Daytona USA Miscellaneous Links

I held off from posting because I already posted a ton of messages already...but I've been hoarding some materials that I guess would come in handy now.

Flattering Daytona USA article - This is from some user BigMex on 1-Up.com.  This is a good read.  It talks about how impressive Daytona USA is.  It also includes a paragraph on Daytona 2.  Props.

I thought this was a very interesting observation:

However these things were done from a Japanese perspective. Japan had more experience with GT and even F-1 racing. Those were cars that were created with racing in mind, rather than regular cars turned into racers by mechanics. The Japanese interpretation of the stock car was, for lack of a better word, dubious. The stock car was a foreign breed, a big and brutish American racer. It was unrefined and garish, much too swollen for racing, brightly painted in contrasting colors, a rolling reflection of the loud gaijin and beer swilling rednecks that adored driving 500 miles in a circle.

That's what's easy to forget.  Daytona USA is first and foremost a Japanese game.  You can't make games like this in America--the most obvious facet being the infamous Takenobu Mitsuyoshi vocals.  But the gameplay is just unusual because these stock cars defy physics...drifting, high top speed, ability to withstand wrecks without exploding; it just shames all American racers IMHO.  Especially considering how stock cars get a bad rap by the populace.

Some guy's Top 100 Racing Games list - This is another user-contributed article.  Surprisingly Daytona USA 2 made the list, among Daytona 1 and OutRun.  It really doesn't make much since since 1 thru 50 is on Page 1...and on Page 2.  So there's two #1 games, #2 games, etc.?  Who cares.

A Hilarious GameFAQs Top 10 list - Let me say this first--THIS LIST WAS FEATURED ON THE FRONT PAGE OF GAMEFAQS.  Repeat, FEATURED ON THE FRONT PAGE OF GAMEFAQS.  This is old, but pretty sad.  Two Burnouts and four Mario Karts.  Why is that these racing games are "money," but when it comes to Daytona USA or even other stuff like Initial D and Ridge Racer it's just crap?  To be fair, he has some "okay" picks like Forza and Test Drive, though Excite Truck negates any shred of credibility there.  Even if the list made sense, the paragraphs are short and do not backup the games very well so screw it.

From Uncyclopedia - WARNING: Don't go lurking around Uncyclopedia since it's NSFW.  It's a site for crude humor and nothing else.  Oh, and here's something from Daytona USA on that site.  Chase OJ in the Bronco using your trusty Police Hornet!  I don't think there's any other Daytona stuff there so don't bother looking.

Top 10 Arcade Games video - If you feel like watching some guy's video on the Top 10 arcade games, go ahead and watch.  Daytona USA is on there, of course.  Not much else to say.

Phantasy Star reference in Daytona 2 - Apparently the phrase "Little Wing" was using in Phantasy Star somewhere.  I know jack about Phantasy Star so if someone wants to confirm this, it would be semi-interesting.

Also, speaking of references, I hear that the space station in the Advanced course in Daytona 2 is a reference to Space Harrier, especially with the alien spider.  I don't believe it...but could that be another reference?  Please confirm that for me too.

Daytona USA Dreamcast thing - Just some article from Saturn Magazine.  For some reason, they use a pic of the Daytona 2 cars when they're actually talking about the Daytona DC game, WTF?  You can see Page 2 of this article plus some stuff on Crazy Taxi and some Dead or Alive pinups here: http://www.outofprintarchive.com/articles/reviews/Dreamcast.html

Sega selling some games - They're doing well in terms of sales now.  This is good news, but mostly thanks to Vanquish, Bayonetta, and Yakuza.  Aside from Yakuza, I'm kind of pissed that everyone attributes Sega for this when all they did was publish it.  I actually talked about this previously here.

A Dead Arcade in Beijing - This is some old UK Resistance article.  It has an unplugged Daytona 2 setup as well as some cool Sonic pictures.  Not much else to say other than it's depressing as all hell.

Outrun, Daytona USA, and other posters - Some nice huge pictures of stuff, let me just post them here.  Use them as your desktop if you want, lol.  Click on the pics to enlarge.

Keiji Inafune leaves Capcom - Ok, I know Mr. Inafune has nothing to do with Sega, but I mentioned him a few times already so let's finish this saga.  He left Capcom after blasting the Japanese game industry and admitting that he hates his job.  He made Mega Man and Dead Rising.  Not much else to say--he may get a job with Platinum Games or something, suffer from a mental breakdown, or retire for good.  God Speed, buddy.  Whatever.

That's it, will be back for more action when I feel like it.

Rock Band 3 Is Making Me Mad

This post is hacky and stupid and I really didn't put a whole lot of thought into making this essay coherent, but here goes anyway...

Well, I took two days off from this blog mostly to get in some Rock Band 3 playing time.  I did not buy the keyboard attachment so I'm just going through on regular old Expert Guitar and now I've beaten the "career" mode.  I tried to make this brief, but that's nearly impossible.  Warning, if you haven't played Rock Band before, a lot of this is gonna be foreign to you so sorry about that.

Soundtrack - I already read the soundtrack list about a month ago and it really wasn't that surprising.  But when I actually got into the game, I thought it was good.  There was some stuff I was delighted to hear, particularly Werewolves of London, The Power of Love, Bohemian Rhapsody, Sister Christian, Fly Like an Eagle, Break On Through, Caught in a Mosh, Whip It, Radar Love, just a lot of "hell yeah" tracks.  This includes stuff I've heard of but didn't know the title/artist of such as The Look, Space Oddity, Everybody Wants to Rule the World, Need You Tonight, and Heart of Glass.  I was like "holy cow, they've got that too?"  Rip a page out of VH1's I Love the 80's I guess (EDIT: I know Space Oddity is from the 60's).

It also seems like someone at Harmonix wanted to get all the Guitar Hero songs because you have I Love Rock and Roll, I Wanna Be Sedated, Smoke on the Water, No One Knows, The Beast and the Harlot, Free Bird, Du Hast, Before I Forget, etc.  So I guess I like most of the tracks in the game.  Although that Marilyn Manson track is just a skidmark on what would be a satisfactory setlist.  Oh, and Imagine is an overrated, heathenous song--oh yeah, I went there.

Full Rock Band 3 Setlist

Keyboards - I'm gonna throw this in here a few days later.  There's two types of Keyboard charts--Normal and Pro.  Normal just plays five notes just like Guitar and Bass.  As a matter of fact, if you beat enough songs, you can gain the ability to play Keyboard charts with the Guitar controller and vice versa.  Unfortunately, the Normal Keyboard charts are absolutely pathetic--just piss easy and not that spectacular.  Chordfests more than anything.  Not to mention that only the RB3 songs and thereafter have keyboard charts.

But you will need the keyboard controller for Pro Keyboards.  This spans the two octaves of the controller and allows you to sink your teeth into some complicated beats...  However, a lot of people have said that this is VERY DIFFICULT to play.  Not because the gameplay sucks, but because it is legitimately hard.  Sounds cool, but I'm not in the mood for a masochistic challenge.

Some Keyboard Demonstration (With Pro Keyboards Too)

Oh yeah, speaking of going Pro, here's Free Bird on Expert Pro Guitar.  BTW, Pro Guitar requires you to use a guitar controller that functions just like a regular old guitar...good luck.

Rock Band 3 Free Bird Expert Pro Guitar

Career - The career's a lot simpler this time.  In the last one, there were a ton of setlists in various cities that you could do anytime you wanted to earn money which can be spent on clothes and instruments.  In this one, career mode is a matter of "going on tour" by doing a few setlists in a row.  For each setlist, you can pick from a few, such as a predefined one with songs from the game or some other random/custom setlist.  You also got kudos for doing certain things like getting streaks or activating overdrive.  Near the end, I started to cherry-pick the easy setlists so I could get the highest ranks.  If you pick a random setlist, you can see which tracks are in it ahead of time, so you can just refresh until you get some easy stuff.

