I don't think I'm inside my own mind today... and it's not because I punched my girlfriend in the head at least four or five times in the head yesterday...
IN HALO
Come on people!
Yes, I got Halo: Reach over Christmas time and my girlfriend has become absolutely addicted to the game. I bought it because I have many friends from out west who play the game and I thought it would be a great way to keep in touch with them. I enjoy Halo: Reach and I think it's made many improvements to the Halo franchise that had bothered me about Halo 2 and Halo 3 but this blog isn't about that. This is about the experience that playing Halo on X-Box live with your Girlfriend.
I'm sure there are many of you who have played online games with your girlfriends. Many of you red blooded full y testosterone infused males know the... aggression that comes from playing a first person shooter. To digress for a moment, Kobe Bryant was on Conan the other night and he talked about how when he plays basketball he enters his alter ego "The Black Mamba" The fact that that is Vivica A. Fox in Kill Bill aside. When I play Halo, I enter my Black Mamba...
My... Enigmatic Evil if you will.
I get aggressive, I get worked up. I love to talk trash, I absolutely LOVE it. I will curse to the extent that a sailor would most likely blush. I enter this zone that is really unlike anything else I experience in day-to-day life and when I am playing with my girlfriend it's... different.
Not different in the sense that I play in a different way but it's different because she's there. Now she is not like me, mostly because she's a woman obviously. She will get worked up and she will talk trash but she rarely does this on the microphone like I do. She will often do this with the microphone on mute and she rarely says things on the mic to the other players.
Here's an example of an awful thing that I would say to a player online: "Fuck you! I hope you inherit a sexually transmitted disease!!!"
Here is an example of an awful thing that she would say to a player online: "You are an awful person!"
Quite frequently she is sitting beside me while I am 'in the zone' and she will be trying to talk me down because, I'm not going to lie, I get nasty. I will be sitting there, telling a guy about how he bites cocks and here she is sitting beside me rolling her eyes and asking me not to be so rude. It's funny to me because when I play Halo it's like I have Tourette's, there is no filter, no control. I want to slay and if that means slaying verbally then so be it!
Here is a common exchange between the GF and I while we're playing halo.
Me: FUCK FUCK FUCK
Her: What?
Me: I just died
Her: Oh I thought you were saying that to me?
Me: No... if I start swearing profusely, assume that I just died
Me Later: SHIT!!!!
Her: Huh?
Me: Died again
Her: Oh... good.
I mean there's no sympathy especially if she gets a kill on me, and usually when she does there's a well timed "Suck it!" thrown at me from her direction. She gets FURIOUS when I kill her, not as mad as when I die, especially by her hand or gun but still. Usually this is because I will stalk her. Make a condescending remark before my fist smacks the back of her helmet and puts her down, usually followed by a nefarious cackle because it's amusing!
There's certain social guidelines when playing Halo that throw all the camaraderie of relationships out the door. It's kill or be killed, every man, woman or child for themselves. And there's a lot of children on Halo.
To digress from the lady friend for a moment. Trash talking children is hilarious. They're kids, usually 13-ish and their trash talk is usually awful, consisting of "Fuck you!" or "you suck!" So to throw big words at them is awesome because they really have NO idea how to respond. It's like "You suck, noob!" "Yeah... well, come talk to me when your balls drop, infantile!" "Uhh.... you suck! Pwned!" There's just no intelligence there. I mean, when I was a teenager, I was still a top notch trash talker. It's in my blood.
Back to topic, playing Halo with my special lady friend is an awesome experience overall. I don't think she's always ready for when I'm embracing my inner enigmatic evil and this is mostly because she's not always ready for how worked up that Halo makes her, or makes me. The trash talk, the aggression, Halo is a full contact sport where the only contact is button mashing. It's a lot of fun playing with her and a lot of that fun is entirely based on the kinds of conversations we will have. In the future, we will play more Halo and we will punch, shoot, and swear at each other but it's all in good fun!
Until next time guys, PEACE!
Friday, February 4, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
ABERRANT: For Dummies
I don't think I'm inside my own mind today... Now, I don't want to alarm you but I'm a bit of a geek. I'm an avid gamer. Xbox? Check. I love that shit. Board Games? Not that I own any but hell yes! Though, not Monopoly. Mom ALWAYS wins at Monopoly and I end up bankrupt. Fuck that game.
Now this isn't about Xbox or Board Games. I'm going to discuss Pen and Paper, or "Tabletop" games as they're sometimes called. Games like Dungeons And Dragons...
You know... SATAN'S GAME!
Anyway, speciffically I'm going to talk about a game called Aberrant by White Wolf. Aberrant is a Superhero game in a contemporary setting where people who "errupt" transcend the pathetic restrictions of humanity and become "Novas". Novas are super-powered beings who are considered 'god-like'. Now, since the term "Mutant" is copy-written by Marvel Comics, they had to come up with something else. Could they have done better? That's debatable but none the less that's not the point.
Now, Aberrant is played much like D&D. You have a "Game Master" or "Storyteller" who runs the game. This person is like the writer, narrator, God and Jesus all wrapped up into one. They present the story to the gamers, lead them to make choices which affect the outcomes of situations they are put into and also, at least when I am running a game, are trying to kill the gamers at every turn.
Players are given points to give your characters abilities and skills. With these abilities you're given dice which ultimately decide the success of the various tasks you attempt when you don't just try to role play through it. In Aberrant, you're also able to give your character virtually any super power you can imagine! Flight, Wolverine claws, laser eyes? The thing I love about most games like Aberrant is that you're only limited by your imaginaton.
Want to be a character that blows up on a whim without actually dying? SELF-DESTRUCTOR! Yeah... you can do that too.
The gamers play the superhero 'team' or even super-villains if you're feeling evil.
Now for an example of the plot of the last game I ran, just for reference:
After he players erupted, they were united by a NPC (Non-Player Character) named "The Captain" who wanted their aid to save a hero named Ultima, who is kind of like the Superman of this particular story. Captain believed Ultima was abducted by a villanous society named "The Circle" and their purpose for abducting Ultima was unknown.
The team learned that The Circle was lead by three villains named The Baron, Lady Venom and Max Kenneth III.
The team infiltrated various Circle hideouts to try and find information on Ultimas whereabouts, ultimately they were lead to believe that Ultima was sent into outer space. The team was going to have to take a space ship and go into Space themselves to save Ultima.
The game never got that far. I decided I was stick of being the game master, I wanted to actually PLAY the game. I've been GMing for... too long.
I ran a pretty lengthy villains story where one of the players was turned into a child eating cannibal, another player became a drug kingpin based out of Taiwan and other characters divulged in random acts of evil, greed, gluttony and depravity the likes of which only a true super-villain could desire, MUAHAHAHAHA!
In the first game session of this particular story, All the players were broke out of prison by the aforementioned Max Kenneth. Some chose to join him, some chose to give him the middle finger and do their own thing but that didn't stop him from trying to play them all against each other and sabotage them without their knowledge of it. I killed two players in the very first night! It all came to a vicious implosion a few months down the line when every player tried to kill each other and I had to time-warp the game to evade a untimely demise. The game, needless to say, never really recovered after that anyway.
Now I've got a good group of co-workers we've had an Aberrant game going for a few months now and I am burntout, like I said, I want to PLAY, I don't want to be the creator, I want to be the guy that mucks the GM's perfect plans up in MY quest for all that is ... whatever I may be feeling that particular evening.
