As you may or may not know, Tondog is a huge fan of MGS4. If he could, he'd probably have Kojima's babies. Unfortunately, or fortunately for him, he is a guy, and such a thing is physically impossible. That said, lots of people bought MGS4, including Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw. See, Yahztee does Zero Punctuation, which in the realm of the internet geared towards gamers is absolutely hilarious. Today, Yahtzee is reviewing Metal Gear Solid 4, and well... why don't you watch it for yourself.
So, what'd you think? Personally, I am part of the group not currently already entrenched in Metal Gear Solid, so I think I'll follow this advice and just not play the game. Not really my cup of tea anyways. But then, I don't drink tea. What about you? Did Yahtzee strike a nerve, or do you wholeheartedly agree?
[img align=right width=250]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/repository/59727nights.jpg[/img]Wow, this is sort of sad. Nights, the game that a lot of fans asked for, came out, was declared mediocre, and now can be found new for $2.99. Of course, you have to live by a Meijer, which for those not in the know is a nicer, Midwest version of Wal-Mart. I have one three minutes from my house, and there is another Meijer probably 10 minutes from my house, if not less. Will I go out of my way to get this game on the cheap? Nah, that's alright, the game didn't really interest me, but perhaps you are and you live near a Meijer. If that is the case, then go buy your game on the cheap.
Did Nights really do that poorly? I've heard it sold 100000 copies, which is more than some other games, like Boom Blox. Does it deserve the $2.99 price tag, or is Meijer giving this game the shaft? It might be on clearance now, but regardless, this price tag is almost disgracefully low. Someone must have it out for this game at Meijer HQ. Perhaps their son told them it was stupid. That's just too bad.
Also, before you ask, no, I am not going to go buy the game for you.
[img align=right width=200]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/repository/77287cg6.jpg[/img] You know, I happen to live in Cincinnati. It’s sort of an advertising / marketing Mecca. That’s bound to happen when Procter and Gamble happens to be based in your city. You know, Ivory Soap, Tide, Pringles, Gillette, Old Spice, Febreeze, etc… that company. Not to mention all of their recent divestures, we are home to the company who spends lots of money on their brands. In fact, they spend the most money of any company. So, certainly, we in Cincinnati have a company who knows how to do things right. God bless P&G. They make Cincinnati proud.
Some companies try very hard to be good at advertising. They try very hard to project an image. They’re so good that they do so at the expense of royally ticking off their old fan base. Nintendo seems to be that brand. It’s sad though, as they try to be just like Apple, but that’s hard when you have people like Laurent Fischer.
[img align=right]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/hardware/U-115/bf/U-115-H-0001C-B.jpg&sizex=200[/img]Now, in about three days, I can officially say that I am a Civil Engineer. Now, Civil Engineers do a lot of things. Designing Bridges, Creating Dams, Building Things, Creating Traffic Jams, Mitigating Floods, yeah, we do all that and much more. See, there is this thing though. Most, if not all Civil Engineers specialize in something. I, for example, specialized in transportation. Seamar, specialized in structures. See, from an ethics standpoint, we agree only to practice in the fields we're competent in. We know better than do attempt to do something when we have no idea how. So, we know better than than to do and market things that we have no idea how to do, so why does Microsoft then try to do something it doesn't really know how to do?
Microsoft does a bunch of things well. I personally enjoy their Wireless Mice and Keyboards. Windows XP was and still is amazing. So Microsoft can in fact do things well. But there are certain things that Microsoft doesn't do well. Vista, for example. Windows 98 is to Windows XP like Windows Me is to Windows Vista. So, some things that Microsoft do are just terrible.
So, Microsoft has this wonderful little console that many of you might lovingly refer to as the Microsoft Xbox 360. It's lovely little console, but it had some problems. These problems caused Microsoft to issue a recall for the 360, and with that recall came quite a monetary hit on their ledger. So, what caused this problem?
So, this wonderful guy at the Gartner Group, Bryan Lewis, who happens to be their research VP and chief analyst, has stated that the source of their gigantic recall lies in the fact that Microsoft decided to design their original GPU by themselves. Did you know that Microsoft designs GPUs? Neither did I. When I think Graphics Accelerator, I think NVidia and ATI. Turns out, once a massive recall is initiated, that Microsoft also thinks ATI for their graphics needs, as that's who they contracted to redesign their 360 GPU.
Here's to you, Microsoft. If only you had used ATI or NVidia to begin with, you wouldn't have had this massive recall and all those extended warranties. I bet you all don't care, as your warranties are longer. But then, there are probably several of you who wish they didn't have to send their 360 in because of a RRoD. If only Microsoft stuck to what it could do well and contracted out that what it couldn't, you might have never had to send out your 360.