But career mode's more than just beating some setlists.  There's a lot of goals that aren't particularly attached to any Xbox Achievements, such as "5-star all songs on Expert," or "Get a streak of 500 notes on the keyboard."  This of course leads to my next point..

Characters - I guess it's worth mentioning that the characters have more fluid animations and generally look better.  This is one of the most notable things off the bat.  I like making characters, it's more fun than just playing with the default dudes IMO.  But there's one glaring problem--only a max of 10 characters per profile.  What's up with that?  It was 24 back in RB2 which makes no sense why it would drop by less than half...I guess it has to do with the fact that you can now fine-tune a character's facial features instead of using these cookie-cutter choices.  But really man, it's the year 2010, we're not on PS2 anymore, what's wrong with MORE THAN TEN CHARACTERS???  But forget about that for now...

The thing I really don't like is that because you don't have money in the game, you can select any clothes you want...but a lot of it is locked from the beginning.  No problem right...I just beat the career mode and that's fixed, right?  Well, no, not even close.  You have to beat career challenges to unlock items.  First of all, there's some challenges like "5-star all songs on Pro Guitar or Keys" when I don't even have either peripheral, thereby making it impossible.  Second, some of them are ridiculous even if I could do them, like "Get a Double Awesome rating on all vocal harmonies."  This requires two LOCAL players doing 64 songs.  What do you get for completing this?  A horse mask.  That's right, all of that for a lousy horse mask.  The character creation was a lot more simpler in RB2, it just pisses me off that I can't even make 2/3rds of the characters that I wanted to in RB3.

Imports - At first, I was led to believe that all 84 songs from RB2 would import to RB3.  But no, it wasn't until we actually got the game that this wasn't true.  Five big songs didn't make it to RB3: Any Way You Want It, Spoonman, Battery, Give It Away, and Let There Be Rock.  Also, Dani California and Black Hole Sun from RB1 didn't make it to.  I'm not torn by this, but if they had given us a warning, then maybe it wouldn't have bothered me so much.

Overdrive - Overdrive is RB's version of "star power."  Unlike RB1 and 2, they did away with Band Unisons.  Before, if you're playing two or more players and you come to a bunch of OD segments that everyone has at the same time, if everyone nails it, you get double the OD as usual (half the bar).  If someone screws up, then anyone who hit the segment just gets the normal amount (1/4th the bar).  However, in RB3, you can get the double OD boost from these sections regardless of other players.  This means when playing alone, these sections still offer two times the OD as regular sections.  I thought this was kind of dumb since the only reason they did it was to tell players what their solo score would be in a multi-player game...

Online - In RB2 quickplay, this is how online worked.  Person picks a song, you play it, repeat.  When it comes to downloaded songs, you can only play them if EVERYONE in the room owned that song.  So basically, you can have three people that own all RB DLC, but one who has none and you can't play anything. Otherwise, when you go through the list to find a song, it's greyed out which means it can't be picked.  That wouldn't bother me so much but for this...

Now for someone like me who has over 600 DLC, it is a HUGE INCONVENIENCE to have to sift through a list of greyed-out songs just to find the 10 or so DLC songs that the other guy has.  I mean, WHY THE HELL ARE THE GREYED-OUT SONGS THERE?  WHAT POINT DOES IT SERVE OTHER THAN TO TELL ME THE SONG CAN'T BE PICKED???  GET RID OF THE GREYED OUT SONGS SO I CAN GET TO A SONG I WANT MORE QUICKLY!!!

All songs are greyed-out except for Headphones On...which is a free song BTW.

Oh and guess what.  In Rock Band 3, IT'S THE SAME THING.  SIFTING THROUGH A LIST OF GREYED-OUT SONGS, WASTING EVERYONE'S TIME.  At least it works somewhat differently this time--instead of one song at a time, everyone picks one song and makes a setlist which you play in one sitting which I guess isn't that bad but still doesn't really solve the problem.  EDIT: Although I just realized that anyone can start tacking on songs to the setlist and screw everything up.  Picking one song at a time seems like a nicer format now.  You need to play with people who have proper "etiquette" to get a seamless game going now.

Also, for some reason, when you play online, your note chart may be off to the side as opposed to centered in the middle.  If I'm playing online, I'd like to see my screen in the center like in RB2.  But here, I have to veer off to the side which just throws me off a little.

Five Players - How online works is that you can have a drummer, a singer, and TWO OF THE THREE--a guitarist, a bassist, and a keyboarder.  The keyboarder can play Guitar/Bass tracks but it still stinks that you can't have the "full band," that we were promised.  Or you can in All Instruments Mode (AIM)...but you have to play offline to do it.  And even then, I hear that the vocalists don't contribute points to the final score.  It feels a bit hacky and I'll probably never get into it for obvious reasons...

Other Stuff - I don't know if there's some sort of competitive modes.  I know that there's no Face Off, but I hear that there's some sort of "eight-player mode" where you can have two bands compete, but I have yet to figure that out.  EDIT: Actually, there is no such thing, I think.

Also, there are no local leaderboards in the game.  It's all online.  While I don't have a problem with that, if you live by online databases, you die by online databases.  Comparing your high scores is somewhat easier now, but still a tad aggravating.

Conclusion - There's some other stuff I have yet to mention, but it's really not worth it.  Overall, it's not bad, but for being the third game in the franchise, there's still some loose ends to fix that just frustrate me.  I'm starting to miss Rock Band 2.  Oh, it's not possible to go back to RB2 anymore since all DLC songs released from here on out is NOT compatible in RB1 or 2, just RB3.

This isn't a review, but I'll get back to you later when things cool off.

Lol BlizzCon, Plus WoW Rant

Hmm, let's see, first you take this, which is a damn fine start I might add...:

Then throw in Tenacious D in concert...

Then add this "comedian" Jay Mohr who reads jokes off a freakin sheet of paper and there you go.  Blizzcon, the most annoying place in the world to be.  Stay cool, dudes.

------------

EDIT: Now, let me just throw this in here too about World of Warcraft.  Let me make this brief cause it needs to be said eventually.  Now I don't like it.  It's not a "bad" game per se, but there's something about it that really stinks.  I've come to the conclusion that there's two reasons why people play it:

1. As a means to socialize with friends and strangers with your own little avatar and interactive environments.

2. Because you have nothing better to do.

I'm serious about 2.  I know a couple of people who really have nothing going for them at the moment so they give the game a shot.  Some of them become addicts while to others, it just rubs off.  The concept of leveling up and becoming stronger just makes me feel like a hamster running on the wheel.  And no, I've never, ever played the game before, not even for a minute.

My brother played WoW in the past and I've asked "What makes this game particularly exciting?"  He talked about these big raids and clicking on stuff and how there's all this strategy involved.  I guess it works like Pokemon in that you need to use the right moves at the right time, but it still doesn't sound like my cup of tea.  I'd rather play games that take "active" skill to play, like FPS, racing--the kind of stuff that commandeers your attention and makes you lock on and actively work to improve at.  Seriously, criticize Microsoft Achievement Points all you want, but at least those require you to play vastly different games to get, plus they're not mandatory unlike the leveling up in WoW.

And another thing, whatever happened to Warcraft III?  Did people forget that ever existed?  At least that game requires strategy and dexterity, but in WoW, you're just clicking on little animals ad nauseum to reach that next level or obtain that next stupid thing.  You'd think the game was a more elaborate version of Farmville...

I'll tell you that I know plenty of people here at college who play it and I'll be frank--I don't know any normal people who play this game.  Well, maybe one or two, but the ones who are "normal" probably went cold turkey from the game a long time ago--I'm not actively following them.

