EDIT: Added one more thing to this post lol
Well kids, I hate New Year's but because everyone's doing the "reflection" thing nowadays, I'm going to do it too.
2012 was a mixed year. Great for several reasons--got to go to two Daytona races, got to finish Super Sprint and Battle Fortress Tortoise, got to make plenty of friends, got to play Sega All-Stars Racing: Transformed. But it also sucked for several reasons too--I got fired, I'm still unemployed, Christmas time wasn't all that great for me, could've done better at Super Sprint, school was obscenely difficult at times, etc. All I know is that, despite all the naysayers, we lived to 2013.
I did this the last two years so I'll do it again--these are my Top 10 posts of 2012 (in no particular order):
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1. DAYTONA USA AT THE DAYTONA 500 - For the euphoric memories of holding a Daytona USA sign at the Daytona race as cars whizz by...it's the best photo I've ever been in.
2. !1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1 DAYTONA !1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1!1 - Also for euphoric memories of discovering the Hornet Classic in Sega All-Stars Racing: Transformed for the very first time.
3. Our Third Festivus Airing Of Grievances! - The best Airing of Grievances yet, it just nails a lot of things I've complained about all year.
4. Report: History & Corporate Culture Of SEGA - Need to read an essay about the history of Sega? Read mine, it's just seven pages.
5. Going It Alone Without Sega - Can we get a job at Sega? If not then can we make racing games without them?
6. Nobody Loves Sega - Everyone in the gaming media dumps on Sega. Therefore I will dump on the gaming media for dumping on Sega.
7. Danica In The #7 Sonic Car Whole Race Recap - Need to know the events of Danica's Sega Sonic car race at Texas? Read this and see how thrilled/depressed I get as stuff goes down. Loaded with tons of funny jokes.
8. Need For Speed Movie??? Run That Moniker Into The Dirt - Why I don't like Need for Speed all that much anymore.
9. NASCAR Is Very Serious Business (Kurt Busch Sucks) - Why NASCAR and auto racing in general is one of the most frustrating sports/games ever made.
10. Can't Be Mad At Nagoshi-San Anymore (Call To Arms) - We love you Toshihiro Nagoshi, I will never be mad at you again (maybe). Also includes cool music and the official declaration for "Sega Racing Day/Week/Month."
Honorable Mentions because I'm too lazy to eliminate other ones:
11. Forza On The Horizon...(Open-World Racing!!) - More ranting about modern racing games, this one's about Forza and this new "open-world" trend going on with street racers.
12. Daytona USA Championship Edition: That Other Daytona Game... - Comprehensive discussion of Daytona USA Championship Edition, the red-headed stepchild of the Daytona series.
13. Battle Fortress Tortoise - My FIEA capstone game. I worked on it for months so it deserves a mention.
14. Super Sprint Intricate Design Details (Under The Hood) - Funny that this is the first post of 2012. But it goes over plenty of things I worked on with that Super Sprint remake. A good read for racing game design.
15. The Future Of (Lousy) Interactive Entertainment - What sucks about modern video games (with colorful illustrations).
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I only included 15 posts but there's plenty more good posts I made over this year. Didn't post as much as I did in 2011 but that's cause I had graduate school to take care of. Anyway, I don't plan on making any more posts this year (other than to edit in any additional posts to this list I forget) so stay cool in 2012 and here's to 2013 not sucking as much. :)
Sunday, December 30, 2012
THIS IS A TEST POST
I'm making a post from my iPhone for the first time! DO NOT REPLY.
Random Thought Of The Day: One of these days, I'm going to CPL and winning the big CS 1.6 tournament using a $10 Dynex wired mouse bought from Best Buy. Seems that the cheaper the mouse, the more productive I am with it. Weight ballasts and 12 buttons, bitch please...
But no really this thing sucks, I hate the iPhone keyboard...never posting from here again.
p.s. Go buy Grand Prix Story in the App Store..........
Random Thought Of The Day: One of these days, I'm going to CPL and winning the big CS 1.6 tournament using a $10 Dynex wired mouse bought from Best Buy. Seems that the cheaper the mouse, the more productive I am with it. Weight ballasts and 12 buttons, bitch please...
But no really this thing sucks, I hate the iPhone keyboard...never posting from here again.
p.s. Go buy Grand Prix Story in the App Store..........
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Questions For DarthS0L (Again)
Wow, we're back to Sega All-Stars Racing: Transformed talk. You know, you have to admire the patience & fortitude of someone like Sumo Digital PR Guy DarthS0L who goes through thousands of questions & complaints from the fans.
When I think of game design, I like the idea of communicating with the fans about the game design process. Usually when a AAA-studio works on a game, they're the lords of the county--you never speak to them, you have no input, they are cold and distant. But some good devs want to be among the plebeians, let them know they are appreciated, and seek their input. I hope as a game designer, I get the opportunity to do this as well. To give the fan base some voice and make them feel involved & valuable.
Problem is if you give a mouse a cookie, they're gonna ask for milk and much more... Steve AKA DarthS0L answered more than enough questions (and complaints) in this one Sega forum thread, plus many more across numerous websites like Sonic Stadium. It's one thing to be a cool guy--it's another to be a cool guy who has to deal with a ravenous fanbase with tons of questions like "please put characters X, Y, Z" in the game" and "why is this game so hard," among other hard-to-answer questions.
Worst of all, remember the Golden Rule of the Internet--everything you say will be sealed in stone forever. So Steve can say one stupid thing or spoil one spoiler and he's done. Like here's Steve critiquing the poor reviews of the SART Wii version. Also, Steve "leaked" that the PC version wouldn't be out until next year and everyone went nuts over it. They also went nuts over the "no more Sonic characters" comment. People are just putting so much pressure on one guy. So think about that the next time you wanna get pissed and run to the Sega forums to complain about Ryo Hazuki not being a playable character and why you're having so much trouble beating Traffic Attack on A-class.
I did burden Steve with a few questions in that thread but they're good questions. The posts he responded to are here and here. These were asked a few months ago but for archive purposes, I'm posting them here to be saved FOREVER. No pressure or anything, Steve! Italics is my question, bold is his question.
Pertaining to the Hornet again. I really like the character. I read your previous response for the roster selection but what was the reason behind the Hornet in specific? Where did this begin--did Sega approach you with this? Or was it something Sumo came up with themselves? Or were fans requesting the Hornet in large numbers? I know the Daytona USA port was release not long ago but I never thought the Hornet would appear in a different type of racing game altogether (a kart racer).
Speaking of which, the Hornet is going to be DLC for Ridge Racer Vita. You heard of that? Hornet's in Fighters Megamix, Ridge Racer Vita, and Sonic & All-Stars Racing. I'm impresed.
I suggested the idea of a multiple SEGA vehicle character as we always get requests in for the Hornet, AfterBurner jet, Hang On bike etc etc etc. Originally we planned to do multiple vehicles per surface and pick one at random, but we had to restrict it to 3 due to memory. The VMU as a driver was put forward by SEGA QA incidentally, as soon as I saw that I get Rex to make it happen :P
This has bugged me a bit although it barely detracts from the game. Why is there no speedometer in the game? Did you consider one and was it cut at some point?
We don't show a speedo as we have plenty going off on screen as it is, you care about your position, lap, weapons, overall position with other players and all the scoring going off. Besides, we'd have to fake the speed on a speedo as you're actually travelling at over 180mph. Real world scales don't mean much in this game :P
So this one is more off-topic. I'm talking about Sumo Digital themselves. You answered a previous question about artists so here's a programmer question. I know it's probably not your area of expertise but I want to know a little more about what goes on there pertaining to programmers. Are there certain things you're looking for in potential programmers? And is there anything in particular that they all are working on or know about or so forth? I'm sorry if the question & answer is so vague. I'm a budding game programmer myself and I want to know more about what the game industry is like, especially Sumo since I'm interested in the games you all are working on.
Typically the games are written in C++, though that's not the only language we use. Games coders have to write fast effecient code as it's all about the speed of operation. It's more and more unusual that we'll take on self taught people unless they're industry vets. Best advice I can give is look at a suitable games course, or get involved with a mod or indie game group. Just as artists need a portfolio, being able to point to software you've developed is equally important for a programmer. It could equally be a dissertation you did in a given field too. Programmers like artists can specialise, so rendering, networking, audio, animation, tools and more. You don't have to be able to everything :P
Also, did you ever think about stopping by the old OutRun Online Arcade board at GameFAQs just to say hi? I remember when you posted there and I know you're busy but you're a cool dude--we'd love to hear from you again. Once you're done answering the thousands of questions, that is.
I do think about it! One of the things I've had to pull back on though is how many forums I attempt to cover. I check here, SSMB and NeoGAF daily - plus a few forums I look at outside of the world of SEGA. On previous games I was spending wayyyy too long on different forums - I do miss the GameFAQ's chat mind :P
When I think of game design, I like the idea of communicating with the fans about the game design process. Usually when a AAA-studio works on a game, they're the lords of the county--you never speak to them, you have no input, they are cold and distant. But some good devs want to be among the plebeians, let them know they are appreciated, and seek their input. I hope as a game designer, I get the opportunity to do this as well. To give the fan base some voice and make them feel involved & valuable.
Problem is if you give a mouse a cookie, they're gonna ask for milk and much more... Steve AKA DarthS0L answered more than enough questions (and complaints) in this one Sega forum thread, plus many more across numerous websites like Sonic Stadium. It's one thing to be a cool guy--it's another to be a cool guy who has to deal with a ravenous fanbase with tons of questions like "please put characters X, Y, Z" in the game" and "why is this game so hard," among other hard-to-answer questions.
Worst of all, remember the Golden Rule of the Internet--everything you say will be sealed in stone forever. So Steve can say one stupid thing or spoil one spoiler and he's done. Like here's Steve critiquing the poor reviews of the SART Wii version. Also, Steve "leaked" that the PC version wouldn't be out until next year and everyone went nuts over it. They also went nuts over the "no more Sonic characters" comment. People are just putting so much pressure on one guy. So think about that the next time you wanna get pissed and run to the Sega forums to complain about Ryo Hazuki not being a playable character and why you're having so much trouble beating Traffic Attack on A-class.
