Dear Japan,

I just don’t understand your lack of interest in the Xbox 360. No, really, I don’t see how you can deny a console that offers exactly the kinds of games that have classically piqued the interest of Japanese gamers. Just off the top of my head I can think of Eternal Sonata, Blue Dragon, and Lost Odyssey, not to mention Tales of Vesperia, which is coming to the 360 in a few months, too. That’s four solid JRPG titles that are currently exclusive to Microsoft’s system. Of course, Square Enix is releasing Final Fantasy XIII everywhere except the glorious nation of Nippon, but that’s only because you guys hate is so much.
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The console wars, where the scarring battlefield of two or more different factions of gaming zealots identify themselves under a unified corporate banner in the hopes that their choice of gaming machinery will somehow be the one saving grace of their identity. I am a veteran of many of the original console wars, the worst one in my memory was the one that occurred between Sega and Nintendo back in the early 1990s when it was Super NES vs. Genesis for the “king of 16-bit” crown. It is only through the wisdom that I have gained in my 25 years of gaming that I know now how wrong these idiotic battles are.
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For those of you who recall, you may remember a post back in October we did that covered Kotaku’s take on game reviews. It is a very good read and I highly recommend you run through it, beings that it’s one of the few places that have taken on the notion that gaming reviews nowadays frankly suck. But most importantly, if you look in the comments of our post, you will see that I mentioned I would touch on this subject myself once I got around to writing. And here we are.

Game reviews and ratings have always been a funny thing. At the individual level? Well if you give any one person internet access he/she will instantly spew pretentious as though they’re an editor for Pitchfork, with a handy bookmark to Dictionary.com and Microsoft Word open to check for synonyms. When the ability to publish some sort of art, whether it be writing, music, imagery, video, etc., becomes cheap and accessible enough for the masses to get a hold of, you can expect some low quality material. A case of “yeah, it’s great they can do it, but they shouldn’t.”

However, at the professional level, there isn’t any source out there that I can say I can trust with one grain of salt any more than the everyday blogger. The review and evaluation process from these sources, which are supposedly reputable, are typically inconsistent from title to title, lacking in a fair review based on full completion of the game, biased towards their advertiser’s preference, focused too much on technical individualities such as graphics/sound/online, or ‘aided’ by large yet completely meaningless scores.

Hit the jump for my take on these problems, and if I feel like posting them, solutions.

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I was level grinding the other night in Call of Duty 4 multiplayer, and I started to wonder about how important custom playlists are in video games to me and the the average player. I then started to think about what the other people on my team might be listening to while gaming, or if they had everything shut off to listen solely to what was going on in-game. My head began to spin thinking about all of the different permutations.Since the advent of surround sound in gaming, programmers have done their best to immerse the player in ambient sound. One of the best players I’ve ever multiplayer-ed with uses his surround sound setup to find enemy locations in the game. That’s a brilliant idea and all, but for someone like me who plays games primarily to relax, it’s a bit overkill.

Me being a connoisseur of music, I find most games soundtracks added on. The sole exception I have to this is in JRPGs, where the music is very appropriate for each section of the game and is meant as an aid to the action on-screen. There have been times that I was known to be listening to The Mars Volta while playing Oblivion, but then again I can only speak on my own habits. Generally I won’t turn on my own music when gaming, but if its multiplayer, a bunch of level grinding, or my 2nd or 3rd play through of a game, all bets are off.

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There has always been controversy around the video game ratings system (and movies too). Many people disagree with the ratings games are given, or games have to be censored to reach a desirable rating, or retailers get busted for not being strict enough when it comes to who they sell the games to. Whether it’s a senator, the ESRB themselves, or more likely the infamous Jack Thompson, there is always enough blame being sent around.

But it seems that among the many groups that can help prevent children from accessing content meant for older and more mature audiences, there is one that is continually left off the hook and forgotten: the parents.

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Since their inception, video games have been challenging people to be ‘better’ each game they play, whether it be score based or by only giving you so many chances to finish a level. Let’s face it; there is absolutely no point to a game where you have no chance of dying. But on the same token any game designer that makes a game that has no regard for this precious balancing act is an asshole (I’m looking at you, makers of Battletoads).