And what's sad is that I had a friend in high school who I was cool with.  We played computer games, Advance Wars on the DS, just hung out with someone who didn't seem deterred by my presence.  Then we went to college and became roommates (in private bedrooms, not shared).  Needless to say, he started to get into WoW, smelled weird, I didn't know what the hell happened.  Eventually he just dropped out of college and I never saw him again.  And then you've got my brother and his friends, some who are already long gone (one friend went from brimming with enthusiasm to emo depressed in a matter of years) while my brother went cold turkey and now he's working out, playing some Halo, having fun.

So really, I don't know what the hell's up with WoW and I know some people reading this may like the game.  But come on people, step back and re-evaluate your lives if you're in dire straits...

Oh, and if any smart aleck says "Well I don't know any normal people who play Daytona USA," then let me direct you to the OutRun Online Arcade board where there are many normal people who play these games so kiss my ass.

Nagoshi-San And Osaki-San

I was just looking around for random stuff and I stumble upon more Nagoshi stuff.  Look, I don't 100% know who's "responsible" for the Daytona series.  Nagoshi owns AM4 or Amusement Vision.  However, AM2 was responsible for making Daytona 1/2 and Scud Race, athough Yu Suzuki (AM2 guy) didn't really have anything to do with it.  It kind of sucks that every time you read about Nagoshi, you hear Yakuza and Super Monkey Ball...nothing on Daytona (or even F-Zero even).  But whatever, I've already posted that old interview he gave back in '04 and how lukewarm he was about Daytona games so now you know.  Here's some links:

Toshihiro Nagoshi's blog - Translated for you.  Read the left, likes drinking.  Need any more proof he's an alcoholic?  Most of the posts are "thank you's" and "I did this or that thing," kind of like Twitter.  I guess if you want to dig in and read further, go ahead and tell me what you find.

Toshihiro Nagoshi's book on...making video games and doing good in the neighborhood - Japanese book so I can't read it, fantastic.  Something about inspiring game developers and stuff.  At least it mentions Daytona USA in the description although I really don't know what the book's about.  Translate it for me, please?

Toshihiro Nagoshi some speech thing - Crappy English translation. Briefly goes over Grand Theft Auto and how he doesn't like how immoral it is...also talks about how he was poor and graduated from art school.  A bit long-winded and the translation doesn't help make it more understandable.

Toshihiro Nagoshi Wikipedia - Mostly links to interviews.  Credits him as "Special Thanks" in Daytona USA, but I don't believe that.  I believe he was the producer of these games.  But how much involvement he had with those games I really don't know.

But I'm gonna say this.  I think there's someone who's more involved in Daytona than Nagoshi.  His name is Makoto Osaki.  He's this dude in the glasses who was the director of Daytona USA 2.  As a matter of fact, I have these interviews from him where he spills his guts on the game and demonstrates more enthusiasm on the games than Nagoshi ever did.  Not only that, but I believe Osaki also worked on OutRun 2...so who's the Sega racing mastermind...?

This is an old pic on my computer that I believe was back in '94 or around the release of Daytona 1.  This is the AM2 team.  Osaki is the guy with the glasses in the upper-left corner.  Nagoshi's in the bottom center with the big-ass forehead.  Notice how "normal" Nagoshi looks in this pic.

And more Osaki stuff:

From the Daytona 2 study guide on my Photobucket.  Click on the pics to enlarge them.

Daytona 2 Staff Roll: Nagoshi is producer, Osaki is Director.  Oh and how about this:



Some interview, this one in English.  Click to enlarge.

So I think it's really interesting that we almost got an Egyptian course...in Daytona USA 2?  HA that would've been cool, but they did away with that because it's too Scud Race-ish.  But really, why is it that Osaki traveled around, got his hands dirty, and discussed everything but not Nagoshi?  Where is he?  Hitting up the bars and tanning salons again?

Makoto Osaki Kikizo Interview - Kikizo is a good site since they've got lots of interviews with Sega people, plus they really, really liked OutRun 2.  But anyway, there's little info about Osaki out there...not even a Wikipedia page.  This interview's mostly about Virtua Fighter so you lost me there.  But at page four or five, he deviates to other stuff...like check this out:

Kikizo: So, do you still enjoy first-person shooters...

Osaki: Yes. YES. [laughs]

Kikizo: ...and what have you been playing recently?

Osaki: I've been playing Call of Duty 4, actually. Our clan is really strong, one of the best in Japan! We're definitely one of the best 4, at least. [laughs] I really like Battlefield: Bad Company, as well. I've been playing them all on my Xbox 360.

Kikizo: So are you looking forward to Gears of War 2?

Osaki: I can't play that one at home, though. There's kids in the house! It's way too violent! Maybe after they go to sleep.

HAHA, that's pretty cool.  This guy's my kind of guy...raising his kids, playing fighting games, etc.  Just wish he talked more about Sega racers, but not really.
 
So is this guy responsible for Sega racing goodness?  I don't know.  Like I said, I can't be sure who's responsible for what.  I just wonder who's gonna get the ball rolling on another Sega racer...if there ever is another one, of course.  Let me know more if something comes up.  I got lost in this post so it's mostly informative.  So adios.

Sega's Not The Only One Who's Deplorable

As a Sega/Daytona USA fan, I beat my head against the wall every single day knowing that the window of opportunity for a new Daytona game is slowly closing, only to be slammed shut by a myriad of shallow racing titles.  My body aches and groans every day because of this.  Screaming at the TV, at the laptop, in the car, at my family and friends, it never ends.

This is what my blog is for.

But other than my Daytona USA brethren, there's many others out there who have similar grievances.  Well, obviously, you got Dreamcast nerds who want Shenmue 3, but I already mentioned that.

http://kotaku.com/5667294/mother-4-in-development-by-fans-not-nintendo

Now I saw this Kotaku article which is kind of interesting.  It's about Mother/Earthbound.  Some fans are trying to make Mother 4 at the risk of getting a Cease and Desist from Nintendo.  Although thanks to this informed Kotaku commenter, Shigesato Itoi (Earthbound's creator) said he wouldn't mind a Mother 4 from the fans.  Clearly, these people have been teased by Nintendo for a long time.  Kind of like that Sega Racing Classic release back in Q3 '09 which led everyone to believe there would be new Daytona content for consoles, but no, it was just a re-release of an existing game for the same platform.

DAMMIT

Oh, and by the way, if you're confused, Mother 1 and 3 were never released in America.  Earthbound = Mother 2 in America.

Anyway, I kind of knew about Earthbound cause this summer, I took some interest in the game and did a lot of research purely out of curiosity...  I think everyone knows about Ness from Smash Bros, DUH.  I never actually played the game though so don't get any ideas.  I think this dude does a much better job of explaining the series than I do (some profanity, but not much):

http://www.retrowaretv.com/home/HappyVideoGameNerd/HVGNEpisode12/tabid/239/Default.aspx

It's interesting that after being disappointed for so long, some people actually rally and do something about it.  Make stuff.  I can't imagine these people working on such a game and actually make it good, but I don't know.  Yeah, they have my support.  Hey, I guess working on projects like these are a step above jumping up and down like a four year old.  Also websites, blogs, fan art, fan fiction, third-party game mods, whatever.  Hey, do Forza 3 cars count?

Oh yeah, I guess it goes without saying that all parties applicable say their games are massively underrated.  You know what I'm talking about.

The only different between their cause and ours is that...well...they have a lot more people going for them.  At least they have big ass websites like these while we have...uh, some blogs and a Geocities page here and there.  Oh yeah, and they have their own games on consoles while I can't even play Daytona 2 or Scud Race anymore, that sucks ass.

Nintendo, you suck.

Anyway, what I'm really trying to say is that everyone has their own battles to fight.  I think I briefly touched on this before.  It's inevitable that many people will be disappointed by games.  I mean, game devs are people too so they and the fans are never in mutual agreement.  You can't expect to be "entitled" to these games cause you never get what you want 100% of the time.

