Jul 9, 2010

The boss is down, pick up your loot

So the RealID debacle has ended.


In good time too, I was out of popcorn and coke already. Anyways, Blizzard took the right (may I add, NO-BRAINER) decision to not include our real names on forum posts for all the internet to see. The RealID boss is down, nerdscreams were heard, people are re-subbing.

SO is there something left to learn from this cataclysmic event?

I think there's plenty. For Blizzard to even consider doing this in the first place, it's mind-blowing. Considering how practically everyone capable of rational thinking knew this was a horrible idea it begs the question (In my best angry videogame nerd interpretation):

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?

It could have been pressure from Activision. Or maybe they were testing the waters for a full facebook integration. Maybe they didn't think it through very well and went with the first idea someone sugested.

What do I think? It could be a mix of all of those reasons. I know what it wasn't though: It certainly wasn't just to get rid of trolls. It's stupid, it's complete, utter stupidity. It's an argument that contradicts itself. You are telling us that trolls who are people that enjoy seeing other people pissed off, will stop posting because they will have fear of using their real names? why would they have fear? ah, because someone can use that information against them, like how trolls always look at your armory or equipment as the first source of harassment. OH WAIT.

I want to think the people leading Blizzard are smart. If they weren't, they wouldn't be at the very top like they are now, so that argument doesn't make sense in the slightest.

Anyways, things are returning to normal, my anticipation for cataclysm has been renewed, so let's go back to business as usual. The forums will be getting an update, with ranking systems and the like, and that's something I think will contribute to better discussions.


comments (0)

Jul 8, 2010

RealID Debacle Continues

Well, it's been an amusing 2 days for us WoW players. I posted before about the utter stupidity that is the new announcement about the official forums requiring RealID, posting your real, full name on each thread that or post you make. Blizzard customers aren't happy.


The thread where Blizzard is carefully herding all complains has reached over 40,000 posts in just 2 days. This has to be the fastest growing thread in internet's history. With over 12,000 unique users, and with a disaproval rate of over 90%, it has to be the biggest display of universal discontent over a new policy for any company of this type.

The media is all over this as well, with reports even from prestigious sources outside the industry like (unbelievably) the Wall Street Journal and the BBC. The question in my mind right now is, will Blizzard change its mind now that it is undeniably evident that this is not what their customers want?

Well, there's a lot at stake. I'm pretty sure that, as players themselves, the creative team behind the game are against this, but the big heads over at activision and blizzard just recently signed a deal with facebook in order to connect their games to the social network, and in turn attract more people to WoW and Battle.net.

This is just the start. Players know it, they know it, and it's been made clear that this is just the beginning of more things to come. Facebook "Likes" inside the game? instant feed to facebook/twitter accounts on game accomplishments? yes, yes and more. All of this comes with the privacy issues that currently surround these social networks.

If there's a time to make a stand against this, it is now. If this goes through, I'm pretty sure there will be no end to the things Activision and Blizzard will make with their customers' personal information. As i said before, I don't really mind from having my personal info being made public (as it is right now). But purposefully making a profit out of it when I never joined the game for that purpose? that's something I won't be a part of.

I grabbed my popcorn and I am watching from the sidelines. It'll be interesting to see where this ends.

comments (0)

Jul 7, 2010

Battle Net's RealID

So there are news for us World of Warcraft players, the new RealID system that allows us to link our accounts under the same battle .net account, and also communicate with other players in-game regardless of server (or blizzard game), will now require us to use our real name on the official forums instead of our characters name.


This has got to be one of the worst idea, no, in fact, is the worst idea that Blizzard has ever come up with.

My name is all over the web, it's public at OCRemix. However I won't support this because it's a very different environment in there. Trolls will continue to be trolls regardless of having their identity shown to everyone, and the only people who will be hurt by this are the people who don't want their information made public.

Some people defend the decision saying that people can't do much with just a name, but I want to direct them to 4Chan or Encyclopedia Dramatica, where people's DoB, Address, and every personal detail are investigated by internet trolls by searching the web, and in many instances, hacking email accounts, etc.

In a game where you're supposed to be playing it to escape reality, this thing comes as quite the hypocrisy. I expect a lot of backlash and cancelled accounts over this.

comments (0)

Jun 24, 2010

Vuvuzelas?

Every way you go, every website you visit, the common theme is The World Cup. Even in countries like mine, where Football isn't popular at all, everyone seems to be all over it. There's another common theme going on in the interwebs lately, and that is how the vuvuzelas are the most annoying thing ever.