I've been creating a character for the game and I've decided he will be based off of Christopher Walken
( "Babies... when I'm done with you, you'll all be wearing gold plated diapers!" )
Now since I know my friends, I know the kind of characters they will play.
Two will likely make combat oriented characters because they play D&D all the time and are very difficult to try and wrangle into playing an actual "character"
The other will likely play a loner type who will play nice with the other characters but will mostly divulge his own devices.
This leaves ME to make the character that will likely lead the group: Make the decisions and do the talking and you better believe I'm going to mess with the other players as well as the GM. That's why I chose to make a character that's based off of Christopher Walken, he oozes charisma, he can play any kind of role he needs to play and well he's super cool.
It's going to be fun because it will also be a cheap excuse for me to use my Christopher Walken impression en masse without having to bring it up in a discussion in order to be asked to show it.
I'm not sure what Christopher will be getting in to but it will be fun. I look forward to demanding more cowbell at inappropriate moments and maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll get the chance to push a villainous she-bitch out of a window. A little russian roulette? Who knows! That's what makes Aberrant great. Anything can happen.
All that I'm really left wondering...
What superpowers do you give Christopher Walken?
Now this isn't about Xbox or Board Games. I'm going to discuss Pen and Paper, or "Tabletop" games as they're sometimes called. Games like Dungeons And Dragons...
You know... SATAN'S GAME!
Anyway, speciffically I'm going to talk about a game called Aberrant by White Wolf. Aberrant is a Superhero game in a contemporary setting where people who "errupt" transcend the pathetic restrictions of humanity and become "Novas". Novas are super-powered beings who are considered 'god-like'. Now, since the term "Mutant" is copy-written by Marvel Comics, they had to come up with something else. Could they have done better? That's debatable but none the less that's not the point.
Now, Aberrant is played much like D&D. You have a "Game Master" or "Storyteller" who runs the game. This person is like the writer, narrator, God and Jesus all wrapped up into one. They present the story to the gamers, lead them to make choices which affect the outcomes of situations they are put into and also, at least when I am running a game, are trying to kill the gamers at every turn.
Players are given points to give your characters abilities and skills. With these abilities you're given dice which ultimately decide the success of the various tasks you attempt when you don't just try to role play through it. In Aberrant, you're also able to give your character virtually any super power you can imagine! Flight, Wolverine claws, laser eyes? The thing I love about most games like Aberrant is that you're only limited by your imaginaton.
Want to be a character that blows up on a whim without actually dying? SELF-DESTRUCTOR! Yeah... you can do that too.
The gamers play the superhero 'team' or even super-villains if you're feeling evil.
Now for an example of the plot of the last game I ran, just for reference:
After he players erupted, they were united by a NPC (Non-Player Character) named "The Captain" who wanted their aid to save a hero named Ultima, who is kind of like the Superman of this particular story. Captain believed Ultima was abducted by a villanous society named "The Circle" and their purpose for abducting Ultima was unknown.
The team learned that The Circle was lead by three villains named The Baron, Lady Venom and Max Kenneth III.
The team infiltrated various Circle hideouts to try and find information on Ultimas whereabouts, ultimately they were lead to believe that Ultima was sent into outer space. The team was going to have to take a space ship and go into Space themselves to save Ultima.
The game never got that far. I decided I was stick of being the game master, I wanted to actually PLAY the game. I've been GMing for... too long.
I ran a pretty lengthy villains story where one of the players was turned into a child eating cannibal, another player became a drug kingpin based out of Taiwan and other characters divulged in random acts of evil, greed, gluttony and depravity the likes of which only a true super-villain could desire, MUAHAHAHAHA!
In the first game session of this particular story, All the players were broke out of prison by the aforementioned Max Kenneth. Some chose to join him, some chose to give him the middle finger and do their own thing but that didn't stop him from trying to play them all against each other and sabotage them without their knowledge of it. I killed two players in the very first night! It all came to a vicious implosion a few months down the line when every player tried to kill each other and I had to time-warp the game to evade a untimely demise. The game, needless to say, never really recovered after that anyway.
Now I've got a good group of co-workers we've had an Aberrant game going for a few months now and I am burntout, like I said, I want to PLAY, I don't want to be the creator, I want to be the guy that mucks the GM's perfect plans up in MY quest for all that is ... whatever I may be feeling that particular evening.
I've been creating a character for the game and I've decided he will be based off of Christopher Walken
( "Babies... when I'm done with you, you'll all be wearing gold plated diapers!" )
Now since I know my friends, I know the kind of characters they will play.
Two will likely make combat oriented characters because they play D&D all the time and are very difficult to try and wrangle into playing an actual "character"
The other will likely play a loner type who will play nice with the other characters but will mostly divulge his own devices.
This leaves ME to make the character that will likely lead the group: Make the decisions and do the talking and you better believe I'm going to mess with the other players as well as the GM. That's why I chose to make a character that's based off of Christopher Walken, he oozes charisma, he can play any kind of role he needs to play and well he's super cool.
It's going to be fun because it will also be a cheap excuse for me to use my Christopher Walken impression en masse without having to bring it up in a discussion in order to be asked to show it.
I'm not sure what Christopher will be getting in to but it will be fun. I look forward to demanding more cowbell at inappropriate moments and maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll get the chance to push a villainous she-bitch out of a window. A little russian roulette? Who knows! That's what makes Aberrant great. Anything can happen.
All that I'm really left wondering...
What superpowers do you give Christopher Walken?
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Wrestling > Soap Operas
I don't think I'm inside my own mind today... there has been a tried and true argument the opposite sex employs in contrarian fashion to the art that is Professional Wrestling. That argument is "Well... it's just like a Soap Opera."
Bullshit!
Here are the realms which Wrestling and Soaps are comparable:
- They both have ridiculous "plots"
- They both involve overacting
- The quality of both products is questionable
This is where the similarities end. Let me take a moment to debunk these comparisons.
1) The Plots:
In wrestling there are really only so many realms which these plots which are used to give the actual WRESTLING more drama and supposed meaning actually work. Usually you have to try and make the plots unfold in a way that the viewers can relate to so of course the drama is going to be comparable to Soaps. There are really only so many ways that drama can be convened in a realistic manner and Wrestling is especially restricted in this. I mean when you're having a bunch of dudes fighting each other as the vocal point of your entertainment, the plots should work around that and that's not how it really works anymore which is a shame. That's another rant for another day. Wrestling is more limited than Soap Operas in the realm of what can actually be done.
2) Overacting:
This is an easy debunk. Actors are trained professionals, acting is their skill. They are paid to overact. Wrestlers are not trained actors, some are much better actors than others but really they aren't paid to act. They're paid to wrestle. As a result, the 'acting' portrayed by many professional wrestlers is bad simply because they are not good actors, not because they're over acting on purpose.
You get a rare gem like The Rock who was an excellent entertainer and could hold his own next to most any actor, in my opinion then you get guys like Hulk Hogan who's fame got him movie roles but his acting skills left much to be desired.
3) Questionable Product:
Soap Operas suck, I don't care who you are. Thing is, Wrestling sucks too. It has for the better part of a decade now. It just doesn't have the same spirit it once did. The characters aren't as interesting as they used to be and even the in-ring wrestling product is a pale force of what it once was. Soap Operas, I don't need to go there. If you like seeing the same plots re-enacted over and over again, with the same characters than clearly Wrestling and Soap Operas are for you.