Come with me today on a journey on the morbid side of video gaming, a topic that allows you to conquer the one fear that all of us have, and the one thing in this life that’s inevitable, death. Some comical, some gruesome, all of them thought provoking and always entertaining. See you after the jump.
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Little Jimmy Smith is a good kid, he gets decent grades in school, does all of his chores when asked, eats all of his vegetables at dinner and is a generally a well likable 12 year old. This all changes the minute little Jimmy is allowed his nightly time on Xbox Live. For when little timid Jimmy becomes xXTeeBaggurXx all of that goes out the window. Little Jimmy is now a racist, sexist, deep throating mic abusing, singing, horrible human being that all of us hate to have on our teams. Most of these annoying attributes can be handled with a simple mute, but the one that I hate and wish I could kill people over the interweb for is…

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Taking a page from Jimmy Kimmel’s notable segment entitled “Unnecessary Censorship,” MEGATONik would like to apply this same sort of idea to video games. We have recently begun to liveblog games, to give our readers a real taste of what one can expect from the newest games on the market, and hence, with inspiration from Dexter345, “Unnecessary Liveblogging” was born. Join me below for some of the best in unnecessary liveblogging.

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Dearest Bungie:

I realize that this may or may not make me sound like a broken record, but Halo 3’s matchmaking system is broken. No, not simply flawed or a little borked but full-blown broken.

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There is only one thing that can stop all of the rampant fanboy-ism that is devouring the industry that I love, and I pray that I never see the day where it happens. The minute that it happens I will officially be done with video games…and that is if the industry evolves into having only a single home console. Who am I kidding, I’ll still be into video games when I’m old and gray no matter what. If interested in seeing my opinons on this and how we would see the death of the fanboy, click the jump below.

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Well, it’s that magical day of the year when young men everywhere are scrambling to find something romantic to do at the last minute to impress that special somebody. Of course, there’s always the incredibly clichéd dinner-and-a-movie solution, but that just doesn’t seem… enough. So I got to thinking… how do us gaming enthusiasts enjoy our Valentine’s? Heck, how do we even come up with date ideas? Then it hit me like a gravity hammer to the face; there are a lot of video games out there that would actually make for a pretty fun dating experience. Don’t believe me? Hit the jump for six examples of games that make great dates!

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I fear the new generation of gamers. It may seem silly, but I feel that we are approaching an interesting crossroads in the culture of video games. On one road you have the older generation like me who have been actively gaming since the Atari and classic PC days, and on the other you have the current generation of gamers who never got into anything older than the original PlayStation.

Luckily, there are a myriad of individuals who are enthralled by all that is retro. That is not to say that ‘retro = good’ because we all know that there were far more bad games in the past than there were good. I can literally think of hundreds of games that should never, ever be remade or played by anyone. It’s inevitable though, every generation of console generally has 10% quality games, 50% average games, and 40% crap.

You know what? I blame this on each and every one of you (that’s including myself). If you want to find out why and what you can do to fix the problem, you’ll have to click that little button at the bottom.

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Ever since their arrival in the 80’s, video games have been parent’s and the media’s favorite scapegoat for a number of problems. From Jack Thompson to Hilary Rodham Clinton, politicians have made attacking video games, quite literally, their day jobs. But never before have I seen such unbridled hate as Janice Turner, writer for The Times, who recently wrote an article attacking all things fun and enjoyable, but most scathingly video games.

“…I refuse to buy [my kids] portable gaming consoles, Xboxes, GameCubes, PS2s. These are Satan’s Sudoku, crack cocaine of the brain. Even the crappiest cartoon or lamest soap teaches a child about character, plot, drama, humour, life. Playing videogames, children are mentally imprisoned, wired into their evil creators’ brains.“

First off, this bitch knows nothing about video games, as witnessed by calling PS2’s and the others “portable”. That’s the heaviest damn portable gaming system I’ve ever played. Furthermore, the fact that she thinks that Days of Our Lives has more plot than a game such as Portal or Mass Effect proves to me without a doubt that this lady (and I use the term loosely) is completely ignorant about her subject matter. I can just picture this woman as the mom from The Waterboy, and God do I pity her children.

Via Times Online

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Does anybody else remember the game Cool Spot that was released for the SNES and Genesis way back in ‘93? Because I do, and I’ve reminisced about it here. Be warned, though, as this article is NOT SAFE FOR WORK due to the (unfortunately unavoidable) gratuitous use of vulgarity that might just be on par with a Tourette’s-ridden sailor. Just be warned before you hit the jump:

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This past Friday signaled the formal start of the holiday shopping season. While most of the major gaming websites have already released a gift guide for those who don’t know what puzzle/RPG hybrid to get our loved ones, so has GameTap, in collaboration with CNN.

What makes this guide different is that it is not a Gamer’s guide, but rather, a Parent’s guide. In an era of Jack Thompson and school shootings, it’s important that parents are aware of what games they are buying for their children. Instead of lumping games into genres, they are classified by rating, and the article even directs readers to the ESRB ratings guide.

An overall sentiment among the gaming community is that it’s not the games’ fault for violence, it’s unaware parents who don’t pay attention to the letter in the lower-left corner of the box. Hopefully, a network with as broad a reader base as CNN will be able to make more steps toward parents’ understanding of the ESRB.

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