Hopefully it doesn't lead to this.  Stay classy, fans.

I guess this is how I picture it--there is a sudden massive disaster in a highly populated area, such as a flood or a zombie outbreak. Some people make it to safety (or were already there, in this case, the losers who only play games released in the last month whom are never disappointed), but others die. That's just the breaks. Oh yeah, and this is figurative cause dying is worse than not getting a video game, I know.

I can't even begin to explain how much it sucks, but you do whatever you can in your power to improve your situation. I mean, if you're trapped in a burning building, you try to get out because that's all you can do. If you're playing a round of golf and you screw up bad early and are embarassed on national TV, you have to keep playing cause that's all you can do (sorry Tiger).  If your family is sick, you have to take care of them because that's all you can do.  So yeah, sorry everyone, that's life.

"Face reality as it is, not as it was or as you wish it to be." - Jack Welch (ex. General Electric CEO).  Whether or not I've been breaking this quote, I don't know.  Hey. it's a good one so even if I'm delusional, at least you don't have to be.

Speaking of which, besides the Daytona 2 Forza 3 cars, I have something else I was working on that may not be that spectacular to some, but I may show it someday, so stick around and maybe you'll find out...

Wow, There Do Exist Other Daytona Fans Out There

I do random searches for new Daytona USA pics and I searched this deviantArt site for some Daytona USA stuff.  There's not much new, except for this (these pics may take a while to load):

And as a bonus, the Bird Line AI car:

INCREDIBLE WORK, WELL DONE.  Got all the details down right.  Click here to see the gallery as to give credits where it's due.  If you check around sometimes, you may find some new stuff.  EDIT: This is for Nascar Racing 2003 (the D-Univ II cars are anyway, probably not the Bird Line car).

Uh...I've heard about this Daytona Universe thing where these folks attempt to recreate all the Daytona cars plus more in some PC NASCAR game.  As a matter of fact, in my Daytona 2 Forza 3 video, I had some guys from that group post with extreme excitement.  So these pics above were made this month (October '10).  Obviously, they had to use my Daytona 2 book resource that I've posted two million times already.  I saw some of the old work that they did and it was way off.  Like here's the old Chums Gum:

Not as close as last time.

And then I expect these guys to recreate the Hornet, Grasshopper, Falcon, Phoenix, Oriole, Max, whatever cars are in those other Daytona games.  Too bad most of their old work was already deleted, as if they were ashamed of it.

Of course, I looked around like all hell for some reference to the stuff I posted but it seems to evade me...so all I know is that somehow, my material got around.  I didn't expect to get credit for it, but it wasn't my material to begin with...it was Sega's.  Thankfully, they're too lazy to try to get me for copyright infringement in the first place, haha.

Oh boy, you have NO IDEA how gracious I was to pick up this Daytona 2 book in the first place.  It changed everything.  I mean, I was getting REALLY PISSED OFF at the lack of Daytona 2 content on the web, but this helped kickstart the process of raising attention to this game...

Oh yeah, I did find two links to some Daytona 2 websites.  Here they are:

http://racegame.org/daytona2/ - This site is super-old but it has some neat stuff on it, mostly tips on how to improve your games. 

http://www.daytonausa2.webs.com/index.html - Copies some stuff from the above site, but it's relatively new.  The guy posted pics of my Forza 3 cars but not to my Photobucket, what's the deal?

I probably have a few loose ends I forgot, but I have about a billion tabs open in Internet Explorer right now so I'm gonna get rid of the clutter and end it now.

Making Progress Ladies And Gentlemen

I edited some of the sliders on the blue background image to make the text easier to read.  If there's anything else you recommend, go ahead and give me feedback...if anyone is interested in doing such a thing.  I might change back to the more vibrant, older background but we'll see.  I don't think there's anything else I can really do because the default HTML code is only so flexible...good enough as is, I would've never guess I'd have a blog this snazzy six months ago.

------------

Also, I would like to mention the situation with the 33 miners in Chile...it was a great story, these guys making it out alive, the lengths we go to to save people's lives.  Obviously I'm glad we get a good story like this in the news.  I don't like that some people are making publicity stunts out of this, like internet memes and stuff.  I mean, this isn't Kanye West interrupting the Grammy's or whatever, these are people's lives we're talking about.  If these miners want to go out and be celebrities, that's their choices.  But other people, just back off.

Lol.

------------

But, I tell you what, I'm going to get personal here.  I'm going to make this rather brief.  This week has just been terrible for me.  No this doesn't have to do with Saints games or sucking at Rock Band, this is new.  Yes, it's not nearly as bad as being stuck in an Chilean underground mine, but it's worse than most.  I've been blindsided by some stuff at school, mainly that I may have missed some English classes due to confusion on AP English credits--my English Literature credits don't apply to regular English...  Therefore I may not graduate this semester as expected.  I feel that I can work my way out of this--I'm going to sit down with the English Department Head and work something out and I've received support from other advisors.  Still, I don't know how this slipped through the cracks, among other things.  Apparently my advisors completely missed it, I don't know...

If I have to go back to college for one more semester (maybe two in a worst case scenario), then I'll just be devastated.  I've been at Southeastern Louisiana University for 4 1/2 years, I've seen everything, talked to everyone, eaten all the cafeteria food...it's time for a new slate.  I want to go to this video game school and pursue my dreams.  I don't want to wait until I'm really old to get there, the time to proceed is NOW, not later.  I'm about 22.6 years old, I don't know how much longer I can postpone this.

This among other things, like my inability to study really well for tests, doesn't really work me up as much anymore.  If anything like this happened a few years back or further, I would panic like all hell.  But now, I'm just incredibly apathetic.  It doesn't really bother me anymore.  Sometimes, you just can't perform like you used to.  Like in basketball, the ball will always bounce off the rim instead of go in.  Or in golf, you can't hit the shot straight.  It's always minute stuff that throws you off.  Anyway, that's all.  I'm not too upset, I'll get through, but I'm not in a really good mood now.  Just tired and burned out.  It's always good to be at home and relax.

I may tell you why I feel so burned out later, but let's just say that I've worked extremely hard for the last eight or nine years of my life and now I think it's finally caught up to me.

Split/Second...Again

NOTE: Maybe I am being a bit too harsh in this post.  Today was miserable.  So take this with a grain of salt...a microscopic grain of salt (just a single NaCl ion) cause you know I'm right.

DISCLAIMER: I know that Split/Second isn't THAT bad of a game.  It has good production values, cool environments, a lot of people like it for some reason, and at least it's not a Fast and the Furious game.  But strap yourself in for another beatdown, that's all I have to say.

Split/Second just $20 at Best Buy?  Go ahead, check it out if you want, although I don't recommend it.  Lol, bargain bin fodder in just a split-second?  Haha, that's gold.

Just looking at this screenshot makes me piss my pants...oh wait, no it doesn't.

And then I was looking at the Joystiq review for this game out of sheer curiousity and here's what I got out of it:

Split/Second isn't a game that glorifies the fundamentals of racing. These are represented, sure; folks familiar with the genre will likely be drifting and drafting onto the podium within the first few races. More than that, though, Split/Second rewards players who quickly master the art of catastrophe evasion -- an art which frequently requires you to navigate cinematic hazards mimicking Lando's narrow escape. It's a winning recipe that provides some of the most satisfying thrills I've ever experienced while behind the wheel of a virtual automobile.

Cause we're too lazy to make a game that requires technical skill.  NOOOO, THAT'S NOT WHAT THE KIDS WANT, THEY WANT EXPLOSIONS AND COOL EFFECTS and so forth...  I mean, really, this seems like a Burnout clone, but instead of running into traffic, you trigger explosions and stuff.  You don't need to go all-out simulation handling like GT or Forza, but don't copy and paste Need for Speed or Blur's handling code in here and say "Yo quiero conducir rápido!!" and think it's gonna fly by me.

