The forums are not going so well... we need more members. So if you guys know people who like to talk about stuff, make them join. Forcibly.

Thanks for coming, I hope you enjoy your time here.

When I'm not working on site-related stuff, it's usually video games, TV, movies, or whatever my friends want to do... which usually happens to be one of those other three things. Recently I've been pretty into the Nintendo DS, specifically Trace Memory and Castlevania. It really is an ingenious little piece of hardware.

Darklire wrote:

So do you got a job or anything? I just read your "About Me" section. A degree in Philosophy, huh? What does that qualify for now-a-days? And are you still kicking yourself over it?

Yes, I have a full-time job which along with my social life prevents me from updating the site as much I'd like to. Right now, I'm working retail and but it looks like I might end up in mutual funds since I'm not having much luck finding work related to my major. My degree is technically a Communications degree, the full title being Philosophy: Communications and Critical Thinking. It hasn't proved particularly useful thus far, but I'm glad I got a higher education and I'm happy with the major I picked because it was something that I found genuinely interesting. I started off in Computer Engineering, and while I could do it, I soon realized that it wasn't something that I wanted to do everyday for the rest of my life. So I chose something that I liked. I come from a background where my dad was an English major and my mom was History major and both of them ended up making a decent living despite not doing anything even remotely related to their major. So I'm cool with it. Picking a marketable major isn't the most important thing in life.

Welcome!

8 was omitted for a few reasons. First of all, by the time MM8 came out, the X series had become the dominant Mega Man franchise. Secondly, I don't have the PS1 disc anymore. I have the Gamecube Mega Man Anniversary Collection, but I'm not sure if there are any emulators out there that would allow me to run and screenshot a GC disc using my DVD drive. Thirdly, the bosses in MM8 were all pretty horrible.

I also omitted RockMan & Forte, a SNES game from 1998 (yes, well after the N64 came out) that was later released on the GBA as Mega Man & Bass. It is generally considered to be Mega Man 9 since its setup is similar to the classic franchise.

And I have no problem with female gamers. If girls want to play Final Fantasy X2 or Mario Tennis or something legitimate, I'm cool with that. But I absolutely loathe bland games like The Sims that have no objectives or interesting game mechanics that have somehow found a niche market with female gamers. Watching a Sim flirt a guy or clean her apartment isn't fun; it's stupid.

Of course I'm into newer stuff. I have a Gamecube and a DS, so I have many of the major titles for those: Resident Evil, Viewtiful Joe, Castlevania DS, Mario Sunshine, Timesplitters, Soul Calibur 2, Mortal Kombat: Deception and so forth. The games I'm most excited about right now that are going to be released are A Boy And His Blob for the DS and LoZ: Twilight Princess & Fire Emblem on the 'cube. Also I'm a huge fan of the Tekken series. One of my friends has PS2, so we play Tekken 5 and Tekken Tag from time to time. We used to play it more, but tempers tend to run high. Although the last one was about 5 years ago, I also really liked the Marvel fighting games by Capcom. Capcom vs. SNK is pretty weak though. I don't really do any PC gaming these days, but Half Life 2 looks amazing enough that I might still get it.

Darklire wrote:

You sound like a Nintendo fanboy.

Well, that's not entirely true. I enjoy Nintendo's first party games, but I'm not afraid to admit that PS2 has much better licensing deals and a more durable controller than the GC. I see it like this: There are a bunch of console game publishers out there but only a few put out really good games on a consistent basis. I would consider the top tier of game publishers to be: Capcom, Namco, Nintendo, Ubisoft, and Konami. The second tier would be companies like Midway, EA, Sega, and Rock Star. Square Enix is technically top tier too because every game they release these days is fucking phenomenal, but they release so few games, that it doesn't quite seem right to put them up there with the other greats.

Of the all the console game companies listed above, all of them are third party except for Nintendo. The other companies sign exclusive deals from time to time, but Nintendo's franchises are the only big ones that will truly be 100% exclusive to their console. Since I find games like Metroid Prime, Smash Brothers Melee, Paper Mario, and Legend of Zelda to be incredibly worthwhile, I own a Gamecube. And since I don't play enough video games to justify owning 2 consoles, it's the only current gen console I own. Does it suck not being able to play God of War, MvC2, Tekken, Shaolin Monks, Kingdom Hearts, Vice City, and Final Fantasy? You bet. But as soon as the PS3 release makes the PS2 near-worthless, I'll be grabbing one for sure.

As far as handhelds, the PSP is a nice gadget. Its ability to read memory sticks gives it all sorts of great potential for retro gaming and piracy. But right now it doesn't really have an games that pique my interest and the UMD discs are a terrible idea. Why would anyone pay $30 to watch Hellboy in 320x240 resultion when they could get the DVD for half that price? That's just stupid. The GBA is still king, but the DS is a pretty fun and fascinating gaming device. For $100 less than PSP, you get a system with a better game library and longer battery life. What's not to like about it?

While I respect both Sony & Nintendo's contributions to console and handheld gaming, I loathe Microsoft. The Xbox is little more than a glorified computer and almost all of its best games are available on the PC or PS2. Halo and Halo 2 are two of the most mediocre first person shooters that I've ever had the displeasure of playing. And I've played both Rise of the Triad and Daikatana.

Darklire wrote:

Most people who say they like Square have not beheld the horror of FFXI.

X2 looked kinda gay too. Didn't you play as female pop star or something retarded like that?