Outside of these three elements, they are not even close to being similar. Soap Operas are daytime drams. Wrestling is just that. WRESTLING. It's about two dudes who have been professionally trained to fight each other without hurting each other and yet make it brutal as hell. There's a certain art to Wrestling that's always intrigued me and in my teen years I even wanted to BE a wrestler.
Mick Foley got thrown off a steel cage over ten feet high and crashed through an announcers table. Nothing fake or overacted about that. His teeth went through his face, it was something he would never do again to that extent but it looked awesome and is the kind of moment that wrestling fans will always remember. Mick Foley, and all other wrestlers put their bodies and sometimes their very lives on the line to entertain people. Do Soap Opera actors do that? Fuck no!
So yeah, it's a mute argument for the most part and I can already sense those soap fans sneering at the mere assertion that their cherished actors are insignificant in comparison to some buff dudes with a shaved chests pretending to beat the crap out of each other. Wrestling was something I grew up watching and something I will probably always love, no matter how crappy it is.
Bullshit!
Here are the realms which Wrestling and Soaps are comparable:
- They both have ridiculous "plots"
- They both involve overacting
- The quality of both products is questionable
This is where the similarities end. Let me take a moment to debunk these comparisons.
1) The Plots:
In wrestling there are really only so many realms which these plots which are used to give the actual WRESTLING more drama and supposed meaning actually work. Usually you have to try and make the plots unfold in a way that the viewers can relate to so of course the drama is going to be comparable to Soaps. There are really only so many ways that drama can be convened in a realistic manner and Wrestling is especially restricted in this. I mean when you're having a bunch of dudes fighting each other as the vocal point of your entertainment, the plots should work around that and that's not how it really works anymore which is a shame. That's another rant for another day. Wrestling is more limited than Soap Operas in the realm of what can actually be done.
2) Overacting:
This is an easy debunk. Actors are trained professionals, acting is their skill. They are paid to overact. Wrestlers are not trained actors, some are much better actors than others but really they aren't paid to act. They're paid to wrestle. As a result, the 'acting' portrayed by many professional wrestlers is bad simply because they are not good actors, not because they're over acting on purpose.
You get a rare gem like The Rock who was an excellent entertainer and could hold his own next to most any actor, in my opinion then you get guys like Hulk Hogan who's fame got him movie roles but his acting skills left much to be desired.
3) Questionable Product:
Soap Operas suck, I don't care who you are. Thing is, Wrestling sucks too. It has for the better part of a decade now. It just doesn't have the same spirit it once did. The characters aren't as interesting as they used to be and even the in-ring wrestling product is a pale force of what it once was. Soap Operas, I don't need to go there. If you like seeing the same plots re-enacted over and over again, with the same characters than clearly Wrestling and Soap Operas are for you.
Outside of these three elements, they are not even close to being similar. Soap Operas are daytime drams. Wrestling is just that. WRESTLING. It's about two dudes who have been professionally trained to fight each other without hurting each other and yet make it brutal as hell. There's a certain art to Wrestling that's always intrigued me and in my teen years I even wanted to BE a wrestler.
Mick Foley got thrown off a steel cage over ten feet high and crashed through an announcers table. Nothing fake or overacted about that. His teeth went through his face, it was something he would never do again to that extent but it looked awesome and is the kind of moment that wrestling fans will always remember. Mick Foley, and all other wrestlers put their bodies and sometimes their very lives on the line to entertain people. Do Soap Opera actors do that? Fuck no!
So yeah, it's a mute argument for the most part and I can already sense those soap fans sneering at the mere assertion that their cherished actors are insignificant in comparison to some buff dudes with a shaved chests pretending to beat the crap out of each other. Wrestling was something I grew up watching and something I will probably always love, no matter how crappy it is.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Sports Games... you're ON NOTICE!
I don't think I'm inside my own mind today... Thanks to NBA 2K11, ALL other sports titles are on notice, and this is a call for improvement and the thing that makes me feel so out of my mind is that a BASKETBALL game of all titles is demanding me to ask more of my sports games. This is a rant about sports games and why I love them, why they suck and what makes them great. Feel free to continue on but don't get pissy because I'm not going on about something more important...
So far this year, I've purchased Major League Baseball 2k10, NCAA Football 11 and Backbeaker as well as NBA 2k11. All of these sports games offer something the competition doesn't but only one of these games clearly rises above the rest.
I've voiced my ire toward sports games like Madden and that ire increases with each exceptional sports title that's released. With NHL 11 also earning a lot of positive buzz that only increases that desire exponentially.
Let's start this off by stating, I don't need to hear it. I've heard it all before, "sports games suck!" "They're all the same!" "Why don't you go play a real game?" I respond to those by saying I'd rather shoot a puck into a net or run a touchdown in for 6 points than play video games of pretend warfare that in my opinion reduce the seriousness of what is a very grim aspect of humanity, warfare. That's another rant for another day but today it's about Sports games.
Ever since I was a boy, I have always loved sports games. Hours upon hours spent playing NHL 95 on my Sega Genesis. Back then it was all about putting Wayne Gretzky on the Vancouver Canucks and willing a million Stanley Cup's. Now the goals remain pertinent while the stars of the past have faded from the limelight. That's part of what makes NBA 2K11 such a great game, they took one of those stars of the past, Michael freaking Jordan and based the game around him in a large part.
NBA 2K11 succeeds in aspects where virtually every other sports game manages to fail on one point or another. Lets start with just the gameplay in general.
Gameplay of NBA 2K11 is superb. It re-creates the atmosphere and intensity of professional basketball with stunning realism. The game feels, looks, and plays like a game of NBA basketball that you would watch on TV. The AI is excellent and the defense is stifling. You have to play smart to win in NBA 2k11, it's not all fast breaks and alley-oops, if you aren't using your brain and making smart shots you will get your ass handed to you by the CPU or by other players. NBA 2K11 forces you to play smart on both sides of the ball.
The games perks don't end there. "The Asociation" mode gets props for being maybe the most deep and well thought out 'dynasty' mode in any sports game. 2K has outdone themselves creating a very good game mode here, with excellent AI business sense that attempt smart trades, (though trades that don't always work with the salary cap) and a draft system that's quick, like the real thing, and you don't have to worry about getting burned on bad draft picks which is a CONSTANT piss-off with Madden.
I have yet to try the "my player" mode, where you play a single player from the NBA Draft to NBA super stardom. I have been saving that due to something else.
There's an element that makes NBA 2k11 a step above the rest and that's the inclusion of the Michael Jordan mode, more or less. This mode include 10 challenges which re-create a number of Jordan's Chicago Bulls teams from the 80's and 90's with time-appropriate accuracy as well as some classic teams from the NBA past that include great players such as Magic Johnson, Clyde Drexler, Gary Payton, Larry Bird, Dominique Wilkins, Karl Malone, and others as well. Completing the 10 challenges unlocks the "MJ Career" mode where you can put Michael Jordan in the NBA draft, and play his career through with the great players of today like Kobe, LeBron, etc.
Michael Jordan was rivaled and surpassed only by Wayne Gretzky as far as my childhood sports heroes are concerned, with Barry Sanders placing a distant third. The game mode being built around Mr. Space Jam himself was 100% the selling point of this game for me. With the Michael Jordan game modes, you have a very complete sports game which has excellent game-play, excellent dynasty mode with smart player progression and regression as well as a game mode which will entice old school fans like myself to a game they otherwise would not have bought.