There are some games that people just think are pipe dreams. Games, in development for so long that many of you were not even Teens yet. Games in development for 12 long, painful years. A game that lends its abbreviation to imply something that is destined to never come out. You know, that game.
What? You've become so jaded that you don't believe me that there could be footage of that game on the internet? Well, you go on your merry way. Everyone else might want to search the above video, you might just find footage of that game.
[img align=right]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/repository/61613CG5.jpg[/img]So, believe it or not, but I am actually a gamer. I know, wow! The cynical gamer is a gamer! It may frighten you to know then that I do not own a 360 or PS3. Rather, I own that technologically inferior Wii. I used to think that was a bad deal, but then I realized that when I do play the system I am absolutely enthralled. Who’d a thunk it? Thanks, Okami! (and NMH, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Paper Mario, Metroid Corruption, and Twilight Princess). Truly, in the mounds of shovel ware, there are some winners.
WiiWare – how I am excited for this downloadable medium. Games like Eternity’s Child and World of Goo, in addition to Strongbad’s Game for Cool and Attractive People, certainly have my interest. On launch day (well, the day after actually), I decided to by Lost Winds. It was a gamble for me, for it was developed by Frontier. Ugh. They developed RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, and that game crushed by top of the line laptop. (at least it was 4 years ago) So, I had low, and at the same time high expectations for the game. Turns out that the game is pretty darn good, but then, I noticed something, and it made me rather unhappy.
On the download screen, Lost Winds takes up about 250 blocks on the Wii. It was then I saw how much space I had left on my internal memory, about 500 blocks. Ouch. I guess I can download one or two more games before Nintendo, in their infinite wisdom, decides that I should start deleting things in order to obtain newer releases. I only have a few Virtual Console games on my Wii, and Lost Winds, so, this development has my head scratching.
What the hell, Nintendo? Do you really want to stifle people from spending money on your wares? Do you really wish to not utilize the SD card slot or USB for additional storage? Do you really think 512MB of internal memory is enough? If you did, then you certainly must have a clearer idea of what people like me want. I guess that I don’t actually know what I want. But, thankfully, you do, and you’re limiting me to 512MB of downloads. Bravo, Nintendo! Bravo!
So, Nintendo, is your head so far up your ass that you can’t see that people are willing to spend money to populate more than 512MB worth of space? Do you really think that everyone is going to only by NES games to populate the Wii Channel list that is horizontally expansive? Do you think people are going to want to constantly delete and re-add games whenever they want to play something? I sure hope not.
512MB is a miniscule chunk of space to bestow on a console with downloadable content. Perhaps it’s time for a larger storage solution for the Wii. Certainly, we gamers hope that Nintendo is doing what is necessary to afford us more space. Until that time, we gamers will continue to be frustrated by the prospect that we’ll have to delete something to add something new. On a console that tries to reach out to the elusive “casual gamer”, ease of operation should be paramount. It’s clear though that the ease of dealing with downloadable content is not. It’s time for that to change.
Two weeks. Damn. It’s been a painful, painful two weeks, and the culmination of a painful month of ups and downs after being kicked off our shared host. It’s okay though, we’re on a dedicated server now, and it better keep us up now. Needless to say the downtime was a harsh time for many. RF Generation was down! Oh my God! What was one to do? Where was one to get their fix? What is this… world outside of RF Generation?
Nintendo seems to be creating a niche market for ultra violent games, or at least games more violent than would have been seen on the GameCube. No More Heroes was amazing, and if you haven't played it you should check it out. Blueberry Cheese Brownie, anyone? What about Manhunt 2? Sure, it's (apparent) crap, but it's still super violent. Other violent games? Well, I can't think of any, except for one more that was just announced.
Turns out Platinum Games has a Wii title coming out called Mad World. Platinum Games, does that ring a bell to anyone? No? How about Clover Studios? In the mighty progression of development houses, it goes Clover -> Seeds -> Platinum Games. So, Platinum Games essentially created amazing games like Okami and Viewtiful Joe. I hope that you've played those games, especially Okami. Okami is everything that Zelda should have been. Too bad the Wii version of Okami doesn't make any references to the original developers, since one should always give credit where it is due, and well, Clover Studios created a masterpiece.
So, yes, I digress. There is a new game coming out from Platinum Games fort the Wii. It's called Mad World. Styled much like Sin City. It looks beautiful, and very violent. I urge you to do yourself a favor and check the game, after the jump. Be Warned, it's very violent.
