept reminded me of the XBox 360, but a handheld mobile version of course. Having a player name was like having an Xbox Live account. I'd gain N-Gage Points from the games I played, I could get rep from fellow players I played with, and of course I could add friends. N-Gage Arena is what I would call a miniature Xbox Live. Of course the most noticable game available is Tetris. Unfortunately the game doesn't have the functionalities to play against another player like the Nintendo DS does. It does however let you put your score online and see how your rank among other players. I haven't played around with alot of the other games yet since it does cost about $14 to actually buy a game. You can try all the games out before you actually buy them, though.
I think if Nokia could get enough great games out there, this time around, N-Gage might not flop.
Sex is probably the last thing people associate with Pokemon, but that doesn't mean pocket monsters can't exhibit sexuality. As sexually suggestive as some Pokemon are, you might think Satoshi Tajiri is crazier than he actually is. Anyway, without further ado, here they are!
#7 - Lopunny
Lopunny poses like a Playboy bunny in a centerfold spread. Or a prostitute working the sidewalk. Either way, it's sexually suggestive. It also grabs its chest area like it's trying to keep you from seeing the goods. And is it just me or do Lopunny's elbows look like a pair of drooping...boobs? There's so much subconscious sexual imagery going on with Lopunny - if I saw one standing like that at a bar, I might just have to take it home with me.
#6 - Tentacruel
Somewhere out there is a monster-tentacle-rape hentai starring Tentacruel as the protagonist. How anyone ever conceived the notion of animated pornography where monsters have their way with girls is incredibly disturbing to me. Regardless, Tentacruel has the luxury of restraining victims and using its free tentacles to do all sorts of unspeakable things with. The only reason Tentacruel is even on this list is purely for all you perverted otaku out there.
#5 - Jynx
Jynx is no stranger to controversy. The original Jynx (pictured) stirred up accusations of racism. Because of this, people tend to overlook the voluptuous vixen Jynx happens to be. It has ample breasts and knows how to accentuate them with its dress. Jynx also has high-speed DSL and submissively long blond hair. It's looking to holler.
#4 - Sudowoodo
Sudowoodo wins the award for "Best Sex Toy Pokemon." This phallic fothermucker makes "twig & berries" redundant. Adult toy stores need to stock up on Sudowoodos for all you kinky cosplayers and Pokephiliacs. In the game, Sudowoodo can learn the move "Harden" through breeding. It even has the word "wood" in its name. And for the record, I named mine "Dyldo" when I caught it.
#3 - Victreebel / Weepinbell
You know that kid in the movie Superbad who really liked drawing penises? Well Victreebel's designer (Ken Sugimori) must have really liked drawing soggy condoms. Its mouth is the ring of rolled up latex and the other side resembles the tip that catches...whatever it is that condoms catch. Is this Nintendo's way of promoting the use of contraceptives and safe sex? Probably not, but we'd like to think so.
#2 - Smeargle
Smeargle has a lot of fun playing...er, painting, with itself. Look at the way it grabs its tail. It chokes up like a chronic masturbator. With suggestive paint oozing down the tip of its third leg, it can splurge all over things like a teenage boy who's out of tube socks. And what's with the eager tongue? If Smeargle can get oral on itself, then it would probably never leave the Poke Ball.
#1 - Lickitung
Lickitung, to me, is the most sexually suggestive Pokemon. Its tongue would make even Gene Simmons jealous. The tongue is one of the most of the most versatile and important muscles when it comes to sexuality, and Lickitung's long, dexterous oral tool could keep many lovers happy. Lickitung is down...to get down!
Well, there you have it - the most sexually suggestive Pokemon. Tune in next week to find out which ones would make the most amorous lovers (Lickitung's already a tongue-up)!
Any time you give human beings a vehicle of expression, they are liable to try to impress you...OR degenerate the medium to portraying the most primal acts and functions. Over the past few days, humanity has been using the Spore Creature Creator to flood Youtube with tons of penis monsters, booby monsters, and vagina monsters. There's videos of monsters (though technically the same monster) bumping uglies. Spore porn (Sporn?) is all over the internet. These people are the kids that made inappropriate phallic Play-Doh shapes in pre-school. Good job, guys. You've really made Will Wright look like a genius. Here are some notable ones...
Spore Boobies
Spore Penis Monster
Spore Porn...with Donkey Punches (not a Smash Bros. reference)!
Modestly endowed
There are thousands of videos and counting. And if there's one thing I've noticed about all the exaggerated sex-organ creatures, well, let's just say you can name a lot of them Richard.
Electronic Arts is getting sued, and it's about time. Karma has finally caught up with them. Two gamers who think they are unlawfully monopolizing football licenses in video games have filed an anti-trust lawsuit. EA currently has the licenses to the NCAA, the NFL and Arena Football League. While it's true the NFL has exclusivity licenses with almost all its licensing, EA exists in a consumer-driven industry and has to endure the wrath of angry gamers.
This anti-trust lawsuit is awesome for gamers, whatever the ruling.
EA is one of the slickest, most conniving video game publishers in the industry. EA is in the business of monopolizing, exploiting, and covering up. They've been involved in several scandals and are notorious for acquiring once-notable studios, only to inevitably close them (Origin Systems, Westwood Studios, etc.).
