735 Don’t.

by

Reggie may be Reggie, but he’s got Thomas’s number for sure.

I haven’t said anything about it before, but I got an Xbox 360 for Christmas. I’m not sure why I never bothered to mention it, but whatever, the fact remains. I got Fable 2 and Final Fantasy… Uh… 13? Whatever number they’re up to anyway.

I pretty much left the bleeding edge of gaming when the 360 debuted. The last game I remember trying on one was Dead Rising, so that gives you an idea of the time frame. Missing out on Fable 2 was tough, but you have to prioritize. Not that it ended up making any difference really. I knew at some point things would settle in and I could go back for older games that everyone else had been and done. Of course, once I started seeing ads for Fable 3 I began to get pretty desperate to see what I was missing. I played Fabe more times through than most games. A lot of games get one, if they’re lucky. If I like a game fairly well I might restart halfway through so I can get a better start on the actual finishing play. There are a few games though that I have played over and over. At least every time they’ve been released. Final Fantasy Tactics, Advance Wars, Fire Emblem, Resident Evil 1 & 2, Final Fantasy 4, 6, 7, Dragon Quest 8, Castlevania Symphony Of The Night, Super Metroid, & Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 spring to mind. I played Fable at least 4 times through on the original version and 2 more for the lost chapters, that I can remember. Of course it’s not a super long game, but still. At least I WANTED to go back into that world over and over.
Fable 2 did not disappoint either. It’s far from perfect, but fun. The addition of playing as a girl was neat too. When you achieve a certain level of beauty as a female you start getting hit on, and cat calls, way more often than as a dude. Which is fine at first, but after a while I was like “This is getting really old…” Then I was like “Oh, now I see why girls get so annoyed over this.” Not to say that I didn’t understand on an academic level before, but taking on the role of a girl made it more real somehow. That was a unique experience. Something that really made the game stand out in my experience with games in general.
I was a little disappointed that the ranged weapons were limited to crossbows and guns. A longbow beats out a crossbow in many respects, but I understand the choice. In the end I almost never used them anyway; favoring firearms by a great deal. The skills that came with ranged weapons were a lot of fun too.
The acting was great overall, but Stephen Fry and Zoe Wanamaker as Reaver and Theresa respectively were fantastic. I have rarely hated a character so much as Reaver.
Anyway, I went through at twice and a half, and may yet go back to get the third ending, although after the game is “over” I tend to lose interest pretty fast.

Now, a few things about the Xbox experience in general: Firstly they have Nintendo beat in every possible way as far as online stuff is concerned. Embarrassingly so. The store is blazing fast, has demos for EVERYTHING, and is easy to navigate. As opposed to Nintendo’s slow, limited demo, unfriendly storeS. Capital S because the Wii store is slightly better than the DS nightmare, and the two are SEPERATE, so you have to choose where you want points to go rather than have them attached to your account… Ridiculous. Being able to stick a flash drive into the 360 and have it understand any content I stuck in it was pretty cool too. Plus the stuff it didn’t recognize remained that way long enough for the 360 to download an update. Which it did literally in seconds.
I’m not saying that I’m going to forsake Nintendo or anything, I’m just saying that they need to pay attention. The novelty of the 3DS isn’t going to be a game changer. Not with phones taking a wet bite out of the casual gaming market. Courting the hardcore fans might be worth taking a look at again…

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Though I’m not a Nintendo loyalist (never owned one of their consoles), something pleases me about seeing them stand pretty firm in the console market, so I end up having some similar concerns about the viability of the 3D gimmick for their next handheld. I was talking with a friend earlier about just this, and he was pretty enthused about the 3D stuff, thinking it would be a big thing for Nintendo, especially since nobody else is doing it.

Meanwhile, I can’t help but think that it’s going to go over like the resurgence of 3D in movies: we’ll have one or two that make people go ooh and aah over it like Avatar did, and a bunch of others who will change things mid-development or try to make something quickly to ride the coattails of the more popular product. There will be a small handful of blockbusters that take full advantage of the medium or just look stylish enough to cover any failings, and many that only have 3D to recommend them. Like happens with most media trends, really.

Ahh, yay for the 360. I’ll admit while I grew up on Nintendo, I’ve been won over by the xbox. We got it back years ago when I was just entering the part of my life when video-games became very, very important (i.e. high school), and I’ve just had it as my system of choice ever since. I just wish I could say that without being associated with those obnoxious fanboys who people associate the xbox with.

Unfortunately you can’t choose that stuff. I’m not thrilled with the image it presents either. Plus they’re going all kid friendly with the Kinect.

Don’t.

Usually good advice, especially for someone like Reggie, gifted with the Minus Touch. No I didn’t fat-finger that one — the touch of King Midas turned everything to gold — which was kind of neat, if a little rough on food and his daughter. I meant Minus; everything Reggie touches turns to $#¡†.