If I wanted to play a game with explosions, I would stick with San Francisco Rush.  Wow, that game was pretty cool, but this...oh man.

The premise for the game's single-player campaign is that you're a (presumably highly paid, steely-nerved) stunt driver competing in a series of televised races. Each of the campaign's 12 episodes are broken down into four events, one bonus event which unlocks after wrecking a set number of opponents, and one "Elite" race, which you must come in third or higher in to move onto the next episode.

Sorry, but MegaRace beat you to the whole "TV demolition race" concept by 17 years.



As a matter of fact, Split/Second is practically a ripoff of MegaRace...guys driving fast cars, destroying opponents with weapons, sweet...freakin slackers.  Ok, it's not a total ripoff, but pretty close!

Also, more than half of the cars handle as though they aren't actually cars at all, but rather, slabs of margarine molded into the shapes of cars. You can choose to not drive these uncontrollable buttercars for most of the events, but the time trial "Detonation" mode usually locks you into the game's slipperier vehicles.

Split/Second defies so many of the tropes I've come to expect from the racing genre in recent years. It doesn't possess the customization features of a Forza or a Need For Speed, and it lacks some of the arcade-friendly gameplay variety offered by a Mario Kart and a Blur. However, more than any other racer that precedes it, Split/Second creates dramatic tension and cinematic thrills in every single race, and it almost always leaves you trembling after crossing the finish line.

I'm trembling too because I get seizures whenever I think about this ADD-laden piece of trash.  Seriously, if you need all those explosions to make an "intense" racing game, you're doing it all wrong.  See Daytona 1/2, OutRun, etc.

Think I'm making up the ADD part?  You ever watch MTV shows or whatever and notice how they change the frame every half-second?  The reason they do that is to catch your attention and turn you into a drooling simpleton who can't turn away.  So look at the Split/Second trailer and tell me if the frame changes don't convey my point.

Besides, I'll say this and it'll seem even more controversial...I played the demo for this and I thought it was BORING.  Just me cruising, dodging a slab of concrete or an exploding barrel, not even that good of sense of speed.  I suppose if I were racing against stiffer competition, it would be more exciting, but still, just gimmicky more than anything.  Get in the lead, you win.  Press a button and something explodes.  Dare I say, just like Mario Kart?  So maybe the demo is just crap but really, come on people.

Ultimately, it's a game about driving into explosions, and attempting to come out the other side unharmed. I don't know about you, but that seems to me like a genre worth supporting.

You're a toolbag.

Oh, and one more thing for all the Split/Second fanboys, tell me if this doesn't ring a bell:

Lest you forget, this is 2010, not 2000, not 1990, etc.

No really, if you think I'm blowing hot air, check out my mini-review here and shove it.  Seriously, take Blur over this (although Blur sucks too, but is less sucky than Split/Second).

Really, the reason why I'm using this game as a punching bag (among others) is because it kind of pisses me off to see these huge-ass game studios put this monstrous amount of effort into something so shallow...now all the other racing devs will try to emulate this because it's "the coolest."  And another thing, how long can this game last once the visceral pleasure of dodging explosions wears off...  Hence why this game's price has dropped to $20.

Whatever people, just go back to Burnout, problem solved.

Sonic 4 Sucked?

It has come to my attention that Sonic 4 is now out.  Ok, that's great, but I'm not too hyped up over it.  Remember this game's made by Dimps (guys responsible for Sonic Rush, etc.) and not Sonic Team.  But from what I've heard, there's a lot of people complaining about the physics engine.  Go ahead and check out this guy, it's quite long but pretty interesting:



What I see here is that they wanted to "slow down" Sonic so that they can put more control in the player's hand and increase precision.  Kind of like Mario.  Sonic is now a bit more like Mario in that you can keep from speeding around into oncoming obstacles/bottomless pits, but that doesn't explain the fact that some of the physics are just downright questionable (such as rolling down hills, not curling up into a ball when going off a ramp, going through loops, etc.).  To me, just from looking at the video, I'd prefer the old Sonic controls.

Despite complaints, reviewers seem to be giving this good scores in the 7-8 range so at least this game's not a total bomb.  A lot of people are enjoying it anyway so good for Sega:

http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-3/sonic-the-hedgehog-4-episode-1/critic-reviews

The thing I find most weird about this game is that they basically rip a lot of stages out of Sonic 2...like you go from Sonic 1 to 2 to 3, you notice that they use a lot of different backdrops.  For being a sequel to Sonic 3 & Knuckles, it feels awfully derivative.  Well, remember that this is Sonic 4: Episode 1 so maybe the next ones will be more unique.  This game costs 1200 MSP ($15) so I guess it's a decent deal considering the graphical update.

Speaking of Sonic, I better get back to Sonic Adventure.  Let's at least survive to Friday first so I can get stupid school out of the way.

------------

NOTE:  Also worth mentioning that Gran Turismo 5 is delayed to the around Christmas, a month later...I sure hope we get this, eventually...

OutRun Online Arcade Removal A "Legit" News Story Now

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/30919/End_Of_Ferrari_Deal_Pulls_Segas_OutRun_Online_Arcade_From_XBLA_PSN.php


http://kotaku.com/5662675/an-outrun-game-is-about-to-be-terminated

It's really kind of funny now how my friend isamu noticed this about two weeks ago, yet now it's official news.  Then again, it's not like people cared about this game until one person leaked this, then they jump on the bandwagon.  So we're sad that ORA is only available for Xbox 360, but it gets worse.  The Xbox 360 version will be removed at the end of 2011 because of an expiry on the Ferrari license.

And do you want to know WHY this is happening?  This Eutechnyx developer is making another game called Ferrari: The Race Experience which is killing OutRun 2.  Isn't that great?  So basically, this Eutechnyx company, responsible for such gems as 007 Racing and Big Mutha Truckers, gobbles up the NASCAR (and thus the Daytona) and Ferrari licenses, thus screwing Sega twice.  Geez man, this pisses me off.  No new Daytona game, no new OutRun game.  EDIT: Ok, so the Daytona license is overpriced but not exclusive but come on, two games mirroring Sega classics back-to-back...it's just weird how this company breaks out all of a sudden with this kind of stuff.  I find it somewhat intimidating...

Of course you could still release these, but you have to use these crappy generic logos which would really be a burden on the games IMO...  Like if I see a Daytona/OutRun game with these phony baloney generic cars like in Split/Second, it would irritate me very much.  If they can make the cars look exactly identical to the originals, then maybe not so much, but still, it may be copyright infringement if you copy the original designs anyway.

------------

Now about this news story.  The main reason why this is reported is because it's another instance of digitally-downloaded content being removed forever.  Like Paperboy, Root Beer Tapper, and other Midway games.  I've already touched on that before--this isn't new.  But it does make you think, all these GREAT arcade games and downloadable content (like Rock Band songs) you can download from servers, it's such a wonderful convenience!  Until it gets removed from the server forever and then it becomes a relic of the past.  You can't just run to the store and buy a hard copy of these games.  We saw this back when the original Xbox's plug was pulled, and now I'm worried about stuff like Perfect Dark.

There's no guarantee that Microsoft will get rid of this stuff any time soon, I mean, unless they want half the gaming community to riot.  As a matter of fact, if I were a game developer who watched my product disappear into thin air, I would be PISSED.  Let me repeat that, PISSED.  Games like Limbo, Braid, and Castle Crashers are in harm's way too.

This is just evident of how the game industry works.  Release a game, then kill it about five years later, only to be replaced by the next cool thing.  I don't like it, I don't like it at all.