I did burden Steve with a few questions in that thread but they're good questions. The posts he responded to are here and here. These were asked a few months ago but for archive purposes, I'm posting them here to be saved FOREVER. No pressure or anything, Steve! Italics is my question, bold is his question.
Pertaining to the Hornet again. I really like the character. I read your previous response for the roster selection but what was the reason behind the Hornet in specific? Where did this begin--did Sega approach you with this? Or was it something Sumo came up with themselves? Or were fans requesting the Hornet in large numbers? I know the Daytona USA port was release not long ago but I never thought the Hornet would appear in a different type of racing game altogether (a kart racer).
Speaking of which, the Hornet is going to be DLC for Ridge Racer Vita. You heard of that? Hornet's in Fighters Megamix, Ridge Racer Vita, and Sonic & All-Stars Racing. I'm impresed.
I suggested the idea of a multiple SEGA vehicle character as we always get requests in for the Hornet, AfterBurner jet, Hang On bike etc etc etc. Originally we planned to do multiple vehicles per surface and pick one at random, but we had to restrict it to 3 due to memory. The VMU as a driver was put forward by SEGA QA incidentally, as soon as I saw that I get Rex to make it happen :P
This has bugged me a bit although it barely detracts from the game. Why is there no speedometer in the game? Did you consider one and was it cut at some point?
We don't show a speedo as we have plenty going off on screen as it is, you care about your position, lap, weapons, overall position with other players and all the scoring going off. Besides, we'd have to fake the speed on a speedo as you're actually travelling at over 180mph. Real world scales don't mean much in this game :P
Did you ever consider the idea of 10 different colored Hornets: the AT (red-blue-white), MT (red-yellow-black), and Players 1 thru 8 (Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Black, Pink, Light Blue, Orange)? Ten Hornets online...I think that would be the second best thing to a new Daytona USA game 
Without getting too spoilery - this wasn't on the cards. You've probably noticed once one person picks a characters someone else can't select it. So it's sort of ruled out on those grounds. Plus we don't do different paint jobs - mostly as they wouldn't work for all characters. I can see where you're going with it though!
Did you ever visit Sega of Japan? Did you meet Toshihiro Nagoshi, Yu Suzuki, or any Sega legends?
Yes, I've been over to see SEGA of Japan a number of times on this project (in fact most of the production crew have). As such I've had the pleasure of meeting many of original creators. I won't name drop, but at least a few you've mentioned and more!
Without getting too spoilery - this wasn't on the cards. You've probably noticed once one person picks a characters someone else can't select it. So it's sort of ruled out on those grounds. Plus we don't do different paint jobs - mostly as they wouldn't work for all characters. I can see where you're going with it though!
Did you ever visit Sega of Japan? Did you meet Toshihiro Nagoshi, Yu Suzuki, or any Sega legends?
Yes, I've been over to see SEGA of Japan a number of times on this project (in fact most of the production crew have). As such I've had the pleasure of meeting many of original creators. I won't name drop, but at least a few you've mentioned and more!
Also, did you ever think about stopping by the old OutRun Online Arcade board at GameFAQs just to say hi? I remember when you posted there and I know you're busy but you're a cool dude--we'd love to hear from you again. Once you're done answering the thousands of questions, that is.
I do think about it! One of the things I've had to pull back on though is how many forums I attempt to cover. I check here, SSMB and NeoGAF daily - plus a few forums I look at outside of the world of SEGA. On previous games I was spending wayyyy too long on different forums - I do miss the GameFAQ's chat mind :P
Yeah that's all. He's still around, doing a post-mortem on TSSZ News, giving a GREAT interview on the state of arcade racers on EuroGamer (I should comment on this one later), so go track him down if you like but give him a break. Until next time...
damn I wish I had fans flocking to me over Super Sprint but no dice
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
A Merry Sega Racer Christmas To You
Merry Christmas you bastards, now here's my NOT AT ALL HASTILY MADE Christmas card (two hours of this BS).
Outside the famous Daytona International Speedway, the Sega gang is all here for the big Sega race, giving away free Dreamcast 2 consoles to all attendees!!!
I wish.....
I wish.....
EDIT: I really should've done this sooner but here goes.
LIST OF PEOPLE/CHARACTERS FOR INFORMATIVE PURPOSES:
LIST OF PEOPLE/CHARACTERS FOR INFORMATIVE PURPOSES:
Toshihiro Nagoshi: Tan dude with white shirt/pants, dead center. Producer of Daytona USA, Super Monkey Ball, F-Zero GX, and Yakuza. Currently the Main Creative Director of Sega in general.
Yu Suzuki: Smiley guy at bottom right. Producer of OutRun, Hang-On, Virtua Racing, Virtua Fighter, and Shenmue. Considered "best game producer ever" by many Sega fans for bolstering their arcade division to first-class.
Tetsuya Mizuguchi: Guy on bottom left in a pink shirt sitting down. Producer of Sega Rally, Sega Touring Car, Space Channel 5, Rez, and Lumines.
Yuji Naka: Guy on right center in white suit. Producer of many Sega hits including Sonic the Hedgehog, NiGHTS, Phantasy Star, Billy Hatcher, and Burning Rangers.
Danica Patrick: Lady in blue racing suit, dead center. Drove the Sega Sonic car at Texas Nationwide Race. Spokeswoman for Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed.
Takenobu Mitsuyoshi: Guy in upper left with yellow shirt and mic. Sega composer and infamous vocalist of Daytona USA soundtrack ("Rolllingggg sttttarrrrttttt!!!").
Makoto Osaki: Guy in blue shirt, upper center. Director for Daytona USA 1/2, Scud Race, OutRun 2, and Virtua Fighter. One of the main guys who fine-tuned these games so damn well but gets no credit.
Hajime Satomi: Guy on TV, lower left. Founder of Sammy Corporation and current owner of Sega. Rumored to be a leader of the Yakuza. Nobody likes him.
Ryo Hazuki: Guy in brown leather jacket and jeans, dead center. Main protagonist of Shenmue 1 and 2. Knows martial arts. Trying to avenge his father's death.
Segata Sanshiro: Judo guy in center of image, arms crossed. Infamous fictional spokesman for Sega Saturn, known for beating up people who don't play the Saturn and deflecting a giant missile from destroying Sega HQ.
Jennifer, Alberto, Clarissa, Holly: Four people standing on left in front of presents. Alberto is the "protagonist" of OutRun 2. The three girls are you passengers for OutRun, Heart Attack, and Mission Modes, respectively.
Hornet Classic: Red and blue car on left center. Based off a '94 Chevy Lumina, it's infamous stock car from Daytona USA. Also appears in Fighters Megamix (a fighting car), Ridge Racer Vita (as DLC), and Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed (unlockable character).
Sonic the Hedgehog: Upper center. Everyone knows who this is.
Axel, B.D. Joe, Gena, Gus: Four guys on right center side of screen. The four playable characters from the original Crazy Taxi. Racing around town, catching big air, making huge tips along the way heading for KFC and Pizza Hut.
Ornaments: Cars from the following Sega games from top to bottom--Unicorn from Daytona USA 2001 (DC), Toyota Celica from Sega Rally, Ferrari F40 from Scud Race/Sega Super GT, Phantom Full Force from Daytona USA 2, F1 car from Virtua Racing.
Dreamcast 2: Poster in upper left corner. Not real (of course) but all Sega fans want to see this (you do too, just admit it). Rumored to exist through Sega's Ringedge/Ringwide hardware but it's pure speculation.
Sumo Digital: Tiny poster in center of screen. Game company from Sheffield, UK responsible for porting OutRun and Sega Rally Online Arcade to XBLA/PSN. Also made Sega Superstars Tennis and both Sonic All-Stars Racing games. Considered one of the last bastions of Sega goodness remaining on Earth.
Daytona International Speedway: Backdrop to this image (crap but there's so much stuff in the way so w/e). Located in Daytona Beach, Florida, USA, it opened in 1959, it's home to the most prestigious race in NASCAR (Daytona 500) and lends its name to Sega's 1994 arcade game Daytona USA.
THE MORE YOU KNOW...
Get the full size image off deviantART (please favorite!!!). Sonic Claus fanart attribution. Remember to keep Christ in Christmas and have a super day with family & friends. Oh, and Happy New Year too.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Our Third Festivus Airing Of Grievances!
We do this every year. We gather everyone around the table and let them know how much they have disappointed us this year! Whatever, this is late, un-proof-read, horribly biased, and already discussed in previous posts but let's do it. This'll be the best Festivus yet!!!
Sega: I know you've been on hard times and we love you. Even the Level 5 lawsuit may be on your side after all. But what's with the piss-poor advertising campaign for Binary Domain and Sega All-Stars Racing: Transformed? I don't watch a lot of TV but I do watch Speed Channel. And I've seen hundreds of World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria and Halo 4 Mountain Dew commercials but only ONE DANICA PATRICK in Sega All-Stars Racing commercial??? I hope you're doing a better job on other channels cause I've had friends who've said they only heard about these two games through my blog, sheesus..
Sumo Digital: Where's Ryo Hazuki and Segata Sanshiro as playable characters in Sega All-Stars Racing 2, noooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Electronic Arts: Taking pot shots at you is way too easy and everyone's done it (see the Worst Company in America contest). But I will bring up something new. I've been playing SimCity Social on Facebook for a little bit (my previous employer worked on Facebook games, after all) and I must say the abrasiveness of the game's in-game advertising is too much to bear. From the "Spin City" slot machine that pops up from start up (that uses diamonds paid for with real money...it's borderline gambling) to Burt in the U-Haul truck trying to sell you keys to get the crappy contents inside (stupid trucks drive around town with the arrows everywhere) to the constant friend message spam (you have to enter the game to answer messages...a pain in your friends' asses), all of this s*** that pops up on the screen that harangues me to death makes me want to light your game on fire and go throw crap all over my living room and pick it up since it's a lot more enjoyable than dragging my mouse pointer to pick up "doobers" in your "interactive Flash movie" that barely counts as a game (wow that was a long sentence).