It's the complete package that puts NBA 2k11 above the rest. Hockey could benefit from the inclusion of a Wayne Gretzky mode, though re-creating some of The Great One's greatest moments would probably prove to be more difficult on a Hockey Rink than re-creating MJ's on the hard court. A game mode like that though could help elevate a great game like NHL 11 which has really pushed the bar on Hockey's front move up to the next level and create a lasting appeal that most sports games couldn't dream of.
With NBA 2k11, it has managed to re-kindle the next-to-none interest level I had in the sport of Basketball but it also has manged to create a game which pays homage to the rich past of the sport while using the greatest player to play the game as a catalyst for this trip down memory lane. I don't think a 'star player' approach would work for every sport, but for games like Basketball, it's helped give NBA 2K11 a boost to a game which would have still been pretty great even without the MJ modes.
So few sports games that come out now couldn't hope to be as well rounded as NBA 2k11, Backbreaker a game that came out earlier this year was a game I was really looking forward to. Gameplay issues which have since been picked, and an overall limited game mode overall really killed the momentum of the game. I like what they tried to deliver and I think the game succeeded at creating an alternative but overall the game will probably be looked back as a failiure.
NCAA Football is a fun football game that re-creates the rabid atmosphere of college football but ultimately it leaves me wanting to play Madden, because I prefer NFL football to NCAA football, hell I prefer CFL football to NCAA football and the great thing is with the NCAA's "Teambuilder" engine, I can re-create CFL teams pretty much to the detail. It's actually a much better team creating engine than the engine Backbreaker uses to create its teams, and creating teams in Backbreaker is one of the major perks of that game. When I have played this years Madden, it pales in comparison to its NCAA cousin. The developers got the most out of the new physics engine where as the new Madden feels like more of the same old-same old.
I always get frustrated with the little flaws of Madden's gameplay that you don't get with NCAA, and it makes me shake my head that two games with the same engine could have such vastly different quality levels. I do believe the games have different developers which makes me think that maybe Madden could use a new developing team to help breath some desperately new life into that game. The way things are going, unless Madden 12 has a trick up it's sleeve, I'm doubtful I will buy that one either. With all the excellent sports titles being released, I can do without Madden.
Now, Tiger Woods Golf did the whole 're-creating' moments in Tiger 10 and that was quite fun, you had to duplicate not just Tiger's but other golfer's moments as well and you could use the points you would earn from those performances to help boost your own personal golf avatar. And it helped make that game a little deeper having another game mode to go to as Golf games suffer from monotony a lot more-so than other sports games do. I get the most fun out of the golf game when I'm playing with my girlfriend, she gets as into it as I do which is a big plus.
I guess that leaves Major League Baseball 2k10, another 2K sports title. Baseball has been like the red headed step-child of the sports game group as of late and 2K took a lot of steps to ensure that 2k10 was deserving of their Xbox exclusive license, given that Sony's "MLB: The Show" has been a pinnacle sports title on the Playstation for years now. They didn't do anything flashy, like anything, with a sports game you have to build the foundation before you start expanding with extra game modes and themes, but 2K10 took a step in the right direction.
They put the focus on the pitcher/ batter duel, and the game is actually the most fun to play which is great for gamers like me who prefer to sim their way through the 'dynasty' modes to see how well their teams play from year to year. MLB 2k10 preferred to make their major game play statement in the ball park which was a necessary action to take. With the gameplay on the right track, they can focus on the game as a whole for next year in delivering a superior game.
It's what Madden needs to do. A "flagship" title that outsells most other games annually should not be so shitty. Sports fans have nobody to blame but themselves as they keep buying it, and the game hasn't changed. Why would it? Unless EA sees a significant drop in sales, they're not going to try to fix what, in their eyes, probably isn't broken.
I want to give kudos for NBA 2K11 for re-kindling my interest in Basketball, I miss the Vancouver Grizzlies like mad and cheering for any other team feels blasphemous. No way in hell I'm going to root for the "Memphis Grizzlies" so that's out the window.
I'm going to look forward to sports titles like NHL 11 and Smackdown vs Raw 2011. Once I get Hockey I'll have a sports game for every sport that I like, and the need to have Madden will be significantly declined. If any sports gamers have anything to add, positive or negative. I'd like this post to serve as a catalyst for discussion about the games we love, and what pisses us off about the games we wish gave us more.
So far this year, I've purchased Major League Baseball 2k10, NCAA Football 11 and Backbeaker as well as NBA 2k11. All of these sports games offer something the competition doesn't but only one of these games clearly rises above the rest.
I've voiced my ire toward sports games like Madden and that ire increases with each exceptional sports title that's released. With NHL 11 also earning a lot of positive buzz that only increases that desire exponentially.
Let's start this off by stating, I don't need to hear it. I've heard it all before, "sports games suck!" "They're all the same!" "Why don't you go play a real game?" I respond to those by saying I'd rather shoot a puck into a net or run a touchdown in for 6 points than play video games of pretend warfare that in my opinion reduce the seriousness of what is a very grim aspect of humanity, warfare. That's another rant for another day but today it's about Sports games.
Ever since I was a boy, I have always loved sports games. Hours upon hours spent playing NHL 95 on my Sega Genesis. Back then it was all about putting Wayne Gretzky on the Vancouver Canucks and willing a million Stanley Cup's. Now the goals remain pertinent while the stars of the past have faded from the limelight. That's part of what makes NBA 2K11 such a great game, they took one of those stars of the past, Michael freaking Jordan and based the game around him in a large part.
NBA 2K11 succeeds in aspects where virtually every other sports game manages to fail on one point or another. Lets start with just the gameplay in general.
Gameplay of NBA 2K11 is superb. It re-creates the atmosphere and intensity of professional basketball with stunning realism. The game feels, looks, and plays like a game of NBA basketball that you would watch on TV. The AI is excellent and the defense is stifling. You have to play smart to win in NBA 2k11, it's not all fast breaks and alley-oops, if you aren't using your brain and making smart shots you will get your ass handed to you by the CPU or by other players. NBA 2K11 forces you to play smart on both sides of the ball.
The games perks don't end there. "The Asociation" mode gets props for being maybe the most deep and well thought out 'dynasty' mode in any sports game. 2K has outdone themselves creating a very good game mode here, with excellent AI business sense that attempt smart trades, (though trades that don't always work with the salary cap) and a draft system that's quick, like the real thing, and you don't have to worry about getting burned on bad draft picks which is a CONSTANT piss-off with Madden.
I have yet to try the "my player" mode, where you play a single player from the NBA Draft to NBA super stardom. I have been saving that due to something else.
There's an element that makes NBA 2k11 a step above the rest and that's the inclusion of the Michael Jordan mode, more or less. This mode include 10 challenges which re-create a number of Jordan's Chicago Bulls teams from the 80's and 90's with time-appropriate accuracy as well as some classic teams from the NBA past that include great players such as Magic Johnson, Clyde Drexler, Gary Payton, Larry Bird, Dominique Wilkins, Karl Malone, and others as well. Completing the 10 challenges unlocks the "MJ Career" mode where you can put Michael Jordan in the NBA draft, and play his career through with the great players of today like Kobe, LeBron, etc.