Now you might say, "So what, these new games will be better than the old ones!"  Really?  There's no guarantee!  Let me give you a good example--Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.  The old ones were great (2, 3, 4, Underground), but after that, the series went to crap.  So there is no guarantee that the new ones are good.  Or even worse, what if there is NO sequels to be heard of?  Some games off the top of my head are Advance Wars, Star Fox, Monster Rancher, DAYTONA USA, I could go on.  Now these aren't digitally-downloaded games--you own hard copies of these (thank God), but if they were downloaded, then that's another story.

I think I'm blowing this way out of proportion, but who knows.  Five years down the road, this could be a damn big deal.  I think the way to at least alleviate this somewhat is to make all content free and available to transfer from console to console, but Microsoft's stupid policy of prohibiting games not purchased by the original account just gets in the way.  So that's great, you can still have the game on the hard drive, but you can't play it.  You can't "prove" that you were the original owner because the servers are down forever.  I hope MS does something about this, but I don't think so.

...........

But now, back to OutRun 2.  It kind of pisses me off that the fact that we won't have OutRun 2 is secondary to the DLC issue.  So no OutRun 2, now some people are running to its defense, shedding tears.  Which is good, but where were these people back when the game was released?  These are the same people that IMO either A. didn't play the game at all or B. played the demo, but went back to playing Burnout afterwards.  Like take a look at this comment from Luke Plunkett of Kotaku:

So it's an Xbox 360 exclusive! Well, not really. The Xbox 360's exclusivity is temporary, with that version scheduled to be removed from Xbox Live Arcade in December 2011. After which, the game will just be...gone.

Which is a damn shame, as I loved it. Blue skies, fast cars, big drifts...it's a fantastic racer. Or should I say, was a fantastic racer.

I don't know.  It's flattering so I do have to give the guy credit.  But come on people, I'm not buying all of it.  Besides, this game's still available on the PS2/Xbox (with more content I might add) so are you going to go out and buy that too?  At least this news will increase ORA sales a little which is good to see this game get some exposure again. 

Anyway, that's about it.  Of course, you should go buy ORA if you haven't already.  It's just 800 MSP ($10) so if you don't get it, you're an idiot.  Plus not to mention that the PS2/Xbox OR2 games are about $5 in bargain bins at GameSpot so that's a great deal too.  Goodbye.

Quickie Links And Stuff For Everyone (Daytona/OR2, Nagoshi, Inafune, Goldeneye, Split/Second)

First off, I heard that OutRun Online Arcade was pulled from the Playstation UK Store because of the Ferrari license has expired which sounds stupid.  Why keep the 360 version but not the PS3 version (although I'd rather have one version instead of none).  So maybe it's not Sony's fault per se but it's still ridiculous.  I talked about this previously.

Now it's time for some informative links:

Daytona USA to OutRun2 Conversion Project - This one's actually quite old, but still worth looking at if you haven't.  Guy takes an old Daytona USA cabinet then tries to re-wire the Xbox into it for OR2.  He actually does this with two old cabinets so that he can get some link play going on, very neat.  It has plenty of pictures for you to look at.  The Model2 boards are fried so he actually can't play Daytona on it anymore...and this was before the Nebula Model2 emulator became popular so he was out of luck if he ever wanted to play Daytona on it.  But still if you want to check out what's going on inside of an arcade cabinet, be my guest.

More Split/Second DLC - This is the second DLC available for the game thus far.  Really, how's this game's popularity base faring to warrant all this?  Hey, I wonder what's going on with Blur, if it's still alive and kicking...

Also, I would like to bring up this point, talking about Split/Second, Blur, Burnout, you name it.  If I don't support these games, does that make me a bad person?  It's all about driving cars right, a passion for racing (even if it's laden with OCD aspects like big explosions, etc.) ?  The racing genre is in big trouble--I've touched on this for al ong time.  If these games that the devs bank on fail, then odds are you won't see much of anything to proceed it.  So basically, it's Split/Second or nothing.  The only way to get a new good Sega racer is to help these American racing games make headway for new stuff.  Is that how it works?  Buy more racing games to get even newer racing games?

No really, I already talked about Blur and Split/Second before, and they're just not doing it for me.  I'll end it there.

Crazy Taxi Port Will Be Wide-Screen - I think I may have mentioned this already.  True widescreen and no chopped graphics.  So it'll be of a finer quality than we expect.

Goldeneye Wii Will Have Preset Weapon Setups - Anyway, isn't this some "golden" news, haha.  I've talked about Goldeneye quite a bit before.  Regenerating health, aiming down sights, basically just a huge disconnect from the original, a Call of Duty mod more than anything.  Well, from watching this lengthy gameplay video, you don't run around and pick up weapons, you spawn with ones you like.  Really?  Is this catering to the noob element out there who's too lazy to run and pick up his own resources, like "waahh I got killed by the big gun, not fair this game is cheap"?  There's no guarantee this is 100% true because the devs are throwing in "modifiers" which allow you to do stuff like prevent camping and turn off radar, but really, I'm not anticipating much of anything to go my way at this point.

Other than that, it sounds like the guys were "having fun," which I guess means that people will be waiting in line to buy this!  Yeah, Goldeneye's back, baby!!

Sonic Redesigned To Appeal To Nintendo Fans - Coming from the mouth of Takashi Iizuka of Sonic Team (the same guy who said Sonic Colors will be the best Sonics ever), Sonic is now more appealing to Mario fans.  Sad that Sega has to bend over for Nintendo (see SSB: Brawl, etc.) and not the other way around.  Hey, this may be a good Sonic game, but it's sad Sega couldn't do it themselves without having to change the nature of their product...it's just sad that we've reached this point already...

Toshihiro Nagoshi Does Yakuza 2 Promo With Porn Star (2006) - I didn't know about this until now, but it's not really that surprising.  Here comes Nagoshi-San, looking all skinny and weird, smoking a cigarette, and here comes Nana Natsume, a popular Japanese porn star (dressed modestly here, don't get your "hopes" up).  I really don't know what's going on here, it just makes Nagoshi look stupider.  And when you see Nagoshi on TV, he looks really, really brown.  So let's see--chronic smoker, drinker, hangs out in tanning booths and with porn stars, I don't know what to say.

To illustrate the point, here's an old pic of Nagoshi back in his Daytona days:

And here's him now (as of 2006, about an 8 year difference):

What the--

Dead Rising 2 Psychopath DLC Gives You The Competitive Edge - Cause Lord knows that cheat codes are a thing of the past--just charge money for them and call it a day.  Besides, it's not like this game's THAT HARD anyway as long as you level up and use some common sense.

Keiji Inafune Hates His Job - The Megaman/Dead Rising producer already incited commentary by talking about how much Japanese games suck.  Well now he hates his job and wants to retire, maybe joking of course.  He could join Platinum Games just like his Capcom brethren and make some Bayonetta/Vanquish games.  Well, it's kind of unsettling for an aspiring game dev--not only do I have that slim chance of making the Daytona game, but I'll also hate every step of the way too...  And yes, I still have to open up a can on DR2 so you just wait Mr. Inafune.

And that's the end of this post.

GameFAQs Is Awesome

EDIT 3/16/12: In the past, I made a couple of blog posts about winning a GameFAQs board contest. Before and after the event, I made a bunch of useless posts pertaining to the contest which I subsequently removed.  So if you're confused, now you know.

Talking about GameFAQs is about as pleasant as reminiscing on a colonoscopy.  Anyway, after the first board contest about making a video, that obviously dive-bombed and I buried the hatchet. I'm just confused by further observations that I have made about the site since then--I mean, SOMEONE'S got to make them.  So if any GameFAQers want to leave any incindiary comments, don't give me that nonsense.  If somehow I touched a nerve, then at least tell me.

------------

Well, let's recap all three contests.

Here's the first contest (make a video), the one that I entered and lost (scroll down to the bottom).
Here's the second contest (make a book/game/DVD cover):
Here's the third and final contest (make a comic):.