We all know he won’t be able to follow that order, though. It just wouldn’t be a good story if he did. Folks in the front row may want to bring rain gear — or asbestos blankets…

–Perfesser

I said it on facebook a few days ago, I’ll say it again here. I was raised a Nintendo Nerd, and I’ll probably die a Microsoft man. Nintendo is indeed designed for the family friendly portion of the gaming industry. That is their market. They always have and always will, imo, be the company gamers grow out of. Now, in the eyes of one generation or even two, that could spell disaster, since it appears that their games are not appealing anymore. However, much like a man’s relationship with college girls, Nintendo may be getting older, but it’s customers always stay the same age. Which is great, because it means their market will never die. Parents (at least good ones anyway, which surprisingly make up the majority) will always look to Mario and Pokemon to sate their child’s desire to break into the industry. So until we develop pods that grow fetuses until they’re adults, i don’t think Nintendo is going anywhere.

I’m not so sure. I guess time will tell. I certainly don’t want them to fail.

Nintendo won’t fail anytime soon. They’ve cornered the handheld market, so even if they lose out the console portion (and that’s unlikely, for all Playstation Move and Kinect’s superiority over the Wii system, far too many people already HAVE the Wii). Of course this doesn’t mean they’re doing business from a position of strength anymore, but they are savvy enough to hang in there.

I love my Xbox 360. Its a fact that the Xbox Live Experience trumps all, even, to an extent, PC, thanks to its clean and fairly universal interface. I mean I like somethings on my Wii, and I have some solid game envy for my buddy’s PS3 but I don’t think I could ever trade in my Xbox for one of them

reggie. whatever the hell you’re gonna do or say at this moment, don’t. that goes until your shift is up. seriously. i mean it. -pulls out shotgun- DON’T!!

I went the 360 route by default (a friend of mine worked at a GameStop, and couldn’t enter some grand opening contest where they gave one away, so he entered my name. Then got fired. Then I got the free 360. Yay?)

Sorta interested in the PS3 mainly because of BluRay, but now that I have a player without the game-system built around it, it’s less urgent for me. Although Metal Gear Solid 4….

Recently lost about a dozen hours to Bulletstorm. Great game, and no silent protagonist in this one. Hell, I found it hard to do my usual sarcastic gamer thing while playing this one because it was like the game was doing it for me. But before that I logged some hundred hours on old PS1 games. Final Fantasy Anthology, FFVII, Street Fighter 2 EX, etc… I admit, the graphics seem really dated anymore, but most of the old games were just plain more fun. Less about gritty realism and “immersive” gaming than just making a game to have fun playing.

And I still can’t get past that fargin’ boss battle where Aeris dies without crying. God damned sad music while getting my ass handed to me and vice versa….

See, I have to dispute this a bit; maybe I’m a bit old fashioned, I don’t know. But the number one thing I want out of my gaming system is, amazingly, the ability to play games. Preferably good ones. Sony and Microsoft keep attempting to push the envelope on how many new ports and interfaces they can put on their machines, and how many different services it can access, while Nintendo chugs along like the little engine that could, putting out titles that people want to play. Now, I’m not saying PS3 and 360 don’t have good games, PS3 is still my RPG console of choice, but I think that their focus is divided in a way that doesn’t promote as much attention to detail as Nintendo.

Actually, that’s the main thing I want out of my gaming system, too. Yes, I wanted the PS3 for the BluRay (back when it cost less than a BluRay player. That’s economics in action there), but now that I can get a BluRay player for under a hundred bucks… All that’s left for me on PS3 is MGS4.

Also keep in mind that what made the PS2 successful was its DVD capabilities. More people (Er… Okay, more people ion Japan…) bought it to watch the Matrix than to play games. That;s marketing in action right there. Get the consumer to buy your product for one thing, then while they have it *bam*, throw another use for it at them.

As for Nintendo having games people want to play… Zelda, Smash Bros., and maybe the new Mario. Admittedly, I wanted to play Other M, too, but the fan base for metroid games is declining (like sonic games), as they screw with the game (and more importantly the story). Nintendo has cornered the handheld market (Sony’s PSP still existing is nothing short of a minor business miracle), but the latest Nintendo console was a gamble. A gamble that paid off, but about as far from a little engine that could analogy as you can get. THAT and I’m not sure how many of those games are third party developed either. I am reasonably sure that most games on most consoles (and hand-held devices) are third party licensees in the first place.

Still, not bad for a novelty toy and card game manufacturer.

You know, although he seemed like a total dick Reggie keeps growing on me, like some horrible, horrible fungus.. D:
I actually rather like him when he’s all big and bouncy and eager like a puppy ;3;

Thanks Kris and Gaby! What a great 10-minute short– Can’t wait to pick up the book. My friend and I wrote something similar last year that we’re still working on, called “Manifestival.” I love what you say about timing and willingness when it comes to your goals–and also about present-moment. In 2013 I am willing to give up my negative feelings about my body. In learning to admire, love, and be grateful for my body the way it is, I know that the body will respond by moving toward its full potential. Thanks for the inspiration!

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