The EA Spouse scandal still hasn't been forgotten. EA was exposed by its own employees when they complained of 100+ hour work weeks (including weekends...with Saturday evenings off for good code monkeying), and NO overtime compensation (last time I checked, this is one of the most illegal practices a company could do). EA has since come under new leadership, but old habits die hard and such crass treatment of loyal employees isn't something forgotten overnight.
Like any business, EA tries to get any edge it can on its competitors. Buying out smaller studios, acquiring exciting new companies, and getting exclusive licenses are all part of the business. But EA likes to rest on its laurels. It tends to get complacent. Its games start to suck. Since Sega's ESPN 2K series stopped being a threat (save All-Pro Football 2k8) due to the NFL exclusivity license, Madden games haven't exactly innovated (except maybe on the Wii, only because the controls are interesting). But without proper competition to motivate anything other than a roster update each year, EA may as well just sit on its ass and jack around.
Electronic Arts is the Joseph Stalin of video game publishers. It has a loyal fanboy apologist following, some forced alliances, and enemies that despise it. Joseph Stalin simply killed anyone (particularly within his ranks) that may have presented a threat to his power, and that's exactly what EA does with its strategy of acquisition and exclusive licensing muscle. And like a ruthless dictator, EA sucks the life force out of those around it (EA Spouse scandal victims, the souls of hopeless Madden junkies, curses to cover athletes).
As a company that unapologetically takes as much as it can, EA lacks moral and ethical standards. EA is so arrogant they even tried to edit their Wikipedia article from an EA registered IP, deleting paragraphs of criticism and changing other negative information including the EA Spouse scandal incident. If anyone thinks their shit-don't-stank, it's EA.
This anti-trust lawsuit may be the universe's way of restoring balance in the wake of a tyrant.
EA getting sued serves as a message to the biggest bully in video game publishing - the consumers cannot be fooled in the end. The video game industry is heavily consumer-driven and influenced, with this fiasco a testament to that. Regardless of the lawsuit's ruling, gamers can look forward to gaining more leverage on this bullying behemoth. Here are possible outcomes (all are great for gamers):
- EA wins lawsuit, but EA will be reminded that the gamers won't put up with their crap
- EA loses lawsuit, can't have exclusivity license on football games - gamers and other publishers win
- EA loses lawsuit, exclusivity licenses declared unconstitutional - all sporting games benefit
No matter the outcome, gamers can just sit back and enjoy the fireworks. There is no joy like schadenfreude!
AMD and nVidia each have just introduced their latest next generation GPUs. The two companies are taking totally different approaches to improving graphical performance. This comes at a crucial time when GPUs are increasingly becoming the bottleneck for latest games (see Crysis). AMD/ATI's R700 series GPU takes a more traditional approach by improving their older design and simply making it parallel by adding duplicate cores much like a modern multi-core CPU. On the other hand, nVidia's Geforce 200 GPU is a completely redesigned monster with 192-240 stream processors packed into a single die.
I believe ATI's approach will be more scalable due to its parallel nature. The low end RV710 with a single chip should be fairly efficient while packing enough punch to counter the older but effective 8800/9600 series Geforce cards. I predict the RV710 and RV730 to be popular for laptop applications. On the high end, I believe the Geforce 200 design will prevail simply because parallel processing is still not as efficent as it could be to benefit the R700 design with multiple chips. Furthermore, nVidia's proprietary CUDA technology along with their recent aquisition of PhysX will allow the GF200 to be extremely efficient on multiple fronts, not just graphics. This is all speculation for now until we see some benchmarks but I'm hoping that AMD/ATI steals the show this time around as they have been on the losing side on both the CPU and GPU fronts (against Intel's Core CPUs and nVidias 8XXX series GPUs).
Five teenage hoodlums ranging from the ages of 14 to 18 were arrested and charged with 
.jpg)
.gif)
Electronic Arts is the Joseph Stalin of video game publishers. It has a loyal fanboy apologist following, some forced alliances, and enemies that despise it. Joseph Stalin simply killed anyone (particularly within his ranks) that may have presented a threat to his power, and that's exactly what EA does with its strategy of acquisition and exclusive licensing muscle. And like a ruthless dictator, EA sucks the life force out of those around it (EA Spouse scandal victims, the souls of hopeless Madden junkies, curses to cover athletes).
I believe ATI's approach will be more scalable due to its parallel nature. The low end RV710 with a single chip should be fairly efficient while packing enough punch to counter the older but effective 8800/9600 series Geforce cards. I predict the RV710 and RV730 to be popular for laptop applications. On the high end, I believe the Geforce 200 design will prevail simply because parallel processing is still not as efficent as it could be to benefit the R700 design with multiple chips. Furthermore, nVidia's proprietary CUDA technology along with their recent aquisition of PhysX will allow the GF200 to be extremely efficient on multiple fronts, not just graphics. This is all speculation for now until we see some benchmarks but I'm hoping that AMD/ATI steals the show this time around as they have been on the losing side on both the CPU and GPU fronts (against Intel's Core CPUs and nVidias 8XXX series GPUs).