And here are my observations:

* Congratulations to BamboozledFox for bouncing back after coming close in the first contest.

* warutrid is the saddest person in the world right now considering he came in second twice in a row.  You know I wouldn't be happy about that, but this is GameFAQs bro, get used to it.

* The Games-N'-Things board (second contest) sounds like the best idea I've heard so far so I have to give a little credit there.

* I might add that there was already a paranormal board in existence before these contests so I don't know how this new one's going to be different besides the fact that's it's gonna be...ya know, private instead of public.

* To be fair, some of the ideas are not bad, but they're very general social-oriented boards which obviously, IF SOMEONE HAD TOLD ME AHEAD OF TIME THAT THOSE WOULD BE JUDGED MORE FAVORABLY, I WOULD'VE CHANGED MY MIND ON THIS WHOLE CONTEST.  I mean, if making video-game specific boards is a "lousy" idea, let me know ahead of time.  Instead, it was like "make whatever you want," which I think was disorienting cause you'd think you could get a board entirely on Pop-Tarts assuming you made a good enough entry.

* Read this golden nugget from the third contest which blows my mind:

I'd also like to add that although I liked the concept behind another of the entries, and have ultimately decided to create a board for it, I didn't feel like the name and comic were good enough to win the competition. However, I've been communicating with the creator of the comic and I'll be creating a board for the concept anyway. So congrats to Tarrun who will also be getting an LGBT private board as well. These two boards should be up and running shortly.

LBGT: Lesbian/Bisexual/Gay/Transexual board.  Now I have nothing against the idea of a board on that cause I know there's people that want to talk about that stuff, but that's besides the point.  BUT WAIT...I can understand creating a regular old LBGT board (kind of like a board on sports, politics, computer programming, etc.) but this is a PRIVATE board, not just a regular board.  So suddenly, this guy gets to jump the line and gets his own board because he had such a great idea despite having a sub-par entry?  What kind of crap is that?  It's like getting to jump the line at the amusement park.  Yeah, and funny that it would be on such a touchy issue as sexuality, like if the admin didn't make this board, then he's a homophobe.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.  Really, if you wanted to give the guy a private board, give him a joint 1st place, but this is just sloppy.

Not only that, but if I were a gay male (which I'm not) who wanted to post on a board like this, then odds are I would never know about this board, really, so that's great.  Which leads me to my next point...

* To post at the board, you need to be allowed access to the board (by the admin) beyond being given the link so it seems awkward enough as is to get people to go there...I don't even understand the point of a private board on GameFAQs when hardly anyone can find/gain access to it.  Like if I wanted to post at one of these new-found boards, how do I get there???  Huh?  WHAT'S THE POINT???  GameFAQs sucks.
 
------------
 
Blah blah, I was going to make this rant longer, but let's just cut it off now.  Obviously the thing that ticked me off the most was when the Daytona USA 2: Power Edition board got shut down as if the site's future and well-being depended on it.

But in a sense, I do have to thank GameFAQs.  I have to thank them for kicking me out of the D2 board which gave me the incentive to start this blog which IMO is a bigger blessing than everything that GameFAQs has bestowed on me combined...  Here, I can post and not feel like I'm in a club that I don't belong and a bouncer taps me on the shoulder and says, "Sorry buddy, it's time to go."  The OOA board is the closest thing to my optimal private board on GameFAQs and you don't even have to "sign up" or anything.

So I'm still alive, we'll make it through.  PRIVATE BOARDS MY ASS.  Hopefully some Sega stuff next time.

------------

EDITEDITEDIT: I looked at the Game of the Decade rules and guidelines and you can either choose a "Contest" entry or a "Karma" entry.  Contest entry gives you games, consoles, all that good stuff.  Karma entry gives you...get ready for it...karma and a damn private message board...

Contest:

Grand Prize: A PlayStation 3 Move Bundle, an Xbox 360 Kinect Bundle, a Black Wii Bundle, or 10 games of your choice
Second Prize: A PSP Bundle, a DS XL Bundle, or 4 games of your choice
Third Prize: Three games of your choice
Fourth Prize: Two games of your choice
Fifth-Eighth Prize: One game of your choice

Karma:

Grand Prize: 200 Karma + a private message board
Second Prize: 100 Karma + a private message board
Third Prize: 75 Karma
Fourth Prize: 50 Karma
Fifth-Eighth Prize: 25 Karma

What a joke, I think I'd take the video games over a message board.  Giving out these private message boards like t-shirts at a pep rally...shooting them out of that cannon OOH MAYBE I'LL GET ONE THIS TIME!  Sorry, not that big of a GameFAQs fan anymore to warrant all this karma.  And this is coming from someone who has posted there for over EIGHT years...

100th Post Bonanza!

Let's celebrate!  Here's a cake just for you:



It's not Daytona USA but it's close enough.  Oh, and if I hear any "the cake is a lie" jokes, I'll punch you in the face.

Hitting The Proverbial Wall (Rock Band)

One of the games I cherish and consider one of my best (skill-wise) games is Rock Band.  The game is satisfying because it's one of the few games that the developers actually seem to care about--releasing tons of downloable content in the form of songs by all sorts of bands (click here for an entire list...over 2000 songs).  I invested some money into this game (about $300+).  I like playing Guitar/Bass and I usually have fun with it.  And screw Guitar Hero which has saturated the marketplace to the brim that now everyone detests music games when they really shouldn't.

Now I assume you know a little bit about Rock Band.  When you're on Guitar, you have the five fret buttons and you use the strum bar to hit the notes (the big notes anyway, the little ones you can hammer-on/pull-off without having to strum).  Hit notes and your Rock Meter goes up, miss and it goes down.  You can hit the white notes to get Overdrive which can be activated which gives significant boosts to your Rock Meter and makes it much easier to not fail.

I've never really talked about this until now, but I consider myself somewhat good at the game (on Guitar/Bass).  Now I've passed just about every difficult Guitar song there is on Expert--Satch Boogie, Rude Mood, Devil's Island, Warriors Of Time, Raining Blood (GH3), Through the Fire and Flames (GH3), etc.  I feel that is an accomplishment but something I don't like rubbing it in since I'm not the best anyway.  But then they come out with this one song that...I...can't...pass.


Bottom left corner is the Guitar notes.  This is an automated run NO ONE IS PLAYING.  All I have to say is %@#^@#$!*r@.@$%^!/+@3!.

The farthest I've made it is about 25% in (:52 in video), then I failed.  I think I've made it to 25% about 3 out of a 100 tries.  I don't even play it anymore, too hard, not worth beating myself up over it.  Even if I do make it significantly past 25%, the solo gets even worse around the 40-50% mark and then I would have no real chance.

But then there's people who FC (hit all the notes without overstrumming/ruining the combo) that song which is probably one of the greatest achievements for any Rock Band player.  Like this guy (WARNING: Some major profanity).

Now I'm not trying to be the best in the world since I don't even think I can handle the pressure even if I had the skill.  These people are so bent out of shape by the time it's done, I mean between feeling like jello from the tension and screaming extreme profanities, it's a form of masochism in and of itself.  Like I wish I could be better but without the extreme pain.  Great, but not the point of getting YouTube comments about "getting a life."

I'm not jealous.  Look, I'll just man up--I'm not great at this, some of you beat me, congrats.  It just makes me wonder why I keep trying when I really can't get any better.  I've been playing for months but I never really improve my scores/percentages.  I get pissed since one of the reasons to play is to improve yourself...but I can't do it.  I play online in a band (with random users) and we play cooperatively for high scores.  I usually do better than everyone I play with, but sometimes I run into another Guitarist/Drummer who just blows the others away.  Like I feel like I don't deserve to be there.