I didn't know what was a vuvuzela, until I decided to look up a video of someone played them on youtube. To my surprise, these are the same kind of trumpets used in baseball games, carnival, concerts, and other events in my country. Are people really new to these loud things? There are even louder ones made of metal!. I don't find them annoying at all, I actually find them to be a part of any big sports event. I was baffled that people around the world have never heard of them! Even more, people complaining about hearing them in the tv transmission.

Anyhoo, hurray for the "vuvuzelas", for they make loud events even louder!

comments (0)

Jun 23, 2010

Toy Story 3

So after reading some reviews I decided to watch toy story 3 this week. I called a friend and we went to a theater close to where I work. As we were looking for a good place to sit down I started hearing and seeing a lot of kids in the crowd, which is normal for this kind of movies, but I told my friend "Ugh, there are a lot of kids around, trying to watch the movie with kids yelling and laughing all the time is going to suck".


Turns out the kids were mostly quiet, and I was the one laughing all the time!

I don't know if I was laughing to loud or not, I didn't really care. I was genuinely having a lot of fun with this movie. And I wasn't really laughing at the cheap slapstick humor or anything, but at the silly situations created by the plot. Even little things like a teddy bear, a clown and a baby toy hitching a ride on the back of pixar's planet pizza pickup truck were completely hilarious for some reason. It was the silliness of these toys acting this deep, complex plot that created such a nice contrast for me.

I watched the two previous films, and while they were enjoyable, they can't hold a candle to this movie's deep plot. I am not going to go into too much detail but suffice it to say, this movie has everything, and everything is well executed. It's one of the best pixar films and that's a lot to say. It will be one of the best movies of this year, if not the best. As with wall-e, this is a contender for best movie of the year, but probably won't get that recognition because people apparently can't get over the fact that animated movies from pixar are most of the time better than whatever Hollywood spews every year.

One thing though: do not watch this movie in 3D. The 3D was VERY weak. I could take off my glasses and it wouldn't have made a lot of difference. But if you want a movie that will make you laugh, will make you care for the characters, and will make you wonder what's going to happen next all the time, then go watch this movie.

comments (0)

Apr 28, 2010

Dissidia: The asshole of light

Badass.

So you might be wondering, is this guy as badass as he looks? well yes, yes he is. He is as badass as you think, and a little more. He's also a huge asshole.

But you might also be wondering, who the hell is this guy? in which game did he appear? and those are fair questions since his original in-game counterpart looked nothing like him. If you played final fantasy 1, you might remember this little red guy . He was the fighter character in the original Final Fantasy, and he's supposedly that awesome looking warrior up there. Why do they look totally different, even in the colors used for the armor and hair? well the "Warrior of Light" that we get in dissidia is based on Yoshitaka Amano's original concept art for the fighter. Amano's art is awesome so although I liked the old look I'm ok with them using Amano's vision instead.

The Warrior of Light (WoL from now on) is the leader of the group of heroes in the game, which frankly surprised me since I was expecting they would use some of the lame but popular FF characters like Cloud or Squall. He surely looks heroic enough to be a leader, and acts all rigid and focused on the final goal as well. He also enjoys being an asshole at every chance he can get. He's got a "cut to the point" attitude, and seems to think that anything can be resolved by slashing someone's guts with that fancy sword of his.

In the story mode he is after his crystal, like all the other characters. First thing he does, he goes against Garland which is the main antagonist in his original game and in this story (which is something that applies to all the other characters) and kicks his ass. That's fair, since garland just asked for it. He then encounters Sephirot and quickly orders Firion to get the fuck out and leave the fighting to him.

Sephirot: Hey sup. So you know that fighting me is pointless because you won't get your crystal, remember I'm from FF7 lulz?
WoL: OMFG i dun care I just want to kick your ass.
*Sephirot gets his ass kicked*
WoL: K thnx bai.

Since this was the first time I watched the WoL acting like this I just shrugged it off, but then he encounters Ultimecia:

WoL: lulz I can see you there.
Ultimecia: o hai hey I'm just gonna spend 3 to 5 minutes blabbing about stuff the player won't understand and taunting you k?
WoL: OMG STFU let's fight.
*Ultimecia gets her ass kicked*
Ultimecia: lol you can't kill me I appeared in another game.
WoL: kk lets have more pointless taunting then.