Michael Jordan was rivaled and surpassed only by Wayne Gretzky as far as my childhood sports heroes are concerned, with Barry Sanders placing a distant third. The game mode being built around Mr. Space Jam himself was 100% the selling point of this game for me. With the Michael Jordan game modes, you have a very complete sports game which has excellent game-play, excellent dynasty mode with smart player progression and regression as well as a game mode which will entice old school fans like myself to a game they otherwise would not have bought.
It's the complete package that puts NBA 2k11 above the rest. Hockey could benefit from the inclusion of a Wayne Gretzky mode, though re-creating some of The Great One's greatest moments would probably prove to be more difficult on a Hockey Rink than re-creating MJ's on the hard court. A game mode like that though could help elevate a great game like NHL 11 which has really pushed the bar on Hockey's front move up to the next level and create a lasting appeal that most sports games couldn't dream of.
With NBA 2k11, it has managed to re-kindle the next-to-none interest level I had in the sport of Basketball but it also has manged to create a game which pays homage to the rich past of the sport while using the greatest player to play the game as a catalyst for this trip down memory lane. I don't think a 'star player' approach would work for every sport, but for games like Basketball, it's helped give NBA 2K11 a boost to a game which would have still been pretty great even without the MJ modes.
So few sports games that come out now couldn't hope to be as well rounded as NBA 2k11, Backbreaker a game that came out earlier this year was a game I was really looking forward to. Gameplay issues which have since been picked, and an overall limited game mode overall really killed the momentum of the game. I like what they tried to deliver and I think the game succeeded at creating an alternative but overall the game will probably be looked back as a failiure.
NCAA Football is a fun football game that re-creates the rabid atmosphere of college football but ultimately it leaves me wanting to play Madden, because I prefer NFL football to NCAA football, hell I prefer CFL football to NCAA football and the great thing is with the NCAA's "Teambuilder" engine, I can re-create CFL teams pretty much to the detail. It's actually a much better team creating engine than the engine Backbreaker uses to create its teams, and creating teams in Backbreaker is one of the major perks of that game. When I have played this years Madden, it pales in comparison to its NCAA cousin. The developers got the most out of the new physics engine where as the new Madden feels like more of the same old-same old.
I always get frustrated with the little flaws of Madden's gameplay that you don't get with NCAA, and it makes me shake my head that two games with the same engine could have such vastly different quality levels. I do believe the games have different developers which makes me think that maybe Madden could use a new developing team to help breath some desperately new life into that game. The way things are going, unless Madden 12 has a trick up it's sleeve, I'm doubtful I will buy that one either. With all the excellent sports titles being released, I can do without Madden.
Now, Tiger Woods Golf did the whole 're-creating' moments in Tiger 10 and that was quite fun, you had to duplicate not just Tiger's but other golfer's moments as well and you could use the points you would earn from those performances to help boost your own personal golf avatar. And it helped make that game a little deeper having another game mode to go to as Golf games suffer from monotony a lot more-so than other sports games do. I get the most fun out of the golf game when I'm playing with my girlfriend, she gets as into it as I do which is a big plus.
I guess that leaves Major League Baseball 2k10, another 2K sports title. Baseball has been like the red headed step-child of the sports game group as of late and 2K took a lot of steps to ensure that 2k10 was deserving of their Xbox exclusive license, given that Sony's "MLB: The Show" has been a pinnacle sports title on the Playstation for years now. They didn't do anything flashy, like anything, with a sports game you have to build the foundation before you start expanding with extra game modes and themes, but 2K10 took a step in the right direction.
They put the focus on the pitcher/ batter duel, and the game is actually the most fun to play which is great for gamers like me who prefer to sim their way through the 'dynasty' modes to see how well their teams play from year to year. MLB 2k10 preferred to make their major game play statement in the ball park which was a necessary action to take. With the gameplay on the right track, they can focus on the game as a whole for next year in delivering a superior game.
It's what Madden needs to do. A "flagship" title that outsells most other games annually should not be so shitty. Sports fans have nobody to blame but themselves as they keep buying it, and the game hasn't changed. Why would it? Unless EA sees a significant drop in sales, they're not going to try to fix what, in their eyes, probably isn't broken.
I want to give kudos for NBA 2K11 for re-kindling my interest in Basketball, I miss the Vancouver Grizzlies like mad and cheering for any other team feels blasphemous. No way in hell I'm going to root for the "Memphis Grizzlies" so that's out the window.
I'm going to look forward to sports titles like NHL 11 and Smackdown vs Raw 2011. Once I get Hockey I'll have a sports game for every sport that I like, and the need to have Madden will be significantly declined. If any sports gamers have anything to add, positive or negative. I'd like this post to serve as a catalyst for discussion about the games we love, and what pisses us off about the games we wish gave us more.
Friday, October 8, 2010
An open letter to love
I don't think I'm inside my own mind today... then again... maybe I am? Allow me, if you will, to tell you all a little story.
The boy liked that…
The girl had boyfriends, this stopped the boy from persuing his interest in the girl. The first boyfriend she had was an angry metal-head who postured aggressively and was threatened by the boy’s presence because the boy was simply awesome. The girls second boyfriend was an old friend of the boy so he didn’t want to disrespect the boyfriend by making a move for his girl.
This girl never quelled her interest in the boy. They grew close together as friends. The girl remained a comforting ear for the boy who had a lot of anger, a lot of sadness, and a lot of other emotions that he couldn’t quite understand himself.
The boy wished the girl would dump her boyfriend, because she wasn’t happy with him. He dreamed of the day she would be available and he would be able to sweep in as the prince charming on his epic steed, ready to take the princess to his castle for a happily ever after.
If you haven’t figured it out… I am that boy.
I waited for the girl, for years. She eventually broke it off with her boyfriend and afterward had said she did not want a boyfriend. I respected the girls wishes while my own feelings for her continued to grow strong.
The girl went off to college, while I remained in the small town. I moved out of my mom’s house as we were evicted from our home. Moved in with a friend. I worked two jobs, smoked a lot of weed and blew my money on unimportant things. College, to me, was not worth while because I did not wish for debt due to student loans, and I did not feel that my true passion, Writing, held a profitable future. I want to go to college for a career, this is something I still struggle with but I digress.
The girl was coming home and I knew my time to let my feelings known was nearing. Every day that came closer my fear grew.
Throughout my childhood, growing up, my feelings for the girls I liked always seemed to leave me cold. Backfired, I thought, maybe I was undesirable, maybe I was too loud. I often talked of how teenage girls infuriated me. Of course, in the coliseum of teenaged debauchery that is High School, the teenage girls probably were put off by my rather negative attitude.
Anyway…
After an evening that involved much alcohol, and much weed. I decided to take my chances. I had to make my move because the fear that I would never had taken that leap of faith overshadowed the fear that she might not feel the same.
She felt the same way. The girl I had loved, for years, had liked, and maybe even loved me too at that point.
Of course, due to my intoxication I was confused the next day. Did I fuck up? Was she revolted by the disgusting level of cowardice that was involved with my approach to let forth with literally years worth of feelings forward to her?
No.
In fact, it worked out the exact opposite. She was overjoyed, and it wasn’t long before we began dating. In fact, it wasn’t long at all before we decided to move away together.
I’ve followed that girl across the province of British Columbia, and now I’ve moved with her across the nation of Canada.
My love for her was something I felt that was worth the wait, and it’s a love that I would fight to keep. Time is irrelevant.
Though times aren’t always perfect, the fact that I am spending them with her outweighs any of the lowest lows of my past. Even the worst moments, or those that could be perceived as “the worst” are still amazing compared to the past. I would never change a thing.