[img align=right]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-044/ss/ts/U-044-S-01090-A.jpg&sizex=200[/img]Wow, Europe gets screwed with games. At least, they did in the past. Nintendo has been pretty hard towards them, but then, they still are. But wow, you readers in Europe (all 4 of you) got screwed. SCREWED! Need a refresher as to why you should think you've been screwed? Check out this article. This list makes me a sad panda. You've missed out on so much awesome, and when you do get awesome, it's often months later than the rest of us. What a cruel world it is.
I can't believe that my toptwo SNES games never got released in Europe. It's also sad that nine of the ten things the article mentions are for Nintendo systems. Nintendo clearly has it out for you, except, you should celebrate that you guys never got the Virtual Boy, rather than mourn it. Some things are better off not released, and this headache machine is one of them.
So, Europe, I feel you pain after seeing that list. Is this list spot on, or are there glaring omissions from the list? All I know is that after seeing that list, you have my sympathy.
[img align=right]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-044/bf/U-044-S-01500-A.jpg&sizex=200[/img] I am a huge Earthbound Fan, and each passing week where Mother 3 is not released makes me a sad panda. If you are interested as to how much I enjoyed Earthbound, why not check out its game page? Feel the love, and I hope that you've played the game.
What? You say that you have not? That's okay, many other people have not played this amazing game. Fortunately for you, Nintendo has apparently decided to release it for the Virtual Console, at least that's what the ESRB says. Personally, that makes me excited. Perhaps Nintendo will not be a whore and release Mother 3. I don't know, but I'll be content knowing that a new group of people will have the opportunity to try this amazing game.
You know what happens when your April Fools joke is horribly cut short by your old web host? The answer is, that we at RF Generation get rather irked. You see, we at RF Generation see April Fools as a high holy day. We really, really enjoy April Fools, and well, our old host suspending our site made us a bunch of sad pandas.
Thankfully, our April Fools joke was geriatric in nature. One of the aspects of old age lends itself nicely to our predicament. Old people, unfortunately for them, tend to lose track of things, including the date. So, surprise! Happy May Fools!
We’d like to thank everyone who was involved in our little joke, especially our resident graphic artist den68. He kicks ass. We thought about waiting until next year to show off Geriatric Generation, but doing this joke on May 1 probably led to a WTF moment for lots of people, which is exactly what we wanted to do, because we at RF Generation like to have our fun.
Of course, Geriatric Generation is the latest in a long line of April Fools Jokes, and I can almost guarantee that come next April First, there will be a whole new experience to be had. Between then and now, there might be other new things. We don’t know. Perhaps. Perhaps not. I hear that if you give us a shrubbery we might be more inclined to add stuff. Strike that. Two shrubberies.
From all of us at RF Generation, keep it glued to channel three!
After months of consideration and planning, RF Generation has decided to change its theme to something more contemporary. One can look out in the realm of gamers and collectors and see that these hobbies are drawing an older crowd than in years past. Just look at the recent success of the Wii. I don't know what my grandparents would do if they could not get their Wii Sports Bowling. It's just like the real thing, except with a greatly diminished chance of injury. Thank Nintendo and other developers for given the older generations something new and exciting to do. Certainly, they are visionaries.
In the spirit of the ever increasing number of older gamers, RF Generation will now be known as Geriatric Generation. We feel that this new direction will not only appeal to a new populous, but also increase our financial solvency in the long term, thanks to sponsorships by amazing products like Viagra, Medic Alert, and Depend, amongst many more. Certainly, we ask that you check out and use their amazing products. I know I certainly will when the need arises.
What does this change to Geriatric Generation mean to you, our readers and members? Well, in the short term, you'll still have access to our databases and your collection tools, and the forums will still exist. As time progresses though these tools will be tweaked to be better in tuned with our new core audience, as well as several new tools shall be added to offer our new core audience reason to stick around. Personally, I am really proud of the collaboration we are soon to roll out in conjunction with AARP. Soon you'll be able to pick out which games the AARP recommends that you, the older gamer, should play. That's just one of many new things to roll out in the coming week, and certainly, we're excited.
We certainly hope that you understand our decision to change format, and we hope this development will not cause us to lose you as a member or reader. Be sure to keep checking out Geriatric Generation, and by all means, don't forget to check the Weather Channel on your Wii.
[img align=right width=225]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/repository/5591257414803e11b6edd7cynical_atari.jpg[/img]There are many big developers out there. Such Behemoths as Activision, Nintendo, and the evil empire we know as EA. Love or hate, these behemoths tend shape the future of the gaming world, for better or worse. On the other end of the spectrum, we’ll have the fallen angels, where certain companies have just fallen out of favor. Such is the story for Atari. No, not the old Atari that was cool and caused the video game collapse in the 80s, but the current, sad, sorry Atari that was originally Infogrames / Hasbro Interactive. What went wrong, and what the hell are you doing?