Need for Speed/Forza Horizon: Do I really need to explain?
Microsoft/Activision/Blizzard/Ubisoft/Bungie/Rockstar/Bioware/Bethesda/Just About Every AAA Studio: Can't really pin this down on any particular person, thing, or franchise but here goes. Noticing a trend of games of turning games into movies...usually violent movies. And dumbing them down to casuals. And enhancing the "social" experience by trying to shoehorn Facebook-like features into games that I'll never use. And the Kinect which I will never like. Sorry if I sound like an ornery old gamer (24 years old, hooboy) but geez, you know what I'm getting at here. Getting old fast.
Harmonix: Well, I like your Rock Band DLC. But over the last year, your DLC stream has become weaker than an old man's prostate. Averages three new songs a week. And then last week was Elton John. This should be a GREAT week for keyboards. But they release a three-pack! Only two of the songs are new, the third one is already available in Rock Band Blitz (HMX did it again next week with a My Chemical Romance pack). Trust me, the two new ones are good but it's still a blown opportunity. The last chance Harmonix will ever browse Elton's library and they don't include Rocket Man, Tiny Dancer, Bennie and the Jets, or Beyond the Yellow Brick Road??? Rock Band Blitz was good, the half-off all pre-RB3 DLC sale was good, but at this point, Rock Band DLC has gotten really weak, possibly in anxious anticipation of the series' slow death. But still, why no Rocket Man???
GameFAQs/Reddit/Kotaku: I don't always want to light a match in a pool of gasoline, but when I do, it's from reading your comments/message boards. And when you do your little "Sega sucks" and "Valve rules" hit pieces.
Kevin Butler: RIP, Kevin. You blew it now, buddy. You had to dabble with Mario Kart Wii in those Bridgestone commercials. Now the last likable character from Sony is gone. And yes, I don't find characters like Kratos or Sackboy likeable, shame on me. Who's gonna be my main in Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale??? D'OH, THANKS!!!
Danica Patrick & Dale Earnhardt Jr: For letting down the fans!!! Two most overrated drivers ever!!! WIN A RACE FOR ONCE!!! WIN A RACE IN THE SEGA CAR, DANICA!!! BUT NOOOO, THEY NEVER WIN!!! Seriously, I was the only one who got stoked for Danica's Sega car debut and she placed 14th which is mega underwhelming. Only good news is that she didn't wreck the car. What a piece of crap. Juniyah, have another Diet Mountain Dew.
Spike & G4TV: You done, son!!! Adios, TKOed, historical. G4TV is done and Spike (with its God awful VGA's) will be too with their imbecilic macho gamer programming! MANswers--do I need to be lectured about beer, boobs, boners, guns, and flatulence? Well I like guns so I can't complain. EDIT: That sounded kinda gay...I like women but when you deliberately stick boobs on TV, it's just dumb. When you go, take YOLO, Mountain Dew, and dubstep with you.
NFL/Roger Goodell/ESPN: Now the Saints have been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. Good riddance, this season can't end soon enough. Commissioner Roger Goodell is full of himself. Citing phony evidence of pay-to-injure bounties and slandering players who profess it never existed. Bans Sean Peyton and several players and takes away draft picks, a punishment unprecedented in the NFL. ESPN hypes up the issue and cheers as our world collapses on the year we have a chance at winning the Superbowl in our home stadium. And yet, Roger, taking the side of "player safety," is encouraging an 18-game season and Thursday Night Football games which means less time for players to rest, exacerbating injuries in general. And a team in London--could you imagine the jet lag of a team traveling from London to California/Seattle (8 hour difference???). Plus he's trying to dumb down defense as best as he can and pimp offensive stats to cater to the fantasy football types. This guy is a loathsome fool. Now NFL players, announcers, and sports pundits alike are starting to side with the Saints but it's too late...we missed a shot at the Superdome Lombardi and a year of Drew Brees' prime is wasted. Screw 'em, everyone one of 'em.
EDIT: I know this is old but how about this. What's with ESPN's rumors on Sean Peyton going to Dallas? And Mickey Loomis (Saints GM) "Wiretapgate", trying to dump on the Saints even more when there's NO PROOF that it's true? ESPN isn't in the biz of reporting news, they're in the biz of reporting made-up news for ratings. Again, screw that channel.
Speed Channel: Now I like Speed, it's the only thing I can tolerate on TV anymore (ESPN sucks ass now). But there's a few things to mention...do you guys have anything better to play in primetime besides My Ride Rules and Dumbest Stuff on Wheels reruns? And why did you cancel 101 Cars You Must Drive after one season? Alonzo Bodden only got to drive 50 cars, what a shame. And you also lost exclusive Formula 1 coverage which sucks but that's the biz. Hopefully you don't turn into Fox Sports any time soon (which explains why random UFC crap appears at midnight-3 am).
All My Web Browsers: Why is it when I browse ANY webpage on both my laptops, all the animated gifs DON'T play until I move the cursor or highlight over them? Is my Internet broken or something? This has been happening for months. WHAT'S HAPPENING TO MY COMPUTAH!!!
Myself: For not working as much on Super Sprint as I should have. And for not updating the blog as much. And for getting fired from my job...
And now for the Feats of Strength but that's impossible to do over the Internet...perhaps a round or two of Virtua Fighter or Fighting Vipers instead???
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Night Drivin, Black Ops 2, iPhone, Rofl Mayans
Sup boys and ladies, we are back home in Louisiana. So I drove 9 hours on Tuesday from Orlando to Slidell, only making incredibly brief stops because I hate staying out on the road and driving at 75-80 mph in a straight line just isn't fun and never will be. But I did leave late on Tuesday (6 pm ET) which is sort of an Oregon Trail maneuver (what time do you want to leave?) so this meant driving through the dark, like this:
You'll notice many old vidya games use "night-time" as a common game feature. Simply because night-time was easy to draw--just draw nothing (paint it black). Need for graphics crisis AVERTED!
There's less traffic at night too so it ain't bad. As for now, there's not much postin' going on because I'm on vacation, I'm at home with the family, and there's two things I want to do: enjoy the brief Christmas time with my family and get some rest. I do have a lot of stuff to talk about but no--I want you dying of anticipation for Christmas. As for the job offer, I still don't have anything yet. I ought to be patient. In retrospect there's a few interview questions I could've answered better but it's no use--I did my best and should wait post-Christmas before I get an offer (assuming I do).
Also I'm glad this Mayan calendar nonsense is over. So tired of the world ending...I bet History Channel is crying somewhere. Quick, someone come up with another Doomsday so they can run Nostradamus/Alex Jones specials on that too. SPOILER ALERT for Assassin's Creed but did the game's storyline infer that the world was gonna end 12/21/12? Ha, that game sucks, play something less violent.
But when I think of Mayans, I think of H.G. Pennypacker trying to sabotage the clothing store by stealing all the silica gel packets. That's what the Mayans were thinking...steal all of our silica gel packets so we die in 2012...I'm crazy and don't know what I'm even getting at here.
Ooo, and how about this. My family gave me an iPhone 5 as an early Christmas present! Now that's pretty cool although I don't have many other Christmas presents I requested up until now. Like the phone though, thanks Steve Jobs. I can access websites such as this one, watch crappy YouTube videos, etc. Hooray for technology turning me into a lazy bum because everything is so easy to do now!
Oh yeah, and one more thing I want to talk about and that is Black Ops 2. My family is now part of the "buy every new CoD" legion so we got BO2...for the Playstation 3. No achievement whoring this time. Here's some brief thoughts.
Zombies: Ok, so I'm a mild Nazi Zombies aficionado so I wanted to know how Treyarch pissed all over the series in its third game. Now the only level you start with (TranZit) is basically this big-ass level (think the size of a typical Left 4 Dead map). You start in a 50's bus station and ride around to different locations (diner, farm, factory, downtown) and you fight zombies (well duh). Oh, and the whole world is darkened with ash and seismic activity fills the world with streams of lava. Right, because lava makes a wonderful obstacle in every action video game (not in Halo...according to the older kid from Spy Kids 3D, the best movie ever made).
It's really interesting though that after all this time, Treyarch still continues the Nazi Zombies mythos. The nuked world continues from Black Ops 1. Remember the Moon zombie level Easter Egg where (SPOILER ALERT) Richtofen switches places with Samantha Maxis to become "Lord of the Zombies" (the powerup voice changes) and Dr. Maxis nukes the earth in a vain attempt to (presumably) stop a zombie outbreak. I usually have disdain for dark games but the way Treyarch has been teasing the community with Easter Eggs and secret fetch quests is too good to pass up. It makes me want to learn more about the story...more than if the story was just dumped on you: "some scientist makes zombies, BLEH, who cares."
As for playing the zombie level itself...it's okay. Apparently the gameplay hasn't changed at all except they added work benches to build gadgets (like in Dead Rising 2) and you can ride the bus (which sucks cause zombies can hop on from all angles). The four characters look like Walter from The Big Lebowski (or Breaking Bad), Samuel L Jackson from Black Snake Moan, and white Louis and redneck Zoey from L4D. It sucks and I can't stand jumping over the lava cracks everywhere in the level, ha ha ha.
One more thing and that is way, way back, Treyarch (or some troll) was dropping really abstract Flash movies on this website hinting clues to the (we assume) zombies plotline years ago. Too bad they were probably leaking info for the Black Ops 1 campaign storyline (Mason being brainwashed and Nova-6 poisoning people). Wasted opportunity, guys.
You'll notice many old vidya games use "night-time" as a common game feature. Simply because night-time was easy to draw--just draw nothing (paint it black). Need for graphics crisis AVERTED!