Natasha. I love you, I always will. Nothing will ever stop me from feeling the way I do about you.
I will do anything in my power to give you the things you want, the things that you deserve and the things that maybe you even don’t want.
I would give the world to you if it were a possibility. Because my love for you makes me feel like I am never doing enough.
Love is a fickle mistress, but if you have it. True love, in your grasp, you know it’s the kind of power that you would do anything for, and that it’s the kind of feeling that you never want to let go of.
I know I’m not perfect, far, far from it in fact, and I know that I can be a better man.
I just want you to know, and I guess the world to know, that there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to see the smile on your face. It makes even the darkest skies turn blue. And if there’s anyone out there that feels the same way about a girl. They can steal this open letter for it’s not my story. We’ve all got stories of love that has been found and stories of love unrequited. It just so happens that my story is, at least to this point a victorious one.
The story of our love is just beginning. There are many chapters yet to be told. I hope that you will always feel the same way, and that we can one day close the story on this chaotic romance and know that it was all worth it.
You’re worth it, and you always will be. If I hadn’t taken that chance, and if I was still waiting, I would continue to wait, knowing that I would not sabotage my next chance to tell you that I love you, and that I always have, and I always will.
Another chapter ends, another begins, but our story continues. I’m glad that I’m sharing this story with you.
Once upon a time there was a boy… He was young, shy. He was angry and he was dissatisfied with things. Sixteen years young, dreams already crushed and an undetermined future. All that seemed true was one person.
That person was a girl who, at first, the boy didn’t go out of his way to know. Not because he wasn’t interested but because he was too shy to really think she could even find the time to like him. That girl ended up being spectacular. She shared common interests, she liked things that he liked, she liked to listen to his unfiltered stream-of-consciousness rants. She liked to be around him.
That person was a girl who, at first, the boy didn’t go out of his way to know. Not because he wasn’t interested but because he was too shy to really think she could even find the time to like him. That girl ended up being spectacular. She shared common interests, she liked things that he liked, she liked to listen to his unfiltered stream-of-consciousness rants. She liked to be around him.
The boy liked that…
The girl had boyfriends, this stopped the boy from persuing his interest in the girl. The first boyfriend she had was an angry metal-head who postured aggressively and was threatened by the boy’s presence because the boy was simply awesome. The girls second boyfriend was an old friend of the boy so he didn’t want to disrespect the boyfriend by making a move for his girl.
This girl never quelled her interest in the boy. They grew close together as friends. The girl remained a comforting ear for the boy who had a lot of anger, a lot of sadness, and a lot of other emotions that he couldn’t quite understand himself.
The boy wished the girl would dump her boyfriend, because she wasn’t happy with him. He dreamed of the day she would be available and he would be able to sweep in as the prince charming on his epic steed, ready to take the princess to his castle for a happily ever after.
If you haven’t figured it out… I am that boy.
I waited for the girl, for years. She eventually broke it off with her boyfriend and afterward had said she did not want a boyfriend. I respected the girls wishes while my own feelings for her continued to grow strong.
The girl went off to college, while I remained in the small town. I moved out of my mom’s house as we were evicted from our home. Moved in with a friend. I worked two jobs, smoked a lot of weed and blew my money on unimportant things. College, to me, was not worth while because I did not wish for debt due to student loans, and I did not feel that my true passion, Writing, held a profitable future. I want to go to college for a career, this is something I still struggle with but I digress.
The girl was coming home and I knew my time to let my feelings known was nearing. Every day that came closer my fear grew.
Throughout my childhood, growing up, my feelings for the girls I liked always seemed to leave me cold. Backfired, I thought, maybe I was undesirable, maybe I was too loud. I often talked of how teenage girls infuriated me. Of course, in the coliseum of teenaged debauchery that is High School, the teenage girls probably were put off by my rather negative attitude.
Anyway…
After an evening that involved much alcohol, and much weed. I decided to take my chances. I had to make my move because the fear that I would never had taken that leap of faith overshadowed the fear that she might not feel the same.
She felt the same way. The girl I had loved, for years, had liked, and maybe even loved me too at that point.
Of course, due to my intoxication I was confused the next day. Did I fuck up? Was she revolted by the disgusting level of cowardice that was involved with my approach to let forth with literally years worth of feelings forward to her?
No.
In fact, it worked out the exact opposite. She was overjoyed, and it wasn’t long before we began dating. In fact, it wasn’t long at all before we decided to move away together.
I’ve followed that girl across the province of British Columbia, and now I’ve moved with her across the nation of Canada.
My love for her was something I felt that was worth the wait, and it’s a love that I would fight to keep. Time is irrelevant.
Though times aren’t always perfect, the fact that I am spending them with her outweighs any of the lowest lows of my past. Even the worst moments, or those that could be perceived as “the worst” are still amazing compared to the past. I would never change a thing.
Natasha. I love you, I always will. Nothing will ever stop me from feeling the way I do about you.
I will do anything in my power to give you the things you want, the things that you deserve and the things that maybe you even don’t want.
I would give the world to you if it were a possibility. Because my love for you makes me feel like I am never doing enough.
Love is a fickle mistress, but if you have it. True love, in your grasp, you know it’s the kind of power that you would do anything for, and that it’s the kind of feeling that you never want to let go of.
I know I’m not perfect, far, far from it in fact, and I know that I can be a better man.
I just want you to know, and I guess the world to know, that there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to see the smile on your face. It makes even the darkest skies turn blue. And if there’s anyone out there that feels the same way about a girl. They can steal this open letter for it’s not my story. We’ve all got stories of love that has been found and stories of love unrequited. It just so happens that my story is, at least to this point a victorious one.
The story of our love is just beginning. There are many chapters yet to be told. I hope that you will always feel the same way, and that we can one day close the story on this chaotic romance and know that it was all worth it.
You’re worth it, and you always will be. If I hadn’t taken that chance, and if I was still waiting, I would continue to wait, knowing that I would not sabotage my next chance to tell you that I love you, and that I always have, and I always will.
Another chapter ends, another begins, but our story continues. I’m glad that I’m sharing this story with you.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Its already October? Jeebus! (General rants and updates)
I don't think I'm inside my own mind today... we might as well be at Christmas Eve, once Halloween comes and goes get ready for the two entire goddamn months of Christmas!
Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas. I love the majesty of it, I love how it enthralls children and strokes their little, budding senses of entitlement but I ESPECIALLY love how retail stores eat the shit up too. You can't get ready for Christmas too early in that line of work, if it was up to retail, Christmas would probably go half the year round.
Yeah, fuck that. Why can't we just get pumped for Christmas 12 days before it's supposed to happen. You know, like in the stories and stuff. No that's too much to ask.
It just bothers me, I hate the pressure of the Christmas season. I've never really been the kind of person who's into gifts. I like to give them, but they cost money and I'm cheap. I never ask for gifts because I never know what I want. The things I want are usually expensive, so I don't ask people for them. Makes sense that I try my hand at maybe getting what I want myself.
People ask me what I want, I don't feel comfortable asking for things. It's never personal or anything like that. It's just awkward for me.
In a sense, the whole entire Christmas season is awkward for me.
Just wanted to get that off my chest I guess, let's move on to something else.
Holy shit the Cleveland Browns won a football game! Now 1-3, the talk from Browns fans of an 0-16 season can be quashed. I am not sure how many more football games this team can win but I really hope they can win at least a few more. As long as they keep playing decent football and keeping games close that will ultimately be okay with me, win or lose. This year is about re-building and establishing a team attitude and all of that fun stuff.