You might think I'm exaggerating, but he actually ask her if she's finished talking, a literal STFU. That part was kinda funny tho. Next is an encounter with Cosmos, the goddess of light and the guide of the good guys in the game.

Cosmos: Be careful, lots of crazy bosses ahead
WoL: It's better if they are all in one place (so he can kill them all more quickly, I guessed)
Cosmos: Dude, chill, you're being WAY too jumpy with that sword.
WoL: blah blah blah, Ok now GTFO of my way i have more fighting to do.
Cosmos: ...

Believe it or not I hardly changed the original words there. After some more fighting he finds The Emperor

The Emperor: Hey man, let's just take it easy, you know? Fighting accomplishes nothing, you know that don't you
WoL: well, I have noticed, yeah.
The Emperor: So what do you say if we just chill and hang out?
WoL: lol hell no, let's fight instead.
The Emperor: dude you're so annoying...
*The Emperor gets his ass kicked*
The Emperor: kk you won, now I'm gonna go back there and respawn, asshole.
*Garland appears*
WoL: OMFG WTF? didn't I kill you? are you a zombie?
Garland: lol u noob. I told you we keep respawning, now get this through your head: IT'S POINTLESS TO FIGHT!, now I gtg bye. *disappears*
WoL: WAIT!!! let's fight!!!

So after beating almost every boss in the game his thirst for blood is not yet quenched, and somehow manages to find Garland again:

Garland: for christ's sake, not you again... what do you want now?
WoL: well, take a guess.
Garland: Ok let me explain it to you: YOU CAN'T KILL US! we just keep respawning in this world, even if you looted the crystal from me I'll just respawn again and we'll keep battling forever.
WoL:... oh sorry, you were saying something? I was busy thinking how I'm gonna kick your ass this time.
Garland: oh geez...
*Garland explains some more*
WoL: So let me get this straight, even if I beat you, we'll keep a cycle of infinite battles, forever?
Garland: Exactly!
WoL: k... OH I have an idea, to end this cycle of fighting all we have to do is FIGHT! get ready here I come!
Garland: *facepalm*
*Garland gets his ass kicked... again*
Garland: ouch, that hurts...
WoL: lol pwnt.
*Crystal appears*
WoL: ooo shiny!
Garland: I might look like I'm disintegrating but I'll brb later.

And so it ends. I don't know about you, but for me a hero is not someone who follows a "see bad guy, beat up bad guy. No questions asked" pattern. That's something The Punisher would do. Not to mention that some of these fights he could just have walked away and go on with his quest to find his crystal. Playing as him felt like driving a steamroller.

All in all, his story wasn't as enjoyable as some of the others. As I said in the first article, this game's story isn't very good, but some of the characters and villains shine from time to time, the WoL didn't shine because he was a good, real, believable character, but because he looks, acts and plays like a badass. I like playin as the WoL, but he has a big attitude and personality problem.

If you want another (more serious) take on the Warrior of Light, check out this post at the gaming vault.


Stick around for the next post about the second story which I'm gonna call Firion: Never get between a man and his roses.

Badass x1000



comments (0)

Apr 26, 2010

Final Fantasy Dissidia

So I've been playing final fantasy dissidia lately, I was never interested on psp games but after seeing my brother play for a while (and my internet being down at the moment) I decided to give it a try, and I must say I'm pretty much blown away. This is the definition fanservice. It reminds me of castlevania judgement for wii, it's a mediocre game but omfg it oozes fanservice. But comparing dissidia to cv judgement is a disservice because this game just plain rocks. It's fun, it has a crapload of replay value, its easy to play but deep at the same time, and again, it just gives FF fans wet dreams.

Of course, the game isn't perfect. Well, it kinda is. As far as the gameplay, it's really addictive, it just works, and it's fun, so the game is perfect in that department as far as I'm concerned, but the story and particularly, the characterization of well-known FF heroes (and sometimes the villains) leaves a bad aftertaste. Sometimes a really, really bad one.

So stick around while I dissect each chapter as I play them. The game has 10 basic chapters for each final fantasy, and in each one you play as the protagonist of that game (in some cases... well that isn't very clear. I'm looking at you, Firion!). Of course I'm not doing this in a single post, so for now, I'll leave you with the 8-bit perfection that is the black mage sprite:
If you look closely you can see a tear coming out of his eye. He's gazing out into the distance, disappointed, and sad. He's a sad black mage because he's not in this game.

Next up: "The asshole of light"

comments (0)

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)