There's less traffic at night too so it ain't bad. As for now, there's not much postin' going on because I'm on vacation, I'm at home with the family, and there's two things I want to do: enjoy the brief Christmas time with my family and get some rest. I do have a lot of stuff to talk about but no--I want you dying of anticipation for Christmas. As for the job offer, I still don't have anything yet. I ought to be patient. In retrospect there's a few interview questions I could've answered better but it's no use--I did my best and should wait post-Christmas before I get an offer (assuming I do).
Also I'm glad this Mayan calendar nonsense is over. So tired of the world ending...I bet History Channel is crying somewhere. Quick, someone come up with another Doomsday so they can run Nostradamus/Alex Jones specials on that too. SPOILER ALERT for Assassin's Creed but did the game's storyline infer that the world was gonna end 12/21/12? Ha, that game sucks, play something less violent.
But when I think of Mayans, I think of H.G. Pennypacker trying to sabotage the clothing store by stealing all the silica gel packets. That's what the Mayans were thinking...steal all of our silica gel packets so we die in 2012...I'm crazy and don't know what I'm even getting at here.
Ooo, and how about this. My family gave me an iPhone 5 as an early Christmas present! Now that's pretty cool although I don't have many other Christmas presents I requested up until now. Like the phone though, thanks Steve Jobs. I can access websites such as this one, watch crappy YouTube videos, etc. Hooray for technology turning me into a lazy bum because everything is so easy to do now!
Don't worry little buddy.
Oh yeah, and one more thing I want to talk about and that is Black Ops 2. My family is now part of the "buy every new CoD" legion so we got BO2...for the Playstation 3. No achievement whoring this time. Here's some brief thoughts.
Zombies: Ok, so I'm a mild Nazi Zombies aficionado so I wanted to know how Treyarch pissed all over the series in its third game. Now the only level you start with (TranZit) is basically this big-ass level (think the size of a typical Left 4 Dead map). You start in a 50's bus station and ride around to different locations (diner, farm, factory, downtown) and you fight zombies (well duh). Oh, and the whole world is darkened with ash and seismic activity fills the world with streams of lava. Right, because lava makes a wonderful obstacle in every action video game (not in Halo...according to the older kid from Spy Kids 3D, the best movie ever made).
It's really interesting though that after all this time, Treyarch still continues the Nazi Zombies mythos. The nuked world continues from Black Ops 1. Remember the Moon zombie level Easter Egg where (SPOILER ALERT) Richtofen switches places with Samantha Maxis to become "Lord of the Zombies" (the powerup voice changes) and Dr. Maxis nukes the earth in a vain attempt to (presumably) stop a zombie outbreak. I usually have disdain for dark games but the way Treyarch has been teasing the community with Easter Eggs and secret fetch quests is too good to pass up. It makes me want to learn more about the story...more than if the story was just dumped on you: "some scientist makes zombies, BLEH, who cares."
I didn't even watch the video but I copied and pasted a BO2 Zombies video for illustration purposes. But there's much more to Easter Eggs...there's a SECOND BUS ROUTE WE HAVE YET TO UNLOCK OMGORZ GUYS.
As for playing the zombie level itself...it's okay. Apparently the gameplay hasn't changed at all except they added work benches to build gadgets (like in Dead Rising 2) and you can ride the bus (which sucks cause zombies can hop on from all angles). The four characters look like Walter from The Big Lebowski (or Breaking Bad), Samuel L Jackson from Black Snake Moan, and white Louis and redneck Zoey from L4D. It sucks and I can't stand jumping over the lava cracks everywhere in the level, ha ha ha.
One more thing and that is way, way back, Treyarch (or some troll) was dropping really abstract Flash movies on this website hinting clues to the (we assume) zombies plotline years ago. Too bad they were probably leaking info for the Black Ops 1 campaign storyline (Mason being brainwashed and Nova-6 poisoning people). Wasted opportunity, guys.
Now about campaign and multiplayer. Well, I stopped caring. Personally I thought Black Ops 1 had a decent storyline and they continue that too. But the first level--running around some open field shooting Africa militiamen with an AK47--I just didn't care about at all and after beating six Call of Duties on Veteran, I have little interest on this story anymore. As for multiplayer, they did a fine job making multiplayer loadouts more flexible (can give secondary weapons & knives camo, can pick more than three perks, etc.) but only two or three of the weapons are recognizable to me (it's future warfare after all) so it's just not that much fun. I mean, if we're gonna go futuristic, then it's borderline Halo and the series loses some separation with that (I like running around with an AK47 and Deagle, you know). At least most of the MP maps are quite colorful and take place in common locations (malls, hotels) which is good since I prefer these colorful maps over the dingy ones any day.
EDIT: Starting to dawn on me. Look at Halo & CoD. Halo is starting to adapt loadouts and CoD is taking on this futuristic vibe. Hell, even that Drone MP map from Blops 2 looks straight outta Halo with the fancy lab doors and stuff. In a few years, the two will become one of the same. That would suck...I wish for a WW2 game again. World at War wasn't too bad...
EDIT: Starting to dawn on me. Look at Halo & CoD. Halo is starting to adapt loadouts and CoD is taking on this futuristic vibe. Hell, even that Drone MP map from Blops 2 looks straight outta Halo with the fancy lab doors and stuff. In a few years, the two will become one of the same. That would suck...I wish for a WW2 game again. World at War wasn't too bad...
I think if I'm going to FPS it up in the future, I'll probably go back to Counter-Strike. But with the job search, Sega All-Stars Racing, and trying to finish Super Sprint, I don't think I have much time for anything else. That's my rant for now so good day folks.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Gamers Too Defensive Of Games
This is a really brief post came up a few moments ago. I'm reading a post on Kotaku and every once in a blue moon, they post something actually interesting. An adult (with a child) who was affected by the Columbine, Virginia Tech, and Sandy Hook shootings has given up on violent video games, saying they affect him too personally. Which is totally understandable and I agree with the premise of the editorial more than I don't (so Mario is too violent...ok that's strange). I haven't lost any family or friends to gun violence so it's not as personal to me but I still don't like the premise of innocent people getting shot by criminals and psychopaths.
But as usual, looking at the comments, gamers go into butt-hurt mode. This ALWAYS happens whenever some critiques the general premise of video games for any reason (from Jack Thompson's "lets ban games" to some smart kid's "games are a waste of time, go read a book")--the most common being "they're too violent." The guy never blamed violent games for anything but the imagery of people being shot is too much. "Obviously you are being too affected by an image on the screen and can't discern between video games and real life," they say, among other demeaning things.
This leads me to my point. Aren't video games considered art? I mean that's another thing gamers are adamant about--that games are some creative art form (that's passed around for sixty bucks and used to yell at other people online then disposed of...brilliant) and anyone who says otherwise is "ignorant" and just "doesn't get it." I think games are art...sort of anyway. Art in the most plain term is basically "creative expression of human beings" from things like Crayola drawings to how we rearrange our furniture around the house. So in theory, games can be considered art in the way they are visually represented, their gameplay, etc.
Therefore, if one of the main purposes of art is to elicit certain types of emotion and games are art, isn't it natural that we'd be affected by games in some way? Like if I see overly violent games and I don't like it, isn't that understandable? Hey, there are paintings (and music...and movies) with violent/macabre themes and even if they're not real, we still get moody over them. So if someone sees a video game with people getting shot, then isn't it natural for some people to have negative emotions? Even if, once again, the people are merely 1's and 0's and not real?
The amount of violence that one person can take is relative anyway. Like there's a spectrum to violence. TimeSplitters (the first two anyway) is a good example of a goofy FPS that portrays violence in a way that most everyone can digest. Then there's Call of Duty and Perfect Dark which are "okay" in terms of violence that I still have no problems playing. Then there's stuff like Manhunt, Gears of War (people getting sawed in half), and MW2's No Russian level that are beyond my taste. This isn't just based on amount of gore--slaying monsters in God of War is probably more acceptable than killing human beings (possibly innocents) in a less gory manner (we relate more with humans' emotion of course...why some of the best stories told through various mediums involve human beings). Doesn't mean I wish those games were never made (or that they're bad...I know Gears is a good game) or that I disrepect people that play them (I have many friends who play M-rated games) but personally, I'd just stay away from those if I could. To say that it's ridiculous to be hurt by video games means that anything from video games is acceptable and that's just crap. There's only so much violence people can take from games.
Meh, that's my opinion anyway. To reiterate, violent video games don't make people do violent things (hell, E-rated games like Madden or Mario Party can rile up just as much violence). I could post this on Kotaku (if I felt like dealing with hundreds of rebuttals for no reason) but A. I can't post on that site for some reason and B. there's no use dealing with those guys anyway. I'm done here.
But as usual, looking at the comments, gamers go into butt-hurt mode. This ALWAYS happens whenever some critiques the general premise of video games for any reason (from Jack Thompson's "lets ban games" to some smart kid's "games are a waste of time, go read a book")--the most common being "they're too violent." The guy never blamed violent games for anything but the imagery of people being shot is too much. "Obviously you are being too affected by an image on the screen and can't discern between video games and real life," they say, among other demeaning things.
This leads me to my point. Aren't video games considered art? I mean that's another thing gamers are adamant about--that games are some creative art form (that's passed around for sixty bucks and used to yell at other people online then disposed of...brilliant) and anyone who says otherwise is "ignorant" and just "doesn't get it." I think games are art...sort of anyway. Art in the most plain term is basically "creative expression of human beings" from things like Crayola drawings to how we rearrange our furniture around the house. So in theory, games can be considered art in the way they are visually represented, their gameplay, etc.
Therefore, if one of the main purposes of art is to elicit certain types of emotion and games are art, isn't it natural that we'd be affected by games in some way? Like if I see overly violent games and I don't like it, isn't that understandable? Hey, there are paintings (and music...and movies) with violent/macabre themes and even if they're not real, we still get moody over them. So if someone sees a video game with people getting shot, then isn't it natural for some people to have negative emotions? Even if, once again, the people are merely 1's and 0's and not real?