With Baseball coming to a close, Hockey season starting up, Football in full swing, it's a good time to be a sports fan.
Work is... work. We'll just leave it at that. I'm still truckin.
I haven't seen many good movies lately. The last movies I watched were Prince of Persia, Hidalgo, Apocalypto and Date Night. Apocalypto was good, but Hidalgo and Date Night were both movies I was left wanting more.
Date Night was a rather by-the-books comedy with some truly genuine laughs but overall a ridiculous plot and a real sense of grasping at straws. The pairing of Steve Carrell and Tina Fey had so much potential but overall the movie left me wondering why Hollywood keeps making these movies which seem like half of a story idea and then they're just like "Lets but X actress with Y actor and it will be a classic!" Date Night was no classic. 6/10.
Hidalgo was okay. I love Viggo, he's one of my favorite actors. I'd always heard this movie was good so I was excited to see it. Upon seeing it, I realized why I never went out of my way to see it before now. The movie was rather general drama. Man out of his element, a challenge with overwhelming odds, No respect, etc, etc, etc. They tried to kill that horse so many goddamn times that HAD they killed the horse (The horse survives the movie.) it wouldn't of had any impact! 6/10.
Prince of Perisa, well, it was garbage. Period. We turned it off probably half way through, right around when all the drama with the dagger was starting off. The movie just had no spirit and felt as soulless and unmotivated as they came. All the English accents in the middle of the desert? Please fuck off with that! 2/10 (The movie gets points for being based off a cool video game. Thats it)
Movies I want/Need to see: Iron Man 2, Robin Hood, The Expendables, The Town, True Grit, Scott Pilgrim vs The World, Machete, Red, MacGruber
Movies I do NOT want to see: Legend of The Guardians, Devil, Resident Evil: Afterlife, The Killers,
Torn over/Meh: The Social Network, 127 Hours, Predators (I've never seen the original Predator films), Jackass 3-D, The Karate Kid, Get Him To The Greek
So that's how the landscape of my Movie future goes as far as movies I'm interested in, or thinking about. Time to shift gears into work mode, I'll maybe brainstorm updating this thing with something more meaningful (or to a point) sometime later this week.
PEACE!
Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas. I love the majesty of it, I love how it enthralls children and strokes their little, budding senses of entitlement but I ESPECIALLY love how retail stores eat the shit up too. You can't get ready for Christmas too early in that line of work, if it was up to retail, Christmas would probably go half the year round.
Yeah, fuck that. Why can't we just get pumped for Christmas 12 days before it's supposed to happen. You know, like in the stories and stuff. No that's too much to ask.
It just bothers me, I hate the pressure of the Christmas season. I've never really been the kind of person who's into gifts. I like to give them, but they cost money and I'm cheap. I never ask for gifts because I never know what I want. The things I want are usually expensive, so I don't ask people for them. Makes sense that I try my hand at maybe getting what I want myself.
People ask me what I want, I don't feel comfortable asking for things. It's never personal or anything like that. It's just awkward for me.
In a sense, the whole entire Christmas season is awkward for me.
Just wanted to get that off my chest I guess, let's move on to something else.
Holy shit the Cleveland Browns won a football game! Now 1-3, the talk from Browns fans of an 0-16 season can be quashed. I am not sure how many more football games this team can win but I really hope they can win at least a few more. As long as they keep playing decent football and keeping games close that will ultimately be okay with me, win or lose. This year is about re-building and establishing a team attitude and all of that fun stuff.
With Baseball coming to a close, Hockey season starting up, Football in full swing, it's a good time to be a sports fan.
Work is... work. We'll just leave it at that. I'm still truckin.
I haven't seen many good movies lately. The last movies I watched were Prince of Persia, Hidalgo, Apocalypto and Date Night. Apocalypto was good, but Hidalgo and Date Night were both movies I was left wanting more.
Date Night was a rather by-the-books comedy with some truly genuine laughs but overall a ridiculous plot and a real sense of grasping at straws. The pairing of Steve Carrell and Tina Fey had so much potential but overall the movie left me wondering why Hollywood keeps making these movies which seem like half of a story idea and then they're just like "Lets but X actress with Y actor and it will be a classic!" Date Night was no classic. 6/10.
Hidalgo was okay. I love Viggo, he's one of my favorite actors. I'd always heard this movie was good so I was excited to see it. Upon seeing it, I realized why I never went out of my way to see it before now. The movie was rather general drama. Man out of his element, a challenge with overwhelming odds, No respect, etc, etc, etc. They tried to kill that horse so many goddamn times that HAD they killed the horse (The horse survives the movie.) it wouldn't of had any impact! 6/10.
Prince of Perisa, well, it was garbage. Period. We turned it off probably half way through, right around when all the drama with the dagger was starting off. The movie just had no spirit and felt as soulless and unmotivated as they came. All the English accents in the middle of the desert? Please fuck off with that! 2/10 (The movie gets points for being based off a cool video game. Thats it)
Movies I want/Need to see: Iron Man 2, Robin Hood, The Expendables, The Town, True Grit, Scott Pilgrim vs The World, Machete, Red, MacGruber
Movies I do NOT want to see: Legend of The Guardians, Devil, Resident Evil: Afterlife, The Killers,
Torn over/Meh: The Social Network, 127 Hours, Predators (I've never seen the original Predator films), Jackass 3-D, The Karate Kid, Get Him To The Greek
So that's how the landscape of my Movie future goes as far as movies I'm interested in, or thinking about. Time to shift gears into work mode, I'll maybe brainstorm updating this thing with something more meaningful (or to a point) sometime later this week.
PEACE!
Saturday, September 18, 2010
L O S T ... a fan's memoir of a great TV show.
I don't think I'm inside my own mind today... and I feel LOST without it!
The "it" I am referring to, of course, is not my mind but the T.V show Lost, which finally reached its conclusion earlier this year. The DVD set of the 6th and final season of Lost was released back in August, much earlier than I was expecting as it's usually released in September/November with the Smallville seasons, at least that's how it's gone up to this point.
I was first anointed by Lost when I worked at Movie Gallery back when the first season had just come out on DVD. I rented disc one of Battlestar Galactica, and disc one of Lost. I attempted to watch Battlestar first, it begins with some bullshit two hour movie-episode rather than introducing the viewers to the show in a traditional fashion. I sat through this for probably an hour before I got bored and have since never returned to the series. I put in the first disc to Lost and I've never looked back.
Lost did what so few TV shows have failed to do, it captured my imagination and more so than that, it kept me suspended. I NEEDED to know what was going to happen next, I wanted to know how the story would unfold and as the show began to force me to ask questions, I wanted those answered as well.
Sitting here, thinking back. I feel confident saying that Lost is my favorite TV show of all time. From multiple points it stands with a level of quality that very few TV shows have even reached. I'm sure it was a huge gamble for ABC, it has pretty good production values for a TV show and it's always been well written. They could never have expected it to take off the way it did.
I've watched the first few seasons a few times each. Up to that point I've had numerous theories which have all for the most part been proven irrelevant. That's part of the intrigue of the show though, watching episodes multiple times. Noticing things you did not notice the previous viewings, it all adds together and builds the mystique, the experience of Lost.