I don't talk about skill that much on this site since I feel that it just makes people hate each other more and it's about having fun and playing the game, not about bragging rights.  But sometimes it makes me kind of sad that I wasn't built for this kind of stuff.  Like when I set that supposed World Record on Cruis'n USA (which really isn't set in stone...it's not Twin Galaxies material and the site that had it saved is down now), it was probably one of my greatest moments cause I "finally did it."  Finally did something that no one else did, but now it's kind of stupid.  And I can assure you the process leading up the WR was anything but pleasant.  Just glad that my efforts paid off...if I wasted all that time and didn't get the WR, I would've been supremely pissed.

Look at it this way though.  One, records are meant to be broken and titles/accolades are meant to be taken away by someone else.  Let me give you an example.  Click on the site "The Elite" in my links page on the right.  This is for Goldeneye/Perfect Dark N64 world records and has a big following--I've been observing it for years cause it's quite cool.  There was this guy named Wouter Jansen from The Netherlands who had world record times in every level on Goldeneye, but now, he's been beaten by a bunch of other people.  Look at me, I'm the greatest!  You're on top of the world one day, an afterthought the next.  Also, look at athletes--you're young, you're doing good, then you get old and can't play anymore.  Two, do you think in ten or twenty years that these records are going to be THAT big of a deal?  Sad to say but it's probably true unless it's something REALLY big like an Olympic event, but that'll soon be beaten or will come to pass.

I don't mind if people are good, but when people gloat and insult other people, then I take real offense--just get out of my face, jerk.  There's more to life than this.  To be fair, some of these great players are pretty humble about it which makes me feel better.

Let us play to enjoy the game itself.  Playing to be good is fun and obviously, that should be your goal.  To me, games like Rock Band, Counter-Strike, Perfect Dark, Daytona USA (if I ever did have the chance to play) I try to excel.  But sometimes you get stuck and it really upsets you.  It hurts but if that's the case, then just move on--there's too much stuff in this world to do to be hung up on one little activity.  I mean, you have to draw the line SOMEWHERE or else you'll go insane.  Try different things, enjoy life.  It's not easy to do, I know--that's the breaks.

...besides, some stuff is deliberately made to be impossible, like this.  Challenge is one thing, but trying to go outside in a storm and dodge rain is another...screw it, just laugh it up.  This video's funny.  WARNING: More profanity.

Sega Stuff Again And An "Angry Mission Statement"

I'm really trying to enjoy my five-day weekend, but I just lost my train of thought so I'm gonna go over some simple stuff.  This is a crap post but let's go anyway:

------------

Asked for "the biggest problem [facing] current games," Smith (creative director of NBA Jam) hit out at "the actions and attitudes of some of the gamers out there.

You know who they are. If they spent less time spewing ignorant hate on the boards and in online games, and more time rallying behind the great games they love and helping to build a thriving community that welcomes everyone that shows up to play with them - everybody wins. Nothing wrong with a little smack talk here and there, just wish gamers respected each other more.

http://kotaku.com/5659542/nba-jam-dev-just-wants-us-all-to-get-along

Wow, I've thought a lot about what to say to this, but let's make it brief...

I don't like how many gamers are jaded, just blind haters, bash each other, bash games, cut that crap out.  If you don't like games, at least bring some logic to the table.  I admit to not liking plenty of games (Cruis'n/FnF, Burnout, overly violent games, etc.), but I'll tell you why and I'll be respectful to you if you like them.  I'm not taking away from free will--I just let you know what I have to say.  I'm trying to be rational here, but when I feel passionate about something, I'm gonna lay it all out on the table.  If I go overboard in the negative, then I have a purpose for it.  If you don't like what I have to say, then I'm up for an intelligent discussion.  I want to know what others think.  But really, the main point to the average gamer is to stop acting like a jackass--be a man, debate the issues...
 
------------
 
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/41217/Sub-standard-Sonics-de-listed
 
Average to poor Sonic games have been delisted.  Some VP of Europe, Middle East, yada yada of Sega says:
 
“We have to do this and increase the value of the brand. This will be very important when more big Sonic releases arrive in the future.  We could make a lot of money on back-catalogue Sonic titles, but let’s keep the number of Sonic games available under control. Otherwise you can have cannibalisation. If there are ten Sonic games on the shelves, with people seeing Sonic Rush DS or Sonic Rush Adventure, this may not help our overall strategy.”
 
I think it would've helped if you made good Sonic games in the first place and saved us from this mutiny.
 
------------
 
http://www.1up.com/news/sonic-creator-dreaming-of-dreamcast-2
 
Yuji Naka wants to work on a Dreamcast 2.  Can it happen?  I don't know.  If Sega had the fortitude to bust their ass on a new console and produce a ton of games for it, then maybe, just maybe.  But I don't see Sega taking that big of a leap any time soon.  If Sega has to go third-party, then I'm fine, just as long as we focus on making good games first.  Like how's that new Sonic game working out for you, Naka-San...

A Supposed "New" Shenmue Game And Other Useless News

There's a new Shenmue game on the horizon.  No, it is NOT Shenmue III.  It's "Shenmue Town," some sort of mobile-phone social game.  I really don't know how this is gonna work out.

http://kotaku.com/5657756/there-will-be-a-new-shenmue-game-but-not-what-you-think

You really ought to read some of the comments in that Kotaku article.  My favorite one is this:

Said it before but I'll say it again, I'm constantly feeling bad for Sega fans. They suffer regularly.

You think so?  You think my head pops off the pillow every morning with optimism knowing that Sega racers get the short end of the stick while every other racing game thrives despite the fact that racing games as a genre is a JOKE now?  I really feel bad for Shenmue fans, really I do.  I think we'll get it on Xbox Live Arcade someday, assuming Sega plows full-steam ahead with their Dreamcast campaign...

Funny thing is that Kotaku was the first to break this story.  Sega Nerds didn't get to it first, wtf...

EDIT: Nevermind, here's the Sega Nerds article which is more informative.

------------

Also, Dead Rising 2 is starting to piss me off.  I've grown thick skin to these kind of games so it really doesn't bother me anymore from a gruesome/offensive standpoint.  I'm going achievement hunting and it gets old after a while.  I will review it later in more detail.

Speaking of zombies (yet again), Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 are sold as a pack for just $10 on Steam.  I say get it now if you haven't already cause it's a really good deal.  I actually bought it, but much to my chagrin, my laptop can hardly play it...yeah, that's great.  I could've sworn my laptop ran Half-Life 2 in the past with some success, but now, it's just a mess.  Not easy to install new video cards or whatever.  And now you know why console gaming is surpassing PC gaming by a mile--cause I don't feel like breaking the bank for some fancy gaming PCs with superior processors and video cards when I can just pop the game into my 360...and get achievement points while I'm at it!

------------

Also, make sure you enter GameFAQs' pathetic contest on The Best Game Of The 2000's.  I didn't overthink any pics, but I think it will come down to Metal Gear Solid 3 vs. Super Smash Bros. Melee (with SSB winning).  Really, I never win any of these damn contests no matter how confident I feel so what's the point.  Just try for fun, I guess.

------------

Now for sports.  The MLB playoffs are under way and the Phillies pitched a no-hitter in Game 1 which is the first time for a playoff game.  Really, no-hitters are still special nowadays?  There must've been like 7 or 8 no-hitters this season (I vaguely pay attention) so I don't know what the heck's going on--the pitchers are suddenly good or the batters just suck.  Must be something in the air...increased air resistance, chemicals which make you high, earth's gravitational pull is reversed, etc.

And the NFL is a mess now with only one undefeated team, the Chiefs who had a bye week already (3-0, not 4-0).  They play the Colts, Titans, and Texans next so I don't see them going 7-0.  Wow, what an interesting season already--everyone's getting beat down nowadays.  Lots of teams in playoff contention thus far.  It will be interesting to see how this pans out.