The amount of violence that one person can take is relative anyway. Like there's a spectrum to violence. TimeSplitters (the first two anyway) is a good example of a goofy FPS that portrays violence in a way that most everyone can digest. Then there's Call of Duty and Perfect Dark which are "okay" in terms of violence that I still have no problems playing. Then there's stuff like Manhunt, Gears of War (people getting sawed in half), and MW2's No Russian level that are beyond my taste. This isn't just based on amount of gore--slaying monsters in God of War is probably more acceptable than killing human beings (possibly innocents) in a less gory manner (we relate more with humans' emotion of course...why some of the best stories told through various mediums involve human beings). Doesn't mean I wish those games were never made (or that they're bad...I know Gears is a good game) or that I disrepect people that play them (I have many friends who play M-rated games) but personally, I'd just stay away from those if I could. To say that it's ridiculous to be hurt by video games means that anything from video games is acceptable and that's just crap. There's only so much violence people can take from games.
Meh, that's my opinion anyway. To reiterate, violent video games don't make people do violent things (hell, E-rated games like Madden or Mario Party can rile up just as much violence). I could post this on Kotaku (if I felt like dealing with hundreds of rebuttals for no reason) but A. I can't post on that site for some reason and B. there's no use dealing with those guys anyway. I'm done here.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Coke Zero 400 Versus MASHED POTATOES AND GRAVY
This post is WAY overdue. But because I miss NASCAR so much, it has to be done.
Now, it's July 2012 and the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway IS ON. What am I going to do in the meantime? I could go to the race and listen to this (not my video):
Now that commercial's pretty funny (confession bear time) but NASCAR trumps all. This is my recount of the race (with pics using my new camera).
Like last time, the drive from Orlando to Daytona Beach is one hour. Me and my dad show up a few hours beforehand, looking around town for some place to park. We pay $20 to park in a Denny's parking lot about a mile from the track. Great, but that's the breaks--this standard town is filled to the brim on race day and I sure as hell wasn't going back to that grass field with the bus rides.
A few hours before the race, there's the pre-race show going on next to the track. You can walk around, check out some cars & drivers, the merchandise trucks, the Speed Channel booth, etc. It costs nothing to walk around so it's good to do if you have time to kill. I didn't carry a Sega sign with me this time, thank goodness. But I did wear my Sonic the Hedgehog hat. Rub two brain cells together...Fast Sonic = Sega = Daytona USA.
Got a picture next to Aric Almirola's #43 US Airforce car. Do the math why he's my favorite driver: the "43" blue car with (close to) my first name.
I saw Aric hanging out by the Air Force tent but he ducked away at the last second before I could shake his hand. Aric, I could've made you Super Sega famous (as opposed to Danica who's just overrated) but you missed your chance, man!
Hey it's Juan Pablo. Ask him what it's like to hit a jet dryer. Or race a donkey.
Tire Plinko from the Price is Right.
I should mention a main problem going to Daytona for me was always the weather. In February, the problem was rainy, chilly weather. In July...it is HOT. So by this time of walking around, I had to stop at Denny Hamlin's FedEx tent before I died. Those shirtless rednecks might be on to something...
There's the Hendrick Motorsports tent. And as you may have guessed, a very important person is there. Me just trying to get to shade, go over there as well.
Who's that over there?
Yeah, it's Junior. Answering personal questions like "Who's your best friend off the race track?" I think he said Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin though that was so long ago who cares.
Junior walks off stage, signs three things and runs away. I was just five feet away from him! Yeah he's probably pissed that everyone wants to bug him. I'd be too if I were that famous.
It's the new Ford Sprint Cup Car which looks nothing like an Aston Martin, I swear.
Nothin wrong with Ford trucks.
It's Greg Biffle's car SAWED IN HALF.
It's the Speed Center booth. People just waving their hands when the studio isn't even on air yet. But I don't want to be on TV so I just ran away!
Never mind this nonsense, let's go take our seats. It's near the same location I sat before--front row seats just before the entrance to pit lane.
There were a lot of people on the grass. You see, the band Train (the ones responsible for the elevator-tastic Drops of Jupiter) were performing on the in-field as people were walking in. Wait, what's with all these emo alternative bands like Coldplay doing in my NASCAR anyway? Where's the AC/DC, Motley Crue, etc? Whatever, so we're listening to music waiting for the race to begin.
Somewhere during the Train concert, we duck under the bleachers to catch some shade. It's here when I get a phone call from my future employer saying they're going to make me an offer (was later fired for tragic reasons but still, not bad). All of this with Train blaring in the background. So this is a good view for me.
So there's a Coke truck making the rounds.
An army of Ford trucks...
And a jet dryer OMFG stay away Juan. And about this time, Train plays Drops of Jupiter and leaves. Wow, about time, Train.
I have plenty more pics besides these but I'm going to conclude this post...later.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Stop Shooting People (No Politics)
Well I really didn't want to talk about this since it's horrific news. But I heard about the Connecticut elementary school shooting and I just about turned pale when I saw the news. And I'm sure many of you did too. Hurts my feelings so bad. And it's not like this shooting was in a vacuum--we had one in a Oregon mall a few days ago. Then one at the Sikh temple in Wisconsin. Then the Batman movie premiere shooting in Colorado. Then the camp shooting in Norway. List goes on and on and there's no way I can't talk about these events anymore.
I don't want to blame any one thing--not video games, not TV, not guns, not politicians, etc. Cause in reality, all this comes down to one thing: morality. You know, good old fashioned values. Not just "I promise I won't kill anyone today" (cause most of us won't commit murder in our lifetimes) but things like honesty, integrity, hard work & individual responsibility, be faithful to your spouse, be respectful to parents & authority, not stealing/lying/cheating, treat others like you want to be treated, life has value/meaning, etc. Cause regardless of what legislation our government passes, if we can't do the stupid simple stuff then we'll foster an immoral society where terrible things will happen (moral relativism, incivility, crime), possibly as bad as what happened that day... This applies everywhere and every time throughout history. To quote somebody, "Evil happens when good people stand by and do nothing."
That's my take on it anyway. I salute all the heroes in these situations. Pray hard for the victims & their friends and families and be a little nicer to others these days. Maybe society is getting worse, maybe it isn't (I don't have any "stats" on me) but consider this a wake-up call if anything at all.
I don't want to blame any one thing--not video games, not TV, not guns, not politicians, etc. Cause in reality, all this comes down to one thing: morality. You know, good old fashioned values. Not just "I promise I won't kill anyone today" (cause most of us won't commit murder in our lifetimes) but things like honesty, integrity, hard work & individual responsibility, be faithful to your spouse, be respectful to parents & authority, not stealing/lying/cheating, treat others like you want to be treated, life has value/meaning, etc. Cause regardless of what legislation our government passes, if we can't do the stupid simple stuff then we'll foster an immoral society where terrible things will happen (moral relativism, incivility, crime), possibly as bad as what happened that day... This applies everywhere and every time throughout history. To quote somebody, "Evil happens when good people stand by and do nothing."
That's my take on it anyway. I salute all the heroes in these situations. Pray hard for the victims & their friends and families and be a little nicer to others these days. Maybe society is getting worse, maybe it isn't (I don't have any "stats" on me) but consider this a wake-up call if anything at all.
Sonic And All-Stars Racing Tunes
Just cause I'm too lazy to post anything of substance, here's three of my favorite songs from Sega All-Stars Racing.
Damn you guys don't know about Shibuya Downtown...THAT'S MY TRACK, I ALWAYS WIN AT IT.
Oooo, I really like this Afterburner remix.
Also like Burning Rangers...gonna go put out some fires!!! Hell if I can make an FPS level out of Sonic Adventure 2 they can make a race track out of Burning Rangers. That's why I should work for Sumo Right Now.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Battle Fortress Tortoise ROFL
Oh boy, well I'm certain most of you know about Battle Fortress Tortoise. It's the capstone game I worked on for seven months. Anyway, here's some fun beta stuff pertaining to the game you should check out.
Anyway, welcome to the wacky world that is Eric's brain. I was approached by the team with this request--"make a game over screen." What it should look like, it was not specific at all. So I gave 'em a game over screen, alright. It stuck around for a few weeks--appeared in status updates and stuff. Here it is, this is 5 months into development:
One more bonus. This is one of the death sounds that the snapper turtles (those things that shoot cannonballs at you) make in the beta version. Sound design at its finest.
Hope everyone's having a great Hanukkah so far.
Anyway, welcome to the wacky world that is Eric's brain. I was approached by the team with this request--"make a game over screen." What it should look like, it was not specific at all. So I gave 'em a game over screen, alright. It stuck around for a few weeks--appeared in status updates and stuff. Here it is, this is 5 months into development:
One more bonus. This is one of the death sounds that the snapper turtles (those things that shoot cannonballs at you) make in the beta version. Sound design at its finest.
Hope everyone's having a great Hanukkah so far.
Friday, December 14, 2012
Graduation Time!!!
Well, good news is I graduated from the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy today. Hey, let's go to commencement...loads of fun but it made my parents happy. Went to a showcase for our capstone games then went home. Of course, graduating was a foregone conclusion starting in the 3rd (of 4) semester. From then it was all about ramping up to jobs and getting fired and sitting on our ass in bewilderment.
I have mixed emotions. It's good to achieve a milestone but change is coming (again). I no longer have any obligation to go to FIEA ever again. I no longer have school to rely on (even if it's just some place to hang out). But worst of all I think I'm going to lose most of my friends. Just about every friend I made starting in first grade, once we parted ways, that's it--we just stopped talking to each other altogether. And yes, there's Facebook, Skype, all that crap but unless you're talking face-to-face, it's does little good. The reason why this really sucks more than ever before is because for the first time in history, I knew multiple people who understood what I was talking about. People I could talk to without reverting back to "crappy old Eric" who couldn't socialize his way out of a wet paper bag. You go through high school & undergrad and most people are like "you want to make vidya games, lol, I'll be a more sophisticated person at my lawyer/doctor/businessman job." I can always make new friends, I know...