Atari, you have some decent franchises. Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed the Rollercoaster Tycoon series. Chris Sawyer was a genius, and the fact that the first game was the number one seller the year it came out proved it. Too bad then that you took the series and combined it with shit in Rollercoaster Tycoon 2. A sequel, nah, that was a castration. You tried to make better with the third game in the series, but while it was fun it was a resource hog that slowed to a crawl when your park became too large. Good job destroying that franchise.
Recently, you almost lost your license for Dragonball Games. For you, that certainly would have sucked, as your Budokai games are actually pretty fun. They are perhaps the only gems that are not tarnished in your crown by pieces of shit like My Horse and Me. Is that even proper English? I believe that it should be “My Horse and I”. Great job promoting the further castration of the English Language, in a world where the internet is destroying the written language you’re doing your part by influencing little girls who are too small to use the internet. In time, they’ll join the rest of us on the internet, creating some hideous MySpace page with the welcome statement “Like O My Gawd I am liek so Happy that u r here!” What a sick sad world it is. Thankfully, the economy has collapsed, so these bubblegum girls aren’t going to be able to hide in McMansions anymore. Thank God, perhaps they’ll learn what their poor English will get them in terms of a job. Do you think “Would you like Fries with that?” is hard for them to learn? I don’t think so, but I digress.
Atari, you’re a lost cause. Try as you might, but you’ll never be a behemoth in the gaming world. It’s funny though, because you do try. You took Phil Harrison from Sony. What the hell? You’re supposed to go out in a blaze of glory, taking the Infogrames stock price with you! But you must not realize that, or perhaps you do, and you just want to ruin poor ol’ Phil. Phil seems to be such a nice guy though, it isn’t as though he’s the one known for “RIIIIIIIDGGEEEE RAAACCER!” No, that’d be Kaz Hirai. What? You say you wanted that guy? I am sure that with enough money you can get him. I am sure Sony wouldn’t mind to have Phil back, and we’d be happy to see you go down in flames without him.
It’s time for you to smell the roses, Atari. Your time is over, and it’s time for new companies to grow out of your decomposed remains.
It is noted that a lot of thought came about regarding the structure of the English language from just writing this article. We really wish our resident grammar Nazi, known to the RFG Community as Arrrhaloymnn was around to give his perspective. There’s nothing quite like a native Dutch Speaker giving a native English speaker his perspective on English grammar. Oh well.
[img align=right width=250]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/repository/116598339947f01bc0747fdwifi_failure.gif[/img]Nintendo. They like making money. They could make so much more money if they had a viable online system. Microtransactions also print money, so it boggles my mind that Nintendo has opted for the castrated Online Plan. To Nintendo, it's better to assume that everyone is 6 than their actual age, and for that reason most people would call the system... subpar. Not exactly a fun experience to play online, especially if you want to try to hook up with your friends.
Slate decided, in its infinite wisdom, that it needed to tell the world that Nintendo's Online Plan is in fact, "a smashing failure." So, yeah, good job there Slate, where have you been for the last 3 years. I could have said that back when the DS was going online. Friend Codes are in fact, absolute rubbish. Poorly executed Smash Bros. with anyone online games is in fact, absolute rubbish. Tantalizing Wii owners with the prospect of only one Wii Friend Code only to find out that every damn game still has its own way of doing online, is rubbish.
So, where have you been, Slate? I conject that you must have been really far away not to realize this cold reality years ago. How was the stay on the third rock from Alpha Centari, Slate, because clearly for the last few years you were nowhere near Earth.
Oh, you say that you were? Perhaps then you just are late to the obvious, or you're just out of touch with gaming in general. The only reason I've heard of you is because Kotaku mentions you. Perhaps you should just... um... keep quiet about games.
Some of you may be die hard haters of other game consoles besides the ones that you own. For others, you might be such a fanboy that you need be reminded of reasons why you should curb your enthusiasm. Fortunately for you, Gamesradar wishes to fan the flames of console bashing during its hate week, where they harp about why you should hate everything. Thank God for that too, because I certainly could not think of my own reasons to be spiteful about the console manufacturers.
Shall we check out these videos? Because I am a nice guy, I'll start out with the company I tend to support heavily (aside from my latest Cynical Gamer piece), Nintendo. You can find Sony and Microsoft after the Jump.
This is where my thoughts go and are never heard from again.
Well, maybe not, but this is the repository for all of my published thoughts and rantings. It'll make my day if you find at least 10% of it amusing and enjoyable to read.