For those of you who have not yet become Lost, here's the crash course: An air plain crashes on a 'deserted' island. It doesn't take them long to stabilize on the island and their priority is getting off, however, it's not long before they realize they 1) they're not alone on the island and 2) nothing is what it seems.
The Island is as important to the show as any of the 'main characters' and that doesn't become apparent immediately but as the show unfolds the Island's mysteries generate some of the biggest questions of the show.
It's hard not to sympathize for the show's characters and yet wonder about the bigger picture and Lost is certainly the kind of show that makes you think, it's why I think a lot of people cannot get into it. The show doesn't feed anything to you, it makes you wonder and it makes you imagine. That's a big thumbs up in my books. How many shows on TV actively engage you as much as they entertain you? Two and A Half Men doesn't stimulate, or engage me, but that show has been on TV LONGER than Lost... anyway that's another rant.
I love how Lost centers itself around its characters. Every episode is focused on a particular character on the island, and it helps create this idea that maybe there's something to what's been going on. Maybe they didn't 'just crash' maybe there's more to it than that?
As I watched the last three seasons, 4-6, I ultimately feel they may have worked themselves into a corner. The first 3 seasons are very dense, a lot happens in those episodes and the final three seasons honestly feel a bit rushed by comparison, I've seen season 4-6 once each and I am anxious to watch them again, these seasons see the show pointed in a rather deliberate direction. For a story telling stand point this is essential, especially given how the die hard viewer's by this point most certainly would demand a end to this story. Given how much was already invested, it would have been a cop out for anything less. Lost delivered on this front.
I think the final two seasons especially felt rushed to me, and they probably could've milked a 7th season out of the show if they wanted to but the direction the show took, jumping through time and jumping through reality in a sense. The show created a mystical sense of what was possible and what was impossible and they did it without compromising the ridiculous. I thought the show was very imaginative and very brave and I hope it encourages networks to take chances more often on television shows that are less by-the-book and that push what TV is, and show that content on TV doesn't have to be dictated by statistics and focus groups and that sometimes a spectacular adventure that defies normalcy can captivate audiences.
That brings us to The End. The final episode, was it worth it, was it a waste? My two cents, I thought that Lost's Finale was spectacular. It closed the story, there were very few plot holes when it came to the total story that was being told. (I'm trying to go without spoiling any aspects of the story here... ) They closed the book on that chapter of the island while also giving closure to the characters who made the story what it was. It had some awesome moments and I thought it was a great send-off for the show because in the end the show answered most of the real big questions that it created but it left the viewer with questions that remained.
It forces us as fans to look back at it, and remember it. That's the mark of something that was done well, a story well told, in this case. Lost is TV entertainment at its best, and I will be surprised if another show the caliber of lost comes along again any time soon.
Anyone on the fence, Lost is best in the DVD format. I don't imagine how anyone could have watched the show on cable every week. The commercials alone would have pissed me off enough, but the week long wait between episodes, that would have been the worst. In the DVD format you can watch the show at your own pace (which in my instance seems to be binging episodes 4+ at a time) and enjoy it at its maximum. If you like to be entertained, stimulated, if you like to think, imagine and be challenged by what you watch. Lost is the show for you.
I was first anointed by Lost when I worked at Movie Gallery back when the first season had just come out on DVD. I rented disc one of Battlestar Galactica, and disc one of Lost. I attempted to watch Battlestar first, it begins with some bullshit two hour movie-episode rather than introducing the viewers to the show in a traditional fashion. I sat through this for probably an hour before I got bored and have since never returned to the series. I put in the first disc to Lost and I've never looked back.
Lost did what so few TV shows have failed to do, it captured my imagination and more so than that, it kept me suspended. I NEEDED to know what was going to happen next, I wanted to know how the story would unfold and as the show began to force me to ask questions, I wanted those answered as well.
Sitting here, thinking back. I feel confident saying that Lost is my favorite TV show of all time. From multiple points it stands with a level of quality that very few TV shows have even reached. I'm sure it was a huge gamble for ABC, it has pretty good production values for a TV show and it's always been well written. They could never have expected it to take off the way it did.
I've watched the first few seasons a few times each. Up to that point I've had numerous theories which have all for the most part been proven irrelevant. That's part of the intrigue of the show though, watching episodes multiple times. Noticing things you did not notice the previous viewings, it all adds together and builds the mystique, the experience of Lost.
For those of you who have not yet become Lost, here's the crash course: An air plain crashes on a 'deserted' island. It doesn't take them long to stabilize on the island and their priority is getting off, however, it's not long before they realize they 1) they're not alone on the island and 2) nothing is what it seems.
The Island is as important to the show as any of the 'main characters' and that doesn't become apparent immediately but as the show unfolds the Island's mysteries generate some of the biggest questions of the show.
It's hard not to sympathize for the show's characters and yet wonder about the bigger picture and Lost is certainly the kind of show that makes you think, it's why I think a lot of people cannot get into it. The show doesn't feed anything to you, it makes you wonder and it makes you imagine. That's a big thumbs up in my books. How many shows on TV actively engage you as much as they entertain you? Two and A Half Men doesn't stimulate, or engage me, but that show has been on TV LONGER than Lost... anyway that's another rant.
I love how Lost centers itself around its characters. Every episode is focused on a particular character on the island, and it helps create this idea that maybe there's something to what's been going on. Maybe they didn't 'just crash' maybe there's more to it than that?
As I watched the last three seasons, 4-6, I ultimately feel they may have worked themselves into a corner. The first 3 seasons are very dense, a lot happens in those episodes and the final three seasons honestly feel a bit rushed by comparison, I've seen season 4-6 once each and I am anxious to watch them again, these seasons see the show pointed in a rather deliberate direction. For a story telling stand point this is essential, especially given how the die hard viewer's by this point most certainly would demand a end to this story. Given how much was already invested, it would have been a cop out for anything less. Lost delivered on this front.
I think the final two seasons especially felt rushed to me, and they probably could've milked a 7th season out of the show if they wanted to but the direction the show took, jumping through time and jumping through reality in a sense. The show created a mystical sense of what was possible and what was impossible and they did it without compromising the ridiculous. I thought the show was very imaginative and very brave and I hope it encourages networks to take chances more often on television shows that are less by-the-book and that push what TV is, and show that content on TV doesn't have to be dictated by statistics and focus groups and that sometimes a spectacular adventure that defies normalcy can captivate audiences.
That brings us to The End. The final episode, was it worth it, was it a waste? My two cents, I thought that Lost's Finale was spectacular. It closed the story, there were very few plot holes when it came to the total story that was being told. (I'm trying to go without spoiling any aspects of the story here... ) They closed the book on that chapter of the island while also giving closure to the characters who made the story what it was. It had some awesome moments and I thought it was a great send-off for the show because in the end the show answered most of the real big questions that it created but it left the viewer with questions that remained.
It forces us as fans to look back at it, and remember it. That's the mark of something that was done well, a story well told, in this case. Lost is TV entertainment at its best, and I will be surprised if another show the caliber of lost comes along again any time soon.
Anyone on the fence, Lost is best in the DVD format. I don't imagine how anyone could have watched the show on cable every week. The commercials alone would have pissed me off enough, but the week long wait between episodes, that would have been the worst. In the DVD format you can watch the show at your own pace (which in my instance seems to be binging episodes 4+ at a time) and enjoy it at its maximum. If you like to be entertained, stimulated, if you like to think, imagine and be challenged by what you watch. Lost is the show for you.
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