But those guys are cool...and some of them are reading this and well, you always know where to find me. On this lousy blog nobody reads, rofl.
Now about jobs. Well, I'm still unemployed. A month ago, I sent out applications to two places. Sumo Digital turned me down for the second time quoting my lack of experience and I was seriously bummed but not shocking in the least. Firebrand went "full retard" and has yet to reply to any of my e-mails. Why they wouldn't hire me I don't know. Then there's some local studio which had offered me an interview in a few days (again, won't say who but it's in the Orlando region) and because their folks are on such good terms with my school, unless I go there and you-know-what the bed, I will probably get the programming job. If not, then I'm temporary up the creek without a paddle but I can still talk with the FIEA people so not all hope is lost. After the interview, I'll make the painstaking 9-hour drive home for Christmas, make the usual pilgrimage to the mall, look at Christmas lights, etc.
My long-term Plan A is this. Stick around the Orlando/New Orleans region (well NO has Gameloft but I don't like em too much) and get experience. In this experience phase, I don't plan on moving unless it's a studio I really, really like. Then spamming Sumo (or any other Sega-related offers that pop up). Get the job offer then we're "in" with Sega. As for Plan B, well...if Sumo flat out doesn't want me for a multitude of reasons (I'm not smart enough, they onto my Sega antics, I can't drive on the left side of the road, etc.) then I'm s*** outta luck. What do I do then...I do some soul searching. Maybe I will have a change of heart and love to work elsewhere but I'll probably do something drastic like start an indie studio or roll back on programming altogether and attempt a "career" at auto racing or some other nonsense. I just don't see the point in working into my 30's-40's on games I have no interest in. What's the point? Patience, yes, but at some point, enough's enough.
I hope it doesn't come down to this and I'm probably in worry mode...that's not good but I'll probably shake it tomorrow after I get some rest. Running against the wind...it's gonna be fun and exciting anyway. Whatever happens, it's gotta be part of God's plan somehow.
Seriously though, I've said this many times but if it weren't for Sega, I probably wouldn't be in the game industry in the first place. I mean I'm tired of playing cheerleader..."ooooo racin gaems!!!" I'm always candid with my readers. If not then this blog will flat out suck. So let's go make some f'n games already. I'll get around to more Sega All-Stars Racing stuff as well as Super Sprint...maybe as a Christmas present for you all. Again, thanks to the all the FIEA guys that gave me fuel to persevere. Later....
Well, good news is I graduated from the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy today. Hey, let's go to commencement...loads of fun but it made my parents happy. Went to a showcase for our capstone games then went home. Of course, graduating was a foregone conclusion starting in the 3rd (of 4) semester. From then it was all about ramping up to jobs and getting fired and sitting on our ass in bewilderment.
I have mixed emotions. It's good to achieve a milestone but change is coming (again). I no longer have any obligation to go to FIEA ever again. I no longer have school to rely on (even if it's just some place to hang out). But worst of all I think I'm going to lose most of my friends. Just about every friend I made starting in first grade, once we parted ways, that's it--we just stopped talking to each other altogether. And yes, there's Facebook, Skype, all that crap but unless you're talking face-to-face, it's does little good. The reason why this really sucks more than ever before is because for the first time in history, I knew multiple people who understood what I was talking about. People I could talk to without reverting back to "crappy old Eric" who couldn't socialize his way out of a wet paper bag. You go through high school & undergrad and most people are like "you want to make vidya games, lol, I'll be a more sophisticated person at my lawyer/doctor/businessman job." I can always make new friends, I know...
But those guys are cool...and some of them are reading this and well, you always know where to find me. On this lousy blog nobody reads, rofl.
Now about jobs. Well, I'm still unemployed. A month ago, I sent out applications to two places. Sumo Digital turned me down for the second time quoting my lack of experience and I was seriously bummed but not shocking in the least. Firebrand went "full retard" and has yet to reply to any of my e-mails. Why they wouldn't hire me I don't know. Then there's some local studio which had offered me an interview in a few days (again, won't say who but it's in the Orlando region) and because their folks are on such good terms with my school, unless I go there and you-know-what the bed, I will probably get the programming job. If not, then I'm temporary up the creek without a paddle but I can still talk with the FIEA people so not all hope is lost. After the interview, I'll make the painstaking 9-hour drive home for Christmas, make the usual pilgrimage to the mall, look at Christmas lights, etc.
My long-term Plan A is this. Stick around the Orlando/New Orleans region (well NO has Gameloft but I don't like em too much) and get experience. In this experience phase, I don't plan on moving unless it's a studio I really, really like. Then spamming Sumo (or any other Sega-related offers that pop up). Get the job offer then we're "in" with Sega. As for Plan B, well...if Sumo flat out doesn't want me for a multitude of reasons (I'm not smart enough, they onto my Sega antics, I can't drive on the left side of the road, etc.) then I'm s*** outta luck. What do I do then...I do some soul searching. Maybe I will have a change of heart and love to work elsewhere but I'll probably do something drastic like start an indie studio or roll back on programming altogether and attempt a "career" at auto racing or some other nonsense. I just don't see the point in working into my 30's-40's on games I have no interest in. What's the point? Patience, yes, but at some point, enough's enough.
I hope it doesn't come down to this and I'm probably in worry mode...that's not good but I'll probably shake it tomorrow after I get some rest. Running against the wind...it's gonna be fun and exciting anyway. Whatever happens, it's gotta be part of God's plan somehow.
Seriously though, I've said this many times but if it weren't for Sega, I probably wouldn't be in the game industry in the first place. I mean I'm tired of playing cheerleader..."ooooo racin gaems!!!" I'm always candid with my readers. If not then this blog will flat out suck. So let's go make some f'n games already. I'll get around to more Sega All-Stars Racing stuff as well as Super Sprint...maybe as a Christmas present for you all. Again, thanks to the all the FIEA guys that gave me fuel to persevere. Later....
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Sega Turning Into Mr. Hyde Again
Yeah...not much else to say this time besides report the news. Well, Good Old Sega is back again, thought you should know that.
First is this copyright on gameplay mechanics. You know, stuff like "press arrow buttons to move the character" or some nonsense that you'd have to be really petty to care about. Anyway, Sega is suing Level-5 for making some innocuous video game (Inazuma Eleven, popular in Japan) that really shouldn't bother anyone. Apparently, Sega patented the ability to move characters by touching the screen. Yes, it's that broad of a patent. And it's not just for the $11 million in cash--Sega is demanding that Level-5 stop selling eight of these Inazuma Eleven games.
...Wow, they're outright trying to kill games. That's a horrible thing to imagine especially if you worked on these games yourself. And it's not even straight-up ripoffs like Zynga's The Ville (read my take) or a Chinese knockoff, this is some original series of video games that are trying to get taken down. And just for informative purposes, it seems the first Inazuma Eleven game came out EDIT: 4 years ago (thanks GameFAQs, you lie). So it took Sega THAT long to get around to this? Oh, and didn't Nintendo do something like this before with a game called Super Mario DS?
Maybe there is something going on in the Sega war room we really don't know about (i.e. Level-5 pissed in Sega's corn flakes) but with the Japanese game industry going to crap and "scumbag" companies are starting rise like Capcom and Sony, it really helps if Sega watches its own ass since it's been in hot water for the last 10 years, dropping all its franchises, particularly Sonic, on their heads.
... Which reminds me that Sega has pulled this patent nonsense before. Our beloved Crazy Taxi has a patent on its core gameplay features. See the "invention" description:
In other words, Sega patented the right for video game pedestrians not to be run over by reckless drivers. That and the green compass and telling people to drive to point A on the map. God forbid someone actually tries not to get run over in a video game. Well, that's what Carmageddon and GTA went for...just run 'em over. Leave bloody tiremarks. Mutiny averted! Lawsuits & complaints by US Government officials, yes. But Sega, no, you're safe from them.
Well, not for Fox Interactive...they released The Simpsons: Road Rage in 2001 which played out similar to Crazy Taxi. Sega sued in 2003 and they settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. You could challenge it if you felt like it, but all the time & money wasted just to win a macho head game vs. Sega wasn't really worth it...just settle and put it behind you.
Now I only have limited knowledge on intellectual property and the law though (I did have a run in a few times with YouTube's copyright police). I'm not a slip & fall lawyer. I respect patents but how vague can you get with these things--trying to push vague ideas as patents or "inventions." And also this, pertaining to the Crazy Taxi--was Sega just scared that someone would make a better racing game than they could? Um, no one could make a better Crazy Taxi than Sega can. Besides, people called out The Simpsons: Road Rage for being derivative so it's not like someone stole Sega's racing mojo. They are still the king.
Maybe Sega deserves props for "gaming" the system properly...hey, they got some money out of the thing. You play the "game" of game design, prepare to lose...
Also worth mentioning that our good friend Namco has a patent on "minigames in loading screens", as such:
5. A method of loading games program code means from a recording medium into a games machine and performing predetermined processing therewith, wherein a main-game program code means and an auxiliary program code means are stored in said recording medium and when said games program code means is loaded and processed, said auxiliary program code means is loaded first in response to an initialization program in said games machine and then said main-game program code means is loaded.
In other words, auxiliary program = mini-game. Wow, my head hurts trying to read this. But anyway, very creative concept you came up with there, Namco. I guess by "minigame" they mean the ROM of another older game (like Xevious in Ridge Racer 6) as opposed to some buttons to click on (the slot machine from Sega All-Stars Racing). But what do I know! (see list at bottom of page).
Patenting gameplay...Betcha EA wish they thought of this sooner! It just dawned on me...it would FRIGGIN HILARIOUS if Call of Duty's "aim down sights" mechanic was patented/trademarked. Or Gears of War's "cover & shoot" mechanic. And so on and so forth. If anything like this really happened, you'd see how imbecilic this Sega patent nonsense really is but on a much larger scale (sites like Reddit/Kotaku/GameFAQs would actually care).
I know I'm droning on with things that have been said on tens of hundreds of blogs before (omg copyright infringement??) but the point is this. You try to make a game. It's hard enough as it is trying to hire people, create great new ideas, work long hours to complete, advertise, and sell the thing. But then you got millions of legal landmines to avoid. If you aren't aware of every copyright & patent like "a green arrow floating above a car," then a big company like Sega or Namco is gonna zing ya like that. Yeah, no excuse for ignorance but we all have too many issues on our plate these days to focus purely on potential lawsuit pitfalls...like trying to raise a family, pay the bills, express ourselves through works of art, and just trying not to die in general.
Then there's the second thing and that's some crazy guy at Sega taking down every single Shining Force video on YouTube. This is most certainly not new to me. If anyone submits a complaint to YouTube that a user is violating their copyright, YouTube's knee-jerk reaction is to remove the video right away. It's a serious uphill battle trying to prove your innocence to YouTube though...one reason why I've given up on that site.
Sadly, if it did come push to shove between Sega and some of these fans uploading these vids, Sega would probably win. The sad truth is that even with Fair Use, a lot of Internet content (videos, pictures, music, etc.) would get flagged purely for using someone else's content (went over this before). The good news is that 99.999% of the time, the copyright owners don't care. Look at this site. I got Daytona USA 2 wallpapers everywhere. Imagine if Sega actually cared about Daytona again, enough to want to stop anyone else from using any material from the game. That's sort of what's happening now to Shining Force. And it really, really sucks, particularly because it's so random and no one knows a "predator" waits in ambush of anyone posting Shining Force vids. From the TSSZ News article:
We never give explicit permission to use our intellectual property. However, in cases like this, we tend not to take action unless our products are slandered in the derivative works.
Best Regards,
Sega Customer Support
Translation: Sega doesn’t officially approve of fan art, fan fiction, fan games, or anything else that fans do with their properties, but they aren’t going to stop you from doing it unless you’re trying to make them look bad. For those of you out there worrying about the sanctity of Sonic the Hedgehog lets plays or other fan projects, this is as close as you’re going to get to an unofficial thumbs up to keep doing that stuff.
Good news! Sega isn't going to kill you for posting material they own! Unless you create a Streets of Rage remake (Sonic CD is okay, however). Or if you create a Sonic YTMND. Or you post a Shining Force video. Or you say Sega sucks, or something. YouTube Poops are okay still, I hope--PINGAS!!! EDIT: Dawned on me if some of this "mature" Sonic fanart is okay. Let's show that to Sega and see what they think!
Oh boy it's confusing. The chances are very slim that anything you or I do draws the ire of lawyers, but things like that make me not want to contribute to the community...to make games, fan pages, etc. since you can get dumped on so quickly.
There's a few people that are trying to boycott Sega. But IMO, it's not necessary for two reasons: 1. It's a big corporation with employees in all different fields. Because one guy starts throwing around lawsuits/YouTube takedowns doesn't mean Yu Suzuki, the AM2 team, or even Sumo Digital thinks that way. 2. Sega's already flying a cargo jet on a blown engine or two. Go ahead and boycott. It'll just screw them even worse. Other than Sega All-Stars Racing and the recent ports, there hasn't been a whole lot of anything Sega-related I've clamored about. For Christmas, there's Sega All-Stars Racing and...uh, Sonic Jump on the Android. And a Virtua Fighter port. There's not much left of Sega to boycott anyway.
That's all I have to say about the recent events. It's vastly disappointing but I still support Sega anyway. People aren't perfect and I hope everything is better in the end.
First is this copyright on gameplay mechanics. You know, stuff like "press arrow buttons to move the character" or some nonsense that you'd have to be really petty to care about. Anyway, Sega is suing Level-5 for making some innocuous video game (Inazuma Eleven, popular in Japan) that really shouldn't bother anyone. Apparently, Sega patented the ability to move characters by touching the screen. Yes, it's that broad of a patent. And it's not just for the $11 million in cash--Sega is demanding that Level-5 stop selling eight of these Inazuma Eleven games.
...Wow, they're outright trying to kill games. That's a horrible thing to imagine especially if you worked on these games yourself. And it's not even straight-up ripoffs like Zynga's The Ville (read my take) or a Chinese knockoff, this is some original series of video games that are trying to get taken down. And just for informative purposes, it seems the first Inazuma Eleven game came out EDIT: 4 years ago (thanks GameFAQs, you lie). So it took Sega THAT long to get around to this? Oh, and didn't Nintendo do something like this before with a game called Super Mario DS?
Maybe there is something going on in the Sega war room we really don't know about (i.e. Level-5 pissed in Sega's corn flakes) but with the Japanese game industry going to crap and "scumbag" companies are starting rise like Capcom and Sony, it really helps if Sega watches its own ass since it's been in hot water for the last 10 years, dropping all its franchises, particularly Sonic, on their heads.
... Which reminds me that Sega has pulled this patent nonsense before. Our beloved Crazy Taxi has a patent on its core gameplay features. See the "invention" description:
One object of the present invention is to provide a game display method and an apparatus which permits people to be present in virtual space, such as a city or others, while not permitting cruel images, as of colliding with the people to be avoided.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a moving direction indication method which can make direction indications which are easy to be understood by operators freely moved in the virtual space, such as a city or others, and a game apparatus.
Further another object of the present invention is to provide a game display method and a game apparatus which can make displays which are easily understandable for an operator who gets, in a virtual space, such as a city or others, a specific object and carries the object to a destination.
Further another object of the present invention is to provide a drive simulation method which can provide real driving feeling....it goes on and on. Who wants to sit through 50 pages of this monotony?
HEY HEY HEY!! COME ON IN AND CHALLENGE OUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY!!!
In other words, Sega patented the right for video game pedestrians not to be run over by reckless drivers. That and the green compass and telling people to drive to point A on the map. God forbid someone actually tries not to get run over in a video game. Well, that's what Carmageddon and GTA went for...just run 'em over. Leave bloody tiremarks. Mutiny averted! Lawsuits & complaints by US Government officials, yes. But Sega, no, you're safe from them.
Well, not for Fox Interactive...they released The Simpsons: Road Rage in 2001 which played out similar to Crazy Taxi. Sega sued in 2003 and they settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. You could challenge it if you felt like it, but all the time & money wasted just to win a macho head game vs. Sega wasn't really worth it...just settle and put it behind you.
Now I only have limited knowledge on intellectual property and the law though (I did have a run in a few times with YouTube's copyright police). I'm not a slip & fall lawyer. I respect patents but how vague can you get with these things--trying to push vague ideas as patents or "inventions." And also this, pertaining to the Crazy Taxi--was Sega just scared that someone would make a better racing game than they could? Um, no one could make a better Crazy Taxi than Sega can. Besides, people called out The Simpsons: Road Rage for being derivative so it's not like someone stole Sega's racing mojo. They are still the king.
Maybe Sega deserves props for "gaming" the system properly...hey, they got some money out of the thing. You play the "game" of game design, prepare to lose...
Also worth mentioning that our good friend Namco has a patent on "minigames in loading screens", as such:
5. A method of loading games program code means from a recording medium into a games machine and performing predetermined processing therewith, wherein a main-game program code means and an auxiliary program code means are stored in said recording medium and when said games program code means is loaded and processed, said auxiliary program code means is loaded first in response to an initialization program in said games machine and then said main-game program code means is loaded.
In other words, auxiliary program = mini-game. Wow, my head hurts trying to read this. But anyway, very creative concept you came up with there, Namco. I guess by "minigame" they mean the ROM of another older game (like Xevious in Ridge Racer 6) as opposed to some buttons to click on (the slot machine from Sega All-Stars Racing). But what do I know! (see list at bottom of page).
Patenting gameplay...Betcha EA wish they thought of this sooner! It just dawned on me...it would FRIGGIN HILARIOUS if Call of Duty's "aim down sights" mechanic was patented/trademarked. Or Gears of War's "cover & shoot" mechanic. And so on and so forth. If anything like this really happened, you'd see how imbecilic this Sega patent nonsense really is but on a much larger scale (sites like Reddit/Kotaku/GameFAQs would actually care).
I know I'm droning on with things that have been said on tens of hundreds of blogs before (omg copyright infringement??) but the point is this. You try to make a game. It's hard enough as it is trying to hire people, create great new ideas, work long hours to complete, advertise, and sell the thing. But then you got millions of legal landmines to avoid. If you aren't aware of every copyright & patent like "a green arrow floating above a car," then a big company like Sega or Namco is gonna zing ya like that. Yeah, no excuse for ignorance but we all have too many issues on our plate these days to focus purely on potential lawsuit pitfalls...like trying to raise a family, pay the bills, express ourselves through works of art, and just trying not to die in general.
Then there's the second thing and that's some crazy guy at Sega taking down every single Shining Force video on YouTube. This is most certainly not new to me. If anyone submits a complaint to YouTube that a user is violating their copyright, YouTube's knee-jerk reaction is to remove the video right away. It's a serious uphill battle trying to prove your innocence to YouTube though...one reason why I've given up on that site.
Sadly, if it did come push to shove between Sega and some of these fans uploading these vids, Sega would probably win. The sad truth is that even with Fair Use, a lot of Internet content (videos, pictures, music, etc.) would get flagged purely for using someone else's content (went over this before). The good news is that 99.999% of the time, the copyright owners don't care. Look at this site. I got Daytona USA 2 wallpapers everywhere. Imagine if Sega actually cared about Daytona again, enough to want to stop anyone else from using any material from the game. That's sort of what's happening now to Shining Force. And it really, really sucks, particularly because it's so random and no one knows a "predator" waits in ambush of anyone posting Shining Force vids. From the TSSZ News article:
We never give explicit permission to use our intellectual property. However, in cases like this, we tend not to take action unless our products are slandered in the derivative works.
Best Regards,
Sega Customer Support
Translation: Sega doesn’t officially approve of fan art, fan fiction, fan games, or anything else that fans do with their properties, but they aren’t going to stop you from doing it unless you’re trying to make them look bad. For those of you out there worrying about the sanctity of Sonic the Hedgehog lets plays or other fan projects, this is as close as you’re going to get to an unofficial thumbs up to keep doing that stuff.
Good news! Sega isn't going to kill you for posting material they own! Unless you create a Streets of Rage remake (Sonic CD is okay, however). Or if you create a Sonic YTMND. Or you post a Shining Force video. Or you say Sega sucks, or something. YouTube Poops are okay still, I hope--PINGAS!!! EDIT: Dawned on me if some of this "mature" Sonic fanart is okay. Let's show that to Sega and see what they think!
Oh boy it's confusing. The chances are very slim that anything you or I do draws the ire of lawyers, but things like that make me not want to contribute to the community...to make games, fan pages, etc. since you can get dumped on so quickly.
There's a few people that are trying to boycott Sega. But IMO, it's not necessary for two reasons: 1. It's a big corporation with employees in all different fields. Because one guy starts throwing around lawsuits/YouTube takedowns doesn't mean Yu Suzuki, the AM2 team, or even Sumo Digital thinks that way. 2. Sega's already flying a cargo jet on a blown engine or two. Go ahead and boycott. It'll just screw them even worse. Other than Sega All-Stars Racing and the recent ports, there hasn't been a whole lot of anything Sega-related I've clamored about. For Christmas, there's Sega All-Stars Racing and...uh, Sonic Jump on the Android. And a Virtua Fighter port. There's not much left of Sega to boycott anyway.
That's all I have to say about the recent events. It's vastly disappointing but I still support Sega anyway. People aren't perfect and I hope everything is better in the end.
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Sega All-Stars Racing WTFs (Ft. Nintendo/Zach Morris)
Dear Spike TV. On behalf of myself and all the Sega fans out there, I demand you take that "Best Racing Game" award away from Burnout: Paradise 2 Need for Speed: Most Wanted (A Criterion Game) and give it to Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed. You see, as a very important person on the Internet with an influential blog (95% of all traffic from Google Image Searches) my feelings matter very much, even if I didn't bother to watch your crummy awards show at all. So until you stop hyping up overrated racing games, I call for an indefinite boycott of your lousy channel (even though I have denounced you badly enough before)! YOU'RE CLEARLY OUT TO GET SEGA, THAT'S WHAT IT IS. YOU GUYS SUCK!!!! Go turn into a metrosexual channel just like G4.
EDIT: Just joking, don't really care what Spike TV does. Even if Sega All-Stars Racing got recognition there, it would go in and out the ears of everyone watching. A day after the show, not a single f*** will be given about the awards. Seriously bro...that's the joke.
Now there's cause for concern about Sega All-Stars Racing's sales numbers. Somewhere, a few Sega fans have jumped off a bridge (they've survived previous jumps) but this is a good comment I read from "IceHedge" on the TSSZNews article:
If you total these numbers up compared to how All-Stars Racing did roughly in its first week:
ASR sold 20,498 + 10,432 + 7,419 = 37,349
S&ASRT sold 34,825 + 9,272 + 9,506 = 53,603
In order: Wii/Wii U + Xbox 360 + PS3 units sold respectively
Yeah, we said the same doom & gloom stuff about the first Sega All-Stars Racing. That it would bomb. But the game went on to cruise to 3.2 million sales across all platforms worldwide which I suppose is successful (in Sega terms). It's good enough to merit making a second Sega All-Stars Racing so it's not too bad.
EDIT: Just joking, don't really care what Spike TV does. Even if Sega All-Stars Racing got recognition there, it would go in and out the ears of everyone watching. A day after the show, not a single f*** will be given about the awards. Seriously bro...that's the joke.
Now there's cause for concern about Sega All-Stars Racing's sales numbers. Somewhere, a few Sega fans have jumped off a bridge (they've survived previous jumps) but this is a good comment I read from "IceHedge" on the TSSZNews article:
If you total these numbers up compared to how All-Stars Racing did roughly in its first week:
ASR sold 20,498 + 10,432 + 7,419 = 37,349
S&ASRT sold 34,825 + 9,272 + 9,506 = 53,603
In order: Wii/Wii U + Xbox 360 + PS3 units sold respectively
Yeah, we said the same doom & gloom stuff about the first Sega All-Stars Racing. That it would bomb. But the game went on to cruise to 3.2 million sales across all platforms worldwide which I suppose is successful (in Sega terms). It's good enough to merit making a second Sega All-Stars Racing so it's not too bad.
Go ahead and blame Sega for doing a crap job at advertising. Not enough commercials. Only saw one commercial on ESPN2 while they were airing the Nationwide race with Danica's Sega car. DarthS0L said Danica would get the word out, yada yada yada, but I don't think real-life car fans care about arcade racing games (a topic for another day). Danica's impact on sales may have been below expectations but I'm not going to pile on Sega, Sumo Digital, or Danica Patrick for this because something MARKETING FAILS.
But when you think of big sales, you compare Sega All-Stars Racing to some mega-hyped game like Black Ops 2 or Halo 4 and frankly...so what? Games like CoD and Halo are basically hyped up so much they burn out too quickly. Explains why they release a new one every year to the same exact massive sales numbers. It's become tradition for every average joe gamer to run out and buy this on launch, play the crap out of multiplayer, then drop it for whatever else is the "cool new thing" at the moment--usually another very original gun/sword/knife-wielding action game.
EDIT whole paragraph: On the contrary, Sega All-Stars Racing isn't a "must-have" title for most (because racing games & Sega games aren't top-tier sellers by any means) but people will get around to it. It'll have a longer shelf life than these quick Halo/CoD iterations because it won't be "eclipsed" as quickly. I've heard of Wii U owners who wanted to pick this up but were holding out on the Wii U console altogether until its library got bigger. Also the PC version isn't even out yet! And Christmas isn't even here yet. We're gonna have to go the "cult classic" route and do Sega's advertising for them. It's what this blog helps me to do. Anyway I'm not going into panic mode yet.
But you want to hear even crazier stuff? I don't know what TSSZ News's deal is posting ridiculous rumors like this. Apparently, Nintendo is planning to acquire Sega. And this is from a video by the "HipHopGamer."
I don't believe it. I don't even need to watch the video. But I'll say this about Nintendo owning Sega--I'd be traumatized. Why? Because Nintendo and Sega think differently. Nintendo is a successful game developer, Sega isn't anymore. Nintendo pours tons of effort into Mario, Zelda, Pokemon, and Wii stuff. It's good stuff but predictable and highly reliant on some new features like the Wiimote and the 3D screen (that makes people vomit). Yet Sega lives on the edge. Always got the crazy new IPs for each console (including arcades...something Nintendo was completely lacking), got that Sonic attitude, making professional arcade titles that still get credit like Daytona and Virtua Fighter. I don't know how much room Nintendo would give for Sega to flex (Nintendo-console exclusives would suck) but judging from how Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games went down, I think any Sega IPs would just be sterilized. After all, Nintendo IPs like Smash Bros. sell and Sega ones (usually) don't. Which way do you think Nintendo will steer the ship?
If this is true, I hope I'm wrong. Don't need to be a Nintendo diehard to know just looking at the history between the two, they're meant to be rivals just by the way they operate. If they were to merge, then one would have to change. And I don't see Nintendo willing to change.
Also, look at this guy...Hip Hop Gamer. If Nintendo acquiring Sega was such a big story, this would've at least made it to Kotaku or Reddit but no. Now I don't have a hate-on for rap like some others do (though I hate this crap psuedo hip-hop from losers like Black Eyed Peas and R-Kelly or whatever tool thinks hanging out with Justin Bieber is a good thing) but I know that a lot of these hip-hop sites tend to harbor crazy conspiracy theories. Like Jay-Z with the hand signals, Lil Wayne's occult rap lyrics, Michael Jackson was assassinated by a secret organzation. That's extreme, I know, but I can't help but feel skeptical about any "exclusive" information they have to report.
Oh, speaking of conspiracy theories and making up Sega stuff, it's our good Dreamcast 2 friend, Zach Morris!!! He predicted the Dreamcast 2's release on Dec 12, 2012. Guess what, it's three days to go and unless Sega has serious brain damage, it would've been announced & advertised already. But Zach Morris has another blog up -- Model4: Inside Sega's R&D. Strangely, some of these posts, presumably by "employees of Zach Morris," make a little sense. In other words, they are mildly informative and actually reference old Model2/32X/Saturn media. So what's going on here? Is this some guy who lives in some fictional world where he's the R&D guy of Sega, making elaborate posts about Sega insider information on crappy websites that hardly anyone reads (like Chris-Chan but a lot less graphic)? Or is he one of the lamest trolls ever only trying to f*** with the minds of a few wandering Sega fans? Forget this guy. I'm taking a nap.
Oh, speaking of conspiracy theories and making up Sega stuff, it's our good Dreamcast 2 friend, Zach Morris!!! He predicted the Dreamcast 2's release on Dec 12, 2012. Guess what, it's three days to go and unless Sega has serious brain damage, it would've been announced & advertised already. But Zach Morris has another blog up -- Model4: Inside Sega's R&D. Strangely, some of these posts, presumably by "employees of Zach Morris," make a little sense. In other words, they are mildly informative and actually reference old Model2/32X/Saturn media. So what's going on here? Is this some guy who lives in some fictional world where he's the R&D guy of Sega, making elaborate posts about Sega insider information on crappy websites that hardly anyone reads (like Chris-Chan but a lot less graphic)? Or is he one of the lamest trolls ever only trying to f*** with the minds of a few wandering Sega fans? Forget this guy. I'm taking a nap.
Quick, someone needs to make a "Scumbag Sega" meme--maybe then Sega would get some attention.
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